Category: Info Sec

The Power of Website Security: Safeguarding Your Online Presence

In today’s digital age, where online interactions have become an integral part of our daily lives, ensuring the security of your website has never been more crucial. Cyber threats and attacks are on the rise, putting sensitive data, user privacy, and even business reputation at risk. As a leading provider of website security solutions, we understand the importance of safeguarding your online presence. In this article, we delve into the realm of website security, offering valuable insights and practical steps to help you fortify your website against potential vulnerabilities and outrank other websites in Google search results.

The Rising Threat Landscape

Cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their methods, constantly seeking new ways to exploit weaknesses in websites. From data breaches and malware infections to hacking attempts and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, the threat landscape is diverse and ever-evolving. It is imperative for website owners to adopt a proactive approach to protect their digital assets.

Understanding Website Vulnerabilities

Before we delve into effective security strategies, it is essential to understand the common vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious actors. By gaining insights into these weak points, you can take appropriate measures to mitigate potential risks. Here are a few noteworthy vulnerabilities:

1. Outdated Software and Plugins

Running outdated versions of content management systems (CMS) or using obsolete plugins can open doors for cyber attackers. These outdated components often have known vulnerabilities that can be easily exploited.

2. Weak Authentication Mechanisms

Weak passwords, default login credentials, or lack of two-factor authentication (2FA) can leave your website susceptible to brute-force attacks or unauthorized access attempts.

3. Insecure Communication Channels

Failure to implement secure communication protocols, such as SSL/TLS, can expose sensitive data to eavesdropping or interception by malicious individuals.

4. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

XSS attacks occur when an attacker injects malicious code into a website, which then gets executed by unsuspecting users’ browsers, potentially compromising their data or exposing them to further attacks.

5. SQL Injection

SQL injection attacks exploit vulnerabilities in web applications that do not properly validate user input. Attackers can manipulate database queries, potentially gaining unauthorized access to sensitive information or modifying data.

Effective Strategies for Website Security

To outrank other websites and establish your online presence as a reliable and secure destination, it is crucial to implement robust security measures. Below, we outline key strategies that will help safeguard your website:

1. Regular Software Updates and Patching

Keeping your CMS, plugins, and other software components up to date is paramount. Developers frequently release security patches and bug fixes to address vulnerabilities. Staying current with these updates is vital to ensure your website remains secure.

2. Strong Authentication Practices

Implementing strong passwords, enforcing password complexity rules, and encouraging the use of 2FA significantly enhance your website’s security posture. By adding an additional layer of verification, you mitigate the risk of unauthorized access.

3. SSL/TLS Encryption

Securing your website with SSL/TLS certificates ensures that data transmitted between your users and the server remains encrypted and cannot be easily intercepted or tampered with. This fosters trust among visitors and can positively impact your search engine rankings.

4. Web Application Firewalls (WAF)

Deploying a WAF helps protect your website against common vulnerabilities, such as XSS and SQL injection. It acts as a shield, analyzing incoming traffic and filtering out potentially malicious requests, ensuring the integrity of your website’s data.

5. Continuous Security Monitoring

Utilize robust security monitoring tools to detect and respond to potential threats in real-time. Implementing intrusion detection systems (IDS)

Whitepaper: Reducing Cyber Incidents by combatting hackers with Legal Revocation Strategy

Detering Hackers

Hacking is prevalent because of the asymmetrical relationship between cost and reward to the hacker. On average, a hacker reaps US$9.2 while expending little effort or resources. Meanwhile, the company suffers US$9.2M in total damages; this excludes IT and legal costs, ransoms, and reputation.

A company’s defense consists of patching known vulnerabilities while the IT Department focuses on ongoing business operations. Coupled with the prevalent business view that breaches are a cost of doing business rather than a critical threat, cyber breaches thrive in this organizational climate. 

Watchdog provides a systematic method to remove hackers’ internet access and compromised resources through legal means while preserving the evidence for legal actions. 

Data Security Matters:
With the average cyber breach costing $9.2 million dollars per incident, governments are increasingly holding corporations accountable for basic cyber security.  Fully 72% of network breaches are conducted by opportunistic hackers without a focused target. These involve lesser secured networks instead of attacking more secure networks.

By increasing network security and pushing back against hackers, an organization can decrease attacks, preserve forensic evidence, and automate government-mandated compliance reporting.

The data breach results from a multi-stage process known as a “cyber kill chain”. These may take weeks or months to complete and is dependent on the previous stages being uninterrupted.

Automated breach detection and revocation of a hacker’s resources lowers the attack’s frequency and reduces the chances of an attack becoming successful. Halting the process earlier in the kill chain generally results in lesser damages and liabilities. 

