Network Security Training – Why is it so important?

Given our growing dependence on technology, it has become much more critical to protect every piece of online information and data. When your network isn’t properly protected, vandalism can occur, intellectual property can be stolen, and the organization you work for can experience revenue loss. These mishaps can put you out of business or hurt your reputation in the market. Network security training is very important in the modern business scenario considering that everything now has an online presence. If you want to help secure networks from malicious attackers and have an upper hand over the bad guys who enjoy compromising businesses, then you’ll need the right training to accomplish this. Find out what network security entails and how to select the best network security course for you.

What Is Network Security?

Network security is the process of protecting, detecting, predicting, and responding to unauthorized intrusion into organizational networks. It includes both software and physical technologies required to secure the fundamental networking infrastructure from misuse, unauthorized access, modification, inappropriate disclosure, or destruction.

Network security professionals implement network security tools and network defense strategies to prevent unauthorized programs or users from gaining access and connecting to them. As such, it becomes impossible to hack a computer if cybercriminals can’t reach it over the network.

Elements of a Network Security Program

While a firewall is the foundation of any network security solution, just having firewall protection is not enough to protect you and your organization. The following are the elements of a network security program that are critical in protecting against network security threats.

◉ Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

◉ Firewall security

◉ Application security

◉ Wireless security

◉ VPN management tool

◉ Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)

◉ Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

◉ Network Access Control (NAC)

◉ Mobile device management security

◉ Email security

◉ Web security

◉ Antivirus and antimalware software

◉ Endpoint security

◉ Behavioral analytics

◉ Network segmentation

If you’re familiar with network security fundamentals best practices, then adding a network security certification is the next step.

Why Opt for Network Security Training?

As the modern business atmosphere continues to evolve, you as an IT professional, irrespective of your department, cannot advance without understanding the new techniques on which internal and external security relies. Considering the ever-evolving threats that are flooding the cyber world, it makes sense to opt for a certification course in network security that will allow you to be at the top of your game. Training will give you an opportunity to work on your skills and grow your knowledge so you can stay relevant in your organization.

How to Select the Best Network Security Course?

Picking the most ideal network security course for your needs can seem like a daunting task. Always remember that a well-designed network security training program will expose you to several processes that hackers exploit to access your networks, allowing you to think beyond basic security techniques and prevent a savvy cyber attacker from penetrating your network.

Here’s what you should look out for when making your choice:

1. Content and topics

Check the content and topics of the courses you want to enroll in before signing up. Network security courses are generally accessible through universities and colleges as part of their degree and certification programs. You can also access many network security classes online. A well-designed program by industry experts will offer detailed insights on multiple aspects of network security such as:

◉ Defense-in-depth security

◉ Properly designed, implemented, and enforced security policies

◉ Security architectures

◉ Secure configuration

◉ Right selection of security controls

◉ Network traffic monitoring

◉ Log management

◉ Anomalies detection

◉ Incident response

◉ Forensics investigation

◉ Business Continuity (BC)

◉ Disaster Recovery (DR)

◉ Risk and vulnerability assessment

◉ Attack surface analysis

◉ Threat intelligence

2. Hands-on

Your preferred course or training program, such as a network security engineer training, must have hands-on features. This helps you experiment with trial and error, learn from your mistakes, and know the likely disparities between theory and real-life scenarios.

3. Modality

The teaching/learning modalities of the course is also important. Certification exams should maintain high integrity and students shouldn’t find the program restrictive or inaccessible. The training programs should be available through mediums like online self-paced, live online with the help of an instructor, and physical classroom training.

4. Exam proctoring

Online exam proctoring is different from physical exam proctoring. Participants challenge online proctored tests from a remote location, and they are monitored online through a mic, webcam, and access to the screen of the candidate.

5. Accreditations, recognitions, and endorsements

Accreditation is a system of measuring quality. Make sure the institution you choose for your certification program is well recognized and accredited by the right agencies.

Jobs Available and Salary

Network security jobs are in high demand thanks to the snowballing growth of cyberattacks. A network security professional is one of the most sought-after job profiles across industries as everyone considers cybersecurity a priority.

Your network security salary depends on your level of experience, skill sets, certifications, job location, the organization you work for, and your job description. According to PayScale, an average network security engineer earns $74,286 per year.

Supercharge Your Career with EC-Council’s Certified Network Defender Program

EC-Council’s Certified Network Defender (CND) program offers you a comprehensive approach to efficiently tackle security issues in today’s modern network. CND covers the latest tools, maps to NICE 2.0 frameworks, offers enhanced threat prediction focus, adopts a hands-on approach to learning, and offers modern network security technologies and techniques. It’s also vendor neutral, so you can practice the skills you picked up as an IT professional using different types of technology without any restrictions.

CND further delves into the numerous challenges that IoT devices pose and helps you take a more proactive approach using threat intelligence. It also gives enhanced focus to cloud security and mobile security management, among several others.

