The CTI Mindset & The CTI Function

I recently came across a job posting for a cyber threat intelligence (CTI) analyst position. Given recent issues in the CTI marketplace with many individuals finding themselves in need of new roles, this at first glance appeared an excellent opportunity to pass on to those looking for work. However, with Read more…

Attaining Focus: Evaluating Vulnerabilities In The Current Threat Environment

Information security space observers may have encountered a phrase born out of both frustration and levity in 2023: “Hot Zero Day Summer.” While nearly two months remain as of this writing for Summer 2023, anecdotal evidence suggests that adversaries increasingly leverage vulnerabilities in external-facing applications and appliances to drive intrusions. Certainly, other Read more…

Diving Deeper Into Vulnerabilities

While the end of 2020 was dominated by Nobelium’s supply chain intrusions, 2021 closes with continued worry and response over vulnerabilities in the widely-deployed Log4j library. Starting in earnest on 10 December 2021 with public disclosure of CVE-2021-44228, information security practitioners and security program managers have subsequently dealt with a Read more…

Unpacking Vexing Vulnerabilities

On 13 September 2021, researchers from Citizen Lab  disclosed FORCEDENTRY: a zero-click vulnerability impacting pretty much all Apple operating systems based on a flaw in the CoreGraphics rendering application. As a zero-click (i.e., requiring no user interaction) vulnerability, FORCEDENTRY represents a deeply concerning technical problem. Yet based on Citizen Lab’s Read more…

Why Do We Fight?

One of the penultimate, and more poignant, episodes of the television series Band of Brothers was “Why We Fight.” The episode highlighted how, although the members of the unit followed through the series faced multiple trials and setbacks, the discovery of concentration camps emphasized the necessity for continuing the struggle Read more…

There But for the Grace of God Go I

08 December 2020 will be remembered as a significant day in information security history. On that day, information security giant and, through its Mandiant division, pioneer FireEye disclosed that they were compromised by a likely state-sponsored entity. (Specific attribution is lacking at this time, although there are rumors APT29/Cozy Bear Read more…

CVE-2020-5902 In Perspective

F5 released a patch on 30 June 2020 tied to a doozy of a vulnerability discovered by Positive Technologies. The vulnerability didn’t get much attention until Positive Technology’s blog on the matter was released on 02 July 2020, right before a holiday weekend in the United States. The criticality of Read more…