PRESS RELEASE

ATLANTA, July 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Secureworks® (NASDAQ: SCWX), a global leader in cybersecurity, today announced the launch of Taegis™ ManagedXDR Plus, a new Managed Detection and Response (MDR) offering that liberates the mid-market from indistinct, cookie cutter security solutions that don't meet their unique security requirements. Today's announcement means that this market sector will no longer be forced to use homogenous cybersecurity solutions that don't align to unique environments or the AI-fueled attacks that target them. Taegis ManagedXDR Plus empowers companies with the tailored use cases, compliance reports, and alerting they need to tackle the rising tide of cyberattacks and regulations with limited budget and people.

Nearly one in three (30%) mid-market companies experienced at least one ransomware attack in 20231 highlighting the need for organizations to strengthen their cyber resiliency with a proactive approach, tailored to their environment. Taegis ManagedXDR Plus addresses the evolving needs of this market sector with greater customization and flexibility on alerting, workflows, and reports to address their specific environment, industry regulations, and risk profile. These personalized configurations are supported by expanded threat hunting and access to proactive services to further increase their vigilance against threats. Organizations can see more, detect better, and respond faster by leveraging Secureworks security operations expertise and threat intelligence to fortify their cyber resiliency and exposure management.

"Until today, the mid-market has had to make do with security solutions that do little to bolster their cyber posture. Yet as the economic driving force for countries around the world, the butterfly effect of a cyberattack on organizations in this sector can often be felt far and wide, testing the digital resilience of the wider global economy. It is imperative for our collective defense that organizations of all sizes have access to cybersecurity that improves their security posture within the reality of their budget," said Kyle Falkenhagen, Chief Product Officer, Secureworks. "The cost of building a SOC in-house quickly escalates when you consider the breadth and depth of expertise required for these advanced challenges, let alone the costs of hiring, training and retaining a robust staff for 24/7 coverage. Taegis ManagedXDR Plus enables mid-market customers to take full advantage of the Taegis platform and our in-house experts to up-level their security to an enterprise level without breaking their budget."

Delivered using the Secureworks Taegis XDR platform, Taegis ManagedXDR Plus expands upon the capabilities of Secureworks Taegis ManagedXDR solution in several areas:

*   Tailored AI Enriched Use Cases: Taegis ManagedXDR Plus customers can leverage customization options tailored to their specific needs.
    
*   Expanded Threat Hunting: This new tier quadruples the number of AI assisted threat hunts available as part of Taegis ManagedXDR, and allows for customized requests to more rapidly uncover emerging and undiscovered threat actors targeting their environments.
    
*   Premium Support with Named Experts: Customers can also tap into the knowledge of Secureworks experts to further optimize Taegis in their environment, including 1x1 guidance to help efficiently build their security posture over time.
    
*   Proactive Security Services: Customers can select from a range of proactive security services to further raise their resiliency, identify gaps in posture, and deepen Taegis knowledge.
    

Secureworks now offers three tiers within its Taegis ManagedXDR portfolio - Taegis ManagedXDR, Taegis ManagedXDR Plus and Taegis ManagedXDR Enhanced - delivering on the company's commitment to meet customers wherever they are on their security journey. Regardless of the tier, Taegis ManagedXDR customers enjoy transparent pricing in an inclusive model which includes direct access to security experts within 90 seconds, one year of log retention to assist in threat hunting and compliance needs, hundreds of integrations to unify their existing ecosystem, and more to provide mid-market customers peace of mind and predictability in their cybersecurity budget.

"In an increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity landscape, enterprises find it challenging to handle security operations by themselves. These organizations have distinct needs. Secureworks acknowledges this and provides increased flexibility with Taegis ManagedXDR Plus," said Lucas Ferreyra, cybersecurity industry analyst, Frost & Sullivan. "This new MDR service tier delivers additional capabilities that multiply the value of Secureworks MDR service, further enhancing prevention, detection and response, and showing why Secureworks is one of the leaders in the MDR space."

For more information, please visit the Taegis ManagedXDR Plus web page.

About Secureworks

Secureworks (NASDAQ: SCWX) is a global cybersecurity leader that secures human progress with Secureworks® Taegis™, a SaaS-based, open XDR platform built on 20+ years of real-world detection data, security operations expertise, and threat intelligence and research. Taegis is embedded in the security operations of thousands of organizations around the world who use its advanced, AI-driven capabilities to detect advanced threats, streamline and collaborate on investigations, and automate the right actions.

