NTT Launches Scalable, Cloud-Native Managed Detection and Response Security Service
Green Radar and Macro Systems team up to protect enterprise email and offer comprehensive solutions to mitigate localized network attacks
Be there for your little one at every moment with Arlo
VuWall Enables Transformation of Sports Stadium Into a Police Command Center for International G7 Summit
Research Highlights Cyber Security’s Underestimated Role as a Business and Revenue-enabler
Geopolitical Tensions Enabled Increased Hacktivist Cyber Threats in 2022
The Government’s Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) Mandate Is Part of a Bigger Cybersecurity Picture
IKERLAN Joins ISASecure as a Certification Body for Automation and Control Systems Security
NAGRA Wins CSI Award for Holistic Cyber Protection
Freemium VPN provider Atlas VPN introduces Linux support
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GTPL Provides its Subscribers with the Highest Level of Security and Enhanced User Experience
NAGRA, a Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S) company and the world's leading independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, today announced that it’s proven OTT security solutions have been selected by GTPL Hathway Limited, the largest multiple-system operator in India with more than 11 million connected homes, to ensure content protection for its OTT app. With a presence in 19 states across India and delivering content to more than 1200 towns, GTPL’s launch of its new OTT app will provide an optimized user experience in delivering content to current and new subscribers. As part of the offering, GTPL needed to securely and quickly offer this content on different devices and platforms, such as iOS, Android and web browsers. As a core component of its business strategy, GTPL selected solutions from the NAGRA Active Streaming Protection framework that included the NAGRA Security Services Platform (SSP), multi-DRM and secure player solutions, to deliver a comprehensive line-up of protection for the new platform. “As a long-time partner of NAGRA, GTPL now has the peace of mind that we are ensuring the highest level of security for the high-value content we bring to our subscribers,” said GTPL’s MD Anirudhsinh Jadeja. “As part of our growth strategy, we are dedicated to the necessary steps to keep content secure and counter the growing and varied number of piracy threats in the market.” NAGRA SSP is an advanced, highly scalable, flexible, unified security platform that takes CAS and DRM technologies to the next level to enable successful content monetization through secure premium content delivery over any network, to any device, with any business model. It is built using the latest cloud-native technologies, supporting multiple deployment options from traditional on-premise to private cloud or public cloud deployments. “We are dedicated to continuing to be a trusted, long-term partner for operators to provide the right security solution to take on the evolving piracy landscape and are honored to partner with operators like GTPL to rapidly evolve and secure their services in order to remain competitive,” said Stéphane Le Dréau, Senior Vice President and Regional General Manager APAC at NAGRA. “With its flexibility and comprehensive approach, the NAGRA SSP, a key part of the Active Streaming Protection framework manages all of GTPL’s content security requirements - turning security into a business enabler, not a business inhibitor. To chat with an expert and identify the best security services for your business, contact us here or meet with us at IBC 2022, September 9-12, Hall 1 Stand C81.
