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Beware the lasting legacy of Log4j

Holiday season is here again, yet as we relax, IT security professionals are completing their end-of-year tasks. Their eyes twitch and anxiety prevails as another December arrives.

Erin Stephan, Principal Product Marketer at Aqua Security suggests that their mild concern is understandable. Two years ago, the zero-day vulnerability, known as Log4Shell in the extremely popular Log4j logging framework, spoiling holiday celebrations for many across the globe and leaving organisations scrambling to fix it before it could be exploited.

Let’s discuss the lingering effects of the Log4j vulnerability in the software development lifecycle, why CISOs are still concerned about it, and how to protect environments against it and other zero-day vulnerabilities yet to come.

Why is Log4j still a concern, and why and why are we talking about Log4j when it happened two years ago? Well, according to a July 2022 report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Safety Review Board on the Log4j vulnerability, the bug will remain an issue for a decade or more.

Additionally, when CISOs are asked about what concerns them, Log4j is mentioned consistently and rightfully.  Our own research still points to the Log4j vulnerability as it continues to resonate across environments.

Efforts to mitigate the Log4j vulnerability involve updating to patched versions of Log4j, but the process continues to be complex, especially in large and interconnected systems.

While many initiatives, tools and solutions have been created to help improve the security posture for enterprises and governments, several factors remain a concern around the Log4j vulnerability. These include:

Widespread adoption: Log4j is used extensively in various software applications and systems across different industries. Many times, Log4j is intentionally left in the code as it has been deemed to pose little to no risk of exploitation particularly if the application is not connected to the internet.

Scenarios such as this show the ubiquity around Log4j and what makes it challenging to identify and update all instances promptly.

Complex ecosystems: Many software systems have complex dependencies and may rely on older versions of Log4j. Additionally, many organisations often don’t know about its presence in their environments (or that they are using this library at all), because it’s used in other software tools/frameworks, which complicates the process of finding it.

Log4j is included frequently as a default log handler in enterprise Java applications and commonly included as a component in various Apache frameworks. Millions of organisations use Log4j across their environments, often via indirect dependencies. This makes updating a component within a larger system a complex and time-consuming process.

Legacy systems: Some organisations may be using older software versions or have legacy systems that are no longer actively maintained. These systems may be more vulnerable and may not receive timely updates.

Third-party dependencies: Many software projects rely on third-party libraries, and updating these libraries can introduce compatibility issues or require significant development effort.

Lack of awareness: Not all organisations are aware of the Log4j vulnerability or its potential impact on their systems. Awareness and proactive measures are crucial for addressing vulnerabilities promptly.

Resource constraints: Some organisations may face resource constraints, making it difficult for them to allocate time and manpower to address the vulnerability promptly.

Strategic decision-making: In some cases, organisations may make strategic decisions to prioritise other tasks over immediate vulnerability patching. This could be due to business considerations, risk assessments, or resource allocation strategies.

In other words, the Log4j vulnerability is still out there, waiting for the team to miss it in the ecosystem because they are constrained on resources, or for the right connection made to a legacy system with interesting data to be mined, or worse the lack of awareness of a developer of its potential impact.

A zero-day is an unknown software vulnerability that poses a risk to a business’s environment. These provide an attacker with leverage through the vulnerability to gain unauthorised access to a network, move laterally within it, steal data or compromise part of the system.

No patch or workaround is available to fix the vulnerability, making it very dangerous.

Zero-day vulnerabilities can affect any piece of software on a device, including operating systems, applications and web browsers. Zero-day exploits are a significant challenge because they take advantage of unknown vulnerabilities in software, hence traditional security measures may not be effective at detecting or preventing them.

The Log4j vulnerability, Log4Shell is one of the most famous zero-day vulnerabilities and given its success, it is obvious why more continue to exploit them.

So, while a security team must strive for perfection, attackers need only persistence and luck to find that a still-exposed weakness. Log4j was such a significant vulnerability with such consequential impact that it is only a matter of time before the next Log4j occurs.

Detect, mitigate and remediate zero day vulnerabilities with Aqua.

No-one knows, or can predict, when or where the next threat will hit and emerge in open source libraries. It can happen at any time. Some would say we are always under threat of zero-day attacks.

How can we protect against zero-days? Traditional vulnerability scanners are not effective. Over a span of four days (from December 6th, 2021 – December 10th), the Log4j vulnerability was exposed on open-source platforms.

An official patch was available from Apache during this time. However, attackers could still exploit this vulnerability against users who hadn’t applied the patch. Only after December 10th could scanning tools effectively identify this CVE in user environments.

So we need to have runtime security controls as part of our security strategy. One of the effective runtime controls is drift prevention.

This solution is built to help security teams to:

#  Detect and block known and unknown malware, zero-day exploits, and internal threats that can’t be caught early on in the application lifecycle.

# Enforce immutability by preventing code injection and unauthorised changes to running workloads to stop runtime attacks at any point.

#  Automatically block any lateral movement or escalation within or between cloud workloads.

#  Identify and & block anomalous behaviour in running containers.

#  Maintain business continuity by running code that should run and block everything else without interrupting business continuity.

My comoany can help customers to secure their applications against advanced threats such as zero-day attacks with robust runtime protection. To learn more about Log4j and a zero-day defence strategy, join us for our webinar Log4j lessons learned: a blueprint for Zero-Day defence.

Learn how our platform can help to scan for Log4j lurking in an environment or other potential zero-day vulnerabilities. Discover how we can help to prevent access to an environment proactively and block threats before the business is compromised.

i-PRO Shares Its Top Four Video Surveillance Trends Predictions for 2024

Rapid AI adoption and advances in edge-based processing, more scrutiny on closed platforms, and increased demands for privacy and cybersecurity protections

 

i-PRO Co., Ltd. (formerly Panasonic Security) has shared its top four predictions for the physical security industry in 2024.

Customisable AI on-site learning ushers in the next level of AI adoption

 

2024 will see further increases in AI adoption in the physical security market. While AI-based security cameras have been able to significantly reduce errors by reliably detecting humans and vehicles for some time, the next phase of AI will be irresistible to data hungry businesses. Today, technology enables integrators and end-users to train a camera’s AI analytic on-site to recognise unique objects that are important for a business to track or count. On-site AI training of edge devices can further enhance accuracy by recognizing logos on vehicles or uniforms, counting planes, forklifts, baby strollers, etc. This new stream of business intelligence data, harvested directly utilising edge processing within security cameras, will enable more automated workflows while increasing operational efficiency and enhancing service quality. AI-based systems will soon be able to detect when people need assistance or notify when a floor is wet to prevent people from slipping for example.

 

Fast-changing technology demands scalable, flexible, futureproof investments

 

Organisations will be under increased pressure in 2024 to invest in solutions that don’t become obsolete a short time after they are installed, or that limit them through closed platforms. i-PRO advises seeking out vendors and manufacturers with open platforms that collaborate freely with multiple third-party manufacturers. Equipment should be designed to take advantage of evolutions in AI and analytics without forklift upgrades. By focusing on retrofitting, upgrading, and integrating existing equipment with new technology in a phased approach, companies can maximise the life of existing equipment while also adding new capabilities such as bringing AI to non-AI devices.

