Category: Cybersecurity
Guarding Against iOT Vulnerabilities
“IoT” stands for “Internet of Things”. They are coldly super efficient and marvelously sturdy, and can replace human frailty and sheer boredom in many cases, but they are not without Vulnerabilities themselves. These Vulnerabilities can affect the wellbeing of both the IoT System and the Human Beings being served with disastrous effect. This article studies some of the Vulnerabilities of IoT Devices And How To Guard Against Them.
Many Vulnerabilities, Much Guarding
Following is a short study of Vulnerabilities of IoT Devices And How To Guard Against Them, enumerating not only the problems but also some suggested solutions.
First, we list some of the Common Vulnerabilities of IoT Devices, as follows:
- Passwords: Passwords which are casually formed without much planning or thought are liable to be easily cracked in expert hands, and command of the IoT taken over by malicious forces. This is a common Vulnerability.
- Insecure Ecosystem Interfaces: Mobile interfaces, insecure web, back-end API which are in the ecosystem external to the IoT device itself or components connected with it, can be a source of Vulnerability. Lack of authentication or authorization, weak encryption or lack of it, and paucity of input/output filtering can cause this Vulnerability.
- Insecure Network Services: Insecure Networks running in the Device itself can endanger, not just the IoT concerned, but all connected IoT’s and systems. In particular, Network services exposed to the Internet, with their integrity, authenticity and confidentiality compromised, can allow unauthorized remote control of IoT devices or corruption of the total system.
- Use of Insecure or Outdated Components: Insecure customization of OS Platforms, and use of third party software or hardware components are often to blame. Software programs and libraries that are without security cover or are outdated should never be used in IoT Systems, specially without adequate cover.
- Insecure Data Transfer and Storage: IoTWhether at rest, in transit or during processing, sensitive data without proper encryption anywhere within the ecosystem can cause severe Vunerability.
- Insecure Default Settings: When IoT devices or systems are shipped without adequate provision of changing default settings to more secure settings by trained operators can cause security compromises.
- Insufficient Privacy Protection: Personal Information that are stored without sufficient Privacy Protection in the IoT device itself or in the ecosystem may be used without authorization to compromise the device and the system disastrously.
- Lack of Device Management: IoT devices used in production, asset management and so on may lack overall device security management, which can cause unplanned breakdown.
- Lack of Physical Hardening: IoT device systems need to be physically hardened to prevent future attacks by external agents to gain sensitive information which can be used later to cause damage.
Next, some methods to Guard against these Vulnerabilities follow:
- Passwords: Publically available, Brute-forced, weak , guessable or unchangeable and hard-coded passwords must be avoided completely, to prevent unauthorized access to the control centre of the IoT. Passwords need to be planned and analyzed carefully and frequently changed to ensure that this key to the control of an IoT is completely unavailable to the criminal layers of our society.
- Homework: IoT System information needs to be carefully and continuously analyzed. This must include everything that goes on in the network, associated backend, and supporting cloud services. This Homework is essential to ward off any attack attempts.
- Separate networks: IoT Devices need to be protected separately from interaction with associated networks. This can only be done by having a separate network protected by a firewall, monitored continuously by overall surbeillance. Core networks and resources must be individually secured against hostile takeovers.
- Useless Features: IoT Systems must not retain useless features, which only add potential Vulnerability. For example, when using a smart TV for display only, the microphones at least can always disconnected.
- Physical Comromise: IoT devices with a factory reset switch, open port or default password needs these to be replaced immediately, or invite instant trouble.
- Gizmos: Gizmos that are used to connect automatically to open WiFi should never be used, as they cause further damage instead. The Final Control should always rest in human hands.
- Encryption: Encryption of transmitted data ensures the security of both commands and feedback, and prevents malfunction of IoT, whether accidental or deliberate.
- Updates: Not just for IoT, any computer system needs to be regularly updated. Whether this means running patches, or painstakingly checking out the System manually, Updating is an essential maintenance and control of the System. Equipment or software that cannot receive updates should never be used.
- Unsecured Products: IoT devices or software that is no longer supported by their manufacturers can only be used at risk to the Users. Any such products must be phased out rapidly, and replaced by components that are covered by their Manufacturers.
Cyber Security Explained
Cybersecurity relates to the protection of all Net systems, and includes all aspects of the internet such as hardware, software, and data. Cyber threats have grown more complex with each day, and threaten the very existence of the internet. And hence this article, about Cybersecurity explained, and this brief journey into a dark world.
