Category: Blogs

Understanding GRC, its importance, and its implementation

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Governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) became a crucial concept when organizations recognized the importance and advantages of coordinating the personnel, procedures, and technological tools used to manage governance, risk, and compliance. Better coordination is necessary for organizations to function ethically and accomplish goals by reducing inefficiencies, misunderstandings, and other risks associated with a siloed approach to governance, risk, and compliance. A comprehensive GRC strategy improvises the interdependencies among corporate governance policies, enterprise risk management programs, and company compliance.

Organizations are required to follow some standards and compliances to ensure static growth and safety. GRC strategies ensure ethical governance within the organization, enhance the process for identifying, categorizing, assessing, and enacting strategies to minimize risks that would hinder its operations and control risks that enhance operations, and improves the level of adherence to the standards, regulations, and best practices, mandated by the business and relevant governing bodies and laws. Corporate compliance refers to a set of policies and practices that a business has in place to ensure that the business itself and its employees are conducting business in a morally and legally responsible way.

An effective GRC strategy helps organizations in several ways:

  • increased governance effectiveness at all levels of leadership
  • increased visibility into risks, threats, and reduced costs
  • ongoing compliance with required standards and regulations
  • protection against unfavorable internal audits, financial penalties, and litigation
  • reduction in risk across the entire organization, including business risks, financial risks, operational risks, and security risks

GRC software and tools

GRC software helps manage GRC-related strategy and implementation in a methodical, structured manner. It bundles the core GRC management applications into a single and integrated package. Administrators can monitor and enforce policies using a single framework rather than multiple siloed applications. Successful installations help organizations control risk, lower the costs associated with multiple installations, and ease manager complexity.

An effective GRC software includes tools for risk assessment and identifying connections between operations, internal controls, and business processes. The single, multipoint, and enterprise-wide software that the company currently uses can be integrated with GRC software to help identify the procedures and instruments that are used to manage those risks.

In addition, GRC platforms offer operational risk management, IT risk management, policy management, audit management, third-party risk management, issue tracking, and document management.

The right way to implement GRC

Implementing GRC software generally involves complex installations that require vendor negotiation and data coordination between the technical team of the vendor and numerous internal organizational departments, including business, IT, security, compliance, and auditing.

Integration of data and other pertinent information from internal departments and outside organizations into useful GRC information, as well as ensuring that all GRC system users are properly trained to reap the most advantages from the software.

The corporate culture may perhaps need to adjust due to the new GRC system’s collaborative nature. GRC software requires routine testing to make sure internal departments are utilizing it properly. GRC software must be considered in technology disaster recovery plans to guarantee that it will continue to operate in any disruptive event.

 Key benefits of GRC

Administrators can identify an organization’s risk exposure, track progress toward quarterly goals, and quickly put together an information audit with the aid of GRC dashboards and data analytics tools once they are in place. Good governance is viewed as an objectively quantifiable commodity, which is defined as efficient, moral management of a business at the executive level. Risk management and data retention are transformed into measurable metrics, GRC software compares current activities to standards and regulations and identifies areas for improvement, and compliance with standards and regulations can be further ensured. Finance managers are tasked with ensuring regulatory compliance, it aids the needs of a variety of stakeholders, including the administrators who recognize and manage risk. GRC software helps to configure reports and analytics along with enhanced cross-functional communication. It offers automated workflows by tracking obligations, helping flag compliance gaps, and automating action support.

 Establishing an appropriate methodology and structure

As organizations try to manage increasingly complex compliance and regulation, businesses are rapidly moving towards GRC solutions. Organizations need a holistic and integrated view of risk now more than ever to make better strategic decisions. Even though GRC technology holds promise as a response to these modern demands, implementation is usually a drawn-out process for organizations. Organizations need to understand GRC objectives and implement them through comprehensive strategies and effective tools. To reap the benefits of GRC integration, organizations need to consider a strategy that includes solid policies and processes for GRC and a flexible architecture that supports and enhances the GRC efforts. There are many solutions available in the market to meet the needs of GRC, like risk management (logging, analysis, and management), document management, audit management, reporting, analytics, etc. 

Technology is a great way to reduce the “compliance” overhead that comes with gathering and managing data without overburdening employees who should be focused on creating value instead.  But just having a tool isn’t enough to make sure the successful implementation of GRC. Ethics are something that only people have. So, GRC must be looked at from the point of view of people and processes before technology.

Cloud Security; concerns, and safety

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Cloud computing comprises software and services that operate on the Internet instead of on a local computer or a network of on-site servers. Businesses use cloud adoption as a way to improve the scalability of their Internet-based database capabilities while reducing cost and risk. To do this, businesses use cloud computing, which allows them to store, manage, and process essential data on remote servers that are hosted on the Internet. Many industries, such as healthcare, marketing, advertising, retail, finance, and education, can benefit from using the cloud. When moving to the cloud, it’s natural for businesses to worry about the safety of the company and sensitive customer data. There is significant concern about the security of areas such as external data storage, reliance on the internet, lack of control, multi-tenancy, and integration with internal security.

Enterprises find it difficult to move critical applications and sensitive data to public cloud environments without having control over their data center. Enterprises require a cloud solution with effective security and privacy controls over their applications and services, along with security and compliance.

Major cloud security concerns

Privacy and safety across web–based infrastructure, applications, and platforms have become a major concern for enterprises and solution providers. As devices, data centers, business processes, and other assets are rapidly moving to the cloud, ensuring quality cloud security necessitates comprehensive security policies, a security-conscious organizational culture, and effective cloud security solutions. Here are some of the cloud-native security concerns that organizations should aim to address if they want to build a strong security strategy.

