Expansion includes new capabilities for hybrid deployment models and industrial Internet of things (IIoT) environments.

ATHENS, Greece, May 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Barracuda Discover.22 EMEA Partner Conference --

**Highlights:**

*   Cloud-native Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform from Barracuda now supports hybrid cloud environments, enabling deployments in Microsoft Azure and at the private service edge.
*   Barracuda provides industry-leading, highly scalable connectivity and security support for the industrial internet of things (IIoT). Technology integrations with FireMon, Skybox, TTTech, and Nozomi further expand the scope of security services.
*   Barracuda's Zero Trust Access solution is now simpler to deploy, leveraging a new virtual deployment with integrated directory connectors.

Barracuda Networks, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-first security solutions, today announced the expansion of its cloud-native SASE platform. Barracuda's SASE platform streamlines Secure SD-WAN, firewall-as-a-service, Zero Trust Network Access, and Secure Web Gateway functionality and incorporates secure connectivity to industrial IoT devices. The expansion includes new capabilities for hybrid deployment models and IIoT environments. Additionally, new technology integrations offer secure data transfer, orchestration, asset management, and anomaly detection.

**According to Gartner®**, "By 2024, 80% of SD-WAN deployments will incorporate security service edge (SSE) requirements, up from less than 25% in 2022."1

As part of the Barracuda SASE platform, CloudGen WAN, Barracuda's Secure SD-WAN service and firewall-as-a-service, now provides private service edge for hybrid deployments. Private service edge is ideal for organizations that need to follow certain geopolitical requirements or need full control over the data plane. Private service edge devices provide the same scope of security and networking functionality as the cloud service and are administrated and maintained via a central management platform.

Barracuda CloudGen WAN now offers Secure Connector virtual appliances and new ruggedized site devices. These updates provide highly scalable internet-of-things connectivity, as well as cloud and private service edge-based security for IIoT endpoints. The Secure Connector endpoint virtual agent can be deployed in Docker environments for a wide range of third-party IIoT solutions.

To meet the specific challenges and requirements of digitalization and the internet of things, Barracuda integrates with specialized technology partners, including FireMon, Skybox, TTTech, and Nozomi. These integrations provide the ability for customers to enable secure data transfer, take advantage of automated incident response, and align with the latest IIoT security standards.

Zero Trust Access is often the first step toward SASE. As part of Barracuda's SASE platform, Barracuda CloudGen Access now offers new tools and capabilities that radically simplify deployments. CloudGen Access is now available with a turnkey proxy for simple deployment and cloud user directory connector for easy sync of users and groups.

**Quotes:  
**"The expansion of Barracuda's cloud-native SASE platform for hybrid deployment models and IIoT environments solves a number of common security, connectivity, and scalability challenges that businesses are facing in this age of digital transformation," **said Tim Jefferson, SVP, Engineering for Data, Network, and Application Security at Barracuda.** "Today's announcement underscores Barracuda's ongoing commitment to collaborate with specialized technology partners to develop tailored solutions, integrate advanced technologies, and expand the capabilities of our cloud-first offerings."

"Barracuda offered the only cloud-native firewall-as-a-service that provided all the enterprise security levels we needed and even included SD-WAN for uninterrupted connectivity and reliable application access to Azure," **said Hans Redlich, IT Lead at Hagedorn Group of Companies, in a Barracuda case study.**

"Barracuda Secure Connector solutions made it easy for us to implement device connectivity and IoT-platform connectivity across our products," **said Ulrich Poeschl, Chief Information Security Officer at Test-Fuchs GmbH, in a Barracuda** **case study****.**

**Resources:**  
Check out the product page: https://www.barracuda.com/products/sase

Get the Gartner**®** report, How to Align SD-WAN Projects with SASE Initiatives: http://cuda.co/grptsdwansase

Gartner named Barracuda a Visionary in 2021 Magic Quadrant™ for Network Firewalls. Get the report: https://www.barracuda.com/networkfirewallsmq

**See the blog posts:  
**A closer look at the expansion of Barracuda's SASE platform: http://cuda.co/50895

Zero Trust adoption simplified: http://cuda.co/50893

Aligning SD-WAN projects with SASE initiatives: http://cuda.co/50891

**Citations:  
**1Gartner, "How to Align SD-WAN Projects With SASE Initiatives," by Bjarne Munch, Lisa Pierce, Craig Lawson, published December 1, 2021.

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Network Firewalls, Rajpreet Kaur, Jeremy D'Hoinne, Nat Smith, Adam Hils, 1 November 2021

Gartner and Magic Quadrant are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

**About Barracuda Discover.22 EMEA Partner Conference  
**Barracuda Discover.22 takes place May 17-19 in Athens, Greece. The informative event covers a wide range of topics, including security threats and trends, hands-on technical sessions, new product announcements, and the latest innovations in email protection, application and cloud security, network security, and data protection.

