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ETSI launches new group on 5th generation Fixed Network shifting the paradigm from Fibre to the Home to Fiber to Everything Everywhere

ETSI launches new group on 5th generation Fixed Network shifting the paradigm from Fibre to the Home to Fiber to Everything Everywhere

Sophia Antipolis, 26 February 2020

ETSI announces today the launch of a new group dedicated to specifying the fifth generation of Fixed Network (ETSI ISG F5G). In a launch via an online press and industry briefing yesterday, various speakers expressed their view on the need for standardization in this area.

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ETSI OSM organizes its first fully remote Hackfest with a record number of participants

ETSI OSM organizes its first fully remote Hackfest with a record number of participants

Sophia Antipolis, 16 March 2020

These are special times where many face-to-face meetings are being postponed or canceled. But when the going gets tough, the tough gets going and ETSI OSM opted for reorganizing its Hackfest, originally planned as a physical event in Madrid from 9 to 12 March 2020, as a fully remote event. What originally seemed a huge challenge due to the hands-on approach and the high level of interaction required in a Hackfest, proved possible in a record time thanks to the outstanding engagement of the OSM community and the means provided by ETSI, making this Hackfest one of the best attended ever. The 4 days of Hackfest were run in parallel with the OSM Mid-Release EIGHT meeting and the OSM Ecosystem Day, also held remotely. 

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ETSI Multi-access Edge Computing group reaches 100 members confirming attractiveness of the group

ETSI Multi-access Edge Computing group reaches 100 members confirming attractiveness of the group

Sophia Antipolis, 31 March 2020

Strategy Analytics believes that 59% of all IoT deployments will be processing data using edge computing of some form by 2025. Furthermore, a survey from ResearchAndMarkets predicts that mobile edge computing as a service market will reach $73M by 2024, driven by enterprise hosted deployments. No wonder that ISG MEC - one of ETSI’s most dynamic Industry Specification Groups - keeps growing and has now welcomed its 100th member with Mitsubishi Electric R&D Centre Europe.

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Confinement: how ETSI helps its members and staff to work remotely round the world

Confinement: how ETSI helps its members and staff to work remotely round the world

Sophia Antipolis, 15 April 2020

With over 200 e-Meetings organized by ETSI and 3GPP technical groups in March (with up to 300 participants per meeting!) and with the entire ETSI staff now working remotely, the ETSI IT department has stepped up to ensure that all core standardization activities can continue to run smoothly during the COVID-19 lockdown. Even if the situation we are in is exceptional, e-Meetings are not new to ETSI groups. The ETSI IT department has been able to lean on their established business continuity plan to adapt and up-scale our online services, in these unusual times.

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ETSI releases standard for cyber digital evidence bag to confirm integrity of data in legal proceedings

ETSI releases standard for cyber digital evidence bag to confirm integrity of data in legal proceedings

Sophia Antipolis, 21 April 2020

The ETSI Technical Committee CYBER has recently released a key standard for digital evidence bag (DEB). ETSI TS 103 643 covers “techniques for assurance of digital material used in legal proceedings” and provides a set of extra tools for those wanting to demonstrate the integrity of digital evidence.

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ETSI advisor at the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group launched by the EC

ETSI advisor at the Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group launched by the EC

Sophia Antipolis, 24 June 2020

ETSI is pleased to announce that it has been invited to be part of the newly formed Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group. The kick-off meeting took place today. Together with the European Cybersecurity Certification Group (ECCG), composed of Member States’ representatives, the newly established Stakeholder Cybersecurity Certification Group (SCCG) will advise the Commission on strategic issues regarding the European cybersecurity certification framework. It will also assist the Commission in the preparation of the Union rolling work programme, which sets the priorities for the definition of schemes within the EU cybersecurity certification framework. ETSI will bring in its long-standing experience in cybersecurity, with standards developed both for enterprises and consumers within several of its technical bodies, including the Technical Committee CYBER.

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ETSI IPv6 White Paper outlines best practices, challenges, benefits and the way forward

Sophia Antipolis, 26 August 2020

The ETSI IP6 Industry Specification Group has just released a White Paper on the lessons learned from IPv6 best practices, use cases, benefits and deployment challenges. This White Paper puts forward recommendations to ease the adoption of IPv6 and to motivate the industry for the upcoming large-scale deployment of IoT, 4G/5G, IoT Cloud Computing benefiting from the restoration of the end to-end model.

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oneM2M standard has been selected as a national standard in India

oneM2M standard has been selected as a national standard in India

Sophia Antipolis, France, 27 October 2020

oneM2M, the global standards initiative for M2M and IoT technologies of which ETSI is a founding member, is thrilled to announce that its standard has been adopted at a national level in India to develop the 100 smart cities plan of the country.

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ETSI Top 10 Webinars in 2020 - Starring: cybersecurity, the Radio Equipment Directive, the new smart secure platform and AI

ETSI Top 10 Webinars in 2020 - Starring: cybersecurity, the Radio Equipment Directive, the new smart secure platform and AI

Sophia Antipolis, 8 December 2020

As 2020 comes to an end, we have selected for you our most popular webinars of the year. If you missed them, listen to the recorded presentations and their Q&A sessions, deep dive into cybersecurity novelties, discover the RED latest developments and find out about the new smart secure platform and AI.

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Highlights of the Cybersecurity Standardization Conference

Highlights of the Cybersecurity Standardization Conference

Sophia Antipolis, 5 February 2021

The European Standards Organizations, CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, joined forces with ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, to organize its annual conference virtually this year. The event, which took place from 2 to 4 February, attracted over 2000 participants from the EU and from around the world.

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Standardization conference explores EU cybersecurity legislation

Standardization conference explores EU cybersecurity legislation

Sophia Antipolis, 16 March 2022

On 15 March, the European Standards Organizations (ESOs), CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, joined forces with ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, to organize their 6th annual conference. The virtual conference focused on ‘European Standardization in support of the EU cybersecurity legislation’ and attracted over 900 attendees from the EU and from around the world.

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Making a better world through innovation a key focus of ETSI IoT Week 2022

Making a better world through innovation a key focus of ETSI IoT Week 2022

Must-attend event offers an up-to-date overview of the major European and global trends in IoT services, technology innovations and deployments

Sophia Antipolis, 14 September 2022

The potential for IoT technologies to enhance the lives of people across Europe through digital, green and eHealth revolutions will be a key focus of this year’s ETSI IoT Week and conference.

Held in Sophia Antipolis, France, from 10-14 October, ETSI IoT Week is an annual event for organizations and stakeholders interested in the service and operational areas of IoT. Speakers at the conference will include regulators, academics and practitioners from prominent IoT firms across Europe.

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ETSI celebrates World Standards Day with ETSI Standards for a Better World

ETSI celebrates World Standards Day with ETSI Standards for a Better World

Sophia Antipolis, 14 October 2022

Today ETSI is joining the international standardization community in celebrating World Standards Day. This year’s edition focuses on a “shared vision for a better world”, where the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are key enablers. Standards help to reach these goals.

At ETSI, we have decided to showcase six of our recently released ICT standards which help citizens to live in a better world, giving concrete examples of how people and the planet benefit from standards, and how they are aligned with the SDGs.