  • Increased attack surface

Hackers now use the public cloud environment as a sizable and appealing attack surface, taking advantage of unsecured cloud ingress ports to gain access to and disrupt workloads and data in the cloud. Numerous hostile threats, including malware, zero-day vulnerabilities, account takeovers, and others, are now commonplace for threat actors.

  • Lack of visibility and tracking

Cloud providers have complete control over the infrastructure layer in the infrastructure as a service (IaaS) model and they do not expose it to their customers. The lack of visibility and control is intensified in the platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) model. Cloud customers frequently struggle to identify, quantify, and visualize their cloud assets due to the lack of visibility and tracking in these models.

  • DevOps, DevSecOps, and Automation

Organizations that have adopted the highly automated DevOps culture need to ensure that appropriate security controls are identified early in the development cycle and embedded in code and templates. Security-related changes made after a workload has been deployed in production can jeopardize the organization’s security posture and increase time to market.

  • Granular privilege and key management

Cloud enterprise’s roles are frequently configured arbitrarily, granting extensive privileges that are not intended or required. Incase if organizations provide access to untrained enterprises or enterprises who have no business necessity to delete or add database assets can be risky. Such acts are vulnerable to security threats at the application level due to inadequately configured keys and privileges.

  • Cloud compliance and governance

Data privacy has become a significant concern, so compliance rules and industry standards like GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS are getting stricter. Keeping track of who has access to data and what they are allowed to do with it is one way to make sure compliance is upheld. Cloud systems usually allow multiple users to access them, so if the right security measures (like access controls) aren’t in place, it can be hard to keep track of who is using the network. Enterprises also need to make sure that the provider follows these compliances strictly.

Robust Cloud Security Measures

Cloud providers offer many cloud-native security features and services, but enterprises require more effective solutions to achieve enterprise-grade cloud workload protection against breaches, data leaks, and targeted attacks in the cloud environment. Only an integrated cloud-native security stack can offer centralized visibility and policy-based granularity.

  • Policy-based IAM and authentication controls

As business requirements keep changing, it will be simpler to update Identity and access management (IAM) definitions if enterprises work with groups and roles rather than with individual enterprises. Higher level of authentication corresponds to a wider range of privileges, restricting access to a group or role to the assets and APIs necessary for that group or role to carry out its duties. Enterprises should follow good IAM hygiene, like enforcing strong password policies and permission time-outs.

  • Enforcement of virtual server protection policies

Cloud security vendors provide robust Cloud Security Posture Management, which consistently applies governance and compliance rules and templates when provisioning virtual servers, audits for configuration deviations, and where possible performs remediation automatically.

  • Safeguarding applications

Web application firewall (WAF) granularly inspects and controls traffic to and from web application servers, it automatically updates WAF rules in response to changes in traffic behavior and is deployed closer to workload-running microservices.

  • Enhanced data protection

Enterprises need to have enhanced data security through encryption at all transport layers, secure file shares, and communications, continuous compliance risk management, and good data storage resource hygiene such as detecting misconfigured buckets and terminating orphan resources.

  • Real-time threat intelligence 

Threat intelligence management solutions provide context to large and diverse streams of cloud-native logs by intelligently cross-referencing aggregated log data with internal data sources such as asset and configuration management systems, vulnerability scanners, and so on. They also provide tools to help visualize and query the threat landscape and promote faster incident response times.

  • Zero trust security

Zero Trust only grants enterprises access to the resources they require to carry out their duties. It also encourages developers to ensure that web-facing applications are properly secured. If the developer does not consistently block ports or implement permissions on an “as needed” basis, a hacker who takes over the application will have access to the database and will be able to retrieve and modify data.

Furthermore, Zero Trust networks employ micro-segmentation to increase the granularity of cloud network security. Micro-segmentation creates secure zones in data centers and cloud deployments, separating workloads from one another, securing everything within the zone, and applying policies to secure traffic between zones.

The way ahead

Cloud computing has made previously inaccessible levels of storage, accessibility, flexibility, and productivity available to users. As more and more businesses transfer their operations to the cloud, implementing preventative cybersecurity measures will become increasingly crucial for guaranteeing a smooth transition to more dynamic cloud environments. With an understanding of the above-mentioned concerns and measures, organizations will be better equipped to devise a cloud security strategy that will keep the cloud environment safe.

How every business is vulnerable to DDoS attacks?

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Attacks using the technique known as distributed denial of service are making the news practically every day. The number of DDoS attacks increased by approx. 450% in 2022, which is 6.5 times greater than in 2021.

During the same time, the number of advanced DDoS attacks that are often targeted, also known as smart attacks, increased by approx. 35 % over the past few years, financial institutions have been the most common DDoS and DoS assault targets overall.

Does this imply that companies and organizations that are not involved in the banking and financial services sector are not at risk of being attacked by DDoS? In no way! Every company could be hit by a DDoS attack. Continue reading to know the reasons why each organization could be a target.

Weak security and DDoS prevention

Even though the technology is getting better, many companies still use old firewalls and signature-based traffic monitoring to protect against DDoS. Traditional security methods aren’t enough to protect against today’s complex threats. Even attacks that don’t last long can hurt money and reputation.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are just as much a target as significant corporations regarding attacks. As attacks on bigger companies make the news, SMEs often think they won’t be attacked. They don’t do much to protect against DDoS. DDoS attacks on SMEs are made in this easy-going way.