**About Barracuda  
**At Barracuda, we strive to make the world a safer place. We believe every business deserves access to cloud-first, enterprise-grade security solutions that are easy to buy, deploy, and use. We protect email, networks, data, and applications with innovative solutions that grow and adapt with our customers' journey. More than 200,000 organizations worldwide trust Barracuda to protect them — in ways they may not even know they are at risk — so they can focus on taking their business to the next level. For more information, visit barracuda.com. 

Barracuda Networks, Barracuda and the Barracuda Networks logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Barracuda Networks, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Barracuda Expands Cloud-Native SASE Platform to Protect Hybrid Cloud Deployments

Provides security architects with access to custom scripts that can be natively integrated with other Qualys solutions.

FOSTER CITY, Calif., May 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ: QLYS), a pioneer and leading provider of disruptive cloud-based IT, security and compliance solutions, today unveiled Qualys Custom Assessment and Remediation, opening its Cloud Platform to give security architects access to custom scripts that can be natively integrated with other Qualys solutions. This new solution significantly reduces response time by empowering security teams to orchestrate workflows, secure custom applications, and take immediate action to counter threats like zero-day attacks lessening the need to rely on the IT operations teams.

When threats hit, security teams need to quickly discover, assess and remediate both their third-party and custom applications. A typical response involves creating new out-of-band processes and custom scripts that need to be rolled out across hundreds or thousands of applications and endpoints by the security teams using a variety of techniques and ITSM tools. This approach creates a blind spot from an auditing and tracking standpoint and negatively impacts responsiveness.

"Reducing mean time to respond (MTTR) is the key metric for managing security risk, but it requires having the right security tools in place to optimize efficiency," said Melinda Marks, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "Qualys Custom Assessment and Remediation leverages the comprehensive capabilities of the Qualys Cloud Platform to speed up your ability to respond to a detected security issue. It provides centralized control while helping teams remediate issues within their existing tools and workflows, saving them from inefficient, costly out-of-band rework cycles."

Qualys Custom Assessment and Remediation opens the Qualys Platform for security architects allowing the creation of custom scripts in popular scripting languages, user-defined controls and automation, all seamlessly integrated within existing programs to quickly assess, respond and remediate threats across your global hybrid environment.

Qualys Custom Assessment and Remediation enables security teams to:

**Quickly Address Zero-Day Threats**– The solution puts the power to rapidly respond to zero-day vulnerabilities directly in the hands of the security team by automating processes such as collecting and evaluating data, synthesizing third-party threat intelligence feeds, and performing appropriate remediation actions, such as configuration changes, deleting suspicious files or deploying registry changes. The result is an accelerated MTTR, which is critical to containing an attack**.**

**Secure and Audit Custom Applications –** Security teams can add customized controls and processes, without IT intervention, for various organizational activities including remediation actions eliminating the need to reinvent new scripts. This improves efficiency and allows security practitioners time to focus on more strategic activities.

**Tightly Integrate into Qualys VMDR Workflows** – Scripts are seamlessly integrated into existing VMDR workflows via assignment of custom Qualys IDs and Control IDs, which increases efficiency.

**Access a Centralized Library for Custom Scripts and Controls** – The solution provides centralized control over custom scripts easily mapped into workflows, and it is secured by role-based access control (RBAC) as well as review and approval processes. Additionally, deployment of scripts is simplified by using a centrally managed and customizable library of more than 50 popular reusable scripts to address common problems.

"Security teams struggle to manage and respond to a range of challenges that often require custom approaches," said Nagi Prabhu, chief product officer, Qualys. "By opening the Qualys Platform, we put security teams in the driver's seat. Qualys Custom Assessment and Remediation enables the creation of custom scripts and controls that are seamlessly integrated into existing security processes and workflows while extending the capabilities of the Cloud Agent so organizations can respond to threats such as Zero-Days immediately."

**Availability**

Qualys Custom Assessment and Remediation is immediately available. To request a free trial, visit www.qualys.com/car-trial. Learn more by joining our June 1 webinar.

**Additional Resources**

*   Learn about Qualys Custom Assessment and Remediation
*   Details on the Qualys Cloud Platform
*   Follow Qualys on LinkedIn and Twitter

**About Qualys**

Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ: QLYS) is a pioneer and leading provider of disruptive cloud-based security, compliance and IT solutions with more than 10,000 subscription customers worldwide, including a majority of the Forbes Global 100 and Fortune 100. Qualys helps organizations streamline and automate their security and compliance solutions onto a single platform for greater agility, better business outcomes, and substantial cost savings.

The Qualys Cloud Platform leverages a single agent to continuously deliver critical security intelligence while enabling enterprises to automate the full spectrum of vulnerability detection, compliance, and protection for IT systems, workloads and web applications across on premises, endpoints, servers, public and private clouds, containers, and mobile devices. Founded in 1999 as one of the first SaaS security companies, Qualys has strategic partnerships and seamlessly integrates its vulnerability management capabilities into security offerings from cloud service providers, including Amazon Web Services, the Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure, along with a number of leading managed service providers and global consulting organizations. For more information, please visit http://www.qualys.com.

