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Axis Security Raises US$17 Million Funding, Emerges from Stealth

Axis Security Raises US$17 Million Funding, Emerges from Stealth

Axis Security, a private application access provider recently emerged from stealth mode and raised a total of US$17 million in a funding round led by Cyberstarts along with other investors like Sequoia Capital, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, and Imperva.

Founded by Dor Knafo and Gil Azrielant, the California-based startup stated that the new funding will help the company launch its cloud-native security and analytics platform that offers organizations simple and secure control of private application access. Axis Security claims that its Application Access Cloud platform was built on a zero-trust approach and offers a new agentless model that solves the issue of implicitly open network access and removes the pain points of network-based security associated with Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

Commenting on the new funding, Dor Knafo, co-founder and CEO of Axis Security, said, “Axis Security is helping to solve one of the most complex security challenges for IT teams. Enabling access to the basic tools of digital transformation should not be one of the biggest risks an organization takes. We’re giving IT teams what they’ve been lacking when it comes to applications and that is a single managed solution for access, security, control, and scalability without the complexity.”

Curtis Simpson, Chief Information Security Officer at Axis Security, said, “This new zero trust solution from Axis offers a modern solution to a modern problem. It enables organizations to truly monitor and manage third-party risk and is a true enabler to move users from a generally flat network to a better, more secure experience with nothing more than an internet connection. With new zero trust approaches that focus on secure application access, we are able to completely shift our strategy to securing our IT infrastructure, so that business can be accelerated, not brought to a halt. This is the way of the future.”

Singapore to Introduce Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme

Singapore cybersecurity

As part of the Safer Cyberspace Masterplan, the Cyber Security Agency (CSA) of Singapore is set to launch the Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme (CLS). For the time being, CSA will extend its rating-based CLS for Wi-Fi routers and IoT devices like smart home hubs.

Later this year, CSA will be launching the Safer Cyberspace Masterplan to increase the cyberspace hygiene in the country as it moves towards digitization and achieving the “Smart Nation” tag. The CLS is a first of its kind cybersecurity rating in the APAC region aimed at helping the consumers make informed choices. These cybersecurity labels will act as a scale or measure for the security provisions that a certain product offers. The rating will be decided on a series of assessments and tests including but not limited to:

  • Meeting of basic security requirements (e.g. unique default passwords)
  • Adherence to software and hardware secure-by-design principles
  • Common software security vulnerabilities should be absent
  • Resist basic penetration testing activity

The CLS will distinguish and grade the smart devices available in the market. CSA also plans to start incentive-based labeling with an aim to develop products with improved security features. Currently, consumer-based IoT devices are often designed to optimize functionality, reduce cost and have a very short time-to-market cycle, thus giving cybersecurity a backseat. However, the implementation of CLS shall change this perception and give more stress on the cybersecurity quotient of these IoT devices.

Earlier in November 2019, in order to boost cybersecurity and tackle next-generation cyberthreats, the Singapore government decided to adopt new data protection measures. The government also established a committee, named Public Sector Data Security Review Committee, to review its data security practices.

As per reports, the committee chaired by the Minister-in-charge of Public Sector Data Governance, Teo Chee Hean, inspected around 336 network systems across 94 government agencies and observed international data security practices in the financial and healthcare sectors.

Hellman & Friedman to Acquire Cybersecurity Firm Checkmarx

Hellman & Friedman to Acquire Cybersecurity Firm Checkmarx

Hellman & Friedman, a private equity and venture capital firm that invests in high growth technology organizations, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire cybersecurity firm Checkmarx, from private equity firm Insight Partners, at a valuation of US$1.15 billion. Checkmarx stated that the new acquisition will further boost its growth and expand its business reach.

Headquartered in Israel, Checkmarx provides Application Security Testing solutions for modern enterprises. It helps enterprises deliver secure software solutions by making security quality essential to software development.

Speaking on the new acquisition, Emmanuel Benzaquen, CEO of Checkmarx, said, “With more corporations leveraging software development to scale their businesses than ever before, executives are acutely aware of the increased risks caused by software exposure. More than 40 of the Fortune 100 have turned to Checkmarx to mitigate risk, secure code, and embed security into every aspect of their software development. We are thrilled to partner with H&F in our journey that takes our ‘software equals security’ vision to the next level.”

“As cybersecurity threats continue to intensify, we strongly believe that embedding security early in the software development lifecycle is critical. Only one company – Checkmarx – has the breadth of products, developer-centric DNA, and culture of relentless innovation to serve the entire software security market,” said Hellman & Friedman Partner, Tarim Wasim.

