VARINDIA IT MAGAZINE

TechnoBind is helping enterprises to pick the best-of-breed data-centric security technologies: In a chat with VARINDIA, Prashanth GJ, Co-Founder and CEO, TechnoBind shares his views on the current cyber security market in India, its growth potential, the reason behind choosing  Seclore etc. TechnoBind along with Seclore’s data centric security platform is committed to enable enterprises to pick the best of breed data centric security technologies. The CyberSecurity market in India The global cybersecurity market is exploding and is expected to reach USD 352.25 billion by 2026 while the India market will cross the USD 10 billion mark this year. The challenges around managing the data is becoming bigger and there are dimensions to cyber security cases.   According to Prashanth, “The patterns we see in security are, in most cases, not very different from other technology spaces i.e. 1. A significant move to solutions being provisioned in the cloud 2. Increasing focus o...

KPMG in India and Forcepoint strike an alliance to offer information protection services:  With an aim to offer information protection services to businesses in India,   KPMG   in India and Forcepoint have announced a strategic alliance. The partnership will bring together KPMG in India’s cyber security services along with Forcepoint’s data-first cybersecurity innovations which enable enterprises and government agencies to protect their critical data anywhere it is accessed.   According to KPMG’s 2021 India CEO Outlook Report – Towards a digitally-driven and purpose-led recovery, as many as 14 percent CEOs in India compared to 12 percent globally saw cyber security risk as one of the greatest risks to growth today. KPMG in India’s experience in information protection advisory, understanding of various data privacy requirements and adoption of data protection technology measures on different technology platforms coupled with Forcepoint’s skills in delivering modern cy...

Vehere ropes in Wahab Yusoff as an Advisor to the Board:  Vehere   announced the appointment of   Wahab Yusoff   as an Advisor to the Board. He will be based out of Singapore and shall be assisting Vehere in building its presence across the ASEAN Region.   Yusoff has over three decades of rich experience in Cybersecurity and Information Technology, with a focus on assisting organizations to scale operations in the Asia Pacific Region. He has expertise in IT Security and a proven track record of driving corporate growth and development in the APAC region.   Yusoff is the Vice President of the Asia Pacific and Japan region for Forescout Technologies. Prior to that, he worked for reputed companies such as Palo Alto Networks, McAfee, Dell EMC, and Documentum. Additionally, he also serves on the Boards of Changi Airport Group, Workforce Singapore, EZ-Link Pte Ltd, and Rekanext VC.... Read More

Google, Microsoft plan to spend billions on cybersecurity:  The whole globe is struggling into the issue of   Cyber security   and   cyber crime.   The White House hosted a cybersecurity summit Wednesday with CEOs in sectors ranging from tech to insurance. Technology giants including Google,   Microsoft   and   IBM   committed to spending billions on cybersecurity following the meeting, they are going to strengthen cybersecurity defences and to train skilled workers, the White House has announced, following President Joe Biden's private meeting with top executives. The gathering on Wednesday during a relentless stretch of ransomware attacks that have targeted critical infrastructure, in some cases with the attackers extorting multimillion-dollar payments from major corporations, as well as other illicit cyber operations that US authorities have linked to foreign hackers.... Read More

Norton buys Avast for over $8 billion:  US cyber security giant   NortonLifeLock   and   Avast  has signed for a deal worth more than $8 billion to address the growing concern on the   ransomware . All credit to the continued pendemic, which has fuelled the online activity. It is a huge step forward for consumer cyber safety and will ultimately enable us to achieve our vision to protect and empower people to live their digital lives safely",   Norton chief executive Vincent Pilette   said in a joint statement.   Avast, which was founded in the  Czech Republic , has been creating software for consumers and small businesses for 11 years, and acquired AVG five years ago. At the same time, Norton antivirus has existed in various forms since 1991, and has remained a popular option for consumers for 30 years.   Ondrej Vlcek, chief executive of London-listed Avast , said that amid increasing global cyber threats, the tie-up would allow for...

Deloitte buys industrial cybersecurity business aeCyberSolutions:  Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory   announced the acquisition of the industrial cybersecurity business ( aeCyberSolutions ), S.C.-based Applied Engineering Solutions, Inc. (aeSolutions). The deal will bolster Deloitte's existing cybersecurity offerings with the aeCyberSolutions business' well-tested frameworks, methodologies and technology-enabled tools for industrial control systems / operational technology (ICS/OT) security. The deal will also bring aeCyberSolutions' professionals, who have deep experience in industrial sector standards development and risk advisory services.   The remaining businesses which includes its engineering business unit were not part of the transaction.   "Cyberattacks on industrial controls systems for critical infrastructure are increasingly sophisticated and far-reaching, making cyber resilience and regulatory compliance more important than ever," said  Wendy ...

FIRE SALE IS A CYBER SECURITY PANDEMIC; UNSEEN, ALL PERVASIVE AND FATAL:  Fire Sale is an all-out cyberwarfare attack   that performs a three-stage systematic attack on a nation's computer infrastructure. Just because something has never happened does not mean that it would never happen. Commercial aircrafts being used as missiles hitting Twin Towers in a suicide attack is as weird as it can get. This was nearly twenty years back. The manner the digital technology has paced up in its negative avatar, can beat even the best of the sci-fi movies hollow. Whatever might be the enterprise we are in, we can afford to be oblivious of this fact, only at our own peril. 10 power assets, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu ports came under RedEcho cyberattack, should be taken as a timely warning for things which can go awry. The recent SolarWinds attack in the US on the government, its high profile agencies and several other private companies is a clear indication of the same trend.   A bit of a his...

