Entries by Joseph Lee

July 2024 Threat Tracking: Summer Break for Vulnerabilities?

Vulnerability disclosures took a summer vacation in July; only 3,135 new CVES were published, down almost 40% from May 2024’s record setting month. Last month we talked about cybersecurity on the edge, referring to the increasing number of attacks against perimeter network devices. That post’s title also hinted that globally, IT may be skirting catastrophic […]

Helsinki Education System Breached via Unpatched Vulnerability

The cybersecurity threat environment has never been hotter or the stakes higher, and the cybersecurity community forecasts more of the same.  But, while there are more vulnerabilities for attackers to exploit, analysts also report that perpetrators are exploiting vulnerabilities faster, weaponizing new security advisories in a matter of days, maybe even hours after their publication.  […]

How CSAF 2.0 Advances Automated Vulnerability Management

IT security teams don’t necessarily need to know what CSAF is, but on the other hand, familiarity with what’s happening “under the hood” of a vulnerability management platform can give context to how next-gen vulnerability management is evolving, and the advantages of automated vulnerability management. In this article, we take an introductory journey through CSAF 2.0, […]

CVE-2024-31497: PuTTY Forfeits Client ECDSA Private Keys

Public-key cryptography underpins enterprise network security and thus, securing the confidentiality of private keys is one of the most critical IT security challenges for preventing unauthorized access and maintaining the confidentiality of data. While Quantum Safe Cryptography (QSC) has emerged as a top concern for the future, recent critical vulnerabilities like CVE-2024-3094 (CVSS 10) in […]

May 2024 Threat Tracking: Global CVE Disclosures Continue to Heat up

May 2024 made April’s record breaking CVE mountain into a mole-hill. The previous record for most CVEs published in a month grew by 36.9%. In total, a staggering 5061 vulnerabilities were added in May 2024. Considering the potentially high cost of a data breach, security teams need to stay in the loop with current cybersecurity […]

Proactive Cybersecurity Reduces the Cost of a Breach

From a bird’s eye view, the cumulative cost of cyber-crime is estimated to reach 9.2 Trillion USD globally in 2024. According to the 2023 IBM X-Force Cost of a Data Breach Report, a single breach imposes an average of 4.45M USD of financial damage on a victim and while US firms incur more than double […]

April 2024 Threat Tracking: Record High For Security Vulnerabilities

April 2024 has compounded another record breaking month for CVE disclosure on top of the last. In this month’s threat tracking report we will investigate several new actively exploited vulnerabilities and quickly review the cyber breach of US R&D giant MITRE. The report will also uncover how end-of-life (EOL) products can have a detrimental impact […]

Springtime for Vulnerabilities

March 2024 was another eventful month for vulnerabilities and cybersecurity in general. It was the second consecutive month of lapsed Common Vulnerability Exposure (CVE) enrichment putting defenders in a precarious position with reduced risk visibility. The Linux kernel continued its elevated pace of vulnerability disclosures and was commissioned as a new CVE Numbering Authority (CNA). […]

Microsoft Patches 73 Vulnerabilities Including Actively Exploited Critical Flaw in Exchange Server

In February 2024, Microsoft issued a security alert for a total of 73 security vulnerabilities. The batch included 6 critical severity vulnerabilities, 52 rated as high severity, and 15 as medium severity vulnerabilities. 30 of them are remote code execution vulnerabilities [T1210] and 16 are privilege escalation [TA0004] exploits. From that group, three stand out […]