OVHcloud Meets Growing Request For Flexible Hybrid Cloud With Data Center As-A-Service Offering

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 10, 2022 by itnerd

OVHcloud, Europe’s leading cloud service provider, is increasingly focusing on its Data Center as-a-Service offering as a response to the growing demand from companies for a hybrid cloud that provides flexibility, security, and scalability. OVHcloud is addressing these needs by anchoring the principles of digital sovereignty, cost predictability and interoperability, the pillars of the company’s vision.

The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated the importance of a hybrid cloud model that balances cloud-centric capabilities distributed everywhere and used as-a-service with the control of a legacy environment. For organizations that were on the path to cloud adoption, it was relatively easy to quickly scale up cloud-based resources for employees who suddenly found themselves operating remotely, as well as applications to easily meet business needs. At the same time however, resistance has emerged from some on the use of the public cloud, particularly regarding the localization of resources and the requirements of regulatory compliance and security for sectors such as financial services, healthcare, and others.

Helping Canadian companies navigate the challenges of hybrid cloud

A recent survey shows that more than half of Canadian organizations rely on hybrid IT environments and plan on spending more to combine on-premise and cloud deployments in order to choose the right environment for each workload.  With the aim of overcoming concerns about cloud usage and ensuring better interoperability between the public cloud and customers’ on-premises infrastructure, OVHcloud has introduced the Data Center as-a-service (DCaaS) offering, a new generation of solutions that bring together the hardware and software assets of a cloud provider that can be deployed in any data center.

DCaaS is a pre-integrated cloud services system offering a pool of shared resources dedicated to a single enterprise. Only accessible and fully controlled by the enterprise, this solution ensures a sovereign, trustable and sustainable environment to handle datacenter operations.

Local dedicated cloud-as-a-service is an important development in enabling hybrid cloud environments for organizations to integrate and orchestrate workloads between dedicated and public clouds based on the characteristics and business impact of different workloads. An IDC survey conducted in August 2020* shows that 17% of Canadian organizations were migrating their core business applications to the cloud, indicating that a modern on-prem environment is still at the heart of their digital transformation strategy.

More freedom to scale in a secure, transparent environment

Based on OVHcloud’s open standards and latest technologies, DCaaS meets all the criteria to ensure smooth cloud deployments, including agility, scalability, and the consumption model that users expect, as well as self-service provisioning and simplified implementations for end users through preconfigured and integrated workflows. This dedicated on-premises cloud solution ensures the level of control, management and performance traditionally associated with legacy infrastructures, providing at the same time cloud-like capabilities meeting the highest standards in terms of governance, compliance and security. 

Also benefiting from OVHcloud’s vertically integrated model in the design and management of their own datacenters, organizations have the flexibility to deploy their infrastructure on-premises or within a dedicated private zone in any of OVHcloud’s datacenters. From a single rack in one OVHcloud datacenter to multiple on-premises datacenters, the DCaaS offering ensures the modularity that Canadian companies are looking for to optimize their hybrid cloud journey. They will also experience usage-based cost predictability and the assurance of regular upgrades of their environment with the latest, best-of-breed technologies used by OVHcloud. 

To learn more about DCaaS, download the IDC InfoBrief for free: https://www.ovhcloud.com/en-ca/enterprise/idc-InfoBrief-dcaas/

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A New Reason To #DeleteSpotify …. Joe Rogan Speaks About Child Sex Abuse And It Doesn’t Go Well

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 10, 2022 by itnerd

I am beginning to wonder what it will take for Joe Rogan to be punted from Spotify. Or put another way, what line does he have to cross before Spotify says that having him on their platform isn’t worth it. I ask this question because Yahoo News has a story on the latest source of outrage related to Rogan via his latest podcast episode. Brace yourselves:

Speaking with stand-up comic Akaash Singh during a three-hour interview, Rogan said that boys who have sexual relationships with older women are “going to be fine” provided that the woman is not “gross”.

The pair discussed a female friend of Rogan’s who allegedly had an affair with a 30-year-old teacher when she was in high school, and the songs that have inspired men to write about lusting after underage women.

Referencing The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” or Gene Simmons “Christine Sixteen”, Rogan noted: “No one would write a song about that today. You’d be like, wait a minute, are you saying you want to f*** kids? Is that your song? Hey! No! I’m not gonna – I’m just saying don’t stand so close to me.”