NCSC Issues Guidelines to U.K. Citizens to Check Covid-19 Fraud

cyberattacks on U.K. organizations

Opportunistic cybercriminals are taking advantage of the fear and uncertainty that’s created due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The U.K.’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) has issued a public alert to warn citizens about this, with guidance on how to protect themselves from cybercriminals.

According to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, there are multiple reports of fraud involving coronavirus links, with losses to victims reaching close to £1m (approximately US$ 1.23 million). The losses are mostly due to victims attempting to buy protective face masks from fraudulent online sellers. One victim lost more than £15,000 (approximately US$ 18,378.96) when they purchased products that were never delivered. Similar incidents are also being reported elsewhere in the world.

The NCSC has issued guidelines on how to identify and deal with a suspicious phishing email and how organizations should defend themselves from malware and ransomware attacks. Citizens can also report suspicious emails, phone calls or SMS messages to Action Fraud – National Fraud & Cyber Crime Reporting Centre, which also offers a 24/7 online reporting tool for businesses.

Paul Chichester, Director of Operations at the NCSC, said: “Our advice to the public is to follow our guidance, which includes everything from password advice to spotting suspect emails. In the event that someone does fall victim to a phishing attempt, they should look to report this to Action Fraud as soon as possible.”

NCSC also offers advice for protecting data and devices at home, and this is useful for employees who are asked to work from home. In addition, it offers a guide for small businesses. And NCSC provides information for the self-employed and sole traders too.

If organizations have already been infected, then they can follow NCSC’s advice here. And organizations that have networks of national significance can use Cyber Incident Response (CIR) certified companies to help them deal with targeted attacks.

U.S. CyberDome Forms PC-ISAO Group to Share Cyberthreats Information

U.S. CyberDome, a cybersecurity provider to political parties, announced that it’s going to share cyberthreat information with political campaigns. The organization also founded the Political Campaign Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (PC-ISAOs) through the U.S. Presidential Executive Order for Promoting Private Sector Cybersecurity Information Sharing.

The PC-ISAO was chartered to help organizations that are often in need of outside cybersecurity support. Political campaigns at all levels of U.S. federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government are invited to participate.

“The PC-ISAO is a neutral and non-partisan venue where technologists can share critical cybersecurity alerts and best practices,” said former Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff, who serves on the U.S. CyberDome Board of Advisors. “The PC-ISAO helps members collaborate on critical cybersecurity challenges.”

U.S. CyberDome provides free cybersecurity services to political parties, elected representatives, and candidates across party lines, to ensure the integrity of the process and confidence in the results. It is comprised of cybersecurity experts who have trained and practiced at the world’s largest accredited computer forensics and incident response institute in the world, the Defense Cyber Crime Center, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

“U.S. CyberDome is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization that protects political campaigns from cyber and dis-information threats. The organization furthers that effort today by announcing the formation of the first-ever information sharing and analysis organization for political campaigns,” said former Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson, who serves as Chairman of U.S. CyberDome’s Board of Advisors.

88% of Security Pros Believe the World is in State of Cyber War: Venafi Survey

cyber war

A survey from cybersecurity firm Venafi revealed that 88% of security leaders and professionals believe the world is in a state of cyber war. The survey findings, based on the responses of 485 security decision-makers, found that 90% of security pros are concerned about the future of digital infrastructure due to rising cyber epidemic.

According to the survey, organizations that are undergoing digital transformation are the most vulnerable to cyber risks. Nearly 60% of respondents said industries in power, water, healthcare, and transportation sector are also vulnerable to cyberattacks, with 19% believing that the power sector was most vulnerable, followed by healthcare (12%), and transportation and water (5%).

Venafi provides machine identity protection services for enterprises to secure machine-to-machine connections and communications. It offers global visibility of machine identities and cyber risks associated with them for enterprises on-premises, mobile, virtual, cloud, and IoT.

Speaking on the survey outputs, Kevin Bocek, Vice President of security strategy and threat intelligence at Venafi, said, “Security professionals are under constant siege from very sophisticated threat actors targeting government, military and private organizations. Powerful attack methods, like establishing backdoors with machine identities, are now available as commodity malware, making it harder for security professionals to defend against these attacks.”

