Resources

Blog

How to Proactively Harden Your Environment Against Compromised Credentials

How many user accounts do you have? Emails, social media, online shopping, streaming services—and that doesn’t even begin to account for professional logins. By the time you add them all up, it’s likely one hundred or more unique accounts.According to NordPass, the average user maintains an average of 168 logins for personal purposes, and no less than 87 for the workplace. This is an extraordinary...
News Article

Dark Reading: Novel Exploit Chain Enables Windows UAC Bypass

​​Fortra's security research team has identified a novel exploit chain, tracked as CVE-2024-6769, which allows attackers to bypass Windows User Access Control (UAC) and escalate privileges to gain full system control.
News Article

​​CSO: Microsoft privilege escalation issue forces the debate: ‘When is something a security hole?’​

​​CSO covered Fortra’s disclosure of a Microsoft privilege escalation issue that allows attackers to bypass UAC prompts. Fortra's Tyler Reguly explained that this bypass removes key security checks, posing a risk. Microsoft disagrees, calling it a convenience issue, but the debate continues.​
Blog

CVE-2024-6769: Poisoning the Activation Cache to Elevate From Medium to High Integrity

This blog is about two chained bugs: Stage one is a DLL Hijacking bug caused by the remapping of ROOT drive and stage two is an Activation Cache Poisoning bug managed by the CSRSS server.The first stage was presented in detail at Ekoparty 2023 in the presentation called "I'm High" by Nicolás Economou from BlueFrost Security. He explained how to exploit the vulnerability which, at the time, had not...
Guide

Decoding the Attacker Mindset: Pen Testing Revelations

Cybersecurity isn't just about defense—it's about understanding the offense. With penetration testing, organizations can learn to think like an attacker and develop more proactive strategies that anticipate attacks. In this guide, explore 5 scenarios that provide insight into the methods and techniques deployed in real-world pen testing engagements, including: Using a password spray attack to...
Blog

Windows DWM Core Library Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (CVE-2024-30051)

In this blog post, I will explain a vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows Desktop Windows Manager (DWM) Core library that I analyzed when the exploit for Core Impact was being developed. This vulnerability allows an unprivileged attacker to execute code as a DWM user with Integrity System privileges (CVE-2024-30051).Since there was not enough public information at the time to develop the exploit,...
News Article

How to Fortify Defenses Before Threats Materialize

Cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated and frequent, yet many organizations still face challenges due to limited resources. In ITSecurityWire, Fortra's Chris Reffkin highlights prioritizing remediation, closing the skills gap, and ongoing improvement.
Blog

What Is the NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF)?

The NIST Risk Management Framework, or RMF, is a voluntary 7-step process used to manage information security and privacy risks. By following the NIST RMF, organizations can successfully implement their own risk management programs, maintain compliance, and address the weaknesses that present the greatest danger to their enterprise.
Blog

3 Components of a Proactive Security Strategy 

Your organization might have many cybersecurity defenses in place, but defenses alone are not enough to protect you from today’s multi-faceted cyberattacks. Proactively adding a layer of offensive security assessment and testing helps you pinpoint your system weaknesses before they are exploited. Proactive security measures help you stay ahead of attackers by:Identifying vulnerabilities and...
Guide

Guide to Creating a Proactive Cybersecurity Strategy

Cyber attacks are common, with 89% of companies experiencing an attack in the last 12 months*. It’s time to stop asking if attacks will occur and start asking if you can stop attacks from being successful. One of the best ways to answer this question is by employing a proactive security program. Using assessment and testing to harden your cybersecurity measures, proactive security: Uncovers...
Guide

How to Use Upskilling and Reskilling to Scale Your Cybersecurity Team

The cybersecurity skills shortage is not just an ongoing inconvenience—it is a serious vulnerability that can be exploited by attackers. But how can organizations go about patching this gap while the talent gap endures? The answer lies in leveraging the resources you already have on hand: your existing workforce. How do you transform your existing personnel to meet today’s cybersecurity demands?...
Guide

2024 Pen Testing Report

Penetration testing has become a cornerstone of proactive security strategies by offering a practical way to assess security by using real-world attack techniques to gauge the feasibility of a threat actor compromising an IT enterprise. Through the exploitation of security vulnerabilities, pen testers can determine which security weaknesses pose the most risk and provide guidance for remediation. ...
Blog

Top 8 Benefits of Network Monitoring

Lack of network visibility makes life hard for IT. Network monitoring helps you stay ahead of outages with real-time visibility into your network health.