Secureworks Elevates State of Cybersecurity for Mid-Market Customers With Managed Detection and Response Offering

PRESS RELEASE

NEW YORK, July 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- BlueVoyant, an industry-leading cybersecurity company, today announced the launch of its innovative Cyber Defense Platform. The platform integrates internal, external, and supply chain defense solutions into a single, cloud-native platform designed to measure and strengthen cyber defense posture in a cost-effective manner.

The mission of security operations teams has expanded from protecting the organization's internal networks to also include external threats from supply chain vendors, the digital fraudsters, and the dark web. However, multiple point solutions introduce complexity in management and provide a fragmented view of cyber posture.

BlueVoyant's Cyber Defense Platform provides AI-powered, next-generation security operations across enterprises' entire attack surface. It processes data and alerts from internal networks, supply chains, and the clear, deep, and dark web. This all leads to improvements in scalability, productivity, and enterprises' cyber risk posture.

The platform offers a variety of products and services to strengthen and manage an organization's cyber defense, including:

1.  Detection & Response:  Bolster internal network defenses by utilizing Managed Extended Detection & Response (MXDR) across the entire security stack from endpoints and SIEM (security information and event management) to the cloud, with integrated Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) for added protection
    
2.  Supply Chain Defense: Manage and respond to risks from suppliers, vendors, and other third parties
    
3.  Digital Risk Protection: Detect and respond to external cyber risks, such as brand impersonation, phishing, stolen data, and more
    
4.  Proactive Defense: Proactive approach to attack surface management that includes vulnerability management, external attack surface management, penetration testing, phishing awareness, dark web threat research, and configuration management
    
5.  Cyber Posture Management: Continuously assess, manage, and improve your organization's security posture to reduce cyber risk by leveraging the guidance provided by the NIST Cyber Security Framework (CSF)
    

"The BlueVoyant Cyber Defense Platform is a leap forward in the cybersecurity landscape," said James Rosenthal, CEO and co-founder of BlueVoyant. "We understand the escalating demands that security operations teams face in detecting and responding to threats swiftly. Our platform harnesses the power of AI to respond to those challenges with next-generation security operations across the entire attack surface. The result is improved scalability, enhanced productivity, and a stronger cyber risk posture, all based on cutting-edge technology."        

BlueVoyant boasts more than 1,000 customers, and recently announced the acquisition of Conquest Cyber, a cyber defense company renowned for its innovative SaaS technology. In addition, Microsoft recently named BlueVoyant the prestigious 2024 Worldwide Security Partner of the Year, which recognizes that BlueVoyant is on the forefront of cybersecurity. The company is also a member of the Microsoft Copilot for Security Design Council.

BlueVoyant recently unveiled a new Security Operations (SOC) and Customer Experience Center in Leeds, England, which joins BlueVoyant's existing SOC in Hungary. An additional EU SOC will be opening in Ireland later in 2024. The company's SOCs complement existing global security operations centers and provide additional in-time-zone support for European clients. 

To learn more about the BlueVoyant Cyber Defense Platform, visit the BlueVoyant website.

About BlueVoyant  
BlueVoyant delivers a comprehensive cloud-native security operations platform that provides real-time threat monitoring for networks, endpoints, and supply chains, extending to the clear, deep, and dark web. The platform integrates advanced AI technology with expert human insight to offer extensive protection and swift threat mitigation, ensuring enterprise cybersecurity. Trusted by more than 1,000 clients globally, and the 2024 Microsoft Worldwide Security Partner of the Year, BlueVoyant sets the standard for modern cyber defense solutions.

BlueVoyant Unveils Edge Security Operations Platform

The gang already uses varied tools in its attacks, such as phishing, SIM swapping, and MFA fatigue.

Source: Stephen Street via Alamy Stock Photo

Octo Tempest, a threat actor also known as Scattered Spider, has added RansomHub and Qilin to its repository for use in attacks, Microsoft's Threat Intelligence Team is warning.

The gang, which first arrived on the scene in 2022, is known for its social engineering techniques, which Microsoft describes as sophisticated, as well as identity compromises, targeting of VMware ESXi servers, and deployment of BlackCat ransomware. It was also infamously behind the massive ransomware attacks on Caesars Palace and MGM Entertainment last year.

