Although the objective of achieving comprehensive cybersecurity measures is not a recent one, it remains an ongoing challenge. Software developers frequently view cybersecurity as a potential market opportunity, motivated to develop an integrated suite of applications that they believe can satisfy their customers’ security requirements. In this pursuit, interoperability with other software is relegated to a secondary consideration and is given inadequate attention during the development process.

Corporations often hold different perspectives on cybersecurity. For these entities, cybersecurity encompasses the entire company’s security architecture, which can be complex due to the diverse business needs of multiple units that may not integrate easily. This is particularly relevant in critical national infrastructure, such as power plants, where automation systems are utilized and may be compatible with some cybersecurity solutions, but not others. As a result, these systems must undergo rigorous validation processes to ensure operations won’t be affected by the installation of new cybersecurity solutions.

One approach to addressing interoperability challenges in cybersecurity is to redefine the concept of “cybersecurity architecture” and think of it as if it was a single, comprehensive “cybersecurity product.” This can be compared to building a car, where the end product is not just a collection of individual components (such as windows or an engine), but rather the fully assembled vehicle. Unfortunately, achieving this level of integration has proven to be a significant challenge for the cybersecurity industry, mostly because the ultimate nature of the “cybersecurity product” is still undefined. In other words, there is no clear consensus on what constitutes a truly comprehensive cybersecurity solution, and as a result, new products are continually being developed with claims of addressing novel security concerns.

Interoperability is a necessary requirement in cybersecurity precisely because the problem of cyber threats remains unresolved. Even if all available cybersecurity software is integrated, new vulnerabilities are discovered daily, prompting the need for innovative solutions. In the previous example, a car solves the problem of mobility, whereas cybersecurity applications cannot entirely rectify the problem of cyberattacks. It is possible that a future may exist where the problem is mostly resolved, but that day has not yet arrived.

Because of this unresolved cybersecurity problem, organizations are less likely to settle on a single solution when they invest in cybersecurity solutions. While it’s in their best interest to do so, they worry they will need the newest features advertised by the newest companies coming into the marketplace. Or worse, they fear that if they are subject to a cyberattack, they will have to answer to the court of public opinion for not implementing the latest solutions.

When asked about this in a recent survey, 77% of respondents stated they would like to see more support for open standards, and 83 percent believe that a product’s integration capabilities are important (ESG & ISSA Research, 2022). Yet, in the cybersecurity market, two costly mistakes are commonly observed. First, competitors frequently develop similar functionalities to offer a comprehensive solution that displaces all other options. Second, these companies fail to recognize that their competitive interests often hinder their own innovation processes, resulting in the development of software that is neither new nor innovative. This approach creates a “moat” around their solutions, which ultimately slows down the development of additional solutions by other third-party providers. In the cybersecurity industry, there is often a disconnect between the intended audience for cybersecurity software and who their vendors believe the customers at the organization are. While many agree that IT personnel should be the primary end-users of such software, we can’t have IT people everywhere; cybersecurity is needed. For instance, certain organizations, such as critical national infrastructure and industrial systems, rely on non-IT experts to run their cybersecurity programs. It’s also important to recognize that the ultimate end-user of the “cybersecurity product” is neither IT or other operations personnel, but rather corporate executives and government authorities who conduct cybersecurity investigations.

Even so, many Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) are primarily trained to focus on new software features and assume that if a solution works for IT, it works for the organization as a whole. This approach is misguided and will need to be corrected. Cybersecurity is not merely about features; it is primarily about ensuring compliance, managing risk, and mitigating liabilities. In addition, cybersecurity plays a critical role in helping authorities prosecute cybercrime cases. As such, if a cybersecurity solution doesn’t work for these authorities, then the solution doesn’t work at all.

While corporate executives and government authorities are ultimately responsible for ensuring effective cybersecurity measures, IT personnel are crucial in configuring and maintaining complex software solutions. In other words, IT is an essential component of the “cybersecurity product” and not the end-user—it’s part of the car, not the driver of the car.

In addition, cybersecurity measures are essential for ensuring the security of national resources and maintaining critical infrastructure, such as the availability of electricity, water, and communication services. If the national infrastructure is not protected, the country may be unable to defend itself in future conflicts, thereby impeding the growth of the entire cybersecurity ecosystem.

