Powerful malicious actors continue to be a substantial risk to key parts of the Internet and its Domain Name System security infrastructure, so much so that The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is calling for an intensified community effort to install stronger DNS security technology. Specifically ICANN is calling for full deployment of the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) across all unsecured domain names. DNS,often called the internet’s phonebook, is part of the global internet infrastructure that translates between common language domain names and IP addresses that computers need to access websites or send emails. DNSSEC adds a layer of security on top of DNS.To read this article in full, please click here
Powerful malicious actors continue to be a substantial risk to key parts of the Internet and its Domain Name System security infrastructure, so much so that The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is calling for an intensified community effort to install stronger DNS security technology. Specifically ICANN is calling for full deployment of the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) across all unsecured domain names. DNS,often called the internet’s phonebook, is part of the global internet infrastructure that translates between common language domain names and IP addresses that computers need to access websites or send emails. DNSSEC adds a layer of security on top of DNS.To read this article in full, please click here
Cisco this week identified two “High” security vulnerabilities in its HyperFlex data-center package that could let attackers gain control of the system. HyperFlex is Cisco’s hyperconverged infrastructure that offers computing, networking and storage resources in a single system. More about edge networking How edge networking and IoT will reshape data centers Edge computing best practices How edge computing can help secure the IoT The more critical of the two warnings – an 8.8 on Cisco’s severity scale of 1-10 – is a command-injection vulnerability in the cluster service manager of Cisco HyperFlex Software that could let an unauthenticated, attacker execute commands as the root user.To read this article in full, please click here
Cisco this week identified two “High” security vulnerabilities in its HyperFlex data-center package that could let attackers gain control of the system. HyperFlex is Cisco’s hyperconverged infrastructure that offers computing, networking and storage resources in a single system. More about edge networking How edge networking and IoT will reshape data centers Edge computing best practices How edge computing can help secure the IoT The more critical of the two warnings – an 8.8 on Cisco’s severity scale of 1-10 – is a command-injection vulnerability in the cluster service manager of Cisco HyperFlex Software that could let an unauthenticated, attacker execute commands as the root user.To read this article in full, please click here
The problem of edge security isn’t unique – many of the issues being dealt with are the same ones that have been facing the general IT sector for decades.But the edge adds its own wrinkles to those problems, making them, in many cases, more difficult to address. Yet, by applying basic information security precautions, most edge deployments can be substantially safer. More about edge networking How edge networking and IoT will reshape data centers Edge computing best practices How edge computing can help secure the IoT The most common IoT vulnerability occurs because many sensors and edge computing devices are running some kind of built-in web server to allow for remote access and management. This is an issue because many end-users don’t – or, in some cases, can’t – change default login and password information, nor are they able to seal them off from the Internet at large. There are dedicated gray-market search sites out there to help bad actors find these unsecured web servers, and they can even be found with a little creative Googling, although Joan Pepin, CISO at security and authentication vendor Auth0, said that the search giant has taken steps recently to make that process Continue reading
The problem of edge security isn’t unique – many of the issues being dealt with are the same ones that have been facing the general IT sector for decades.But the edge adds its own wrinkles to those problems, making them, in many cases, more difficult to address. Yet, by applying basic information security precautions, most edge deployments can be substantially safer. More about edge networking How edge networking and IoT will reshape data centers Edge computing best practices How edge computing can help secure the IoT The most common IoT vulnerability occurs because many sensors and edge computing devices are running some kind of built-in web server to allow for remote access and management. This is an issue because many end-users don’t – or, in some cases, can’t – change default login and password information, nor are they able to seal them off from the Internet at large. There are dedicated gray-market search sites out there to help bad actors find these unsecured web servers, and they can even be found with a little creative Googling, although Joan Pepin, CISO at security and authentication vendor Auth0, said that the search giant has taken steps recently to make that process Continue reading
Last year saw the continued growth of enterprises adopting internet of things solutions, with companies harnessing the power of wireless data collection, analytics and connectivity to enhance productivity and efficiency in ways we could previously not imagine.Analysts expect corporate spending on IoT in the U.S. to approach $200B in 2019, with global spending exceeding $800B. As adoption has grown, privacy and security advocates have called for regulating IoT to enhance personal privacy and to strengthen the security of IoT devices and services.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