Rogan continued that the “crazy thing” is that “no one gives a f*** if it’s a 15-year-old boy and a 30-year-old lady” before Singh interjected: “G’s up.”

I seriously need a shower after reading that because this is just gross and wrong on so many levels. Including the fact that if you look at Spotify’s own platform rules, this appears to violate those rules. Let me illustrate what rule he’s violated:

And what happens if you break those rules? This is what is supposed to happen:

As far as I am aware, Rogan’s podcast is still there.

So I once again ask this question. At what point does Spotify decide that Rogan needs to be punted from their platform? Or is Daniel Ek (CEO of Spotify) and company simply holding their noses while they hope that their $100 million gamble pays off for them. Assuming that the world doesn’t join the #DeleteSpotify movement first.

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A New Fake Windows 11 Installer Is Making The Rounds

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 10, 2022 by itnerd

Windows 11 is “the new hotness” from Microsoft. And it requires you to watch your back as there are fake Windows 11 installers out there that will pwn your computer. The latest one was discovered by HP and outlined on their Threat Research Blog:

Threat actors are always looking for topical lures to socially engineer victims into infecting systems. We recently analyzed one such lure, namely a fake Windows 11 installer. On 27 January 2022, the day after the final phase of the Windows 11 upgrade was announced, we noticed a malicious actor registered the domain windows-upgraded[.]com, which they used to spread malware by tricking users into downloading and running a fake installer. The domain caught our attention because it was newly registered, imitated a legitimate brand and took advantage of a recent announcment. The threat actor used this domain to distribute RedLine Stealer, an information stealing malware family that is widely advertised for sale within underground forums.

Now the RedLine Stealer malware is pretty deadly. As far as I am aware, it is currently the most widely deployed password, browser cookies, credit card, and cryptocurrency wallet info grabber, so its infections can have dire consequences for the victims.

My advice is that if you’re looking for Windows 11, and you qualify for an upgrade because you have the right hardware, simply wait for it to hit your PC. If you don’t qualify for an upgrade because you don’t have the right hardware, don’t try to find a “hack” or something similar to get it on your computer as that may end badly for you.

UPDATE: Saryu Nayyar, CEO and Founder, Gurucul had this to say:

“Attackers can be extremely effective using commodity malware for their efforts. This shows that a threat actor doesn’t need to be sophisticated to be successful. It also shows that an initial compromise and foothold in an organization is almost impossible to defend against. Organizations must focus on improved and more advanced analytics for faster detection of threats. Behavioral modeling and analytics would especially be useful here as it could determine that an unusual domain was being communicated with and a zip archive was being downloaded that would be labeled as abnormal or suspicious activity. In addition, any harvesting of credentials and sensitive data being exfiltrated would also be a potential red flag. However, this does require a combination of non-rule-based machine learning to identify newer variances to the attack and also being able to categorize and escalate suspicious security events into a known attack campaign so that security teams can respond before damage is incurred, in this case continuous theft of credentials over time.”

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CISA, FBI, NSA Ransomware Trend Advisory Issued

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 9, 2022 by itnerd

The CISA, FBI, NISA and International Partners have issued an advisory on ransomware trends in 2021, citing ongoing trends of growth in phishing, cybercriminal services-for-hire and an increasing impact for ransomware groups. The advisory, titled “2021 Trends Show Increased Globalized Threat of Ransomware”, outlines trends seen across three nations, including:

  • Cybercriminals are increasingly gaining access to networks via phishing, stolen Remote Desktop Protocols (RDP) credentials or brute force, and exploiting software vulnerabilities.
  • The market for ransomware became increasingly “professional” and there has been an increase in cybercriminal services-for-hire.
  • More and more, ransomware groups are sharing victim information with each other, including access to victims’ networks.
  • Cybercriminal are diversifying their approaches extorting money.
  • Ransomware groups are having an increasing impact thanks to approaches targeting the cloud, managed service providers, industrial processes and the software supply chain.
  • Ransomware groups are increasingly targeting organizations on holidays and weekends.

The advisory is very much worth reading. But Chris Olson, CEO of The Media Trust has had a look and offers this commentary:

“Despite the amount of news coverage devoted to cyberattacks, no amount of awareness seems to stunt their growth. The frequency of ransomware attacks in the first half of 2021, increased by nearly 100% from just the year before and the average cost, including payout and recovery, is estimated at $2 million.” 