About the Author

Juan Vargas, Cybersecurity and Engineering Consultant, Artech L.L.C. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Juan Vargas started his career doing data analysis at Intel Corp before focusing on automation and control systems at Emerson Electric and finally becoming a cybersecurity expert for those systems. He has worked with most control systems in power generation and on various projects for the top 10 utility companies in the United States.

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Southeast Asia’s digital economy is set to reach $363 billion in 2025. Cyber DSA 2023 aims to impart the latest knowledge and intriguing insights into cybersecurity from regulators, policymakers, military personnel, CISOs, Government officials, practitioners, and researchers worldwide. It will cover cutting-edge technologies that safeguard digital economies and foster global competitiveness.

The post CyberDSA 2023 appeared first on CISO MAG | Cyber Security Magazine.

Investments in network security are estimated to reach US$1.4bn in 2024 in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The All Access Cyber Security APAC 2023 summit will cover the shifting cybersecurity landscape, emphasizing creating organizational risk decision facilitators and upskilling and reskilling to tackle the issues first-hand.

The post All Access Cyber Security APAC 2023 appeared first on CISO MAG | Cyber Security Magazine.

Cyber attacks are an ever-growing threat in today’s tech environment. Cyber Security Asia 2023 is the platform for Cyber Security professionals in all industries to share knowledge and learn how to enhance cyber resilience and protect their core.

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The whitepaper begins by highlighting the increasing significance of API security and the potential consequences of overlooking vulnerabilities. It emphasizes the need for a proactive and holistic approach to API security, encompassing technical measures, organizational policies, and awareness. The author emphasizes that understanding and addressing the evolving threat landscape is paramount to safeguarding sensitive data and preventing unauthorized access.

Key insights from the whitepaper shed light on various best practices for API security. Firstly, the importance of adopting a robust authentication mechanism is highlighted, emphasizing the use of strong credentials, multi-factor authentication, and secure token management. Furthermore, the whitepaper emphasizes the significance of authorization and access controls, advocating for the implementation of fine-grained access restrictions and role-based access control (RBAC) to ensure that only authorized entities can access and manipulate data.

Another key insight centers around the significance of secure communication channels. The whitepaper also emphasizes using secure protocols such as HTTPS and Transport Layer Security (TLS) to encrypt data transmitted through APIs, ensuring confidentiality and integrity. Additionally, implementing secure coding practices, including input validation, output encoding, and proper error handling, is highlighted as a crucial aspect of API security.

In addition, this whitepaper addresses the importance of regular security assessments and testing to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities. It emphasizes the need for comprehensive penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and security code reviews to proactively identify and address potential weaknesses in API implementations. It also highlights the importance of secure API documentation and developer training to ensure that best practices are followed consistently throughout the development process.

To access the complete whitepaper and gain in-depth insights into API security best practices, readers can download it by submitting their details through a provided form. By doing so, organizations and professionals can equip themselves with valuable knowledge and guidance to enhance their API security posture, effectively mitigate vulnerabilities, and protect critical assets from potential threats.

In conclusion, “API Security: Best Practices for Vulnerability Mitigation” by Jagdish Mohite is a comprehensive guide for organizations and professionals aiming to fortify their API security measures. By adopting the best practices outlined in this whitepaper, organizations can enhance their resilience against evolving security threats, ensure the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive data, and foster a secure and trustworthy environment for their API ecosystem. Download the whitepaper today and embark on a journey towards robust API security implementation and mitigation of vulnerabilities.

About the Author

Jagdish Mohite is an experienced Cybersecurity Professional with 20 years of experience working for Akamai Technology as a Principal Security Consultant. He holds a Master’s degree in Cyber Security from Purdue Global and has multiple certifications, OSCP, OSWP, CRTP, CEH, CISSP, CHFI, CISA, and PMP. Jagdish earlier worked on various international engagements and was in Germany and Sweden for a few years. His work extensively contributes towards securing Web Applications and APIs; he is good at malware reverse engineering. Jagdish is based in the beautiful mountain state of Colorado in the USA.

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Microservices architecture is a more suitable way to improve the reliability and scalability of today’s software systems. In a microservices cloud-based architecture, a large application is broken down into smaller, independent services that communicate with each other through application programming interfaces (APIs). This allows for more focused development and deployment, as well as easier maintenance and scaling. A microservices approach is in stark contrast to monolithic software applications, which are built as single, unified units that are more complicated and time-consuming to build and deploy.

