Authenticating to remote services with only a password is a thing of the past. Modern attack techniques make theft and reuse of passwords simple, yet we continue to use them to secure pretty much everything. In this post, we will review the various risks associated with password authentication and discuss what can be done to improve our security posture.
Category: Blog Posts
A general category containing all posts except current events
Petya and WannaCrypt Ransomware Propagation
Recently, the Internet has been overrun with ransomware - software designed to take advantage of users by encrypting their data and holding the keys for ransom. In this post, we will use the concepts of access and authorization to assess this malware and better understand why it was so successful.
Think Like a Hacker: A Sysadmin’s Guide to Cybersecurity
Think Like a Hacker is designed for systems administrators interested in the cybersecurity field as well as information security professionals interested in secure systems design.
Prologue – Think Like a Hacker
Think Like a Hacker is designed to take an IT professional with an interest in cybersecurity on a journey through how an attacker thinks about a network, while posing new theoretical models on how to analyze their network through the lens of a targeted attacker. This book is not be your typical security book that focuses … Continue reading Prologue – Think Like a Hacker
“But I Reset the Password” – Remediating an Enterprise After a Targeted Attack
Determined human adversaries, or DHA for short, have changed the information security game for everyone. Many customers take actions in attempt to evict an emplaced attacker – actions that result in alerting the attacker to the organization’s knowledge of their presence, but don’t truly evict the attacker from the network. In this blog, we will … Continue reading “But I Reset the Password” – Remediating an Enterprise After a Targeted Attack
Understanding Ransomware, Such as WannaCrypt, and their Origins and Evolution
WannaCrypt has been all over the news lately, discussing its impact and repeating details from cybersecurity analysts. In this post, we look at ransomware and its origins to gain a better understanding of WannaCrypt.
Understanding the Vulnerability in Intel’s Management Technology
Recently, social media and news sources have been thoroughly covering a vulnerability in Intel's various management technologies. Although there is definitely reason to be concerned, there appears to be a bit of misinformation about the vulnerability, likely either due to sensationalism or lack of research. As such, I felt it beneficial to provide a view … Continue reading Understanding the Vulnerability in Intel’s Management Technology
Understanding and Preventing Pass the Hash Attacks
Pass the hash is one of most prevalent techniques used in targeted attacks today, due to its ease of use and effectiveness. Despite this prevalence, many organizations do misunderstand how the attack works and remain vulnerable. In this post, I will describe how a pass the hash attack works and provide some effective ways to … Continue reading Understanding and Preventing Pass the Hash Attacks
Patching and Vulnerability – The Plague of Portable Apps
In this post, I will cover two ways to protect your enterprise from portable apps and commodity malware using free technologies. These simple efforts can significantly improve the security of your enterprise, reduce support costs that stem from malware infection, and improve user experience.
Understanding Antivirus – Signatures, Scans, and Schedules
Antivirus, when used properly, can provide great protection for an organization if used effectively. Although antivirus may appear to be a set-it-and-forget-it software, diligence in managing antivirus can pay off. Understanding Signatures As you probably know, antivirus software works off of signatures of known malicious files. These signatures are distributed periodically to all antivirus clients, … Continue reading Understanding Antivirus – Signatures, Scans, and Schedules