Qualys Adds Custom Assessment and Remediation to Its Cloud Platform

Protect enterprises from the harm of unwanted voice-based phishing perpetrated by bad actors.

IRVINE, Calif., May 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- YouMail today announced the launch of YouMail Protective Services, which provides a set of services that perform AI-based threat detection, analysis, and mitigation for communications service providers (CSP) and enterprises to protect against unwanted and malicious traffic. These services are effectively a B2B watchdog solution that helps telecommunications carriers uncover unlawful calls made on their networks, and helps large enterprises protect their brands against robocall spoofing campaigns.

YouMail Protective Service identifies scam calling traffic by relying upon a team of experts, data from billions of calls and thousands of calling campaigns, and YouMail's patented technologies. All these services rely on data from the YouMail Sensor Network, which is collected via messages and audio trails left by illegal robocalls to YouMail app users, which represent real consumers and small- to medium-sized businesses. In turn, the data is then used by authorities to sanction bad actors, and to support legal actions taken against malicious robocallers, connecting YouMail users directly to the fight.

"We are proud to announce the general availability of YouMail Protective Services to help carriers and enterprises shut down voice and SMS communications that harm their customers and brands," said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail. "These services represent yet another way YouMail's large and engaged user base is contributing to this fight against illegal robocalls."

YouMail Protective Services provide two services that help protect enterprises from the harm of unwanted voice-based phishing, or vishing attacks, perpetrated by bad actors. These turn-key risk management solutions address threats to enterprise identity due to fraudulent robocalls including brand impersonation over the voice channel.

*   **YouMail Brand Defender** is a complete managed detection and response solution that protects enterprises from brand impersonation through voice-based phishing attacks. Such vishing attacks can damage corporate reputations and harm brand values, and affect just about every brand with any consumer visibility. The service detects and eliminates imposter traffic, protecting brand image, company reputation, and customer relationships. YouMail's patented technology provides zero-hour identification of unwanted robocalls, powering solutions for enterprise protection against the impact of bad actor campaigns. Brand Defender customers benefit from a comprehensive solution that incorporates alerts and reporting, mitigation, and enforcement including support for litigation against bad actors.
*   **YouMail Brand Monitor** provides surveillance of brand identity over the voice channel. This includes explicit unauthorized brand name mentions as part of voice phishing scams as well as implied references to brand relationships. Customers are notified upon detection of potential trademark infringement and/or inappropriate brand mentions, including incidences involving unlawful behavior or ill intent associated with voice calls. Brands are also informed regarding the potential impact of the impersonation incidents including call volume of bad actor campaigns.

YouMail Protective Services provides three services that help Communication Services Providers and their vendors eliminate unlawful voice and text campaigns. The services help detect and interdict unwanted traffic that would otherwise originate, traverse, or terminate on their networks.

*   **YouMail Score** provides phone number scoring as a service derived via content-based analytics that shows exactly what sorts of behaviors various numbers are engaging in.
*   **YouMail Watch** analyzes phone number behavior. The service provides visibility into usage behaviors including identification of audio content from unwanted robocalls that may be associated with telephone numbers of interest.
*   **YouMail Clear** combines data analysis and content-based analytics to locate instances of bad behavior in their networks. CSP data analysis requires the CSP to provide YouMail with network traffic data. The service represents a fully integrated network solution that analyzes every communication instance handled by the CSP with comparative analysis to data independently captured by the YouMail Sensor Network.

These B2B services enable CSPs to comply with FCC requirements under the TRACED Act to mitigate unwanted robocalls. The mandate requires solutions for real-time mitigation such as blocking, labeling, and redirection, as well as visibility into telephone number scoring and labeling. YouMail provides reports that help customers understand the scope, impact, and source of problematic or fraudulent calling campaigns. The B2B service also provides evidential proof of wrongdoing to support court actions for prosecution of responsible parties.

YouMail's new B2B services build on partnerships with communication service providers and US authorities to shut down campaigns and block bad actors from gaining network access.

YouMail serves in a key technical role for US Telecom's Industry Traceback Group, or ITG. YouMail has provided examples of the most pervasive illegal robocall calls to its users, which can then be traced back to the source carriers and customers, often in hours, helping to quickly identify the sources of illegal calls.

YouMail's contributions also stem in part from its robocall blocking app and the YouMail Robocall Index, which is widely recognized as the country's premier source of public information and education about illegal robocalls.