The Kill Chain (What Hackers Do)

A successful breach requires the sequentially dependent steps to be undetected and unremoved.

  1. Reconnaissance – gathering social or technical information to prepare for the attack
  1. Weaponization – creating malware to exploit the discovered backdoors
  1. Delivery – delivering the malware for future execution
  2. Exploitation – activating the previously delivered malware
  1. Installation – installing additional malware
  1. Command and Control – enabling remote control of discovered assets
  1. Action – extracting, encryption, or deleting of the critical assets

Watchdog Active Countermeasures

By imposing a noticeable cost to hackers, legal active countermeasures can deter most attempts to establish a kill chain in a network, thus preventing future breaches. Hackers avoid networks that are expensive to exploit.

Watchdog’s active countermeasures consist of:

  1. Analyzing network activity logs with our artificial intelligence to detect malicious activities. 
  2. Sending revocation requests to the ISP’s and companies where the threat activity originated from.
  3. Maintaining a database of threat activity records as time-stamped evidence for use by your legal department if it is ever needed.

Why are Active Countermeasures effective?

Implementing active countermeasures is an effective deterrent because of:

  • Decreased Breach Exposure. The majority of breach exposures are exploited because of misconfigured network settings, protocols, or unintentional interaction of different service services. Detecting low-level breaches and sending out revocation requests will undermine the hacker’s resources. This makes your network more secure and lessens a hacker’s inclination to attack a network that rapidly decreases known vulnerabilities.
  • Automated Mitigation. Alerting Internet Service Providers to possible compromises on their network will lead them to stop the rogue processes or suspend user accounts in most cases. They will effectively be assisting you in protecting your network from bad actors by denying them “safe harbor” on the networks where they launch their attacks from.
  • Focused Organizational Resources. Watchdog analyzes web activities and sends out alerts. This will allow your team to focus on the most critical attacks. Your team focuses on end-stage breaches to prevent a devastating hack.

Can’t do it? Let Watchdog do it for you!

While Offense gets the glory, it is DEFENSE that wins the Game! Beef up your defensive strategies with Watchdog.

Watchdog will take your router, firewall, and server weblogs, then analyze them with our artificial intelligence application that is monitored by a certified cybersecurity team housed in our Singapore-licensed security operations center (SOC). 

Watchdog will enhance your raw logs with other annotated data to create revocation requests that are automatically sent by e-mail to the ISP’s and companies where the threat activity originated from. 

Finally, Watchdog will archive all the log records as integrated, time-stamped evidence for your legal department.

Enroll in our free pilot to demonstrate the benefits (US$10,800 value)

For a limited time, we are offering qualified companies a FREE 30-day Trial of Watchdog cyber monitoring and alert service, valued at US$10,800 annually.

Click < HERE > to avail of this FREE Trial subscription.

In Demand Jobs to Enhance Your Wellbeing and Succeed During COVID-19

Having work-life balance is vital to achieving happiness in life. In the US, most employees spend over 40 hours per week at work. Overwork can have adverse effects on your health. So, even if you have a six-figure salary, you must recognize when it’s time to take a break. Because of COVID-19, companies have experienced a shortage of talent. They are now offering exceptional salaries and perks to attract the attention of qualified candidates.

Because of the increasing demand for tech skills, the competition has become tougher. Many workers are jobless because of the pandemic, and they are struggling to get a new job. If you’re wondering how to succeed during COVID-19, here are some job alternatives that will help you become an attractive worker. As you’ll have what’s necessary to meet world-class companies’ requirements, getting employed and having a better lifestyle won’t be a barrier.

Digital Marketer 

Digital Marketing with person using a laptop on a white table

The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the pace of the digital transition. Digital channels have become mainstream, and companies are looking for new ways to attract customers’ attention. Nowadays, digital marketers play a crucial role in improving companies’ marketing strategies and increasing brand recognition. Digital marketers use websites, social networks, and email to provide the best customer service. 

Years ago, using television, radio, and newspapers was an excellent option to attract and retain customers. But, since they are spending more online, digital advertising plays an essential role in making customers feel engaged. You need to learn a wide range of tech skills to become a digital marketer. However, Thinkful is a coding school that makes becoming a digital marketer much easier. 

Thinkful is committed to its students’ success. For that reason, students receive help from a career coach, an industry-experienced mentor, and an academic success manager throughout each course. Their tuition guarantee allows students to receive their money back if they don’t land a qualifying job within six months of graduation. 

At Thinkful, students learn everything they need to stand out from the competition. In that case, landing the job of your dreams will be possible. For example, a digital marketer can earn, on average, $120K per year at Amazon. They can also enjoy great perks like paid time off, annual discounts, and paid parental leave.

