AI and The next Generation of Cyber-Threat
While AI can be leveraged for cyber defense, it also presents new opportunities for cyber-attackers to operate at greater scale and to perpetrate more targeted attacks.
For instance, malicious software on your laptop might use AI to learn the way you communicate with different people on a daily basis, replicating your personalized communication styles and leveraging contextual information to trick recipients into opening a malicious attachment or link.
AI techniques might also be used to power advanced surveillance attacks with nefarious forms of speech-to-text processing. Imagine an attacker hacking into the connected smart TVs and video conferencing units installed in meeting rooms across your organization. By activating the microphones and streaming the audio in every meeting, an AI-driven translation and transcription service could produce transcripts of confidential discussions and immediately flag sensitive topics of interest to the hacker, such as the details of an upcoming legal trial or a confidential business merger.
As advances in AI continue to provide attackers with the opportunity to enhance the speed, scale, and automation of cyber-attacks, the war of algorithm is being fought within corporate networks around the world.
Due to this, we are now offering Darktrace as a cyber service which utilizes AI to protect against your whole network. Please contact us for free demo and for further information.
More information is available here – https://newtech.mt/darktrace/
Darktrace * Microsoft 365 Security
Darktrace’s AI understands normal ‘patterns of life’ to detect threats that other tools miss, protecting the dynamic workforce across email, SaaS and Azure AD.
As attackers continue to target remote workers via spear phishing, wire fraud and SaaS account takeover, Darktrace learns on the job, securing your entire Microsoft environment with a single AI engine.
Key Benefits for Microsoft Customers:
- Single, unified AI platform that provides complete coverage.
- Catches costly attacks missed by legacy security tools.
- 100% of your Microsoft users are analyzed as personas for behavioral modeling.
- 30-day free trial with full actioning capability.
- 5-minute install
Acunetix Product Overview with Mark Schembri.
Founded in Malta in 2005, Acunetix now forms part of Invicti security who are keeping the internet secure with DAST solutions that help protect web applications around the world. Trusted by some of the world’s most established brands, the company protects over 625 K sites, 33000 companies in 115 countries.
Contact us through this link on our website –
Maltese Success Story: Acunetix World Leading in Cybersecurity.
Maltese Success Story: Acunetix
World Leading in Cybersecurity.
Acunetix is a global web security leader which is trusted by many Fortune 500 companies from the most demanding sectors, and government entities.
Globally the company is trusted by the U.S Air Force, NASA, HSBC, American Express, AVG and AWS, amongst many others.
Acunetix was founded in Malta in 2005. At this time, many enterprises did not see the need to secure their web applications. Instead, they focused on protecting the network. Acunetix were the pioneers who realized that this is not enough because network scanners and firewalls are helpless against most web vulnerabilities.
The solution was to develop an automated tool used to scan web applications to identify and resolve security issues.
Since then, Acunetix grew as both the company and the product. The vulnerability scanner was originally developed for Windows only. In 2014, Acunetix launched an online (cloud) solution, in 2018 – a Linux version, and in 2019 – Acunetix 360 for enterprises on all platforms.
In 2018, the company was acquired by Turn/River Capital.
Acunetix is a fully automated tool that frees up your security team resources. It specifically looks at protecting your web applications, such as your website & mobile applications. In Layman’s terms, the technology looks to hack your web applications and generate reports on the vulnerabilities. Different reports are generated automatically that are both suited for individuals in managerial positions (Managers, CEO’S, CFO’s etc..) written in language that can be understood, and detailed reports for security analysts, showing them exactly where the vulnerabilities are located within the code and how to fix them.
This saves a lot of time for security teams as they no longer need to spend hours manually auditing their web applications for vulnerabilities. Acunetix is one of the best solutions on the market as it reports very few false positives, meaning additional time is saved as teams do not need to waste resources attempting to validate non-existent issues and vulnerabilities.
How does Acunetix work?
Acunetix can detect vulnerabilities that other technologies would miss because it combines the best of dynamic and static scanning technologies, constantly scanning for vulnerabilities on the application. Acunetix also has the AcuSensor and AcuMonitor, the proprietary technologies which aid in the accuracy of scans.
What Are the Benefits of AcuMonitor?