Other tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) the group is known to use include impersonating IT employees to deceive company staff into providing credentials or gaining persistence using remote access tools, as well as phishing, MFA bombing, and SIM swapping.

Qilin ransomware also surfaced in 2022 under a different name, "Agenda," but quickly rebranded. The group is known to have targeted and claimed more than 130 companies, demanding ransoms from as low as $25,000 and well into millions, and is developing a customizable Linux encryptor to target VMware ESXi servers, according to Microsoft. RansomHub, meanwhile, is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) offering that is becoming increasingly favored by threat actors, "making it one of the most widespread ransomware families today," the tech giant said via X.

Octo Tempest accounts for a significant number of the investigations that the Microsoft team covers, it said, and has dominated incident response engagements it has received since first gaining attention through its "oktapus" campaign, which targeted over 130 well-known organizations.

Microsoft: Scattered Spider Widens Web With RansomHub &amp; Qilin

As attackers set their sights on infrastructure, security teams need to reduce risk levels without compromising operational agility.

Amir Hirsh, SVP & General Manager of OT Security, Tenable

July 16, 2024

4 Min Read

Source: ElenaBs via Alamy Stock Photo

COMMENTARY

Hackers affiliated with the Chinese government have reportedly maintained access to US critical infrastructure for years, several agencies warned in February. The revelation is, at least on the surface, a heel-turn for Chinese cyber behavior — moving from espionage to the potential compromise or destruction of infrastructure via operational technology (OT). This includes the programmable systems and devices connected to physical environments.

Last December, a supply chain-focused attack against ShipManager software from maritime advisory company DNV reportedly disrupted operations for dozens of its clients — affecting as many as 1,000 vessels. In November, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned of Iranian actors actively exploiting Unitronics equipment used in water and wastewater systems, prompting a later warning from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House. The EPA also warned in May that a whopping 70% of US water systems fail its cybersecurity standards.

Similar OT systems have been connected to the Internet to enable remote monitoring and control, but that convenience has opened up avenues for attackers. These systems were often built for reliability before widespread connectivity. They are often implemented with niche solutions and can be difficult to audit and protect.

OT attacks, along with IT attacks on infrastructure supporting these operational environments, can take down customers' supply chains, damage equipment, and result in costly production disruptions: According to a study by ITC, four in 10 enterprise organizations said one hour of downtime can cost from $1 million to over $5 million.

Keeping the lights on in these increasingly complex environments is no easy feat. OT needs even higher levels of protection than that afforded to IT, since a single OT breach can cascade across multiple systems. Here, I'll outline three key steps for defending these environments, which begins with understanding OT's cyber-physical impacts and complexities.

**1\. Eliminate Gaps Across Environments**

Convergence of security between IT and OT is accelerating, but the two cannot be completely independent workstreams. Managing OT security is not a "set it and forget it" or reactive process, and vulnerability management cannot be lax. An effective strategy meant to reduce OT risk and protect operational uptime requires full asset visibility, and oftentimes there is crossover with IT.

With greater visibility, defenders can gather accurate and continuous telemetry data. Acquiring it, however, will entail ongoing communication and collaboration with the IT teams who have traditionally overseen Internet-facing devices.

IT and OT defenders can establish cross-functional teams and carry out joint risk assessment exercises. This open line will generate a better understanding about how assets communicate with each other, which apps are running (and where), and how user privileges are configured. The visibility gives teams greater control over their organizational infrastructure and can inform critical decision-making processes.

**2\. Develop Comprehensive OT Playbooks**

Once assets are mapped and better understood, the next step is a standardization of security practices. Defenders should create or evolve OT security playbooks and consider a range of scenarios.

Plans should draw from the organization's existing knowledge base, outline step-by-step incident response protocols, and define reactive steps among all business units and executives — for instance, documenting which teams or partners must respond in the event of a sector-specific worst-case scenario, such as a critical pipeline being held for ransom.

OT defenders should also regularly monitor guidance disseminated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (including the new governance pillar of the NIST CSF framework) and intelligence agencies, along with industry groups and vendors.

**3\. Implement Robust Controls**

With more systems coming online, the general widening of the OT attack surface necessitates powerful exposure management technology. In fact, this is a point my colleagues and I continue to raise in different forums, as threat actors, like China-backed entities, continue to shift their tactics.