Mobile Developer

Mobile apps are helping companies reshape the market. They provide customers with the power to control everything with only one tool. Smartphones have become essential for our everyday lives, and companies are using mobile apps to make them more comfortable. Since online shopping is what customers prefer, companies like Home Depot and Gucci have taken their apps to the next level. By implementing augmented reality features, their apps allow customers to have 3D previews of products. 

Gucci’s app enables users to try on shoes before they buy them by using their smartphones’ cameras. Home Depot provides users with 3D previews of merchandise. With this technology, customers can see how products fit in a specific room. AR has allowed organizations to provide a better user experience and reduce costs on product returns.

In 2020, companies like Apple and Samsung are providing mobile developers with benefits and perks like on-site gym classes and spa sessions. Also, workers can receive product discounts and even tuition reimbursement benefits. Professional development has become a need, and companies are willing to do everything they can to meet the needs of skilled aspirants.

You can take online courses or enroll in a coding bootcamp like General Assembly to learn mobile development skills. General Assembly offers not only an iOS development course but also an Android development course. In that case, aspirants can decide between learning Java or Swift skills.

At General Assembly, students learn from experience by building real mobile apps. They get the right knowledge to design and code any app. Also, they gain an understanding of fundamental concepts to impress employers during interviews.

Cybersecurity Specialist

Since data is helping companies take significant strides, cybersecurity specialists have become a must for organizations. These professionals are responsible for keeping companies’ data safe and improving security strategies. Cybersecurity experts have to search for vulnerabilities in software and hardware. And by implementing analytics skills, they must develop new strategies to deal with potential threats. 

Since they have a lot of responsibilities on their shoulders, more companies are providing outstanding benefits. They can work from home and enjoy schedule flexibility. Also, organizations like Microsoft provide workers with health insurance benefits and premium savings to help them improve their wellness. Becoming a cybersecurity expert requires a lot of tenacity. But, I can assure you that your efforts will be rewarded.

Flatiron School offers a cybersecurity program that allows aspirants to learn how to deal with rapidly-advancing threats. With their real-world lab environments, students can learn how to set traps and catch hackers. The program is offered full-time and can be completed in only 12 weeks.

Data Scientist

Becoming a data scientist is an excellent alternative to enhance your wellbeing and succeed during COVID-19. They are in-demand, and employers are in a hunt for candidates with data science skills. Data scientists have to analyze, interpret, and visualize data to create actionable insights. By allowing organizations to make data-driven decisions, they play a key role in leading companies to success.

Metis is a coding school that offers online education to accelerate data science learning. Their data science bootcamp is designed to give aspirants the skills and connections they need to launch a rewarding career in data science. The company counts with career advisors that help students and grads to get hired. At Metis, students learn through hands-on projects and from the best tutors.    

Conclusion 

In general, these job alternatives are excellent for succeeding during the pandemic. Since candidates with these kinds of skills are in-demand, getting a better job and enhancing your wellbeing won’t be a problem. No matter what option you choose, you’ll be ready to overcome unemployment as well as future challenges. Keep in mind that the tech market is a fast-growing industry and it’s affecting every industry around the globe.  

Early Breach Detection Lowers Costs

According to a March and McLennan study (Cyber Risk in Asia Pacific), Asian firms take 1.7 times longer to discover a data breach.

MMC Cyber risk in Asia Pacific
MMC Cyber risk in Asia Pacific

In addition, IBM Security and Ponemon Institute computes the average total cost of data breach at USD 141 per lost or stolen record.

The study also showed a strong relationship between mean time to detection (MTTI)  and the cost of each data breach. The good news, if we can call them that, is that the worldwide average breach detection time has improved from 201 days in 2016 to 190 days in 2017.

However, this is still far from the ideal 100 days mean time to breach detection.  The graph below shows that the longer a company takes to discover a data breach, the higher the associated cost to contain it later on.

Breach Detection and Average total costs

So one key goal of your company’s security framework would be to shorten cyber breach detection times.  One common way seasoned network admins do this is via SNMP monitoring of all network and server devices.

Then they also add SIEM capabilities (Security Incident and Events Monitoring). By correlating SNMP, syslog and SIEM data together, it will be easier for network guys to detect breaches in a shorter time.

 

Future Gen to Participate in RootCon 2016

RootCon 2016
RootCon 2016

Watch Mr Wilson L. Chua present actual cases at the Root Con 2017 event in Tagaytay, Philippines where Big Data Analytics was used to help uncover hacks and attempts.

Cases showcase how descriptive and predictive analytics can be used to help network admins present their analysis in a graphical and more intuitive format – one that helps C-level executives more easily understand and grasp the complex landscape.