“I call this the new mafia; as the cybercriminal underclass grows, so does the black market for malware, exploits and sensitive data harvesting. With these shadow markets in place, hacking skills aren’t needed to target a business or its customers: nation states, terrorist groups and profit-seekers can infiltrate a business by simply paying someone else to do it for them.”

“It doesn’t take god-like powers to pull off a ransomware attack, all it takes is the basic knowhow to exploit backdoor channels hidden across all modern websites and applications.”

I’ve said this repeatedly that organizations of all sizes must do all that they can to protect themselves from cybercrime. The time for excuses on this front is running out. Which means that if you’re not stepping up to the plate, you’re stepping up to get pwned.

UPDATE: Saryu Nayyar, CEO and Founder, Gurucul added this commentary:

“Phishing attacks on remote workers are compounding successful initial compromises as home networks are much less secure. Combined with traditional corporate phishing attacks it is no surprise why compromise is inevitable and these types of attacks are the primary mechanism by which ransomware gets a foothold in most organizations. The rapid move to cloud infrastructure means that security has followed rather than led making these environments more susceptible to attack than on-premise networks. We know that targeting these environments is a top attacker initiative for 2022. Perimeter and defensive technologies are not enough to stop these types of attacks. Organizations need to invest in newer and more advanced technologies for monitoring, detection and response much earlier in the attack kill chain to be successful. This requires looking at more advanced analytics and behavioral profiling beyond what current XDR and SIEM solutions offer. In addition, the current class of rule-based machine learning (ML) in these solutions is incapable of identifying new variants and emerging ransomware threats.”

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New Lazarus Campaign Targets Those In The Defence industry

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 9, 2022 by itnerd

Qualys Senior Engineer of Threat Research Akshat Pradhan has identified a new campaign from Lazarus hackers targeting the defense industry with fake Lockheed Martin job offers.

The Qualys Research Team recently identified a new Lazarus campaign using employment phishing lures targeting the defence sector. The identified variants target job applicants for Lockheed Martin Corporation, which is an American aerospace, arms, defence, information security, and technology corporation. This is thematically similar to other observed variants where Lazarus has posed as defence companies like Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems with job openings. We refer to this campaign as “LolZarus” due to the use of different lolbins in observed samples, some of which are the lolbin’s first recorded usage by a well-known adversary.

The campaign works by attacking hopeful job applicants in the defense industry by sending targeted phishing documents pretending to offer employment opportunities. The documents contain malicious macros which trigger shellcode to hijack control flow, retrieve decoy documents and create Scheduled tasks for persistence.

Saryu Nayyar, CEO and Founder, Gurucul had this to say:

“These types of phishing attacks are a perfect example of how threat actors easily compromise systems in an organization. They are almost impossible to defend against despite email security and employee training. Outside of the initial compromise methodology, it is especially hard for security teams to identify this new attack out of the gate until a threat research team uncovers and analyzes the campaign. In this case is a new variant of attacks typically used by a known state-sponsored hacking group. The worst part is that it uses capabilities that mimic real activity to further hide malicious intent. Even with current XDR and traditional SIEM tools, it is a big challenge for security teams to identify the campaign once the initial compromise occurs based on the various techniques used because slight changes in creating the variant often circumvents these tools detection capabilities. Customers need to invest more in behavioral based analytics solutions, that not baselines normal user and asset activity, but can self-learn what is normal and abnormal in order to better prioritize threat activity. Rule-based machine learning (ML) models cannot do this pro-actively and require a vendor update based on the discovered research. This does not provide immediate detection against these previously-unknown variants.”

This campaign highlights the fact that everyone needs to be trained to not get fooled by these phishing attacks. Here’s some tips to avoid being that person or company who gets pwned.

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The Samsung Galaxy S22 Series Devices Are Now Available For Pre-Order At TELUS

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 9, 2022 by itnerd

TELUS is excited to confirm that the new Samsung Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+ and Galaxy S22 Ultra devices are now available for pre-order at TELUS. The latest Samsung devices will be available for purchase in-store and online at telus.com on February 25, 2022.