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ETSI Secures Critical Infrastructures against Cyber Quantum Attacks with new TETRA Algorithms

ETSI Secures Critical Infrastructures against Cyber Quantum Attacks with new TETRA Algorithms

Sophia Antipolis, 8 November 2022

With the world facing growing challenges including the war in Europe and a global energy crisis, it is essential that the mission- and business-critical communications networks used by the public safety, critical infrastructure and utilities sectors (including transportation, electricity, natural gas and water plants) are secured against third-party attacks, to protect communications and sensitive data. With more than 120 countries using dedicated TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) networks for these critical services, work has been undertaken to ensure the ETSI TETRA technology standard remains robust in the face of evolving threats.

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New ETSI Telemetry Standard Improves Automation for better End-User Quality of Experience

New ETSI Telemetry Standard Improves Automation for better End-User Quality of Experience

Sophia Antipolis, 28 November 2022

As the scale and services offered through the Optical Access Networks increase, it is crucial to maintain network good operation and performance. To achieve this, the Optical Access Network monitoring can be improved when compared to existing traditional methods via automated real-time data collection. Telemetry enables this and transmits data from the optical line terminal (OLT) - i.e., the device at the endpoint of a passive optical network - in real-time to provide information to the data collection platform.

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ETSI Top 10 Webinars in 2022 Starring: Cybersecurity, AI, IPv6, MEC, Open Source MANO and more

Sophia Antipolis, 20 December 2022

As 2022 comes to an end, we have selected for you our most popular webinars of the year. If you missed them, listen to the recorded presentations and their Q&A sessions, deep dive into the Cyber resilience Act and AI Act, IPv6, Multi-access Edge Computing, Open Source MANO and much more.

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6G-IA and ETSI sign MoU bridging the gap between European research, standards and industry

Sophia Antipolis, France/Brussels, Belgium 24 January 2023

The 6G-IA brings together a global industry community of telecoms and digital actors such as operators, manufacturers, research institutes, universities, verticals, SMEs and ICT associations. The association carries out a wide range of activities in strategic areas including standardization, frequency spectrum, R&D projects, technology skills, collaboration with key vertical industry sectors, notably the development of trials, and international cooperation.

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How cybersecurity standards support the evolving EU legislative landscape

Sophia Antipolis, 8 February 2023

On 7 February, the European Standards Organizations (ESOs), CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, joined forces with ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, to organise their 7th annual conference. The hybrid conference took place at the Brussels Renaissance Hotel and focused on “European Standardization in support of the EU cybersecurity legislation”.

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ETSI faced a cyberattack

Sophia Antipolis, 27 September 2023

Following a cyberattack observed on ETSI portal, the IT system dedicated to its members’ work, the ETSI IT team worked in close collaboration with the French National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) to investigate and repair the information systems. The vulnerability on which the attack was based has been fixed.

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ETSI’s Securing AI group becomes a Technical Committee to help ETSI to answer the EU AI Act

Sophia Antipolis, 17 October 2023

As the second term of the Industry Specification Group Securing AI (ISG SAI) is scheduled to conclude in Q4 2023, and in line with ETSI's commitment to AI and SAI, the group has suggested the closure of ISG SAI, with its activity transferred to  a new ETSI Technical Committee, TC SAI.

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ETSI Elects New Board Chair and Board Members

Sophia Antipolis, 30 November 2023

On 28 November, the ETSI General Assembly announced the appointment of a diverse group of 27 board members to serve a new three-year term. Dr. Markus Mueck, Intel Deutschland GmbH, was elected as the new Chair while Mr. Nick Sampson, Orange, Dr. Colin Willcock, Nokia and Dr. Thomas Zielke, BMWK (Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action) were elected as Vice Chairs during the board meeting on 30 November.

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ETSI Protection Profile for securing smartphones gains world-first certification from French Cybersecurity Agency

Sophia Antipolis, 12 January 2024

In a significant step highlighting the critical importance of security for mobile device users, the French National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) has certified ETSI's Consumer Mobile Device Protection Profile under the Common Criteria global certification framework. This represents the first certification by a national administration of a comprehensive suite of specifications for assessing the security of smartphones.

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Navigating through Challenges and Opportunities of Cybersecurity Standardization

Sophia Antipolis, 8 March 2024 

On 5 March, the European Standardization Organizations (ESOs), CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, joined forces with ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, to organize their 8th Cybersecurity Standardization Conference.

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ETSI elects Director-General Jan Ellsberger

ETSI elects Director-General Jan Ellsberger

Sophia Antipolis, 17 April 2024

During their 83rd General Assembly, 16-17 April 2024, ETSI members elected the ETSI Director-General Mr. Jan Ellsberger with a majority on the third ballot.

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ETSI Releases New Guidelines to Enhance Cyber-security for Consumer IoT Devices

Sophia Antipolis, 31 October 2024

Protect Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of Data as Smart Devices Proliferate.

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MAA Ottawa: November Alumni Social

Starts: Tue, 19 Nov 2024 20:30:00 -0500
11/19/2024 05:30:00PM
Location: Ottawa, Canada




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Take Control: Be the CEO of Your Career and Life

Starts: Wed, 04 Dec 2024 19:00:00 -0500
12/04/2024 05:30:00PM
Location: Montreal, Canada




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Summary of Comments to CSA/CIRO Staff Notice 23-331 Request for Feedback on December 2022 SEC Market Structure Proposals and Potential Impact on Canadian Capital Markets

This document is only available in PDF format.




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Cybersecurity Snapshot: New Guides Offer Best Practices for Preventing Shadow AI and for Deploying Secure Software Updates

Looking for help with shadow AI? Want to boost your software updates’ safety? New publications offer valuable tips. Plus, learn why GenAI and data security have become top drivers of cyber strategies. And get the latest on the top “no-nos” for software security; the EU’s new cyber law; and CISOs’ communications with boards.

Dive into six things that are top of mind for the week ending Oct. 25.

1 - CSA: How to prevent “shadow AI” 

As organizations scale up their AI adoption, they must closely track their AI assets to secure them and mitigate their cyber risk. This includes monitoring the usage of unapproved AI tools by employees — an issue known as “shadow AI.”

So how do you identify, manage and prevent shadow AI? You may find useful ideas in the Cloud Security Alliance’s new “AI Organizational Responsibilities: Governance, Risk Management, Compliance and Cultural Aspects” white paper.

The white paper covers shadow AI topics including:

  • Creating a comprehensive inventory of AI systems
  • Conducting gap analyses to spot discrepancies between approved and actual AI usage
  • Implementing ways to detect unauthorized AI wares
  • Establishing effective access controls
  • Deploying monitoring techniques

 

 

“By focusing on these key areas, organizations can significantly reduce the risks associated with shadow AI, ensuring that all AI systems align with organizational policies, security standards, and regulatory requirements,” the white paper reads.

For example, to create an inventory that offers the required visibility into AI assets, the document explains different elements each record should have, such as:

  • The asset’s description
  • Information about its AI models
  • Information about its data sets and data sources
  • Information about the tools used for its development and deployment
  • Detailed documentation about its lifecycle, regulatory compliance, ethical considerations and adherence to industry standards
  • Records of its access control mechanisms

Shadow AI is one of four topics covered in the publication, which also unpacks risk management; governance and compliance; and safety culture and training.

To get more details, read:

For more information about AI security issues, including shadow AI, check out these Tenable blogs:

2 - Best practices for secure software updates

The security and reliability of software updates took center stage in July when an errant update caused massive and unprecedented tech outages globally.

To help prevent such episodes, U.S. and Australian cyber agencies have published “Safe Software Deployment: How Software Manufacturers Can Ensure Reliability for Customers.

