Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

If you're in the cybersecurity sector, you'll know that October is “Cybersecurity Awareness Month,” a time when cybersecurity specialists everywhere push hard to get the message out that cybersecurity is important. Each year, there is a different theme, and for 2022, the theme is "See Yourself in Cyber." According to the CISA website, the theme is meant to demonstrate that "while cybersecurity may seem like a complex subject, ultimately, it's really all about people.

I was speaking with an Active Directory security engineer at a global pharmaceutical company recently, and I asked him the most classic question in the product management handbook: “What keeps you up at night?” So cliché (I know), but sometimes instead of an eye roll, you get a real gem, which is exactly what happened.

As we wrap up Cybersecurity Awareness Month (CSAM) 2022, the final topic we’ll cover is updating software and patching vulnerabilities. According to the 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) from Verizon one of the top paths threat actors use to infiltrate organizations is exploiting vulnerabilities. And there appears to be no end in sight as the number of unique security vulnerabilities rose almost 10% in 2021, up to 20,142 from 18,351 in 2020.

In cybersecurity, it's easy to feel like your successes don't matter. After all, if things go wrong and a failure happens, that’s a lot more likely to make front-page news. Media coverage of high-profile breaches is growing, even for companies that have invested heavily to build up their security programs. Security breaches are never fun, but they're even less enjoyable when you know that your company could have done something about it.

The Sysdig Threat Research Team (Sysdig TRT) recently uncovered an extensive and sophisticated active cryptomining operation in which a threat actor is using some of the largest cloud and continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) service providers; including GitHub, Heroku, Buddy.works, and others to build, run, scale, and operate their massive cloud operation. Because no one has yet reported on this activity and its techniques, we are going to refer to this cluster of activity as PURPLEURCHIN.

Building trust in government is both my passion and part of my character. Last year, when I found myself contemplating my next career move, I knew that I wanted to be at an innovative company devoted to rebuilding trust in federal agencies. It didn’t take long for me to realize that Veracode and I were a perfect fit. Immediately I saw how the company’s mission and innovative application-security technology aligned with my values.

Architecturally speaking, cloud-native applications are broken down into smaller components that are highly dynamic, distributed, and ephemeral. Because each of these components is communicating with other components inside or outside the cluster, this architecture introduces new attack vectors that are difficult to protect against using a traditional perimeter-based approach.

Node.js provides a single-threaded JavaScript run-time surface that prevents code from running multiple operations in parallel. If your application typically employs synchronous execution, you may encounter blocks during long-running operations. However, Node.js itself is a multi-threaded application. This is evident when you use one of the standard library’s asynchronous methods to perform I/O operations, such as reading a file or making a network request.

Kenneth Buckler, CASP, is a research analyst of information security/risk and compliance management for Enterprise Management Associates, a technology industry analyst and consulting firm. He has also served in technical hands-on roles across the Federal cyber security space and has published three Cyber Security books. Ken holds multiple technical certifications, including CompTIA’s Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) certification.

Not all hackers are bad. No, really, it's true! We aren't the biggest fan of people who steal your information for nefarious purposes, but there are a ton of upstanding people out there using hacking skills for good. One such person is Agne Marija Bucyte, a Junior Ethical Hacker at Baltic Amadeus who has decided to turn her hacking skills and computer knowledge into her profession.