Learn more at: https://www.youmailps.com/

**About YouMail, Inc.**

YouMail protects consumers, enterprises, and carriers from harmful phone calls. YouMail protects consumers with app-based call protection services in the US and the UK, with the YouMail, Another Number, and Hullo Mail apps. YouMail protects consumer-facing enterprises by detecting and helping to shut down imposter traffic that can lead to financial or brand damage. We protect carriers with robocall mitigation services that detect when bad traffic is originating, traversing, or terminating on their networks. Our direct consumer solutions answer over a billion live calls per year across well over 10 million registered users, powering America's most robust telephone sensor network in identifying and providing zero-hour protection against illegal calling campaigns and cyberattacks. We also operate the YouMail Robocall Index™, the nation's definitive source on telephone network activity and attacks. YouMail, Inc. is privately funded and based in Irvine, California.

YouMail Launches YouMail Protective Services for Carriers and Enterprises

Enables organizations to provide simple, secure access to the private and public cloud or Web-based corporate apps that workers using unmanaged devices need for their work.

NEW YORK (PRWEB) MAY 17, 2022

Ericom Software, a leading provider of Zero Trust cloud cybersecurity solutions and developer of the ZTEdge™ SASE Platform, today announced the introduction of ZTEdge Web Application Isolation, an innovative cloud-delivered security solution that addresses a critical access security issue facing nearly all organizations that embrace the flexibility enabled by 3rd party workers. Specifically, these businesses must provide contractors, who typically use unmanaged devices (e.g. personal laptops or PCs provided by their employers), with access to corporate applications, while ensuring these systems will not be compromised by malware and that sensitive data cannot be mishandled or stolen.

The 3rd-Party Access Challenge

Flexible work environments and outsourcing have transformed the modern corporate workforce. Leveraging 3rd party specialists brings efficiencies and expertise to organizations but also introduces risk to their data, applications, and networks. The personal BYOD devices or laptops provided by the firms that 3rd party consultants work for are typically not managed by the contracting organization, and as a result, pose very real risks since they typically lack the up-to-date security controls present in organization-managed devices issued to employees. If unmanaged devices are compromised, they could upload malware to an application, potentially leading to downtime, breaches, or ransomware attacks. Additionally, sensitive data that is downloaded or copy-pasted onto unmanaged devices for legitimate use, or cached in a device’s web browser, is at risk of intentional or inadvertent exposure. Unfortunately, once users have logged in, dangerously little data security control or malware prevention is provided by the reverse proxy-based solutions within CASBs or WAFs that are currently used to control unmanaged device access.

Web Application Isolation

ZTEdge Web Application Isolation enables organizations to provide simple, secure access to the private and public cloud or web-based corporate applications that workers using unmanaged devices need for their work, regardless of whether they are 3rd party contractors or employees. Leveraging remote browser isolation (RBI) and easy-to-set granular, user-level policies, ZTEdge Web Application Isolation works with other systems to control which applications each user can access and, once in, which actions they can complete.

For instance, an employee may be allowed to edit a file within Office 365, but not to download it onto their unmanaged device, while a contractor may be limited solely to viewing the data. Policies can also be used to control what content – if any – can be uploaded to organization networks or web or cloud apps, and by whom. Content disarm and reconstruction (CDR) can be applied to ensure that all content and files from unmanaged devices are free of malware and threats prior to upload. Additionally, data loss prevention (DLP) can be used to safeguard against exposure of confidential material and PII in downloads.

To protect against credential misuse or theft, SaaS and web application access may be restricted to logins originating from the organization’s Web Application Isolation tenant dedicated IP address. Additionally, built-in IAM capabilities enable quick onboarding of employees and contractors – and makes it equally simple to cancel access privileges when contracts end or employees leave.

The Power of Remote Browser Isolation

ZTEdge Web Application Isolation is the latest innovative solution to use Ericom’s core Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) technology. In addition to Web Application Isolation, Ericom RBI-based solutions include:  

*   Web/Email Browser Isolation – RBI protects endpoints from advanced malware, ransomware, and other threats targeting devices from the web and email, intelligently categorizing websites/URLs and isolating risky ones in the cloud, remote from devices. For additional protection against phishing attacks, websites are presented in “read-only” mode to prevent credential theft.
*   Instant Messenger (IM) Isolation – RBI protects users of popular IM platforms like WhatsApp by scanning end-to-end encrypted traffic – a blind spot for traditional Secure Web Gateway (SWG) products – to prevent malware delivery and data exfiltration.
*   Virtual Meeting Isolation – This patent-pending Ericom solution brings the power of web isolation to secure web-based virtual meetings like Zoom and Teams. Users experience a completely standard virtual meeting experience, yet endpoints and networks are protected from malware hidden in links and other shared media and IT can enforce sharing controls to protect data.

“Web Application Isolation is the latest example of Ericom tackling big security challenges and successfully delivering solutions that are simpler and more effective than current approaches,” said David Canellos, CEO of Ericom Software. “Our Web Browser Isolation, Instant Messenger Isolation, and Virtual Meeting Isolation solutions address use cases that Secure Web Gateway and Secure Email Gateways could not handle, and Web Application Isolation is now doing the same for existing WAF, CASB, and ZTNA solutions. I’m excited to see the dramatic positive impact our innovative solutions are having on the security posture of our customers.”