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CineSend Adopts NAGRA’s Highest Level of Security to Protect Movies Delivered through its Streaming Platforms
NAGRA, a Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S) company and the world's leading independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, today announced that its NexGuard forensic watermarking and detection services have been selected by CineSend, an industry leader in streaming video solutions for high-security media applications. CineSend OTT is a white-label streaming platform widely used by the Media & Entertainment space to host online screening events, virtual festivals, and premium direct-to-consumer offerings. The customer-branded streaming platform is trusted by hundreds of customers across the globe, including Lionsgate, A24, Cineplex, Tribeca and HBO, to keep their high-value content secure. The integration of NAGRA NexGuard watermarking solution enables user-specific forensic watermarks wherever video is consumed – across web, mobile, and native TV apps for AppleTV, Roku, FireTV, AndroidTV, and Tizen. It also serves as a strong deterrent against copying or restreaming valuable content. “To ensure the protection of our customer’s content, we required a partner who not only understood our business but also had a strong track record as a trusted market leader in this space,” said Colin Carter, founder and CEO at CineSend. “NAGRA met that need, immediately understanding the challenges we faced and knowing what was required to solve those challenges.” NAGRA NexGuard forensic watermarking is the most robust and imperceptible forensic watermarking available. Trusted by all of the major Hollywood studios, and deployed widely across major streaming platforms, the server-side forensic watermarking technology enables CineSend to increase the security of its streaming offerings through unique watermarks for each stream of content without requiring any changes on the playout for any device. This approach helps keep piracy at bay across the platform and safeguards content against unauthorized use by enabling the ability to track down stolen content. “As the industry leader by market share, NAGRA is continuing its work as the trusted and preferred partner for forensic watermarking and anti-piracy services,” said Ken Gerstein, Vice President Sales at NAGRA. “Protecting our customer’s valuable content is a responsibility we invest in and take extremely seriously, and we’re delighted to support CineSend as they distribute content for major studios and film festivals worldwide, to audiences of millions.” To chat with an expert and identify the best watermarking or anti-piracy strategy for your business, contact us here or meet with us at IBC 2022, September 9-12, Hall 1 Stand C81. For more information on NAGRA’s forensic watermarking and anti-piracy services visit https://dtv.nagra.com/nexguard-forensic-watermarking and https://dtv.nagra.com/anti-piracy-services
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Key Hires Add to Momentum as Black Box Quality Division Unifies Global Operations, Expands T&D Programs
Black Box, a leading IT solutions provider that delivers cutting-edge technology solutions and consulting services to businesses worldwide, recently announced two key appointments through which the company will unify, standardize, and enhance its quality division and operations worldwide. Matt Barnes has been named quality director for Global Deployment Services, responsible for leading the quality program for the Black Box global ICT business. David Richards, newly appointed quality and training manager for Global Deployment Services, will oversee BICSI and Black Box Training and Development (T&D) programs, reporting directly to Barnes. "To enhance, unify and implement a world-class quality program is a substantial undertaking, given the breadth of the company's services and its global footprint," said Barnes. "It's a transformational opportunity that is yielding positive results within our North American business. I am thrilled to be part of such a dynamic and diverse team at Black Box, helping to drive our quality objectives across the global business." Together, he and Richards, along with industry veterans and certified BICSI trainers, quality assurance manager, Phil Klingensmith and quality manager, Chad Scholtisek, are working to enhance skills training and career pathing for operations staff through T&D programs that are focused on increasing client satisfaction through improved implementation quality, boosting installation and delivery efficiencies, and enhancing Black Box alignments with vendors and clients. Richards, who is BICSI president-elect 2022-2023, is helping to oversee the build-out of the Black Box BICSI Authorized Training Facilities (ATF) that provide technicians with BICSI and other standards-based skills, as well as product-specific knowledge. Richards has been a BICSI Certified Trainer for 22 years and holds credentials including RCDD, NTS, OSP TECH, and CT. "My passion has always been around training and developing individuals and showing them a path forward, and the opportunity to put that into play was one of the things that drew me to Black Box," said Richards. "In this field, there's a lot of knowledge that you simply can't transfer through on-the-job training; you