Sophisticated advanced persistent threats (APTs), like China's Volt Typhoon, increasingly rely on living-off-the-land techniques — using legitimate, embedded services to carry out their crimes. This can cloak their network activity and make traditional indicators of compromise highly difficult to detect. This ultimately dilutes the impact of more traditional security technologies.

Defenders simply cannot overlook this threat. They must be able to contextualize data and resolve issues before they can be exploited, performing functions like high-speed asset discovery and malware detection.

**Moving Away From Reactive Policies**

Given the rise of ransomware attacks in OT environments — more than half of polled industrial firms confirming they've suffered a related incident — there is new urgency tied to this domain. In fact, these events have created space for security teams to advocate internally for more robust controls.

Luckily, as part of this effort, organizations are steadily moving away from the reactive policies that once guided OT and instead are looking more holistically at the intricate web of networks and devices across their operations.

By using these tips, security teams can effectively reduce risk levels without compromising operational agility. OT infrastructure demands time and attention, but greater security will help protect physical environments from the advances of prominent APTs.

**About the Author(s)**

SVP & General Manager of OT Security, Tenable

Amir Hirsh is a technological entrepreneur based in Israel with over 20 years of experience. He has been instrumental in the creation, growth and sale of numerous companies covering cyber, AI, and media.

Amir leads Tenable's platform, exposure management, and operational technology (OT) business units, driving continued product innovation and development to address both present and future market needs. He also oversees Tenable's go-to-market, marketing, and engineering teams. He is a creative thinker and an innovative tech and business leader with an execution-focused management style.

As a key leader at Tenable, Amir speaks regularly at various industry events and conferences, and his views on market trends and the technology innovation driving them have been covered in many media outlets.

Defending OT Requires Agility, Proactive Controls

Feeling creative? Submit your caption and our panel of experts will reward the winner with a $25 Amazon gift card.

Where's a good tailwind when you need it? Come up with a clever cybersecurity-related caption to describe the scene above, and our favorite will win a $25 Amazon gift card.

Here are four convenient ways to submit your ideas before the Aug. 14, 2024, deadline:

*   Via social media: X, Facebook, and LinkedIn. (If you win, we'll respond to you on the same platform, requesting your email address.)
    

**Last Month's Winner**

Congratulations, Joe Ayella, whose caption for last month's contest, "Future Shock," rose above a creative collection of contenders to capture first place. Your gift card is on the way. As always, we appreciate everyone who took the time to participate.

**About the Author(s)**

John Klossner has been drawing technology cartoons for more than 15 years. His work regularly appears in Computerworld and Federal Computer Week. His illustrations and cartoons have also been published in The New Yorker, Barron's, and The Wall Street Journal.

Name That Toon: Near Miss

The ransomware is rudimentary with basic functionalities, likely having been created by an inexperienced developer — but it's effective at locking up files and sucking up memory capacity.

Source: imageBROKER.com GmbH & Co. KG via Alamy Stock Photo

A ransomware strain coined "ShadowRoot" has been found targeting Turkish businesses through phishing attacks.

The phishing emails contain a PDF attachment disguised as an invoice with embedded malicious links. Upon user interaction, this triggers a download of a RootDesign.exe file hosted on a compromised GitHub account.

The downloaded file is a Delphi binary and, according to researchers at Forcepoint who analyzed the exe, it drops further payloads: "C:\\TheDream\\RootDesign.exe," "C:\\TheDream\\Uninstall.exe” and “C:\\TheDream\\Uninstall.ini".

"We have observed recursive self-process creation by RootDesign.exe, which causes the files to get encrypted multiple times, resulting in higher memory consumption," the researchers said. "It also drops many copies of encrypted files on the root."

They add that the ransomware appears "rudimentary" and likely the work belonging to an inexperienced developer.

In addition to user awareness for defense, the researchers recommend blocking the following email addresses to prevent being targeted by the Shadowroot threat actors:

*   Kurumsal\[.\]tasilat\[@\]internet\[.\]ru
    
*   ran\_master\_som\[@\]proton\[.\]me
    
*   lasmuruk\[@\]mailfence\[.\]com
    

**About the Author(s)**

Shadowroot Ransomware Lures Turkish Victims via Phishing Attacks

The threat group used CVE-2024-38112 and a "zombie" version of IE to spread Atlantida Stealer through purported PDF versions of reference books.