Cybersecurity came to the attention of Netizens with a rather strange Project. Bob Thomas named his project the Creeper. The name came when he realized that it was possible to move a computer program across a network, leaving a small but telltale trail which could be followed. Working in the early version of ARPANET, between Tenex terminals, Thomas got the moving program to print a small message at each stop, “I’M THE CREEPER: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN”. This in turn caught the eyes of Ray Tomlinson (who later became famous as the inventor of email). He worked on this program, and added another significant feature: that of “self replication”. The brilliant mind of Tomlinson then produced another critical step in the equation: he wrote another program that he significantly called the Reaper. The reaper would chase the Creeper, and delete it. And this would make it the first Anti-Virus Software. This then was the simple, inquisitive first steps that led us to the abyss, and back. While it is certainly true that cyber threats existed even then, in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the threat was from the INSIDE, in the form of harmful insiders reading confidential documents they shouldn’t have access to.
The Dark Underbelly
Malicious breaches of software had already started. The Russians had already prepared lunges into their arch enemies’ computer secrets, using cyber hacking as a weapon. The other forms of malware were yet to arrive, but an underhand battle for classified information had already commenced. But while the Russians seemed to have an early start, other major powers were not far behind. Then, in 1986, The German master hacker hacked the Internet Gateway in Berkley University, and then used that connection to access the Arpanet. He then proceeded to hack over 400 Military computers. This included Mainframe Computers at the very heart of American Defense, the Pentagon. But finally, he was defeated from selling the secrets to the Russians at the nick of time. An even finer brain, the Astronomer Clifford Stoll, caught the intrusion. The notorious “Honeypot” technique was employed to capture the rogue, and stop the misadventure in its tracks. This started an epic struggle which extends to this day.
The Worm and the Virus
Cybercrime almost unwittingly lurched to the next stage, when investigator Robert Morris tried to gauge the size of the Internet by using a tracer program that could propagated across networks and infiltrate Unix terminals using a known bug. But his mistake in allowing the bug to copy itself proved disastrous to say the least. The Morris bug ended up by clogging the early Internet to nearly a standstill. And though later vindicated, Morris became the first person to be convicted of Computer Fraud. This was the start of the Virus invasion, and with it, the Anti-Virus (AV) Pack, starting from 1987. But malware samples were multiplying exponentially. From a few thousands in the early ‘90s, it reached over 5 Million samples per year by 2007. By 2014, over 500,000 unique malware samples were flooding the Internet EVERY DAY. Then it was time for the Lateral Movement techniques, by which the Cybercriminals issue commands, run code, and spread the Virus across the Network. A typical example was “Eternal Blue”, which perverts SMB protocols and spreads it. The Shadow Brokers hacking group used it as part of the lethal “Wanna Cry” ransom ware attack on May 12, 2017, which brought the Net World to its knees, as well as the “NotPetya” attacks and the Retente Trojan Banking attack.
The Riposte: AV Scanners
Cybercrimes were now tackled by Incident Response Teams, but they are not cheap. Gartner’s Anton Chuvakin founded “EDR” to focus on the new tools concentrated on visibility. But this cannot be the Final Solution. Problems with Dwell Time and the need for highly skilled Teams still remain.
What is Web Application Security? Top Companies Offering Web Application Securities
Any web-based business should think about web application security and it is one of the central components for that web-based business. The Internet has global nature and this is the reason it exposes all kinds of web properties towards attacks. The attacks can happen from all different locations and the worst part is it can happen at all levels. There are attacks happening at all levels, at different scales, and at all kinds of complexity levels.
At this point, there should be some security measures that can help in securing a web-based business. Web application security comes in to picture for the same reason. Web application security deals with providing the best security for nearby websites that are surrounding. It also provides security for web services and web applications. Web application security protects even APIs.
Vulnerabilities in web app security
There are wide ranges of attacks that occur on web apps. This can range from large-scale network disruptions to targeted database manipulation. There are a lot of methods of attacks that are commonly exploited. Let’s look into some of them.
XSS or Cross-Site Scripting
XSS is one of the vulnerabilities which can allow an attacker to inject the client-side scripts. This will result in a client-side script turning into a webpage and that helps in accessing the most important information. Here the access happens directly and this can impersonate users or it can also trick the user. Users will easily fall into revealing their important information. This is a common malicious strategy in web applications that have a lot of peer to peer interaction such as social media applications and online dating applications. Adult dating apps and free sex sites are particular targets. Meet n fuck tonight apps like Free Fuckbook was one of the first adult sex apps to all but insure against XSS threats by adopting web application security and rigorous web app security testing.
SQi or SQL injection
Here the attacker uses a method through which he starts exploiting vulnerabilities through away so that the database executes its queries. Through SQi attackers get complete access to the user database. This results in accessing unauthorized information and they can easily modify it. The worst part is, they can also create their own new users and user permissions. Another case is, they access the database and finally destroy or manipulate sensitive data present in the database.