AcuMonitor increases the scope of vulnerabilities that the Acunetix scanner can detect. Without AcuMonitor, out-of-band detection is not possible. Also, vulnerabilities detected with AcuMonitor are never false positives. Here are some of the vulnerabilities detected by Acunetix with AcuMonitor:
- Blind server-side XML/SOAP injection
- Blind XSS (delayed XSS)
- Host header attack
- Out-of-band remote code execution (OOB RCE)
- Out-of-band SQL Injection (OOB SQLi)
- Email header injection
- Server-side request forgery (SSRF)
- XML External Entity injection (XXE)
How do you save time with Acunetix?
The software is at an advanced level and provides vulnerability management and compliance reporting functionality instantly. The template of the reports can be designed specific to each company. You can classify, prioritize, and retest issues. Allowing your security teams to focus on the vulnerabilities, creating more efficiency and most importantly saving time.
Acunetix 360 and its integration with the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). This is a big time saver as it integrates all the different parts of website development (development, bug tracking, auto-assignment, alerting, vulnerability management, auto re-testing, etc). Acunetix is able to integrate all these different job processes into a single, automatic, customizable flow.
Can you integrate Acunetix to your system / issue trackers?
Acunetix integrates with 3rd party applications, making it easier to track and protect against identified vulnerabilities. Acunetix scan results can be used by the following Issue Trackers and WAFs, and Acunetix can also be used as part of a Continuous Integration environment.
Issue Trackers
An Issue Tracker is a powerful and essential tool in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) of almost any software project. It helps development teams streamline collaboration and manage their work without getting lost in an endless stream of emails and PDF reports.
Acunetix can send vulnerabilities as issues to the following Issue Trackers:
- Microsoft TFS
- JIRA
- GitHub
- GitLab
- Bugzilla
- Mantis
Web Application Firewalls (WAFs)
Acunetix integrates with popular WAFs to automatically create appropriate Web Application Firewall rules to protect web applications against attacks targeting vulnerabilities that the scanner finds. This allows you to temporarily prevent the exploitation of high-severity vulnerabilities until you are able to fix them.
Acunetix can export scan data to the following Web Application Firewalls (WAFs):
- Imperva SecureSphere
- F5 BIG-IP Application Security Manager
- FortiWeb WAF
- Citrix WAF
Newtech has proudly partnered with Acunetix as the local distributor, continuing its growing portfolio of brands within the technology sector. Specifically increasing its representation in the realm of cyber security which also includes Darktrace and Bitdefender. The company strives to provide its clients with the best technological solutions available.
If interested in Acunetix and for a free demo, please contact us on ntsales@newtech.mt
Cyber Security Awareness Sponsored by Acunetix with Rosyln from Advisory 21.
For our second video in the series we invite Dr. Roselyn Borg Knight to talk about the legal requirements, challenges and threats of protecting data online.
Dr. Borg Knight specializes in employment law and industrial relations. Her company operates as the link between the UK and other foreign jurisdictions with a particular focus on Malta. As the Co - Founder at Advisory 21 she advises employers and individuals on all aspects of employment law, from recruitment to termination. They also offer bespoke training and also address conferences and workshops.
Dr. Borg Knight is also the Co-founder and co-editor of living law magazine.
#Cybersecurity #Hacking #CyberAwareness #Malta #Acunetix #Webvulnerbility #Betsson #Newtech
Cyber Security Awareness Sponsored by Acunetix with Matthew from Betsson.
Here Robin, our Marketing & Brand Executive interviewed Matthew Sciberras the Director of Information Security at Betsson to talk about his work, the technical aspects of the job and current challenges that he faces. Sponsored by Acunetix
What's new in Acunetix V13?
Find out what’s new in Acunetix v13
The new release comes with an improved user interface and introduces innovations such as the SmartScan engine, malware detection functionality, comprehensive network scanning, proof-of-exploit, incremental scanning, and more. This release further strengthens the leading position of Acunetix on the web security market.
The 2020 edition of the Acunetix Web Application Vulnerability Report contains a statistical data analysis for web vulnerabilities and network perimeter vulnerabilities.
The full report can be found here: https://www.acunetix.com/acunetix-web-application-vulnerability-report
Acunetix prepared the report by doing the following:
- Taking data from Acunetix Online for scans performed between March 2019 and February 2020
- Randomly and anonymously selecting 5,000 scan targets
- Focusing on High Severity and Medium Severity vulnerabilities
Our general observations are:
- The total number of web and network perimeter vulnerabilities is slightly less than last year
- Relatively new scan targets had more vulnerabilities than others
Acunetix is a global web security leader which is trusted by many fortune 500 companies from the most demanding sectors, and government entities. Globally the company is trusted by the U.S Air Force, NASA, HSBC, American Express, AVG and AWS, amongst many others.