Source: Ezyjoe via Alamy Stock Photo

New details have emerged about how an advanced persistent threat (APT) group exploited an unpatched Microsoft zero-day in a spear-phishing campaign to spread the Atlantida Stealer, which lifts system information and sensitive data such as passwords and cookies from various applications.

A blog post published July 15 by Trend Micro sheds new light on how the APT, dubbed Void Banshee, which used the flaw (CVE-2024-38112)against victims in North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. The bug exists in the MSHTML (Trident) engine for the now retired Internet Explorer (IE) browser, but it can be exploited on a victim's machine even if IE is disabled or not the default browser.

It's an "alarming" attack given that IE has "historically been a vast attack surface but now receives no further updates or security fixes," Trend Micro senior threat researcher Peter Girnus and malware reverse engineer Aliakbar Zahravi wrote in the post.

The Void Banshee campaign lured victims via zip archives containing malicious files disguised as book PDFs that were disseminated via cloud-sharing websites, Discord servers, and online libraries, among others sectors, the researchers found. This is a typical tactic of the group, which tends to target victims both for information stealing and financial gain, they noted.

"\[Atlantida\] malware focuses on extracting stored sensitive and potentially valuable data, such as passwords and cookies, and it can also collect files with specific extensions from the infected system's desktop," the researchers wrote. "Moreover, the malware captures the victim's screen and gathers comprehensive system information."

**New Details on Zero-Day Exploitation**

Separately, security researchers already had revealed that unidentified threat groups were exploiting the IE flaw — which was patched in Microsoft's July Patch Tuesday update— to spread Atlantida and other malware in malicious PDF files.

Microsoft described CVE-2024-38112 as a spoofing vulnerability that could have a high impact on system confidentiality, integrity, and availability if successfully exploited, but only gave it a moderately high severity rating of 7.5 out of 10 on the CVSS vulnerability-severity scale. That's because that for an attack to be successful, an attacker would need to convince a victim to interact with the weaponized URL file, among other factors.

Trend Micro's report provides new details about how Void Banshee was able to get Windows users to do this by convincing targets in a spear-phishing campaign to open URL shortcut files designed to look like PDF copies of a book — specifically, textbooks and reference materials such as "Clinical Anatomy."

This "suggests the campaign is targeting highly skilled professionals and students who often use reference materials and places where digital copies of books are collected," the researchers wrote.

**CVE-2024-38112 Exploitation & Payload Behavior**

A previously revealed attack vector described by Check Point security researcher Haifei Li detailed how malicious shortcuts when could use IE — even if it's not the default browser — to open an attacker-controlled URL by calling the defunct browser instead of a more secure browser such as Chrome or Edge. The vector hid dangerous HTML application (HTA) files in PDF documents that looked safe to users.

Trend Micro's report describes how Void Banshee did this by distributing URL files that contained the MHTML protocol handler and the x-usc! directive, which allowed the group to access and run HTA files directly through the disabled IE process. When a victim opens what looks like an innocuous PDF, it instead opens the URL target in the native IE through the iexplore.exe process.

"The Internet shortcut file that exploits CVE-2024-38112 points to an attacker-controlled domain where an HTML file downloads the HTA stage of the infection chain," the researchers explained. "Using this HTML file, the attacker can also control the window view size of the website through IE. This is used by the threat actor to hide browser information and to mask the downloading of the next stage of the infection chain from the victim."

As mentioned, the attack ultimately delivers the Atlantida stealer, which is built from open source stealers NecroStealer and PredatorTheStealer. It targets sensitive information from various applications, including Telegram, Steam, FileZilla, various cryptocurrency wallets, and Web browsers. The malware then compresses the stolen data into a zip file and sends it back to an attacker-controlled command-and-control (C2) site over TCP port 6655.

**"Zombie Relics" Like IE Remain Dangerous**

Overall, the attacks on CVE-2024-38112 demonstrate how even technology like IE that is no longer supported or even in active use at an organization can still pose a major threat, according to Trend Micro.

"Even though users may no longer be able to access IE, threat actors can still exploit lingering Windows relics like IE on their machine to infect users and organizations with ransomware, backdoors, or as a proxy to execute other strains of malware," the researchers wrote.