“It is critical for all software manufacturers to implement a safe software deployment program supported by verified processes, including robust testing and measurements,” reads the 12-page document.

Although the guide is aimed primarily at commercial software vendors, its recommendations can be useful for any organization with software development teams that deploy updates internally.

 

 

The guide outlines key steps for a secure software development process, including planning; development and testing; internal rollout; and controlled rollout. It also addresses errors and emergency protocols.

“A safe software deployment process should be integrated with the organization’s SDLC, quality program, risk tolerance, and understanding of the customer’s environment and operations,” reads the guide, authored by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the FBI and the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

To get more details, read:

For more information about secure software updates:

3 - Report: GenAI, attack variety, data security drive cyber strategies

What issues act as catalysts for organizations’ cybersecurity actions today? Hint: They’re fairly recent concerns. The promise and peril of generative AI ranks first. It’s closely followed by the ever growing variety of cyberattacks; and by the intensifying urgency to protect data.

That’s according to CompTIA’s “State of Cybersecurity 2025” report, based on a survey of almost 1,200 business and IT pros in North America and in parts of Europe and Asia. 

These three key factors, along with others like the scale of attacks, play a critical role in how organizations currently outline their cybersecurity game plans.

“Understanding these drivers is essential for organizations to develop proactive and adaptive cybersecurity strategies that address the evolving threat landscape and safeguard their digital assets,” reads a CompTIA blog about the report.

Organizations are eagerly trying to understand both how generative AI can help their cybersecurity programs and how this technology is being used by malicious actors to make cyberattacks harder to detect and prevent.

Meanwhile, concern about data protection has ballooned in the past couple of years. “As organizations become more data-driven, the need to protect sensitive information has never been more crucial,” reads the blog.

Not only are organizations focused on securing data at rest, in transit and in use, but they’re also creating foundational data-management practices, according to the report.

“The rise of AI has accelerated the need for robust data practices in order to properly train AI algorithms, and the demand for data science continues to be strong as businesses seek competitive differentiation,” the report reads.

To get more details, read:

For more information about data security posture management (DSPM) and preventing AI-powered attacks, check out these Tenable resources:

4 - CISA lists software dev practices most harmful for security

Recommended best practices abound in the cybersecurity world. However, CISA and the FBI are taking the opposite tack in their quest to improve the security of software products: They just released a list of the worst security practices that software manufacturers ought to avoid.

Titled “Product Security Bad Practices,” the document groups the “no-nos” into three main categories: product properties; security features; and organizational processes and policies.

“It’s 2024, and basic, preventable software defects continue to enable crippling attacks against hospitals, schools, and other critical infrastructure. This has to stop,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement.

“These product security bad practices pose unacceptable risks in this day and age, and yet are all too common,” she added.

 

 

Here are some of the worst practices detailed in the document, which is part of CISA’s “Secure by Design” effort:

  • Using programming languages considered “memory unsafe”
  • Including user-provided input in SQL query strings
  • Releasing a product with default passwords
  • Releasing a product with known and exploited vulnerabilities
  • Not using multi-factor authentication
  • Failing to disclose vulnerabilities in a timely manner

Although the guidance is aimed primarily at software makers whose products are used by critical infrastructure organizations, the recommendations apply to all software manufacturers.

If you’re interested in sharing your feedback with CISA and the FBI, you can submit comments about the document until December 16, 2024 on the Federal Register.

To get more details, check out:

For more information about how to develop secure software:

5 - New EU law focuses on cybersecurity of connected digital products

Makers of digital products — both software and hardware — that directly or indirectly connect to networks and to other devices will have to comply with specific cybersecurity safeguards in the European Union.

A newly adopted law known as the “Cyber Resilience Act” outlines cybersecurity requirements for the design, development, production and lifecycle maintenance of these types of products, including IoT wares such as connected cars.

 

 

For example, it specifies a number of “essential cybersecurity requirements” for these products, including that they:

  • Aren’t shipped with known exploitable vulnerabilities
  • Feature a “secure by default” configuration
  • Can fix their vulnerabilities via automatic software updates
  • Offer access protection via control mechanisms, such as authentication and identity management
  • Protect the data they store, transmit and process using, for example, at-rest and in-transit encryption

“The new regulation aims to fill the gaps, clarify the links, and make the existing cybersecurity legislative framework more coherent, ensuring that products with digital components (...) are made secure throughout the supply chain and throughout their lifecycle,” reads a statement from the EU’s European Council.

The law will “enter into force” after its publication in the EU’s official journal and will apply and be enforceable 36 months later, so most likely in October 2027 or November 2027. However, some of its provisions will be enforceable a year prior.

For more information and analysis about the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act:

VIDEO

The EU Cyber Resilience Act: A New Era for Business Engagement in Open Source Software (Linux Foundation) 

6 - UK cyber agency: CISOs must communicate better with boards

CISOs and boards of directors are struggling to understand each other, and this is increasing their organizations’ cyber risk, new research from the U.K.’s cyber agency has found.

For example, in one alarming finding, 80% of respondents, which included board members, CISOs and other cyber leaders in medium and large enterprises, confessed to being unsure of who is ultimately accountable for cybersecurity in their organizations.

“We found that in many organisations, the CISO (or equivalent role) thought that the Board was accountable, whilst the Board thought it was the CISO,” reads a blog about the research titled “How to talk to board members about cyber.

As a result, the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has released new guidance aimed at helping CISOs better communicate with their organizations’ boards titled “Engaging with Boards to improve the management of cyber security risk.

“Cyber security is a strategic issue, which means you must engage with Boards on their terms and in their language to ensure the cyber risk is understood, managed and mitigated,” the document reads.

Here’s a small sampling of the advice:

  • Understand your audience, including who are the board’s members and their areas of expertise; and how the board works, such as its meeting formats and its committees.
  • Talk about cybersecurity in terms of risks, and outline these risks concretely and precisely, presenting them in a matter-of-fact way.
  • Don’t limit your communication with board members to formal board meetings. Look for opportunities to talk to them individually or in small groups outside of these board meetings.
  • Elevate the discussions so that you link cybersecurity with your organization’s business challenges, goals and context.
  • Aim to provide a holistic view, and avoid using technical jargon.
  • Aim to advise instead of to educate.




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FY 2024 State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program Adds CISA KEV as a Performance Measure

The CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog and enhanced logging guidelines are among the new measurement tools added for the 2024 State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program.

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security announced the availability of $279.9 million in grant funding for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP). Now in its third year, the four-year, $1 billion program provides funding for State, Local and Territorial (SLT) governments to implement cybersecurity solutions that address the growing threats and risks to their information systems. Applications must be submitted by December 3, 2024.

While there are no significant modifications to the program for FY 2024, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which administers SLCGP in coordination with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), identified key changes, some of which we highlight below:

The FY 2024 NOFO adds CISA’s KEV catalog as a new performance measure and recommended resource

The FY 2024 notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) adds the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog as a recommended resource to encourage governments to regularly view information related to cybersecurity vulnerabilities confirmed by CISA, prioritizing those exploited in the wild. In addition, CISA has added “Addressing CISA-identified cybersecurity vulnerabilities” to the list of performance measures it will collect through the duration of the program.