Biden admin to set up task force for Microsoft hack linked to China:  According to sources,   President Joe Biden`s administration   is expected to put together a task force to deal with major cyber intrusions that   Microsoft   said this week were linked to China as relations between the two -- Washington and Beijing -- continues to spiral downwards. It has been reported that there are an estimated 30,000 affected customers in the US and 250,000 globally, though those numbers are expected to increase.   A White House official said, "We are undertaking a whole of government response to assess and address the impact. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an emergency directive to agencies and we`re now working with our partners and looking closely at the next steps we need to take. This is an active threat still developing and we urge network operators to take it very seriously. Unified Coordination Group" (UCG), is a multi-agenc...

IT security employees spend six hours of working week on hobbies: Kaspersky:  As much as  85% of IT Security  staff engage in leisure activities during working hours. Typically, these hobbies account for six hours [1]  a week, which is an hour more than staff across the company overall. A reason for these breaks may be to find a distraction from high workloads, which was also cited as the most common reason to leave a cybersecurity job. These are findings extracted from a new Kaspersky report titled ‘ Managing your IT security team’ .   Cybersecurity can involve routine and repetitive tasks, which affects both productivity and motivation to work. A shift to remote work has further blurred the lines between working and personal time. This combination of factors can lead to situations where employees are often distracted from work. Kaspersky’s report surveyed more than  5,200  IT and cybersecurity practitioners globally. According to the research, among ...

Whatsapp used to distribute new malware:  Whatsapp   and its users now seem to be in deep trouble as a newly discovered   Android malware   has been found to propagate itself through WhatsApp messages to other contacts in order to expand what appears to be an adware campaign.   "This malware spreads via victim's WhatsApp by automatically replying to any received WhatsApp message notification with a link to [a] malicious Huawei Mobile app,"  ESET researcher Lukas Stefanko  said.   The link upon clicking the fake Huawei Mobile app, redirects users to a lookalike  Google Play Store  website.   Once installed, the wormable app prompts victims to grant it notification access, which is then abused to carry out the wormable attack. Specifically, it leverages WhatApp's quick reply feature - which is used to respond to incoming messages directly from the notifications - to send out a reply to a received message automatically. ...

Will the future of cybersecurity be passwordless? :  Will the future of cybersecurity be passwordless?

Researchers found secret backdoor account in several Zyxel Firewall, VPN Products:  Zyxel   has released a patch to address a critical vulnerability in its firmware concerning a hardcoded, undocumented secret account that could be abused by an attacker to login with administrative privileges and compromise its networking devices.   The flaw, tracked as CVE-2020-29583 (CVSS score 7.8), affects version 4.60 present in a wide-range of Zyxel devices, including Unified Security Gateway (USG), USG FLEX, ATP, and  VPN firewall  products.   According to the advisory published by Zyxel, the undocumented account ("zyfwp") comes with an unchangeable password ("PrOw!aN_fXp") that's not only stored in plaintext but could also be used by a malicious third-party to login to the SSH server or web interface with admin privileges.   Zyxel said the hardcoded credentials were put in place to deliver automatic firmware updates to connected access points through FTP.  ...

In 2020 Cyber crime has costs $49 Billion to Russian citizens and companies: Sberbank:  As per   Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender , cyber attacks have cost up to 3.6 trillion roubles ($49 billion) to the citizens and companies of the country.   In an effort to crack down the shadow economy, Russia has encouraged its citizens to switch to bank cards and limit cash use but crimes related to bank cards have shot up by 500% this year, as estimated by the interior ministry.   As per the news source,  Stanislav Kuznetsov, Sberbank’s Deputy Chairman , who oversees security and services said that private business and ordinary Russians were the main targets of cyber attacks, as the state security services are better protected.   “The private sector is the most vulnerable: everything from the clients’ accounts to financial data and tender documents are targeted: there are 2.3 million darknet accounts operating in Russian and offering the stolen data,” he said. ...

Big data  is changing the way businesses compete and operate. As the technology is getting into much deeper side, it’s possible to analyze your data and get answers from it almost immediately – an effort that’s slower and less efficient with more traditional business intelligence solutions. Business has always wanted to derive insights from information in order to make better, smarter, real time, factbased decisions: it is this demand for depth of knowledge that has fueled the growth of big data tools and platforms. Those leading the change are now including big data from both within and outside the enterprise, including structured and unstructured data, machine data, and online and mobile data to supplement their organizational data and provide the basis for historical and forward-looking (statistical and predictive) views. More digitization brings more risk. Now many company is trying on how to control for minimizing the data usage. Seems it is not possib...

For the last two hundred years, Darwin’s ‘Survival of the Fittest’ theory of natural selection has shaped our view of man’s existence on earth. In the last couple of years, though, Fortnite, the massively popular online game played by millions worldwide, has taken this concept of survival to a whole new level. Played in a virtual world, players of Fortnite are tasked with testing their endurance as they battle other online players for tools and weapons that will keep them secure and the ‘last man standing’. In the last few weeks, however, Check Point Research discovered security vulnerabilities in the game’s login process that could have allowed a threat actor to take over the account of any user, view their personal account information, purchase virtual in-game currency and eavesdrop on in-game chatter as well as home conversations. Previous Fortnite Hacks created by Epic Games, an American video game developer, Fortnite is the game played by nearly 80 million people world...