 

More power comes to the edge

 

2024 will see even more power come to the edge. Cameras with powerful processors will be able to do more edge processing of video data than ever before. Edge devices will soon be able to collaborate and combine their compute resources in ways similar to racks of servers in the cloud today. This will enable significantly more processing capabilities without overburdening the network and supporting infrastructure. Backend server expense will stay relatively low as more processing of AI-based analytics happens within edge devices like cameras and less video gets streamed back to servers for analysis. Enhanced edge processing will also make cloud-based systems more efficient and less costly to operate.

Privacy and cybersecurity receive even more scrutiny

 

AI and its subsets will receive increased scrutiny next year as executive orders and laws are enacted around the globe to further reduce infringements to privacy and ownership of personal data. The European Parliament’s Artificial Intelligence Act and the U.S. Blueprint for an A.I. Bill of Rights are early examples of a trend that will impact the security industry. Organisations will need transparency and compliance in the face of legislative changes and best practices that could change quickly. For this reason, it’s crucial to work with vendors and manufacturers that have a proven track record of development with privacy by design and a responsible approach to AI as core tenets.

 

With so much useful data being harvested with the help of AI, ensuring that private data stays private also requires best-in-class cybersecurity. Video surveillance equipment will need to support evolving standards like NISTs FIPS 140-2 level 3 and the newer 140-3 standard to ensure the security system doesn’t become an attack vector.

 

Globally, zero trust practices, which validate every transaction between devices and people, are increasingly being required. For example, the US White House mandated federal compliance with zero trust architecture and design by 2024. This federal shift in US policy will have ripple effects on any organisation doing business in the US. i-PRO also foresees the U.S. passing a version of the “American Data Privacy and Protection Act”, drafted in 2022, giving some GDPR-like protections to US citizens this year.

 

“We anticipate a very busy year in 2024 as more companies mandate upgrades and expansions to security systems around the world,” said Hiroshi (Huey) Sekiguchi, CMO, i-PRO Co., Ltd. “With technology changing so quickly, it’s more important than ever to educate the industry about how these exciting technologies can be used to protect assets and generate revenue, all while complying with privacy regulations and cybersecurity best practices.”

 

 

Video Management Software: extending services beyond security for local councils

Ash Ramanayake, Country Manager South Pacific, Milestone Systems

In an era marked by technological advancements, local councils are harnessing the power of video technology – or specifically the platform that sits behind it, Video Management Software (VMS) – to revolutionise their services and create meaningful connections with their constituents. While video was initially adopted for security and surveillance purposes, its potential to serve as a multifunctional tool has expanded significantly in recent times as technologies have progressed, enabling local councils to extend their offerings far beyond security measures. This innovative approach allows them to enhance communication, streamline operations, save on overhead costs and generally foster a stronger sense of community engagement.

Traditionally, video has been synonymous with security, serving as a robust tool when combined with a network of cameras for monitoring public spaces, ensuring safety, and deterring potential criminal activities. However, the capabilities of modern VMS solutions have evolved considerably, transcending the confines of surveillance. Local councils are now capitalising on these capabilities to address a broader array of issues that impact their constituents’ quality of life.

One way video technology is being leveraged for more than just security is through traffic management and public safety initiatives. By integrating VMS with intelligent traffic management systems, local councils can monitor traffic patterns, identify congestion points, and even adjust traffic signals in real-time to optimise traffic flow. This not only reduces congestion and travel times but can also assist in minimising air pollution at junctions and enhancing overall road safety. Video feeds are also able to be used to monitor pedestrian crossings, ensuring the safety of vulnerable road users.

Video technology can also be employed for environmental monitoring purposes. By installing cameras at key locations local councils are able to monitor things like air quality, water bodies, and green spaces. A high-definition camera linked to the right technology can detect and analyse particulate matter, assessing how much pollution might be in the air at a tunnel outlet for example. This data can help in identifying pollution sources, monitoring the health of ecosystems, and responding promptly to environmental threats. By utilising video technology in this manner, local councils demonstrate their commitment to sustainability as well as the well-being of their constituents.

Efficient urban planning and infrastructure maintenance are vital for creating liveable cities and video can play a vital role in this area as well. Cameras strategically positioned across the urban landscape can provide real-time insights into usage patterns, pedestrian traffic, and public transport effectiveness. This data can guide urban planners in making informed decisions about the placement of new infrastructure, the expansion of public transportation routes, and the design of pedestrian-friendly spaces. This has the added benefit of allowing councils to provide accurate figures to developers and investors, who might be assessing a retail site or other commercial space. Hobart City Council has adopted this methodology, and now help potential investors make informed decisions as part of their strategy for turning their 240-camera network into an operational setup and thus maximising the use and value of the technology.

Video has the ability to act as a conduit for increased community engagement as well. Local councils can utilise the technology to broadcast town hall meetings, community events and public service announcements, fostering a sense of connection and transparency between residents and their local government. This not only facilitates the dissemination of important information in real-time but also encourages active citizen participation and feedback within the community.

For councils residing in historically or culturally rich areas, video can be a tool for promoting tourism and preserving cultural heritage. Live camera feeds showcasing iconic landmarks, historical sites, and cultural events can attract visitors and promote local businesses. Live streaming the baby giraffe enclosure at Perth Zoo is one such example. Moreover, video can aid in the protection of heritage sites by enabling real-time monitoring to prevent vandalism and unauthorised access. As an example, world-famous Pompeii in Italy is protected by a sophisticated integration of video technologies, under the Smart@POMPEII initiative.

During emergencies and natural disasters, the importance of real-time information cannot be overstated. Video can play a critical role in emergency response and disaster management. By providing live video feeds of affected areas, local councils and emergency services can effectively assess the situation, allocate resources, and coordinate their response efforts. Integrated hardware can include two-way audio for broadcasting messages and providing information and feedback from remote parts of the city network. These resources can significantly improve the efficiency of rescue operations and enhance the safety of residents in these time critical situations.

In conclusion, video technology and the Video Management Software (VMS) that runs it has transcended its original purpose of security and surveillance to become a versatile tool for local councils to extend services to their constituents. Through its integration with various systems and its ability to provide real-time insights, video technology enhances traffic management, environmental monitoring, urban planning, community engagement, tourism promotion, and emergency response. By embracing these expanded functions, local councils are not only improving the quality of life for their residents but also demonstrating their commitment to innovation, sustainability, and community welfare. Furthermore, there is a very real opportunity to make the technology work harder for the council and save significant overheads.

As technology continues to evolve, the potential for video to reshape the relationship between local governments and their constituents remains very promising.

Secure Code Warrior’s Agile Learning Platform Empowers Netskope Developers to Code Cloud Solutions at Scale

Fatemah Beydoun, Chief Customer Officer, Secure Code Warrior

Secure Code Warrior, the global, developer-driven security leader, today announced that Netskope, a global SASE leader, launched its developer training program through Secure Code Warrior’s agile learning platform.

 Thousands of customers trust Netskope and its powerful NewEdge network to address evolving threats, new risks, technology shifts, organizational and network changes, and new regulatory requirements. Its global developer team plays an integral role in bringing new cloud security innovations to bear. The team sought to refine its approach to secure code education to keep up with its accelerated software development demands. It wanted to excite developers through more hands-on learning approaches without relying on traditional learning mechanisms that had limitations on coding languages and self-service options.

One key decision was to change the name of Netskope’s program internally to “self-service adoption.” This empowered developers to be proactive about their secure code education. In working with Secure Code Warrior, Netskope built a program that made security content visible and accessible to developers.