Tenable offers fastest, broadest coverage of CISA’s KEV catalog

At Tenable, our goal is to help organizations identify their cyber exposure gaps as accurately and quickly as possible. To achieve this goal, we have research teams around the globe working to provide precise and prompt coverage for new threats as they are discovered. Tenable monitors and tracks additions to the CISA KEV catalog on a daily basis and prioritizes developing new detections where they do not already exist.

Tenable updates the KEV coverage of its vulnerability management products — Tenable Nessus, Tenable Security Center and Tenable Vulnerability Management — allowing organizations to use KEV catalog data as an additional prioritization metric when figuring out what to fix first. The ready availability of this data in Tenable products can help agencies meet the SLCGP performance measures. This blog offers additional information on Tenable’s coverage of CISA’s KEV catalog.

FY 2024 NOFO adds “Adopting Enhanced Logging” as a new performance measure

The FY 2024 NOFO also adds “Adopting Enhanced Logging” to the list of performance measures CISA will collect throughout the program duration.

How Tenable’s library of compliance audits can help with Enhanced Logging

Tenable's library of Compliance Audits, including Center for Internet Security (CIS) and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), allows organizations to assess systems for compliance, including ensuring Enhanced Logging is enabled. Tenable's vulnerability management tools enable customers to easily schedule compliance scans. Users can choose from a continuously updated library of built-in audits or upload custom audits. By conducting these scans regularly, organizations can ensure their systems are secure and maintain compliance with required frameworks.

FY 2024 NOFO continues to require applicants to address program objectives in their applications

As with previous years, the FY 2024 NOFO sets four program objectives. Applicants must address at least one of the following in their applications:

  • Objective 1: Develop and establish appropriate governance structures, including by developing, implementing, or revising Cybersecurity Plans, to improve capabilities to respond to cybersecurity incidents, and ensure operations.
  • Objective 2: Understand their current cybersecurity posture and areas for improvement based on continuous testing, evaluation, and structured assessments.
  • Objective 3: Implement security protections commensurate with risk.
  • Objective 4: Ensure organization personnel are appropriately trained in cybersecurity, commensurate with responsibility.

How Tenable can help agencies meet Objective 2 of the program

Tenable is uniquely positioned to help SLTs meet Objective 2 through the Tenable One Exposure Management Platform. In addition to analyzing traditional IT environments, Tenable One analyzes cloud instances, web applications, critical infrastructure environments, identity access and privilege solutions such as Active Directory and more — including highly dynamic assets like mobile devices, virtual machines and containers. Once the complete attack surface is understood, the Tenable One platform applies a proactive risk-based approach to managing exposure, allowing SLT agencies to successfully meet each of the sub-objectives outlined in Objective 2 (see table below).

Sub-objectiveHow Tenable helps
2.1.1: Establish and regularly update asset inventoryTenable One deploys purpose-built sensors across on-premises and cloud environments to update inventories of human and machine assets, including cloud, IT, OT, IoT, mobile, applications, virtual machines, containers and identities
2.3.2. Effectively manage vulnerabilities by prioritizing mitigation of high-impact vulnerabilities and those most likely to be exploited.

Tenable One provides an accurate picture of both internal and external exposure by detecting and prioritizing a broad range of vulnerabilities, misconfiguration and excessive permissions across the attack surface.

Threat intelligence and data science from Tenable Research are then applied to give agencies easy-to-understand risk scores. For example, Tenable One provides advanced prioritization metrics and capabilities, asset exposure scores which combine total asset risk and asset criticality, cyber exposure scoring which calculates overall exposure for the organization, peer benchmarking for comparable organizations, as well as the ability to track SLAs and risk patterns over time.

Further, Tenable One provides rich critical technical context in the form of attack path analysis that maps asset, identity and risk relationships which can be exploited by attackers. It also provides business context by giving users an understanding of the potential impact on the things that matter most to an agency, such as business critical apps, services, processes and functions. These contextual views greatly improve the ability of security teams to prioritize and focus action where they can best reduce the potential for material impact. These advanced prioritization capabilities, along with mitigation guidance, ensure high-risk vulnerabilities can be addressed quickly.

2.4.1 SLT agencies are able to analyze network traffic and activity transiting or traveling to or from information systems, applications, and user accounts to understand baseline activity and identify potential threats.

Tenable provides purpose-built sensors, including a passive sensor, which can determine risk based on network traffic. After being placed on a Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) port or network tap, the passive sensor will be able to discover new devices on a network as soon as they begin to send traffic, as well as discover vulnerabilities based on, but not limited to:

  • Services
  • User-agents
  • Application traffic
2.5.1 SLT agencies are able to respond to identified events and incidents, document root cause, and share information with partners.

Tenable One can help SLT agencies respond to identified events and incidents and document root cause more quickly. SOC analysts managing events and incidents and vulnerability analysts focused on remediation of vulnerabilities have access to deep technical content in the form of attack paths, with risk and and configuration details to verify viability, as well as business context to understand the potential impact to their agency.

This information is valuable not only to validate why IT teams should prioritize mitigation of issues before breach, but to prove that a successful attack has occurred. Further, agencies can deliver dashboards, reports and scorecards to help share important security data in meaningful ways across teams and with partners. Agencies are able to customize these to show the data that matters most and add details specific to their requirements. 

Source: Tenable, October 2024

Tenable One deployment options offer flexibility for SLT agencies

Tenable offers SLT agencies flexibility in their implementation models to help them best meet the requirements and objectives outlined as part of the SLCGP. Deployment models include:

  • Centralized risk-based vulnerability program managed by a state Department of Information Technology (DoIT)
  • Multi-entity projects
  • Decentralized deployments of Tenable One managed by individual municipalities,
  • Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) models that allow agencies to rapidly adopt solutions by utilizing Tenable’s Technology Partner network.

Whole-of-state approach enables state-wide collaboration and cooperation

A “whole-of-state” approach — which enables state-wide collaboration to improve the cybersecurity posture of all stakeholders — allows state governments to share resources to support cybersecurity programs for local government entities, educational institutions and other organizations. Shared resources increase the level of defense for SLTs both individually and as a community and reduce duplication of work and effort. States get real-time visibility into all threats and deploy a standard strategy and toolset to improve cyber hygiene, accelerate incident response and reduce statewide risk. For more information, read Protecting Local Government Agencies with a Whole-of-State Cybersecurity Approach.

FY 2024 NOFO advises SLT agencies to adopt key cybersecurity best practices

As in previous years, the FY 2024 NOFO again recommends SLT agencies adopt key cybersecurity best practices. To do this, they are required to consult the CISA Cross-Sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals (CPGs) throughout their development of plans and projects within the program. This is also a statutory requirement for receiving grant funding.

How Tenable One can help agencies meet the CISA CPGs

The CISA CPGs are a prioritized subset of cybersecurity practices aimed at meaningfully reducing risk to critical infrastructure operations and the American people. They provide a common set of IT and operational technology (OT) fundamental cybersecurity best practices to help SLT agencies address some of the most common and impactful cyber risks. Learn more about how Tenable One can help agencies meet the CISA CPGs here.

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Cybersecurity Snapshot: Apply Zero Trust to Critical Infrastructure’s OT/ICS, CSA Advises, as Five Eyes Spotlight Tech Startups’ Security

Should critical infrastructure orgs boost OT/ICS systems’ security with zero trust? Absolutely, the CSA says. Meanwhile, the Five Eyes countries offer cyber advice to tech startups. Plus, a survey finds “shadow AI” weakening data governance. And get the latest on MFA methods, CISO trends and Uncle Sam’s AI strategy.