The program is endorsed and accredited by several agencies including:

◉ The American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

◉ The United States Department of Defense (DoD)

◉ Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)

◉ The National Infocomm Competency Framework (NICF)

Source: eccouncil.org

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What Is Red Team vs. Blue Team in Cybersecurity?

Discovering system weaknesses and evaluating existing cyber defenses are the best ways for organizations to thwart possible cyber threats and maintain operational security. However, most organizations find it hard to detect new cyber infiltration and attack routes taken by cybercriminals to breach system-wide organizational IT defenses. This is where a Red & Blue team cyber-exercise in securing data infiltration points and patching network vulnerabilities comes into play.

In cybersecurity, the terms Red and Blue teams are used to describe manned IT defense assets who use their skills to imitate an attack vector that a hacker (red team) might use while the defense line (blue team) uses its skills to defend the system. The scenario can be a very challenging one, with the foremost brains pitted against one another. To hone your skills as a cybersecurity expert, it’s best to use the right platform to gain a deeper understanding of the process.

Cybersecurity is an art that’s complemented by science, and as such EC-Council is your penultimate guide to building a career around cyber defense. This article breaks down the skill sets you need and the aptitude that makes you the perfect fit for a red or blue team.

What Is the Red Team?

As defined by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), a red team is an entity that specializes in breaking & entering, acquiring classified information, and leaving no trace behind. In the cyber realm, Red teams focus on penetration testing of different systems and their levels of security. They help detect, prevent, and eliminate weaknesses while putting a spotlight on glaring vulnerabilities. A red team goes about this by imitating real-world cyber-using all existing data/network penetration techniques. This helps organizations identify the vulnerabilities that can pose a threat to their system.

What Is the Blue Team?

At par with the Red team, a Blue team is tasked with safeguarding an organization’s network security and to discover possible vulnerabilities. Contrary to the Red Team, the Blue team is entrusted with network defense reinforcement, while ensuring prompt incident response in the event of a successful cyberattack, regardless of the damage inflicted.

Top Red and Blue Team Skills

Red teams and blue teams uniquely differ in their approach, primarily because of techniques and operational parameters. A deep understanding of each team’s techniques will get you more insight into their respective roles and purposes. With this article, you will also gain a deeper understanding of your skills and whether they match the job description or not.

Red team skills

The members of the Red team need to understand how an attacker’s mind works and put themselves in the attacker’s shoes, understanding his/her attack vector creativity.

Out-of-the-box approach

A red team’s major characteristic is thinking outside the box as they are always on the lookout for new tools and techniques to infiltrate vulnerable data points while bringing more clarity on protecting the systems better. As a red team member, you will go against the rules and legality while following white hat techniques to show people the flaws in their systems.

Deep knowledge of systems

To be part of a successful Red team, you need to possess a deep knowledge of computer systems, libraries, protocols, and known methodologies. You will also need to know servers and databases in order to exercise multiple attack options when it comes to discovering a system’s vulnerability.

Software development

There are substantial benefits if you know how to develop your own tools. Writing software needs a lot of evolved learning and practice, but it will come in handy to perform the best offense tactics.

Penetration testing

Penetration testing is the simulation of an attack on network systems to assess its security. Pentesting helps to discover vulnerabilities and potential threats to provide a full risk assessment. Therefore, it is important for red teams to be able to do pentesting, and is even among their standard procedures.

Social engineering

During security audits, red teams need to be able to manipulate people into performing actions that can lead to the exposure of sensitive data. This is because human error is among the causes of data breaches and leaks.

Blue team skills

A blue team needs to have the ability to close backdoors and weaknesses that most people don’t know about.

Organized & detail-oriented

You will fit better into a blue team if you play by the book and prefer using tried and trusted methods. You need to be detail-oriented in order to not leave gaps in the security infrastructure of an organization.

Cybersecurity analysis & threat profile

During the assessment of an organization’s security, you will need the skill to create a risk or threat profile. A good threat profile comprises all data, including potential threat attackers and real-life threat scenarios, and thorough preparation for future attacks by working on vulnerable parts of the system.

Hardening techniques

Before an organization can be totally prepared for any attack, there is a need for technical hardening techniques of all systems for reducing the attack surface hackers can exploit.

Knowledge of detection systems

A blue team needs to be familiar with software applications for tracking the network for any unusual and malicious activity. By following all the packet filtering, network traffic, existing firewalls, etc., you can better grip all activities in the network systems.

Security Information & Event Management (SIEM)

This is a system that provides real-time analysis of security events. With this software, you can gather data from external sources and perform data analysis based on a specific criterion.

Source: eccouncil.org

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Training Vision Institute Partners With EC-Council for Newest Cybersecurity Course

Training Vision Institute is partnering with EC-Council to provide an Advanced Diploma in Cyber Security, as part of the 2021 in-demand skill sets required in the workforce. The collaboration aims to promote a quality and in-depth cybersecurity course and elevate the very popular industry in Singapore. Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative, plus the growing need to go digital because of COVID-19, have increased the demand for cybersecurity professionals who can effectively protect Singapore from disruptive cyber attacks.