Last year saw the continued growth of enterprises adopting internet of things solutions, with companies harnessing the power of wireless data collection, analytics and connectivity to enhance productivity and efficiency in ways we could previously not imagine.Analysts expect corporate spending on IoT in the U.S. to approach $200B in 2019, with global spending exceeding $800B. As adoption has grown, privacy and security advocates have called for regulating IoT to enhance personal privacy and to strengthen the security of IoT devices and services.To read this article in full, please click here(Insider Story)
If you’re a VPN subscriber and have ever wondered just how secure the supposedly encrypted pipe that you’re using through the internet is — and whether the anonymity promise made by the VPN provider is indeed protecting your privacy— well, your hunches may be correct. It turns out several of these connections are not secure.Academics say they’ve discovered a whopping 13 programming errors in 61 separate VPN systems tested recently. The configuration bungles “allowed Internet traffic to travel outside the encrypted connection,” the researchers say.The independent research group, made up of computer scientists from UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Spain’s Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies (IMDEA) with International Computer Science Institute, write in the Conversation this month, some of which is redistributed by Homeland Security Newswire, that six of 200 VPN services also scandalously monitored user traffic. That’s more serious than unintended leaks, the team explains — users trust providers not to snoop. The point of a VPN is to be private and not get monitored. VPN use ranges from companies protecting commercial secrets on public Wi-Fi to dissidents.To read this article in full, please click here
If you’re a VPN subscriber and have ever wondered just how secure the supposedly encrypted pipe that you’re using through the internet is — and whether the anonymity promise made by the VPN provider is indeed protecting your privacy— well, your hunches may be correct. It turns out several of these connections are not secure.Academics say they’ve discovered a whopping 13 programming errors in 61 separate VPN systems tested recently. The configuration bungles “allowed Internet traffic to travel outside the encrypted connection,” the researchers say.The independent research group, made up of computer scientists from UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Spain’s Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies (IMDEA) with International Computer Science Institute, write in the Conversation this month, some of which is redistributed by Homeland Security Newswire, that six of 200 VPN services also scandalously monitored user traffic. That’s more serious than unintended leaks, the team explains — users trust providers not to snoop. The point of a VPN is to be private and not get monitored. VPN use ranges from companies protecting commercial secrets on public Wi-Fi to dissidents.To read this article in full, please click here
Red Hat announced a vulnerability this morning – one that can be exploited if a user runs malicious or modified containers. The flaw in runC (a lightweight portable container runtime) and Docker that this vulnerability exposes allows an attacker to escape a container and access the underlying file system. That might sound bad, but there's more.The good news is that this vulnerability cannot be exploited if SELinux is enabled and that this is the default on Red Hat systems. To check whether your Red Hat system is enforcing SELinux, use one of the following commands:$ /usr/sbin/getenforce Enforcing <== $ sestatus SELinux status: enabled <== SELinuxfs mount: /sys/fs/selinux SELinux root directory: /etc/selinux Loaded policy name: targeted Current mode: enforcing Mode from config file: enforcing Policy MLS status: enabled Policy deny_unknown status: allowed Memory protection checking: actual (secure) Max kernel policy version: 31 [ Read also: Linux hardening: A 15-step checklist for a secure Linux server ] This vulnerability also requires local access to the system. Affected Red Hat systems include:To read this article in full, please click here
Red Hat announced a vulnerability this morning – one that can be exploited if a user runs malicious or modified containers. The flaw in runC (a lightweight portable container runtime) and Docker that this vulnerability exposes allows an attacker to escape a container and access the underlying file system. That might sound bad, but there's more.The good news is that this vulnerability cannot be exploited if SELinux is enabled and that this is the default on Red Hat systems. To check whether your Red Hat system is enforcing SELinux, use one of the following commands:$ /usr/sbin/getenforce Enforcing <== $ sestatus SELinux status: enabled <== SELinuxfs mount: /sys/fs/selinux SELinux root directory: /etc/selinux Loaded policy name: targeted Current mode: enforcing Mode from config file: enforcing Policy MLS status: enabled Policy deny_unknown status: allowed Memory protection checking: actual (secure) Max kernel policy version: 31 [ Read also: Linux hardening: A 15-step checklist for a secure Linux server ] This vulnerability also requires local access to the system. Affected Red Hat systems include:To read this article in full, please click here
SD-WAN products have been available for the better part of five years. Early adopters of the technology focused primarily on transport-related issues such as replacing or augmenting MPLS with broadband. As any technology matures and moves out of the early adopter phase, the buying criteria changes — and SD-WAN is no different.In 2018, a ZK Research survey asked respondents to rank SD-WAN buying criteria, and security came out as the top response, well ahead of technology innovation and price. (Note: I am employee of ZK Research.) To better understand this trend and what it means to network professionals, I sat down with Fortinet’s executive vice president of products and solutions, John Maddison, who sets the company’s product strategy, making him well versed in both SD-WAN and security.To read this article in full, please click here