Dive into six things that are top of mind for the week ending Nov. 1.

1 - Securing OT/ICS in critical infrastructure with zero trust

As their operational technology (OT) computing environments become more digitized, converged with IT systems and cloud-based, critical infrastructure organizations should beef up their cybersecurity by adopting zero trust principles.

That’s the key message of the Cloud Security Alliance’s “Zero Trust Guidance for Critical Infrastructure,” which focuses on applying zero trust methods to OT and industrial control system (ICS) systems.

While OT/ICS environments were historically air gapped, that’s rarely the case anymore. “Modern systems are often interconnected via embedded wireless access, cloud and other internet-connected services, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications,” reads the 64-page white paper, which was published this week.

The CSA hopes the document will help cybersecurity teams and OT/ICS operators enhance the way they communicate and collaborate.

 

 

Among the topics covered are:

  • Critical infrastructure’s unique threat vectors
  • The convergence of IT/OT with digital transformation
  • Architecture and technology differences between OT and IT

The guide also outlines this five-step process for implementing zero trust in OT/ICS environments:

  • Define the surface to be protected
  • Map operational flows
  • Build a zero trust architecture
  • Draft a zero trust policy
  • Monitor and maintain the environment

A zero trust strategy boosts the security of critical OT/ICS systems by helping teams “keep pace with rapid technological advancements and the evolving threat landscape,” Jennifer Minella, the paper’s lead author, said in a statement.

To get more details, read:

For more information about OT systems cybersecurity, check out these Tenable resources: 

2 - Five Eyes publish cyber guidance for tech startups

Startup tech companies can be attractive targets for hackers, especially if they have weak cybersecurity and valuable intellectual property (IP).

To help startups prevent cyberattacks, the Five Eyes countries this week published cybersecurity guides tailored for these companies and their investors.

“This guidance is designed to help tech startups protect their innovation, reputation, and growth, while also helping tech investors fortify their portfolio companies against security risks," Mike Casey, U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director, said in a statement.

These are the top five cybersecurity recommendations from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.S. and the U.K. for tech startups:

  • Be aware of threat vectors, including malicious insiders, insecure IT and supply chain risk.
  • Identify your most critical assets and conduct a risk assessment to pinpoint vulnerabilities.
  • Build security into your products by managing intellectual assets and IP; monitoring who has access to sensitive information; and ensuring this information’s protection.
  • Conduct due diligence when choosing partners and make sure they’re equipped to protect the data you share with them.
  • Before you expand abroad, prepare and become informed about these new markets by, for example, understanding local laws in areas such as IP protection and data protection.

 

 

“Sophisticated nation-state adversaries, like China, are working hard to steal the intellectual property held by some of our countries’ most innovative and exciting startups,” Ken McCallum, Director General of the U.K.’s MI5, said in a statement.

To get more details, check out these Five Eyes’ cybersecurity resources for tech startups:

3 - Survey: Unapproved AI use impacting data governance

Employees’ use of unauthorized AI tools is creating compliance issues in a majority of organizations. Specifically, it makes it harder to control data governance and compliance, according to almost 60% of organizations surveyed by market researcher Vanson Bourne.

“Amid all the investment and adoption enthusiasm, many organisations are struggling for control and visibility over its use,” reads the firm’s “AI Barometer: October 2024” publication. Vanson Bourne polls 100 IT and business executives each month about their AI investment plans.

To what extent do you think the unsanctioned use of AI tools is impacting your organisation's ability to maintain control over data governance and compliance?

(Source: Vanson Bourne’s “AI Barometer: October 2024”)

Close to half of organizations surveyed (44%) believe that at least 10% of their employees are using unapproved AI tools.

On a related front, organizations are also grappling with the issue of software vendors that unilaterally and silently add AI features to their products, especially to their SaaS applications.

While surveyed organizations say they’re reaping advantages from their AI usage, “such benefits are dependent on IT teams having the tools to address the control and visibility challenges they face,” the publication reads.

For more information about the use of unapproved AI tools, an issue also known as “shadow AI,” check out:

VIDEO

Shadow AI Risks in Your Company

 

4 - NCSC explains nuances of multi-factor authentication

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) comes in a variety of flavors, and understanding the differences is critical for choosing the right option for each use case in your organization.

To help cybersecurity teams better understand the different MFA types and their pluses and minuses, the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has updated its MFA guidance.

“The new guidance explains the benefits that come with strong authentication, while also minimising the friction that some users associate with MFA,” reads an NCSC blog.

 

 

In other words, what type of MFA method to use depends on people’s roles, how they work, the devices they use, the applications or services they’re accessing and so on.

Topics covered include:

  • Recommended types of MFA, such as FIDO2 credentials, app-based and hardware-based code generators and message-based methods
  • The importance of using strong MFA to secure users’ access to sensitive data
  • The role of trusted devices in boosting and simplifying MFA
  • Bad practices that weaken MFA’s effectiveness, such as:
    • Retaining weaker, password-only authentication protocols for legacy services
    • Excluding certain accounts from MFA requirements because their users, usually high-ranking officials, find MFA inconvenient

To get more details, read:

For more information about MFA:

5 - U.S. gov’t outlines AI strategy, ties it to national security 

The White House has laid out its expectations for how the federal government ought to promote the development of AI in order to safeguard U.S. national security.

In the country’s first-ever National Security Memorandum (NSM) on AI, the Biden administration said the federal government must accomplish the following:

  • Ensure the U.S. is the leader in the development of safe, secure and trustworthy AI
  • Leverage advanced AI technologies to boost national security
  • Advance global AI consensus and governance

“The NSM’s fundamental premise is that advances at the frontier of AI will have significant implications for national security and foreign policy in the near future,” reads a White House statement.

 

 

The NSM’s directives to federal agencies include:

  • Help improve the security of chips and support the development of powerful supercomputers to be used by AI systems.
  • Help AI developers protect their work against foreign spies by providing them with cybersecurity and counterintelligence information.
  • Collaborate with international partners to create a governance framework for using AI in a way that is ethical, responsible and respects human rights. 

The White House also published a complementary document titled “Framework To Advance AI Governance and Risk Management in National Security,” which adds implementation details and guidance for the NSM.

6 - State CISOs on the frontlines of AI security

As the cybersecurity risks and benefits of AI multiply, most U.S. state CISOs find themselves at the center of their governments' efforts to craft AI security strategies and policies.

That’s according to the “2024 Deloitte-NASCIO Cybersecurity Study,” which surveyed CISOs from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Specifically, 88% of state CISOs reported being involved in the development of a generative AI strategy, while 96% are involved with creating a generative AI security policy.

However, their involvement in AI cybersecurity matters isn’t necessarily making them optimistic about their states’ ability to fend off AI-boosted attacks.

None said they feel “extremely confident” that their state can prevent AI-boosted attacks, while only 10% reported feeling “very confident.” The majority (43%) said they feel “somewhat confident” while the rest said they are either “not very confident” or “not confident at all.”

 

 

Naturally, most state CISOs see AI-enabled cyberthreats as significant, with 71% categorizing them as either “very high threat” (18%) or “somewhat high threat” (53%).

At the same time, state CISOs see the potential for AI to help their cybersecurity efforts, as 41% are already using generative AI for cybersecurity, and another 43% have plans to do so by mid-2025.

