CS Nov-Dec 2023

Computing 

Security 

Secure systems, secure data, secure people, secure business 

THE GREAT ESCAPE 

Beating the cybercriminals 

NEWS 

OPINION 

INDUSTRY 

COMMENT 

CASE STUDIES 

PRODUCT REVIEWS 

FACING UP TO AI 

The good and the bad, 

but which will win out? 

DATA PRIVACY DILEMMA 

Can the latest rules 

and regulations 

keep you safe as 

an avalanche of new 

threats sweeps in? 

NIGHT OF TRIUMPH! 

Revealed: who 

took the laurels 

at our 2023 

Awards 

Computing Security November/December 2023

comment 

LEGAL CHALLENGE 

We all need recourse to legal 

services at various times in 

our lives and rely on these 

firms to protect our interests during 

those transactions. Yet law firms, as 

is now the case with so many other 

businesses, are faced with a rapidly 

evolving cyber security landscape, 

with cybercriminals employing 

increasingly sophisticated techniques 

to breach their defences. 

The shift towards remote work and 

cloud services has broadened the 

attack surface, says Access Group, 

leaving law firms very vulnerable to 

a wide range of cyber threats that 

include phishing attacks, ransomware and supply chain vulnerabilities. It's a formidable 

task to overcome these challenges, but one that has to be actively embraced. Firms 

have to set aside the right levels of investment and planning to cope with this rising 

threat - which means the involvement of everyone throughout the organisation. 

"To protect themselves and their clients, law firms must adopt robust cyber security 

measures, such as zero-trust methodologies and conditional access policies," states 

business management software provider Access Group. Adds legal IT expert Harry 

Fallows: "Staying informed about the latest cyber security trends and working with 

reputable IT security providers are crucial steps in safeguarding sensitive data and 

maintaining client trust in the digital age." 

I cannot end this Comment without singling out the BIG happening that took place 

in October: the 2023 Computing Security Awards. 

What a remarkable night it was, with a powerful line-up of companies, solutions 

and individuals vying for the top prizes. It was a privilege to be there and to have the 

honour of presenting the winners with their engraved glassware. 

For a round-up of all the winners and some great pictures, see pages 12-13. If the next 

awards are up there with this one, we’ve another exceptional event to look forward to. 

Brian Wall 

Editor 

Computing Security 

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www.computingsecurity.co.uk Nov/Dec 2023 computing security 

@CSMagAndAwards 

3


Computing Security November/December 2023 

inside this issue 

CONTENTS 

Computing 

Security 

THE GREAT ESCAPE 

Beating the cybercriminals 

DATA PRIVACY DILEMMA 

NEWS 

OPINION 

INDUSTRY 

COMMENT 

CASE STUDIES 


FACING UP TO AI 

The good and the bad, 

but which will win out? 

Can the latest rules 

and regulations 

keep you safe as 

an avalanche of new 

threats sweeps in? 

NIGHT OF TRIUMPH! 

COMMENT 3 

Legal challenge: law firms battered by 

breaches to their defences 

Revealed: who 

took the laurels 

at our 2023 

Awards 

NEWS 6 

Hornetsecurity’s 'essential companion' 

How email is used to breach accounts 

340 million people hit by data breaches 

ARTICLES 

INSIDE THE REVOLUTION 8 

A new book argues why we must act 

to overcome powerful technologies 

disrupting and transforming our reality 

CRUCIAL ROLE OF IDENTITY 11 

Zero Trust adopts a 'never trust, always 

verify' philosophy, with identity pivotal 

RANSOMWARE’S UPS AND DOWNS 14 

RANSOMWARE HITS BACKUP FILES 18 

Some observers are reporting a drop-off in 

Hornetsecurity’s Daniel Hofmann looks 

ransomware, although, this is sometimes 

into an ever-present danger 

where comparisons are made on a monthly 

basis. Year on year, the trend has often 

VITAL ROLE OF CYBER TRAINING 20 

remained upwards. For every more upbeat 

How to drive employee engagement with 

statistic that emerges, there is more often 

departmental cybersecurity education 

than not a corresponding downbeat one. 

WHY LEADERSHIP SKILLS MATTER 21 

How leaders can motivate and guide their 

workforces in times of great peril 

ON YOUR METAL! 25 

THE CRIME-BUSTING BATTLE 22 

Metal fabrication company reaches out for 

Cybercrime is rapidly spreading and 

the right solution to protect its operations 

impacting organisations across the world. 

According to one company monitoring the 

FAKING IT WITH AI 30 

worsening situation, global cyberattacks 

Scaling new heights can be exhilarating, 

increased by 28% in 2022, compared to 

but it's also a precipice to tumble over 

the same quarter in 2021 - and this trend 

is only likely to continue. 

DATA PRIVACY CHALLENGE 32 

Is the constant battle to keep digital 

privacy laws and regulations relevant to 

the digital age still being won? 

PHISHING ENTERS DARKER WATERS 26 

By connecting to world events, anniversaries, 


holidays, as well as the hopes and fears of 

ordinary people, cybercriminals can concoct 

HORNETSECURITY 365 

persuasive emails and many other forms of 

PERMISSION MANAGER 10 

communication, gaining employee trust 

and getting them to open the doors into 

ENDACE: ENDACEPROBE CLOUD 29 

internal systems. 

computing security Nov/Dec 2023 @CSMagAndAwards www.computingsecurity.co.uk 

4 

OH, WHAT A (WINNING) NIGHT! 12 

The Computing Security Awards 2023 clearly 

demonstrated the remarkable breadth of 

talent right across our industry. Each and 

every category was hotly contested: in the 

end, though, there could only be one winner. 

We bring you the full rundown of the top 

achievers on page 13.

Layers aren’t just for cakes; they’re 

essential in cybersecurity’s secret 

recipe for protection! 

Bake it happen with VIPRE Security Group. Secure your 

bytes before you take a bite with Email Security, Endpoint 

Security and User Protection 

www.vipre.com

news 

Daniel Hofmann, Hornetsecurity. 

HORNETSECURITY UNVEILS ITS 

NEW 'ESSENTIAL COMPANION' 

Cybersecurity provider Hornetsecurity has 

published 'Microsoft 365: The Essential 

Companion Guide', designed for IT administrators 

who manage a Microsoft 365 

environment. The guide can be accessed 

here. It is also aimed at decision-makers 

looking to gain an overview of what to 

expect when migrating to the cloud and 

ways they can adopt services in Microsoft 

365 (M365). It complements Hornetsecurity's 

recent launch of Plan 4 'Compliance & 

Awareness' of its flagship solution 365 Total 

Protection. 

"The new Plan 4 of Hornetsecurity's cloudbased 

solution is its most comprehensive, 

taking M365 security management and data 

protection to the next level by encompassing 

email security, backup and recovery, compliance, 

permission management and security 

awareness," says the company. 

Comments Hornetsecurity CEO Daniel 

Hofmann: "Administrators have a big, and 

often complex, job on their hands that can 

become overwhelming, given the pace 

at which technology and business needs 

continue to advance." The guide will play 

an important role in delivering a thorough 

understanding of Microsoft 365 and how 

to use it to the best of its abilities, he adds. 

"With this guide, we want to save time and 

hassles for M365 administrators, helping 

them work smarter and not harder." 

HOW ATTACKERS EXPLOIT EMAIL TO BREACH AN ACCOUNT 

Anew Threat Spotlight by Barracuda researchers shows 

how attackers can misuse inbox rules in a successfully 

compromised account to evade detection. Meanwhile, 

amongst other things, they quietly move information out of 

the corporate network via the breached inbox. Not only this, 

but attacks can also ensure that the victims don't see security 

warnings, filing selected messages in obscure folders, so the 

victim won't easily find them or delete messages from the 

senior executive they are pretending to be, in an attempt 

to extract money. Says Prebh Dev Singh, manager, email 

protection product management, at Barracuda: "Malicious 

rule creation poses a serious threat to the integrity of an organisation's 

data and assets. Because it is a post-compromise 

technique, it's a sign that attackers are already in your 

network. Immediate action is required to get them out." 

THE STRUGGLE TO ALIGN CYBERSECURITY WITH BUSINESS OUTCOMES 

Aworrying 97% of respondents' organisations face 

challenges in trying to align cybersecurity priorities with 

business outcomes. That is one finding a study conducted by 

Forrester Consulting on behalf of WithSecure (formerly 

F-Secure Business). WithSecure chief information security 

officer Christine Bejerasco says it requires cybersecurity 

professionals to develop a different strategic approach to how 

they think about their jobs. "It can be difficult for security 

practitioners to see their work in relation to a business' 

purpose or objectives, but that's really how many boards 

or executives view security work," she states. "However, the 

transition to outcome-based security doesn't necessarily 

involve abandoning traditional metrics. It means explicitly 

recognising the value of those metrics in relation to how 

they benefit the organisation and its objectives." 

Prebh Dev Singh, Barracuda. 

Christine Bejerasco, 

WithSecure. 

ALMOST 340 MILLION PEOPLE HIT BY DATA BREACHES IN FOUR MONTHS 

The 'Independent Advisor' has just launched 

a new Company Data Breach Tracker for 2023. 

A regularly updated, month-by-month timeline 

of the latest such breaches and hacks in 2023, it 

also tracks overall business breach statistics for the 

year. With almost 340 million people affected by 

business data breaches in the first four months 

of 2023 alone, staying secure online remains a 

growing concern for companies. More and more 

fall victim to cyber-attacks, phishing scandals and 

ransomware, leading to data leaks, huge payouts and often lawsuits. Lead writer and researcher 

Camille Dubuis-Welch comments: "Like it or not, cybercrime is prolific." 

6 

computing security Nov/Dec 2023 @CSMagAndAwards www.computingsecurity.co.uk

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ook review 

INSIDE THE REVOLUTION 

A RANGE OF POWERFUL TECHNOLOGIES IS DISRUPTING AND TRANSFORMING EVERY CORNER 

OF OUR REALITY. A NEW BOOK ARGUES WHY AND HOW WE MUST ACT AND ADAPT TO THIS 

Unsupervised: Navigating and 

Influencing a World Controlled 

by Powerful New Technologies' 

examines the fast-emerging technologies 

and tools that are already starting to 

revolutionise our world. 

Beyond that, the book takes an in-depth 

look at how we have arrived at this 

dizzying point in our history, who holds 

the reins of these formidable technologies, 

mostly without any supervision, state its 

authors, Daniel Doll-Steinberg and Stuart 

Leaf. 'Unsupervised' sets out to explain why 

we, as business leaders, entrepreneurs, 

academics, educators, lawmakers, investors 

or users and all responsible citizens, must 

act now to influence and help oversee 

the future of a technological world. 

There are several chilling reminders in 

the book of the seeming impasse we 

have arrived at in our quest for greater 

'advancement'. Take, for instance, this 

observation from the two authors: "… 

technology in the hands of humankind 

is now akin to a massive double-edged 

sword - a light saber, in fact, in the hands 

of an untrained child. Wielding it can 

create instant and possibly irreversible 

impact, for good or for bad, faster than 

one can realize what has happened". 

Quantum computing, artificial 

intelligence, blockchain, decentralisation, 

virtual and augmented reality and permanent 

connectivity are just a few of the 

technologies and trends considered, 

but the book delves much deeper, too. 

It offers a thorough analysis of energy and 

medical technologies, as well as cogent 

predictions for how new tech will redefine 

our work, money, entertainment, transportation 

and our home and cities, and 

what we need to know to harness and 

prosper from these technologies. 

Doll-Steinberg and Leaf detail how, when 

we look a bit farther into the future, we 

can see that the task facing us is to 

completely reinvent life as we know it - 

work, resources, war and even humanity 

itself will undergo redefinition, thanks 

to these new and emerging tools. In 

'Unsupervised', they set out to examine 

what these redefinitions might look like 

and how we, as individuals and part 

of society, can prevent powerful new 

technologies from falling into the wrong 

hands or be built to harm us. 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 

DANIEL DOLL-STEINBERG created one of the first global standards for digital rights management, securing and delivering 

activation keys and content direct to customers, which is said to have helped transform the software industry. Specialising in 

disruptive technologies, and focusing on Blockchain and AI, he was later appointed by the European Commission, and then the 

UK government, as an expert advisor specialising in education, growth, disruption and Future of Work policy. 