need more formal, instructor-led training. It says a lot about Black Box that hands-on training and education are part of the company's commitment to excellence. Ultimately, it's a commitment that benefits technicians, the business, customers, and Black Box partners as well." With construction complete and proprietary installer training courses underway at their Western region training facility in Chandler, Arizona, two additional U.S. training facility locations serving the Central region in Plano, Texas, and the Eastern region in Charlotte, North Carolina, will be opening spring and fall of 2023 respectively. All three U.S. training facilities are planning to offer all four BICSI Installer based training courses. Further information about Black Box and its full product portfolio is available at www.blackbox.com
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Cloud servers are now the most common method of entry for cyberattacks at 41%
Several years ago, the Covid-19 pandemic shook the world, forcing companies worldwide to adopt remote work. Many companies even made this move a permanent feature of their business models. However, changes in IT infrastructure brought about by remote work, such as a move to cloud solutions, also shifted the focus of cyberattacks. According to the data presented by the Atlas VPN team, based on the Cyber Readiness Report 2022 by Hiscox, cloud servers are now the number one way in for cyberattacks, with 41% of companies reporting it as the first point of entry — a 10% increase from the year before. The top cyberattack vector in 2021, corporate-owned servers, now occupies the third spot on the list. According to the 2022 survey results, 37% of businesses reported them as the main cyberattack entry method. Meanwhile, the second spot belongs to the business emails. They were named as the main access point for attackers by 40% of businesses. - Nearly half of companies experienced cyberattacks in the last year While the pandemic led to a shift in IT infrastructure in organizations, such as the wider adoption of cloud solutions, the security strategies of businesses fall behind the new technologies. In total, 48% of companies reported having experienced at least one cyberattack in the last 12 months. Even with a 60% higher cybersecurity spending, cyberattacks rose by 5% compared to the year before. Out of the surveyed countries, companies in the Netherlands suffered the most. There, 57% of companies reported having experienced cyberattacks in the last 12 months. Organizations in the Netherlands also saw the most significant rise in cyberattacks which increased by 16%. The Netherlands is followed by France, where 52% of organizations had cyberattacks in the last 12 months. Cyberattacks targeting French businesses rose by 3% compared to 2021. Next are organizations in Spain. Spain is the only country surveyed where cyber attacks decreased compared to the year before. Cyberattacks targeting Spanish businesses dropped by 2%, from 53% in 2011 to 51% in 2022. Meanwhile, 49% of companies in Ireland went through cyberattacks in the past 12 months, followed by the United States with 47%. Cyberattack numbers there grew by 10% and 7%, respectively. To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/cloud-servers-are-now-the-most-common-method-of-entry-for-cyberattacks-at-41
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ISASecure Announces ISA/IEC 62443 IIoT Component Security Assurance (ICSA) Certification Launch
The ISASecure program is announcing the new ISASecure certification offering for industrial internet of things (IIoT) components based on the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards. The IIoT Component Security Assurance (ICSA) certification was inspired by recommendations published in the joint ISA Global Security Alliance (ISAGCA) and ISA Security Compliance Institute (ISCI) study. Details of this landmark study are available in the Learning Center section of the ISASecure website and were presented during our October 2021 webinar. The study and resulting ISASecure IIOT certification scheme address the urgent need for industry vetted IIoT certification programs. Join us on 7 September 2022 at 11am ET for a live webinar where we will be presenting this important new certification offering. This webinar will provide an overview of the new ISASecure IIOT Device and Gateway certification program and its basis in the ISA/IEC 62443 set of industry standards. Register here. https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5775404052661694224
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Cybersecurity unicorns projected to reach an all-time high in 2022, data suggests