“The sophisticated cyberattacks that are the hallmark of nation state attacks often target digital keys and certificates that serve as machine identities. These critical security assets are often poorly protected and provide attackers with the ability to hide in encrypted traffic, pivot across networks and eavesdrop on sensitive data. Any organization that isn’t protecting machine identities at least as well as they protect usernames and password is at greater risk of becoming a victim of a cyberattack. And, unfortunately, these risks are unlikely to change in the near term because most organizations are just beginning to understand these risks,” Bocek added.

A similar survey by cloud security firm Morphean, which surveyed over 1000 IT decision-makers across Europe, revealed that physical security systems are not optimized. According to the survey, 77% of IT managers said that physical security is not optimized and 20% identified physical security as a priority for improvement in 2020. While nearly 50% of IT managers stated that they’re using cloud-based video surveillance (VSaaS) or access control (ACaaS) solutions.

Dutch Researcher Claims Google’s US$100,000 Bug Bounty

Google Cloud, Google bug bounty

In August 2020, Google introduced an annual bug bounty or vulnerability reward program (VRP) for its Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Sighting under-representation of research on the GCP, Google kept a bounty prize of US$100,000 to generate interest among bounty hunters. They seem to have succeeded in their endeavor, as a Dutch researcher by the name of Wouter ter Maat has been announced as the winner of 2019 GCP VRP prize for his findings of Google Cloud Shell vulnerabilities.

What is Google Cloud Shell?

The GCS grants both–administrators and developers, quick access to cloud resources. It provides a Linux shell that is accessible from the front-end through a browser. The shell comes with pre-installed tools required for working on Google Cloud Platform projects, such as google cloud, Docker, Python, vim, Emacs and Theia, a powerful opensource IDE.

Wouter ter Maat discovered a total of nine vulnerabilities in the GCS which is mentioned in the video streamed on LiveOverflow YouTube channel. He was able to connect with the resources after launching the Cloud Shell, entered a container, escaped from it and then accessed the full host by examining the file system. The security researcher was alerted when he found two Docker UNIX sockets:

  1. /run/docker.sock
  2. /google/host/var/run/docker.sock

Of the two, the second was a host-based Docker socket. By simply writing a few quick scripts, Wouter established communication with the host-based Docker socket, then escaped the container and gained privileged root access. Privileged root access helps attackers to potentially control and access everything on the GCP.

Google Cloud Platform Vulnerability Reward Program (VRP) 2020

Since the previous Google bug bounty program has worked in Google’s favor, it has now decided to triple the GCP VRP prize money for 2020. It will pay total prize money amounting to US$313,337 among top six vulnerability submissions as follows:

  • 1st prize: US$133,337
  • 2nd prize: US $73,331
  • 3rd prize: US$73,331
  • 4th prize: US$31,337
  • 5th prize: US$1,001
  • 6th prize: US$1,000

DESC launches Industrial Control Systems Security Standard for Dubai

Dubai

To provide a new and improved framework for industrial security, the Dubai Electronic Security Center (DESC) has launched Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Security Standard for the city. The ICS Security Standard is aimed at fortifying the industrial sector’s digital infrastructure against the rise in cyberattacks while also trying to position Dubai among the safest cities in cyberspace.

The framework for the regulation has been evolved through a series of workshops with several stakeholders who have given the initial framework a thorough examination and have aligned it with several global ICS security standards. The new regulation also places a key emphasis on industrial control systems and operational technologies.

“UAE is committed to lead in the race towards digital transformation by adapting Artificial intelligence (AI) tools, the application of Internet of Things (IoT) and other smart technologies, especially ones that rely on 5G networks,” said Dr. Bushra Al Blooshi, Deputy Director of Information Services Department at DESC, at the launch conference, while also stressing that the new regulations are a “crucial step towards protecting digital data across all sectors and at all cost.”

Amer Sharaf, Director of Compliance, Support and Alliances at DESC, noted that the regulation “aligns with DESC’s strategy of applying the best security standards to promote the safety of information systems and enable it to confront and tackle challenges in this domain.” He stressed that the DESC has been supporting government entities in several projects while also the highest levels of electronic security standards within safe and stable environments.

According to an earlier market research report “Industrial Cybersecurity Market is expected to be valued at US$22.79 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 8.6% from 2017 to 2023. Ever since the grids on the Industrial sector have taken the connected road, it has opened a floodgate of threats. Previously, industrial facilities were largely air-gapped, so hackers had to manipulate staff through social engineering attacks, or infiltrate facilities themselves. But as more industrial IT components connect to the internet, they become more exposed to cyberattacks from advanced persistent threats (APTs).