Other findings from the "2024 Deloitte-NASCIO Cybersecurity Study" include:

  • 4 in 10 state CISOs feel their budget is insufficient.
  • Almost half of respondents rank cybersecurity staffing as one of the top challenges.
  • In the past two years, 23 states have hired new CISOs, as the median tenure of a state CISO has dropped to 23 months, down from 30 months in 2022.
  • More state CISOs are taking on privacy protection duties — 86% are responsible for privacy protection, up from 60% two years ago.

For more information about CISO trends:




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Cybersecurity Snapshot: CISA Warns of Global Spear-Phishing Threat, While OWASP Releases AI Security Resources

CISA is warning about a spear-phishing campaign that spreads malicious RDP files. Plus, OWASP is offering guidance about deepfakes and AI security. Meanwhile, cybercriminals have amplified their use of malware for fake software-update attacks. And get the latest on CISA’s international plan, Interpol’s cyber crackdown and ransomware trends.

Dive into six things that are top of mind for the week ending Nov. 8.

1 - CISA: Beware of nasty spear-phishing campaign

Proactively restrict outbound remote-desktop protocol (RDP) connections. Block transmission of RDP files via email. Prevent RDP file execution.

Those are three security measures cyber teams should proactively take in response to an ongoing and “large scale” email spear-phishing campaign targeting victims with malicious RDP files, according to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

A foreign threat actor is carrying out the campaign. Several vertical sectors, including government and IT, are being targeted.

“Once access has been gained, the threat actor may pursue additional activity, such as deploying malicious code to achieve persistent access to the target’s network,” CISA’s alert reads.
 


Other CISA recommendations include:

  • Adopt phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (MFA), such as FIDO tokens, and try to avoid SMS-based MFA
  • Educate users on how to spot suspicious emails
  • Hunt for malicious activity in your network looking for indicators of compromise (IoCs) and tactics, techniques and procedures

Although CISA didn’t name the hacker group responsible for this campaign, its alert includes links to related articles from Microsoft and AWS that identify it as Midnight Blizzard. Also known as APT29, this group is affiliated with Russia’s government.

To get more details, check out the CISA alert “Foreign Threat Actor Conducting Large-Scale Spear-Phishing Campaign with RDP Attachments.

For more information about securing RDP tools:

2 - OWASP issues AI security resources

How should your organization respond to deepfakes? What’s the right way of establishing a center of excellence for AI security in your organization? Where can you find a comprehensive guide of tools to secure generative AI applications?

These questions are addressed in a new set of resources for AI security from the Open Worldwide Application Security Project’s OWASP Top 10 for LLM Application Security Project

The new resources are meant to help organizations securely adopt, develop and deploy LLM and generative AI systems and applications “with a comprehensive strategy encompassing governance, collaboration and practical tools,” OWASP said in a statement.



These are the new resources:

  • The Guide for Preparing and Responding to Deepfake Events,” which unpacks four types of deepfake schemes – financial fraud, job interview fraud, social engineering and misinformation – and offers guidance about each one in these areas:
    • preparation
    • detection and analysis
    • containment eradication and recovery
    • post-incident activity
  • The LLM and GenAI Center of Excellence Guide,” which aims to help CISOs and fellow organization leaders create a center of excellence for generative AI security that facilitates collaboration among various teams, including security, legal, data science and operations, so they can develop:
    • Generative AI security policies
    • Risk assessment and management processes
    • Training and awareness
    • Research and development
  • The AI Security Solution Landscape Guide,” which offers security teams a comprehensive catalog of open source and commercial tools for securing LLMs and generative AI applications.

To get more details, read OWASP’s announcement “OWASP Dramatically Expands GenAI Security Guidance.”

For more information about protecting your organization against deepfakes:

3 - Fake update variants dominate list of top malware in Q3

Hackers are doubling down on fake software-update attacks.

That’s the main takeaway from the Center for Internet Security’s list of the 10 most prevalent malware used during the third quarter.

Malware variants used to carry out fake browser-update attacks took the top four spots on the list: SocGholish, LandUpdate808, ClearFake and ZPHP. Collectively, they accounted for 77% of the quarter’s malware infections. It's the first time LandUpdate808 and ClearFake appear on this quarterly list.


(Source: “Top 10 Malware Q3 2024”, Center for Internet Security, October 2024)

In a fake software-update attack, a victim gets duped into installing a legitimate-looking update for, say, their preferred browser, that instead infects their computers with malware.

Here’s the full list, in descending order:

  • SocGholish, a downloader distributed through malicious websites that tricks users into downloading it by offering fake software updates 
  • LandUpdate808, a JavaScript downloader distributed through malicious websites via fake browser updates
  • ClearFake, another JavaScript downloader used for fake browser-update attacks
  • ZPHP, another JavaScript downloader used for fake software-update attacks
  • Agent Tesla, a remote access trojan (RAT) that captures credentials, keystrokes and screenshots
  • CoinMiner, a cryptocurrency miner that spreads using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
  • Arechclient2, also known as SectopRAT, is a .NET RAT whose capabilities include multiple stealth functions
  • Mirai, a malware botnet that compromises IoT devices to launch DDoS attacks
  • NanoCore, a RAT that spreads via malspam as a malicious Excel spreadsheet
  • Lumma Stealer, an infostealer used to swipe personally identifiable information (PII), credentials, cookies and banking information

To get more information, the CIS blog “Top 10 Malware Q3 2024” offers details, context and indicators of compromise for each malware strain.

For details on fake update attacks:


VIDEO

Fake Chrome Update Malware (The PC Security Channel)

4 - CISA’s first international plan unveiled

CISA has released its first-ever international plan, which outlines a strategy for boosting the agency’s collaboration with cybersecurity agencies from other countries.

Aligning cybersecurity efforts and goals with international partners is critical for tackling cyberthreats in the U.S. and abroad, according to the agency.

The three core pillars of CISA’s “2025 - 2026 International Strategic Plan” are:

  • Help make more resilient other countries’ assets, systems and networks that impact U.S. critical infrastructure
  • Boost the integrated cyber defenses of the U.S. and its international partners against their shared global cyberthreats
  • Unify the coordination of international activities to strengthen cyberdefenses collectively

The plan will allow CISA to “reduce risk to the globally interconnected and interdependent cyber and physical infrastructure that Americans rely on every day,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement.

5 - Interpol hits phishers, ransomware gangs, info stealers

Interpol and its partners took down 22,000 malicious IP addresses and seized thousands of servers, laptops, and mobile phones used by cybercriminals to conduct phishing scams, deploy ransomware and steal information.

The four-month global operation, titled Synergia II and announced this week, involved law enforcement agencies and private-sector partners from 95 countries and netted 41 arrests.


“Together, we’ve not only dismantled malicious infrastructure but also prevented hundreds of thousands of potential victims from falling prey to cybercrime,” Neal Jetton, Director of Interpol’s Cybercrime Directorate, said in a statement.

In Hong Kong, more than 1,000 servers were taken offline, while authorities in Macau, China took another 291 servers offline. Meanwhile, in Estonia, authorities seized 80GB of server data, which is now being analyzed for links to phishing and banking malware.

For more information about global cybercrime trends:

6 - IST: Ransomware attacks surged in 2023

Ransomware gangs went into hyperdrive last year, increasing their attacks by 73% compared with 2022, according to the non-profit think tank Institute for Security and Technology (IST).

The IST attributes the sharp increase in attacks to a shift by ransomware groups to “big game hunting” – going after prominent, large organizations with deep pockets. 