Making it easier to attack

The pandemic has pushed the government, non-profits, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to digitize. BYOT devices are used remotely from shared networks that aren’t always safe. The attack surface and DDoS risk of every organization are getting bigger. The problem worsens when companies don’t understand the crucial DDoS protection and instead use generic hosting, ISP, and cloud solutions.

DDoS attacks are simple and cheap

Most DDoS attacks in the past few years lasted less than 4 hours. Even though episodes are shorter, they are more intense, happen more often, and hurt more. Today, innovative, multi-vector and sophisticated DDoS attacks are easy to set up and don’t cost much owing to the following reasons:

  • Innovations in technology
  • Malware and botnets are easy to get
  • Hacking and DDoS attacks as a service

So, attackers don’t have to work hard. DDoS attacks make money for the people who do them.

Competitors and employees who are unhappy can benefit

Websites that go down often (usually because of DDoS attacks) or have pages that have been changed lose their search engine rankings and reputation. To lose search engine rankings and reputations, DDoS is used by competitors and employees who aren’t happy with their jobs.

For Amusement

DDoS attacks may occur for no apparent reason.  It’s a common misperception that every attack has a specific motive. But this isn’t the case at all. It does not matter how big or small the system or website is, many hackers experience an adrenaline rush when they successfully breach it.

Seeking Vengeance

Getting revenge is a frequent cause of DDoS attacks which can affect governments, businesses, or both. Attacks are not always used to express an opinion, but rather to target the enemy.

DDoS Hacktivism

As mentioned above, DDoS attacks don’t always involve data theft. Any opinion or demand can be strongly expressed using this technique. Online action can have a greater and quicker impact than participating in a protest or strike in person. DDoS is frequently used to express support or opposition to a particular cause. It could be about politics, but it could also be about a business or bank, an ethical issue, or an online game.

Politics agenda

The newest battleground is the Internet. DDoS attacks can also occur between nations or governments. Government websites may be the targets of DDoS attacks. Many people believe that governments or political parties frequently engage in DDoS attacks against one another, even though it is possible that non-political hackers hit the websites. This has been a good way to show political disagreement because most governments use the Internet to talk to each other and run their countries.

Unfriendly Competition

There is competition in the digital world as many businesses move their physical stores online.

Nearly half of the companies think their competitors used DDoS assaults to interrupt services. After all, if your competitors’ website is down, all the visitors will go to yours. Additionally, the reputation of your competitors’ brands is damaged, resulting in favorable associations with your business. How to stay secure?

Taking a proactive approach to security and enrolling an intelligent, controlled, and advanced DDoS protection solution is the most effective method to keep the organization secured from DDoS. One may avoid being a target of a distributed denial of service attack with the assistance of advanced solutions available in the market, which also improve the website’s speed and functionality.

The definitive guide to IoT security best practices

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In an Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, multiple devices can be connected to the internet and each other to process data and send it over a network. But no one can discuss the IoT without considering how to keep it safe and secure. This is where the idea of IoT security comes in. IoT security is the practice of ensuring that IoT devices and connections are secure. Organizations can do this in several ways, such as keeping software up to date, using good password practice, or buying vulnerability management tools.

In this blog, we will talk in-depth about IoT security, its meaning, the challenges, and what tools can be used to protect it.

IoT security challenges

Organizations are finding it more challenging to keep devices secure as the number of connected devices grows. IoT devices are enticing targets for fraudsters because they are fraught with vulnerabilities and offer an attack surface ripe for security breaches. When managing, monitoring, and safeguarding the connected IoT settings, no matter how established an organization’s IoT network is, all confront the same difficulties.

Cyberthreats have become a significant issue for IoT systems; the need for IoT security is imminent. We have already discussed concerns about IoT security in our last blog, “Major concerns of IoT security.” IoT threats can have both virtual and physical impacts, especially in the industrial internet of things (IIoT) field, where previous cyberattacks have already demonstrated cascading effects on both devices and the stored data.

Standardization

The IoT market is rapidly expanding, and while the majority of IoT solution providers are building all components of the stack, there is a lack of consistency and standards across the services used by various IoT solutions.

Retrofitted legacy devices

Many Organizations rely on legacy equipment to function properly. Nonetheless, with rapid advances in automated and connected technologies, managing both new and old equipment simultaneously can be challenging.

Legacy devices that do not connect to the internet have little or no security. As a result, even if the additional sensors provide some level of security, the device opens new avenues for malicious parties to infiltrate the sensor.

Unauthorized firmware

Unsigned firmware on peripheral devices can expose IoT systems to attacks, allowing hackers to install stealthy and persistent malware, steal valuable data, or take control of a computer.

Devices with unsigned firmware are an easy target for malicious actors to install their firmware on and abuse it for various purposes.

Hardcoded passwords

Hardcoded passwords are risky because they are easy targets for password guessing exploits, which allow hackers and malware to hijack firmware, devices, systems, and software. The same hardcoded password, or a subset, is frequently used across all applications or devices. As a result, if a hacker knows the default password, they may be able to access all similar devices or application instances.

Unprotected and shared keys

Many IoT devices employ symmetric encryption, which employs a single key to encrypt and decrypt data. Data encryption adds an extra security layer over hardcoded or defaults passwords, but sharing and storing the encryption key introduces risk. Because a malicious party can use the key to encrypt and decrypt data, access the entire system, and share data if it intercepts it.

Weak cryptography

Encryption provides impenetrable security, but only when done correctly. The encryption strength is determined by the algorithm used to generate the public/private keys. To generate encryption keys, many IoT devices use weak algorithms that do not adhere to these standards. When this happens, it’s easier for malicious parties to determine the private key, allowing them to compromise the device.

