Everyone has heard of the Colonial pipeline attack that happened a while back. The company that provides fuel across the East coast shut down that fuel supply due to ransomware on their systems. This sparked a huge push for ICS security. It got a lot of people talking about critical infrastructure and how the world will end with a single cyber attack. I don't disagree that these systems are at risk or that they shouldn't be secured. This is something that we should be focusing on in general to … [Read more...] about How critical is your app in your customer’s process?
General
3 Tips to get your secure development program started
The hardest part of anything we do is typically just actually starting it. How many things have you thought about doing, but were not sure on how to proceed? What is that first step? We know we have to do something, but what? This is no different when we think about application security and a secure development program. We have to start it. It is absolutely a necessity for any development program. So what should we do? It is important to understand that security doesn't happen overnight. There … [Read more...] about 3 Tips to get your secure development program started
Don’t Shift Left, Expand
The last few years the biggest buzzword was shifting left. You have seen it everywhere. The concept is pretty simple when you think about the evolution of application security. We started out with a huge focus on penetration testing and providing a report back to the development team. The majority of organizations didn't have application security teams, and if they did, they were usually pretty small and limited in function. This method of app security was easy because it was in a time where … [Read more...] about Don’t Shift Left, Expand
Phishing With QR Codes?
I think all of us are aware of what phishing is. It is basically the use of an email to target a victim. This is a form of social engineering where the attacker wants to get something from the target. The two most common attacks with this are: - Download or open an attachment that is malicious. - Click a link that redirects the user to a malicious site. This often leads to trying to trick the user into entering their credentials. There is a fairly new tactic that is becoming more popular that … [Read more...] about Phishing With QR Codes?
Client vs. Server Validation
How many times have we thrown a vulnerability over to the development team assuming they understand what the issue is? How many times have we sat with the development team to show them what we do? This isn't a point of showing how to attack to build up the next generation of security people. Instead, it is focused on showing the development team how at attacker looks at their application so they better understand the issue identified. Let's walk through a really simple scenario You have an … [Read more...] about Client vs. Server Validation
Technical Debt vs. New Dev
When it comes to application vulnerabilities, there are 2 common groups we might view them: Technical Debt and New Development. I break these down because the way in which we address vulnerabilities is fundamentally different. Something that might not be exploitable receives a very low priority when it is technical debt. However, during new development, it can be addressed with little cost. Much of this comes down to if soemthing is syntactically insecure vs. actually vulnerable. Let’s look at … [Read more...] about Technical Debt vs. New Dev