With the university’s focus on innovation, third-party applications are prevalent across its IT infrastructure, which includes a wide variety of different platforms and operating systems.
Any of these applications may include a software vulnerability, which needs to be patched with an application update. But when multiple vulnerabilities compete for attention, it can be difficult… read more
It’s no surprise the amount of work that goes into growing an opportunity with a customer from an idea or quick conversation, to evaluation, proof of concept and finally through to close. After the weeks or months of work that you put into the process the last thing that you want to happen is a competitor to come in and take that away from you. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a way to protect the hard work that you have put in, and also possibly gain an extra discount margin to make the sale even more lucrative to your business?
Strangely enough there is a way, introducing the “Secunia Deal Registration Program”:
The concept behind the program is simple in its design and yet provides a large help to your business as a partner trying to get the customer over the line. By registering an opportunity the partner can increase the discount margin and protect it from being won by a competitor. The opportunity can only be registered to one partner, which then leaves competing partners with a lower margin and hence helping secure the deal for you. The only requirement that needs to be fulfilled for the opportunity to be accepted is that it is not previously known to Secunia and you are an approved Silver Partner. Should you be successful in registering the deal, you will also receive deal registration approval for the renewal, further protecting the investment you put in!
Deal Registration benefits include:
1. Dedicated technical support and sales support for customer meetings
2. Special pricing support
3. Installation and product configuration support
4. Training
5. MDF funds (Gold partners only)
Head over to the FAQ for more information (see below) and as always feel free to contact myself or the team at emt for any further information.
https://www.emtdist.com/secunia/secunia-deal-registration/
https://www.emtdist.com/secunia/secunia-deal-registration-faq/
When it comes to application vulnerabilities, information is everywhere. You can scan social media for the latest discoveries, keep up with what the research community is doing, or depend on vendors to keep you in the loop.
All this information lets you take charge and, once you hear about a new vulnerability, it can be tempting to rush into action. After all, the faster you can resolve the vulnerability, the lower the likelihood of it being exploited.
But slow down. Take stock. Because the most up-to-date information on vulnerabilities isn’t always as useful as it seems.
The moment somebody uncovers an application vulnerability, they’re keen to share their findings widely. But in their eagerness to share, the slippery slope of misinformation begins.
The problem is that the initial reports of a vulnerability could:
But the security community doesn’t wait. It’s been taught that reaction speed is everything. So vulnerabilities are reported, then they’re repeated. One inaccuracy – one incorrect detail – is shared endlessly in varied articles and reports.
And you make your decisions based on this information.
Inaccurate reports fill your workload with false positives to chase. You begin spending your time on things that aren’t relevant to you, or don’t apply to your environment.
Mitigating your exposure could mean testing and patching. Taking nodes off line. Changing several applications in line with the one that’s supposedly vulnerable. It’s widespread disruption, and it comes at a huge cost.
And all the time you’re prioritising those potential risks, you’re ignoring the ones that really matter.
In May 2015, CrowdStrike discovered VENOM (CVE-2015-3456) – a vulnerability in the virtual floppy drive code used in common virtualisation platforms.
This vulnerability affected a huge number of platforms and, as a result, became big news across the IT security sector. Based on news coverage, social media, and the overall reaction of the community, there was a sense that almost everything needed to be patched – fast.
However, more research made things seem less severe.
Secunia’s Threat Research Team conducted extensive analysis on the vulnerability. After investigation, it became clear that an attacker would need to be on a console or physically at a server to exploit the vulnerability.
The vulnerability was serious but, making things more nuanced, the actual risk posed was comparatively low. And that’s why detailed analysis is so important when you’re about to make expensive decisions.
Informational reports can raise the alarm. But it’s only further investigation that lets you make the right decisions about your response.
Secunia’s analysts don’t just repeat reports. They don’t rush into responding before careful consideration.
The team only releases advisories after vulnerabilities are verified. They assign every vulnerability a clear criticality rating, which can be used to prioritise your patching. And they present every advisory in the same clear and consistent format, that’s easy to understand and full of practical insight.