“We’re getting a better return on investment with our developer educational training efforts because of higher participation and the fact that these efforts no longer feel like they’re a check-the-box, compliance-mandated activity,” said James Robinson, Deputy CISO at Netskope. “The byproduct of all of this is that we’re enabling our developers to be security champions.”

Secure Code Warrior’s agile learning platform delivers the most effective learning solution for developers to learn, apply, and retain software security principles, resulting in secure software delivered by high velocity teams. More than 600 enterprises have deployed Secure Code Warrior to implement agile learning programs for developer-driven security.

“Netskope is enabling developers to learn the way they want, and Secure Code Warrior is the driving force behind it. We couldn’t be prouder of the outcomes,” said Fatemah Beydoun, Chief Customer Officer, Secure Code Warrior. “This is why major technology companies around the world come to Secure Code Warrior to ensure their developers can sharpen their skills with the most complete, relevant, and reliable secure coding content in the industry today.”

To learn more about Netskope’s transformation with Secure Code Warrior, read the case study or watch the webinar:

  • Case study: Check out Netskope’s story in this brand-new case study you can read here.
  • Webinar: Watch a joint webinar with Secure Code Warrior and Netskope on Going beyond compliance here.

Four AI-driven trends you must be ready for in 2024

By Rahul Yadav, Chief Technology Officer, Milestone Systems

2024 won’t be business as usual; the landscape is rapidly evolving, revealing an intriguing future. The security industry is undergoing a remarkable transformation in video technology driven by the increasing application of artificial intelligence (AI).

In this article, Rahul Yadav, Chief Technology Officer for Milestone Systems, explores this AI-driven future where, instead of humans watching video, software does the watching, and humans make decisions. These trends are enhancing operational performance and opening new opportunities in the sector. Journey with us as we delve into four AI-driven trends and explore how the symbiotic relationship between AI and human oversight will redefine safety and security solutions in 2024.

Data-driven video technology

The security industry experienced an accelerated impact from AI in 2023, specifically through the application of computer vision techniques to video technology in surveillance applications. As a result, the industry’s trajectory in 2024 is overwhelmingly focused on data-driven video technology.

Data-driven video technology uses AI to combine video data with other types of data and extract actionable insights. This is disrupting the security industry, but it’s not removing people from the solution, it’s putting people at the centre of the solution. Software is now the tool that identifies objects, recognises patterns, and generates actionable insights from video data. People act as a human-in-the-loop, using their intuition and judgment to verify the insights and make informed decisions.

This is driving a strategic shift in video surveillance, moving beyond passive observation, it is evolving into a proactive tool for intelligent action. Data-driven video technology encompasses several AI-driven trends that are creating new and potentially valuable opportunities both within security and beyond security. We will look at four of these trends in more detail.

Trend 1: Game-changing video analytics software

Basic video analytics, such as object detection and counting in a box, are already extensively employed in safety and security applications. To envision the future of security, we can draw inspiration from self-driving cars. These vehicles are already leveraging advanced video analytics to identify and track objects, even predicting how to evade them, all in real-time.

Affordable compute-power is paving the way for these advanced video analytics with detection, tracking and prediction, to enter the security industry. Some of these, although still in development stages, are becoming available now, while others go beyond anything we expect to see in applications any time soon.

By extracting contextual information from video data, these advanced techniques can interpret what’s happening in a video scene (a series of frames) and use this to generate actionable insights for humans. Here are some of the techniques that will be game changers for the security industry:

Segmentation: enhancing our comprehension of scene dynamics, providing a sophisticated understanding of the unfolding events.

Recognition combined with image enhancement: improving the quality and resolution of video recordings, making it possible to identify objects and behavior, such as walking, jogging, and running.

Detecting human interactions: recognising and understanding the intricate ways in which humans interact with one another and their surroundings.

Anomaly detection: empowering humans to make informed decisions about highlighted incidents.

Prediction: looking to the future, the rapid advancements in large vision and language models (LVM) hold immense potential to enhance operational performance in the field of security. Moreover, the introduction of generative AI will facilitate a deeper understanding for humans by providing detailed textual descriptions of objects, their behaviour, and their interactions. Keep an eye on this space for exciting developments!

Incorporating a human-in-the-loop is vital for the successful implementation of these advanced techniques. While future video analytics software will have the ability to detect and alert for specific behaviours, it is the human operators who ultimately review the video recordings and make informed decisions regarding necessary actions. This process provides valuable feedback, allowing the software to continuously enhance its capabilities with each input. As the software receives more feedback, it becomes smarter at making accurate predictions, ultimately leading to improved performance.

Trend 2: Synthetic Data

To interpret video scenes accurately, video analytics software requires large amounts of accurately labelled training data. However, if the data has poor labelling or limited scope, such as portraying all people as walking, no examples of people in wheelchairs, then the data is biased. Software trained on such biased data will not only inherit the bias, resulting in less effective solutions, but also produce solutions that are less ethical.

Synthetic Data, which is artificially generated rather than sourced from the real world, holds great promise in addressing bias issues. By introducing diversity into training data, Synthetic Data effectively mitigates bias. It also provides the added advantage of precise labelling from its inception, eliminating any inaccuracies that may result from human error in manual labelling. Additionally, it safeguards individuals’ privacy and avoids consent-related concerns that arise from utilizing real consumer information without permission or compensation.

Trend 3: Edge AI

In 2024, we will see a major acceleration in AI development on the edge (AI in devices like cameras and sensors). Until now, AI tasks were processed either in the cloud or in a limited way on local devices, but now there’s a middle ground. Thanks to Nvidia and Intel, two key trends have emerged.

First, the edge is becoming more capable of handling AI tasks independently, reducing reliance on cloud resources. This enables faster and more efficient processing because AI-driven applications can operate closer to the data source. Today, there are many devices at the edge, like smart cameras and IoT devices, that can analyze and respond to data in real-time.

Second, having AI at the edge is cost-efficient. It reduces reliance on cloud resources, saving bandwidth costs and reducing latency. This is especially beneficial for security tasks that require real-time monitoring. The cost-efficiency of edge AI is making it an attractive option for the security industry.

The combination of enhanced capabilities and cost-efficiency makes edge AI a compelling security solution for the future. In 2024, we can expect further advancements in edge AI, unlocking more sophisticated applications in devices.

Trend 4: Responsible Technology

As AI drives the shift in video surveillance from observation to action, Responsible Technology is emerging as a prominent trend in 2024 and beyond. Future generations are watching how tech companies will approach AI in a responsible way. For them, innovation is no longer solely about who can innovate the fastest; but who can innovate responsibly. Consequently, tech companies must integrate Responsible Technology principles into the way they develop, the way they sell and the way their customers use their technology.

This trend was revealed in a 2023 global survey of 150 technology decision-makers that revealed their intention to exclude potential vendors based on their approach to technology usage. The majority (85%) of technology buyers expect responsible use of AI, video analytics, and video surveillance to be a prerequisite for engaging with tech vendors in the future.

The survey highlights Responsible Technology as a key priority for decision-makers and an essential business requirement. In the next three to five years, Responsible Technology will become a license to operate.

Be ready for the future.

While data-driven video technology will continue to shape the roadmap for the security industry, it is not eliminating the human factor; rather, it is putting people at the centre of the solution. Software now serves as the peripheral tool for monitoring, analysing, and understanding video scenes. At the center, people play a vital role as human-in-the-loop verifying analysis and making informed decisions.