STUART LEAF started his career at Merrill Lynch Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs. He held senior positions in smaller real 

estate, private equity and asset management firms, before co-founding Cadogan Management, a Fund of Hedge Funds, in 1994. 

Investing around the world in a range of strategies, including a significant exposure to technology, he and his partners grew the 

funds to $7.5 billion in assets. 

8 


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product review 

HORNETSECURITY 365 PERMISSION MANAGER 

Microsoft 365 (MS365) is the 

productivity and communications 

platform of choice for organisations 

of all sizes, with it already having 

reached a staggering 382 million paid seats 

this year. A huge number of companies, 

including those with hybrid working 

practices, clearly see the benefits of MS365 

cloud collaboration services; but ensuring 

adequate protection of information assets, 

and preventing unauthorised and anonymous 

access, can be a major challenge. 

Hornetsecurity's 365 Permission Manager 

is the perfect solution, as it provides 

administrators with all the tools needed 

to control access permissions, monitor 

violations and enforce compliance policies. 

Easily managed from a single cloud portal, 

it readily allows organisations to ensure 

compliance with internal and external 

regulations, and maintain access policies 

across sharing sites, folders and files. 

Onboarding is very swift, as you simply 

select 365 Permission Manager from 

Hornetsecurity's Control Panel, provide all 

required tenant details and authenticate 

with your MS365 account. It avoids 

management issues with MS365 global 

administrators and potential permission 

creep, as it uses API connections and 

doesn't store any credentials. 

INFORMATIVE DASHBOARD 

The Control Panel presents a highly 

informative dashboard, with pie charts 

showing overall compliance health, plus 

separate ones for SharePoint, OneDrive 

and Teams. A time-filtered graph reveals 

fixed and approved violations, while 

others are provided for item-level and 

policy compliance, upcoming and overdue 

audits, and violation trends over time. 

You can also view your compliance 

policies and 365 Permission Manager does 

all the hard work for you, as it includes a 

set of predefined ones. These are all based 

on the ISO 27001 information security 

management systems standard, so 

applying them to your organisation will 

help you meet certification requirements. 

You can easily create custom policies and 

set internal and external sharing criteria, 

while, at the site level, you set external 

sharing levels for all people in your 

organisation, existing and new guests 

or anyone; apply default sharing links 

and permissions; and set guest access 

expiration times in days. Policies are a very 

powerful feature as, if any action violates 

them, administrators will receive an alert 

and an option to approve or fix them. 

SharePoint site and OneDrive account 

exploration reveals all entities and their 

applied policy, while colour-coded icons 

show if they are compliant. Further 

icons highlight if they have items with 

anonymous access granted, those that 

have organisation-wide access and with 

external user access permitted. 

Click the quick actions button and you 

will then be presented with five of the 

most powerful features of this service. 

With no more than three clicks, you can 

set an external sharing level for a Share- 

Point site or OneDrive account, clean up 

orphaned users, remove 'Everyone' permissions, 

revoke user or group access or 

set site permissions. 

There's much more, as 365 Permission 

Manager presents a 'To Do' list, with all policy 

violations that require your attention. The list 

can be filtered and, with one click, you can 

either approve the violation or fix it: you can 

fix site settings or 365 Permission Manager 

can automatically remove user access. 

As you'd expect, there are plenty of reporting 

tools provided, with options to generate ones 

for full site permissions, user and group 

access, and also external access. An activity 

log provides essential auditing for all administrative 

activities and the portal generates 

daily alert summaries, which can be sent to 

multiple recipients. 

MS365 rights management presents many 

pain points, as it is far too easy for users to 

share files across this platform and so difficult 

for administrators to stay in control. 

Hornetsecurity's 365 Permission Manager 

brings order to this rights chaos and gives 

administrators the power to effortlessly 

enforce policy compliance and ensure access 

to critical data is tightly locked down. 

Product: 365 Permission Manager 

Supplier: Hornetsecurity 

Web site: www.hornetsecurity.com 

Tel: +44 (0) 203 0869 833 

Sales: sales@hornetsecurity.com 

Contact Hornetsecurity for pricing 

10 


zero trust 

CRUCIAL ROLE OF IDENTITY IN ZERO TRUST SECURITY 

ZERO TRUST ADOPTS A 'NEVER TRUST, ALWAYS VERIFY' PHILOSOPHY, WITH IDENTITY PLAYING A PIVOTAL ROLE 

security while allowing for flexibility and user 

productivity." 

Moreover, Zero Trust extends beyond the 

initial authentication process; it emphasises 

both continuous monitoring and adaptive 

authentication. In this context, identity is 

not a one-time verification, but an ongoing 

process. Users and devices are continually 

assessed for risk and access privileges can be 

adjusted in real time, based on changing 

circumstances. 

Global analyst Gartner estimates that 

more than 85% of organisations will 

embrace a cloud-first principle and 

over 95% of new digital workloads will be 

deployed on cloud-native platforms by 2025. 

This increasingly digital world accelerates 

cybersecurity threats, leading organisations to 

embrace new strategies to protect sensitive 

data and assets. 

The Zero Trust approach, with identity as 

the linchpin, has gained prominence among 

cybersecurity trends for organisations to mitigate 

emerging cyber risks and have better 

cyber hygiene, according to Brian Ramsey, 

VP of America, Xalient, and Jaye Tilson, field 

CTO, HPE Aruba Networking. 

"Traditionally, organisations relied on perimeter 

based security models that operated 

under the assumption that threats could 

be kept at bay by securing the network 

perimeter," they point out. "However, as 

cyberattacks became more sophisticated, 

it became clear that this approach was no 

Brian Ramsey (left) and Jaye Tilson: 

identity plays a pivotal role. 

longer effective. Attackers found ways to 

bypass these perimeter defences, rendering 

them inadequate." 

Zero Trust flips this model on its head 

by adopting a 'never trust, always verify' 

philosophy, they state. "In a Zero Trust 

environment, trust is never assumed, 

regardless of whether a user or device is 

inside or outside the corporate network. 

Identity plays a pivotal role in verifying and 

authenticating users and devices, ensuring 

that access to resources is granted based 

on their identity, permissions and the context 

of their request." 

They single out identity as being right at 

the heart of context-aware access control, 

a fundamental component of Zero Trust. 

"For example, a user attempting to access 

a critical database from an unfamiliar device 

and location may trigger additional authentication 

measures or even deny access entirely 

until their identity and intent are verified. This 

dynamic approach to access control enhances 

"For instance, if an authenticated user 

suddenly exhibits unusual behaviour patterns 

or attempts to access sensitive data outside 

of their usual work hours, the system can 

flag this as a potential security threat and 

prompt additional authentication or restrict 

access until the user's identity and intent are 

confirmed." 

In a Zero Trust environment, identity-centric 

threat detection and response are critical 

components. "By closely monitoring the 

behaviour and identity of users and devices, 

organisations can quickly detect and respond 

to suspicious activities. Identity-based threat 

detection enables security teams to identify 

unauthorised access attempts, insider threats, 

and other malicious activities that may go 

unnoticed in traditional security models. 

However, they also offer a few words of 

caution. "A mature, widely deployed?Zero 

Trust?implementation demands integration 

and configuration of multiple different 

components, which can become quite 

technical and complex. Success is highly 

dependent on the translation to business 

value. Our advice is to start small and evolve, 

making it easier to better grasp the benefits 

of a programme and manage some of the 

complexity, one step at a time." 

www.computingsecurity.co.uk @CSMagAndAwards Nov/Dec 2023 computing security 

11

2023 CS Awards 

Magician Nick Einhorn: 'Now you see him….' 

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAZ4Es 

Oh what a (WINNING) night! 

THE 2023 COMPUTING SECURITY AWARDS TOOK PLACE AT A TOP LONDON VENUE: 

AND WHAT A NIGHT OF SUCCESS AND CELEBRATIONS THEY PROVED TO BE 

Guests gather before the dinner and awards ceremony. 

The Computing Security Awards were 

once again a massive success, clearly 

demonstrating what a remarkable 

breadth of talent there is right across every 

sector of our industry. 

While the winners in each category were 

rightly applauded and feted by all of those 

who attended, what was evident was how 

competitive these awards - now in their 14th 

year - have become. Category after category 

was hotly contested. Everyone could enjoy 

their own sense of achievement at making 

it into the final. 

It was a night of many surprises on many 

levels - not least when Nick Einhorn took 

to the stage and beguiled the whole room 

with his magic skills. A winner on ITV1's hit 

show, 'Penn & Teller: Fool Us', in which he 

bamboozled two of the most revered and 

respected magicians in the world, he's a Gold 

Star member of The Inner Magic Circle and 

three-times winner of The Magic Circle 'Closeup 

Magician of the Year' award and it wasn't 

hard to see why. Great entertainment from 

an excellent entertainer. 

This was a magic night in every sense. 

All that remains is to extend our warmest 

congratulations to the winners and everyone 

who took part, making these awards a truly 

unique and unmissable occasion. 

On ther following page are all the Winners 

on the night for each of the awards: 

12 


2023 CS Awards 

THE 2023 WINNERS: 

EMAIL SECURITY SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Smarttech247 - NoPhish 

ANTI MALWARE SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Hornetsecurity - Hornetsecurity 365 Total Protection 

INCIDENT RESPONSE & INVESTIGATION SECURITY SERVICE 

PROVIDER OF THE YEAR 

Cyderes 

NETWORK SECURITY SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

macmon - macmon NAC 

ENCRYPTION SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Watchguard - AD360 

ADVANCED PERSISTENT THREAT (APT) 

SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Gatewatcher - AIONIQ 

DATA LOSS PREVENTION SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

VIPRE Security Group - SafeSend 

CYBER SECURITY COMPLIANCE AWARD 

Torsion Information Security 

AI AND MACHINE LEARNING BASED SECURITY 


Heimdal Security - Threat Prevention Endpoint 

IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT 


SecurEnvoy - Access Management Solution 

ANTI PHISHING SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Metacompliance - MetaPhish 

SECURE DATA & ASSET DISPOSAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR 

Gigacycle 

CLOUD-DELIVERED SECURITY SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Cyderes - Cyderes Cloud Identity 

MOBILE SECURITY SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Jamf - Jamf Protect 

PENETRATION TESTING SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Edgescan - Edgescan Professional Services 

BREACH AND ATTACK SIMULATION SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Kroll - Redscan 

DATA PROTECTION AS A SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR 

Veritas 

REMOTE MONITORING SECURITY SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Cursor Insight - Graboxy Sentinel 

SECURITY EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROVIDER 

OF THE YEAR 

Metacompliance 

WEB APPLICATION FIREWALL OF THE YEAR 

Cyberhive - Trusted Cloud 

THREAT INTELLIGENCE AWARD 

VIPRE Security Group 

SECURITY RESELLER OF THE YEAR 

Next Generation Security 

SECURITY DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR 

Brigantia 

ENTERPRISE SECURITY SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Libraesva - Libraesva Email Security 

SME SECURITY SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

VIPRE Security Group - ATP 

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION TO CYBERSECURITY AWARD 

Rob Jeffery, CTO - Next Generation Security 

CYBER SECURITY CUSTOMER SERVICE AWARD 

Brookcourt Solutions 

SECURITY SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR 

Sapphire 

SECURITY PROJECT OF THE YEAR - PUBLIC SECTOR 

TMC3 - Department for Transport (DfTc) 

SECURITY PROJECT OF THE YEAR - PRIVATE SECTOR 

Redkey USB - Preloved Tech 

SECURITY PROJECT OF THE YEAR - CLOUD COMPLIANCE 

Barracuda - NHS Scotland 

EDITOR'S CHOICE 

Hornetsecurity - 365 Permission Manager 

CYBER SECURITY INNOVATION AWARD 

MTI - Security Targeted Operating Model (STOM) 

NEW PRODUCT/SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Veritas - Veritas Alta 

ONE TO WATCH SECURITY – PRODUCT 

Arcserve - Arcserve UDP 

ONE TO WATCH SECURITY – COMPANY 

Censornet 

SECURITY COMPANY OF THE YEAR 

MetaCompliance 

SECURITY SOFTWARE SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

SecurEnvoy - Data Discovery 

SECURITY HARDWARE SOLUTION OF THE YEAR 

Arcserve - Arcserve OneXafe 4500 Series 

To see the full results – Winners and Runners-up – go to: 

www.computingsecurityawards.co.uk 

www.computingsecurity.co.uk Nov/Dec 2023 computing security 

@CSMagAndAwards 

13

ansomware 

ENEMY NO 1 - IS THE 

CROWN SLIPPING? 

