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Cyber Defense vs. Cybersecurity: What’s the Difference, and Why Does It Matter?
Blog

Cyber Defense vs. Cybersecurity: What’s the Difference, and Why Does It Matter?

By Katrina Thompson on Tue, 09/23/2025
Cyber defense and cybersecurity, while often used interchangeably, are two distinct terms with key differences.Understanding those differences can make all the difference in how you structure your security approach. Cyber Defense vs. Cybersecurity: The Key DifferencesCyber defense is what we think of when we think “cybersecurity,” ironically: the art of actively protecting your data against cyber...
VPN Replacement: Why You Need It and How to Find the Right One
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VPN Replacement: Why You Need It and How to Find the Right One

By Katrina Thompson on Fri, 09/19/2025
When the industry outgrew the perimeter, it also outgrew VPNs. Now, VPN replacements are in high demand as organizations look for scalable, lightweight ways to secure distributed data in a distributed workforce.Understanding VPN and Its LimitationsVPNs were built for a bygone era, but fail to secure remote work, private data, or private applications today.VPN Security ChallengesSecuring VPNs is a...
Your 8-Step Roadmap to Fintech Compliance
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Your 8-Step Roadmap to Fintech Compliance

By Katrina Thompson on Thu, 09/18/2025
What Is Fintech Regulatory Compliance?Regulatory compliance in the fintech sector refers to the policies put in place governing the safe collection, storage, and use of sensitive customer data within fintech applications, online platforms, and digital services.These organizations are constantly evolving, pushing the envelope where digital progress is concerned. While banks offer the benefit of in...
school-hacking-image
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From Mischief to Malware: ICO Warns Schools about Student Hackers

By Graham Cluley on Wed, 09/17/2025
Curiosity killed the cat and in today's classrooms it seems it is also crashing the school server, pinching teachers' passwords, and rewriting the lunch menu for a laugh.Recent data released by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), highlights that the same curiosity for technology that can lead a young person into a career in cybersecurity can also lead them into trouble.According to...
nist_sp_800-171_revision_3_what_it_means_and_how_defense_contractors_can_prepare
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NIST SP 800-171 Revision 3: What It Means and How Defense Contractors Can Prepare

By Katrina Thompson on Fri, 09/12/2025
These days, defense contractors need to stay nimble where compliance is concerned. As technological threats advance, the need for clarity, specificity, and simplicity increases, leading to changes in the regulations that govern contractor cybersecurity. A recently released US Department of Defense (DoD) memo has spurred rumblings that the underlying NIST framework on which the DoD-mandated CMMC ...
Blog

XMRig Targets Financial Industry

By Israel Cerda on Thu, 09/11/2025
Executive SummaryThe Fortra Intelligence and Research (FIRE) team has discovered and aided in the mitigation of a malware campaign delivering an open-source cryptocurrency miner, known as XMRig. This campaign stands out to security researchers because cryptojacking or malicious cryptocurrency mining operations rarely target enterprise environments with these methods, and more frequently focus on...
from_inbox_to_infrastructure_ais_role_in_modern_cyber_threats
Blog

From Inbox to Infrastructure: AI’s Role in Modern Cyber Threats

By Kirsten Doyle on Thu, 09/11/2025
AI is no longer science fiction. It is in the inbox. It is in the network. It is in every attack and every defense. Cyber attackers are learning fast. They use AI to scan, craft, and exploit. They automate what used to take hours. They personalize at scale. And defenders are racing to keep pace, building AI-driven tools to stop what attackers create. “Threat actors are constantly innovating and...
kingpin
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US charges suspected ransomware kingpin, and offers $10 million bounty for his capture

By Graham Cluley on Wed, 09/10/2025
A US federal court has unssealed charges against a Ukrainian national who authorities allege was a key figure behind several strains of ransomware, including LockerGoga, MegaCortex, and Nefilim. Volodymyr Viktorovich Tymoshchuk (who is also said to use the aliases "deadforz", "Boba", "msfv", and "farnetwork") has been charged for his alleged role in a series of ransomware attacks that extorted...
Patch Tuesday Analysis
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September 2025 Patch Tuesday Analysis