The human element is crucial for the intelligence of the AI-driven future because it depends on high-quality feedback for learning. Human oversight and expertise maximise the value of AI-driven security solutions helping to foster a safer world.

The future of the video surveillance, shaped by AI and human expertise, is set to revolutionise safety and security. Embrace data-driven video technology and the strategic shift it is driving and make sure you are ready for these four AI-driven trends coming your way in 2024.

Keeper security looks back on the year that was 2023

2023 further solidified Keeper’s position as a leading force in cybersecurity. 

Keeper Security, the leading provider of zero-trust and zero-knowledge cybersecurity software protecting passwords, passkeys, privileged access, secrets and remote connections, has unveiled the 2023 Keeper Retrospective, providing a review of the company’s biggest achievements, business growth, product innovation and industry-leading research over the past 12 months.

 

“Keeper exhibited record growth in 2023 which was largely fuelled by our business and enterprise cybersecurity solutions. Our team’s professional passion and dedication in identifying critical unmet needs of our global market catalysed our innovation and rapid time-to-market,” said Darren Guccione, CEO and Co-founder, Keeper Security. “The launch of our Asia-Pacific headquarters in Tokyo, Japan was a transformative operational achievement on several levels. Our exceptional team, coupled with local support, helped us successfully launch our operation and was a precursor to signing over 40 new channel partners in the region.” 

 

“Since inception, we’ve been focused on providing cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions that balance world-class security with ease of use,” said Craig Lurey, CTO and Co-founder. “The announcement of our KeeperPAM platform this year exemplified that commitment, with a next-generation solution that provides enterprise-wide, privileged access management for perimeterless and cloud-based environments.”

 

Key Achievements:

Market Expansion 

In May, Keeper Security expanded deeper into global markets. Keeper opened an Asia-Pacific headquarters in Tokyo that serves Japan, East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, marked with a grand opening event attended by US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel. With an established APAC presence, Keeper is addressing the Asia-Pacific region’s substantial growth in the consumer technology sector and enterprise demand for fortified cybersecurity strategies, including password and privileged access management solutions, to keep customers, data and systems secure.

Strategic Investment

Global growth equity firm Summit Partners completed a significant minority investment in Keeper in 2023. The synergy between Keeper, Summit and existing investor Insight Partners is further accelerating product innovation and catalysing strategic expansion of Keeper’s prominence as a cybersecurity leader in the public and private sectors. This investment continues to drive Keeper’s growth and cements its position as an innovator in enterprise password and passkey, secrets, privileged connection and privileged access management.

Product Innovation

This year marked the official launch of KeeperPAM®, the next-generation Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution that is disrupting the traditional PAM market. KeeperPAM delivers enterprise-grade password, secrets and privileged connection management within a unified SaaS platform that enables least-privilege access with zero-trust and zero-knowledge security. KeeperPAM enables organisations to achieve complete visibility, security, control and reporting across every privileged user on every device in an organisation.

 

In 2023, Keeper announced support for passkeys in its browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave and Safari, as well as on iOS, with Android support coming soon. With Keeper, passkeys are created, stored and managed in the Keeper Vault, and can be used to log in to websites and applications across all browsers and operating systems with ease, eliminating the lack of cross-functionality when a passkey is saved to a specific device. Passkeys hold great promise as a significant step closer to a passwordless future, as major browsers and platforms have started to incorporate passkey support into their operating systems.

 

Keeper also embarked on a journey to make significant User Interface (UI) updates to its password management platform for a friendlier and more intuitive experience. Taking an incremental approach to improving the user experience, Keeper enhanced the look, feel and usability of its platform while being mindful of the importance of familiarity, consistency and the world-class functionality users are accustomed to. Keeper’s upgraded user interface offers clearer distinctions between elements, as well as enhanced clarity and searchability, to improve the user experience and make it even easier to take advantage of Keeper’s powerful features.

Research Leader

Throughout the year, Keeper partnered with industry analysts and third-party research firms to gauge insights from both IT/security executives and consumers about their attitudes, practices and concerns regarding password and privileged access management. The findings revealed the efficacy of KeeperPAM, reinforced the effectiveness of Keeper’s approach to password management and underscored the criticality of upholding password best practices.

 

Password Management 

 

Keeper released its Keeper Password Management Report: Unifying Perception with Reality in June. The report revealed that a majority (64%) of global respondents either use weak passwords or repeat variations of passwords. More than a third of respondents admitted to feeling overwhelmed when it came to taking action to improve their cybersecurity. Keeper addresses these widespread issues by making password management secure, simple, efficient and cost-effective for both consumer and enterprise users.

 

In August, Keeper announced findings from the Keeper Security Parental Practices Report: Conversations on Cybersecurity. This study highlighted the need for increased awareness and education on digital safety among parents, as well as the importance that schools play in filling this gap. Almost 30% of parents have never spoken to their children about cybersecurity. Meanwhile, 41% who admitted they don’t know how to create strong passwords still give their child access to their mobile phone and almost a third (32%) give them access to their computer.

 

Privileged Access Management

 

Keeper published the Privileged Access Management Survey: User Insights on Cost & Complexity in February, which revealed an overwhelming industry desire for PAM  solutions that are easier to deploy and maintain, with 84% of IT leaders saying they wanted to simplify their PAM solution. The industry needs modern, unified PAM solutions that address perimeterless, multi-cloud IT environments and distributed remote workforces.

 

This summer, Keeper released its Privileged Access Management Survey: Deployment Amid Economic Uncertainty, which revealed that while IT leaders consider PAM solutions critical to their security stack, cost constraints and complex solutions are impacting deployment. Fifty-six percent of respondents tried to deploy a PAM solution but did not fully implement it and 92% cited overly-complex solutions as the main reason. Fifty-eight percent of IT teams have not deployed a PAM solution because traditional platforms are too expensive.

 

Finally, in December, Keeper announced the Keeper Security Insight Report: Cloud-Based Privileged Access Management. This report explored what IT and security leaders are seeking in a PAM solution and the benefits of moving away from traditional, on-premises platforms. An overwhelming 82% of respondents said they would be better off moving their on-premises PAM solution to the cloud, with only 36% of IT leaders saying it makes sense to have an on-premises PAM solution in the current economic climate. 

As 2024 inches closer, Keeper celebrates 2023 as a year full of research, innovation and industry recognition, marked by growth and a relentless pursuit of excellence. We extend our deepest appreciation to our talented team, loyal customers and collaborative partners for their unwavering support. Looking ahead to 2024, we are energised by the possibilities that lie ahead and remain committed to delivering unparalleled cybersecurity solutions around the globe. 

 

 

Cythera Celebrates Five Years of Cybersecurity Excellence and Announces Continued Nationwide Expansion Planned for 2024

(From left to right: Euan Prentice (Director), Craig Joyce (Director), Tim Sank (Co-Founder & Sales Director) and Ben Cuthbert (Services Director)

Australian cybersecurity firm founded by the former O2 Networks team marks the milestone with continued customer growth and new offices in Brisbane, Sydney, and Perth.

Cythera, a leading Australian cybersecurity consulting firm, proudly commemorates its fifth anniversary and a continued commitment to securing businesses in the mid-market sectors. In their five years, Cythera has evolved into a cybersecurity powerhouse with more than 30 dedicated professionals across Australia with an “onshore only” approach to delivering a comprehensive suite of security services.