Customers can get these iconic Samsung devices for as little as $0 upfront, interest free, and pay for the device over 24 equal payments with TELUS Easy Payment®. For a limited time only, TELUS customers who pre-order their new device today, on a minimum two-year term, will get twice the storage at no extra costs – a savings of up to $140. Plus, they can save big and receive these devices at our absolute best cost when they sign up for our Bring-It-Back program®.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra is equipped with Samsung’s latest groundbreaking innovations, including:

  • Nightography video  – Capture the night with crystal-clear, bright videos.
  • S Pen Editing and Precision – The iconic S Pen is now embedded within the Galaxy S22 Ultra. 
  • Two Day Battery – Power every scroll, click, tap and stream all day long and then some with an intelligent long lasting battery.
  • A sleek meets strong design – Classy, eye-catching glass-metal-glass design, with the latest Gorilla Glass and the strongest aluminum frame yet on a Galaxy device.

With TELUS, customers have access to all the latest 5G-enabled devices – including the Samsung Galaxy S22 Series – while also joining the 5G network that gives back to Canadians in-need through programs, like Mobility for Good®, which helps youth aging out of foster care and low-income seniors stay connected to what matters most.

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HP Amplify Impact Celebrates One Year Anniversary With Global Expansion In 24 Countries

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 9, 2022 by itnerd

Today HP Inc. announced the expansion of HP Amplify™ Impact to an additional 24 countries2 across Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Japan. Now available in 43 countries around the globe, the first of its kind partner assessment, resource, and training program provides >10,000 partners with the opportunity to join HP in its efforts to generate meaningful impact on Climate Action, Human Rights and Digital Equity.

Launched one year ago in support of HP’s goal to become the most sustainable and just technology company by 2030, the HP Amplify Impact Program has trained, educated and empowered >1,400 partners to drive change while maximizing opportunities with sustainability as a key competitive differentiator. HP’s commitment to Sustainable Impact helped the company to win more than $3.5 billion in new sales in fiscal year 211 representing a >3x annual increase.

As a result of decades spent working towards sustainability goals, HP is recognized as one of the world’s most sustainable companies and is well-poised to continue to support the HP Amplify partner community with the resources required to identify potential gaps and provide the guidance necessary to achieve partner objectives.

Access to World-Class Sustainability Resources

HP has set an ambitious goal of enrolling at least 50 percent of its HP Amplify partners in the voluntary program by 2025. To date, 20% of HP’s partners have signed the HP Amplify Impact pledge, exceeding the target of 10% for the first year of the program.

Features now available on the HP Amplify Impact Initiatives Hub include the industry’s first, automated, modular sustainability planning platform with new, advanced capabilities, including Carbon Footprint and 360 Diversity Equity & Inclusion assessments, along with toolkits designed to inspire community volunteer projects.  

HP Amplify Impact – Call to Action

Partners who choose to take the HP Amplify Impact pledge in qualified countries can choose between two distinct tracks:

  • Catalyst: Catalyst members take the HP Amplify Impact Pledge, participate in a sustainability assessment, and report sales opportunities. Catalyst partners have access to world-class resources through the new HP Amplify Impact Initiatives Hub and an opportunity to be recognized via an annual awards program. New country eligibility includes Poland, Switzerland, Czech, Slovakia, Romania, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Iceland, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, New Zealand, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea. Initial roll out encompassed 19 countries including United States, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, UAE, Singapore, Philippines, India, Germany, UK, Sweden, Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, South Africa, and Australia.
  • Changemaker: The Changemaker track is optimized to assist partners that do not yet have a sustainability strategy in place in support of the development of a long-term sustainability plan. Initial roll out encompassed 7 countries including France, Italy, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Australia and select partners in the United States.

The HP Amplify Impact program provides partners of all levels with training, sales tools, marketing assets, and access to HP’s Sustainability & Compliance Centre (SCC), HP LIFE and HP Planet Partners. Partners have shown tremendous interest in these resources with more than 1,500 partners having completed HP sustainability training and over 1,000 HP LIFE courses3.

Participating partners will be recognized via certification and a global annual awards program. Award categories include the Sustainability as a Business Opportunity Award, Most Comprehensive DE&I Strategy Award, Planet Partner Award, Carbon Footprint Award and Community Award. Submissions and award category details are available on the HP Partner Portal.

For additional details on HP Amplify Impact, visit their newsroom.

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Waze Brings Cheeky Cupid To Your Drives

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 9, 2022 by itnerd

Whether you’re into Valentine’s Day celebrations or over them, the greatest matchmaker of all time, Cupid, is here to guide you through the ups and downs of love on the road with the latest driving experience on Waze. With nearly 3,000 years(!) of experience bringing couples together, and personal lessons learned on his journey to find a special someone, you’ll hear Cupid’s words of wisdom — and some hot takes — on the state of dating and love in 2022. 