Learners who complete the Advanced Diploma in Cyber Security will receive three cybersecurity certifications from EC-Council alongside the Training Vision Institute diploma.

“It is an important collaboration to put Singaporeans ahead in the South East Asia (SEA) region for the need for cybersecurity experts with its global recognition. Training Vision Institute (TVI) is proud to be a training partner of EC-Council in Singapore and offer these certifications as part of SSG supported courses. The collaboration aims to ensure that every TVI learner will become a cybersecurity expert and build a career in this very exciting field,” said Branson Lee, HOD Pracademy of Technology.

“This is an important industry-academia collaboration led by Wissen, to bring EC-Council cybersecurity certifications to the students at Training Vision Institute. The partnership will benefit the students by allowing them to earn specialized skills in cybersecurity and acquire leading positions in the growing cybersecurity industry in Singapore. The collaboration will also bring greater opportunities for EC-Council help in filling the talent gap in Singapore,” said Sean Lim, Chief Operating Officer, EC-Council.

The EC-Council cybersecurity certifications are as follows:

Certified Application Security Engineer (CASE) – Tests the critical security skills and knowledge that are required throughout a typical software development life cycle, focusing on the importance of the implementation of secure methodologies and practices in today’s insecure operating environment. CASE is developed to prepare students to effectively join the workforce as software professionals who are able to create secure applications.

Certified Network Defender (CND) – Based on the cybersecurity education framework and work role task analysis presented by the National Initiative of Cybersecurity Education (NICE), CND provides learners with a comprehensive approach to deal with modern security and network issues. This course is also mapped to the Department of Defense (DoD) roles such as system/network administrators, cybersecurity engineer, and network defense technician.

Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) – Renowned as the most trusted ethical hacking certification and recommended by employers globally, CEH is the most desired information security certification. CEH will teach learners the latest commercial-grade hacking tools, techniques, and methodologies used by hackers and information security professionals to lawfully hack an organization.

Source: eccouncil.org

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How to Become a Secure Programmer

The information technology sector is among the fastest-growing industries in the world. However, software and software products are evolving faster than the rate at which software security is evolving. No wonder the requirements and vacancies for a secure programmer are rising around the world. More and more IT professionals are considering secure web programming as a career due to the reputation and the scope of growth. To pursue a career as a secure web programming professional, you need to have essential and fundamental skills for developing secure and robust applications. However, the journey to becoming an expert is not easy, and we are fully aware of this fact. This is why you need the right platform to learn and achieve your desired goals.

Let’s breakdown what it takes to be a secure programmer.

How Can I Pursue a Career as a Secure Programmer?

You need to possess a few distinct qualities to become a security software developer. An enterprising individual who is ambitious, adventurous, energetic, confident, extroverted, assertive, enthusiastic, and optimistic, has a bright future as a professional in this field. Apart from all this, a security software developer should be dominant, motivated, persuasive, and artistic.

Skills Required to Progress as a Secure Web Programing Expert

Here are some skills that you will need to progress as a secure web programming expert:

1. Understanding of programming and cybersecurity

If you wish to pursue a career as a secure software programmer, you will need to understand computer programming and cybersecurity. You must have the ability to apply application security at every level of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). At the same time, knowing and staying up to date with the OWASP Top 10 and threat modeling methodologies will help you make better-informed decisions.

2. Strong cryptography skills — Application Encryption

There is always a probability that cryptography, especially encryption, is not one of the primary objectives of a secure programmer. These cases make data prone to attacks from the outside world. Encrypting data before storing it on a database, big data, or on a cloud will help secure your data.

3. Static AppSec Testing (SAST)

SAST is a set of technologies engineered to analyze the vulnerabilities in the source code before compiling it. This is also referred to as white-box testing. These methodologies help eliminate even highly complex vulnerabilities, which are not visible until you get hold of the source code.

4. Dynamic AppSec Testing (DAST)

Another similar trait that a secure programmer must possess is the ability to perform DAST, also known as black-box security testing. DAST uses methodologies to test vulnerabilities during the running state of the application. The set of technologies under this kind of testing opt for the approaches adopted by the perpetrators.

5. Soft Skills

There is no mandatory personal skill set required by an AppSec engineer; but having a few of the below-mentioned soft skills can help your security team to perform better:

◉ Oral and written communication skills: For writing comprehensive reports

◉ Teamwork: Proper interaction is the key to mitigate security risks

◉ Decision-making capability: For adopting new countermeasures for unknown attacks

◉ Analytical skills: To foresee which application vulnerability can become a major threat

How Can You Become a Secure Programmer?

You can opt to train in college or at a job as a software professional. Having prior experience in handling security threats will help you progress in this role. You can gain experience in this field by interning at a corporate cybersecurity department within a security operations center.

If you are new to programming, have just started learning python, or are a network administrator interested in programming or a professional who is working in application development and computer security, then these courses can help you:

Secure programming in C

It is one of the topmost criteria to have knowledge of secure coding with C. C programming language is so flexible and versatile that it is commonly used with a number of applications. But it is also vulnerable to exploitation due to the same reasons. This is why learning how to write a secure code is important to grow as a professional.