Acunetix is Maltese of origin and was started by Nick Galea, in 2005 becoming the first company to build a fully dedicated and fully automated web vulnerability scanner. Acunetix carries unparalleled experience in the field and the scanner has been recognized as a leading solution multiple times.
It is a fully automated tool that frees up your security team resources. It reports very few false positives so your team does not waste time trying to find nonexistent issues. It can detect vulnerabilities that other technologies would miss because it combines the best of dynamic and static scanning technologies and uses a separate monitoring agent. It provides vulnerability management and compliance reporting functionality. You can classify, prioritize, and retest issues. You can also integrate with issue trackers and continuous integration solutions.
Covid 19 Impact in the technological sector.
Covid 19 Impact in the technological sector.
These are unprecedented times as various sectors adapt to a new way of life whilst Governments around the world are faced with a dilemma to mitigate the economic effects of the virus whilst abiding to the guidelines set out by the health authorities.
The IT sector has grown to represent 6.6% of the GVA generated by the Maltese economy in 2017, currently the industry is represented by more than 300 companies, employing over 7,300 persons. What is being observed in the market internationally that is having an effect on the market locally?
Below we wish to summarise the industries that Newtech are directly involved in.
I.T Hardware & Distribution
Shops all over the island have had to switch their business models, with a sole focus on e-commerce and deliveries, since physical stores have closed. The focus is on ensuing timely delivers to customers purchasing online. International distribution has also tightened due to the virus and products are generally taking longer to arrive, therefore purchasing managers are faced with key decisions on which items to keep in stock and at what risk. This may have a direct effect on the consumer who can purchase through international market places such as online vendors or similar, for items not available locally.
Internationally there are similar problems in the market, In the U.S According to CNBC 51.6 million PC units were shipped in the first three months of the year, down 12.3% from the previous year. It marks the biggest fall in shipments since 2013, and follows three consecutive quarters of growth for the market, showing that the downward trend is due to corona-virus market volatility. According to IDC, our partners Lenovo Group Ltd. 992, +2.68% shipments fell 4.3% year-over-year to 12.8 million units & Acer Group shipments fell 9.9% to 3.4 million units.
Software Licensing & Asset Management
When this crisis began, companies were faced with no option but to adjust to home circumstances. This new world means that companies are looking to increase their remote working capabilities, which has led to a number of changes in the market.
Microsoft reported in mid-March its Teams collaboration software had spiked to 44 million daily active users. That was up from 20 million in November, adding 12 million new users in the week prior to the announcement.
Microsoft Minutes Spent on teams per day, full report:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/04/09/remote-work-trend-report-meetings
Whilst Altassian stock and Slack Technologies both rose and stand-out as enterprise software companies who are outperforming despite corona virus driven market volatility. Throughout March, we witnessed a record high stock rise for conference calling applications such as Zoom, who have rose up by 117%, with schools, universities & businesses’ making use of the service to continue operation.
Software Licensing stocks seem to be performing well in the current climate as shares in cloud based solutions have also hit new records. As companies look to shift online we have seen an increase in licensing applications, however this can be seen as marginal as companies look to utilise the resources only available to them in order to save costs and not shift to new products or tools.
Cyber-Security
As companies shift online to cloud and remote working resources, the importance of cyber-security has increased. Cyber attacks are on the rise with a number of phishing attempts being disguised as COVID related news. Security analysts, are working around the clock to ensure the safety of companies’ data due to the prevalence of hackers during this period. Companies are starting to realize the importance of online security and are therefore more willing to look at high end solutions. Having said that, security budgets have been slashed in many cases due to operational costs, and even if companies wish to commit to long term solutions, they may no longer have the budget in place to do so.
Within the cyber-security realm a number of high values companies are privately listed, however publicly stocks have fallen as operational budgets are cut due to the current crisis. Within the local market, more awareness is still needed on the importance of Cyber-security and how it can safeguard business. However, companies are starting to realize the importance of having such tools in place.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the market has changed drastically and distribution is focused around the needs of business. As Hardware distribution declines, software licensing seems to have risen, and companies are starting to take note of the importance of investing into solutions that can improve productivity. Cyber-security is also important in order to safeguard the increasing number of data online. However one common issue remains, and that is revenue. As Business continues to loose revenue, investment into technology is set to damper.