Ericom’s isolation solutions can be licensed individually or as part of its ZTEdge SASE platform. Learn more at http://www.zerotrustedge.com.

About Ericom Software  
Ericom Software is a leading provider of cloud-delivered, Zero Trust cybersecurity solutions that protect today’s digitally distributed organizations from advanced security threats. The company’s ZTEdge™ platform is the industry’s first Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution developed specifically for midsize enterprises and small businesses. Ericom solutions leverage innovative remote browser isolation, application isolation, micro-segmentation, and virtualization technologies, and are delivered on the Ericom Global Cloud, a distributed high-availability elastic cloud platform. Ericom’s cybersecurity solutions protect thousands of businesses and millions of end users worldwide. The company has offices around the world and a global network of distributors and partners.

Ericom’s New ZTEdge Web Application Isolation Addresses Security Concerns Associated With Third-Party Contractor Application Access

New offering provides credit and financial monitoring along with identity protection and restoration.

BUCHAREST, Romania and SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bitdefender, a global cybersecurity leader, today unveiled Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection, a new U.S. consumer service delivering identity threat detection and alerts, 24/7 credit and financial account monitoring, and dedicated recovery services in the event of successful identity takeover. The service helps prevent criminals from stealing or using personal information to drain financial accounts, open new lines of credit, commit medical or tax fraud among other identity-based offenses.

Identity theft remains a significant risk for consumers. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported consumers losing nearly $6 billion due to fraud in 2021, an increase of more than 70% over the previous year. Additionally, a recent Bitdefender survey of more than 10,000 consumers found many to practice what is considered high-risk behavior when it comes to data protection and digital identities, including 50% stating use of a single password for all online accounts and regular sharing of personal identification details including name (43%), email address and birthdate (40%) and home address (29%).

"As consumers conduct more personal business and finances online, they need complete cybersecurity protection that not only blocks threats like malware and phishing attempts, but also protects digital privacy and actively secures personal data against theft and misuse," said Ciprian Istrate, vice president, Bitdefender Consumer Solutions Group. "Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection service enables consumers to enjoy online shopping, banking, social media and other activities with peace of mind knowing their financial identity, privacy and personal data is safeguarded around the clock and credit quickly repaired if ever needed."

Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection, developed in collaboration with IdentityForce (a TransUnion brand), is available as a standalone subscription service or through Bitdefender Ultimate Security, a comprehensive cybersecurity suite that incorporates Bitdefender Total Security antivirus, Bitdefender Premium VPN and Bitdefender Password Manager to protect computers and mobile devices across multiple operating systems including Windows, macOS, Android and iOS.

**Key Features of Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection Include:**

*   **Continuous Identity and Credit Monitoring** \-- Bitdefender combines advanced threat detection capabilities and dark web threat intelligence with 24/7 identity, privacy and credit monitoring to protect users against the theft, sale or illegal trade of their personal, financial and credit information. Monitoring is correlated with data dumps and known breaches to notify users with specifics on what information was compromised such as passwords, addresses or credit card numbers**.**
*   **Real-Time Fraud Alerts** -- Bitdefender Identity Theft instantly alerts users when personal and financial data is compromised or identity details are used to apply for new lines of credit, mortgages, car loans, wireless devices, check reorders and more. Fraud attempts are stopped in the moment, not after the financial damage has occurred.
*   **Complete Identity Theft Restoration Services** \-- Bitdefender Identity Theft delivers 24/7 support services, personalized mitigation strategies and identity theft restoration if an incident occurs. Certified U.S. protection experts do the heavy lifting of freezing compromised accounts, contacting third parties and completing necessary paperwork to restore identity removing the burden from consumers.
*   **Identity Theft Insurance** \-- Bitdefender Identify Theft guarantees insurance covering certain out-of-pocket expenses, lost wages and funds stolen from financial accounts, up to $2 million (USD) if a user falls victim to successful identity theft.
*   **Credit Score Simulator** \-- A unique credit score simulator helps users foresee how certain financial decisions may impact their credit score. Users can experiment with different credit balances, credit card payments, balance transfers and more, to understand how and why their score changes to make the best financial decision for their situation.

**Availability**

Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection is available now as an annual subscription or through the Bitdefender Ultimate Security suite. For more information or to purchase, visit https://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/identity-theft-protection.html.

**About Bitdefender**

Bitdefender provides cybersecurity solutions with leading security efficacy, performance and ease of use to small and medium businesses, mid-market enterprises and consumers. Guided by a vision to be the world's most trusted cybersecurity solutions provider, Bitdefender is committed to defending organizations and individuals around the globe against cyberattacks to transform and improve their digital experience. For more information, visit https://www.bitdefender.com.