Global markets, including the technology sector, encountered significant declines in the first half of 2022 due to various macroeconomic challenges. Yet, the cybersecurity software industry continues to produce unicorns at an unprecedented rate. The upsurge of cyberattacks on a global scale creates new addressable markets and opportunities for cybersecurity companies to tackle. Atlas VPN predicts that if the upward trend’s growth momentum is sustained for the rest of 2022, the total number of new unicorns is well-positioned to reach an all-time high, dwarfing 2021’s 36 unicorns. The data for the research was extracted from the Progress Partners Market Report for 2022 Q2. In H1 2022, the cybersecurity industry produced 19 companies valued at $1 billion or more. Yet, the figures reveal that the digital defense market began to flourish in early 2021. The number of cybersecurity unicorns grew from 6 in 2020 to 36 in 2021, representing a 500% increase YoY. Global shifts towards remote work and online education were the main driving forces behind the market's growth. $1B+ Cybersecurity Exits Besides valuations, $1B+ cybersecurity exits also reached an all-time high of 18 in 2021, representing a 2x growth over 2020. In H1 2022, we have already witnessed eight $1B+ exits, and if the trend continues, the total for the year will be on par with 2021. To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/cybersecurity-unicorns-projected-to-reach-an-all-time-high-in-2022-data-suggests
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United Cloud Leverages NAGRA Forensic Watermarking Solutions to Shutdown Piracy in Real Time at the Source
NAGRA, a Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S) company and the world's leading independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, today announced that United Cloud, the innovation center of the United Group, the leading multi-play telecoms and media provider in South East Europe, has selected NAGRA’s NexGuard Watermarking to expand its security solution, ensuring OTT content protection for all United Group’s assets. As part of the provider’s OTT content protection expansion, NAGRA’s NexGuard watermarking ensures United Group’s protection of all types of content assets, while keeping pirates at bay. The incorporation of NAGRA’s agile, stable, and high-performance offering into United Group’s OTT distribution chain includes server-side watermarking deployed on their private cloud. As a result, United Group is now able to shut down piracy at the source and in real time. “After performing a series of due diligence tests, where we have determined imperceptibility of NAGRA’s watermarks, we were also impressed with the speed of leak detection and ease of client-side integration in our device footprint, along with fast integration of NAGRA’s NexGuard with our in-house Gladiator anti-piracy platform. NAGRA was the obvious choice to fill our OTT security needs now and in the future”, said Sergej Berišaj, CTO of United Cloud. NexGuard forensic video watermarking solutions are used by major pay-TV operators and DTC services to deter and combat piracy, particularly for premium VOD and live sports. NAGRA helps to identify the source of a content leak quickly and efficiently so that effective anti-piracy action can be taken. NexGuard forensic watermarks can be applied at a consumer session and set-top box device level to pinpoint the source of a piracy leak including those used to feed illicit streaming servers, enabling appropriate anti-piracy action. “OTT is the future, and NAGRA is playing a key role in the industry to protect that future,” said Olivier Mett, SVP EMEA region at NAGRA. “With our NexGuard forensic watermarking, we bring a unique combination of stability, performance, and ease of integration that has been proven to protect our customer’s business models by identifying piracy sources and shutting them down quickly. To chat with an expert and identify the best watermarking or anti-piracy strategy for your business, contact us here or meet with us at IBC 2022, September 9-12, Hall 1 Stand C81. For more information on NAGRA’s forensic watermarking and anti-piracy services visit https://dtv.nagra.com/nexguard-forensic-watermarking and https://dtv.nagra.com/anti-piracy-services
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Cobalt Iron Compass Named in DCIG Top 5 Report for Large Enterprise AWS Cloud Backup
Cobalt Iron Inc., a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, today announced that its Compass® enterprise SaaS backup platform for monitoring, managing, provisioning, and securing the entire enterprise backup landscape has earned a place in the DCIG Top 5 Report for Large Enterprise AWS Cloud Backup. "Our aim with the Top 5 report is to give data center administrators clear and well-researched information about the standout solutions in this space. With Compass' analytics, automation, immutability, and ability to integrate with enterprise management tools, Cobalt Iron has really set Compass apart," said Jerome Wendt, president and founder, DCIG LLC. According to the report, "Compass' differentiators show up in two broad ways. First, Compass uses AWS EC2 instances to deliver backup in the AWS cloud. This minimizes or eliminates the need for enterprises to deploy Compass or perform ongoing software and backup storage management. Second, Compass monitors, accelerates, analyzes, and then orchestrates backup and recovery activities in AWS." The report highlighted three characteristics that distinguish Compass from the other Top 5 large enterprise AWS cloud backup solutions on the list: A comprehensive analytics engine that automates back-end backup operations — Compass constantly monitors and evaluates all aspects of the backup environment, including any occurrences of cyberattacks, and automatically acts on the information to optimize the infrastructure for faster backups and better utilization. Backups stored in an immutable, inaccessible format — Through the Compass Cyber Shield feature, Compass encrypts all backups and stores them in an immutable format that no one except authenticated, properly credentialed Compass users may access. Integration with leading enterprise management tools — Enterprises may use tools such as Ansible, Chef, Puppet, ServiceNow, and vRealize to manage Compass. "Thanks to its analysis and research, DCIG is an authority for anyone in the IT industry who is responsible for keeping data safe," said Andy Hurt, chief marketing officer at Cobalt Iron. "With AWS being so widely used in enterprise IT infrastructure today, Cobalt Iron continually enhances the Compass platform to make sure data to, from, and within the AWS cloud is airtight." More information about Cobalt Iron and Compass can be found at www.cobaltiron.com
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Revealed: Top 10 most privacy-invasive educational apps on Android
While it is not secret that app manufacturers collect insights and information about their users, it is a much bigger issue among educational apps since they are highly used by children. As study season is approaching, the Atlas VPN team decided to look at the privacy of 50 popular educational apps and see how much user data they gather. According to the Atlas VPN research, 92% of educational apps on Android collect user data. Language learning app HelloTalk and learning platform Google Classroom developed by the tech giant, top the chart as the most privacy-invasive, collecting user information across 24 segments within 11 data types. A segment is a data point such as name, phone number, payment method, and precise location that are grouped in broader data types such as personal information, financial information, and location. Meanwhile, the online education subscription platform MasterClass collects user information across 17 segments, followed by the interactive learning platform Seesaw, which gathers data from 15 segments. Other apps in the top ten include the learning management app Canvas Student (14), education communication app Remind (14), digital education app for children ABCmouse (14), and knowledge-sharing student community app Brainly (14). The most commonly collected data type includes personal information, such as name, email, phone number, address, user ID, gender, or similar. It is collected by 90% of educational apps. Over a third (36%) of apps also collect location data, followed by audio (30%), messages (22%), files and documents (16%), calendar (6%), contacts (6%), health and fitness (2%), and web browsing (2%). - 70% of educational applications share your data with third parties While many apps were found to collect user data, some apps go a step further and share user data with third parties. In total, 70% of educational applications on Android were found to disclose some of their user data to third parties. Personal information is the most commonly shared type of user data. In total, 46% of apps were found to share this information with third parties. All in all, while some of the collected user information might be necessary for the provision of the services of these educational apps, we found many of the collection practices excessive. Even more problematic is that most apps transfer sensitive data to third parties, ranging from user name to user location, contact details, and photos, that can be later used to create a profile of who you or your children are. To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/revealed-top-10-most-privacy-invasive-educational-apps-on-android
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Black Box, A Global Systems Integrator, Achieves Integration Certifications for Zoom Rooms and Zoom Phone
Black Box, an industry leading global systems integrator and Certified Integrator for Zoom Rooms announced that the company has become a Zoom Phone Certified Integrator, bringing Zoom's video communications platform and its feature-rich cloud phone system to market. With accredited individuals across its engineering, sales and delivery teams, Black Box is equipped to provide value-added services such as design, deployment and management for Zoom Rooms and Zoom Phone globally, helping customers get up and running quickly with these robust communications tools. "Work is being reimagined. After working remotely and growing accustomed to increasingly sophisticated and intuitive online tools for meetings, communications and collaboration, people have much higher expectations for inclusive work experiences," said Jim McKenna, vice president of strategic partnerships at Black Box. "As a flexible, feature-rich, software-based solution, Zoom is the perfect complement to the digital workplace, enterprise networking and connected building solutions Black Box supplies and integrates into modern workspaces. Backed by Black Box's renowned integration and support services, Zoom eases the transition to hybrid and in-person work while improving the overall communications experience for all participants." Zoom Rooms and Workspaces solutions are used around the world in board, conference, huddle and training rooms, as well as executive offices and classrooms, to help users work together comfortably and effectively across spaces and devices, in the office environment. The solution supports virtual check-ins with Zoom Workspace