Site reliability engineers (SREs) appreciate the benefits of microservices because they provide faster development cycles, improved fault tolerance, and easier deployment. At the same time, they recognize that microservices bring new challenges, such as increased complexity in monitoring, tracing issues across multiple services, and recognizing the need for careful management of inter-service communication. These challenges pose significant red flags related to protecting customers from cybersecurity issues. It’s important to understand the need to maintain this type of architecture if privacy and security are going to be upheld as digital technology continues to become more sophisticated and integrated into society

Challenges of Moving Apps to Microservices

According to Varun Talwar, co-founder of Tetrate, an edge-to-workload application connectivity platform that connects companies to services across a mesh-managed environment, transitioning to a microservices architecture is a significant challenge for application modernization because many organizations operate complex systems that have been established for many years and could cause disruption of functionality if they were to be modified (Talwar, 2023).

Additionally, a survey conducted by Asperitas Consulting, a multi-disciplined solutions organization that assists companies in the implementation of cloud services, indicated that application modernization is challenging due to issues such as staffing and the unavailability of appropriate tools (Ghoshal, A., 2022).

The migration from monolith to microservices can also be a cumbersome task in and of itself. Microservices should only be considered after an evaluation of all alternative paths is conducted, according to Semaphore’s Tomas Fernandez, who also suggests that microservice applications could be best suited for software that begins as a monolith and for deployments that are not on-premises due to the nature of the customer having to manually deploy and configure everything on their own private systems (Fernandez, 2022).

One method of migration from monolith to microservices that more industry professionals are finding success with is the 12-Factor App methodology created by developers at Heroku, a cloud platform service that supports several programming languages.

Steps to this process include the following:

• having one codebase tracked in revision control, with many deploys
• declaring and isolating dependencies
• storing all configuration data separately from the code
• treating backing services as attached resources
• separating build and run stages
• ensuring the app is stateless
• exporting services through port binding
• developing the app to be concurrent
• building disposable processes so that the app can be quickly started, stopped, and redeployed without loss of data
• enabling continuous integration based on matching environments
• streaming logs to specified chosen locations
• running administrative and management tasks as one-off processes.

It is also important to note that not all legacy apps can be modernized and that APIs can be used to enable microservices.

The Benefits of Microservices

Amidst the challenges of transitioning to and operating on a microservices system, the most significant benefit is offering customers an improved user experience. According to Loris Cro, developer advocacy manager at Redis Labs, a services provider for nearly 9,000 organizations globally, end users for software developed with microservices see fewer performance issues, bugs, and general difficulties (McCall, 2020). For example, Cro points to the ability of development teams to use different languages and database systems on a per-service level as compared to monolithic applications. Despite the many benefits that microservices offer, undesirable outcomes can occur if there is an inconsistency in the services offered, high latency with app communication, or the microservices are too complex and don’t allow for extensibility, scalability, or feature additions.

The Future of Microservices

According to research, the Microservices Architecture market will rise from 5.49 billion USD in 2022 to 21.61 billion USD by 2023, expanding at a compound yearly growth rate (CAGR) of 18.66% during the forecast period (2022-2023) (Munde, 2023).

Other trends that are expected to impact the development of microservices include the following:

• improved observability and enhanced insight into microservices’ actions and ability to control communication through the service mesh reconfigurable infrastructure
• automated and optimized monitoring, incident response, capacity planning, and other operations through artificial intelligence techniques to manage software more effectively
• better reliability than single-source software development through the use of multi-cloud strategies that implement a microservices architecture (Garvit, 2023).

Although a switch to microservices-enabled software could present new security challenges as a result of their dynamic nature, companies are making the transition from monolith at a near 100-percent rate (Cloud Security Alliance, 2019). Recent research shows that 85 percent of companies are modernizing their architecture by moving to a microservices structure. The report also indicates that leading companies are twice as likely to have at least 75 percent of their apps on a microservices architecture (Solo.io). The sooner that any existing outliers conduct their conversions, the more reliable their security measures are likely to be.