For some extra Valentine’s Day spirit, pair Cupid’s voice with the limited edition Lovewagon and a Cupid Mood to help (literally) spread the love on Waze.

​​Chocolate, candy hearts or a dozen long-stemmed roses are great Valentine’s Day standbys. But Cupid knows the real route to love: a keen eye for a match, a magic arrow, his sage words… and a fun, traffic-free journey to your destination. So, what are you waiting for? 

See the full Cupid experience or tap “My Waze” in your Waze app and click the Cupid banner to activate. It’ll be available everywhere, in English, for a limited time.

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Guest Post: Atlas VPN Says That 50% Of Malicious Office Documents Were Downloaded Via Google Drive in 2021

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 9, 2022 by itnerd

Widely used Google and Microsoft products often become attacker tools to spread malware because of the large userbase and trustable service, which convinces people to fall for hacker tricks more easily.

According to the data presented by the Atlas VPN team, users downloaded 50% of malicious office documents out of all malware from Google Drive in 2021. Furthermore, 37% of all malware downloads are malicious office documents.

Google Drive overtook the top spot from Microsoft OneDrive, which led malicious office document download apps in 2020 with 34%.

Microsoft OneDrive represents 19% of malicious office documents of all malware downloads. For years, attackers have abused OneDrive by creating accounts specifically for hosting malware or hijacking them from legitimate users.

Another Microsoft product, Sharepoint, ranks third as victims used the application to download 15% of malicious office documents.

Google Gmail service attributed to 4% of malicious office documents of all malware downloads. At the same time, Box was responsible for 3% of office documents carrying malware.

Cybersecurity writer at Atlas VPN Vilius Kardelis shares his thoughts on cloud application attacks:

“Cybercriminals abuse cloud applications for personal benefits because such services are gaining more users in recent times. Attackers can spread malware and steal data by targeting unsuspecting users with malicious documents. Securing your cloud apps with user authentication and threat monitoring tools will help mitigate malware attacks.”

Office documents used to spread malware

Cybercriminals create free accounts, upload malicious files and share them publicly or with specific victims.

In the first quarter of 2020, the percentage of malicious office documents out of all downloaded malware was 19%. However, in Q2 2020, the number jumped significantly to 46%.

In Q3 and Q4 2020, the percentage of office documents being malware downloads declined to 36% and 29%, respectively. Another significant malware burst happened at the start of 2021 when malicious document downloads reached 43%.

After a slight dip to 35% in Q3 2021, the percentage of malicious office documents settled at 37% in Q4 2021. The Emotet’s success led other cybercriminals to distribute malicious files with similar techniques.

To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/50-of-malicious-office-documents-were-downloaded-via-google-drive-in-2021

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Facebook Now Says It’s Not Threatening To Leave Europe…. But Europe Should #DeleteFacebook Anyway

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 9, 2022 by itnerd

A couple of days ago, news surfaced that if Meta/Facebook didn’t get its way in terms of processing EU data in the US, they would pull out of Europe. And when European politicians heard that, they were fine with that. Now it seems that Meta/Facebook has changed its tune via this blog post which is written by Markus Reinisch, Vice President of Public Policy Europe at Meta/Facebook:

There has been reporting in the press that we are “threatening” to leave Europe because of the uncertainty over EU-US data transfers mechanisms. This is not true. Like all publicly-traded companies, we are legally required to disclose material risks to our investors. Last week, as we have done in our previous four financial quarters, we disclosed that continuing uncertainty over EU-US data transfers mechanisms poses a threat to our ability to serve European consumers and operate our business in Europe. We have absolutely no desire to withdraw from Europe; of course we don’t. But the simple reality is that Meta, like many other businesses, organisations and services, relies on data transfers between the EU and the US in order to operate our global services.

The way I read this is that Meta/Facebook tried to bluff the EU by saying “We’ll take our ball and leave if we don’t get what we want, and your businesses who rely on our advertising and exposure will all wither and die and you’ll lose tax revenue.” The EU in response called their bluff by saying “Great. The door is over there. Don’t let it hit you on the way out.” Now Meta/Facebook is trying to gracefully walk this back.

Busted!

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