Bitdefender Launches Identity Theft Protection Service for U.S. Consumers

Since 2014's annexation of Crimea, Ukrainian mobile operators have taken multiple, proactive steps to defend networks in the country and ensure their resilience.

Prior to the February invasion of Ukraine, commentators and observers had expressed concern that the Russian offensive would involve coordinated IT attacks on key infrastructure throughout the country, including its communication networks. The combined effects of these attacks was predicted to have been globally widespread and, crucially, publicly felt. But while there have been reports on the use of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, mobile networks remain largely active — as shown by the considerable number of videos, calls, and livestreams that continue to originate from across Ukraine.

The ongoing work of Ukrainian mobile network operators (MNOs) and equipment personnel keeping cell towers and supporting critical infrastructure connected and powered continues to be critical. Mobile networks have stayed functional for far longer than expected, sometimes in areas suffering destructive and ongoing strikes targeting underground fiber and cell towers, as well as power outages.

**Proactive Steps**  
Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the Ukrainian MNO community has taken proactive steps to both defend networks in the country and ensure their resilience. This has been vital in a country that is geographically vast, with an extensive rural population, and yet Ukraine has around 130% mobile penetration.

When the invasion began, the Ukrainian Telecom regulator (NKRZI) decided to allocate additional 3G and 4G frequency bands for the three main operators, nominally to provide more capacity where it was expected people would flee (Western border areas), but the frequency increase was implemented countrywide.

In addition, Ukrainian MNOs and Ukrtelecom made the coordinated decision not to suspend any account if the subscriber ran out of credit, meaning everyone could stay in contact even if they were in a position or situation where they could not obtain any additional credit.

Finally, all three main Ukrainian MNOs suspended all inbound roamers from Russia and Belarus. This was an unprecedented move — no country has ever blocked all users from neighboring countries with which it had existing roaming agreements. Immediately, mobile subscribers from Russian and Belarusian networks could not roam onto Ukrainian networks.

Mobile telecom security affected the battlefield as well in mid-March. Ukraine’s security services announced the capture of a SIM box that was being used as a voice-call relay from Russian forces' leadership in Ukraine, as well as to send text messages locally. This is an example of the use of Ukraine's mobile networks by invading forces, and the ongoing battle to detect and secure them.

Specifically, the SIM box made anonymous phone calls from Russia to the invaders’ mobile phones in Ukraine. The box also sent SMS messages to Ukrainian security officers and civil servants with proposals to surrender and defect, and was also used to pass commands and instructions to Russian forces.

Up to 1,000 calls a day were routed through this system, many from the Russian army's senior leadership. Its setup of a commercial, off-the-shelf Hypertone SIMBank and several multiple GSM gateways and control software was used to relay calls made from phones within Ukraine to IP, in order to send back to Russian addresses. This system looks to have been designed to avoid call interception by trying to blend in, i.e., by dialing in-country only, and then using IP to bypass the blocks on outbound calling to Russia.  
**  
Mobile Security Decisions  
**Specific mobile network security decisions and actions have also been made by the Ukrainian MNO community, regulator, and security services. While many have not been made public, they include:

1.  A recommendation to block 642 ASs (autonomous systems) of the "RuNet," the Russian Internet, which together cover 48 million IP addresses, preventing cyberattacks of information disseminated from these sources over both fixed line and mobile networks.
2.  Blocking the receipt of all inbound SMSes from Russia and Belarus, preventing spam or fake information from mobile networks in these countries.a
3.  Ongoing psyops that use texts to target Russian soldiers in possession of Ukrainian SIMs. Those that have been identified are messaged, encouraging them to defect and/or surrender.
4.  Ongoing search for other malicious telecom equipment. One was the detection and seizure of a "network of bot farms located in the largest cities of Ukraine, including: Kyiv, Dnipro, Odesa, Vinnytsia." These SIM boxes sent SMS messages aimed at fostering enmity within the Hungarian minority in Ukraine. Another detection by the SBU was five bot farms, where SIM boxes compromising over 100 SIM gateways used social networks to spread misinformation.

There are multiple moves that MNOs, and the state can take when preparing themselves for any conflict that may involve the targeting of telecom networks. It is vital that plans and techniques be coordinated and in place prior to any situation in which they might be enacted. In Ukraine the operators and regulators have been instrumental in coordinating and preparing their mobile networks to the position where they are today — a much stronger position than many had expected before the conflict.

How Mobile Networks Have Become a Front in the Battle for Ukraine

RFT is expanding the Safe Place hospital market security system to include staff protection.

BROOKFIELD, Wis., May 16, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- RF Technologies (RFT) is pleased to announce the release of SAFE PLACE Staff Protection Solutions (https://www.rft.com/staff-protection/). RFT SAFE PLACE Staff Protection ensures staff security, and peace of mind, by making help available at the touch of a button.

RFT is expanding the SAFE PLACE hospital market security system to include staff protection. SAFE PLACE, used since 1993, now offers a solution creating a secure and productive work environment for staff protection from potential physical threats. The industry leading SAFE PLACE product line has protected patients for over 30 years in infant security, wander management, flight risk, and now staff protection.