Need of security standards

The advanced IoT devices have made their way into all industries, making it more convenient and efficient while also increasing the amount of data that is shared.

If IoT devices aren’t correctly secured, consumers, businesses, and government entities can all be at risk from cyberattacks. The manufacturer must ensure that the products they sell are as secure as possible at the point of sale. However, the importance of security measures varies naturally among businesses.

Until minimum IoT security standards and a code of practice for consumer IoT security are established and regularly updated to reflect emerging threats, we cannot assume that every IoT device is secure.

IoT devices worldwide will remain vulnerable to security breaches without industry-wide security standards and best practices.

IoT systems face numerous challenges, but these obstacles can only be overcome with a consistent and committed approach to IoT security at all process stages. Organizations must prioritize the creation of trusted device identity, data confidentiality, and the integrity of the data and firmware running on each device. These goals require critical security components such as authentication, encryption, and code signing.

Unique credentials for each device

Sending secure data is a critical function of any IoT device. To be effective, users and manufacturers should trust that the data they receive is genuine and intended for them. The best way to accomplish this goal is to provide each IoT device with unique credentials in the form of digital certificates.

Giving each device a unique digital certificate improves authentication and provides significantly more security than the current practice of using default passwords or even shared keys for symmetric encryption. This is due to the high risk of password compromise and symmetric encryption keys while providing more protection than default passwords.

Code signing to validate firmware and software updates

Hackers can easily push malicious software updates to connected devices; manufacturers can mitigate the risk by requiring devices to validate the authenticity of new firmware or software before installing it.

Development teams can sign their code with a digital signature, which can be accomplished using a public/private key pair. Each connected device would need a public key corresponding to a private key held by the manufacturer’s development team. If the developers “sign” their code with the private key, any device with the public key can confirm that the update was sent from the manufacturer and that it was not modified in transit.

Organization-specific Root of Trust (RoT) map

The root of Trust (RoT) contains encryption keys and aids initial identity validation when new keys or digital certificates are issued. By implementing an organization-specific RoT, manufacturers can gain complete control over identity validation for any device or person to issue an encryption key. Instead of using a shared root and trusting third party’s trust model and operations, keeping the RoT organization-specific allows manufacturers to set their standards for identity verification to create a robust chain of trust.

Monitor and Maintain

All these initiatives necessitate ongoing lifecycle management; any static system is inherently insecure. Without proper lifecycle management, the digital certificates, key pairs, and RoT will deteriorate over time. Organizations need to map everything in use to keep an accurate inventory of what is created and required. They should monitor all certificates, keys, and the RoT to identify potential threats and to ensure quick adjustments. They should regularly maintain the security’s health by regularly updating certificates, keys, and the RoT and revoking any certificates and keys when the relevant devices are no longer in use.

The security concerns provided by IoT hardware and software must be addressed by businesses to reap the benefits of IoT devices. They must also try to safeguard their devices, networks, and data.

These processes involve appropriate discovery and classification of all IoT devices on a network, continuous tracking of device behavior, risk assessment, and segmentation of susceptible and mission-critical devices from other IoT components.

UEBA- Secured Data and Fraud Detection

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Cyber security measures are rapidly becoming obsolete, and more proficient hackers and cyber attackers are now able to circumvent the perimeter defenses utilized by the majority of organizations. As long as organizations had firewalls, gateways, and other intrusion prevention systems, they were considered safe back in the old days. Today’s threat landscape is more complicated than ever before. The need for a better-secured technology market is imminent with increasing cyberattacks and data theft. Traditional ways of keeping corporate systems safe are no longer enough. Organizations are no longer safe from intrusion with Web gateways, firewalls, intrusion prevention tools, and encrypted connection systems like VPNs. Sometimes, hackers will gain access to the systems; when they do, it is crucial to identify them immediately.

The primary focus of User Behavior Analytics (UBA) is data security and fraud detection technologies. However, UBA needed maturity to deal with prominent security threats. As a result, a distinct departure from fraud detection technologies broadened its scope. The rise of chaos engineering and the evolution of DevSecOps have highlighted the importance of tracking and monitoring all devices connected to a system, as well as monitoring their access controls. Understanding what each entity on an access control list (ACL) represents, including the implicit identities built into a Windows environment, and specifically the difference between the “Everyone” group and “Authenticated users,” is critical today.

UBA transformed into UEBA 

UBA is changed to UEBA, which stands for “User and Entity Behavior Analytics.” According to experts, the “E” in UEBA recognizes that profiles of things other than users are often used to find threats more accurately, in part by comparing the behavior of these other things to the behavior of users. In other words, UEBA software considers user activity as well as controlled and unmanaged endpoints, applications (including cloud-based, mobile, and on-premises apps), networks, and external threats. Using UEBA, you protect against external threats that penetrate the perimeter and existing insider threats, securing your data from the inside out. The value of UEBA is that it prevents hackers or insiders from accessing critical systems. It can spot when this has happened and alert you about the risk.

UBA vs. UEBA 

UEBA systems do much more than keep track of what users do. It keeps track of what happens with devices, apps, servers, and data. This technology doesn’t just look at how users behave; it also looks at how entities behave.

UEBA goes a step further, makes more data, and gives more complex options for reporting than the original UBA systems.

Traditional UBA and UEBA technologies can do the same, but UEBA systems use more advanced analytics techniques. While UBA is made to track insider threats, UEBA uses machine learning to look for more strange activities linked to more kinds of threats, including advanced threats. Normal network activity may make it hard to see this, though. Enterprises often use UEBA with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) technologies to better analyze the data they collect.