SD-WAN products have been available for the better part of five years. Early adopters of the technology focused primarily on transport-related issues such as replacing or augmenting MPLS with broadband. As any technology matures and moves out of the early adopter phase, the buying criteria changes — and SD-WAN is no different.In 2018, a ZK Research survey asked respondents to rank SD-WAN buying criteria, and security came out as the top response, well ahead of technology innovation and price. (Note: I am employee of ZK Research.) To better understand this trend and what it means to network professionals, I sat down with Fortinet’s executive vice president of products and solutions, John Maddison, who sets the company’s product strategy, making him well versed in both SD-WAN and security.To read this article in full, please click here
The term “computer virus” calls to mind imagery of pathogenic creepy-crawlies bringing down a device’s operating system, their flagella wriggling as they multiply into hordes that infiltrate its chips and wires. And while it’s true that our computers can be infected with literal biological bacteria like staphylococci, per Science Illustrated, the threat of malicious codes and programs intent on corrupting data and files looms far larger: According to a recent study from the University of Maryland’s Clark School of Engineering, attacks on computers with internet access is virtually ceaseless, with an incident occurring every 39 seconds on average, affecting a third of Americans every year. To read this article in full, please click here
The term “computer virus” calls to mind imagery of pathogenic creepy-crawlies bringing down a device’s operating system, their flagella wriggling as they multiply into hordes that infiltrate its chips and wires. And while it’s true that our computers can be infected with literal biological bacteria like staphylococci, per Science Illustrated, the threat of malicious codes and programs intent on corrupting data and files looms far larger: According to a recent study from the University of Maryland’s Clark School of Engineering, attacks on computers with internet access is virtually ceaseless, with an incident occurring every 39 seconds on average, affecting a third of Americans every year. To read this article in full, please click here
As the number of cyber attacks increases, the demand for penetration tests – to determine the strength of a company’s defense – is also going up. People are worried about their companies’ networks and computer systems being hacked and data being stolen. Plus, many regulatory standards such PCI and HITRUST require these tests to be performed on at least an annual basis.The demand for these tests is only going to increase as attackers get more sophisticated. And it’s essential these tests catch all possible vulnerabilities.[ Also read: What to consider when deploying a next-generation firewall | Get regularly scheduled insights: Sign up for Network World newsletters ] Benefits and gaps of penetration tests Penetration tests involve live tests of computer networks, systems, or web applications to find potential vulnerabilities. The tester actually attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities and documents the details of the results to their client. They document how severe the vulnerabilities are and recommend the steps that should be taken in order to resolve them.To read this article in full, please click here
As the number of cyber attacks increases, the demand for penetration tests – to determine the strength of a company’s defense – is also going up. People are worried about their companies’ networks and computer systems being hacked and data being stolen. Plus, many regulatory standards such PCI and HITRUST require these tests to be performed on at least an annual basis.The demand for these tests is only going to increase as attackers get more sophisticated. And it’s essential these tests catch all possible vulnerabilities.[ Also read: What to consider when deploying a next-generation firewall | Get regularly scheduled insights: Sign up for Network World newsletters ] Benefits and gaps of penetration tests Penetration tests involve live tests of computer networks, systems, or web applications to find potential vulnerabilities. The tester actually attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities and documents the details of the results to their client. They document how severe the vulnerabilities are and recommend the steps that should be taken in order to resolve them.To read this article in full, please click here
Solutions are needed to replace the archaic air-gapping of computers used to isolate and protect sensitive defense information, the U.S. Government has decided.Air-gapping is the common practice of physically isolating data-storing computers from other systems, computers and networks so they theoretically can’t be compromised because there is nothing connecting the machines.[ Also read: What to consider when deploying a next generation firewall | Get regularly scheduled insights: Sign up for Network World newsletters ] However, many say air-gapping is no longer practical, as the cloud and internet take a hold of massive swaths of data and communications.To read this article in full, please click here
Solutions are needed to replace the archaic air-gapping of computers used to isolate and protect sensitive defense information, the U.S. Government has decided.Air-gapping is the common practice of physically isolating data-storing computers from other systems, computers and networks so they theoretically can’t be compromised because there is nothing connecting the machines.[ Also read: What to consider when deploying a next generation firewall | Get regularly scheduled insights: Sign up for Network World newsletters ] However, many say air-gapping is no longer practical, as the cloud and internet take a hold of massive swaths of data and communications.To read this article in full, please click here