WHILE THERE ARE INDICATIONS THAT RANSOMWARE MAY BE SLIDING DOWN THE CHARTS 

OF PREFERRED ATTACK METHODS, THE OVERALL MESSAGE STILL REMAINS MIXED 

Anumber of observers are now reporting 

a drop-off in ransomware activity, 

although, in some instances, this is 

where comparisons are made on a monthly 

basis, whereas, year on year, the trend has 

often remained upwards. For every more 

upbeat statistic that emerges, there is usually 

a corresponding downbeat one, as can be all 

too readily seen in this article. 

Deepen Desai, Global CISO, head of security 

research & operations at Zscaler, points to how 

Zscaler's ThreatLabz research team reported 

earlier this year that ransomware attacks 

had grown 37% overall year over year, with 

the average cost of an attack reaching a 

staggering $5.3 million. "The use of phishing 

and spam email has long been a primary 

infection vector for ransomware threat actors, 

but some actors are switching tactics." Desai 

cites how the recent and growing number 

of attacks on the gaming industry, along with 

the popularity of malware like 'BazarCall', 

showcase a technique called 'vishing'. 

Vishing involves voice-based attacks where 

actors speak over the phone, rather than 

through email, finding it more effective, due 

to a lack of awareness, compared to emailbased 

spam, which often requires mandatory 

training at many organisations. "While some 

recent attacks didn't involve spam, the ultimate 

objective remains the same: infiltrate the target 

environment, perform lateral movement to 

obtain access to an administrator's account, 

identify crown-jewel applications to exfiltrate 

large volumes of sensitive data, and potentially 

deploy ransomware," he adds. 

"Ransomware attacks all follow the sequence 

[or similar] to the one I've mentioned above. 

To stop these attacks consistently, your security 

strategy should aim to disrupt as many stages 

of this attack chain as possible, maximising 

your chances of stopping the attack, even if 

the threat actors evade some of your security 

controls. To safeguard your organisation, 

I recommend replacing vulnerable appliances 

like VPNs and firewalls with Zero Trust Network 

Access (ZTNA) for applying consistent security 

with enhanced segmentation." 

THEFT IS 'THE BIGGEST CONCERN' 

Meanwhile, Integrity360 has recently released 

research findings into the cybersecurity threats 

being faced by 205 IT security decision makers, 

with more than half of the respondents (55%) 

citing data theft as the biggest concern, which 

is followed by phishing (35%) and then by 

ransomware (29%). 

CIOs (30%) and CTOs (33%) surveyed also 

ranked APTs (advanced persistent threats) 

and targeted attacks as a bigger concern 

than ransomware (28%, 33%). "As APTs are 

generally established to deliver objectives with 

national-level implications, such as espionage 

or destruction of infrastructure, it's no surprise 

that, as these threats continue to mount, 

the emphasis on ransomware, whilst still an 

ongoing concern, is lessening relative to other 

threats," points out the cybersecurity specialist. 

Ransomware (25%) was ranked fourth 

amongst the challenges causing sleepless 

nights, likely due to the increased awareness 

surrounding backups, states Integrity360, 

making ransom attacks less rewarding, "while 

data theft alone can have dire consequences, 

in terms of reputational damage, hefty compliance 

fines and potential loss of IP, to name 

but a few". 

According to Brian Martin, head of product 

development, innovation and strategy, at 

Integrity360: "IT environments have become 

increasingly complex, with many enterprises 

now employing multi-cloud strategies and 

multiple products, which can leave gaps 

in security, and see businesses paying 

for underutilised and overlapping tools 

unnecessarily. Consolidation of cybersecurity 

architectures can strengthen risk posture, 

reduce the number of tools and vendors in 

place, eliminating silos, reducing costs and 

improving overall security posture." 

LOWS AND HIGHS 

August 2023 saw a drop in ransomware 

attacks, according to NCC Group's August 

Threat Pulse, with 390 attacks representing 

a 22% drop from July. It comes after back-toback 

record months in June and July, largely 

the result of Cl0ps MOVEit exploitation and 

the ongoing impact of the attack. Lockbit 3.0 

14 


ansomware 

returned to pole position in August, responsible 

for carrying out the largest volume of 

attacks at 125, 32% of total attacks in the 

month. It represents a 150% month-onmonth 

increase on its July activity. BlackCat 

took the second spot with 41 attacks (11%), 

followed by 8Base with 32 (8%). 

Some 47% of all ransomware attacks in July 

took place in North America, consistent 

with previous months. However, the region 

experienced a 7% relative drop in August, as 

compared to July where it held 54% of all 

victims. Europe remains in second place with 

108 victims in August, representing 28% of 

total attacks. 

"After two record months for ransomware 

attacks, the fall in attacks in August was to 

be expected," says Matt Hull, global head of 

threat intelligence at NCC Group. "The number 

of victims in June and July was somewhat 

inflated by the huge success that Cl0p had 

exploiting the vulnerability in the MoveIT 

platform. This being said, the number 

of recorded victims in August was still 

significantly higher than this time last year." 

HEALTHCARE IN NEED OF A CURE 

Vitali Edrenkine, chief marketing officer at 

Arcserve, says that, in the face of growing 

numbers and sophistication of ransomware 

attacks, the highly targeted healthcare industry 

continues to grapple with inadequate data 

protection and recovery mechanisms. "An 

ounce of prevention may be worth a pound 

of cure - but our latest market research shows 

that, when it comes to ransomware resilience, 

too many healthcare institutions have neither," 

he continues. "A robust backup and disaster 

recovery strategy is critical for healthcare 

organisations to build resistance to malicious 

attacks." 

Findings from Arcserve's annual independent 

global research, focusing on the healthcare 

sector's approach and experience of data 

protection, recovery, and ransomware 

readiness, indicate that 45% of healthcare 

respondents experienced a ransomware attack 

in the past 12 months: 

83% of ransom demands were between 

$100,000 and $1 million 

67% paid the ransom 

45% did not recover all their data after 

ransomware attacks. 

Some of the key issues around ransomware 

highlighted by Arcserve include: 

82% of healthcare IT departments lack 

an updated disaster recovery plan 

Nearly 75% of respondents believe data 

backed up to a public cloud is safer than 

data backed up on-premises 

More than 50% of respondents mistakenly 

believe the cloud provider is responsible for 

recovering their data. 

SONY DATA SOLD ON DARK WEB 

A big stumbling block regarding the paying of 

a ransom is whether the perpetrators will 

return all, or any, of your data, if you pay up. 

Whatever the reasoning, when Sony was hit 

by a ransomware attack recently and refused 

to shell out the ransom demanded, its data 

ended up being sold online on the dark web. 

Irrespective of the refusal to pay a ransom, 

Carlos Morales, SVP of solutions at purposebuilt 

global cloud-based security platform 

Vercara, stresses how the attack itself highlights 

the fact that any company, regardless 

of size and level of security sophistication, 

can fall victim to this threat. "The sheer 

number of entry points into a company, 

from supply-chain to contractors, to each 

and every employee, makes it impractical to 

believe that you are going to be able to seal 

all of these up," he says. 

"While it is extremely important to educate 

your base of users to be on the look out 

for these threats and to vet your suppliers 

carefully, this alone will not guarantee 

prevention. Now that AI is supercharging 

bad actors' ability to craft spear phishing or 

smishing messages, it is virtually guaranteed 

that more, rather than fewer, people will 

Brian Martin, Integrity360: consolidation 

of cybersecurity architectures can 

strengthen risk posture. 

Deepen Desai, Zscaler: healthcare industry 

continues to grapple with inadequate data 

protection and recovery mechanisms. 


15

ansomware 

Michael Smith, Vercara: ransomware is 

having "catastrophic consequences on 

critical national infrastructure". 

Carlos Morales, Vercara: impractical to 

believe you can seal up all entry points. 

become victims of this kind of attack." 

CRIMINALS GO FOR THE JUGULAR 

September marked 10 years since Crypto- 

Locker, the first ransomware campaign to 

successfully blend encryption, peer-to-peer 

controls, social engineering and cryptocurrency, 

first appeared. "This toxic brew 

proved to be extraordinarily successful," states 

Sophos, "netting the attackers 31,000 Bitcoin 

[at that time, over $4 million US] in the first 

four weeks, ushering in the modern era of 

day-to-day financial e-crime." 

Since then, says the company, ransomware 

has flourished, with attacks accounting for 

69% of incident response cases in the first half 

of 2023. "Comparing 2022 to the first half of 

2023, the time from the start of ransomware 

attacks to detection shrank from a median of 

eight days to just five." The median time from 

data exfiltration to ransomware deployment 

was just 21 hours, while, for exfiltrated data, 

the median time until it was publicly posted 

was just a little over 28 days. 

"Ransomware has had a long history and, 

while CryptoLocker is just one of many 

inflection points, it's an important one when 

we look at the model ransomware follows 

today-encrypting data and then demanding 

cryptocurrency to decrypt the data," 

comments Chester Wisniewski, field CTO, 

Sophos. "Over the years, ransomware has 

proven itself as a tried-and-true method 

for extorting money from victims. Now, 

ransomware is an everyday part of the criminal 

threats we face. That's a problem, because 

ransomware is still a devastating type of 

attack; what's more, organisations have 

increasingly less time to minimise damage. 

"What we're seeing in the data from our 

Active Adversary reports over the past three 

years is an increasing mechanisation and 

professionalisation amongst the criminals. 

Not only are ransomware criminals striking 

the final blow in only five days, they're going 

for the jugular - your Active Directory 

infrastructure, within 16 hours or so. Plodding 

ransom attacks that linger for a month or more, 

as we saw in the early days of enterprise 

ransomware, are no longer the case." 

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre 

(NCSC) and National Crime Agency (NCA) 

have published a joint whitepaper, examining 

how the tactics of organised criminal groups 

have evolved as extortion attacks have grown 

in popularity with the ransomware industry 

developing into a sophisticated supply chain, 

defying western governments and leaving 

exposed businesses on the back foot. 

RISE IN CYBER-WARFARE 

Ransomware is having "catastrophic consequences 

on critical national infrastructure (CNI) 

and other vital services", states Michael Smith, 

field CTO at Vercara. "While many cyberattacks 

leave businesses unscathed, 18 ransomware 

incidents elicited a national level response or 

government intervention. Given increased geopolitical 

tensions and a rise in cyber-warfare, 

international leaders and governments have 

acknowledged this threat at a global scale 

and the risk it poses to crucial services. Just 

last year, the European Commission proposed 

new rules to ensure greater consistency and 

efficiency in cyber and information security 

measures across EU institutions, bodies, offices 

and agencies. 

All this data goes to highlight the scale of the 

challenge ahead for the cybersecurity sector, 

adds Smith. "Cybercriminals attack everybody, 

it's their means of revenue. All business leaders 

must assume that at some point they will be 

one of their targets. The criminals running 

these campaigns are looking to cause as much 

disruption as possible, with maximum impact 

and even bigger reward. 

