Robert Dougherty
Director of Communications, Accellion
Strategic communications professional with expertise in crafting targeted, compelling content that drives awareness and elevates an organization’s brand.
All Posts by Robert Dougherty
Cybersecurity News: April 19, 2021
Apr 19, 2021 | Cybersecurity News
US Formally Attributes SolarWinds Attack to Russian Intelligence Agency… | Biden Rushes to Protect Power Grid as Hacking Threats Grow… | Russia launched over a million cyber attacks in three months… | Federal Reserve Chairman Says Cyber-Risk a Top Threat to National Economy… | No password required: Mobile carrier exposes data for millions of accounts…
Cybersecurity News: April 12, 2021
Apr 12, 2021 | Cybersecurity News
Nation-state cyber attacks double in three years… | Discord and Slack are becoming potent tools for malware attacks… | How the quick shift to the cloud has led to more security risks… | Ubiquiti’s Breach Notification: The ‘No Evidence’ Hedge… | 533 million Facebook users’ phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online…
Cybersecurity News: April 5, 2021
Apr 5, 2021 | Cybersecurity News
After hack, officials draw attention to supply chain threats
“We must enhance the resilience, diversity, and security of our supply chains. The vitality of our nation depends on it.”
Credential phishing on the rise with Office 365 a top target
“New attack tactics include the use of data URLs/encoding to mask content, dynamic content generation, leveraging of local HTML/PDF decoy files, dynamic loading of brand logos.”
Whistleblower: Ubiquiti Breach “Catastrophic”
“In reality…the attackers had gained administrative access to Ubiquiti’s servers at Amazon’s cloud service, which secures the underlying server hardware and software but requires the cloud tenant (client) to secure access to any data stored there.”
AP sources: SolarWinds hack got emails of top DHS officials
“The SolarWinds hack was a victory for our foreign adversaries, and a failure for DHS. We are talking about DHS’s crown jewels.”
Nine cyber attack has all the hallmarks of ransomware, without the ransom
“The attack hit Nine’s systems in Sydney early on Sunday morning, disrupting live television, as workers arriving and logging in found their machines unresponsive.”
Cybersecurity News: March 29, 2021
Mar 29, 2021 | Cybersecurity News
Manufacturing’s Cloud Migration Opens Door to Major Cyber-Risk
“The lift and shift of applications that were never meant to be internet-facing to become internet-enabled has likely resulted in this high risk.”
CNA Financial suffers extensive network disruption following cyber attack
“CNA’s network may be out of commission for a while, with the attack mainly impacting the underwriting and claims side of its business.”
Ransomware gang demands $50 million from computer maker Acer
“Here the ransom demand was clearly visible, a whopping $50 million payment request, which represents the highest ransom demand ever requested by a ransomware group.”
Microsoft Exchange Server attacks: ‘They’re being hacked faster than we can count’, says security company
“There are a ton of things [Microsoft Exchange customers] can do manually to prevent a full disaster. I just encourage them to do them immediately. Globally, this is a disaster in the making.”
3 in 4 companies have experienced account takeover attacks in the last year
“We’re regularly seeing identity-based attacks being used to circumnavigate traditional perimeter defences like multi-factor authentication (MFA). Account takeover is replacing phishing as the most common attack vector and MFA defenses are speed bumps not forcefields.”
Cybersecurity News: March 22, 2021
Mar 22, 2021 | Cybersecurity News
“Expert” hackers used 11 zerodays to infect Windows, iOS, and Android users
“The ability to pierce advanced defenses built into well-fortified OSes and apps that were fully patched—for example, Chrome running on Windows 10 and Safari running on iOSA—was one testament to the group’s skill.”
Mimecast says SolarWinds hackers breached its network and spied on customers
“The hackers also accessed email addresses, contact information, and ‘encrypted and/or hashed and salted credentials.’”
Microsoft Exchange attacks doubling ‘every two to three hours’
“Most of the attacks are against organizations in Turkey and the United States, followed by Italy . In most cases, criminals are pursuing government and military organizations, manufacturing firms and financial institutions.”
Verkada Breach Demonstrates Danger of Overprivileged Users
“The massive breach of privacy of Verkada’s customers highlights that companies — often, startups — have not always adopted best practices for privileged access to systems. The lesson is learned with regularity, often when a vendor’s clients or customers have their security or privacy compromised.”
Exchange servers first compromised by Chinese hackers hit with ransomware
“Though many of the still unpatched organizations may have been exploited by cyber espionage actors, criminal ransomware operations may pose a greater risk as they disrupt organizations and even extort victims by releasing stolen emails.”
Cybersecurity News: March 15, 2021
Mar 15, 2021 | Cybersecurity News
Molson Coors discloses cyberattack disrupting its brewery operations ZDNet, Natalie Gagliordi "Although the Company is actively managing this cybersecurity incident, it has caused and may continue to cause a delay or disruption to parts of the Company's business,...
Referrals, Not Fancy Product Demonstrations, Impress CISOs
Oct 21, 2020 | CISO Interviews, Featured, Aaron Blackstone
“Trust but verify” is a mantra CISOs have traditionally applied to IT security but are now embracing when vetting technologies and technology vendors. Confined by tight budgets and an aversion to shelfware, CISOs need to be extremely confident in their technology investments. Ultimately, referrals, not flashy demos, matter. So for technology vendors looking to sell to CISOs, make sure your current customers love your product before selling it to anyone else.
A Conversation with Dorit Dor
Oct 6, 2020 | Interviews, Women in Cyber, Dorit Dor
Dr. Dorit Dor, Vice President of Products for Check Point, has achieved a lot in her 25 years with the company. Currently, she manages all product definition and development functions for both the enterprise and consumer divisions of the company and her core responsibilities include leading the company’s product management, R&D and QA initiatives from concept to delivery. She loves challenges and learning and the pandemic taught her a lot about Check Point, leadership, continuity, and focus. We hope you’ll learn a lot from her in this insightful conversation.
Can You Hear Me Now?
Sep 18, 2020 | CISO Sillies
Since the global pandemic chased everyone indoors, Zoom web meetings have become the new normal. We will figure this out. Eventually.
Dirty Hands, Elephants, and ID10Ts – Oh My!
Sep 18, 2020 | CISO Sillies
CISOs somehow maintain a sense of humor, despite the stress and frustration inherent in their jobs. And we’re all better for it.
Here’s How CISOs are Responding to the New Normal
Sep 2, 2020 | CISO Panels
The work environment changed drastically in mid-March as the global pandemic chased employees out of the corporate office and into the home office. Cybersecurity changed too as a result. If working from home is the new normal, organizations benefit when CISOs stay ahead of the curve, whether moving systems to the cloud, monitoring printer or USB use, or conducting phishing simulations targeting their employees.
Only the Human Firewall Stands Between Hackers and Your Data
Aug 27, 2020 | CISO Interviews, Featured, Frank Gillman
It’s no secret that employees – whether they’re your employees or a partner’s – are the weakest link in your cybersecurity program. Regardless of an organization’s product, service, size, or industry, employees play an integral role in ensuring the business operates efficiently. Unfortunately, employees also play an integral role in exposing the organization’s intellectual property to unauthorized parties.