• Hybrid work driven by Covid-19 prompts a shift in financial services security priorities All industries are dealing with the thorny issue of who comes back to work during the pandemic and who doesn’t, and the return-to-work plans will diverge depending on each enterprise’s needs and culture. But banks, financial institutions, and many other players in the financial services industry are paying close attention to the security perils of […] Read more
• People matter: How to solve security skills shortage challenges The skills shortage in the security industry stretches as far back as we can remember having an industry. Everyone knows it’s a challenge with no easy short-term solutions. The root of the security skills shortage gap remains murky, and some observers say the pandemic and reallocations of security resources could be widening that gap. The […] Read more
• What is IP Spoofing? How does IP spoofing work? To break things down, IP (Internet Protocol) packets house information like IP addresses and the destination IP addresses. IP addresses allow computers to send and receive information, when connected to wi-fi. Hackers operate spoofing attacks by changing the source address in the packet header to make the destination think someone […] Read more
• What is IAM (Identity and access management)? Identity and Access Management Identity and Access Management (often abbreviated IAM) is a combination of technologies, techniques, and policies employed by companies to manage conditional user access across elements of their tech stack. The form IAM takes can vary widely across different enterprises, but the two primary objectives of Identity and Access Management are undeniably […] Read more
• Why strong authentication for every employee makes sense By now, it’s an all-too-familiar routine… Step 1: Organization suffers an expensive and embarrassing security breach.  Step 2: Organization hastily introduces multi-factor authentication (or steps up its efforts to mandate its usage).  Oftentimes, it takes a breach to make organizations fully embrace strong authentication. But why? We know that usernames and passwords alone cannot provide sufficient security, and we know that SMS two-factor authentication (2FA) has been deprecated time […] Read more
• Wrapping up 2020: A year where technology and internet security prevailed Never has the world been more dependent on the internet, and never has it been more attacked than in 2020. In fact, it proved to be a year where trust in many of our systems was challenged. Yet I remain an eternal optimist and believe that we can transform the hard lessons learned in 2020 […] Read more
• 4 things ‘Among Us’ can teach professionals about authentication You’re making good progress on this task. One more data upload and then you’re out of here. But right before you can complete the upload, a klaxon blares. There’s been an attack! Time to head to the meeting room for the usual finger-pointing and scapegoating before the team decides who to jettison from the ship. […] Read more
• Lessons from the SolarWinds incident Last week, a large and expertly run espionage operation was made public — one that began no later than October 2019, and which had been actively exploiting victims since at least early 2020. This incident is particularly interesting for several reasons: for the breadth of sensitive global government and industry targets, for misuse of a […] Read more
• What is FIPS 140-2? What does it mean to be FIPS 140-2 Certified/Validated? To be FIPS 140-2 certified or validated, the software (and hardware) must be independently validated by one of 13 NIST specified laboratories, this process can take weeks. The FIPS 140-2 validation process examines the cryptographic modules. Level 1 examines the algorithms used in the cryptographic component […] Read more
• Two-factor authentication (2FA) An example of two-factor authentication A good example of two-factor authentication is the withdrawing of money from an ATM; only the correct combination of a bank card (something that the user possesses) and a PIN (something that the user knows) allows the transaction to be carried out. The problem with passwords Passwords are easily breached […] Read more