In this course, you will first learn about the overall security of a C application. You will then get an insight into writing a better and secure C code that can prevent pitfalls commonly found in the C language.

Furthermore, you will learn how vulnerabilities and security flaws caused by incorrect use of dynamic memory management functions can be avoided. You will also understand how to eliminate integer-related problems caused by signed integer overflows, truncation errors, and unsigned integer wrapping.

Secure programming in C++

C++ programs are usually insecure even though the language is popularly used for writing codes. There are several vulnerabilities found in the C++ code because of which hackers can exploit it. Identifying and understanding the potential errors made with C++ programs is important before you can write a secure C++ code.

This course will take you through the entire process by providing vulnerable code examples, exploiting the codes, and then demonstrating corrected code that cannot be affected by exploitation.

Python Security Microdegree

Python programming language is among the most popular languages. This is because it is easy to learn and is open source, with tons of libraries for various implementations.

In this course, you will learn about basic and intermediate Python programming like data functions, structures, object-oriented programming, etc., to provide a foundation for any programming project. You will also learn about Python’s practical use in cybersecurity like password cracking, socket programming, and cross-platform scripting.

By the end of the course, you will be able to write Python programs for general purpose applications and use Python for cybersecurity.

Web Application Penetration Testing

This course focuses on the practical side of penetration testing and the theory behind every attack. You will first learn how you can set up a lab and install the needed software for practicing penetration testing on your own machine.

This course will provide basic introductions to a website, a web server, and database, which are essential to understand how a website functions. Once the introduction is complete, you’ll learn how to exploit these components and the method of communication to carry out several powerful attacks.

By the end of this course, you’ll have a thorough understanding of launching attacks, website testing, and web applications security. The training program will make you efficient in fixing security vulnerabilities and securing websites from cyberattacks.

Source: eccouncil.org

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Tips from a CISO: How to Create a Great Security Program

Developing a security program sometimes feels like trying to solve a 3,000 piece jigsaw puzzle while some people are trying to disturb your focus and the clock is ticking. To make the challenge harder, the big picture you are trying to mirror is constantly changing along the way.

The common challenges of playing the CISO role in an organization go far beyond applying subject matter expertise and require us to apply all leadership, strategy, and communication skills to guide the organizational culture and allow business prosperity. Understanding the business, managing stakeholders’ expectations, and setting the same risk awareness level across the company are just some examples of the challenges that a security executive role needs to address. On the SME role, we usually start with risk assessments and gap analysis, followed by a formal cybersecurity program plan.

No matter how much effort we apply to create the plan, there is always a moment when you realize that the big picture you were mirroring as a target state will not bring the business any value anymore. Business landscape changes such as M&A’s, new competition created from other industries, new tech forces being applied, and internal business strategy changes drive the plan to be reviewed. In addition, there will be new cyber incidents, emerging high risks, new regulation due dates, or a black-swan-like COVID-19 that will lead you to review the security program you just drafted immediately.

How to Develop a Sustainable and Adaptable Security Program?

The first thing is to set up the right foundational pillars. Since we know that changes are a constant in the CISO ecosystem, we should consider it a part of the game plan and set strategies to help detect and respond as early as possible. I propose that security executives focus their strategies on some specific perspectives:

1. Business awareness

Understand the business should not be a one-shot activity but a constant in the CISO job. Understanding business goals, products, services, challenges, and strategies help the security team do their traditional tasks while supporting business objectives. However, it should also allow the CISO to position themselves as a part of the business, enabling the organization to take risk decisions considering the latest picture and whatever makes more sense for the business to prosper.

2. Strategic positioning

Understanding the kind of value the information security program can provide to the business is essential for the buy-in and support of your program. Given the digital business transformation movement, cyber and information security are now starting to be seen as essential business components, which helps the CISO go far beyond sustaining and protection roles, to that of a business developer and enabler. Achieving this maturity level requires that the CISO maintain a strategic mindset.

3. Engagement

The security program should not be a one-person challenge. The department should engage everyone who can contribute to disseminating the security culture across the organization. Defining the strategy together with key stakeholders and leading the business to some of these initiatives helps create buy-in and program effectiveness, besides framing the risk ownership and accountability culture.

4. Build a strong team

Having a challenged, passionate, and skilled team will help the organization drive any technical changes that should be addressed while keeping stakeholders and the entire organization connected to the reviewed strategy. A team with guidance, autonomy, and constant feedback is an essential pillar to the success of the security program on both technical expertise and leading, influencing, and proposing changes to the company. A strong team also represents the needed technical know-how the organization will have to better manage risks.

5. Communication

Leading a security program is much more than defining the right tools, processes, and governance to achieve a specific goal. It is guiding an organizational culture on security aspects. Many times it is to transform a company’s mindset and lead organizational changes. Communication is the key link between giving the right message and listening to what is being communicated. Changes take time and require online interactions to make them sustainable.