“Industrial facilities have become more connected. Cloud computing has prompted a growing number of enterprises to shift their workload online. More facilities are also incorporating smart devices into their infrastructure. Unfortunately, this is also expanding the attack surface. Given how tenacious threat groups are these days, increasing connectivity can make these enterprises vulnerable to attack,” Oren Eytan, CEO of enterprise cybersecurity firm odix, shared in an earlier report in CISO MAG.

Argus Partners with NXP to Strengthen Automotive Ethernet Networks

Automotive cybersecurity

Argus, an Isarel-based provider of automotive cybersecurity, partnered with automotive semiconductors provider NXP to build a new integrated solution that allows car manufacturers to protect Ethernet network communications. The Israel-based company stated that its Ethernet Intrusion Detection System (IDS) will be integrated with NXP S32G vehicle network processors that enable mobility innovations and protect in-vehicle Ethernet networks from cyberattacks to keep drivers connected and safe. Argus further added that its Ethernet IDS will also detect malicious activity at the network and application layers.

The alliance offers combined security solutions that enable car makers to comply with current guidelines and upcoming UNECE regulations on vehicle type approval with regard to cybersecurity, and ability to detect and respond to security incidents. The partnership will also see the companies co-operate on further integration of advanced, multi-layered cybersecurity solutions for the fast-growing automated mobility on-demand (AMoD) market.

Argus is known for its advanced in-vehicle solutions professional services, and an automotive security operation center (ASOC). Its security products and services help protect, detect, and respond to cyberattacks targeting any vehicle component, network, or post-production fleet.

Speaking on the new partnership, Nir Rozen, VP Product at Argus Cybersecurity, said, “With Argus Ethernet IDS integrated with the NXP S32G processor car makers can accelerate the development and deployment of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), modern service-oriented gateways, and other mobility innovations, with the assurance of the best in cybersecurity. Together with NXP, we are protecting some of the most critical components of a vehicle.”

“With our combined expertise, we offer automotive customers a differentiated IDS solution that can increase the security and safety of future connected vehicles,” said Brian Carlson, Director of Product Line Management for Vehicle Network Processors at NXP.

Earlier, Argus partnered with Renovo, a mobility software technology company, to incorporate Argus’ patented Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS) technology into Renovo’s AWare automated mobility operating system.

UK’s Super Cop Department Prevents £31.2 Million Worth Fraud

Infraud, DCPCU fraud police

U.K.’s specialized fraud-fighting police force, Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) has been able to ward-off fraudsters and prevent fraud losses amounting to nearly £31.2 million (approximately US$39.4 million) in 2019. The group has been specifically vigilant towards Organized Crime Groups (OCG) targeting the financial and banking industry.

DCPCU Fraud Fighting Police Force

DCPCU is a proactive task force formed as a collaborative effort between UK Finance, the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police together with the Home Office. Headed by the Detective Chief Inspector, the task force includes highly skilled officers from the Metropolitan and City of London police forces. DCPCU works closely with the support staff of banks and financial institutions along with private and local fraud investigators to investigate, arrest and successfully prosecute fraudsters responsible for card, cheque and payment crimes.

DCPCUs 2019 Fraud Prevention Efforts

2019 has been a great year for DCPCU particularly because it has successfully disrupted 23 OCG activities including the “Money mules” gang whose attempted fraud accounted for over £1.2 million (approximately US$1.52 million). The operators of this gang have been sentenced for seven years in prison.   Other key highlights from DCPCUs 2019 performance report are as follows:

  • Assets worth £1.65 million (approximately US$ 2.08 million) seized
  • Fraud accounting to £31.2 million (approximately US$39.4 million) successfully prevented
  • 23 Organized Crime Groups (OCGs) successfully disrupted
  • Over 1,600 social media accounts responsible for fraudulent activities removed
  • 75 fraudsters convicted post DCPCU prosecution
  • Total of 100 years in prison handed out to fraudsters

Earlier in January 2020, an East London’s Dagenham district duo, Oluwaseun Ajayi (39 years) and Inga Irbe (49 years), were convicted for committing more than 700 banks and mobile accounts frauds. The police investigation suggested that the accused placed fraudulent orders for upgraded phones from the victim’s mobile phone accounts. This fraud amount exceeded nearly £12,000 (approximately US$ 15,770). The Croydon Crown Court’s sentencing for the two accused included five and a half years of imprisonment and community service of twelve months along with 170 hours of unpaid work.

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