A cybersecurity bulletin was released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on October 28, 2020. The three agencies have issued a high-level warning about an increased, imminent threat of ransomware attacks in the healthcare sector. The cybercriminal group behind the TrickBot, Ryuk, and BazarLoader malware is now targeting U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers.

Network security management typically entails end-to-end management of the entire network security infrastructure of an enterprise. However, in this rapidly changing security ecosystem, there’s an inherent need for IT admins to be extremely agile to maintain an effective security posture.

With the promise of unprecedented potential, artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics have permeated into every field of business. Due to their ability to help retail staff serve customers better, personalize video recommendations based on users’ preferences, reduce employee churn, and detect fraud and security threats, AI and predictive analysis are rapidly being adapted across industry verticals.

From credential theft to network vulnerability exploitation and ransomware incidents on highly secure organizations, the year 2020 has been surprisingly rough on IT security. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies around the world are reporting more cyberattacks than ever before, and although the techniques used or the method of attack may be new, the vectors of attack over the years remain unchanged.

Five worthy reads is a regular column on five noteworthy items we’ve discovered while researching trending and timeless topics. With the rising concern over cyberattacks in the distributed workforce, this week we explore the concept of cybersecurity incident response during a pandemic.

A highly functional IT network is the basis of any successful modern business, and for effective operations, organizations must monitor the health and availability of all their IT infrastructure components and ensure they’re up and running 24×7. Uptime is the duration during which a network component is reachable and capable of operating efficiently. Typical networks use ICMP or TCP to communicate with devices and identify idle or inactive ones.

Remember when native commands like ping and ipconfig were adequate for network inspection? With networks becoming more dynamic, these generic tools don’t seem to make the cut anymore. IT admins are in a constant quest for ad hoc network tools and utilities that could aid specific network management needs. Using individual network diagnostic tools, on the other hand, requires constant tab switching, and comparing data pulled by independent network tools to pinpoint your network issue.

Most of us can think of a time when we received a phishing email. In fact, most phishing emails are easy to identify, and automatically go to spam. However, in this ongoing pandemic, hackers are adopting advanced tactics that cleverly conceal their malicious intentions, and fly under the radar by leveraging the victim’s fear, anxiety, or plain negligence.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) scores have been viewed as the de facto measure to prioritize vulnerabilities. Vulnerabilities are assigned CVSS scores ranging from one to 10, with 10 being the most severe. However, they were never intended as a means of risk prioritization. If you’ve relied on CVSS scores alone to safeguard your organization, here’s why you’re probably using them incorrectly.