AI & Cyber-security Webinar - Darktrace * Newtech
Arguably the best solution on the market, Darktrace can not only detect unknown threats but fight back against them in real time. The autonomous response is the next frontier in cyber defense, giving human security teams the vital time they need to catch up, take stock, and action further remediation if necessary.
Cybersecurity in your business of concern to you?
Come learn more about how Artificial Intelligence can protect your business from external & internal hacking threats. Join us for a Webinar on Wednesday the 18th of March.
Free Registration available via Eventbrite from this link - https://www.eventbrite.com/o/newtech-mt-27713762805
Global ransomware attacks have already demonstrated the scale that such criminal campaigns can achieve, within very short time-frames. New advancements allow attackers to execute more and more highly targeted attacks.
" Darktrace Antigena is the only automated cyber defense technology on the market that is capable of fighting the most important battles for us."
Darktrace Antigena works like a digital antibody, intelligently generating measured and proportionate responses when a threatening incident arises, without impacting normal business operations. This ability to contain threats as they happen using proven AI is a game changer for security teams, who benefit from the critical time needed to catch up and avoid damage.
Darktrace Antigena works across your business and is offered in two modules: Antigena Network and Antigena Email. Antigena has
- Unmatched speed - Responds within 2 seconds.
- Unrivaled Defense - 7 threats blocked every minute.
- Boosts Productivity - 10 hours a week saved per security analyst.
- Highly Targeted: Critically, Darktrace Antigena is highly targeted and surgical in it's actions, neutralizing threats by enforcing an organization's normal 'pattern of life'. This means that it does not disrupt day-to-day business activity, instead working behind the scenes to proactively protect your business.
- Buys Your Team time to Catch Up: Darktrace Antigena's ability to contain in-progress attacks at an early stage, before they have time to cause damage, keeps the business protected even when security teams are between shifts or out of office. On average, Antigena responds to threats within 2 seconds and blocks 7 threats every minute.
- A self-Defending Digital Business: Darktrace Antigena is the technology that powers the self-defending digital business, working across IT and OT environments, third party cloud services, SaaS applications and email. Antigena's autonomous actions save an average of 10 hours a week per security analyst.
Cybersecurity threats in 2020 in the EU
Cybersecurity threats in 2020 in the EU
Cybersecurity is a term coined to protect Information security systems from unathorised access and to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. The process involves preventing, detecting, responding to and recovering from cyber incidents. EU policy declares that cybersecurity covers any unlawful activity involving the use of digital technologies in cyberspace which include cybercrimes such as, but not limited to:
- Launching computer phishing attacks.
- Malware.
- Non – cash payment fraud.
Such attacks can distinguish between systems and content, they can also be sources of misinformation to influence online debate and suspected electoral interference.
Cybersecurity threats can be classified according to what they do to data, disclosure, modification, destruction or denied access. As the attacks to information increase in sophistication, our defence mechanisms become less effective. Malware (malicious software) is designed to harm devices or networks. It can include viruses, trojans, ransomware, worms, adware and spyware.
Ransomware encrypts data, preventing users from accessing their files until a ransom is paid, typically in cryptocurrency, or an action is carried out. According to Europol, ransomware attacks dominate across the board, and the number of ransomware types has exploded over the past few years. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which make services or resources unavailable by flooding them with more requests than they can handle, are also on the rise, with one third of organisations facing this type of attack, as of the latest EU report written in 2017.
Users can be manipulated into unwittingly performing an action or disclosing confidential information. This can be used for data theft or cyberespionage, and is known as social engineering. There are different ways to achieve this, but a common method is phishing, where emails appearing to come from trusted sources trick users into revealing information or clicking on links that will infect devices with downloaded malware. More than half of Member States in the EU reported investigations into network attacks according to the latest EU findings.
Perhaps the most nefarious of threat types are advanced persistent threats (APTs). These are sophisticated attackers engaged in long-term monitoring and stealing of data, and sometimes harbouring destructive goals as well. The aim here is to stay under the radar without detection for as long as possible. APTs are often state-linked and targeted at especially sensitive sectors like technology, defence, and critical infrastructure. Cyberespionage is said to account for at least one-quarter of all cyber incidents and the majority of costs.