"Earlier forms of ransomware typically 

resulted in downtime or unavailable data, 

but newer strains are emerging and threat 

actors are constantly changing their tactics, 

with some threatening a Distributed Denial 

of Service (DDoS) style-attack." 

16 


Computing 

Security 


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REVIEWED BY COMPUTING SECURITY YET? 

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Hardware, software and services can all be reviewed. 

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inside view 

RANSOMWARE THREATENS BACKUP FILES 

COULD THE LAST LINE OF DEFENCE AGAINST ONE OF THE MOST PERNICIOUS FORMS OF ATTACK 

NOW BE IN DANGER? DANIEL HOFMANN, CEO, HORNETSECURITY, OFFERS HIS THOUGHTS 

Ransomware attackers have become 

increasingly focused on targeting 

backup storage over the past several 

years. Special measures are required to 

protect data backups from malicious 

manipulation. Immutable cloud storage is 

the magic word. 

While ransomware attacks have been a 

threat for more than 30 years, they have 

increased dramatically over recent years due 

to many factors including the rise 

of Generative AI systems. 

A recent Ransomware study 

by Hornetsecurity shows 

that nearly 60% of 

companies are 'very' to 

'extremely' concerned 

about ransomware 

attacks. On top of 

this, 76.2% of 

respondents have 

changed the way 

their company 

backs up data 

partly in response 

to the evolving 

threat of 

ransomware. 

At the same time, ransomware attacks 

are becoming easier, smarter, and more 

dangerous. For example, ransomware-as-aservice 

offerings are increasingly appearing 

on the darknet, enabling fraudsters to carry 

out successful extortion campaigns even 

without programming skills and the 

corresponding IT infrastructure. A new 

dimension has recently been reached with 

the spread of generative AI models such as 

ChatGPT and WormGPT. With the help of 

the innovative AI bot, security specialists at 

Hornetsecurity succeeded in developing 

sophisticated ransomware with minimal 

effort, which can pose high risks for victims. 

INCREASED FOCUS ON BACKUP COPIES 

In increased ransomware attacks specifically 

against backups, hackers are using extortion 

software to encrypt data backed up on 

storage media devices to deny access 

to users. This is particularly perfidious, as 

a company relies precisely on backups in case 

the data in the production systems is lost or 

damaged. The (now encrypted) backups are 

only unlocked or restored in exchange for 

a ransom and if the payment is not received 

in time, the hackers can threaten to delete 

or steal the data or even publish sensitive 

18 


inside view 

company information. Ransomware costs 

companies millions of pounds every year, 

with six or even seven figure ransom 

demands now being common. If a victim 

does not pay, their business can come to 

a standstill, and entire workflows and 

processes become disrupted. At the same 

time, there is a threat of loss and theft of 

confidential company data, which can result 

in high financial losses. If, for example, 

a credit institution loses sensitive customer 

data, it can expect not only claims for 

damages but also a permanent loss of 

image, reputation, and customers. 

INCREASED PRESSURE, DUE 

TO NIS2 REQUIREMENTS 

In addition, companies must prepare for 

stricter legal data protection and compliance 

requirements. While the EU General Data 

Protection Regulation (GDPR) of 2018 has 

been the most important of these, the clock 

is now ticking on the implementation of the 

new EU cybersecurity directive NIS2 (Network 

and Information Security) within the UK. 

NIS2 tightens the security requirements for 

operators of critical infrastructures (CRITIS) 

and was designed to enhance cyber 

resilience for organisations across the 

UK and EU. For the first time, small and 

medium-sized institutions in system-relevant 

areas of public life such as healthcare, 

education and public authorities are also 

required to implement baseline security 

measures to protect against cyber-attacks. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM 2023 RANSOMWARE ATTACKS SURVEY 

Since suppliers must also comply with NIS2, 

almost all companies and organisations will 

be affected by the new EU cybersecurity 

directive in the future. If data protection 

and compliance breaches occur, NIS2 makes 

those responsible personally liable and 

imposes penalties of up to 10 million pounds 

or 2% of annual global turnover. 

NIS2 also contains stricter requirements 

for organisations who suffer cyberattacks, 

as initial reporting must now be made within 

24 hours. UK and EU member states only 

have until October 2024 to implement NIS2, 

meaning that companies should install the 

necessary security measures as soon as 

possible. 

In its recent survey, Hornetsecurity highlighted the following: 

93.2% of respondents rank ransomware protection as 'very' to 'extremely' 

important, in terms of IT priorities for their organisations 

12.2% of respondents do not have a disaster recovery plan in place, 

in the event of a ransomware attack 

90.5% of respondents say they protect their backups from ransomware 

75% of respondents cited 'end-point detection software with anti-ransomware 

capabilities' as the most common tool to combat ransomware 

19.7% of respondents said their organisations had been the victim of 

a ransomware attack, with the majority, 62.1%, occurring in the past three years 

79.3% of ransomware victims reported that they managed to recover the 

compromised data from a backup 

51.7% of respondents mentioned 'email/phishing' as the main attack vector 

for ransomware attacks 

81% of respondents said their organisations provide user training to recognise 

ransomware attacks, with 95.8% stating the training was 'useful.' 

28.9% of Microsoft 365 respondents said they do not have a recovery plan 

in place, in case of a ransomware attack. 

IMMUTABLE BACKUPS 

AGAINST RANSOMWARE 

This also applies to the protection of backup 

files against the growing ransomware risks. 

In principle, ransomware can originate from 

different sources and be transmitted in 

various ways. At the forefront are phishing 

emails that contain ransomware-infected 

attachments which can lead to the compromise 

of the entire network. To mitigate 

these risks, many organisations are 

combining various methods, including 

endpoint security, advanced threat detection 

and response, patch management, multifactor 

authentication (MFA), and employee 

security training to ensure employees are 

equipped to identify and prevent attempted 

phishing attacks. 

Several methods can be used to achieve 

immutability of data backups. Today, WORM 

technology, which was developed back in 

the late 1970s, is the main method used 

to defend against ransomware attacks. 

WORM stands for Write-Once-Read-Many, 

which means that a backup copy can only 

be created once (writing) and is then writeprotected 

for a certain period of time. 

So, when choosing a backup solution, 

companies should prefer a product that 

supports immutability through the use of 

WORM technology. Various media, such as 

memory cards and external hard disks, or 

external cloud services can be used to store 

the data. 

In the wake of rising ransomware attacks, 

backups are coming under increasing threat 

as the last barrier against the deletion and 

manipulation of critical corporate data. 

Immutable backup storage provides an 

effective defence against the threat of 

ransomware. With VM Backup V9 from 

Hornetsecurity, organisations can leverage 

a new solution to protect their backup data 

via Immutable Cloud storage. This ensures 

that their data cannot be modified or 

deleted within a specified time period 

or regulatory or legal retention period. 


19

cybersecurity training 

DRIVING EMPLOYEE 

ENGAGEMENT WITH DEPARTMENTAL CYBERSECURITY TRAINING 

METACOMPLIANCE'S NEW DEPARTMENTAL-FOCUSED CYBERSECURITY TRAINING SERIES AIMS TO ADDRESS 

DEPARTMENT-SPECIFIC CONCERNS AND REDUCE RESISTANCE TO USER TRAINING COMPLETION 

Each department within an organisation 

fulfils a vital function, and each brings 

distinctive challenges and vulnerabilities. 

For example, the HR department handles 

sensitive employee data, while the IT team 

manages critical infrastructure. Likewise 

privileged users, by nature of their access, 

have the potential to cause significant harm, 

if their credentials are compromised or if 

they engage in malicious activities. These 

users require specific cybersecurity training 

to understand the gravity of their role in 

safeguarding this information. 

Despite these distinctions, it's common 

practice to provide the same cybersecurity 

training to all employees. This generic training 

typically provides a broad overview of 

cybersecurity concepts, but lacks the depth 

required for individuals with specialised roles 

and responsibilities. Whilst generic security 

training ticks a checkbox, relying on a 'onesize-fits-all' 

approach is not enough, states 

MetaCompliance. "This approach can result 

in employees becoming disengaged and 

passive participants in Security Awareness 

Training. Cyber threats are now increasingly 

sophisticated and targeted attacks based on 

individual job roles are on the rise." 

HIGHER ENGAGEMENT RATES 

By delivering content that directly aligns with 

the roles and responsibilities of the end users, 

organisations can drive higher engagement 

rates and reduce resistance to cybersecurity 

training. When employees receive targeted 

content that relates to their daily tasks, this 

makes them more likely to retain the 

information and implement improved 

cybersecurity behaviours. 

"Departmental cyber training marks a 

significant leap forward in the world of 

security awareness training and aims 

to address the pressing need for more 

personalised and effective training solutions 

in an era of ever-evolving cyber threats," 

adds Metacompliance. 

"Embracing this shift and championing 

departmental training can be a game-changer 

in safeguarding organisations against the everevolving 

cyber threats. This is because departmental 

cybersecurity training mobilises each 

department, transforming them into a wellcoordinated, 

cyber-resilient workforce. It equips 

individuals with the knowledge and skills 

needed to defend against evolving threats 

and make informed decisions that enhance 

the organisation's overall security posture." 

The departmental-focused approach also 

empowers CISOs to communicate the value 

and relevance of security awareness training 

tailored to each department, it says. "This 

level of personalisation fosters a sense of 

ownership and commitment among 

employees, leading to active participation in 

security training. When employees see their 

leadership prioritising cybersecurity education, 

they are more likely to take it seriously." 

Recognising the real need to address 

department-specific concerns and reduce 

resistance to user training completion, 

MetaCompliance hasrecently announced 

the release of its new departmental-focused 

cybersecurity training series. 

GAME-CHANGER 

The Departmental Series addresses 12 key 

cybersecurity risks and is specifically tailored 

to eight organisational departments, which 

include human resources, marketing, sales, 

finance, privileged users, executive teams, 

legal and procurement. The content is also 

available in 43 languages, catering to diverse 

workforces around the world. 

Cybersecurity evangelist at MetaCompliance, 

Robert O'Brien, says: "We understand that 

employees have diverse responsibilities and 

priorities, and security awareness is not 

always at the top of their minds. 

"This fuelled our mission to advance 

cybersecurity training by speaking the 

language of each department and delivering 

content that truly engages end users. 

The Departmental Series will help create 

a cultural shift in security awareness. 

"By focusing on content that directly impacts 

an employee's day-to-day tasks, our training 

ensures that end users stay engaged and 

retain crucial information, enabling them to 

implement positive cybersecurity behaviours." 

To learn more about MetaCompliance's 

Departmental Series, visit: 

www.metacompliance.com/departmental-series 

20 


leadership skills 

LEADERSHIP SKILLS - WHY THEY MATTER 

AT A TIME WHEN SO MANY THREATS ARE FACED BY EVERY ORGANISATION, 

LEADERS WHO CAN MOTIVATE AND GUIDE THE WORKFORCE ARE VITALLY IMPORTANT 

Leadership skills help to create 

a vision and rally people around 

a common cause, boosting morale. 

They also pass on the necessary skills 

and knowledge to enable those around 

them to make informed decisions and 

solve problems effectively and with confidence. 

When it works, it's a massive 

boost to employee unity and self-belief. 

But how do organisations identify, recruit 

and nurture the right calibre of people 

to perform this leadership role in the 

first place? 

"In the face of today's growing cyberattacks, 

leadership is required to invest 

in the means to prevent breaches and 

to ensure that data is backed up or airgapped." 

Such is the view of David 

Trossell, CEO and CTO of Bridgeworks. 

"Leadership is also about practising what 

you preach by communicating with staff 

and training them to avoid falling foul 

of, for example, ransomware attacks 

that could render an organisation's 

useless and prevent any form of service 

continuity." 

It also involves thinking about the longterm 

health of the organisation, its 

partners and its customers by investing in 

training ordinary staff and cyber-security 

teams as an increasing number of attacks 

involve social engineering, he continues. 

"Within this scenario, generative AI is 

making cyber-security more challenging. 