Furthermore, the ability of threat actors to access unsupported and disabled system services to circumvent modern Web sandboxes, such as IE mode for Microsoft Edge, poses "a significant industry concern," they wrote.

Patching the flaw is the most obvious way to thwart current exploitation of the IE issue, the researchers noted. Trend Micro also included a list of MITRE ATT&CK techniques and a link to indicators of compromise (IoCs) in its post.

According to Trend Micro, organizations also should take a proactive approach and engage in advanced threat intelligence as well as adopt a security posture that is constantly monitoring scanning software and other corporate network assets for potential flaws and other attack surfaces that potentially can be exploited.

**About the Author(s)**

Elizabeth Montalbano is a freelance writer, journalist, and therapeutic writing mentor with more than 25 years of professional experience. Her areas of expertise include technology, business, and culture. Elizabeth previously lived and worked as a full-time journalist in Phoenix, San Francisco, and New York City; she currently resides in a village on the southwest coast of Portugal. In her free time, she enjoys surfing, hiking with her dogs, traveling, playing music, yoga, and cooking.

Void Banshee APT Exploits Microsoft Zero-Day in Spear-Phishing Attacks

Bad actors are launching unprecedented waves of attacks against government agencies — and the federal government is woefully underprepared.

Gary Barlet, Public Sector Chief Technology Officer, Illumio

July 16, 2024

4 Min Read

Source: vska via Alamy Stock Photo

COMMENTARY

In the past year, we've seen an influx of attacks on critical infrastructure, which has steadily become a concern for the federal government, including for the healthcare sector, and even the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). However, with this rise in attacks across industries, we're still seeing a gap in available cyber professionals to address it. Case in point: 71% of organizations have unfilled cybersecurity positions. This is due largely to outdated training, costly certifications, and the industry's narrative of being difficult to enter. And each of these factors discourages prospective talent from joining the workforce.

To increase accessibility to the industry, the White House announced a commitment to skill-based hiring in order to recruit cybersecurity talent for the private sector and in-demand federal positions. This is a significant step for the federal government, which has long used arcane methods of recruiting cybersecurity professionals. However, it remains saddled with the perception that it's behind the times due to its reliance on legacy technology. 

**Stuck in the Past**

Federal employees spend most of their time and energy on maintaining legacy security systems. As a result, government agencies are lagging in implementing modern security strategies. Limited funding, expertise, and technology make it virtually impossible for them to break this cycle. They just can't compete with the private industry for new hires aspiring to the cybersecurity big leagues.

Consequently, agencies are experiencing an IT skills deficit, specifically at the technician level, where protecting information and data from national security threats is critical. The money to recruit cyber talent and implement new technologies instead goes into maintaining legacy systems.

The question that needs an immediate answer is, How can the federal government close this gap in resources and incentives to attract top cybersecurity talent?

**What Motivates Cybersecurity Pros?**

Young people want to apply their skills to an organization at the cutting edge of technology. When deciding where to work, they consider salary, benefits like unlimited paid time off, bonuses, stock options, and the opportunity to work with the latest cybersecurity solutions. Sacrificing higher pay and perks to serve their country is a less desirable option for many.

Permitting remote working arrangements is another key consideration. The pandemic revealed that working from home is feasible, and convinced a wave of employees they don't have to commute to an office. 

Therefore, the government needs to incentivize and get creative with how it recruits and encourages talent to enhance and maintain national cybersecurity standards. This is a challenge, as the current generation of workers is actively redefining the workforce as we know it.

To make itself more appealing to the younger generation, the federal government needs to reconsider the benefits it offers, moving away from more traditional long-term incentives to a focus on more immediate, short-term perks. Case in point: The military has revamped its benefits to entice current and retired military personnel, with benefits including supplemental allowance for basic needs, housing, and enhanced healthcare options. This step recognizes the shift in what prospective employees value in a job.

**Ways the Government Can Incentivize Prospective Security Talent**

The government will not close the cybersecurity talent gap until it provides incentives that compel prospective employees to transfer their skills from the private sector to positions with federal agencies. Such incentives could include:

*   More opportunity for short-term financial upsides
    
*   Part- or full-time remote working policies
    
*   Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) matching
    

In addition to recruiting individuals with cybersecurity skill sets, the government needs to ensure that it's recruiting blooming talent into its ranks and keeping them informed on the latest developments in the cybersecurity landscape, including threats, programs, tactics, and more.

