Archive for March 17, 2022

CISA & FBI Say That Russian Threat Actors Exploiting Print Nightmare And MFA Flaws To Pwn High Value Networks

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 17, 2022 by itnerd

The CISA and the FBI have put out an alert that Russian state-sponsored hackers have exploited default MFA protocols and a Windows 10 printer flaw, ‘PrintNightmare’, to compromise networks and high-value domains in order to access victims’ cloud and email. 

Saumitra Das, CTO and Co-Founder, Blue Hexagon had this to say:

“This shows very novel tradecraft being used by the state-sponsored attackers and why it is so important to have detection and response as well as full visibility into your entire enterprise. Do not assume prevention-based controls or just security hygiene will prevent the entry of attackers. Once attackers get in, they can use older CVEs like ‘PrintNightmare’ which may not have been patched in every dark corner of the IT real estate. The Fail-Open nature of many services does open an attack surface that is hard to assess ahead of time. The later stages of this attack still use classic techniques like RDP and living off the land. Attacks like these need defense-in-depth with both EDR (endpoint security) and NDR (network security) complementing each other to have a chance of timely discovery.”

The thing is that Print Nightmare isn’t new as I’ve covered it here before and it’s been covered extensively elsewhere. As for the MFA exploit, the alert has some good mitigation strategies that companies should look at. As given the state of play within the world at the moment, you can’t afford to take the risk of doing nothing.

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OVHcloud Launches Hosted Private Cloud Powered By Nutanix

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 17, 2022 by itnerd

OVHcloud and Nutanix, a global leader in hybrid multicloud computing, have partnered to offer Hosted Private Cloud powered by Nutanix. This pre-installed solution running the Nutanix Cloud Platform is ready to use in a matter of hours, running on 100% dedicated and secure OVHcloud infrastructure. The scalable, all-inclusive platform is designed for organizations that want to migrate their applications quickly and easily to the cloud or embark on a hybrid multicloud journey by scaling their applications to cloud for seasonal demands and taking advantage of disaster recovery in the cloud. Customers can leverage a common software management plane from Nutanix tying their OVHcloud solution to the Nutanix Cloud Platform.

This new offering enhances OVHcloud Private Cloud portfolio and provides organizations with the combination of the proven services of the leading European cloud provider and the Nutanix’s Cloud Platform built on its industry-leading hyperconverged infrastructure software. The Hosted Private Cloud portfolio allows companies to leverage a dedicated infrastructure that scales alongside business needs. The use of a market standard such as Nutanix frees organizations from technical lock-in and provides continuity outside an OVHcloud environment.

The OVHcloud infrastructure meets the highest security and data protection standards, in line with HDS, ISO27001, HIPAA, and the GDPR. In addition, OVHcloud infrastructure can help customers maintain data sovereignty.

Nutanix and OVHcloud team up to innovate cloud migration

Hosted Private Cloud powered by Nutanix specifically addresses the needs of organizations that want to migrate their applications quickly and easily to the cloud. This helps them save time and improve productivity while remaining focused on their core business. The solution also fully integrates with a hybrid cloud strategy, securely tying cloud workloads to those that remain on-premises. Hosted Private Cloud powered by Nutanix is also suitable for businesses wishing to implement a disaster recovery plan, since its secondary infrastructure can be switched to the cloud in just a few clicks. Finally, SMBs and large enterprises that experience seasonal variations in business can leverage this solution to absorb their peak loads in the cloud without investing heavily in on-premise infrastructure.

The best of both OVHcloud and Nutanix, the respective leaders in private cloud and hybrid multicloud.

The Hosted Private Cloud powered by Nutanix solution is a competitive and unique all-inclusive offering that combines hardware, software, installation, and configuration, including network. It allows OVHcloud customers and partners to save installation and configuration time. With complete support for consumption-based pricing across the stack (Nutanix software and OVHcloud BareMetal hardware), it also enables them to streamline their expenses, and move from CapEx to OpEx. It consists of pre-deployed Nutanix clusters, exclusive to the Hosted Private Cloud powered by Nutanix offering, including:

  • Pre-installed Nutanix software.
  • Latest generation OVHcloud High Grade HCI Bare Metal servers for optimal performance.
  • Configurations starting with a minimum of three-high performance nodes with built in resiliency. 
  • Choice of hosting locations in North American data centers in Beauharnois (Canada) and European data centers in Roubaix (France) and Gravelines (France).
  • Flexible, on-demand infrastructure with instant, fully automated access and provisioning. This allows organizations to easily scale up capacity as processing and storage requirements change.

Availability

Announced at Ecosystem Experience in November 2021, OVHcloud’s Hosted Private Cloud powered by Nutanix solution is available now in Canada and Europe. Prices start at $8120 per month, including the Nutanix software, with a minimum configuration of three nodes and a 24-month commitment. Like all OVHcloud products, this offering is based on a robust and sustainable infrastructure. It features an outstanding price/performance ratio in the industry and predictable pricing and allows organizations the choice of location so they can maintain control of their cloud strategy, security, and data. In addition, thanks to its vertically integrated business model, OVHcloud can offer its customers infrastructures that both meet its commitments to an ethical cloud and are sustainable as a result of resource efficiency and circular economy.