UEBA is the right choice!

UEBA can decrease your susceptibility to popular cyberattacks such as phishing, whaling, social engineering, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, malware, and ransomware. UEBA will notify you immediately if any of these assaults are successful.

UEBA tools and processes, instead of replacing earlier monitoring systems, are used to complement them and enhance your company’s overall security posture.

UEBA collects different kinds of data, such as user roles and titles, access, accounts and permissions, user activity, location, and security alerts. This information can be gathered from both the past and the present. The analysis looks at the resources used, the length of sessions, connectivity, and peers’ behavior to compare unusual behavior. It also updates itself when changes are made to the data, such as when permissions or promotions are added.

It isn’t always the case that the UEBA and UBA systems flag everything that’s out of the ordinary as dangerous. Instead, they consider the impact on others of their actions. A “minimal impact” rating is given to behavior if it consumes little resources. There’s a higher effect score for sensitive information, such as information that can be used to identify a specific person. While the UBA system automatically limits or makes it more difficult to authenticate the user whose behavior is out of the ordinary, security teams can determine what to focus on first.

 The pros and cons of UEBA are:

Need for UEBA!

Behavior analysis systems help marketing teams analyze and predict customer buying patterns. Current user behavior analytics tools have more advanced profiling and monitoring capabilities than SIEM systems. They are used to find out what is normal for the organization and its users and when something isn’t normal. UBA uses big data and algorithms for machine learning to look at these changes in almost real-time.

Even though applying user behavior analytics to just one user might not help find malicious activity. But running it on a large scale can help an organization find malware, including other potential cybersecurity threats such as data exfiltration, insider threats, and compromised endpoints.

DDOs Attack: Causes and preventive measures!

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Distributed denial of service (DDoS) assaults has been used by hackers to take down some of the biggest websites in the world since the turn of the new millennium.

DDoS attacks are shockingly easy to pull off, and every year there are more and more of them. They affect a vast number of websites all over the world.

Denial of service attacks is also known as DDoS or simply denial of service (DoS). During a short time, a website gets a lot of requests. This is done to try to overwhelm the site and make it stop working. Unlike denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, distributed attacks simultaneously come from more than one place.

How to recognize an attack on a website?

Certainly, it’s critical to correctly identify a DDoS assault as soon as enterprises suspect one is to blame. Nevertheless, it can be difficult to tell the difference between an average traffic increase and one spurred on by a DDoS attack. However, your website might be under attack if poor performance lasts days after a sale or marketing campaign rather than just a few hours. Another symptom of an assault is a significant increase in spam emails. A firm can expect tens of thousands of requests simultaneously over minutes or even hours if the website targets a DDoS attack. Automated requests, which can come from many different places depending on the attack’s size, are not caused by more people visiting a website.

Why do DDoS attacks happen?

Hackers carry out DDoS assaults for a variety of reasons. For example, a competitor can attempt to hurt your firm by attacking your website. A hacker can try to target your website to steal customer and company information.

A DDoS assault can prevent you from serving consumers or closing sales if you sell products and services through your website. That can cost your company time and money, not to mention harming its reputation.  It is much preferable to prevent a DDoS attack than to deal with its aftereffects.

Simple but effective tactics to mitigate DDoS attacks 

  1. Broaden the bandwidth

Making your hosting infrastructure “DDoS resistant” is one of the most fundamental safeguards against DDoS attacks. Essentially, this means setting aside adequate bandwidth to manage traffic peaks brought on by potential cyberattacks.

Do remember, though, that increasing bandwidth alone is not a sufficient defense against DDoS attacks. Increased bandwidth does raise the hurdle that attackers must clear before they can conduct a successful DDoS attack, but to fully protect your website, you need always combine this with other mitigation strategies.

2. Implement DDoS defense on the server

Some web providers offer DDoS mitigation solutions at the server level. Since web hosting companies do not always provide this service, one should check with their web host. Some businesses offer it as a complimentary service, while others charge extra for it. Everything is dependent on the hosting plan and provider.

3. Reduce the attack surface

Reducing attackable surface area to limit attacker options and enable the construction of defenses in a single location is one of the first methods to mitigate DDoS attacks. We must ensure that no ports, protocols, or applications are opened for our application or resources from which they do not anticipate receiving any communication.

4. Purchase quality network hardware.

High-quality network hardware purchases can aid in detecting and even completely blocking unanticipated traffic spikes on your website. The network gear includes all the elements that enable data transmission across a network, including the router, the cables used to link computers, network switches, and interface cards.

One can set up network hardware to stop DDoS attacks if one invests significantly in quality hardware.  This strategy can keep corporate software running smoothly and protected from all types of external users.

5. Use a hybrid or cloud-based solution 

You’ll have access to limitless bandwidth if you migrate to the cloud- or hybrid-based services. Many DDoS-affected websites are resource-constrained, and if you switch to a cloud-based service, it can help you stay protected.

DDoS mitigation strategies should be considered as soon as possible because DDoS assaults are on the rise, and each one has a high likelihood of having disastrous effects on any company, regardless of size or scope. You may strengthen the security of your website and defend it from cyberattacks by using the strategies mentioned above.

DDoS attacks are becoming more common, and when they work, they can cause damage to billions of dollars. Organizations can’t completely stop DDoS attacks because they have no control over who visits their website. A DDoS attack can’t be avoided, but it will happen less often if organizations use the above-mentioned preventive measures.