Moving the information security discipline beyond the purely technical perspective to be a part of the business demands that CISOs play a business role. This means that mitigating risk will not be the only option and, at the end of the day, the security department should be working not as a company guardian but as one more important business piece that is resilient and adaptable to changes. This way, whatever happens in the business context or the risk landscape, security will continue to play their part to enable the business.

Source: eccouncil.org

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Why Is Application Security Important?

Application security is no longer an afterthought but a foremost one. Applications across platforms, especially the unsecured ones, pose grave security threats since hackers can always find ways to bypass defenses or hit unpatched vulnerabilities.

Given the growing number of organizations developing their own applications and integrating them with open-source code, the potential vulnerabilities and risks linked with these apps have also increased significantly. Thus, security testing for applications is critical.

This is why EC-Council offers the Certified Application Security Engineer (CASE) training program. CASE goes beyond the regulations on secure coding practices and incorporates secure requirement gathering, strong application design, and security challenge management in the post-development phase of application development.

But, before we delve into why application security certification is important and why you should care, let’s first talk about what application security is.

What Is Application Security?

Application security is the process of developing, inserting, and testing security components within applications. This protocol is vital for application development as it mitigates security weaknesses against potential threats like unsanctioned access and modifications. The aim of application security is to prevent code or data within an application from being stolen or compromised.

Simply put, application security includes all the activities involved in making your application more secure, including identifying, fixing, and improving the security of your applications. For instance, installing a router to prevent outsiders from accessing a computer’s IP address from the Internet is a form of hardware application security.

Other forms of application security include software, hardware, and other practices that can detect or reduce security vulnerabilities. An application security practice or procedure can include activities such as an application security routine that involves protocols like constant testing.

3 Reasons Why Application Security Is Important

1. Guarantees the security of sensitive information

Based on a Veracode report, 83% of the 85,000 applications that were tested had at least one security issue or more. 50% had more than one issue, while 20% of all apps had no less than one high severity flaw. While not every flaw poses a substantial security risk, the sheer number is quite disturbing.

Sensitive information protection is a major concern for most people, which is why they are reluctant to share their personal information online. Therefore, most organizations go to great lengths to assure their customers, clients, or end users that their personal information would not be shared with a third party. This is particularly practiced in the retail industry and by credit card companies.

2. Increases consumer trust and boosts business reputation

In this day and age where no organization is safe from cyberattacks, application security limits a cyber attacker’s attempts to get to your organization. There is an increasing demand for security at the network level and at the application level. The sooner and quicker you can discover and resolve security issues, the safer your business will be.

Without a doubt everyone makes mistakes, but the issue is how to detect those mistakes in a timely manner. Organizations that have managed to scale this issue have seen a larger consumer base, increased sales, improved consumer loyalty, and better reputation, all based on their implementation of the best security practices.

3. Helps prevent potential attacks

Today, applications face more attacks than ever before. Application security testing can expose vulnerabilities at the application level, which when patched helps to prevent further attacks.

Similarly, when integrated into your application development settings, application security tools can simplify workflow and make the process more efficient. These tools are helpful for performing compliance audits. It saves time and money by identifying issues before cyber attackers notice them.

The Challenges of Ensuring Application Security

The bulk of most organizations’ strategic business procedures are promoted by applications. The question remains, why is application security not getting as much attention as network security?

Traditionally, Java Security Engineers and other app security professionals must satisfy too many masters before they can secure their apps. Their foremost challenge is to keep up with the ever-changing security landscape and the application development tools market, while gunning for approvals.

The following are the challenges faced in application security:

Shortage of sufficiently skilled workforce

The lack of accessible talent for cybersecurity jobs has made cybersecurity experts very costly to hire and maintain. According to Salary.com, as of September 2020, an Entry Level Security Engineer’s salary averaged at $87,741 in the United States. Include the cost of benefits and overheads, and you’re looking at a huge investment for a very specialized skill set.

Even if your organization can fill in these positions, the levels of expertise needed for this new employee will span across numerous domains as software security programs evolve geometrically. These specialized domains include testing, authentication, design flaws, data protection, bugs, encryption, and client-side applications, among others.

Inconsistent demand

Given that most organizations don’t follow a fixed-release schedule, there are inconsistencies in testing demands. To this effect, continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) has become obligatory for organizations to remain competitive and meet customer demands.

Let’s assume you work in an agile development setting. What this means is that you could be facing nearly continuous feature releases, with each of these updates carrying varying levels of technical risks and business impacts. Your app security program must be able to accommodate this.

A timely response is critical

Your business is not only dealing with a lumpy release schedule but also battling with the ever-changing security environment. Your security team must be ready to respond in a timely fashion when new threats are discovered, and they must be able to meet different compliance and regulatory demands.

Without an effective application security team, your organization will be scrambling to test and clean up codes. Even worse, you could be battling against time to deploy patches to software already released to the masses.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution

There is no master tool that can keep you safe. Even though automated tools have become more sophisticated, each security testing tool has varying support. Just applying one or even two is not enough to guarantee that you won’t miss critical issues that could sabotage your security.

