Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

API Abuse - Lessons from the Duolingo Data Scraping Attack

It’s been reported that 2.6 million user records sourced from the Duolingo app are for sale. The attacker apparently obtained them from an open API provided by the company. There’s a more technical explanation available here. While we talk a lot about the vulnerabilities in the OWASP API Top-10 and the exploits associated with those vulnerabilities, this incident provides a good reminder that not all vulnerabilities are flaws in code. In fact, this API was working as designed.

SPF & DMARC

If you’re not particular techy these acronyms may not mean much, but you can easily make checks, even if you can’t implement the fix! Read on….. One of KEEPs consultants recently assessed a client (CNI) where only 55% of their domains had the necessary SPF and DMARC configurations in place correctly. This mis-configuration allows attackers (at minimum) to easily email spoof and target your users. If you do nothing else this week, check the basics!

Seamless Collaboration in Offshore WordPress Development Teams

The best way to achieve seamless collaboration in an offshore development team is by keeping the communication channels open at all times. This can be done by educating your team about project management, following a standard process for every project and making sure that everyone on the team understands their role.

5 Ways to Avoid Falling for Phishing Attacks

There’s a sentiment that has, unfortunately, taken hold in the field of cybersecurity: Users are the weakest part of your environment. You can see why some may try to paint that picture. The statistics would seem to back it up: However, there’s a deeper truth hiding behind these statistics: It’s not the employees who are the weakest part of your security environment, it’s the training they receive.

Road to DORA and PS21/3 Compliance: Leveraging Technology to Reduce Risk

In today's interconnected and digital world, businesses face increasing risks, particularly in the realm of cybersecurity. To address these risks and ensure the operational resilience of financial institutions, industries and governments push for regulatory frameworks. Two prominent examples are the EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act (“DORA”) and the UK's Prudential Standard PS21/3 (“PS21/3”).

Amid Sharp Increase in Identity-Based Attacks, CrowdStrike Unveils New Threat Hunting Capability

Adversaries are doubling down on identity-based attacks. According to Nowhere to Hide: CrowdStrike 2023 Threat Hunting Report, we’ve seen an alarming 583% year-over-year increase in Kerberoasting attacks — a form of identity-based threat — and a 147% increase in access broker advertisements on the dark web. Adversaries are evolving their tradecraft, building custom tooling and leveraging more than usernames and passwords to breach your environments.

BEC Trends: Payroll Diversion Dominates and Sneaky Multi-Persona Attacks Emerge

Business Email Compromise (BEC) remains a lucrative threat vector for attackers. The FBI’s IC3 reported that in 2022, they received 21,832 complaints with adjusted losses of over $2.7 billion. When it comes to targeted attacks, threat actor sophistication is evident in their ever-evolving tactics, even as detection capabilities and preventative measures improve. Let’s take a look at the current BEC landscape for the first half of 2023.