Major Concerns of IoT Security in 2022

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IoT Security focuses on protecting connected devices and networks on the Internet of Things systems. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical objects outfitted with sensors, software, and other technologies that can communicate and exchange data with other devices and systems. IoT systems’ architecture consists of wireless networks, cloud databases for communication, sensors, data processing programs, and smart devices that are interconnected and interact closely with each other.

IoT Systems have equipped big industries and regular users with smart technologies to help ease their requirements. Industrial IoT (IIoT) is revolutionizing the manufacturing landscape with a network of connected machines, systems, and devices allowing manufacturers to plan, control, integrate, and analyze their processes in a more efficient manner.

With the IoT implementation, manufacturers can have potential opportunities to improve operations, enhance customer experience, and strengthen the supply chain connectivity and the data generated by it. Wireless IIoT sensor data is being used by organizations to predict and alert workers when a machine requires maintenance and eventually reduces costly breakdowns and repairs while increasing machine uptime.

GPS systems, RFID tags, and other wireless technologies are being leveraged to track the location of assets at any time with better efficiency.

According to Infosecurity Outlook Experts, “The term IoT is increasingly making its way into everyday use. However, the internet of things (IoT) has become so large that security development has had to keep up with the transforming environment.”

IoT Security is essential for data security, Smart devices gather a lot of sensitive data, including personally identifiable information. These sensitive data breaches can result in unpredictable damages.

Major Security Concerns in IoT

With increasing IoT implementations, users face many concerns regarding privacy and security. IoT systems are increasing exponentially in most of the industry vectors. Devices connected to IoT are growing at an ever-increasing rate daily. Autonomous and intelligent factories are becoming more and more connected in the industry.

Hyperconnectivity across platforms, networks, apps, and devices necessitates protection measures commensurate to the devices’ intelligence and behavior.

IoT security refers to the technology that protects linked devices, networks, and data. Interconnected computing devices, mechanical and digital equipment, objects, animals, and/or humans are all part of the IoT. Each “thing” has a unique identifier and the ability to transport data over a network for identification purposes autonomously. If devices are not properly safeguarded while connected to the internet, they are vulnerable to a wide range of threats.

Because of a series of high-profile cases involving the infiltration and attack of a more extensive network using a typical IoT device, there has been an increased focus on IoT security. Networks having IoT devices attached to them need to be safe. There are a wide variety of tactics, strategies, protocols, and activities that can be used to protect modern enterprises against ever-increasing IoT risks.

Why IoT security?

IoT security offers required measures to safeguard devices that are linked to the internet or a network. An ever-expanding range of applications has made the Internet of Things (IoT) an ever-expanding phrase. Everything from watches to thermostats to video gaming consoles can connect to the internet or other devices.

Internet of Things (IoT) security encompasses a wide range of approaches, strategies, and solutions to prevent these gadgets from being hacked. IoT devices are more vulnerable to hacks because of their inherent connectivity. Some of the key concerns are:

  • Software and Hardware vulnerabilities:

Smart IoT Devices have limited computing power and are resource-constrained, they cannot support powerful security functions and are more vulnerable. The IoT industry lacks the computational capacity for efficient built-in security and poor access control in IoT systems and a limited budget for proper testing and improved firmware security.

IoT systems lack regular patches and updates due to limited budgets and technical limitations. IoT Devices have poor protection from physical attacks and an attacker can get close enough to add their chip or hack the device using radio waves. Malicious actors can leverage vulnerabilities in IoT systems to install malware and steal valuable data.

For example, the use of vulnerable credentials like weak, recycled, and default passwords helps hackers to hack smart cameras and they can even communicate with victims remotely using the camera’s microphone and speakers.

  • Data Security:

All the devices connected to the internet have high chances of online exposure. These devices can unknowingly store and affect sensitive, technical, and even personal information. IoT devices have access to the financial information of their users also. When these devices have access to your credit card or banking information, they become an easy target for hackers.

Financial institutions that use IoT at work are at elevated risk of exposure and attack. IoT devices with sensitive financial information and weak security can put both businesses and customers at risk.

  • Ransomware:

Ransomware and malware are serious threats to IoT systems. Cybercriminals have leveraged malware to great extent in recent years. Devices with insufficient enterprise cybersecurity can become a target for ransomware, which encrypts and blocks access to users’ sensitive files. The real trouble begins when a hacker who infected the device with malware demands ransom money. These security threats could jeopardize wearable technology, healthcare trackers, and smart homes.

The rapid rise in the number of IoT devices is making the security issue volatile. However, because the majority of IoT information is stored in the cloud, this malware may not have valuable data to lock. Ransomware attacks have the potential to not only lock users out of IoT devices and related platforms but also to disable devices and steal users’ data.

IoT botnet malware is one of the most common threat actors because it is versatile and profitable for cybercriminals.  Botnets are networks of devices that run malicious bots and distribute malware. Botnets can infiltrate IoT networks and install ransomware, spyware, or other malware on secure devices, jeopardizing your financial and personal security.

  • Cyberattacks:

Cyberattacks on IoT systems have dangerous consequences as they can easily turn into physical ones like fraudulent withdrawal of money or misuse of personal information or data. Cyberattacks like Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks frequently leverage infected or hijacked IoT devices. These devices are used as an attack base to infect additional machines and hide malicious activity, or as an entry point for lateral movement within a corporate network.

Be it organizations or smart homes, all IoT systems are at equal risk of cyberattacks. IoT systems are used in various industries from finance to healthcare, and an attack on these systems can expose sensitive information or even endanger their health and safety.

Conclusion

The Internet of Things has the unique ability to affect both virtual and physical systems. Developing a secured and safe IoT environment is the need of the hour. Users must regularly check for updates and patches and be ready to adapt to the developing IoT security protocols. In this blog, we shed some light on the concerns of IoT system security, further aspects like solutions for IoT Security will be discussed in the upcoming series on this topic.