The downside is, if you don’t have the skill set to replicate security protocols and verify findings, you might end up spending long hours chasing false positives. Besides, tools are not enough to guarantee your organization’s security. There are new threats and attack vectors coming up daily, while new regulations are elevating compliance requirements.

To address all this, you must improve your testing strategies and preventive measures if you’re to keep up with these changes. Enroll for our CASE training program to get started.

What Can You Do To Resolve These Application Security Challenges?

There are different things you can do to resolve these issues. Being on top of the situation and using proactive security measures will allow you to invest your time more effectively. When security issues are left unattended, they can escalate into a crisis, and all you’ll be focused on are remediation and damage control, as your business goes on a downward spiral.

With the right resources and tools, you can design secure architectures and develop secure codes that won’t slow down the development process or affect user experience. Organizing software security training such as EC-Council’s CASE can go a long way in ensuring the security of your critical data and applications.

Source: eccouncil.org

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5 Steps to take after a live cybersecurity incident

Every organization is susceptible to cyberattacks, and when it happens, there’s a tiny line between rescuing your network security and getting it infected by malicious threats. Every second of proactive measure counts to avoid the rapid spread of an attack. As of now, many companies, including enterprises and small-to-midsize firms, are increasingly aware of the need to develop a cybersecurity incident response plan to address attacks headlong. Having an incident response plan that takes effect following a live incident will lower costs and damages to a firm’s reputation. Indeed, there are many things to consider that must all fit in together to execute an incident response seamlessly. Some organizations, especially those that haven’t experienced cyber threats, don’t know where to start from, let alone what to prioritize, which is often why they look to Certified Incident Handlers to assist.

What is the cybersecurity incident response?

A security incident is a warning that there might be a breach of the data on your computer. Sometimes, the warning could also be that the breach in your security has already occurred. A computer security incident can also be regarded as a threat to your computer’s related policies. Examples of computer security threats/incidents include malicious attacks, which include viruses and worms.

How do you respond to a security incident?

The incident response life cycle consists of five vital steps to incident handling. For incidence response to be successful, security teams must take a well-organized approach to any live incident.

What are the five steps of the incident response?

The five steps of incident response are also the framework for any company today to respond to a security incident and are summarized as follows:

Step 1: Preparation

Preparation is vital to effective incident response. Even the best security teams cannot tackle a security breach without pre-determined guidelines. Hence, a healthy plan needs to be available beforehand to take care of any incident that might occur at some point. Preparation is the first step to handle a live incident.

Get the right people with great expertise. Appoint a leader for your IRS team who will be in charge of every activity. The leader should have direct communication with the management team to make crucial decisions with immediate effect.

Step 2: Identification

The focus of this step is to track, monitor, identify, alert, and report any security incident that has occurred.

The incident response team should be able to recognize the source of a security breach and contain it. Your IR team should understand the various incident occurrence indicators such as anti-malware programs, file integrity checking software, system, and network administrators, and more.

Step 3: Triage and Analysis

Much work takes place in this phase. Lots of resources need to be used to get data from tools and systems to analyze further and identify indicators of compromise. In this step, a team should have in-depth skills and knowledge of live incident responses.

Until the incident is cleared, it is difficult to ascertain the extent of the damage. Hence, analyze the cause of the incident; consider the incident as more severe and respond to it quickly.

Step 4: Containment

Containment is one of the most critical steps of incident response. The methods used in this step solely rely on intelligence and indicators of compromise gotten during the triage and analysis step. Containment also has to do with reducing the damages of an incident and quarantining affected systems in a network.

Once the IR team has identified an incident, it needs to be contained. Containing the incident may include disabling the network access to the network so that infected computers are quarantined. You may also need to reset the passwords of affected users.

Step 5: Post-Incident Activity

This step involves the proper documentation of information used to prevent future similar occurrences.

It is necessary to notify affected parties so that they can protect themselves from fallouts from the leak of personal or financial data.

Learn from the incident so that future occurrences won’t occur again. You need to perform post-incident activities such as teaching employees how to avoid phishing scams and adding technologies that can manage and track threats.

These 5 steps are crucial for responding to security incidents within an organization.

The purpose of immediately reporting a suspected cybersecurity incident

When security experts confirm a live incident, it is highly relevant to inform other security bodies in an organization as soon as possible, depending on how severe a security breach is—the quicker the response time, the less damage that might occur. Most notably, departments such as finance, Information Technology, and Customer Service need to act immediately. Additionally, your incident response plan should indicate who needs to be informed immediately. It should also include how to communicate with the appropriate parties to save time after the consequences of a cyber-attack.

Source: eccouncil.org

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5 Ways to Ensure BYOD Safety with Network Security

With the influx of millennials and increasing demand for flexible employment, there is a transition from using corporate devices to personnel bringing their own devices. This has a significant influence on how IT can handle data security. For network security, companies need to apply BYOD in the workplace to implement specific security measures for protecting valuable and sensitive corporate data.

What Is BYOD?