About the Author

Kedarnath Mundluru is an experienced Senior Principal SRE Architect and IT Architecture with over 21 years in the field. Kedarnath has a proven track record of leading teams to develop and launch customer-focused features and products that deliver significant business value. His analytical abilities and technical expertise, combined with his critical thinking skills, made him well-suited to work in data-driven environments. Kedarnath has a deep understanding of all stages of the software development life cycle and a strong background in management and leadership.

Disclaimer

Views expressed in this article are personal. The facts, opinions, and language in the article do not reflect the views of CISO MAG and CISO MAG does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

References

Cloud Security Alliance. (2019, July 16). Challenges in Securing Application Containers and Microservices. https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/artifacts/challenges-in-securing-application-containers-and-microservices/

Fernandez, T. (2022, August 1). When Microservices Are a Bad Idea. Semaphore. https://semaphoreci.com/blog/bad-microservices

Garvit, J. (2023, March 1). Top Microservices Trends for 2023. Ecosmob. https://www.ecosmob.com/key-microservices-trends/

Ghoshal, A. (2022, August 10). IT leaders struggle with application modernization, survey finds. InfoWorld. https://www.infoworld.com/article/3669868/it-leaders-struggle-with-application-modernization-survey-finds.html

McCall, J. (2020, April 2). It’s a Great Time to Transition to Microservices Architecture. DevPro Journal. https://www.devprojournal.com/software-development-trends/devops/its-a-great-time-to-transition-to-microservices-architecture/

Munde, S., (2023, May). According to projections, the Microservices Architecture market will rise from USD 5.49 billion in 2022 to USD 21.61 billion by 2023, expanding at a compound yearly growth rate (CAGR) of 18.66% during the forecast period (2022-2023). Markets Research Future. https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/microservices-architecture-market-3149

Solo.io. (2022). Service Mesh Adoption Survey. https://www.solo.io/resources/report/2022-service-mesh-adoption-survey/

Talwar, V. (2023, March 21). Service Mesh As The Bridge To App Modernization. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/03/21/service-mesh-as-the-bridge-to-app-modernization/?sh=19f5fff19075

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With the unprecedented rise in data breaches and theft, cybersecurity has become one of the top priorities for organizations and governments. Cyberattacks can cost companies millions and even disrupt economies and business operations. With these incredibly high stakes, the demand for skilled security professionals is increasing every day.

The growing intensity and sophistication of the threat landscape has forced companies to spend a fortune on strengthening their defenses. According to a Markets and Markets report, the cybersecurity market is estimated to rise from USD 240.27 billion in 2022 to USD 345.38 billion by 2026 (Markets and Markets). EC-Council’s Essential Series offers free online cybersecurity courses to help cybersecurity aspirants break into this field and prepare them for real-world industry challenges.

This blog explores how the top 3 free online cybersecurity courses offered as a part of the Essentials Series by EC-Council can help kickstart your cybersecurity career.

What Is the Essential Series?

The Ethical Hacking Essentials (E|HE), Digital Forensics Essentials (D|FE), and Network Defense Essentials (N|DE) teach students a range of baseline cybersecurity skills across industry verticals; this essential knowledge includes ethical hacking, penetration testing, conducting forensic investigations, data security, threats and vulnerabilities, web application attacks, IoT and OT attacks, information security, and more.

These foundational courses contain detailed manuals, expert videos, and lab tutorials. Each Essentials Series course includes 12 modules with learning exercises and lab ranges (optional add-on) that provide practical, hands-on experience to help you gain proficiency in network defense, ethical hacking, and digital forensics. The series prepares students for entry-level job roles such as a cybersecurity technician. The Essentials Series courses include:

• 36 expert-designed modules
• 40+ hours of premium, self-paced training videos
• 30+ virtual lab exercises mapped to the course curriculum
• Certificate of achievement

Why the Essential Series Is the Go-To Choice for Cybersecurity Aspirants

Industry experts have designed EC-Council’s Essential Series with the goal of training students in the best industry practices, tools, and methodologies to enable them to defeat threat actors from a theoretical and tactical perspective. This initiative includes three free online cybersecurity courses with certifications to educate learners in network security, digital forensics, and ethical hacking.

The curriculum offers an unbiased learning approach and exposure to industry standards. The courses are tailored for IT and early-career professionals and cybersecurity enthusiasts looking to build their skills and get first-hand experience using the technologies and techniques of the trade. Students can expect to receive industry-recognized certifications with each course.