DoS or Denial of Service
Here attackers make use of vectors and through this, they try to overload the server. They also try to overload their surroundings and infrastructure as well. For this, they make use of different traffic. This results in the server which will no longer process incoming requests as expected and it starts to behave sluggishly. Finally, it will deny services even for legitimate users.
Memory corruption
Memory corruption is something where memory is modified unintentionally. This leads to unexpected and unusual behavior of the software.
Web application firewall or WAF
Through a web application firewall, you can easily protect web applications. This helps web applications against attacks and malicious traffic. This can be understood as filtration barriers that work between the targeted server and the web attacker. The web application firewall is actually capable of protecting the server against attacks such as cross-site scripting, cross-site forgery, and even SQL injection.
DDoS mitigation
There is one more attack preventing method and that is DDoS. It means distributed denial-of-service attacks. This is one of the commonly used methods that are in use for disrupting web applications.
Top Companies
There are few top companies on which any business can easily rely on web security. Let’s look into some of the companies which are providing top web securities.
ScienceSoft
This company is providing a lot of web security services and it is one of the best. If you are looking for web application security providers then you should consider this company. It can offer better services such as vulnerability assessment, security code review, penetration testing, and compliance testing. It also takes care of infrastructure security audits.
ImmuniWeb
If you are in search of the best company for web application security, then you should look into the services provided by ImmuniWeb. They are best at providing services such as Asset Inventory and Asset Discovery, Security Scoreboard, Security rating, application security testing, continuous security monitoring, Software composition analysis, Penetration testing for mobile applications, and penetration testing for web applications. They also offer services like virtual patching, DSS compliance, data leaks monitoring, and dark web monitoring.
Symantec
This is also one of the best choices if you need web application security service providers. They are good at providing security services such as cloud security, network security, email security, endpoint security, information protection, and advanced threat protection.
Check Point Software
This company is one of the topmost companies which are popular for offering the best web application securities. Some of the services they can offer are security management, endpoint security, mobile security, cloud security, and network security.
Cisco
If you have listed cisco, then you have made the right choice. You can easily rely on web application security provided by this company. They offer services like cloud security, endpoint security, firewall, malware protection, and email security. You can easily rely on Cisco for all kinds of web application security services and even for multi-factor authentication.
CyberArk
This company is listed among one of the top companies providing web application security. CyberArk offers services like Endpoint privilege manager, Conjur, Application Identity Manager, Security as well as risk management for both DevOps and Cloud and access security at its best.
FireEye
This company offers a lot of web application security services and best among them are cloud security, managed security, email security, and endpoint security. You can also rely on them for network security.
Imperva
Imperva is popular for application security. They are also well known for data security which covers data masking, data risk analysis, and data risk protection, and even files security.
Final Thoughts
Web application security is most important for every business that goes online. The web application security should be done at the best level otherwise the company will suffer from a lot of issues like database attacks and retrievals of important data by unauthorized people. Security can be offered at all levels and it is better to pick the top company which offers all kinds of web application security. You can refer to the above list and pick one of the companies that provide the most suitable web application security services for your business.
Top Cloud Security Companies
Companies of all countries are using cloud system storage because of its comparably low cost and maintenance efficiency to the local server. Cloud system storage is effortless to access and maintain than using their local servers to store their information. This local server storage system is hard to maintain and the expenses of maintaining it keep increasing as the data keeps growing. Hence cloud system is straightforward to maintain, and their cost is charged only for its uses. Even though the cloud system has merit, it also has much potential threat towards the malware and getting hacked. Threats are better masked than ever before. You may utilize some legitimate adult dating services like https://localsexapp.com and receive what looks like a legitimate message from a fuck buddy on one of those adult dating platforms. Adult sites are often So to be protected from it, the IT companies provide a cloud security system to protect the cloud data from the threats of malware and getting cut. So, let us see the Top Cloud Security Companies that can give protection from these threats.
Cisco Cloud
- Cisco was created in 1984, and it is also one of the notable internet computing companies.
- Cisco is an advanced cloud security system that can protect your data in advance.
- It can recognize the threat in advance and act towards it and eliminate it faster.
- It is an automated threat finding security software known as CASB.
Sophos
- Sophos is a software and hardware security system and also mostly recommended by the top cloud providers
- It can work on the security breach and malware threat in real-time within a short amount of time
- It is modifiable and reviewable as per the client’s needs.
- It was established in 1985.
- It gives a free trial of 30 days to test it.
Hytrust
- Hytrust is a virtual and cloud-based security company which give high accessibility and monitoring security services
- It was founded in 2007 and has worked efficiently to provide maximum assistance to their clients
- It is widely used for their authorization protection, accessibility to privatize information from unnecessary users, more auditing, and reviewing options for monitoring the accessed information of admins.