So that’s why with Secunia VIM you get all the information you need – not just to act fast, but to take the action that’s most appropriate.
Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) is great for patching. It’s the most effective way for you to manage devices across your network, enforce your policies, and apply updates in a swift, automated fashion.
So it’s only natural to think that, with Microsoft SCCM up and running, you’re covered against application vulnerabilities.
But that’s an assumption that leaves your organisation exposed.
According to the Secunia Vulnerability Review 2015, 15,435 vulnerabilities were discovered in 2014. But these weren’t all in Microsoft products – they were spread across 3,870 products from 500 different vendors.
In reality, 77% of the vulnerabilities uncovered in the 50 most popular applications on private PCs in 2014 affected non-Microsoft applications. So patching first party software with SCCM only solves part of the problem.
Of course, you’ve already spent time and money implementing SCCM. It’s a familiar tool that you use regularly, but it took time to learn its nuances and start using it efficiently.
Fortunately, you can leverage this existing investment and expertise to secure third-party applications right alongside Microsoft ones.
One of the hardest – and most time-consuming – parts of effective vulnerability management is achieving full visibility. Until you know the third-party applications that are used across your entire infrastructure, you can’t hope to check for vulnerabilities and patch them where appropriate.
SCCM includes a robust software inventory feature that can be used to scan for third-party applications. And when this is paired with an SCCM-integrated patch management platform, the results can form the foundation of your entire vulnerability work flow.
Secunia CSI takes data from SCCM’s software inventory and assesses the security patch status of more than 20,000 programs, reconciling SCCM’s knowledge of your network with Secunia’s insight into third-party software, vulnerabilities, and patches.
While Microsoft attempt to rebrand it as ‘Update Tuesday’, Patch Tuesday is a long-standing part of the IT administrator’s routine. It’s when Microsoft release new patches – or updates – for its software, fixing known security vulnerabilities.
Thanks to its SCCM and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) integration, Secunia CSI can make third-party patching a seamless part of this established routine.
So, using a familiar interface that doesn’t slow you down, you can:
All in record time – and in a single downtime window.
Learn more about Secunia CSI here.
In April this year Telstra finished its acquisition of Pacnet, giving it access to Asia’s largest privately owned submarine cable network as part of strategy to expand into Asia.
According to news reports it appears that Telstra received a surprise signing bonus when the purchase was completed – notification that the Pacnet corporate IT network had been breached.
The itnews article claims that this wasn’t discovered during due diligence as Telstra and the Pacnet were competitors at the time and it only had limited access to information.
Access to the Pacnet internal network was gained through a SQL injection attack. SQL Injection is one of the many web attack mechanisms used by hackers to steal data from organizations. It is perhaps one of the most common application layer attack techniques used today. It is the type of attack that takes advantage of improper coding of your web applications that allows hacker to inject SQL commands into say a login form to allow them to gain access to the data held within your database.
Attacks of this nature fall under strategy #24 Server Application Hardening ‘e.g. databases, web applications, customer relationship management, finance, human resources and other data storage systems.’ in the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) Top 35 Mitigation Strategies.
Telstra is now left with the task of advising Pacnet customer about the breach.
Although there are no mandatory breach reporting in Australia although there is strong support for it. In October 2013, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) released survey findings of community of attitudes towards privacy, which showed that 96 percent of respondents want government agencies and businesses to notify them if their personal information is lost or compromised.
Earlier this year the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security (PJCIS) recommended that the Government introduce a mandatory data breach notification scheme before the end of 2015. Australia’s privacy commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, has highlighted telcos bad track record in Australia highlighting Telstra’s 2011 leak of 734,000 customer details and a further leak of the details of 15,775 customers in 2013.
emt Distribution represents Acunetix in Australia and New Zealand. Acunetix was founded to combat the alarming rise in web attacks including SQL Injection and Cross-Site Scripting among others.