Cythera began with a vision to deliver sophisticated cybersecurity services to mid-market-sized enterprises that were repeatedly facing enterprise-sized cybersecurity threats. Founded by Craig Joyce, Euan Prentice, Tim Sank and Ben Cuthbert, the team had identified the need for a dynamic, cloud-centric Security Operations Center (SOC) and security services suite for mid-market organisations. Today, Cythera stands at the forefront of cybersecurity, emphasising utility-based pricing and a suite of cutting-edge technology.

“During the early stages of Cythera, we faced the hurdles of building market awareness and identifying technologies that could grow yet remain financially feasible for small and medium enterprises with budget and resource constraints,” said Craig Joyce, Director, Cythera.

“Our consistent pursuit of excellence in security, along with extensive testing and strategic partnerships, played a key role in navigating these challenges.”

Celebrating the milestones and achievements to date, Euan Prentice, Director, also noted, “Our most notable key milestones are the significant customer wins, with a focus on those early-stage customers who took a risk in signing with us while we were relatively unknown. These customers put a huge amount of trust in us, and we wanted to exceed expectations beyond any doubt. We still work with all of these customers, protecting their environments from malicious attacks every day, while continually maturing their security posture, and it’s great to be able to give back to them and be part of their commercial success.”

As a unique differentiator to its competitors, Cythera’s enviable retention rate and commitment to skill development ensures a versatile team capable of providing comprehensive and cost-effective solutions.

“The strength of Cythera lies in the exceptional team and the curious mindset we bring to each threat scenario. We’ve invested in a team who have robust skill sets from coding to API fluency and threat hunting. We then enable them to be more productive with the implementation of automation, enrichment and threat intelligence feeds. This frees up our people to move from ‘routine security tasks’ into deep-thinking and explorative security workflows,” says Ben Cuthbert, Services Director, Cythera.

“Cybersecurity, as an industry, is a race to secure and retain the best talent. It’s important to us to invest in the development of our team members and employ curious mindsets that are focused on skills development,” he notes.

The team’s dedication to protecting customers against breaches has resulted in prospective customers enquiring all over the country. Due to continued demand, the company now operates across multiple regions offering an expanded portfolio of solutions that tap into the Melbourne-based 24/7/365 engineering HQ.

“Looking ahead into 2024, Cythera is poised for further growth with the strengthening of our new offices in Brisbane, Sydney, and Perth. This move aligns perfectly with our vision of being an exclusive market player: privately financed, Australian-owned and operated, with a very selective approach to technology,” comments Tim Sank, Co-Founder and Sales Director, Cythera.

“For us, providing cybersecurity capability is not just about technological solutions – it’s about understanding and addressing the specific requirements of each customer regardless of their organisation size or security maturity,” concludes Sank.

About Cythera:

Cythera is a leading Australian cybersecurity consulting firm specialising in managed endpoint protection, managed detection and response, penetration testing, governance and cybersecurity consulting for the commercial and mid-market sectors. With a heritage of expertise, a commitment to innovation, and a focus on client success, Cythera continues to be a trusted partner in navigating the complexities of the digital security landscape. For more information, visit www.cythera.com.au

Commvault makes two senior hires for APAC region

Commvault has hired Jo Dean to the newly-created role of Area Vice President for Channels and Alliances, APAC, in a move that signifies a renewed focus on the organisation’s channel business. The data protection giant recently announced the release of its AI-based cloud platform, at the same time announcing significant vendor partnerships with a wide range of cyber security players.

Michel Borst, a veteran in digital transformation and innovation, has joined as Area Vice President for Asia.

In both cases, these leaders bring strong technology expertise to the table, a passion for helping customers achieve business outcomes, and a keen understanding of the role Commvault Cloud plays in driving cyber resilience.

In their new roles, Michel and Jo will focus on delivering advanced capabilities through the Commvault Cloud platform.

“Recognising the tremendous potential and momentum within the APAC region, it was crucial to onboard leaders like Michel and Jo with proven industry experience and strong sales and partner expertise. I wish them great success on this journey,” said Martin Creighan, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Commvault.

Joanne Dean, a strong channel advocate with two decades of experience working within partner ecosystems, is based in Perth, Australia. She will be responsible for spearheading the region’s channel strategy, working alongside Commvault’s partner ecosystem to jointly deliver cyber resilience for the hybrid world.

“Enterprises across APAC are at an important juncture in their digital journey as the opportunities to do more with data have never been greater, but the need to protect, secure, and recover data has never been more important,” said Dean. “I’m excited to lead Commvault’s channels and alliances efforts and work hand-in-hand with our partners to help joint customers achieve their business goals and advance resilience. The partner ecosystem that we’ve built with security, AI, and cloud leaders is a testament to the power of collaboration in combatting a landscape marked by chaos and complexity.”

 

About Commvault

Commvault (NASDAQ: CVLT) is the gold standard in cyber resilience, helping more than 100,000 organizations to uncover, take action, and rapidly recover from cyber attacks—keeping data safe and businesses resilient and moving forward. Today, Commvault offers the only cyber resilience platform that combines the best data security and rapid recovery at enterprise scale across any workload, anywhere with advanced AI-driven automation—at the lowest TCO.

Hey threat actors… we see you!

A huge cybersecurity threat exists because threat actors are hiding in encryption, one of the very mechanisms created to protect us, warns Jonathan Hatchuel, Country Manager A/NZ, at Gigamon.

He says that’s why his company has launched a breakthrough cybersecurity technology for the world, specifically designed to eliminate this blind spot.

Today, over 90 percent of all communications are encrypted, including organisations’ internal communications, and threat actors are increasingly hiding their activity under the cover of encryption.

As attackers have grown more sophisticated, they are even employing encryption for their own lateral movement, data siphoning and data exfiltration. Moreover, they are doing this on virtual and cloud workloads, where the security measures are still maturing.

More advanced security organisations have been attempting to address this using decryption. The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), among others, promotes TLS decryption as necessary for a strong security posture.

Unfortunately, decryption can prove costly, modern TLS 1.3 has made it wicked hard, and it’s an outright nightmare in cloud and containers, where systems and microservices are designed to take advantage of efficient lateral communication.

According to a report by EMA, a staggering 90 percent of organisations expressed concern over the lack of visibility that comes with TLS 1.3.

This problem set is now directly addressed with our new technology  Gigamon Precryption™ , which allows security teams to shine a bright spotlight on encrypted lateral (also known as East-West) traffic across virtual, cloud, and container workloads.

Leveraging Linux eBPF and standard encryption libraries, Precryption technology offers plaintext visibility into all encrypted communications before the payload is encrypted, hence the name Precryption.

With Precryption, no decryption is required — the first of several reasons why this is a breakthrough technology.

Rather than try to break something that wasn’t meant to be broken, we access traffic at the most basic level, then deliver it efficiently and securely to the full security stack for further inspection. We’re leveraging a process that’s already happening, making this an elegant solution and not some unnatural act.

Not only is it elegant, it’s independent. Precryption technology is part of the GigaVUE® Universal Cloud Tap, which runs independently of other applications or containers.

In this way, we’re simultaneously providing an independent, immutable source of truth, while avoiding any operational entanglements around testing and upgrades commonly associated with embedded agents.

Today, a proper solution for plaintext visibility is more important than ever. As organisations modernise their security posture to become perimeter-less or adopt Zero Trust architecture, inspection becomes mandatory for lateral traffic.

This point always gets head nods by those who understand how cybersecurity breaches are perpetrated, and even bigger head nods when considering they need to apply it to modern virtual or cloud workloads. Precryption technology meets them exactly where they are.