Users can remain confident that the new SAFE PLACE Staff Protection Solution is proven and reliable, as it uses the same SAFE PLACE Enterprise software platform as other SAFE PLACE products. SAFE PLACE Staff Protection ensures staff security, and peace of mind, by making help available at the touch of a button. Staff Protection operates on a dedicated, dependable network consisted of a blend of hard wired and localized wireless infrastructure. The SAFE PLACE Staff Protection alert button is easily accessible with multiple wearable options to choose from including, keyring, lanyard, pendant clip, and watch.

SAFE PLACE Staff Protection uses cutting-edge Bluetooth 5.0 technology. The safety system is easily scalable to any healthcare setting and uses PoE or local USB power for the signal receiving gateways. Once activated, mobile panic alarms enable security to locate staff with detailed, real-time location tracking via security monitors. Proprietary software captures alert history and data to plan and predict alarms, track response times, analyze trends and produce quality reports.

Protect your healthcare staff from the threat of patient violence by using RF Technologies SAFE PLACE Staff Protection Solutions in your hospital. Staff will be reassured by the simple user interface that is designed by nurses, for nurses with integrated communication.

Once an alarm is activated, real-time location technology is enabled, with an alert notification, to track the staff under duress, even if they are on the move. The software allows security staff to know exactly where, on a map, they can find an employee and intervene before a situation escalates to violence.

During times of staff duress, give employees peace of mind, that with the push of a button, help is on the way.

For questions or inquiries, please contact the RFT marketing department at \[email protected\].

About RF Technologies: RFT is a turn-key manufacturer and provider of life safety solutions for the senior living, healthcare, education, and hospitality markets. With 10,000+ installations since their founding in 1987, RFT is a collaborative partner in designing custom-configured solutions that meet each  
customer's needs and reduces their liabilities. The RFT family of solutions includes CODE ALERT call and wander management, SAFE PLACE patient security,  
HELP ALERT® staff duress, SENSATEC® fall management products and EXACTRACK®  
equipment location.

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Even with dedicated identity management tools at their disposal, many companies — smaller ones especially — are sticking with email and spreadsheets for handling permissions.

How do companies control application permissions and entitlements? According to a survey by Internet security and governance company Clear Skye, midsize and large companies turn to their IT service management (ITSM)/workforce management platform, while small companies are more inclined to use email.

The "2022 Identity Management Survey" polled a total of 514 respondents from a range of industries and organization sizes. Large companies are the most likely to place ITSM/workforce at the top of the list for controlling permissions, at 55%, while 51% of respondents from midsize companies did. The support dropped sharply for small companies, where only 38% reported using such software.

Small companies made up the difference by relying more heavily on email (57%) than either large (43%) or midsize (47%) organizations. Small and midsize companies were almost equally likely to use Excel or other spreadsheets to control permissions (35% and 34%, respectively), while large companies were less likely to use spreadsheets (27%).

Prepackaged identity and access management (IAM)/identity governance and administration (IGA) saw less than one-third penetration among large and midsize businesses (28% each), while small businesses were even less invested (25%).

And "invested" might be on the nose. Small businesses reported that cost was their top concern for permission management, while IT workers listed user experience, cost, and time to fulfillment as their top three challenges. After all, a company has to have an email system, and most also use spreadsheets already, so why introduce an expensive new system when you can rig an existing system to do mostly the same function?

Interestingly, respondents who had IT-specific job functions cited email and ITSM/workforce management as their top options for managing permissions and entitlements — 54% for each. Excel and other spreadsheets came in at a distant third place, with 34% of IT workers mentioning them. IAM/IGA tools beat out only "I don't know" (10%) and "other" (1%) in IT's estimation, with less than a third (29%) of IT workers citing that category. Non-IT workers at least have a good understanding of what their organizations use to control access, since their answers closely approached their IT colleagues.' Only "I don't know" was higher (10%), which makes sense.

Download the full report from Clear Skye.

50% of Orgs Rely on Email to Manage Security

Wireless chips that run when the iPhone iOS is shut down can be exploited.

Bluetooth, near-field communication (NFC) and ultra-wideband (UWB) operate when iPhone's iOS system is shut off, meaning even powered-down devices are vulnerable to attack.

New research from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany examined the chips that enable the "Find My" functions and allow users to access banking and identification information even when the device is in low-power mode. This access also has the unintended consequence of leaving the device open to attack, even though the user might think the iPhone is offline and secure. according to the team's paper, entitled "Evil Never Sleeps."

"On recent iPhones, Bluetooth, near field communication (NFC), and U=ultra-wideband (UWB) keep running after power off, and all three wireless chips have direct access to the secure element," the paper states. "As a practical example what this means to security, we demonstrate the possibility to load malware onto a Bluetooth chip that is executed while the iPhone is off." 