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What is IoT Security?

SaaS- Software as a Service!

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Software as a service (SaaS) is a cloud-based software delivery model in which the cloud provider develops and maintains cloud application software, offers automatic software updates, and makes software available to customers on a pay-as-you-go basis via the internet. All hardware and traditional software, including middleware, application software, and security, are managed by the public cloud provider. As a result, SaaS customers can significantly reduce costs, deploy, scale, and upgrade business solutions faster than they could with on-premises systems and software, and predict ownership costs with improved efficiency.

What exactly is a software as a service?

The cloud delivery model is used for SaaS. A software provider will either host the application and associated data on its own servers, databases, networking, and computing resources, or an ISV will contract with a cloud provider to host the application in the provider’s data center. Any device with a network connection will be able to access the application. Web browsers are typically used to access SaaS applications.

Significance of SAAS

In today’s scenario, web-based software is adaptable enough to be customized for specific business needs as well as for individual users. Customers can modify the user interface (UI) to alter the program’s appearance and feel as well as components, like data fields, to change the data that is displayed. A few business process features can also be modified on and off at will.

Users can frequently customize their own personal workspace, such as a dashboard or task list, to display only the information they need to see and optimize their individual work styles. Even though both on-premises and SaaS systems can now be completely customized for each client, cloud-based software still offers a lot more flexibility and agility for the average business.

  • Access to innovations and rapid application development

Businesses want to utilize the most recent capabilities because innovation is so important in the digital age. Cloud-based SaaS accelerates innovation cycles and provides faster access to the most recent innovations and applications. In contrast, because of the longer development cycles typical of on-premises solutions and applications, the on-premises in-the-cloud SaaS model necessitates waiting for innovations.

  • SaaS business processes that are connected

A SaaS solution is required by organizations to support cloud-based processes such as procure-to-pay or order-to-cash without requiring costly integrations or complex management. Modern SaaS suites are built on a single, standards-based platform that includes a unified enterprise-wide data model, a unified user experience (including mobile and social), shared security levels, synchronized release schedules, and more.

This growth is anticipated to be aided by future SaaS innovation in the SaaS solutions themselves, including:

Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions are becoming more widely used, and it is anticipated that they will be incorporated into all enterprise cloud applications soon. Artificial intelligence will power adaptive intelligence solutions, allowing back-office and front-office applications to learn and adapt to user data and behaviour.

Autonomous IT management, artificial intelligence, and machine learning will all play important roles in enabling more autonomous, less reliant management of cloud applications and cloud infrastructure. Aside from AI and machine learning, there is a new set of adaptive intelligent technologies driving change in all SaaS applications. Among them were chatbots, virtual reality, augmented reality, blockchain, IoT, and digital assistants. For forward-thinking providers to expand their SaaS offerings, each of these technologies is becoming more and more important.

Industry Organizations continue to be driven by depth and horizontal connectedness in SaaS solutions or vertical cloud applications. While SaaS was originally designed to provide quick vertical solutions to a single department, businesses are increasingly requiring and expecting cross-business visibility. Expect more vertical depth from providers offering cross-business suites, as well as more APIs and turnkey integrations for hybrid cloud solutions, as applications continue to evolve.

Unified Endpoint Management- A Software Solution!

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Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) is a software solution that allows organizations to monitor and manage all devices like computers, mobile devices, scanners, network devices, IoT, etc. connected to their network using a single management interface. UEM treats all end-users or devices as “Endpoints”.

The Evolution of UEM – Unified Endpoint Management is replacement and upgradation for various traditional tools like Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Client Management Tools (CMT).

  • Client Management Tools were used to handle client systems and various tasks like software delivery, patch management, and remote control. However, CMT lacked the ability to manage new devices and technologies like mobile devices and the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) System.
  • As a result, Mobile Device Management (MDM) started being used in situations where the company owned and managed every device solely for security reasons. MDM is the process of remotely managing the utility of mobile devices and allocating functions like corporate functionality, supportability, security while also allowing users some freedom and flexibility. MDM solutions worked at the device level and they lacked control of other external applications, it was difficult to overcome the obstacles posed by BYOD.
  • The limitations visible in MDM solutions, however, led to development of Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) which includes features Mobile App Management, Mobile Content Management, Containerization, and Identity Management in a centralized solution. This provides a comprehensive approach that addresses all aspects of the device. EMM now allowed employers to remotely manage all devices like smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc., and applications used by organization’s employees. With the introduction of these versatile applications, allowing organizations to communicate and access business resources seamlessly, the emphasis shifted away from application visibility and control towards streamlining worker productivity.


UEM Removes the Need for Multiple Tools

As stated above, there is a shortage of expertise with the use of different tools. Since, administrators must perform a variety of tasks like operating system updates, security measures, and remote monitoring, and it is difficult for administrators to educate themselves on different tools, their negligence may lead to costly mistakes. Therefore, organizations felt the need to avoid multiple solutions. Enterprise firms wanted a solution that brought the management of all end-users and endpoints together on one unified solution.This led to the development of Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) Solutions. UEM solutions are the most recent iterations of software applications that control and track all devices of employees and clients throughout their life cycle. Clients appreciate the right to use their own devices, and employers appreciate the risk minimization and increased productivity that comes with knowing that employees can safely access and use company’s resources.


Features of UEM Solutions

Integration with Multiple Platforms – Unified Endpoint Management is designed to work with multiple platforms like Android, MacOS, Chrome OS, Windows, Linux, etc. It can update, monitor, control, configure and help in migration of device or OS from a single management dashboard.