Bring Your Own Device, the acronym of BYOD, is a practice used by an organization that allows workers to use their own devices such as mobile phones or laptops to conduct official work. Employees have been using their personal devices at the workplace for private affairs, and the introduction of BYOD now allows them to use their own devices for professional work.

This helps increase employee productivity, improve employee engagement in the company, and reduce IT operational costs. However, this can cause a massive network security risk as it makes an organization vulnerable to cyber threats.

Why Do Companies Prefer BYOD?

BYOD offers employees and enterprise owners a simple and easy to manage solutions to their network devices. Some of the importance of BYOD are stated below.

◉ It helps to increase employee productivity.

◉ It helps to save money.

◉ It provides quick responses from employees.

Why Is BYOD Security Important?

Organizations need to address the BYOD security as personal devices will likely enter a workplace, whether it is sanctioned or not by the IT. Furthermore, BYOD solutions help to improve the morale and productivity of employees. However, if BYOD security is not addressed by IT, personal device access to an organization’s network can cause serious security challenges.

According to a recent report, the new remote working environment has encouraged businesses to opt for a BYOD culture, with 69% of businesses allowing their employees to use personal devices to perform corporate tasks. However, this surge has also resulted in many security incidents, with 63% of respondents encountering data breach incidents, 53% – unauthorized access to data and systems, and 52% – malware infections.

https://youtu.be/AQFSxp8xL3o

What Security Issues Does BYOD Increase?

Some of the top BYOD vulnerabilities to hybrid network security are stated below.

1. Third-party network flaws

Employees usually connect their devices to different types of networks that are outside of the organization’s control. However, third-party networks do not have a range of security features that are incorporated into corporate networks. This means that storing corporate data on BYOD approved devices can put employees at security threats when they connect to third-party wireless networks.

2. Malformed Content

Most employees do not know that adversaries can exploit weaknesses in malformed content such as videos, landing pages, etc. to get access to a targeted OS or app. Furthermore, using Android devices can easily be hacked because of the presence of software weaknesses in the media processing component of Android.

3. Lost or Stolen Gadgets

One of the common causes of the BYOD security issue is lost or stolen gadgets. Hackers can steal an employee device for their value, and the information on the device can be accessed through hardware and software vulnerabilities. This means enterprise data can leak out if the device is stolen.

4. OS-Related Vulnerabilities

Most organizations use a single software ecosystem for running their operations. However, BYOD’s adoption means you will see a combination of iOS, Android, and windows used in the workplace. This indicates that every device has a different operating system and framework that it runs on and different vulnerabilities, increasing the possibility of hacking and data breaches.

5. Malicious Apps

It is not all apps installed on a device that are actually safe, even the apps found on the official app stores. Furthermore, hackers can use malicious apps to control the user’s device, leading to loss of work information, data theft, and call charges.

How do you make BYOD secure?

1. Set up BYOD Security Policies for All External Devices

Before employees have the freedom to access company data, ensure that a strict security policy is implemented. This policy should include the need for complex passwords, lock screens, constant updates/ patches, security scans, restricted access, and more.

2. Do Not Allow Any Rooted Devices

Most rooted devices are considered to be “easily compromised” devices. This means that the device is more susceptible to security vulnerabilities, viruses, ransomware attacks, trojans, fileless malware, and other cyber threats.

3. Store Business Data and Personal Data Separately

As a healthy security practice, management suites have the ability to wipe data off the device. However, it is always advised that companies provide a set of “corporate-approved apps” that can store data for personal use.

4. Encryption Is the Key to Secure Corporate Data Storage

All corporate data stored on the device should be encrypted so that if the device is compromised, the data is not easily accessible.

5. Connect to VPNs

To ensure an extra layer of security, employees should be encouraged to use a VPN connection when connecting to the company’s server.

https://youtu.be/zBtOIom1_bI

Source: eccouncil.org

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Who Is a Secure Cyber Professional and What Do They Do?

The growth of cybercrime puts government agencies and organizations at risk of constant threats from cybercriminals. Furthermore, a well-fortified website or network can still be a victim of any cyberattack. This is why organizations need to have a cybersecurity strategy and always perform cyber hygiene all the time.

The cybersecurity profession is a growing one, and you need to have a certificate, an advanced degree to get a lucrative career. This is because cybersecurity professionals play a significant role in protecting businesses from cybercriminals.

Who Is A Cybersecurity Professional?

Cybersecurity professionals help in securing the information systems of an organization. A security expert helps an organization coordinate and implement information security policies. They use their skills to apply multi-layer security policies for defending IT infrastructure from malware, web threats, viruses, phishing, DoS attacks, etc.

Why Do Cybersecurity Professionals Matter?

Cybercriminals can cause severe damages to network, intellectual property, business data through viruses, theft, data mining, intrusions, and so on. However, cybercriminals help to resolve highly complex security issues and keep cyber crime at bay.

Furthermore, they help secure businesses and ensure continuity through their analysis skills, incident handling, reverse engineering, forensics, and monitoring and diagnosing vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity experts also recommend mitigation of cyberattacks and recovery and the protection of software and hardware issues.