Reservation; room status and scheduling displays content sharing through Zoom Digital Signage; and Zoom Rooms meeting management through personal mobile device or voice-activated controls. Zoom Phone enables users to make secure voice calls across the globe using a variety of supported devices with the same ease and familiarity as participating in Zoom video meetings. "Black Box is a services-led business with a rich heritage of providing advanced connectivity solutions to address critical workplace and workflow requirements," said Gilbert Vendryes, head of partner programs at Zoom. "As a Zoom Certified Integrator for Zoom Rooms and Zoom Phone, Black Box has the knowledge and resources to assist customers globally as they build these robust tools into today's hybrid workspaces." Further information about Black Box and its full product portfolio is available at www.blackbox.com
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Americans lost an unprecedented $3.56 billion to online fraud in H1 2022
A recent analysis by Atlas VPN reveals that US citizens lost a record $3.56 billion to various types of online fraud in the first half of 2022, an increase of almost 53% over the same period last year. Americans submitted more than 793 thousand fraud complaints in the first six months, and over 27% of those reports indicated a financial loss, amounting to the aforementioned total sum. The data for the analysis was extracted from a publicly accessible database managed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). US Citizens can submit fraud reports to the FTC for further investigation. The FTC shares this data to inform the nation about the state of the cybercrime landscape in the US. This year's most commonly reported scam category was imposter scams, with more than 361 thousand complaints, 22% reporting a loss and totaling $1.33 billion in damages. Since 2018, imposter fraud has been the most commonly reported as well as the most damaging type of online fraud. However, in H1 2022, investment-related scams caused even more financial losses to US citizens than imposter fraud. Even though the number of investment scam complaints is relatively low at 52 thousand, an average investment scheme lures out $40,000 per victim, while other types of scams rarely swindle more than a three-digit sum. The potential to earn a typical half-year salary from a single scam sounds appetizing to cybercriminals, which is why they are focusing more of their efforts in this direction. To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/americans-lost-an-unprecedented-3-56-billion-to-online-fraud-in-h1-2022
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Cobalt Iron Ranks High Among Leaders in GigaOm 2022 Radar Report for Enterprise Hybrid Cloud Data Protection
Cobalt Iron Inc., a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, today announced that GigaOm has named Cobalt Iron an industry Leader in its 2022 GigaOm Radar Report for Hybrid Cloud Data Protection: Large Enterprises. The company earned the ranking based on the features and capabilities of the Cobalt Iron Compass® enterprise SaaS backup platform. Every year, GigaOm studies multiple hybrid cloud data protection vendors for large enterprises. Its report — which includes the signature "radar"-style chart — offers the company's forward-looking perspective on various vendors based on their products' technical capabilities and feature sets. Among the 18 companies GigaOm evaluated, Cobalt Iron is one of only five companies in the Leader tier of the radar chart and one of only three that GigaOm calls out as noteworthy. According to the report, "Cobalt Iron impressed with a compelling BaaS offering based on a versatile and efficient architecture, strong cyber resiliency, and analytics. ... It has robust ransomware protection mechanisms, advanced analytics, and comprehensive workload support, including Kubernetes." GigaOm highlights Cobalt Iron's ability to support not only virtualization systems and all major cloud services (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, and Alibaba) but also a wide variety of platforms and applications (including mission-critical databases such as Oracle and SAP HANA) and a comprehensive range of operating systems. The report also details Cobalt Iron's impressive protection in the face of cyberthreats: "Cobalt Iron provides strong cyber resiliency features at both the predictive and remediation levels. Cyberattack detection includes monitoring multiple anomalies and abnormal behaviors, including baselining the normal environmental behavior and observing deviations. These capabilities are regularly improved and made available to customers. The architecture includes isolation and strengthened security measures, and backups are immutable, with the ability to place data in multiple locations." "IT organizations turn to the GigaOm report to help them compare solutions because they know GigaOm does a thorough job of evaluating products fairly based on strict criteria," said Chris Snell, solutions architect, EMEA at Cobalt Iron. "Cobalt Iron works hard to remain a leader and to continue delivering effective solutions in the challenging data protection industry. This report is another validation of Cobalt Iron Compass for enterprises that are looking for the best in hybrid cloud data protection."