Free Online Cybersecurity Courses With Certifications

1. Network Defense Essentials (N|DE)
2. Digital Forensics Essentials (D|FE)
3. Ethical Hacking Essentials (E|HE)

Network Defense Essentials (N|DE)

Network Defense Essentials (N|DE) provides a holistic view of network defense and information security concepts. The interactive labs will enable you to gain foundational knowledge in cybersecurity and core competency in defending networks and investigating them.

• 12 expert-designed modules
• Official eCourseware
• 14+ hours of premium, self-paced video training
• 11 virtual lab activities (optional add-on)

Course Outline:

• Network Security Fundamentals
• Identification, Authentication, and Authorization
• Network Security Controls: Administrative Controls
• Network Security Controls: Physical Controls
• Network Security Controls: Technical Controls
• Virtualization and Cloud Computing
• Wireless Network Security
• Mobile Device Security
• Internet of Things (IoT) Device Security
• Cryptography and PKI
• Data Security
• Network Traffic Monitoring

Tools You Will Learn and Use:

Wireshark, AWS, Miradore MDM, HashCalc, Docker Bench for security, MD5 calculator, VeraCrypt, HashMyFiles, and Data Recovery Wizard.

Job Roles:

Digital Forensics Essentials (D|FE)

Boost your resume by gaining expertise in digital forensics fundamentals and the digital forensics investigation process. Digital Forensics Essentials (D|FE) will enhance your knowledge base, and the add-on labs will prepare you for industry-ready jobs.

• 12 expert-designed modules
• Official eCourseware
• 11+ hours of premium self-paced video training
• 11 virtual lab activities (optional add-on)

Course Outline:

1. Computer Forensics Fundamentals
2. Computer Forensics Investigation Process
3. Understanding Hard Disks and File Systems
4. Data Acquisition and Duplication
5. Defeating Anti-forensics Techniques
6. Windows Forensics
7. Linux and Mac Forensics
8. Network Forensics
9. Investigating Web Attacks
10. Dark Web Forensics
11. Investigating Email Crime
12. Malware Forensics

Tools You Will Learn and Use:

Linux, Windows, Wireshark, Sleuth Kit, TOR browser, Splunk, ESEDatabaseView

Job Roles:

Ethical Hacking Essentials (E|HE)

Gain a comprehensive understanding of ethical hacking and penetration testing fundamentals with Ethical Hacking Essentials (E|HE). Master fundamental ethical hacking concepts such as threats and vulnerabilities, password cracking, web application attacks, IoT and OT attacks, and cloud computing.

• 12 expert-designed modules
• Official eCourseware
• 15+ hours of premium self-paced video training
• 11 virtual lab activities (optional add-on)

Course Outline:

1. Information Security Fundamentals
2. Ethical Hacking Fundamentals
3. Information Security Threats and Vulnerabilities
4. Password Cracking Techniques and Countermeasures
5. Social Engineering Techniques and Countermeasures
6. Network-Level Attacks and Countermeasures
7. Web Application Attacks and Countermeasures
8. Wireless Attacks and Countermeasures
9. Mobile Attacks and Countermeasures
10. IoT and OT Attacks and Countermeasures
11. Cloud Computing Threats and Countermeasures
12. Penetration Testing Fundamentals

Tools You Will Learn and Use:

Netcraft, L0phtCrack, Web Application Security Scanners, ARP Spoofing Detection Tools, and SQL Injection Detection Tools

Job Roles

Exam and Certification Details

The Essentials Series is EC-Council’s massive open online course (MOOCs) initiative to fill the cybersecurity skills gap for entry-level job roles. The series aims to train tomorrow’s cybersecurity workforce and equip them with industry-relevant knowledge. These self-paced, free online cybersecurity courses teach students the latest security standards and how to apply best practices while remaining up to date on changes and trends in the field. With the Essentials Series, you will develop the skills you need for a successful cybersecurity career. Everyone is welcome—there are no eligibility criteria to enroll in the Essentials Series.