The goal is to broaden the scope of an organisation’s security posture, extending it all the way to lateral movement. And to do so efficiently and at scale.

Since no decryption is taking place, this means we don’t have to manage keys, we don’t sniff keys, we don’t expose keys, we don’t need key libraries, and we certainly don’t care about cipher strength.

Also we aren’t having to break and inspect the encrypted channel: nothing gets broken, no proxies, no re-encryption, no retransmissions. But the critical plaintext inspection still happens.

Lastly, Precryption technology is an extension of our Deep Observability Pipeline. The plaintext access is just the first step: along with that comes a whole host of filtering, optimisation, transformation and replication capabilities.

Packets get delivered to NDR tools, metadata gets enriched for SIEM tools, and the whole security stack works better because it now knows what’s inside the encrypted traffic versus guessing with other approaches.

Too often organisations get serious about modernising their security posture only after they’ve had a breach. With Gigamon, you can move from reactive breach management to proactive threat detection and can now see where threat actors hide — especially in the cloud.

Axis Communications wins Social Impact Awards due to life-saving collaboration in South Australia

Public-private partnership resulted in a Coastal Safety Camera Network that is helping save lives.

Last week, Axis Communications, a leader in network video, won the ‘Excellence in Social Impact’ category in the Swedish Business Awards. Organised by the Swedish Australian Chamber of Commerce, the event celebrates the outstanding achievements of companies that are spearheading innovation, sustainability, entrepreneurship, partnership, collaboration, and social impact in Australia.

This achievement showcases the success of collaborative efforts between Axis and BST to support Surf Life Saving South Australia (SLSSA) in implementing a Coastal Safety Camera Network.

The implementation of this camera network helped improve the safety and well-being of the local community, which is now more relevant than ever during the busy period over Christmas and summer in Australia.

Aiming to revolutionise situational awareness, the network aids in the early detection of persons in difficulty and can provide real-time updates from the State Operations Centre (SOC) to those on patrol on the beach. The technology has already proven invaluable, as earlier this year it enabled the timely dispatch of additional resources to aid in a rescue that saved five lives – four from the same family and one bystander. Without the cameras in place, lifesavers on the beach would not have had sight of those in danger.

“This recognition marks our dedication to effecting positive and sustainable transformation for Surf Life Saving in South Australia. Our commitment to safeguarding our community has already produced life-saving outcomes, and we’ll continue deploying this technology this summer season to further protect our beachgoers,” said Damien Marangon, SLSSA CEO.

“This collaboration not only highlights the power of technology but also demonstrates the effectiveness of public and private partnerships in addressing important societal challenges, We’re pleased with the commendable outcomes we’ve been able to achieve so far with the collaborative efforts of BST, and look forward to witnessing the continued expansion and impact of this program not only in South Australia, but other regions as well,” said Wai King Wong, Regional Director, Oceania, Axis Communications.

How to navigate the complexities of Cloud

Enterprises are building, deploying and managing modern applications in cloud computing environments. By adopting cloud technologies, they can build highly scalable, flexible and resilient applications that can be updated quickly.

Kristen Nolan, Global Customer Marketing Manager at Aqua Security, says cloud native technologies support fast and frequent changes to applications without impacting service delivery. They help industries to increase efficiency, reduce costs and ensure availability of applications to meet their customer demands.

With all the benefits the cloud has to offer, it also introduces a new set of challenges, particularly for industries where security and compliance are priorities.

When PPRO and Spotnana, influential companies within the fintech and travel sectors, needed to prioritise their security and regulatory compliance they turned to my company for a solution.

The growing complexity of their environments, the numerous alerts hindering their ability to effectively monitor and mitigate vulnerabilities and the mounting concerns around keeping speed and agility in the DevOps team while ensuring security were only a few of the challenges each were looking to resolve.

PPRO (pronounced ‘p-pro’) is at the forefront of the fintech industry providing banks and businesses with a globalised digital payment infrastructure. PPRO’s secure and unified payment platform grants customers access to card schemes, payment methods, fraud screening tools and other robust capabilities.

These tools empower users to conduct quick transactions, enhance checkout conversions, and streamline services via a single connection. PayPal, Stripe and GlobalPayments are just a few of the businesses that rely on PPRO.

As a global payment provider, PPRO adheres to stringent regulations spanning various industries and countries. Looking for a complete cloud native solution to help balance the multiple workloads and environments, PPRO chose us to protect and monitor their customers’ payment platforms, ensuring end-to-end visibility, speed, and compliance.

Our solution bridges the gap between PPRO’s developers and management to prioritise vulnerabilities and streamline remediation efforts.

PPRO’s security team can now collaborate to address and resolve discovered vulnerabilities, whether that means fixing them immediately, monitoring for malicious activity at runtime, or flagging the non-compliant resource. By scanning for secrets hidden below the surface of PPRO’s platform, our product has transformed PPRO’s operational hygiene.

Time savings proved evident during the Log4J and Spring4Shell vulnerabilities. The first instance occurred before PPRO’s deployment of our tech, while the second vulnerability was detected shortly after the implementation.

In response to the first CVE report, PPRO’s security team took immediate action, developing and testing writing scripts to run against all known repositories – a task that consumed hours of effort.

Since the implementation of the defence platform, PPRO’s security team receives instant notifications and gains clear visibility into all affected applications via the dashboard. What used to take hours or days of research and remediation now only takes a matter of minutes. Our cloud native protection platform provides PPRO with a competitive advantage in the financial services sector respectively.

A new call-to-action

Spotnana is a global travel-as-a-service platform redefining corporate travel with personalised and cost-effective offerings. Spotnana provides cloud-based travel solutions to bring simplicity and trust to adventurers worldwide.

Leveraging cloud computing, microservices and open APIs, Spotnana drives innovation in the travel industry. Corporations, agencies, suppliers and technology providers using Spotnana’s platform can deliver travel experiences smoothly to connect people from all around the world.

To establish trust with its customers, Spotnana must secure the cloud native technology that powers their transformative travel-as-a-service platform.

Built on AWS Fargate, Spotnana assumes responsibility for the security of their cloud native applications, including video and runtime. Gabriel Alexandru, Senior Security Engineer at Spotnana, emphasised key concerns in the company’s security posture.

“We were building the security function from the ground up and lacked telemetry and protection on our AWS containers,” he said. “Without forensic evidence of what was happening on those containers, we couldn’t harden runtime and certainly couldn’t prevent anything from happening at runtime.”

Spotnana needed cloud native protection that would fit into its existing tools and workflows, ensuring end-to-end protection from development to runtime.

My company’s tech emerged as the optimal solution to secure Spotnana’s travel-as-a-service platform with AWS Fargate. It platform provides essential telemetry, runtime hardening, and comprehensive cloud native security across the entire application lifecycle.

Seamlessly integrating into Spotnana’s DevSecOps workflows, our technology brings dynamic threat analysis, container protection and detection of malicious behaviour into their security landscape. With effortless scalability, accurate threat detection, and Kubernetes expertise, it delivers unmatched value for the Spotnana platform, its security team, and its customers.

Spotnana intends to further leverage the technology’s’ features and values our company’s valuable research and educational content, which keeps them informed of the latest threats. With such support, Spotnana maintains a secure infrastructure while cultivating innovation and delivering exceptional travel experiences.

