In November 2021, a vulnerability was discovered in a ubiquitous Linux module named Polkit. Developed by Red Hat, Polkit facilitates the communication between privileged and unprivileged processes on Linux endpoints. Due to a flaw in a component of Polkit — pkexec — a local privilege escalation vulnerability exists that, when exploited, will allow a standard user to elevate to root.
A number of security vulnerabilities have been identified on the popular freeware, Samba, which implements the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol that allows users to access files, printers, and other commonly shared resources over a network. These flaws enable remote attackers the ability to execute arbitrary code with the highest privileges on affected installations. The most prominent is CVE-2021-44142, which affects all versions of Samba before 4.13.17.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) platforms are great tools for helping teams work smarter, faster, and more efficiently against security risks. But, used on their own, SOARs are far from perfect for meeting the full security needs of the modern organization.
A recent survey by the analyst firm Gartner showed that 89% of companies experienced a supplier risk event in the last five years; however, those companies' overall awareness and plans to mitigate lacked maturity. As a result, it is no longer enough to secure your own company's infrastructure. You must also evaluate the risk posed by third-party vendors and plan to monitor those organizations for breaches.
Netskope is a leading provider of cloud security with its security service edge, single-pass architecture. Using clients to steer traffic to the Internet through the Netskope Security Cloud means that customers can securely enable data moving into and out of the distributed corporate environment. But this traffic has to originate from an endpoint—and endpoints can be compromised. How do organizations know whether SaaS traffic originating from an endpoint is potentially compromised or at risk?
This article will explore methods for “hiding” SSH servers so that the server is harder to discover by malicious users on public networks. We’ll focus on changing the default SSH port and implementing SSH port knocking to make it more difficult for unwanted users to discover or locate the server.
Predicting the future is tricky business. However, when you’re privileged enough to frequently speak with the technology leadership at Fortune 500 companies, looking forward is less about gazing into a crystal ball and more of an extrapolation of trends that you're seeing. I’m honored that Fast Mode published my article detailing what I think is in store for cloud computing in 2022.
Water and wastewater treatment may not be at the top of most people’s list of discussion topics, but the more you think about it, the more clear it becomes that this particular subsegment of the utilities market is a vital part of our critical infrastructure. We rely on the ability to turn on the tap and get clean, safe water every day. And we’ve seen what havoc losing that ability can wreak from the crisis in Flint, MI.