CodeRed’s Certificate of Achievement

• Exam Length: 2 Hours
• Exam Format: Multiple-Choice Exam
• Platform: ECC Exam Center
• Number of Questions: 75
• Certification: Course Specific (N|DE, E|HE, or D|FE)

Your Pathway to a Promising Career in Cybersecurity

References

MarketsandMarkets. (2021, June 21). Cybersecurity market by component (software, hardware, and services), software (IAM, encryption, APT, firewall), security type, deployment mode, organization size, vertical, and region (2022 – 2026). https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cyber-security-market-505.html

The post Embark on a Cybersecurity Career with the Top Three Free Online Cybersecurity Courses appeared first on CISO MAG | Cyber Security Magazine.

By Rudra Srinivas, Senior Feature Writer, CISO MAG

Other Side of the Coin

In addition to the ease of technological advancements, the proliferation of connected IoT devices also introduced new kinds of remote attacks causing severe damage to critical digital infrastructure.  A remote hacker can monitor a smart house or break into an organization’s network by exploiting the unpatched vulnerabilities in the connected systems.

According to a survey, 84% of organizations have deployed IoT devices on their corporate networks, and more than 50% don’t maintain the necessary security measures beyond default passwords. Cybercriminals often rely on IoT connections to compromise network systems and steal personal information. Unpatched vulnerabilities and manufacturing defects in connected devices become a gateway for threat actors to penetrate corporate networks.

Common IoT Attacks

While there are various security incidents reported on IoT networks, the most common IoT attacks include:

1. Eavesdropping

An attacker could monitor targeted networks and steal personal data by exploiting security loopholes and weak connections between IoT devices and the server. Recently, security experts have disclosed a vulnerability present in over 83 million IoT devices that could allow attackers to eavesdrop on live video and audio streams and take over control of the vulnerable devices.  Earlier, the researchers also found a novel side-channel attacking technique that allows eavesdroppers to spy on conversations happening in a room from a nearby location by watching a light bulb hanging in that room.

2. Privilege Escalation Attack

A privilege escalation attack involves obtaining unauthorized access of privileges or elevated rights by a malicious insider or an external attacker.  In privilege escalation attacks, threat actors exploit privilege escalation vulnerabilities such as unpatched bugs in the system, misconfiguration, or inadequate access controls.

3. Brute-Force Attack

Most IoT device users keep the default or easy-to-remember passwords, allowing brute-force attackers to access the targeted IoT connections quickly. In brute-force attacks, threat actors guess passwords using dictionaries or common word combinations to penetrate IoT networks. Enabling robust authentication procedures like two-factor authentication (2FA), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and zero-trust models can mitigate brute-force attacks.

Conclusion

The capabilities of IoT technology continue to evolve, but IoT devices can’t be completely secure. Since IoT devices are not built to detect and mitigate potential cyberthreats, they could pose a serious risk to organizations unless they aren’t adequately secured.

About the Author:

 

Rudra Srinivas is a Senior Feature Writer and part of the editorial team at CISO MAG. He writes news and feature stories on cybersecurity trends.       

More from Rudra.

The post 3 Common IoT Attacks that Compromise Security appeared first on CISO MAG | Cyber Security Magazine.

By Rudra Srinivas, Senior Feature Writer, CISO MAG

According to a Kaspersky report , threat actors targeted multiple distributors of equipment and software for industrial enterprises to steal credentials using phishing and steganography techniques.

What is Steganography?

In general, steganography is an ancient art of hiding information in images and paintings. Most artists use this technique to conceal their signatures and other hidden messages within their paintings. Even kings used this data hiding technique to send secret messages to their soldiers in the warzone.

Use of Steganography in Cyberattacks 

Cybercriminals are now leveraging steganography as an attack vector to hide malicious JavaScripts and malware within the images and distribute them to targets. When the victim clicks the malicious image, the malware embedded in the image automatically downloads the malicious code or malware, infecting the targeted system.

Types of Steganography Attacks

Based on the targets, the attackers use different types of steganography attacks, which include:

1. Text Steganography

In a Text Steganography attack, hackers conceal information (malware code) inside the text files. Bad actors do this by altering the text format in the existing file, such as changing words, creating random characters or sentences.

2. Image Steganography

Attackers hide malicious data in images in an Image steganography attack. They exploit the large number of bits or pixels in an image and replace them with malware codes. Threat actors leverage different tactics to establish image steganography attacks, including the Least significant bit insertion, Masking and Filtering, Pattern encoding, Coding, and Cosine transformation methods.