So, any competent leader needs to know 

how to prevent the technology from 

being used to social-engineer a weakness 

in staff to find a way to create a breach. 

Humans are often the weakest link when 

it comes to cyber-security." 

Leadership should aim to prevent 

disasters by focusing on service continuity 

as the primary goal, using WAN 

Acceleration to rapidly back up and 

restore data, adds Trossell. "The common 

cause should be continuity more than 

disaster recovery, although plans and 

procedures should be in place to ensure 

that staff and cyber-security teams know 

what to do when disaster strikes." 

SENSE OF TOGETHERNESS 

A sense of togetherness will boost 

morale and pride in the organisation's 

ability to thrive, no matter what cyberthreats 

are thrown at it. "Nurturing 

the right talent and finding competent 

leaders comes from using aptitude 

testing, using team exercises to allow 

them to demonstrate their decisionmaking 

skills, by enquiring about their 

competence in other roles. That person 

should show that they have an ability to 

innovate - perhaps by having patents in 

their name for solutions that nobody else 

has considered or been able to achieve." 

That leader should want to invest in 

future cyber-security professionals by 

working with universities, colleges and 

schools to encourage, nurture, inspire 

and develop new talent, he believes. 

"By working with the community - 

and offering apprenticeship schemes - 

leadership can instil pride in their 

organisation and in what it aims to 

achieve. This can inspire staff loyalty 

and reduce the likelihood of employee 

churn. It's not so much about the leader, 

but the values of the organisation that 

person expresses internally and to the 

wider community." 

COMMUNICATING RESULTS 

From a cyber-security perspective, 

says Trossell, this could also be about 

communicating to staff how many 

cyber-attacks have been forestalled, 

how clients have been helped to stave 

off attacks, how much money has been 

saved, and how policies and procedures 

have prevented X number of cyberattacks. 

"This requires a leader who 

demonstrably leads from the front, who 

can identify with people, who engenders 

team-working and unity to protect the 

organisation from attack - furthering 

its commercial and operational success." 

David Trossell, Bridgeworks. 


21

cyber awareness 

THE CRIME-BUSTING CHALLENGE 

CYBERCRIME IS ON THE RAMPAGE, PROMPTING ONE 

EXPERT TO SAY: "BEEF UP YOUR EMAIL SECURITY OR 

GET READY FOR A WORLD OF HURT." 

Cybercrime is rapidly spreading and 

impacting organisations across the 

world. According to one company 

monitoring the worsening situation, global 

cyberattacks increased by 28% in 2022, 

compared to the same quarter in 2021 - 

and this trend is only likely to continue. 

"Cyber threat actors can identify and exploit 

a wide range of vulnerabilities to gain 

access to corporate systems," it states. 

"An effective cybersecurity program is one 

that provides comprehensive coverage and 

protection for all potential attack vectors." 

But how do you define 'effective' and how 

does an organisation go about identifying 

what is the best means to meet its own 

particular needs and mode of operating? 

Nadia Kadhim, a leading GDPR lawyer 

and CEO of global automated compliance 

platform Naq Cyber, warns the defence 

industry needs to do more to protect 

classified data, as the number of attacks 

on this sector has increased by nearly 50% 

with an average of 1,661, according to 

a global report by Check Point Research. 

This increased risk has already led to 

an increased demand for additional 

compliance measures from the Defence 

Industry to ensure their suppliers meet 

legal and regulatory compliance 

requirements such as Cyber Essentials, 

JOSCAR, DART, and MOD Risk Assessments. 

Naq's platform guides MOD suppliers 

through implementing, verifying and 

maintaining the security requirements 

set by the MOD and Primes. This includes 

training in risk management and device 

security to ensure businesses meet the 

required security controls. 

"The number of cyberattacks 

within the defence 

sector is expected to keep 

rising," warns Kadhim. "While it is 

crucial to ensure the MOD's systems are 

secured, it is also just as crucial to ensure 

defence suppliers have a strong cybersecurity 

posture or risk putting the entire 

defence supply chain in jeopardy. It's a 

pattern we see in other highly regulated 

sectors, such as healthcare, where attackers 

use suppliers to access valuable and sensitive 

information. To keep the UK defence sector 

safe, we must focus on suppliers and ensure 

they are meeting continuous compliance 

with the cybersecurity requirements set by 

the MOD and their primes." 

ESTABLISHING A LANDMARK 

October marked National Cybersecurity 

Awareness Month (NCSAM), a significant 

initiative that has helped to focus attention 

on the threats organisations everywhere 

face. Like all good initiatives, of course, 

it is much more than about one month 

and then forgotten. It is about bringing 

a collective consciousness to bear on a 

common enemy - and to ensure that it 

stays there. 

Launched in 2004 by the US Department 

of Homeland Security and the National 

Cyber Security Alliance, the goal has been 

to reinforce the importance of safeguarding 

online presence. While it began as an 

American effort, the message has resonated 

far and wide. Today, numerous countries 

around the globe have embraced the cause, 

underscoring that cyber threats don't recognise 

borders. It's a united call to action, 

urging individuals and organisations to 

prioritise online 

safety, no matter 

where they' may be 

located, in what is flagged up as 

a global commitment to cyber resilience. 

FRONT OF MIND 

"Cybersecurity has moved from an afterthought 

to one of the more important 

decisions in the boardroom, as executives 

have come to understand the potential scale 

and impact of attacks," states Jason 

Dettbarn, founder & CEO, Addigy. "Breaches 

don't just cost money - they can debilitate a 

company. IT leaders need to ensure they are 

leveraging the right security processes and 

tools to maintain compliance vigilance, 

which includes a layered approach to OS 

patching, application patching, adhering 

to compliance frameworks and end-user 

authentication management. The speed and 

impact of Zero Day vulnerabilities highlight 

the importance of applying these patches 

throughout an organisation's entire fleet of 

devices in a timely fashion." 

Cybersecurity Awareness Month served 

as a critical reminder that effective cybersecurity 

isn't solely about building higher 

walls against external threats, says Carl 

D'Halluin, CTO, Datadobi. "It's equally about 

under-standing and managing the data 

you already hold within those walls. Illegal 

and orphaned data are prime examples 

of internal vulnerabilities that often go 

overlooked. 

The risks of harbouring illegal data are 

multi-faceted, spanning potential legal 

issues, reputational harm and increased 

susceptibility to network compromise, due 

22 



to embedded malware. Orphaned data, 

often accumulating unnoticed due to 

employee turnover, can pose governance 

and compliance risks." 

He calls on organisations to deepen their 

commitment to employing the necessary 

methodologies and technologies that 

enable effective internal data governance 

and oversight. "A proactive, inside-out 

approach to cybersecurity has never been 

more crucial." 

OVERHAULING DIGITAL DEFENCES 

Don Boxley, CEO and co-founder, DH2i, 

sees today's cyber threats escalating into 

full-blown crises - a stark warning that 

we must urgently overhaul our digital 

defences. "Gone are the days when 

established security measures like VPNs 

sufficed. Hackers are continually advancing, 

rendering traditional methods increasingly 

obsolete. Proactive security isn't an option; 

it's an absolute necessity, if organisations 

want to survive into the future. 

What does he see as the best way 

forward? He points to how Software- 

Defined Perimeters (SDPs) are rapidly gaining 

prominence as an innovative and intelligent 

alternative to VPNs. "They address and 

eliminate many traditional VPN vulnerabilities, 

such as susceptibility to lateral 

network attacks that could compromise 

sensitive organisational assets. SDPs simplify 

the secure connection of network assets 

across diverse infrastructures - from onpremises 

to hybrid and multi-cloud setups - 

and closely align with Zero Trust Network 

Access (ZTNA) principles. 

By adhering to the Zero Trust tenet of 

'never trust, always verify', SDPs offer 

stringent security controls at the application 

level. This ensures that resources like servers, 

storage units, applications, IoT devices and 

users gain access only to the specific data 

endpoints required for their tasks, thereby 

eliminating potential vulnerabilities such as 

lateral movement paths that attackers could 

exploit." 

He refers back to October and its designation 

as National Cybersecurity Awareness 

Month, labelling it as an "urgent call to 

action for adopting next-generation 

solutions like SDPs and Zero Trust principles. 

In doing so, we will be equipping organisations 

and individuals with the robust 

defences needed to outpace ever-advancing 

cyber threats". 

Amongst the many cyber threats faced, 

one that's often pushed to the background, 

but deserves centre stage, is email security, 

states Seth Blank, CTO, Valimail. "Email is 

the battleground where some of the most 

sophisticated social engineering attacks, 

like spear-phishing and whaling, are waged. 

These attacks exploit human psychology, 

leveraging the absence of the usual cues we 

rely on to assess trust-no facial expressions, 

no tone of voice, just cold text on a screen. 

"You've probably been inundated with the 

same stats again and again, like the fact 

that 91% of all cyberattacks start with 

phishing. Or that the FBI has reported $50 

billion - with a’ b’ - in losses, due to 

business email compromise (BEC). And, 

due to that inundation, it's easy for some 

to look at email as an old problem. But 

those stats show the problem is not just 

as bad as it's ever been; it's getting worse. 

Much, much worse." 

The bottom line, concludes Blank, is that, 

even if the stats have become somewhat 

easy to ignore, the problem is real and one 

misstep can wreak havoc. "Beef up your 

email security or get ready for a world of 

hurt," he advises. 

DRY-RUN YOUR RECOVERY PLAN 

Simon Church, chairman, Xalient, urges 

organisations to make sure they dry-run 

their recovery plan, so that, in the event of 

an attack, they know they are prepared, and 

Nadia Kadhim, Naq Cyber: defence 

suppliers must have a strong cybersecurity 

posture or risk putting the entire defence 

supply chain in jeopardy. 

Jason Dettbarn, founder & CEO, Addigy: 

cybersecurity has moved from an afterthought 

to one of the more important 

decisions in the boardroom. 


23


Don Boxley, DH2i: today's cyber threats 

are escalating into full-blown crises - 

we must urgently overhaul our digital 

defences. 

Simon Church, Xalient: invest heavily in 

training to enable employees to make 

smarter security decisions. 

understand the process and who is doing 

what. "And I'm not just talking about 

technology here, but people and processes. 

For example, what communications about 

the attack will they share with employees, 

customers and other stakeholders? What do 

they want employees to do? What do they 

want senior executives and the board to do? 

All too often I see organisations assume 

that, because they have the technology 

in place, it will magically and seamlessly 

recover their systems, but they neglect the 

fine detail around communications and 

reassurance." 

He also identifies human risk as a major 

factor. "In fact (depending on the sources you 

refer to) 75-90% of all cyber incidents are 

human initiated. So, it is very important to 

focus on having employee security awareness 

training in play. Today, employees operate in 

a blended environment, moving seamlessly 

between work applications and personal 

apps. Whereas previously they have been 

prevented from sharing company data 

outside the network perimeter, in our world 

of social media we often overshare, which 

leads to a lot of freely available open-source 

data, or OSINT. 

"Cybercriminals use OSINT for social 

engineering purposes. They gather personal 

information through social profiles and use 

this to customise phishing attacks. The most 

recent MGM breach, for example, was a 

result of a social engineering attack on an 

employee who inadvertently gave hackers 

access to MGM's systems. Investing heavily 

in training to enable employees to make 

smarter security decisions will help them 

manage the ongoing problem of social 

engineering and clever phishing attacks. 

Performance should also be regularly 

measured to see how employees are 

implementing training in the real world 

and there must be KPIs around this that are 

ideally discussed at senior management or 

board level. It is likely that the MGM attack 

could have been averted, if the employee 

had been more aware and better trained." 

Also, as many breaches utilise a vulnerability 

or flaw in operating systems' code, 

the patching cadence and criticality need to 

be agreed and assessed on a regular basis, 

so that the organisation prioritises patches 

based on risk to the business, Church adds. 

"To put this into context, last year there were 

approximately 20,000 new patches created 

by software vendors; this year, that figure is 

expected to increase to 22,000. This means 

that the largest organisations have a 

backlog of over 100,000 patches to deploy, 

which is an almost impossible task without 

clear risk prioritisation." 