Employees want benefits and the opportunity to learn and develop their skills. We've seen this first-hand in other federal programs: The Air Force runs a program called Education with Industry (EWI), which loans its fellows for an integrated, experiential learning program among industry partners within the private sector. The program gives participants access to the latest technologies, as well as hands-on learning experience for industry best practices.

To replicate this process, the government should partner with the private sector to develop security talent, offering employees the opportunity to work with the private sector while obtaining that same cutting-edge experience and then return to the federal government so they can apply that knowledge to national security.

From my own personal experience, having government experience on your résumé puts you ahead of those who have only private experience — especially as the private and public sectors continue to lean on each other and partner more heavily. The same could be accomplished for other cyber talent. Once they've gained experience in the private sector, they could be brought back to the government to apply their skills.

We're operating at a time when bad actors are launching unprecedented waves of attacks against government agencies. The threat to our nation has never been higher, and the federal government remains woefully underprepared. It must become more proactive and purposeful in how it recruits cybersecurity talent if it's going to level the cyber battlefield.

**About the Author(s)**

Public Sector Chief Technology Officer, Illumio

Gary Barlet has nearly three decades of cloud, cybersecurity, and network experience in the US federal government leading security and IT teams in both civilian agencies and the Department of Defense (DoD). At Illumio, Gary works with government agencies, contractors, and the broader ecosystem to build in zero-trust segmentation as a strategic component of the government’s zero-trust architecture. Before joining Illumio, Gary served as the chief information officer at the Office of the Inspector General for the US Postal Service and served in the Air Force in several technology leadership capacities, retiring from his role as cyber operations officer.

The Need to Recruit Cyber Talent in the Government

Retail banks in the nation-state will eliminate the use of one-time passwords (OTPs) by bank customers in an effort to thwart phishing.

Source: Saranvarin Nopsuwan via Alamy Stock Photo

Singapore has set in motion an aggressive plan to retire one-time passwords (OTPs) for its retail banking customers within the next three months.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) said the new authentication process will employ digital tokens in lieu of passwords as a better way to protect against phishing attacks aimed at stealing customer banking credentials. Banking customers will use digital tokens on their mobile devices to authenticate to their accounts on mobile apps and on the banks' websites.

"This measure provides customers with further protection against unauthorized access to their bank accounts. While they may give rise to some inconvenience, such measures are necessary to help prevent scams and protect customers," said Ong-Ang Ai Boon, director of the ABS.

**About the Author(s)**

Singapore Banks Ditch One-Time Passwords

The new cybersecurity startup is focused on helping companies prepare and respond to a "cyber crisis" by consolidating the three Rs: readiness, response, and recovery.

Source: Jacob Lund via Alamy Stock Photo

Organizations are increasingly focused on resiliency — the ability to adjust and keep operating during an ongoing attack as well as to mitigate and recover as quickly as possible. But one of the reasons organizations struggle with response and recovery is due to poor communication among stakeholders. It takes time to find out who needs information and what level of detail they need. And then there is the delay waiting for stakeholders to make decisions on next steps and how to proceed.

Cytactic is a new cybersecurity startup that aims to consolidate crisis readiness, response, and recovery into a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. The Cytactic platform provides security teams with a simplified, orchestrated, step-by-step methodology involving relevant stakeholders, the company said. The platform also recognizes that businesses react and respond differently to incidents and so offers a variety of business profiles and risk landscapes.

The company did not provide specifics on how the platform consolidates the various activities, how organizations will use the platform as part of their incident-response planning, or how the platform will be used during an active incident.

Making it easier to provide relevant information to affected stakeholders and speeding up decision-making can help mitigate — or avert — issues resulting from an incident. Gartner recently noted that organizations that focus on synchronized readiness and management in their incident-response preparation increase their chances for a successful outcome.

"Conducting incident response planning and having a formal third-party contingency plan increased third-party cyber risk management effectiveness by 42% and 43%, respectively," according to Gartner.

Cytactic launched on July 10 with the announcement of a $16 million seed funding round led by Evolution Equity Partners. The company's founder, Nimrod Kozlovski, is a former venture capitalist.

**About the Author(s)**

Source

DARKReading