3. Audio Steganography

In an Audio steganography attack, threat actors exploit WAV audio files to hide their customized malware. Attackers embed the malicious code within the WAV audio files that contain a loader component to decode and execute malicious content embedded in audio files.

4. Video Steganography

Video steganography is a combination of both text and image-based steganography attacks. Adversaries embed a large amount of malicious data inside the moving stream of images and audio files.

How Do You Prevent Steganography Attacks?

• Avoid employees downloading software and other applications from unknown sources as they may contain steganographic codes.
• Never click/open/download suspicious text/audio/image files from unknown sources.
• Closely monitor the software distribution procedures in your organizations to identify malicious insiders.
• Train employees on various phishing and social engineering lures.
• Use anti-malware tools to identify the presence of malware in the files, text docs, images received from unknown sources.

About the Author

Rudra Srinivas is a Senior Feature Writer and part of the editorial team at CISO MAG. He writes news and feature stories on cybersecurity trends.       

More from the Rudra.

The post How to Prevent Steganography Attacks appeared first on CISO MAG | Cyber Security Magazine.

By Rudra Srinivas, Senior Feature Writer, CISO MAG

What is Brainjacking? 

Brainjacking is a kind of cyberattack in which a hacker obtains unauthorized access to neural implants in a human body. Hacking surgically implanted devices in a human brain could allow an attacker to control the patient’s cognition and functions, potentially resulting in drastic consequences.

Brain implants also referred to as neural implants, are microchips that connect directly to a human’s brain to establish a brain-computer interface (BCI) in the brain that has become dysfunctional due to medical issues.

How Brain Implants are Hacked

The unauthorized control of brain implants was represented as science fiction in movies, but with advances in medical technology, it is now becoming a real threat. According to a research from the Oxford Functional Neurosurgery, medical implants become vulnerable to various cyberthreats.

The researchers stated that hackers leverage different mechanisms like Blind attacks to gain unauthorized access to an implant. A blind attack could cause severe damages to human implants, including cessation of stimulation, draining implant batteries, inducing tissue damage, information theft, impairment of motor function, alteration of impulse control, modification of emotions, and induction of pain, etc.

Also Read: 3 Common IoT Attacks that Compromise Security

Medical IoT Devices and Cybersecurity

Cyberattacks in the health care sector have become rampant recently. With multiple intrusions and attacks on connected medical devices, the health care providers continued to be the primary target for cybercriminals. In line with a research, around 83% of connected medical devices are at security risks for running on outdated software.

Earlier, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. released a draft of premarket guidance for medical device cybersecurity. The draft comprises new recommendations for internet-connected medical device manufacturers on assessing cybersecurity in the review of medical devices to ensure protection against cyberthreats.

Will IoT Ever be 100% Secure?

The number of IoT devices is estimated to reach 83 billion by 2024, from 35 billion in 2020, which represents a growth of 130% over the next five years. With the growing cyberattacks on connected devices, IoT security has become a pressing issue to organizations globally.

Commenting on the same with CISO MAG, Chukwudum Chukwudebelu, CSO  and Co-Founder at Simius Technologies Inc., said, “The IoT technology will always improve, but it will never be 100% secure. As long as it is connected to the internet, there is always a risk. The best chance at cybersecurity is to reduce that risk. Since the internet was not built to be secure, rather, it was designed to be shared.  Industries are increasing the use of IoTs, and consumers are doing the same.

“In the next five years, many of these industries will become fully dependent on IoT devices. They will need to be secure to reduce risk, and the manufacturers of these devices, together with the cybersecurity companies and government, have to find a way to work together to deliver 100% secure IoT devices. By constantly keeping up with the threats and vulnerabilities while being on point to thwart or prevent an attack at a moment’s notice. There’s no such thing as the cyber police yet, but I am sure that it will become recognized and more prominent as a need with most law enforcement agencies.”

About the Author

Rudra Srinivas is a Senior Feature Writer and part of the editorial team at CISO MAG. He writes news and feature stories on cybersecurity trends.       

More from the Rudra.

The post How Brainjacking Became a New Cybersecurity Risk in Health Care appeared first on CISO MAG | Cyber Security Magazine.