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Month: February 2017

FortinetSecurity
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Effectively Using Threat Intelligence

Credit to Author: Ken Xie| Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2017 06:09:18 -0800

If we want to get ahead of cybercrime, we must share information. A collection of companies working together to collect and share intelligence will always have better visibility into the threat landscape than one organization on its own. Seeing new threats as soon as they emerge increases our ability to respond and protect valuable resources. There is a lot of raw data for organizations to use, from both global sources and within their own networks. Unfortunately, most security infrastructures were not designed to effectively consume, correlate,…

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ComputerWorldIndependent
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Cybersecurity alliance promoting intel-sharing seeks to expand

Credit to Author: Michael Kan| Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2017 04:48:00 -0800

The Cyber Threat Alliance, a group of security firms that often compete, is seeking to expand. In an effort to recruit more members, the Cyber Threat Alliance is announcing that it’s become a not-for-profit. In addition, a former White House official will be its new leader.

 

Rivals including Fortinet, Intel Security, Palo Alto Networks and Symantec originally entered into the alliance over two years ago, even as doubts arose over whether it would last.

The intelligence sharing between the vendors will also accelerate. Before it was done manually, and involved sharing 1,000 malware samples each day. But alliance members have built a platform that will now automate the information sharing in real-time.

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ComputerWorldIndependent
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Researcher develops ransomware attack that targets water supply

Credit to Author: Michael Kan| Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2017 04:35:00 -0800

A security researcher is showing that it’s not hard to hold industrial control systems for ransom. He’s experimented with a simulated water treatment system based on actual programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and documented how these can be hacked.

David Formby, a PhD student at Georgia Institute of Technology, conducted his experiment to warn the industry about the danger of poorly secured PLCs. These small dedicated computers can be used to control important factory processes or utilities, but are sometimes connected to the internet.

For instance, Formby found that 1,500 of these industrial PLCs are accessible online, he said while speaking at the RSA cybersecurity conference on Monday. It’s not hard to imagine a hacker trying to exploit these exposed PLCs, he added. Cybercriminals have been infecting businesses across the world with ransomware, a form of malware that can hold data hostage in exchange for bitcoin.

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ComputerWorldIndependent
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IBM Watson: Regular A.I. by day, cybercrime fighter by night

Credit to Author: Rebecca Linke| Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2017 04:11:00 -0800

IBM Watson is an artificial intelligence of many talents. 

It can win Jeopardy!, help find treatment for cancer patients — and now it can find cyberthreats. That’s right, Watson is becoming a cybersecurity expert. So how has IBM helped Watson change hats?

In IT Blogwatch, this reminds us of something.

So what is going on? Alison DeNisco has some background:

IBM Watson has a new job: Cybersecurity specialist. At the RSA Conference…IBM announced the availability of Watson for Cyber Security, with the aim of assisting cybersecurity professionals with threat assessment and mitigation…The company said it is the industry’s first augmented intelligence technology with the ability to power cognitive security operations centers (SOCs).

But what need does Watson fill here? Ian Barker has those details:

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ComputerWorldIndependent
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Worried about hacks, senators want info about Trump’s personal phone

Credit to Author: John Ribeiro| Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2017 03:09:00 -0800

Two senators have written to the U.S. Department of Defense about reports that President Donald Trump may still be using an old unsecured Android phone, including to communicate through his Twitter account.

“While it is important for the President to have the ability to communicate electronically, it is equally important that he does so in a manner that is secure and that ensures the preservation of presidential records,” Tom Carper, a Democrat from Delaware, and Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, wrote in the letter, which was made public Monday.

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