By Tyler Reguly on Tue, 09/09/2025
Today’s Patch Tuesday Alert addresses Microsoft’s September 2025 Security Updates. We are actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expect to ship that coverage as soon as it is completed.In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEsCVE-2025-55234From the advisory, “Microsoft is releasing this CVE to provide customers with audit capabilities to help them to assess...
Vulnerability Management
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How to Automate Vulnerability Management: Benefits, Best Practices, and FAQs

Mon, 09/08/2025
What Is Vulnerability Management Automation? At its core, vulnerability management (VM) is the continuous process of scanning an organization’s digital environment for exploitable weaknesses that could serve as entry points for cyberattacks, reporting and evaluating the findings, and remediating systems to remove detected weaknesses. For vulnerability...
Vulnerability Management
What Is ESI Data? Understanding Electronically Stored Information
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What Is ESI Data? Understanding Electronically Stored Information

Mon, 09/08/2025
Electronically Stored Information (ESI) refers to any data created, modified, communicated, or stored in digital form. This includes emails, documents, databases, instant messages, audio and video files, social media content, and more—essentially any information that resides in electronic systems. As digital communication and data storage have become the norm, ESI plays a pivotal role in legal...
Cloud Security
Data Classification
Data Retention & Archiving
How Data Protection Applies to Zero Trust
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How Data Protection Applies to Zero Trust

Mon, 09/08/2025
Protecting data in the context of zero trust means moving beyond perimeter-based defenses to a model where no user, device, or application is inherently trustworthy. As a result, every access request is verified, continuously monitored, and limited to the minimum necessary permissions needed to perform a job function. This approach reduces the risk of insider threats, compromised credentials, and...
Compliance
Data Classification
Data Loss Prevention
the_critical_role_of_offensive_security_in_cyber_defense
Blog

Breaking the Chain - The Critical Role of Offensive Security in Cyber Defense

By Katrina Thompson on Mon, 09/08/2025
Offensive security practices—particularly penetration testing and red teaming—help organizations proactively disrupt the cyber attack chain. By simulating real-world attacks, offensive security identifies weak points across the kill chain stages (reconnaissance, weaponization, delivery, exploitation, installation, command & control, and actions on objectives) before threat actors can exploit them...
Beyond Red vs. Blue: Bring on the Purple Team
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Beyond Red vs. Blue: Bring on the Purple Team

By Katrina Thompson on Fri, 09/05/2025
What Is a Purple Team?In cybersecurity, a purple team is a group that combines offensive red team capabilities with defensive blue team insights to provide a truly collaborative, well-balanced security posture. “Purple teaming” is more than a work group; it should be a philosophy.If you’re familiar with offensive security, red and blue team structures are well known. To review:Red Teams: Perform...
Red Teaming
Phantom Scam
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FBI warns seniors are being targeted in three-phase Phantom Hacker scams

By Graham Cluley on Wed, 09/03/2025
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) says that the elderly are more at risk from falling victim to online fraud and internet scammers than ever before. In fact, according to the IC3's latest published annual report, seniors suffered a staggering US $4.885 billion dollars worth of losses last year - a 43% increase from 2023. With an average...
Fortra Patch Priority Index
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Fortra Patch Priority Index for August 2025

By Lane Thames on Wed, 09/03/2025
Fortra's August 2025 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Microsoft and Google.First on the list are patches for Chromium and Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) that resolve use-after-free and inappropriate implementation vulnerabilities.Next on the list are patches for Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Visio. These patches resolve 15 issues, including...
Vulnerability Management
machines_catch_yesterdays_scams_humans_stop_tomorrows
Blog

Machines Catch Yesterday’s Scams, Humans Stop Tomorrow’s

By Kirsten Doyle on Tue, 09/02/2025
Email is still the front door for attackers. And the door is wide open. Scammers now use the same tools defenders do. A bad actor with access to a large language model can generate flawless English, craft convincing requests, and sound exactly like a colleague or supplier. The result: emails that slip past traditional filters with ease. “By the time blocking rules and security have been built up...
Email Security & Anti-Phishing
credit_union_security_your_compliance_roadmap
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Credit Union Security: Your Compliance Roadmap

By Katrina Thompson on Mon, 09/01/2025
Cybersecurity for Credit UnionsCredit union cybersecurity compliance is the practice of adhering to a set of mandates and regulations that ensure the confidentiality and integrity of digitized member data.Last year (September 1, 2023 – August 31, 2024) the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) reported 1,072 cyberattacks among the 4,411 federally registered credit unions in the U.S. That...