Financial services information security continues to be a top priority across the entire financial sector—and for good reason. The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that financial profit or gain was the primary motivation in 71 percent of all information security incidents, making financial services organizations a prime target for attack.

For small and mid-sized organizations, mitigating identity-related access risks may seem like a never-ending struggle they face on their own. Tasked with supporting countless systems, networks, and applications with access to key data, they frequently have limited staff and rely on manual user provisioning and deprovisioning. They may depend on decentralized processes for managing accounts—limiting their visibility into access levels and magnifying access risks across the business.

Authored by: Julio Sanchez

The rise of robotic process automation (RPA) during the last several years has enabled organizations to adopt new technologies that drive efficiencies across their business. RPA solutions leverage software robots that communicate with business systems and applications to streamline processes and reduce the burden on employees for completing mundane, repetitive tasks. Embracing new technologies like RPA has helped organizations transform the way work gets done.

Penetration testing, also known as a pen test, is a security exercise that reveals an organization’s security vulnerabilities through a defined testing process. A penetration test may focus on networks, applications, physical facilities, individuals, and more.

Ever since Ali Baba uttered “open sesame,” thieves have been using stolen passwords to access hidden riches. In the digital world, password attacks have been and continue to be a common way for threat actors to gain access to an organization’s treasure trove of data. No matter how many emails we get from IT explaining what makes a good password, many of us still use the same basic password in multiple places simply because they’re easier to remember.

Security vulnerabilities are one of the most common problems in cybersecurity today, as they may exist in operating systems, services and application flaws, improper configurations or risky end-user behavior. According to the statistics from the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures list, 12,174 new vulnerabilities were uncovered in 2019—over 13 times as many as were discovered in 1999, when the database first came into existence.

With the rise of cloud computing, organizations have expanded their reliance upon cloud platforms. Many have expanded their capabilities and capacity through cloud servers, while others have adopted a hybrid approach that includes both cloud and on-premise environments.

We are so excited about our latest release of Core Impact. Version 20.1 was fueled largely by the valuable and genuine feedback our customers have shared with us. This release was jam packed with new features, including several new additions that offer added convenience and increased usability. To recap, we thought it would be helpful to highlight the top 5:

Authored by: Julio Sanchez

As both cybersecurity breaches and compliance mandates increase, third-party pen testing services are no longer seen as optional. These teams specialize in ethical hacking that gives organizations insight into possible security weaknesses and attack vectors in their IT environment. Being in such high demand, more and more testing services are emerging, presenting businesses with a new challenge of selecting which service to use. How do you know which one is right for you?

The identity security landscape has transformed considerably within the last two decades. And for good reason. Mitigating identity-related access risks has become essential as companies face threats every day, from virtually everywhere.

The impact of COVID-19 has been far-reaching across nearly every sector. But none has been so greatly disrupted as the healthcare industry. Managing through this crisis has required healthcare systems to expand some aspects of their workforce and redeploy others virtually overnight in order to transform the way they offer services to patients.

With cybersecurity attacks perpetually on the rise, security teams are under more pressure than ever. While pen testing can help these teams by finding vulnerabilities before adversaries can, even pen testing comes with its challenges. A skills shortage, new and expanding regulations requiring testing, and other critical daily security duties increasingly leave cybersecurity professionals stretched thin.

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As we continue to adapt in these unprecedented times, many workplaces have remained fully remote. In fact, some organizations have seen enough benefits from remote work that they are planning a permanent shift away from a traditional office environment, instead having their workforce either partially or fully remote. Whether temporary or permanent, remote work has been a large adjustment for everyone, though perhaps even more so for each organization’s security teams.

While the shift from paper copies to digital storage has enabled organizations to increase efficiency in countless ways, bad actors have also launched countless attacks to steal private information. In order to protect this valuable data, many industries now have cybersecurity regulations. HIPAA has been expanded for healthcare and NERC applies to the utilities and energy sector, and higher education institutions must adhere to HEOA, to name a few.

Effectively managing privileged access has become a top priority for many organizations seeking to protect their data and systems from unauthorized users. That’s because inappropriate access can expose valuable organizational data, compromise sensitive information, and adversely affect system reliability. The latest Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that the majority of data breaches leverage privileged accounts directly.

Financial services organizations face numerous challenges in a constantly changing landscape. With increased cybersecurity threats, intensified regulatory requirements, an acceleration of digital transformation, large-scale mergers and acquisitions, and growing customer expectations, these organizations must pursue strategies and programs that mitigate risks, safeguard valuable data, and protect sensitive financial information within their organizations.

According to the 2023 Pen Testing Report, 94% of cybersecurity professionals surveyed felt that penetration testing was somewhat important or important to their organization’s security posture, with 93% also reporting that penetration testing was at least somewhat important to their compliance initiatives.

There is no single set of instructions on how to run a penetration test, and no one manual on how to be a pen tester. The only real constant is that each job is a combination of preparation and improvisation to adapt and adjust to each environment’s quirks. So one of the best ways to learn and improve your own penetration testing techniques and strategies is from your peers, whether it be through watching them on the job, or from talking shop at a conference and hearing how they handled an interesting assignment.

When cyberattacks and data breaches make the news, it’s usually because they’re at large companies like Facebook or healthcare organizations. But every organization, large or small, needs to be concerned about cybersecurity; hackers have begun to understand that, while smaller companies may have less data on hand, they may have access to covetable third parties.

Organizations today may have a false sense of security when it comes to the security of their own environments. In fact, there are numerous ways companies make it easier for threat actors to gain access into their systems undetected. To complicate matters even further, the sheer volume of threats companies face makes it impossible to uncover security events quickly—even if many are benign.

Recently, the need for being able to work remotely has dominated the news, making it clear that the ability to connect from anywhere may soon become the norm for more businesses and industries than ever before. While remote work may be coveted by many employees, it can easily fill your cybersecurity team with dread. Telework can create many new security weaknesses for an IT environment, and can significantly increase your organization’s chance of a devastating data breach. Read on to find out what makes these new network connections so vulnerable, and how you can reduce your risk.

Little fires everywhere – not just a best-selling novel and new streaming show starring Reese Witherspoon: it’s what most respondents said was the biggest impediment to productivity in their workday. Distractions in the form of meetings, urgent emails, and (worst case) system outages force even the most organized sysadmin to push tasks back and cause pileups in the future. Whether or not you’re using the same strategies to stay productive in IT as the ones highlighted below, learn how your peers avoid and overcome hurdles to keep focusing on high-impact tasks.