Managing their third parties and any 

extended ecosystem cyber risk is equally 

critical for CEOs. "It is very difficult from 

an outside view to determine which 

third party has strong cyber controls and 

which ones are already, or likely to be, 

compromised. Standard risk assessment 

processes tend to be 'point in time', 

involving questionnaires and audits. For 

cybersecurity, this is a flawed approach that 

usually leads to risk tolerance or acceptance. 

Rather than just categorising third parties as 

high or low risk, organisations should focus 

on the nature of the relationship and their 

adherence to the same security policies 

and practices implemented by the organisation. 

Do they control sensitive data or 

have they got access to critical systems?" 

Cybercrime is predicted to be worth 

a massive $10.5 trillion dollars by the end 

of the year, Church points out. "If it were 

a country, it would equate to the thirdlargest 

country in the world, in terms of 

GDP, so it is clearly big business. Having 

robust security controls, a solid risk management 

plan and dynamic risk policies, as 

well as a tried and tested recovery plan, 

won't totally remove the threat of a cyberattack, 

but it will certainly reduce not only 

the probability of a breach, but also the 

impact to the business." 

24 


case study 

ON YOUR METAL! 

WHEN ONE METAL FABRICATION COMPANY SUFFERED SEVERAL MALWARE ATTACKS, 

IT REACHED OUT FOR THE RIGHT SOLUTION TO PROTECT ITS OPERATIONS 

In the last few years, ARKU 

Maschinenbau in Baden-Baden, 

Germany, has faced an increasing 

number of malware attacks. Working 

closely with the Freiburg branch of the 

IT systems house NetPlans, it introduced 

extensive measures to defend itself. 

In its search for reliable and scalable 

network protection, quickly became clear 

to the metal fabrication company that 

macmon NAC was the right option: 

NetPlans is a Platinum macmon partner 

with certified and continuously trained 

macom experts that has provided what 

is said to be "first-class support" for its 

customers - from the SME sector especially 

- with the implementation of a vast 

number of projects. 

To authenticate endpoints, ARKU uses 

macmon's integrated RADIUS server to 

make the decisions on 

ARKU Maschinenbau runs its worldwide 

operations from its base in Baden-Baden, 

Germany. 

granting access. As the ID or means of 

authentication, a number of properties 

can generally be used, such as the MAC 

address, username/password or certificate. 

Since the network is not accessed by the 

system until the RADIUS server has confirmed 

it, there are no unused or insecure ports, 

which increases security significantly. While 

granting access, the IT team can define and 

specify additional rules for the switch to 

implement. If the switch is technically 

capable of doing so (layer 3), a specific 

VLAN, defined ACLs or almost any other 

attributes can be assigned in this way. 

An access control list (ACL) limits access to 

data and functions. The ACL determines the 

extent to which individual users and system 

processes have access to certain objects 

such as services, files or registry entries. 

As IT & digitisation team leader at ARKU, 

Felix Pflüger, comments: "We use a variety 

of security solutions in our company. 

Thanks to macmon NAC, we always have 

oversight over our extensive IT infrastructure. 

Our switches are administered via 

SNMP and RADIUS, meaning macmon sets 

the appropriate VLAN on the switch port, 

or the port is blocked, if there are unknown 

devices. That prevents unauthorised devices 

from gaining access via network outlets, 

for example." 

Frequent visits by customers and suppliers 

present companies with the challenge of 

preventing these users' end devices from 

accessing the company's internal network. 

The functions of the 'Guest Service' module 

provide an intelligent and flexible management 

system for an external device with a 

granular guest ticket system for controlling 

temporary LAN and WLAN access. 

Since the number of external visitors was 

manageable during the Coronavirus period, 

the IT department was responsible for 

deciding whether or not visitors were 

granted access. In the future, however, 

this task will be delegated to authorised 

employees with the macmon guest portal. 

Without having to deal with the 

macmon NAC administration, they 

can generate access data directly in 

the portal or confirm visitors who 

have registered themselves. 

The resources shared and the 

duration of access can be defined 

while creating the access data, 

ensuring each visitor can access only 

the specific resources approved for 

them. For instance, a service 

technician who has to maintain 

machine equipment has different 

access rights to a customer visiting 

the company for a meeting. 


25

attacks offensive 

PHISHING ENTERS DEEP DARK WATERS 

THE SOPHISTICATION OF PHISHING ATTACKS IS ALSO SOARING, WITH CYBERCRIMINALS 

USING WORRYINGLY POWERFUL NEW TACTICS TO GAIN ACCESS TO DATA AND SYSTEMS 

As the attacks landscape continues 

to look ever more sinister, how 

exactly to keep your organisation 

safe, on multiple attack fronts, from bad 

actors intent on using every means to 

exploit vulnerabilities has become the 

vexing question. With each passing 

month, the means to find ways to avoid 

joining the ranks of the countless victims 

who have already been successfully 

targeted becomes increasing beset 

with obstacles and uncertainties. 

The preferred methods of attack are now 

familiar, with phishing continuing to be 

one of the most common and effective 

ways for cybercriminals to gain access 

to data and systems. "By targeting 

employees, cybercriminals are looking 

to take advantage of what is perceived 

to be the weakest element in the cyber 

defences of an organisation," points out 

AJ Thompson, CCO at Northdoor. "As 

a result, phishing attacks are on the 

increase. A recent report showed that 

there was a 47.2% increase in phishing 

attacks during 2022, a huge increase and 

one that highlights the growing efforts 

of the cybercriminal community to take 

advantage of employees." 

The sophistication of phishing attacks 

is also increasing substantially, with 

cybercriminals using new tactics to 

gain access to data and systems. "By 

persuading an employee to click on 

a malicious link or to give them direct 

access to internal systems, cybercriminals 

can quickly get their hands-on data 

with little effort on their part," states 

Thompson. "The Egress Phishing Threat 

Trends Report has identified the most 

phished topics so far in 2023 and has also 

predicted what the rest of the year has 

in store. By connecting to world events, 

anniversaries, holidays, as well as the 

hopes and fears of ordinary people, 

cybercriminals can concoct persuasive 

emails and other of forms of 

communication, gaining the trust of 

employees and getting them to open 

the door into internal systems." 

The key to successfully defeating 

phishing attacks is for the security industry 

as a whole to work together. "By identifying 

and sharing new threats, everyone 

is able to keep an eye out and deal with 

them as and when they come through. 

The cybersecurity sector has a tendency 

to withhold information under the guise 

of security, in order to gain a competitive 

advantage. In the face such a sophisticated 

threat, this is no longer an effective 

way for the industry to behave. 

Sharing information about what threats 

may look like is not effective. Informing 

employees about the latest tactics and 

giving them the tools to deal with 

potential and future threats makes the life 

of the cybercriminal harder, keeping your 

data and systems safe," he adds. 

IMPERSONATION SCAM 

In July 2023, Menlo Security HEAT Shield 

detected and blocked a novel phishing 

attack that involved an open redirection 

in the 'indeed.com' website redirecting 

victims to a phishing page impersonating 

Microsoft. Consequently, this makes an 

unsuspecting victim believe the redirection 

resulted from a trusted source such as 

'indeed.com'. The threat actors were 

found to deploy the phishing pages using 

the phishing-as-a-service platform named 

'EvilProxy'. The service is advertised and 

sold on the dark web as a subscriptionbased 

offering with the plan validity 

ranging between 10 days, 20 days, and 

31 days. One of the actors, known by 

the handle 'John_Malkovich', plays the 

role of an administrator and intermediary 

assisting customers who have purchased 

the service. The campaign targeted C-suite 

employees and other key executives across 

organisations based in the United States 

across various sectors. 

The infection vector was a phishing email 

delivered with a link that is deceptively 

crafted, in such a way that it comes from 

a trusted source, in this case 'indeed.com'. 

Upon clicking the link, the victim is then 

redirected to a fake Microsoft Online login 

page. 

It seems that HEAT Shield was able to 

detect and prevent this phishing attempt 

on the fly, by virtue of its real-time analysis 

feature. "It detected the phishing site by 

leveraging AI-based detection models 

to analyse the rendered web page way 

before the URL reputation services and 

other security vendors flagged this page 

for malicious behaviour," says Menlo 

Security. "HEAT Shield also generates the 

Zero Hour Phishing Detection alerts in 

the process, which help provide greater 

visibility to the SOC analysts by providing 

them with context of the threat and 

enriched data that will adequately support 

their research." 

26 



As ransomware targeting healthcare 

organisations increases, more advanced 

cybersecurity is needed to protect sensitive 

patient data and maintain uninterrupted 

operations for the continuous delivery of 

life-critical medical services. Hospitals and 

healthcare organisations face a unique 

security and identity challenge. With 

shared workstations among staff, they 

must determine how they can distinguish 

who is doing what, on which device, and 

enforce access control policies and threat 

protections based on both the user who 

logged in at the time and the device's 

posture. They also need to keep track of 

all user activity, with logs indicating their 

actions for traceability and compliance 

requirements. 

To that end, Zscaler has teamed up 

with CrowdStrike and Imprivata to deliver 

a zero trust cybersecurity solution from 

device to cloud that's custom-made for 

medical institutions, it reports. "The new 

Zscaler integration with the Imprivata 

Digital Identity Platform will provide 

visibility, threat protection and traceability 

for end-to-end, multi-user, shared device 

access control that are required for organisations 

to meet regulatory requirements, 

including HIPAA and HITECH," says the 

cloud security provider. 

With this new integration, users of the 

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform, 

Imprivata OneSign and the CrowdStrike 

Falcon platform will be able to more 

effectively adopt a zero trust architecture 

that offers granular access management, 

threat protection, and traceability 

capabilities to better protect against 

ransomware. 

"Cyberattacks on healthcare organisations 

are at an all-time high and 

protecting patient data is critical to 

maintaining trust," says Dhawal Sharma, 

senior vice president and general manager 

at Zscaler. "Zscaler's integrations with 

Imprivata, in addition to CrowdStrike, 

provide much needed help to healthcare 

organisations in their journey to a zero 

trust architecture. We're aiding workers 

and technicians with least privileged 

access to the healthcare information they 

need to provide care and maintain the 

privacy and security of patient data." 

LACK OF CONFIDENCE 

Employees are behind a widening gap in 

the cybersecurity of small and mediumsized 

enterprises (SMEs) a new survey has 

revealed, as over three-quarters of SMEs' 

C-suite and senior managers admit they 

have no confidence their teams are 

operating their own devices securely. 

Employees are not the only contributing 

factor to risk either, as the C-suite are 

also lacking cyber awareness: the survey - 

commissioned by Cowbell, a leading 

provider of cyber insurance for SMEs - 

found over three quarters of those 

operating at the helm of UK SMEs are 

unable to confidently identify a cyber 

incident at work, while a further 50% 

believe that they're unable to identify the 

difference between a phishing and real 

email. 

The UK has seen a drastic change in 

workforce lifestyle over the past three 

years (as of May 2023, with 85% of 

employees currently working from home 

wanting a hybrid approach). Cowbell's 

findings show that businesses are not 

only unwittingly exposing themselves to 

risk through lack of awareness of simple 

protective measures, but are also putting 

too much onus on their employees to 

perform safety protocols, such as protecting 

devices, updating software and staying 

off unsafe networks. 

This can leave SMEs with a significantly 

heightened exposure to cyber risks, says 

Cowbell's Simon Hughes, VP and general 

manager (UK): "Business leaders have been 

AJ Thompson, Northdoor: the key to 

defeating phishing attacks is for the 

security industry as a whole to work 

together. 

Dhawal Sharma, Zscaler: cyberattacks on 

healthcare organisations are at an all-time 

high and protecting patient data is critical to 

maintaining trust. 