That said, exploitation is far from simple, requiring several steps and the use of known bugs like BrakTooth, the researchers explain.

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iPhones Open to Attack Even When Off, Researchers Say

Maintainers of open source software (OSS) will gain additional security tools for their own projects, while the developers who use OSS — and about 97% of software does — will gain more data on security.

The maintainers of thousands of critical open source projects and the developers who build on the foundation of that code will both benefit from 10 security initiatives launched late last week by the Linux Foundation, the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), and 37 technology companies, the groups said — including tech bigwigs Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.

During a second summit of software industry professionals and government officials, the organizations committed to supporting a 10-step plan to shore up open source maintainers, provide tools to improve software security, and secure the software supply chain. 

The Open Source Software Security Mobilization Plan groups the 10 steps into three broad initiatives: securing open source software production, improving the discovery and remediation of vulnerabilities, and speeding the ecosystem's time to patch.

To show their commitment, a group of companies has pledged $30 million of the estimated $150 million needed to fund all 10 initiatives for the first two years, Brian Behlendorf, general manager of the OpenSSF, said during a press conference on Thursday. This initial $30 million comes from Amazon, Ericsson, Google, Intel, Microsoft, and VMWare.

"We realize that \[$150 million\] is a meaningful amount," he said. "It is an amount more than any one open source developer has, or even most open source projects. But when compared to the cost of remediating a major vulnerability out there, like we have seen in the last few years, it is a drop in the bucket — a very small ounce of prevention to spend for many, many pounds of cure."

The 10-step plan calls for educating and certifying developers in secure programming, creating and maintaining security metrics for the top 10,000 OSS components, promote digital signing of software releases, and replacing non-memory-safe languages, such as C and C++, with more modern alternatives, such as Go and Rust. The plan also calls for improving the discovery of vulnerabilities and their remediation by funding a team of experts to assist open source projects during incidents, provide advanced security tools, fund third-party reviews, and coordinate sharing of data to determine the most critical components.

The intent is to improve security without increasing workload, the open source foundations stated in the report.

"\[A\]ll forms of investment and intervention should be focused on delivering new value to OSS maintainers — from making it easier to adopt practices that enhance the security and integrity of their work, to funding activities like third party code reviews that most projects struggle to afford to perform on their own," the report stated. "Any investments or policies that place additional burdens on developers, increase their personal or professional liability for working on code, or issue unfunded mandates upon them, would struggle for adoption and potentially inhibit further advancements in open source software."  

**Developers & Maintainers to See More Tools  
**The main focus of the $150 million effort will be to produce tools, training. and services for developers and maintainers to create more secure software. Already, some tools have been released as part of the efforts of the OpenSSF and other supporters, such as Google. 

Google, for example, released a tool known as AllStars that automatically vets GitHub projects to flag any anomalies, which could indicate a security issue in the maintenance of the project. The company has also released a system, Scorecard, for rating projects in 18 different areas to give them a security rating. Google and the Linux Foundation, meanwhile, released a tool, sigstore, to help verify the integrity of software supply chains.

Such efforts are extremely important to reduce the impact of security efforts on developers' work, Stephen Chin, vice president of developer relations at software supply chain security firm JFrog, said in a statement.

"We believe open-source security will only be successful if we give OSS projects the same tools and services available to enterprises," he said. "Access to automated tools and high-quality security databases for open-source projects is essential and something that JFrog is committed to helping make happen."

Even more important than the tools are that the efforts create standards that allow interoperability between tool sets, Dan Lorenc — CEO and co-founder at Chainguard and a co-creator of sigstore — said in a statement.

"Interoperability is the linchpin in securing software throughout the supply chain," he said, adding: "These open source tools and projects are the core infrastructure for securing our digital world. But we know not every organization is in a position to go deep on learning each project, nor do they have dedicated staff to understand and integrate all of these tools."

**Gaining Momentum for Open Source Security Support  
**OpenSSF has already made a number of announcements of initiatives that will likely become components of the industry's approach to supporting the creation and maintenance of a more secure software supply chain. Earlier this year, for example, the group announced the Alpha-Omega Project, which aims to secure the most critical software by providing tools and support to maintainers. In March, the OpenSSF and the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard announced four lists of 500 open source projects deemed most critical in two major ecosystems, the JavaScript-based Node Package Manager (NPM) and non-NPM frameworks.

In October, the OpenSSF announced that 16 premier members — including Amazon, Cisco, Facebook, Fidelity, Google, Microsoft, and Red Hat — along with 15 general members had  committed $10 million to expand and support the organization.

The broad base of support shows that open source security is a problem that affects every business using software, Brian Fox, CTO at Sonatype, said in a statement.

"It’s rare to see vendors, competitors, government, and diverse open source ecosystems all come together like they have today," he said. "It shows how massive a problem we have to solve in securing open source, and highlights that no one entity can solve it alone."

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