“Available evidence suggests that government and industry actions taken in 2023 were not enough to significantly reduce the profitability of the ransomware model,” reads an IST blog.

Global Ransomware Incidents in 2023

Another takeaway: The ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model continued to prove extremely profitable in 2023, and it injected dynamism into the ransomware ecosystem. 

The RaaS model prompted ransomware groups “to shift allegiances, form new groups, or iterate existing variants,” the IST blog reads.

The industry sector that ransomware groups hit the hardest was construction, followed by hospitals and healthcare, and by IT services and consulting. Financial services and law offices rounded out the top five.

To learn more about ransomware trends:




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Microsoft’s November 2024 Patch Tuesday Addresses 87 CVEs (CVE-2024-43451, CVE-2024-49039)

  1. 4Critical
  2. 82Important
  3. 1Moderate
  4. 0Low

Microsoft addresses 87 CVEs and one advisory (ADV240001) in its November 2024 Patch Tuesday release, with four critical vulnerabilities and four zero-day vulnerabilities, including two that were exploited in the wild.

Microsoft patched 87 CVEs in its November 2024 Patch Tuesday release, with four rated critical, 82 rated important and one rated moderate.

This month’s update includes patches for:

  • .NET and Visual Studio
  • Airlift.microsoft.com
  • Azure CycleCloud
  • Azure Database for PostgreSQL
  • LightGBM
  • Microsoft Exchange Server
  • Microsoft Graphics Component
  • Microsoft Office Excel
  • Microsoft Office Word
  • Microsoft PC Manager
  • Microsoft Virtual Hard Drive
  • Microsoft Windows DNS
  • Role: Windows Hyper-V
  • SQL Server
  • TorchGeo
  • Visual Studio
  • Visual Studio Code
  • Windows Active Directory Certificate Services
  • Windows CSC Service
  • Windows DWM Core Library
  • Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC)
  • Windows Kerberos
  • Windows Kernel
  • Windows NT OS Kernel
  • Windows NTLM
  • Windows Package Library Manager
  • Windows Registry
  • Windows SMB
  • Windows SMBv3 Client/Server
  • Windows Secure Kernel Mode
  • Windows Task Scheduler
  • Windows Telephony Service
  • Windows USB Video Driver
  • Windows Update Stack
  • Windows VMSwitch
  • Windows Win32 Kernel Subsystem

Remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities accounted for 58.6% of the vulnerabilities patched this month, followed by elevation of privilege (EoP) vulnerabilities at 29.9%.

Important

CVE-2024-43451 | NTLM Hash Disclosure Spoofing Vulnerability

CVE-2024-43451 is a NTLM hash spoofing vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. It was assigned a CVSSv3 score of 6.5 and is rated as important. An attacker could exploit this flaw by convincing a user to open a specially crafted file. Successful exploitation would lead to the unauthorized disclosure of a user’s NTLMv2 hash, which an attacker could then use to authenticate to the system as the user. According to Microsoft, CVE-2024-43451 was exploited in the wild as a zero-day. No further details about this vulnerability were available at the time this blog post was published.

This is the second NTLM spoofing vulnerability disclosed in 2024. Microsoft patched CVE-2024-30081 in its July Patch Tuesday release.

Important

CVE-2024-49039 | Windows Task Scheduler Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

CVE-2024-49039 is an EoP vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows Task Scheduler. It was assigned a CVSSv3 score of 8.8 and is rated as important. An attacker with local access to a vulnerable system could exploit this vulnerability by running a specially crafted application. Successful exploitation would allow an attacker to access resources that would otherwise be unavailable to them as well as execute code, such as remote procedure call (RPC) functions.

According to Microsoft, CVE-2024-49039 was exploited in the wild as a zero-day. It was disclosed to Microsoft by an anonymous researcher along with Vlad Stolyarov and Bahare Sabouri of Google's Threat Analysis Group. At the time this blog post was published, no further details about in-the-wild exploitation were available.

Important

CVE-2024-49019 | Active Directory Certificate Services Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

CVE-2024-49019 is an EoP vulnerability affecting Active Directory Certificate Services. It was assigned a CVSSv3 score of 7.8 and is rated as important. It was publicly disclosed prior to a patch being made available. According to Microsoft, successful exploitation would allow an attacker to gain administrator privileges. The advisory notes that “certificates created using a version 1 certificate template with Source of subject name set to ‘Supplied in the request’” are potentially impacted if the template has not been secured according to best practices. This vulnerability is assessed as “Exploitation More Likely” according to Microsoft’s Exploitability Index. Microsoft’s advisory also includes several mitigation steps for securing certificate templates which we highly recommend reviewing.

Important

CVE-2024-49040 | Microsoft Exchange Server Spoofing Vulnerability

CVE-2024-49040 is a spoofing vulnerability affecting Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 and 2019. It was assigned a CVSSv3 score of 7.5 and rated as important. According to Microsoft, this vulnerability was publicly disclosed prior to a patch being made available. After applying the update, administrators should review the support article Exchange Server non-RFC compliant P2 FROM header detection. The supplemental guide notes that as part of a “secure by default” approach, the Exchange Server update for November will flag suspicious emails which may contain “malicious patterns in the P2 FROM header.” While this feature can be disabled, Microsoft strongly recommends leaving it enabled to provide further protection from phishing attempts and malicious emails.

Critical

CVE-2024-43639 | Windows Kerberos Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CVE-2024-43639 is a critical RCE vulnerability affecting Windows Kerberos, an authentication protocol designed to verify user or host identities. It was assigned a CVSSv3 score of 9.8 and is rated as “Exploitation Less Likely.”

To exploit this vulnerability, an unauthenticated attacker needs to leverage a cryptographic protocol vulnerability in order to achieve RCE. No further details were provided by Microsoft about this vulnerability at the time this blog was published.

Important

29 CVEs | SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

This month's release included 29 CVEs for RCEs affecting SQL Server Native Client. All of these CVEs received CVSSv3 scores of 8.8 and were rated as “Exploitation Less Likely.” Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities can be achieved by convincing an authenticated user into connecting to a malicious SQL server database using an affected driver. A full list of the CVEs are included in the table below.

CVEDescriptionCVSSv3
CVE-2024-38255SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-43459SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-43462SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-48993SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-48994SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-48995SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-48996SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-48997SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-48998SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-48999SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49000SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49001SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49002SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49003SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49004SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49005SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49006SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49007SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49008SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49009SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49010SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49011SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49012SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49013SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49014SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49015SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49016SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49017SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
CVE-2024-49018SQL Server Native Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability8.8
Important

CVE-2024-43602 | Azure CycleCloud Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CVE-2024-43602 is a RCE vulnerability in Microsoft’s Azure CycleCloud, a tool that helps in managing and orchestrating High Performance Computing (HPC) environments in Azure. This flaw received the highest CVSSv3 score of the month, a 9.9 and was rated as important. A user with basic permissions could exploit CVE-2024-43602 by sending specially crafted requests to a vulnerable AzureCloud CycleCloud cluster to modify its configuration. Successful exploitation would result in the user gaining root permissions, which could then be used to execute commands on any cluster in the Azure CycleCloud as well as steal admin credentials.

Tenable Solutions

A list of all the plugins released for Microsoft’s November 2024 Patch Tuesday update can be found here. As always, we recommend patching systems as soon as possible and regularly scanning your environment to identify those systems yet to be patched.