Compliance – The first step in ensuring system enforcement is deciding which types of devices UEM will allow to enroll as endpoints in company’s network. With user and endpoint compliance UEM establishes perimeter-based security to protect company’s assets. Endpoints are subjected to routine compliance tests to ensure that they are up to date on security fixes, operating system updates, patches and how to treat devices that have been compromised. After a user registers and uses the organization’s network services, the endpoint user must comply with user compliance policy.

Mobile Application Management (MAM) – MAM applies security controls and policies to applications with an option to block dangerous apps. One of the key reasons for failures in a company’s security system is differences in security and management policies for controlling entities, security applications and operating system maintenance. Corporate applications that have been developed in-house can be deployed and controlled through MAM. They can also be isolated from personal applications to protect private information – so an employee does not need to separate their work and personal device but also can maintain distance between their personal and professional lives.

Identity and Access Management – Endpoints are the subject of identity and access management, which ensures that only trusted individuals or devices have safe access to organization’s data. By associating registered devices (endpoints) with users’ credentials with various services like application signing and Single Sign-On (SSO), UEM assesses an endpoint’s behaviour to calculate certificate management risk. This helps indicates whether a user is to be granted or refused access to a particular resource.

Data Stripping – Data stripping is a security technique that removes company’s information from standard applications and redirects it to protected ones. It is a security feature of UEM. It provides a secure and isolated approach to protect organization’s sensitive information.

Devices are becoming more advanced; employees and work policies are changing, and the security environment is constantly changing. These factors are pushing businesses to implement a single endpoint management system (UEM) to handle and protect all endpoints, their users, applications and information in an efficient manner.

Botnet- Large-scale Attack Automator’s!

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What is Botnet?

Botnets are computer networks that have been hijacked and are used to carry out different schemes and cyberattacks. The words “robot” and “network” are combined to generate the term “botnet.” The infiltration step of a multi-layer strategy is usually when a botnet is assembled. The bots are used to automate large-scale attacks including data theft, server failure, and malware spread.

Botnets utilise your gadgets to defraud others or cause havoc – all without your knowledge or approval. You might ask, “what is a botnet attack, what is It used for and how does it work?” Let’s help you understand all of it.

What is a Botnet attack?

A botnet attack is a type of cyberattack in which malware is installed on a collection of internet-connected devices and controlled by a hostile hacker. Sending spam, data theft, exploiting sensitive information, and unleashing nasty DDoS attacks are all common botnet attacks.

What Are Botnets Used For?

Botnet creators have a vested interest in making money or gaining personal satisfaction.

Extortion or direct theft of money are examples of financial theft. Theft of personal information in order to get access to sensitive or private accounts Service sabotage – putting services and websites offline, for example. Scams involving bitcoin mining take advantage of consumers’ computing power. Access is being sold to other crooks in order to allow for more fraud on naive customers.

The majority of the reasons for establishing a botnet are similar to those for other sorts of illegal activity. The urge to steal something important or cause trouble for others is a common motivation for these attackers. In rare cases, cybercriminals may create and sell access to a massive network of zombie PCs. The buyers, who pay on a leasing basis, are usually the other hackers.

Despite the numerous possible rewards for a hacker, some people simply construct botnets for the sake of doing so. Botnets are used for a variety of assaults against botnet-controlled individuals as well as other persons, regardless of their motivation.

How does a Botnet Work?

Basic stages of building a botnet can be simplified into a few steps:

Prep and Expose — hacker exploits a vulnerability to expose users to malware.

Infect — user devices are infected with malware that can take control of their device.

Activate — hackers mobilize infected devices to carry out attacks.

To expose users to malware, the hacker will first locate a weakness in either a website, application, or user behavior. The goal of a bot herder is to keep victims ignorant of their exposure and eventual malware infection. They may take advantage of security flaws in software or websites to spread malware via emails, drive-by downloads, or trojan horse downloads.

In step 2, malware infects the devices of the victims, allowing it to take control of them. Using strategies such as web downloads, exploit kits, popup advertisements, and email attachments, hackers can produce zombie devices after the initial malware infection. If the botnet is centralised, the herder will route the infected device to a command-and-control server. Peer propagation starts if it’s a P2P botnet, and the zombie devices try to connect with additional infected devices.

When the bot herder has infected a large enough number of bots, they can mobilise their attacks in stage 3. To receive their order, the zombie devices will download the most recent update from the C&C channel. The bot then executes its commands and participates in hostile behaviour. The bot herder can continue to maintain and expand their botnet from afar, allowing them to carry out a variety of nefarious acts. Botnets do not target specific persons because the purpose of the bot herder is to infect as many devices as possible so that malicious assaults can be carried out.

How to Protect Against Botnets?

Devices can be protected from botnets in several ways. It is recommended that a company implement a regular security awareness training program that teaches users/employees how to recognize bad links to prevent these devices from becoming part of a botnet. It’s also a good idea to maintain the software up to date to reduce the likelihood of a botnet assault exploiting the system’s flaws. It’s a good idea to use two-factor authentication to prevent botnet software from getting into devices and accounts if a password has been hacked. Updating passwords across all devices, particularly the privacy and security settings on those that link device to device or to the internet, will provide a significant benefit to businesses. Rootkit detection is included in an endpoint protection solution.

Botnets are difficult to tackle once they’ve established themselves on a user’s device. One should make sure you protect each of your devices against this malicious hijacking to avoid phishing attempts and other problems.

Read More about Bots here: Bot Management