27


Kennet Harpsoe, Logpoint: internetfacing 

systems are especially vulnerable 

to zero-days and should always be placed 

in a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). 

thrown into an ever-changing and complex 

landscape with regards to cyber threats, 

alongside having to navigate new business 

processes associated with a rapidly 

transforming world of work. Many have 

stepped up to keep themselves as robustly 

protected as possible. However, teamrelated 

behaviours and gaps in knowledge 

highlighted in our research are leaving 

businesses exposed, showing the need 

for continual monitoring and action. If 

employees aren't regularly made aware of 

cybersecurity risks, such as public wifi usage, 

businesses can find themselves wide open 

at every coffee shop and neighbourhood 

their employees work and visit." 

THIRD-PARTY DATA BREACH 

Another major concern is the revelation by 

bank Flagstar of a third-party data breach 

when its payment processing and mobile 

banking services provider Fiserv suffered a 

MOVEit data breach, ultimately leaking the 

data of an estimated 800,000 customers. 

"The incident involved vulnerabilities 

discovered in MOVEit Transfer, a file transfer 

software used by our vendor to support 

services it provides to Flagstar and its 

related institutions," Flagstar Bank told its 

customers. With assets worth over $31 

billion and annual revenue of over $1.9 

billion, the New York Community Bankowned 

financial services company is one 

of the largest banks in the United States. 

Kennet Harpsoe, senior cyber analyst at 

Logpoint, comments: "Companies must 

be very careful to have inventories of the 

software they deploy to be able to track 

publications of vulnerabilities in their 

software and patch them, if necessary. 

Zero-days are, by definition, impossible 

to defend directly against. "They are 

unknown unknowns and the best strategy 

is to always minimise impacts of a potential 

breach, adopt an 'assume breached 

mindset' and defend your networks in 

depth, having multiple layers of defence 

and monitoring." 

He adds: "Internet-facing systems are 

especially vulnerable to zero-days and 

such systems should always be placed in 

a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), in line with 

the defence-in-depth mindset." 

BREACH PUTS POLICE AT RISK 

One of the most alarming recent attacks was the data breach that exposed the details of 10,000 police employees - including 

undercover police officers - putting the names and personal details of police officers at great risk of exposure. 

The National Crime Agency (NCA) launched a criminal investigation into the breach at the Stockport-based firm Digital ID, 

which makes identity cards and lanyards for a number of UK organisations, including several NHS trusts and universities. 

Digital ID said it notified cyber experts last month when it became aware of the incident. 

The breach has provoked serious security concerns and raise deeper questions about data protection in UK policing, coming 

as it did just weeks after the surnames and initials of 10,000 Police Service of Northern Ireland employees were published online 

after being accidentally included in a response to a freedom of information request. 

Paul Holland, CEO of leading secure digital communications organisation Beyond Encryption, says that knowing the identities 

of undercover officers are now in the hands of unknown threat actors is "an unacceptable breach of policing staff trust, and 

could be dangerous for both them and the citizens they protect". And he adds: "While consumers and businesses alike are often 

unaware of the security risks impacting their data, these recent breaches demonstrate how detrimental insufficient security tools 

are to digital safety. Organisations must ensure that they have robust safeguarding measures in place to mitigate these attacks in 

future or we risk more personal data falling into the wrong hands." 

28 


product review 

ENDACE: ENDACEPROBE CLOUD 

Cloud computing has revolutionised 

business operations globally, but the 

'shared responsibility' security model 

used by providers presents many challenges 

for SecOps and NetOps teams. Providers 

look after the security of the infrastructure, 

data centres and server hardware, leaving 

customers to handle cloud application, 

data, operating system and access security. 

For teams to respond quickly to cyberattacks 

and resolve network or application performance 

issues, they must be able to capture, 

store, index and analyse accurate records of 

all traffic activity. Historically, this has been 

a major pain point for cloud services, but 

packet capture expert Endace has the perfect 

solution, as its well-respected EndaceProbe 

appliances can now be hosted in the cloud. 

Supporting Amazon Web Services (AWS) 

and Microsoft Azure public clouds, 

EndaceProbe Cloud delivers the same 

excellent packet capture and analysis features 

found in Endace's hardware appliances and 

places them right where they can provide 

deep visibility into cloud environments. 

Capable of capturing packets from virtual 

packet brokers, VPC mirrors, virtual span 

ports, load balancers, firewalls, vSwitches and 

virtual machines, EndaceProbe Cloud assures 

full security, storing all recorded packet data 

within your own VPC or virtual network. 

Deployed as a virtual machine, using the 

recommended sizing, EndaceProbe Cloud 

delivers 4Gbps packet to disk write 

performance, millisecond accurate 

timestamping, and a maximum native 

storage capacity of 250TB per instance. 

Endace's software compression and Smart 

Application Truncation technology further 

boosts packet capture capacity to as much 

as 500TB. You can also control cloud 

subscription costs by sizing the appliance 

up or down to your requirements. 

Endace adds extreme flexibility. All 

EndaceProbes in globally distributed cloud 

and hybrid networks can be centrally 

accessed through a single console. Endace's 

InvestigationManager - which can be hosted 

in the cloud or on-premises - provides 

centralised search and data-mining. 

Using InvestigationManager's integrated 

EndaceVision - a browser-based analysis tool 

- analysts can choose data sources from 

multiple EndaceProbes, view them 

simultaneously and use data visualisation 

tools to home in on areas of interest, such 

as flows, top talkers, protocols and users. 

All search operations are performed locally 

on each EndaceProbe and only packets of 

interest are passed to InvestigationManager. 

Data egress charges are significantly reduced, 

as there's no need to download huge pcap 

files from the cloud. 

Management of all Endace deployments 

can also be done centrally using EndaceCMS, 

which provides a single pane of glass for all 

administrative functions, including health 

monitoring, configuration and upgrades. 

You can host EndaceCMS either on-premises 

or in the cloud, too. 

EndaceProbe Cloud integrates seamlessly 

with a wide range of security and performance 

monitoring tools, including solutions 

offered by Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Plixer, 

Splunk and many others. Endace's APIs 

integrate directly into the user interfaces 

of these products, so teams can analyse 

packet data directly from within the tools 

they already use, without needing to have 

specific knowledge of Endace's appliances. 

A good example is Splunk. When Splunk 

shows an alert or event, analysts can access 

related packets directly from within the 

Splunk GUI - so they don't need to change 

their existing workflows. They can create, 

share and customise investigations, accessing 

data from multiple EndaceProbes, view 

conversations, extract files from suspicious 

communications, generate rich logs for 

insight into network activity and decode 

packets directly in the hosted Wireshark, 

thus avoiding more cloud egress charges. 

It's no secret cloud infrastructures are 

coming under an ever-increasing barrage of 

cyberattacks and, for SecOps and NetOps 

teams to do their job, they need total visibility 

into AWS and Azure environments, too. 

Endace's EndaceProbe Cloud provides an 

answer, as this highly scalable unified packet 

capture and analysis solution is simple to 

deploy and ideally suited to hybrid, multicloud 

architectures. 

Product: EndaceProbe Cloud 

Supplier: Endace 

Web site: www.endace.com 

Sales: +44 (0)800 088 5008 


29

artificial intelligence 

FAKING IT WITH AI 

STANDING ON THE CUSP OF A NEW FRONTIER IS EXHILARATING, BUT 

IT'S ALSO A PRECIPICE WE RISK TUMBLING OVER, WARNS ONE AI EXPERT 

Findings from independent research into 

AI's impact on cyber security, the risks 

and advantages, have highlighted the 

mounting concerns tht are spreading over 

the use of AI, and deepfakes in particular, as 

68% of respondents noted concerns about 

cybercriminals using deepfakes to target their 

organisations. 

Brian Martin, head of product development, 

Innovation and Strategy at Integrity360 - 

Integrity360, which has released the findings - 

comments: "The use of AI for cyber-attacks is 

already a threat to businesses, but recognising 

the future potential and the impact this can 

have is just the start. We've already seen the 

potential for deepfake technology with the 

video of Volodymyr Zelensky telling Ukrainians 

to put down their weapons and spreading 

disinformation. This is just one example of the 

nefarious means in which it can be used, and 

businesses need to be prepared for how to 

defend against this and discern what is and 

isn't real, to avoid falling victim to an attack." 

A significant majority (59%) of respondents 

also agree that AI is increasing the number of 

cyber security attacks, which aligns with the 

change in attacks that have been noticeable 

over the past year as 'offensive AI' is being 

used in instances such as malware creation. 

It's also being used to create more phishing 

messages, with content that accurately 

mimics the language, tone and design of 

legitimate emails. 

In line with this, the survey also indicates 

that businesses recognise the impact that 

AI will have on cyber security, as 46% of 

respondents disagreed with the statement 

that they do not understand the impact of 

AI on cyber security. 

However, when breaking down the findings 

by specific job roles, the survey suggests that 

CIOs appear to have the least understanding 

of AI's impact on cyber security, with 42% 

indicating disagreement with the statement. 

"AI's role in cyber security is not only a matter 

of perception, but a tangible reality," adds 

Martin "Conventional cyberattacks will 

ultimately become obsolete as AI technologies 

become increasingly available and more 

appealing. and accessible as attackers look to 

expand their use for AI-enabled cyberattacks. 

As an MSSP. it's essential to ensure businesses 

are considering how this can be used against 

them and putting processes in place to 

protect against these growing threats." 

AI SAFETY SUMMIT 

As concerns over AI continue to circulate, 

an AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in 

Buckinghamshire had five key objectives that 

were up for 

discussion by 

global experts, 

academics, 

politicians and 

scientists. These 

were: 

A shared 

understanding of the 

risks posed by frontier 

AI and the need for 

action 

A forward process 

for international 

collaboration on 

frontier AI safety, 

including how best to 

support national and 

international 

frameworks 

Appropriate 

measures that individual 

organisations should take to 

increase frontier AI safety 

Areas for potential collaboration on AI 

safety research, including evaluating model 

capabilities and the development of new 

standards to support governance 

To showcase how ensuring the safe 

development of AI will enable AI to be 

used for good globally. 

Thomas R Weaver, tech entrepreneur, 

computer scientist and author of the book, 

'Artificial Wisdom' , has been sharing some 

of his predictions around those summit 

objectives and had this to say about AI: "While 

it's exhilarating to stand on the cusp of a new 

frontier in AI, that very edge is a precipice we 

risk tumbling over, if we don't approach it 

with caution. As someone who has delved 

30 


artificial intelligence 

deep into the 

ethical murk 

of future technologies 

through 

both fiction and 

entrepreneurship, 

I can't 

stress enough 

how vital it is 

that we develop 

a collective understanding 

of the 

risks involved - 

especially when it 

comes to employing AI 

in tackling monumental 

challenges like climate 

change. It's not merely 

about drafting safety 

protocols; it's about 

questioning the very 

mandate we give to 

these technologies." 

The latest NCSC 

guidance is quite 

rightfully 

suggesting the 

pressing need to 'exercise caution' when 

building Large Language Models (LLM), 

with the explanation that our understanding 

of LLMs is still 'in beta' mode. 

Cautions Kev Breen, director of cyber threat 

research at Immersive Labs: "As an industry, 

we are becoming more accomplished at 

using and making the most of the benefits of 

LLM, but there is more to learn about them, 

their full capabilities, and where their usage 

could leave individuals and indeed large 

organisations vulnerable to attack." 

As organisations rush to embed AI into their 

applications, and startups begin to pop up 

with new and interesting ways to use this 

new form of AI; Language Models, such 

as OpenAI's ChatGPT, it is important that 

developers understand how these models and 

their APIs work before building them, he 

points out. "Prompt Injection is currently 

the most common form of attack observed 

against LLMs, by focusing on defeating 

the protections they offer against sharing or 

creating information that could be damaging 

- for example, instructions on how to create 

malicious code. 

This is not the only danger, he says, "OpenAI 

has introduced ‘function calling’, a method 

for the AI to return data in a structured 

format that can be used by the application, 

making it easier for developers to expand 

on the AI's capability or enrich its data with 

other sources." 