Symantec
- Symantec was created in 1982 and is widely used by many big companies to protect their vital information and essential data from Security breach, and leaking information.
- Symantec has teamed up with Bluecoats since 2016, and They are together providing the world’s most highly secure interfaces that ensure the end to end information process and also with high security
- It can guarantee protection from all kinds of malware and leaking information.
Fortinet
- Fortinet is a computer security company active since 2000, which gives security for both networking and computing and it also has clients from the world’s largest companies
- Fortinet mainly works on firewalls, cybersecurity software and antivirus protection software.
- Fortinet’s futuristic system is FCASB which can overview data resources, potential threats and data transactions.
Netskope
- Netskope is cloud security which was founded in 2012
- Netskope has a patented technology that protects serval networks.
- Netskope is recommended for its rough policies, and also it provides ultimate security for their clients
- It has distinctive cloud security architecture which provides maximum protection from all kind of threat, and it can also establish recovery faster than any other cloud security system.
By using these cloud security companies, you can protect your cloud systems very efficiently. In the world of increasing threats towards cloud systems, cloud security is the only way to protect it from them. Threats are better masked than ever before. You may utilize some legitimate adult dating services
Best Antivirus And Anti-Malware Products
The safety and security of applications, programs, operating systems and data across different devices is one of the most significant challenge facing the industry in the modern times. There have been a number of cases and instances of data breach as well as hacking that puts confidential and sensitive data at risk. To counter this there are a number of safeguards including antivirus and anti malware that do the job of putting the necessary protocol in place to prevent the unauthorized access and eliminating instances of hacking or data breach. There are a number of antivirus and anti malware products available in the market from different developers and manufacturers.
Before you decide to purchase and install an antivirus or anti malware product on your machine, it is important to do your research comprehensively by comparing the different antivirus and anti malware products available and comparing them. You should look at the different features, characteristics, track record of developer, price and then make an informed decision based on your requirements. There are also different subscription packages that are available with different companies and you must take a look at that before you proceed with the installation.
Documenting the various antivirus and anti malware products
The creators of viruses as well as malware are constantly looking at different ways in which they can gain access to your devices and breach your data confidentiality. However the good thing is the various antivirus and anti malware products are also regularly updating their software to include the latest threats and malware files to ensure complete safety as well as security. The regular updates to antivirus and anti malware is extremely essentially as they help in keeping up with the necessary framework required to counter and fight the threats posed to your devices as well as data.
As a consumer if you are looking for the all-round protection from the various cyber threats which includes phishing, ransomware, scams and different types of malware as well as virus then it is important that you must go for the best antivirus software package that guarantees comprehensive security from all kinds of threats. One of the things that you must look out for in an antivirus products is complete security mechanism in addition to the other features that help in keeping your device as well as the data safe.
Some of the best antivirus and anti malware products that you can find in the market includes Norton antivirus plus, Bitdefender antivirus plus 2020, Webroot Secure Anywhere antivirus, F-Secure Antivirus safe, ESET NOD32 antivirus, Kaspersky Antivirus, Panda dome essential and Trend Micro antivirus+ security amongst others. Let us have a look at some of these antivirus and anti malware products and their features.
Bitdefender antivirus plus 2020: The Bitdefender antivirus plus 2020 is one of the most effective as well as accurate antivirus that does the job of comprehensively tackling the latest threads around. Some of its salient features include accuracy, cheap subscription price and accuracy amongst others. However one little drawback for this antivirus and anti malware product is that it uses a lot of resources in its execution which can be problematic at times. The bitdefender has been found to be reliable as well as accurate for the detection of virus, web filtering that prevents the access to the malicious sites and keeping the web browser secure so that you can be safe with your online shopping and banking transactions. The software also comes with a password manager that offers to auto-complete the various details of credit or debit card in the web forms. This software is also effective in preventing phishing by alerting you to the malicious links in the results of search engine and then adequately blocks the access to the dangerous websites. There is also a multi-layer protection from the ransomware which heuristically grasps behavior of the threats and keeps you safe by scanning all the linked devices through the centralized app for Bitdefender.
Norton Antivirus plus: The Norton antivirus plus is designed for windows only and it has advanced security as well as privacy features. This program or software product is also used for financial security and the global network of civilian intelligence. Some of its excellent advantages include low effect on the resources of your system and the ability to block even the new malware that is circulating in the market. The Norton antivirus plus is a significant upgrade on the basic version as this software product additional functions to keep your device safe from all forms of threats.
The Norton Antivirus plus is easy to use and it has all the configuration options that your business data and devices to need to keep them safe. The software comes with a high rated testing lab and meticulous design for minimum impact on the performance of your system.