Cybersecurity

Benchmark assessments not only provide (anonymous) measurement against peers, but also help set and prioritize goals. Assessment results can be used internally to set benchmarks, prioritize actions, and plan future cybersecurity investments.

In recognition of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the FBI’s Portland, Oregon field office is offering some important reminders on how to stay safe online. For this week’s publication, it focuses on building a digital defense against some of the most common forms of cyber scams. It discusses two of the most common schemes, those involving ransomware and business email compromise (BEC). It also describes two of the typical vectors for these attacks, specifically spoofing and phishing.

CISA has published an advisory on an external control of file name or path vulnerability in Advantech WebAccess/SCADA. Versions 9.0 and prior are affected. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute remote code as an administrator. Advantech recommends users update to Version 9.0.1 or later. CISA also recommends a series of measures to mitigate the vulnerability. Read the advisory at CISA.

On Monday, a coalition of tech companies orchestrated a takedown attempt of TrickBot, currently one of the most successful malware-as-a-service operations. TrickBot survived the operation, with the command and control servers and domains that had been seized replaced the next day by new infrastructure. However, the operation appears to have had some effect on TrickBot, even if it was just temporal and limited. "Our estimate right now is what the takedown did was to give current victims a breather," a security researcher said.