The danger here is that those function 

signatures are sent to the AI in the same 

context, says Breen, "meaning that, through 

prompt injection, attackers can learn the 

underlying mechanisms of your application 

and in some examples, attackers can manipulate 

the AI's response to perform command 

injection or SQL injection attacks against the 

infrastructure". 

To help raise awareness of this issue, 

Immersive Labs launched a 'Beat the Bot' AI 

prompt injection challenge (available at 

'Immersive GPT'). In this challenge, users are 

tasked with building the right prompts to 

con the AI to give them the password. Of 

the 20,000 people that have attempted the 

challenge, around 3,000 made it through to 

level one, while only 527 made it to level 10, 

showing that there is still a lot for people to 

learn - "but even with varying levels of control, 

it's still easy to find a way to bypass a 

prompt", he adds. 

By learning prompt injection, even your 

average person can trick and manipulate 

an AI chatbot. "Real-time, gamified training 

becomes essential for not only attempting 

to keep up with the efforts of hackers, 

but also better understanding the 'practice' 

they are putting in themselves around AI 

prompt injection." 

Author Brian Martin: vital we develop 

a collective understanding of the risks 

involved with AI. 

Thomas R Weaver: tech entrepreneur, 

computer scientist and author of the 

book, 'Artificial Wisdom'. 


31

data privacy 

WHAT DATA PRIVACY MEANS NOW 

IS THE CONSTANT BATTLE TO KEEP DIGITAL PRIVACY 

LAWS AND REGULATIONS RELEVANT TO THE DIGITAL 

AGE BEING WON? 

What exactly is data privacy? 

The accepted definition is our 

ability to control what, where 

and how our personal or confidential 

information is collected, stored or 

shared. Data privacy was important long 

before the digital age, but the internet 

and electronic records have changed the 

meaning of data privacy, says Dashlane, 

a provider of password management 

solutions. 

"Internet service providers continually 

track your online activity and IP address, 

even when you use private or incognito 

browsing modes. Digital privacy laws 

and regulations determine how information 

gathered during our browsing 

sessions can and can't be used and how 

we're informed about the process," 

it points out. "The growth of cloud 

computing, e-commerce, telemedicine 

and other online services highlights the 

importance of personal data privacy 

practices to protect our identity and 

private information from cybercriminals 

and prevent consumer data from being 

used unethically." 

Personal information includes things 

such as your name, address, phone 

number and Social Security number that 

can be used to identify you. Unlike 

online preferences or browsing history, 

personal information is also relevant 

outside the digital world. Financial data, 

medical records and employee files are 

some of the many forms of personal 

information that must be protected. 

"Data privacy and 

protection are 

important to 

businesses in many 

ways. Maintaining 

the privacy of 

company 

information [intellectual property], 

employee data and information shared 

with customers and clients is essential," 

adds Dashlane. "A data privacy policy sets 

ground rules for tracking, storing and 

sharing customer data collected on the 

organisation's website. This policy also 

helps businesses establish compliance 

with a growing list of privacy laws. 

"Data privacy helps you control what 

information you choose to keep personal. 

All individuals have the right to prevent 

their personal information from being 

used or shared without their consent, 

even if this sharing wouldn't potentially 

lead to data theft or other cybercrimes." 

Due to the importance of data privacy, a 

long list of state, federal and international 

laws has been established to protect our 

privacy online and elsewhere. Important 

data privacy and security laws and 

regulations include: 

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act 

Health Insurance Portability and 

Accountability Act 

General Data Protection Regulation 

California Consumer Privacy Act. 

Identity theft is one of the most serious 

cybercrimes related to personal data 

privacy and security. Armed with just a few 

key pieces of personally identifiable information 

(PII), like your name, driver's 

licence number and Social Security 

number, an identity thief can begin 

accessing credit lines in your name, 

stealing your tax refund or draining your 

bank account, warns Dashlane. "Since 

many identity theft victims don't realise 

what's happened until after the damage 

is done, dark web monitoring is a recommended 

practice used to scan the 

depths of the internet for your personal 

information and notify you if something 

sensitive is found." 

Dashlane says that it is dedicated to 

creating software that helps users control 

their information online. "We include plain 

language summaries that make our data 

collection, use and sharing practices easier 

to understand in our Dashlane Privacy 

Policy." 

UK EXTENSION SET UP 

In an important development in transatlantic 

data policy, the UK and US 

governments have formally established 

a 'UK Extension' to the EU-US Data Privacy 

Framework, which, since 12 October 

2023, is allowing businesses in the UK to 

32 


data privacy 

transfer personal data to certified US 

organisations in the same way as their 

European counterparts. 

It's a highly significant move, as Edward 

Machin a senior lawyer in Ropes & Gray's 

Data, Privacy and Cybersecurity team, 

acknowledges. "The UK Extension will be 

welcomed by British businesses, who will 

soon have an additional mechanism to 

transfer personal data to the United States 

and which will in part reduce the papering 

exercises required to ensure that their 

transatlantic data flows are conducted 

lawfully." 

The EU-US framework has already been 

legally challenged, he points out, and says 

it would be surprising if privacy interest 

groups in the UK don't mount their own 

challenge to the UK Extension. "We'll then 

see whether the English courts can strike 

a workable balance between upholding 

privacy rights and securing national 

security interests - a balance that their 

European counterparts arguably didn't 

manage when ruling on previous 

transatlantic data frameworks. 

PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE 

"The UK's post-Brexit policymaking has 

revolved around liberalising its data 

protection regime without straying too far 

from the GDPR and therefore no longer 

being considered by the European Union 

to offer adequate protection for personal 

data," adds Machin. "A key concern in 

Brussels has been that the UK wants 

a watered-down transfer deal with the 

United States - and, left to its own devices, 

the government may have taken the path 

of least resistance. 

The fact that the UK Extension mirrors 

the Data Privacy Framework will help to 

assuage European concerns, but the UK's 

data transfer deals with other countries 

will continue to be subject to scrutiny both 

at home and abroad." 

What does it all mean, in practical, 

day-to-day terms? According to the 

Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), 

the UK government can assess whether 

another country, territory or an international 

organisation provides an 

adequate level of data protection, 

compared to the UK. "Some countries 

may have a substantially similar level of 

data protection to the UK. In these cases, 

the government can make UK adequacy 

regulations. This allows organisations 

to send personal data to that country, 

territory or international organisation, 

if they wish." 

An adequacy assessment may cover 

either general processing, or law 

enforcement processing, or both. 

The government must consider a range 

of factors, including that sending personal 

data to that country, territory or 

international organisation does not 

undermine people's protections. 

The Information Commissioner's Office 

(ICO) supports the government, 

undertaking adequacy assessments and 

making regulations. This enables personal 

data to flow freely in its global digital 

economy to trusted partners. "We do this 

by providing independent assurance on 

the process followed and the factors 

that government officials take into 

consideration," says the ICO. "This allows 

the Secretary of State to make an informed 

and reasonable decision. By doing 

this work once for everyone, the government 

and the ICO are reducing the 

burden of compliance on organisations 

that would otherwise have to put 

alternative measures in place. 

"One of our priorities for this year, as 

set out in our ICO25 strategic plan, is to 

'enable international data flows through 

regulatory certainty'. This includes our 

work on adequacy assessments. We 

provided advice to the government during 

its assessment of the UK Extension to 

the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (UK 

Extension). 

"The Commissioner considers that, while 

it is reasonable for the Secretary of State 

to conclude that the UK Extension 

provides an adequate level of data 

protection and to lay regulations to that 

effect, there are four specific areas that 

could pose risks to UK data subjects, if 

the protections identified are not properly 

applied. The Secretary of State should 

monitor these areas closely to ensure 

UK data subjects are afforded equivalent 

protection in practice and their rights are 

not undermined. He also recommends 

monitoring the implementation of the UK 

Extension generally to ensure it operates 

as intended." 

FRAMEWORK ESTABLISHED 

The UK's data protection laws set out 

a framework for the responsible use of 

personal data by organisations. People 

may lose this protection when organisations 

transfer their personal data to 

organisations in other countries or to 

international organisations. "This is why 

the UK General Data Protection Regulation 

(UK GDPR) has specific rules on how to 

make international transfers of personal 

data," adds the ICO. "These rules mean 

that organisations must put in place 

continuing protections for people's 

personal data when transferring it to 

another jurisdiction, or one of a limited 

number of exemptions must apply." 

One way that UK organisations can 

transfer personal data to another 

jurisdiction is by relying on UK adequacy 

regulations made by the Secretary of 

State. "The Secretary of State can assess 

a country, territory or international 

organisation, or a particular sector in 

a country or territory, and decide if its 

legal framework offers a similar level of 

data protection to the UK. Article 45 of 


33

data privacy 

Edward Machin, Ropes & Gray: it would 

be surprising if privacy interest groups in 

the UK don't mount their own challenge 

to the UK Extension. 

Robin Röhm, Apheris: sees the deal between 

the US and UK as a positive step for 

companies working in both jurisdictions. 

the UK GDPR contains a list of criteria the 

Secretary of State must consider when 

carrying out an adequacy assessment." 

If the Secretary of State decides an 

adequate level of data protection is 

afforded, then that country, territory or 

international organisation, or a particular 

sector in a country or territory, can make 

regulations to give legal effect to their 

decision. These adequacy regulations 

allow UK organisations to transfer personal 

data to a controller or processor located 

in a third country or to an international 

organisation. The transfer must adhere to 

the particular scope of those regulations. 

"For criminal offence data, there may be 

some risks, even where this is identified as 

sensitive, because, as far as we are aware, 

there are no equivalent protections to 

those set out in the UK's Rehabilitation of 

Offenders Act 1974," points out the ICO." 

Significantly, the UK Extension does not 

contain a substantially similar right to the 

UK GDPR in protecting individuals from 

being subject to decisions based solely 

on automated processing, which would 

produce legal effects or be similarly 

significant to an individual. "The UK 

Extension contains neither a substantially 

similar right to the UK GDPR's right to be 

forgotten nor an unconditional right to 

withdraw consent," states the ICO. "While 

the UK Extension gives individuals some 

control over their personal data, this is 

not as extensive as the control they have 

in relation to their personal data when 

it is in the UK." 

POSITIVE STEP 

In response to the UK-US transatlantic 

data adequacy agreement, Robin Röhm, 

CEO and co-founder of Apheris, sees the 

deal between the US and UK as a positive 

step for companies working in both 

jurisdictions. "But it does not solve the 

long-term issues around governance, 

security and privacy that prevents true 

collaboration between organisations," 

he comments. "Data is one of business's 

most important assets, so why would 

businesses want to risk transferring 

sensitive information and data across 

borders? Developing better models to 

securely access and collaborate with 

sensitive data is the most appropriate 

and pressing response to the problem 

of working across organisational and 

geographical boundaries, particularly in 

the fields of machine learning and artificial 

intelligence." 

Nadia Kadhim, GDPR lawyer and CEO 

of global automated compliance platform 

Naq Cyber, warns that the defence 

industry needs to do more to protect 

classified data, as the number of attacks 

on this sector has increased by nearly 50% 

with an average of 1,661 according to a 

global report by Check Point Research. 

This increased risk has already led to 

growing demand for additional 

compliance measures from the defence 

industry to ensure their suppliers meet 

legal and regulatory compliance 

requirements such as Cyber Essentials, 

JOSCAR, DART, and MOD Risk Assessments, 

she states. "The number of cyberattacks 

within the defence sector is 

expected to keep rising. While it is crucial 

to ensure the MOD's systems are secured, 

it is also just as crucial to ensure defence 

suppliers have a strong cybersecurity 

posture or risk putting the entire defence 

supply chain in jeopardy. 

"It's a pattern we see in other highly 

regulated sectors, such as healthcare, 

where attackers use suppliers to access 

valuable and sensitive information. To 

keep the UK defence sector safe, we must 

focus on suppliers and ensure they are 

meeting continuous compliance with the 

cybersecurity requirements set by the 

MOD and their primes." 

34 


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