In navigating the complexities of the cloud, the stories of PPRO and Spotnana highlight the pivotal role our technology plays in enabling organisations to harness the full potential of cloud native technologies while addressing the unique challenges they bring.

As cloud computing continues to reshape industries, security and compliance remain paramount concerns. PPRO’s journey illustrates how our security facilitates the seamless integration of security into DevOps workflows, transforming operational hygiene and reducing response times to vulnerabilities.

Spotnana’s experience highlights how we empower companies to build trust by securing cloud native environments and ensuring end-to-end protection.

Both stories exemplify the ability to not only safeguard critical assets but also drive innovation and enhance the delivery of exceptional customer experiences in the cloud era.

The technology is not merely a solution but a strategic partner in navigating the cloud’s complexities, safeguarding enterprises, and propelling them towards success in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Forrester Consulting recently examined the Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) and the return-on-investment (ROI) that enterprises may realise by deploying my company’s solution. Dive into the new study to learn how to achieve 207% ROI along with other quantifiable benefits of using our platform.

HID win contract to provide Finland with smart drivers licences

The Finn authorities have selected HID’s comprehensive Smartcard Solution to secure access to device data for drivers, law enforcement and more.

 

HID, a worldwide leader in trusted identity solutions, has been awarded a contract to provide Finland with a new high-security driver’s license cards and personalisation services solution, incorporating the European second-generation smart Tachograph solution. This collaboration reflects HID’s commitment to enhancing security and efficiency in Finland’s transportation systems.

 

Finland will benefit from a comprehensive, tailor-made, and configurable solution that integrates software, hardware, and equipment to align with the Traffic Authority’s vision of a streamlined and efficient digital document issuance system. For the project, HID has joined forces with CardPlus Systems, a trusted partner that provides secure ID documents, services, and systems, to ensure an exceptional driver’s license solution with industry-leading features.

 

Max Fogdell, Head of Services for Driving Licenses and Examinations at Finland’s Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom, stated, “The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom, is pleased to enter into a partnership with HID. We are convinced that with HID’s broad experience in the field of trusted identity solutions, we will be able to ensure that our card services continue to meet the highest level of security, efficiency, and compliance with the European Union’s safety regulations.”

 

Craig Sandness, Senior Vice President and Head of Citizen Identity & Secure Issuance expressed his enthusiasm for the project, stating, “We are proud to collaborate with the government of Finland and contribute to the enhancement of the country’s driver’s license and tachograph systems. Our commitment to security and innovation is unwavering, and this contract is a testament to our dedication to safeguarding citizens and infrastructure.”

 

With the European Union’s new safety standards and tachograph regulations, commercial vehicles in the region are required to install second-generation tachographs by 2026. HID’s advanced solution fully complies with these stringent regulations and includes smartcards securing access to device data for drivers, law enforcement, companies, and workshops.

 

 

 

Radware provides 360-degree cloud application and network security for judiciary

Cyber security and application delivery solutions company Radware has announced it is providing application and network security for a Latin American judiciary. The new services span Radware’s cloud DDoS protection, web application firewall, API security, and bot manager.

Due to shifts in the geo-political landscape and rise in the volume, complexity and frequency of cyber attacks, the judiciary turned to Radware to strengthen its cybersecurity posture and mitigate risks on a national basis.

“Latin American countries continue to see a surge in data breaches, defacements and DDoS attacks, many of which are driven by political and ideological motivations. Government agencies continue to be a top target,” said Yoav Gazelle, Radware’s chief business officer.

“The frequency and severity of these attacks underscore the need for more comprehensive, multi- pronged security measures. Radware’s one-stop-shop offers 360-degree cyber protection for applications and networks across multiple environments and entry points.”

To protect its hybrid infrastructure, the judiciary purchased Radware’s Cloud Web Application Firewall (WAF), API security, and Bot Manager, which are part of Radware’s Cloud Application Protection Services. In addition, the judiciary purchased Radware’s DefensePro® DDoS Protection and Cloud DDoS Protection Service.

To deliver state-of-the-art network security, Radware’s combined DDoS solutions use patented behavioural-based detection as well as advanced, automated signature creation to protect organisations against today’s most damaging DDoS threats. This includes Burst and DNS attacks along with ransom DDoS campaigns, IoT botnets, phantom floods, and other types of cyber threats.

Radware’s cloud application protection services provide comprehensive, agnostic application protection through the company’s industry-leading WAF, bot detection and management, API protection, client-side protection, and application-layer DDoS protection. Combining end-to- end automation, behavioral-based detection, and 24/7 managed services, the solution is designed to offer organisations high levels of application protection with low levels of false positives.

Exabeam obtains IRAP certification

Cyber security organisation Exabeam has announced the successful completion of an Information Security Registered Assessors Program (IRAP) assessment at the Protected level for the Exabeam Security Operations Platform.

Aligned with the standards set by the Australian Signals Directorate, this assessment highlights Exabeam’s commitment to providing advanced AI-driven security operations solutions that meet high-security standards, benefiting both government and commercial customers.

The successful completion of the IRAP assessment serves as a baseline evaluation of Exabeam’s adherence to the Australian Government’s Information Security Manual (ISM). This process is instrumental in benchmarking Exabeam’s cloud-native security information and event management (SIEM) solutions against the Australian Government cybersecurity standard.

Gareth Cox, Vice President for APJ at Exabeam, commented on this achievement: “We are thrilled to reinforce Exabeam’s capabilities for organisations and government agencies in Australia. Completing the IRAP assessment underscores our ongoing commitment to delivering and maintaining AI-driven and cloud-native security operations solutions that adhere to the most rigorous security benchmarks.”

The IRAP assessment of Exabeam plays a supportive role in helping critical infrastructure providers meet their obligations under the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2020 and the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018. By focusing on robust security practices and aligning with the stringent standards set by the Australian Signals Directorate, the IRAP assessment aids in enhancing the resilience and security posture of Australia’s critical infrastructure. This is crucial for critical infrastructure providers navigating the compliance landscape shaped by these legislative acts, ensuring they uphold security measures to protect Australia’s vital assets.

The AI-driven Exabeam Security Operations Platform underwent a rigorous independent assessment by an IRAP assessor, demonstrating alignment with the Protected level of security requirements. This process underscores the Exabeam dedication to maintaining the highest standards in security for Australian federal, state, and local governments, and private enterprises.

As part of the IRAP assessment process, Exabeam stakeholders also engaged in a comprehensive training program, covering the IRAP regulations and fundamentals of the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s (ACSC’s) Information Security Manual.

Gareth Cox, Vice President for APJ at Exabeam, commented on this achievement: “We are thrilled to reinforce Exabeam’s capabilities for organisations and government agencies in Australia. Completing the IRAP assessment underscores our ongoing commitment to delivering and maintaining AI-driven and cloud-native security operations solutions that adhere to the most rigorous security benchmarks.”

 

IRAP assessors, ACSC-endorsed ICT professionals with extensive experience and qualifications in ICT, security assessment, and risk management, provided guidance and evaluation on Exabeam’s capabilities across various domains, including ICT systems, cloud services, and gateways. This process enables Exabeam to support Australian government agencies effectively in safeguarding their critical data and infrastructure.

The Race to Adapt: Fastly research reveals Australian and New Zealand businesses lost almost 10% of their revenue from cyberattacks in the last year

Sean Leach, Chief Product Architect, Fastly

Organisations take an average of up to seven months to recover from the negative effects of security breaches, which include customer account compromises, and large-scale data loss.