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Industry IoT Consortium and ISA Help Companies Secure Industrial Automation & Control Systems
The Industry IoT Consortium® (IIC™) and the International Society of Automation announced the IoT Security Maturity Model (SMM): 62443 Mappings for Asset Owners, and Product Suppliers, and Service Suppliers. “This new guidance adds the service provider role. It extends the previously published IoT Security Maturity Model (SMM): Practitioner’s Guide to provide mappings to existing 62443 standards and specific guidance for the asset owner, product supplier, and service provider roles,” said Ron Zahavi, Chief Strategist for IoT standards at Microsoft and IoT SMM co-author. The IIC IoT SMM helps organizations choose their security target state and determine their current security state. By repeatedly comparing the target and current states, organizations can identify where they can make further improvements. The ISA99 committee developed the 62443 series of standards, which the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) adopted. The standards address current and future vulnerabilities in Industrial Automation and Control Systems (IACS) and apply necessary mitigation systematically and defensibly. The ISA/IEC 62443 standards focus on maturity, but only on the maturity of security programs and processes. “Achieving security maturity targets can be difficult to put into practice without concrete guidance,” said Frederick Hirsch, co-chair of the IIC ISA/IIC Contributing Group. "These 62443 mappings enable practitioners to better achieve security maturity by relating IIC IoT SMM practice comprehensiveness levels to ISA/IEC 62443 requirements. In this way, IACS asset owners and product suppliers can achieve appropriate maturity targets more easily." Eric Cosman, co-chair of the ISA99, said, "While standards such as ISA/IEC 62443 are needed to codify proven and accepted engineering practices, they are seldom sufficient. Joint efforts such as this provide the practical guidance necessary to promote and support their adoption." Pierre Kobes, a member of both ISA99 and IEC Technical Committee 65, said, “It is not about more security but about implementing the appropriate security measures. IoT SMM: 62443 Mappings for Asset Owners and Product Suppliers helps companies select the adequate security levels commensurate with their expected level of risk.” You can download IoT SMM: 62443 Mappings for Asset Owners, Product Suppliers and Service Providers from IIC and ISA websites. You will find a complete list of the contributing authors in the document. Work is underway to add the service provider role to the document in a future revision.
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One in four Russians downloaded VPN apps in H1 2022, a global study reveals
The latest updates for the Global VPN Adoption Index created by Atlas VPN reveal that in H1 2022, VPN downloads reached 215 million. The most significant shift in the market was recorded in Russia, where nearly one-fourth of the population downloaded VPN services. Prior to H1 2022, VPN penetration in the Russian Federation was somewhere between 3% to 9%. However, in March 2022, the Russian court banned Facebook and Instagram, labeling its parent company Meta as “extremist”. These restrictions caused an unprecedented upshift in VPN demand. The VPN usage in Russia reached record heights, totaling 35 million downloads in six months, putting VPN adoption at 23.94%. In other words, nearly 1 in 4 Russian citizens downloaded a VPN application in H1 2022. On a similar note, Ukraine made it to the tenth position of VPN adopters globally, with 4.2 million downloads and a 9.62% penetration rate. The VPN Adoption Index by Atlas VPN overviews country-by-country VPN statistics and explores why VPNs are so prevalent in those nations. VPN adoption refers to the percentage of the country's population that downloaded VPN applications in the given period. The data for the analysis was extracted from Google Play Store and Apple App store using Sensor Tower and App Tweak services. To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/one-in-four-russians-downloaded-vpn-apps-in-h1-2022-a-global-study-reveals
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Top 5 ransomware statistics in the last year
Cybercriminal gangs launch ransomware attacks to encrypt businesses' sensitive data and get paid a significant ransom. Sometimes hackers even use a method called double extortion. They threaten the organization to sell the stolen information online if the ransom is not paid. In this article, Atlas VPN presents the most significant ransomware statistics from the past year. #1 Ransomware hackers drained over 30 terabytes of sensitive data in 2022 Ransomware has become more efficient and devastating in its attacks. Ransomware hackers stole over 30 terabytes (TB) of personal and other sensitive data in 320 incidents in 2022. The total number of ransomware attacks could be even bigger. Many companies lack transparency when reporting ransomware incidents. The largest semiconductor chip company Nvidia suffered one of the most significant ransomware attacks of H1 2022. Hackers from the group Lapsus$ claimed they stole 1TB in exfiltrated company data and demanded a $1 million ransom. #2 Ransomware volume doubles in 2021, surpassing 600 million Usually, if an organization has not backed up its information in the cloud, it is doomed for big trouble. They either have to pay a hefty ransom or lose data forever. Research revealed that global ransomware volume surged by 105% in 2021. The total number of ransomware