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Adoption of telemedicine platforms could save governments up to $1 billion per year By 2025: Dialogue & Sun Life

Posted in Commentary with tags , on March 17, 2022 by itnerd

Dialogue Health Technologies Inc. Canada’s premier health and wellness virtual healthcare platform and Sun Life Financial Inc. co-sponsored a report analyzing the economic impacts associated with Dialogue’s telemedicine adoption in Canada’s healthcare system. The Economic Impact of Telemedicine in Canada report, compiled by AppEco, evaluates the net benefits that Dialogue and Lumino Health Virtual Care offer to Canadian governments, employers and patients.

The report underlines the historical growth and continued adoption of telemedicine services in Canada.

The report reveals that increased adoption of telemedicine platforms Lumino Health Virtual Care, powered by Dialogue, directly translate into cost and strain reduction on Canada’s healthcare system. The study was conducted specifically on Dialogue and Lumino Health Virtual Care’s operating models, which allow employers to invest in the health and well-being of employees; consultations are never charged to provincial governments.

For example, on average, a visit to the emergency department in Canada costs the public healthcare system $202 while a visit to a doctor’s office or clinic costs $44 per consultation. Economic modelling suggests that telemedicine platforms, such as Dialogue and Lumino Health Virtual Care, save the Canadian healthcare system $52 on average for every consultation that would have otherwise taken place through standard public care.

As telemedicine adoption rates continue to rise, it is estimated that by 2025 platforms like Dialogue could save governments up to $1 billion per year.

The Economic Impact of Telemedicine in Canada report also addresses the economic benefits to Canadian employers that adopt telemedicine platforms like Dialogue and Lumino Health Virtual Care. Companies that offer Dialogue telemedicine as part of their group benefits see on average a 32% Return on Investment (ROI), which considers productivity lost to employee transportation, waiting times, net cost of service and other factors associated with in-person care.

Dialogue and Sun Life co-sponsored this study to evaluate the economic benefits of corporate paid virtual care for governments, employers and employees.

Methodology

Net benefits were derived based on direct reduction of public payments to physicians and emergency rooms operations, reduced absenteeism from work (transportation and wait times), the average cost of a teleconsultation for employers, and cost savings for the patients from avoided transportation.

Cost estimates were based on official data sources such as the Canadian Institute for Health Information and Statistics Canada, as well as economic literature, and government publications.  Calculations were done on the basis of one teleconsultation that would have otherwise taken place at a clinic, at the emergency department, or that would not have occurred. These three possibilities were then averaged based on their respective likelihood as documented in the literature. As such, the estimates take into account the share of teleconsultations that represents new utilization, in addition to the share that constitutes substitutions.

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FTC Looks To Fine CafePress For Failing To Secure Data And Covering Up A Data Breach

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 17, 2022 by itnerd

The FTC is looking to fine the former owner of CafePress, a custom t-shirt and merchandises site, $500,000 for failing to secure its users’ data and attempting to cover up a significant data breach, which impacted millions. The former owner, Residual Pumpkin Entity, was found storing its customers’ SSNs and passwords in plain text, showing ‘shoddy security practices’, noted the FTC.

Saumitra Das, CTO and Co-Founder, Blue Hexagon had this to say:

 “In this case, CafePress is dealing with customer data as sensitive as SSNs. Organizations need to understand where their data is stored, which data is sensitive and who has access to the data and from where.”

 “Securing data and its access is as critical as networks, identity and endpoints. Assuming every other defense fails, securing data from being exfiltrated or ransomed is critical. 

With the increasing usage of cloud storage which surprisingly still happens to be misconfigured all the time, this issue becomes even more prevalent.”

Hopefully the FTC smacks this guy silly as this is completely unacceptable. Companies need to do more to make sure data is secure. And the fact that a data breach was covered up makes this all the worse.

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Guest Post: Internet Penetration Worldwide Reaches 66% In 2022 Says Atlas VPN

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 17, 2022 by itnerd

The internet has a significant impact on how people learn, communicate, conduct business, and go about their daily lives.

According to the data presented by the Atlas VPN team, internet penetration worldwide to reach 66% by the end of 2022 Q1. North America and Europe remain the only regions with an internet penetration rate of about 90% among their population.

North America leads the world in internet penetration rate with 93.4%. The US and Canada have a well-developed internet infrastructure allowing easy access. In total, North America accommodates over 347 million internet users.

Europe is second in penetration rate as 88.4% of Europeans are internet users. More than 743 million Europeans are connected to the world wide web.

Latin America and the Caribbean region have an internet penetration rate of 80.4%. Despite the high percentage rate, many countries in the Latin American region have uneven coverage, coupled with high data and device costs.

Countries in the Middle East provide internet to 76.4% of their population. Wealthier countries like UAE or Qatar have a penetration rate of nearly 100%. However, war-torn countries such as Syria or Yemen have a shallow internet penetration percentage due to most infrastructure being destroyed.