Fastly, Inc. (NYSE: FSLY), a leader in global edge cloud platforms, has today launched its new annual global cybersecurity report which uncovered the staggering impacts of cyberattacks on leading businesses across the globe, with each of these in Australia and New Zealand suffering an average of 49 known cyberattacks this year.

The Australian and New Zealand data also reveals the hugely damaging financial effects of security breaches, with businesses losing nine percent of their revenue over the last 12 months as a direct result of the cyberattacks they have suffered. However, financial damage is not the only result of cyberattacks. Australian and New Zealand businesses also highlighted network outages (33%), data loss (26%), customer/client accounts being compromised (25%) and loss of customer/client trust (25%) as the most common damages caused by security breaches.

Sean Leach, Vice President Technology, Fastly, said, “While the immediate results of a cyberattack can be extremely damaging, what really hits businesses hard is the time it takes them to recover from these. On average, it will take businesses around the world 7.5 months to recover from the loss of client trust as a result of a cyberattack. That is highly sobering for organisations which cannot afford to lose business in today’s economic climate. Once trust is broken, it’s very difficult to recover. This means a single cyberattack – particularly one resulting in a customer data breach – will have long-term impacts on the business that suffers it. During an uncertain economy, the long-term financial consequences of suffering a security breach cannot be ignored.”

In Australia and New Zealand over the next 12 months, 37% of respondents said that an increasingly sophisticated threat landscape would be the main driver of cybersecurity threats.  This was followed by lack of talent and the emergence of generative AI technology (both 36%).

In recognition of the financial implications of not having the correct security infrastructure in place, businesses are re-evaluating their investments, with 76% planning to increase their cybersecurity budgets in the next year. Despite this increase, uncertainty continues to reign in security teams, with 43% of security professionals feeling they spent too much on cybersecurity tools in the last 12 months, compared to 18% who feel they did not spend enough.

Representative of this conflicted spending strategy is the fact that only 47% of security tools are being fully deployed, representing significant money left on the table in the fight against cyber criminals. On average, Australian and New Zealand organisations rely on seven different network and application cybersecurity solutions.

The diminishing talent pool in security is also causing issues for today’s cybersecurity leaders. In fact, 28% of cybersecurity professionals estimate that security issues in the last 12 months were caused by the talent shortage, with 32% predicting this will continue in the next 12 months. Accordingly, over the past year, 53% of businesses have increased their talent-specific budgets to solve the problems presented by the existing talent pool.

A lack of experience dealing with threats (39%), an inability to work at scale (38%), and a lack of necessary skills (37%), are cited by security professionals to be the core challenges facing the talent pool, which have significantly complicated the hiring process.

One potential solution to these challenges is Generative AI with 61% of security professionals planning to invest in it over the next two years.

Generative AI is also the top security priority for businesses over the next 12 months, with 36% focusing on AI security. This increased prioritisation comes as a result of the double-edged sword Generative AI presents. On one hand, it is predicted to be the third most prevalent cyber security threat driver in the next year, but on the other, in the same time period 83% of cybersecurity professionals estimate Generative AI’s impact will be positive.

Indeed, 44% of respondents cite that Generative AI will unlock new opportunities with 43% indicating that it will allow managers to ensure that colleagues are trained in the fundamentals of cybersecurity and more than one in three (34%) indicate it will encourage innovation.

Finally, the survey found that making cybersecurity more accessible (41%), defining approaches to new threats (38%), and improving cyber security skills through training and talent acquisition (33%) will be the main security priorities over the next year.  This should help company cyber security strategies contribute more effectively to successful enterprise-wide innovation with the survey finding that half of all respondents cite their cybersecurity strategy as hampering business innovation in 2023.

Despite now prioritising the resolution of challenges related to the talent pool for the last two years, many businesses continue to try to address these by simply spending more,” said Leach. “While this strategy can help businesses to secure the top talent, it ignores the technological developments – and alternative solutions – that can help security teams overcome their personnel challenges. Among these, we’ve seen that Managed Security Services (MSS) and Generative AI have been particular focus areas as businesses look to reduce the toil for their in-house security teams by taking time-consuming work off their hands to increase productivity, unlock new opportunities for innovation and ensure businesses are better protected across their attack surface.”

To read the full report and understand how Australian and New Zealand businesses can help protect themselves within the constantly-evolving threat landscape, visit https://learn.fastly.com/the-race-to-adapt

Gigamon still leads deep observability market share in 650 Research’s report

Deep observability specialist Gigamon has been recognised again as the leading vendor in the deep observability market, according to a newly published report by market research firm 650 Group.

The deep observability market grew 60 percent in 2022 and continues to expand as organisations increasingly embrace hybrid cloud infrastructure, with a forecast CAGR of 50 percent and projected revenue of nearly $2B in 2027, according to the report.

Today, 90 percent of organisations operate in a hybrid and multi-cloud environment, and this shift has created new challenges around security, delivering consistent digital experiences, and operational overhead.

Alan Weckel, co-founder and analyst, 650 Group, said: “Deep observability remains a high-growth segment.  Gigamon continues to both lead and innovate in this critical segment with unique, value-added capabilities like Precryption™ technology and Application Metadata Intelligence, helping organisations secure their hybrid cloud infrastructure.”

The Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline delivers network-derived intelligence efficiently to cloud, security and observability tools, helping customers to eliminate security blind spots and better secure their hybrid cloud infrastructure.

More than 4,000 customers worldwide have shifted to a proactive security posture with Gigamon, extending beyond current observability approaches that rely exclusively on metrics, events, logs, and traces (MELT).

“Despite macroeconomic headwinds, deep observability remains a high-growth segment as organisations focus on managing the complexity of their multi-cloud infrastructure amid today’s constantly changing threat landscape,” said Alan Weckel, founder and technology analyst at 650 Group.

“We believe deep observability is not a ‘nice to have’ but is now a critical requirement for all enterprise operations teams, in order to deliver the performance and security today’s digital infrastructure requires.

“Gigamon continues to both lead and innovate in this critical segment with unique, value-added capabilities like Precryption technology and Application Metadata Intelligence, helping organisations secure their hybrid cloud infrastructure.”

The deep observability market is an emerging segment within the observability market and includes probes and agents sold as standalone systems and charged separately from other observability systems, according to 650 Group.  Additional qualifiers for inclusion in the report include:

  • The ability to inspect and gather network, security, and computing traffic by extracting event metadata from packets or computing infrastructure is a separate set of tools beyond event-based logging.
  • May be hardware probes or virtual agents.
  • Must maintain multi-vendor support.
  • Must support multiple networks, such as public cloud, private data centers, and colocation deployments.
  • Should be interoperable with numerous observability platform data lakes.

Key findings from the 650 Group’s ‘deep observability quarterly market and long-term forecast report’ include:

  • Deep observability market revenue is projected to be $505M in 2023, with a revenue growth of 52 percent to reach $769M in 2024.
  • Cloud-delivered deep observability offerings are projected to drive the highest revenue in future years accounting for 51 percent of the nearly $2B in revenue by 2027.
  • North America drove 60 percent in the first half and is expected to continue to deliver a majority of the revenue through 2027, followed by Europe and then Asia Pacific (excluding China).
  • The report indicates that cloud and subscription-based offerings should comprise the majority of revenue during the forecast period.
  • Vendors included in the report include Arista, Gigamon, Kentik, Keysight, and Netscout.