attacks represents nearly 20 attempts every second in 2021. In addition, The United States suffered significantly more ransomware threats than any other country — 421.5 million. Cybercriminals launched 34.2 million ransomware attacks at Germany and 33.5 million at the United Kingdom. #3 Over 70% of organizations suffered two or more ransomware attacks in the past 12 months Once hackers know the company has vulnerabilities they can exploit, cybercriminals target it multiple times. According to Veeam 2022 Ransomware Trends Report, 73% of organizations suffered two or more ransomware attacks in the past 12 months. The majority — 44% of ransomware infections entered through phishing emails, links, and websites. One of the reasons why ransomware is so successful is because businesses keep paying the ransom. A whopping 76% of organizations affected by ransomware in the past twelve months went through with the ransom payment. However, nearly one in four (24%) companies still could not recover their data afterward. Lastly, we have compiled a detailed overview of 60 Worrying Cybercrime Statistics for people who want to obtain a more comprehensive cybercrime landscape. To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/top-5-ransomware-statistics-in-the-last-year
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Russia and China-sponsored hackers threaten the world with cyberattacks
State-sponsored cyberattacks are carried out to espionage secret government data, disrupt services or identify and exploit national infrastructure vulnerabilities. According to the data collected by the Atlas VPN team, Russia and China sponsored over 50 cyberattacks in 2022, with Ukraine being the most targeted country. Russian-backed hackers carried out 27 cyberattacks in 2022. The attacks mainly targeted Ukraine due to the war started by Russia. Ukrainian government websites, organizations, and broadcasting companies suffered a total of 23 espionage, data destruction, or denial of service attacks. China has sponsored 24 cyberattacks this year so far. State-backed hackers attacked the United States, Indian and Taiwanese governments and organizations. With the growing tensions between China, Taiwan, and the US, such cyberattacks could happen even more often in the year's second half. North Korea-sponsored hackers engaged in 9 cyberattacks. Their main targets were the US and South Korea. Iran sponsored 8 cyberattacks in 2022. Most of their attacks were against countries in the Middle East or the US. Besides Ukraine as the most attacked country, the US was the second most targeted with 10 attacks. Russia and India followed next, as both suffered 7 state-sponsored cyberattacks. Cybersecurity writer at Atlas VPN Vilius Kardelis shares his thoughts on state-sponsored cyberattacks: “As geopolitical tensions rise, so does the possibility of state-sponsored cyberattacks. It is hardly a surprise that mainly China and Russia are responsible for many of the threats that governments and businesses face. Their hackers are well-funded and persistent, which makes them capable of extremely damaging cyberattacks.” - Government espionage Cyberattacks carried out with the support of governments are typically well-resourced and highly sophisticated, allowing them to inflict tremendous harm on their victims. State-sponsored hackers carried out 44 cyberattacks against government entities in 2022. Some hackers use malware, which destroys sensitive government information, causing unrepairable damages. The private sector suffered from 37 state-sponsored cyberattacks. Hackers targeted civil society in 29 state-sponsored cyberattacks. Civil society refers to activists, journalists, and politicians from the opposition party. State-sponsored threat actors carried out 6 cyberattacks on military officials. Espionage on government, private sector, civil society, and military accounted for 66 cyberattacks. To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/russia-and-china-sponsored-hackers-threaten-the-world-with-cyberattacks
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Over 80% of malware attacks target education sector as back-to-school season nears
With the school season approaching, parents hurry to get their children supplies while students enjoy their last days of summer. However, barely anyone realizes that enterprises in the education sector are currently under a barrage of malware attacks. Data presented by Atlas VPN reveals that the education industry has been the primary target for cyberattacks in the last 30 days. Over 80% of malware attacks globally were aimed at companies in the education sector, totaling 5.13 million attacks for the period, which comes out to an average of 171 thousand attacks daily. The data for the analysis was extracted via Microsoft’s Security Intelligence platform. One of the reasons why the education industry became the main target is the shift towards digitalization. The pandemic forced e-institutions to employ technologies that enable students to complete the curricula and exams. In turn, a lot of new companies sprang up as they saw the opportunity in the market. However, video conferencing programs, e-learning software, and other digital tools expanded the cyberattack surface exponentially. It is worth noting that the aforementioned attacks are directed toward enterprises, not institutions. In other words, the data provided shows the number of attacks on businesses in the educational sector, not on schools, colleges, and universities. To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/over-80-of-malware-attacks-target-education-sector-as-back-to-school-season-nears