For more specific guidance on best practices for vulnerability assessments, please refer to our blog post on How to Perform Efficient Vulnerability Assessments with Tenable.

Get more information

Join Tenable's Security Response Team on the Tenable Community.
Learn more about Tenable One, the Exposure Management Platform for the modern attack surface.




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Social Media for Science Outreach – A Case Study: The Beagle Project, Galapagos Live & ISS Wave

Selected responses categorized into 'helped', 'helped and harmed' and 'harmed'.




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SpotOn London 2012 Storify: Crowdfunded science – new opportunities or dangerous echo chamber?

Finding sources for funding research can be a demanding task, and one that's not always successful. A new trend that's emerging out of the necessity to fund projects that have no traditional means of support is "crowdfunding." A panel at SpotOnLondon weighs the resulting apprehensions and benefits.




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Outcast. Volume 1, A darkness surrounds him / Robert Kirkman, creator, writer ; Paul Azaceta, artist ; Elizabeth Breitweiser, colorist ; Rus Wooton, letterer.

Kyle Barnes has been plagued by demonic possession all his life and now he needs answers. Unfortunately, what he uncovers along the way could bring about the end of life on Earth as we know it.




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Outcast. Volume 3, This little light / Robert Kirkman, creator, writer ; Paul Azaceta, artist ; Elizabeth Breitweiser, colorist ; Rus Wooton, Letterer ; Sean Mackiewicz, editor.

"Kyle is faced with the most emotional exorcism he's performed yet … as he begins to learn more about his abilities and what's really happening around him. The pieces are starting to fall into place as secrets are revealed that will change everything." -- Description provided by publisher.




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Outcast. Volume 2, A vast and unending ruin / Robert Kirkman, creator, writer ; Paul Azaceta, artist ; Elizabeth Breitweiser, colorist ; Rus Wooton, letterer.

Kyle Barnes has been plagued by demonic possession all his life. In light of recent revelations, he finally feels like he's starting to piece together the answers he's looking for. But while he feels a new sense of purpose is Reverend Anderson's life falling apart?




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Outcast. Volume 4, Under Devil's wing / Robert Kirkman, creator, writer ; Paul Azaceta, artist ; Elizabeth Breitweiser, colorist ; Rus Wooton, letterer.

"Answers are given, secrets are revealed, and the Barnes family has never been in more danger. Allison learns that there's something very special about her daughter, bu where's Kyle? Will Anderson risk everything to save him?' -- Page 4 of cover.




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Dune. House Atreides. Volume 1 / written by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson ; illustrated by Dev Pramanik ; lettered by Ed Dukeshire ; colored by Alex Guimarães ; cover by Jae Lee & June Chung.

"Set in the years leading up the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Dune— 'Dume: House Atreides transports readers to the far future on the desert planet Arrakis where Pardot Kynes seeks its secrets. Meanwhile, a violent coup is planned by the son of Emperor Elrood; an eight-year-old slave Duncan Idaho seeks to escape his cruel masters; and a young man named Leto Atreides begins a fateful journey. These unlikely souls are drawn together first as renegades and then as something more, as they discover their true fate— to change the very shape of history!" -- Description provided by publisher.




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Fire power. Volume 3, Flame war / Robert Kirkman, creator, writer ; Chris Samnee, creator, artist ; Matt Wilson, colorist ; Rus Wooton, letterer.

"The one who wields the fire power is destined to save the world, but Owen Johnson has turned his back on that life. But after the Dragon's Claw's attack, Owen and his family are reeling from the loss— and more danger lurks on the horizon!" -- Description provided by publisher.




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Firefly. Blue Sun rising. Part 1 / created by Joss Whedon ; written by Greg Pak ; illustrated by Dan McDaid, Lalit Kumar Sharma, Daniel Bayliss ; colored by Marcelo Costa ; lettered by Jim Campbell.

"Sheriff Mal Reynolds has a new partner— a law enforcing robot from the Blue Sun corporation, who doesn't care about motives, about mercy, about anything other than enforcing the law— no matter the cost. The Blue Sun Corporation has helped to run the universe from the shadows for years, but they're ready to step into the light and take over. If Mal wants to keep his job and protect his sector, the smart move would be to play by their rulebook. But for Mal, there's really one choice— reunite the crew of the Serenity for one last impossible job to save the 'verse. Greg Pak and artist Dan McDaid launch Mal & the crew of Serenity into their biggest war yet, officially continuing Joss Whedon's acclaimed series." -- Provided by publisher.




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Firefly. Blue Sun rising. Part 2 / created by Joss Whedon ; written by Greg Pak ; illustrated by Dan McDaid, Lalit Kumar Sharma, Daniel Bayliss ; inks by Vincenzo Federici ; colored by Marcelo Costa ; lettered by Jim Campbell.

"The stage is set for the final battle as the first ever Firefly event concludes, with Sheriff Mal Reynolds— yeah, he's still getting used to it too— making a choice that may cost him those he loves most, whether he knows it or not … Shocking losses lead to stunning decisions as Mal and the crew of Serenity must face the consequences of their choices in war against the Blue Sun Corporation. The 'Verse is changing in ways no one ever expected— and a new chapter of Firefly begins here." -- Provided by publisher.




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Batman. Damned / Brian Azzarello, writer ; Lee Bermejo, art and covers ; Jared K. Fletcher, letterer.

"The Joker is dead. There is no doubt about that. But whether Batman finally snapped his scrawny neck or some other sinister force in Gotham City did the deed is still a mystery. Problem is, Batman can't remember … and the more he digs into this labyrinthine case, the more he starts to doubt everything he's uncovering. So who better to set him straight than … John Constantine? The problem with that is as much as John loves a good mystery, he loves messing with people's heads even more. So with John's 'help', the pair will delve into the sordid underbelly of Gotham as they race toward the mind-blowing truth of who murdered The Joker." -- Page [4] of cover.




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SpotOn London: Public interest and privacy in the digital world – 14/15 November 2014

The annual conference, SpotOn London, will be taking place at the Wellcome Trust on Friday,




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SAVE THE DATE – November 5th 2016

We’re delighted to announce that SpotOn will return this year as a one-day conference in




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Study on countermeasures of Agriculture against Economic and Trade Frictions between China and USA [in Chinese]




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Bulletin on food price dynamics, inflation and the food security situation in Sudan: November-December 2022 [in Arabic]

موجز:




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The architecture of the Sudanese agricultural sector and its contribution to the economy between 1990 and 2021 [in Arabic]

بنية القطاع الزراعي السوداني ومساهمته في الاقتصاد بين عامي 1990 و2021




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1225 Christmas Tree Lane Debbie Macomber.

Welcome to Christmas Town! The people of Cedar Cove know how to celebrate Christmas. Like Grace and Olivia and everyone else, Beth Morehouse expects this Christmas to be one of her best. Her small Christmas tree farm is prospering, her daughters and her dogs are happy and well, and her new relationship with local vet Ted Reynolds is showing plenty of romantic promise. But...someone recently left a basket filled with puppies on her doorstep, puppies she's determined to place in good homes. That's complication number one. And number two is that her daughters, Bailey and Sophie, have invited their dad, Beth's long-divorced husband, Kent, to Cedar Cove for Christmas. The girls have visions of a mom-and-dad reunion dancing in their heads. As always in life-and in Cedar Cove-there are surprises, too. More than one family's going to have a puppy under the tree. More than one scheme will go awry. And more than one romance will have a happy ending!