Oceania and Australia have an internet penetration rate of 70.1%. While Australia and New Zealand accommodate nearly 90% of their population with the internet, many Pacific Islands have not invested in internet infrastructure.

Asia’s internet penetration rate is 64.1%. Even though the percentage is below the world average, Asia has the largest population of nearly 2.8 billion internet users. That makes up about 53% of all internet users worldwide.

Africa has the lowest internet penetration rate as only 43.1% of the population has access to the world wide web. The region accommodates about 601 million internet users.

Cybersecurity writer at Atlas VPN Vilius Kardelis shares his thoughts on internet freedom:

“Increasing internet penetration rate makes the world more connected. It has become a necessity for most people, which helps communicate and find information like never before. However, the internet must stay out of government control and be open to everyone, so internet users would reap the benefits it brings.”

Internet censorship

Despite the increasing internet penetration rate worldwide, some countries impose internet restrictions.

Chinese state-owned internet service providers block various websites such as Wikipedia, Google, YouTube, etc. Such censorship severely limits the freedom of the press.

After the invasion of Ukraine, similar methods of censorship are being established in Russia as well. The country is seeking to close off its citizens from outside information by banning social media platforms and western media outlets, making it impossible to access them without a VPN.

To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/internet-adoption-worldwide-surpass-65-in-2022-led-by-north-america

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Infosec Institute Named A Security Awareness & Training Strong Performer By Forrester 

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 17, 2022 by itnerd

Infosec Institute, a leading cybersecurity education company, today announced it has been named a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave™: Security Awareness and Training Solutions, Q1 2022 report. The report ranks the 11 most significant security awareness training companies based on Current Offering, Strategy and Market Presence categories using 30 criteria. Infosec was among the top two ranked in the Current Offering category based on learner content, risk quantification, reporting capabilities, security culture betterment and other criteria. 

The Forrester Wave™ states, “Infosec provides a comprehensive, customer-focused solution for today’s market. Long-established Infosec Institute bases its vision on three pillars — learner engagement, human risk measurement, and exceptional customer experience — that are all fundamental to present and future market needs…Infosec has delivered on its promise of gamification: The award-winning Choose Your Own Adventure Games complement a set of creative, engaging, and inclusive content, including animation; customer references were delighted with the quality and variety of this content.” 

The report also notes, ”The vendor has a team dedicated to customer support that displays client obsession at all points and consistently gets rave reviews from reference customers. Security leaders interested in working with a vendor that deeply understands them and which provides a quality solution should investigate Infosec.”

Infosec’s role-guided security education platforms — Infosec IQ and Infosec Skills —  help individuals and organizations protect their data, mitigate risk and empower employees through education. Today, more than five million learners worldwide are more cyber-resilient from Infosec IQ’s security awareness and phishing training, and more than 70% of the Fortune 500 have relied on Infosec Skills to develop their security talent and teams.

The report is produced by Forrester Research, Inc., a leading global research and advisory firm. Forrester’s research assessed vendors on a weighted scale that ranks capabilities across multiple categories. 

You can get a complimentary copy of The Forrester Wave™: Security Awareness and Training Solutions 2022 report via the link.

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Check Point Study Says Mobile apps Have Exposed Data

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 17, 2022 by itnerd

Check Point Research released findings on 2113 mobile apps which exposed user data via cloud misconfigurations. Check Point Research has warned that bad practices in cloud-based applications could lead to serious security breaches, exposing chat messages, personal information, token IDs, data from crypto exchanges and more.

Saumitra Das, CTO and Co-Founder, Blue Hexagon had this to say:

 “Many mobile applications are built by small teams and startups that almost universally use public cloud-based backend for speed of development and deployment. The lack of security teams and the complexity of cloud deployments can further exacerbate the chance of a data breach due to cloud misconfigurations. Dealing with cloud misconfigurations is challenging even for large mature security organizations so it is even more likely to affect the smaller teams that are typically involved with mobile app development.”

Chris Olson, CEO, The Media Trust added:

“Mobile app breaches caused by back-end misconfigurations have become an all-too-common occurrence. It’s not the only part of the development process that can cause security issues either: app developers regularly use unsafe third-party code that may collect and share user data in unsafe ways that are susceptible to attack.”

“These facts are particularly concerning, given that today’s cyber actors are increasingly targeting organizations and their employees through digital surfaces like websites and mobile apps. Both have often been overlooked as a source of cybersecurity risk – but that is an oversight with dangerous ramifications.”

Finally, Aimei Wei, CTO and Founder, Stellar Cyber had this to say:

“It is crucial that security consideration be taken as an integral part of almost every software application development. Cyber security issue may not only lead to business impact or financial impact, it could also lead to physical security risks. As shown in this research paper, mobile applications can leak critical user data via cloud misconfiguration. If user’s location coordinates data are leaked, that can be used to track people and put them at risk in a physical world. It is imperative that application providers implement security practices and leverage security solutions to ensure the user data is secure.”

The days of Facebook like app development, meaning get it done fast and get it out the door are over. Anyone who makes an app needs to make sure that they get the security right. And what would really help that if there was legislation that was in place that punished those who didn’t get it right. Because consumers deserve better.

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