The impact of being poorly prepared for a cyber attack is difficult to analyse due to the lack of reliable data. However, The impact of cybercrime rose by five times from 2013 to 2017 and according to the latest cyber crime report in the EU, cyber insurance premiums are forecasted to grow from €3 billion in 2018 to €8.9 billion in 2020, which reflects this trend. A DDoS attack can cost as little as €15 a month to carry out, yet the losses suffered by the targeted business, including reputational damage, are considerably higher, in many cases into the high millions.
The global Wannacry ransomware and NotPetya wiper malware attacks in 2017 together affected more than 320 000 victims in around 150 countries. These incidents led to something of a global awakening of the threat posed by cyber-attacks, creating fresh momentum to bring cybersecurity into mainstream policy thinking. In addition, 86 % of EU citizens now believe the risk of falling victim to cybercrime is increasing.
“Regardless of how well-secured a network may appear to be, the hacker almost always finds a way in.” – Alan Wade, Former CIO at the Central Intelligence Agency
In this new era of threat, criminals have increasingly turned online to upscale their campaigns and outsmart their victims. It is a known fact that every major government has a dedicated cyber warfare programme, not only tasked to defend but also to conduct offensive operations endorsed by the likes of U.S government and the EU. As companies try to get their heads around the threath that is posed and justify investment, they are inclined to think of the cyber world in terms of new innovations, shared efficiencies and business growth but in many places world wide, the internet is perceived as a tool to advance political and economic interests. In this fast moving, ever evolving world, companies are trying to get to grip with reality and they must consider cyber security to be both a human and technological issue. Humans are a part of the equation as human behaviour is unpredictable and hard to control. In the majority of instances, organizations lack the understanding of the normal patterns of their own employees, let alone that of suppliers and third-party partners. Without this knowledge, the early indicators of threat are lost and not be discovered until a problem arises and money is lost.
The approach has to change.
In cyber security everything operates in real time, there are no predication mechanisms. The attacks of yesterday cannot foresee the attacks of tomorrow, leaving organisations unable to accurately assess how exposed their networks are, if they are not using the right tools. At Newtech we offer the best solutions in the market to prevent and detect such attacks. Which includes Darktrace, who are world leading in the autonomous response, utilising mathematics and AI to detect activity that is abnormal both internally and externally. Business leaders must demand change at both a human and technological level, to deliver a strategy that is just as adaptive as the threat is. While organisations will never be fully unhackable, cyber security is one of the best examples where artificial intelligence has proven its real-world impact in delivering much-needed change to our ability to fight cyber criminals. Darktrace power is not to second – guess the imagined threat but to fully learn patterns of normality within the whole context of your organisation to catch the quiet, unexpected threat lurking inside your systems. This is why Darktrace is trusted by some of the largest organisations in the world in a number of industries ranging from these Industries and including these internationally acclaimed clients:
- Financial Services
- Manufacturing and Supply
- Healthcare and Pharma
- Education
- Government and Defense
- Retail & e-commerce
- Legal & HR
- Energy & Utilities
- Transportation
- Technology & Telecoms
- Media & Entertainment
- Nonprofit
Darktrace is a Unique System, the first technology capable of the self-learning human immune system. It is the first technology platform capable of learning ‘self’ across the digital business and identifying what is truly dangerous or malicious.
Powered by award winning AI, the enterprise immune system learns what constitutes normal activity for any business or network, identifying outliers that do not fit the evolving ‘pattern of life’, and like a digital antibody, instantly neutralizing the threat before it has time to cause damage. The key benefits of Darktrace Enterprise include:
- Learning on the Job – continually learns and adapts its understanding of ‘normal’ in light of new evidence.
- Detects in Real time and Plays Back – catches threats before they do damage and allows for retrospective analysis as well.
- Understands your entire business – works across on-premise network, data centre, virtualized environment, cloud SaaS and Industrial control systems.
- Installs in One Hour – No lengthy set-up or manual tuning, Darktrace enterprise installs in one hour.
- Customizable and Backward Compatible – Designed to fit within you existing security processes. You can also customize Darktrace’s models to suit your corporate policies.
If you’re a Maltese based company and interested in the solution, inclusive of full support from our local technical team send an email to solutions@newtech.mt