Types of Cyber Threats that Secure Cyber Professionals Address

There are lots of opportunities available that cybercriminals can use for attacking a network to get personal and sensitive information. Some of the types of cyber threats are stated below.

Malware

The main purpose of malware is to destroy a computer. Malware can be in the form of an ad that you click on, a rogue software meant to keep your network safe but actually installs malicious intent, a virus that you accidentally installed, or something that infects your files.

Phishing

This is the process of using emails, SMSs, and other forms of communication to gather sensitive information like credit cards, bank account, and other personal details.

Denial of Service (DoS)

This is a type of cyberattack that occurs when a server or network is bombarded with messages that request authentication in an attempt to lock an individual or company out.

Man in the Middle

This is the process where a person with malicious intent intercepts important emails between two parties to get delicate information.

Password Attack

This is the attack process where a cybercriminal tries to access your passwords to take over your system or network.

Is Cybersecurity a Good Career Option?

With almost 3 million job vacancies globally, cybersecurity is an obviously attractive industry to be in.  Day after day, more and more security breaches are making headlines and organizations are eagerly hunting for skilled cybersecurity professionals to shore up their defenses.

Average Salary of a Cybersecurity Professional

The average salary of a cybersecurity professional in the US, according to Zip Recruiter, is $112,441 per annum, and the highest averaging $199,500 per annum. However, employment opportunities and salary potential depend on regional market conditions, credentials, education, experience, and students’ willingness to learn and grow.

What Kind of Jobs Are There in Cybersecurity?

Some of the most popular job roles in the cybersecurity industry are Ethical Hackers, Application Security Engineer, Director of Information Security, Senior Security Consultant, Security Architect, Penetration Tester, Chief Information Security Officer, Risk Manager, Security Engineer, and Information Manager, among others.

How to Become A Cybersecurity Professional?

If you are mulling over a shift in your career or just looking for a transition from your existing industry before you decide, you must ask the following questions to yourself:

◉ What skills do I bring to cybersecurity?

◉ Based on my skills, what other certifications shall I acquire?

◉ Do I need to acquire any technical education also?

◉ What sort of opportunities does my certification bring?

◉ What is the validity and credibility of the certification that I am planning to acquire?

While it is true that you don’t need to be a technical expert, acquiring the proper skills and knowledge required for the position is a must.

EC-Council offers distinct cybersecurity programs, including certification programs, continuous learning programs, and micro degrees. The various programs specialize in various cybersecurity streams, and your selection should be based on the one that you want to be an expert. One such program that can help you propel your career in cybersecurity is the secure cyber professional.

The Secure Cyber Professional

Nowadays, businesses are being run over network-connected devices, which makes everyone a target to cybercriminals. This is why it is best to ensure all employees undergo regular cybersecurity content and awareness training.

In this course, you will be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to protect your information assets. Furthermore, you will get a fundamental understanding of the numerous computer and network security threats like email hoaxes, credit card fraud, identity theft, online banking phishing scams, hacking attacks, and so on.

You will also learn about the numerous injection security, spoofing attacks, password attacks, and session hijacking. This means by the end of this course, you will be knowledgeable about the emerging threats in cybersecurity, and you can easily take precautionary measures to keep your data secure.

Source: eccouncil.org

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How to Secure PHP and Prevent Attacks

Keeping a website safe and secure from external attacks and data leak is a priority for every web designer. Vulnerabilities are common during the web designing process and most of the time it happens without developer’s knowledge. PHP is a popular language for web development that is used to create dynamic interactive websites. But contrary to popular myths, PHP does more than that for a website.

PHP is a script language and interpreter originally derived from Personal Home Page Tools. PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. It is regarded as the most powerful server-side language in a web programming language. Furthermore, it is designed mainly for writing secure codes, and its configuration provides flexibility for making attractive webpages.

PHP is a perfect alternative to Microsoft’s Active Server Page (ASP) technology. PHP can be embedded within a webpage along with its HTML. Furthermore, before a page requested by a user is sent to the user, the web server will call on PHP to interpret and perform the operations called for in the PHP script.

What Can PHP Do?

There are three main aspects of web development where you can use PHP –

Server-side scripting: Server-side scripting is a type of PHP code that is executed online before the data is passed to the user’s browser. It is simple to use and easy to understand because of which it is the perfect model for amateur programmers.

Command-line scripting: This mode is suitable for scripts made with Task Scheduler or cron. It is also perfect for single text processing.

Writing desktop application: Although PHP is probably not the best language for creating desktop applications, it provides an advanced web developer with numerous options.

Note: Everything you need for PHP is usually on your desktop. Furthermore, you can use it on all major operating systems, from Windows to Linux. It also supports lots of widely used servers, which means you will have options when using it.

The advantage of using PHP is that both beginners and advanced programmers can use it without any problems.

Common Uses Of PHP

◉ PHP can encrypt data.

◉ It restricts users from accessing restricted pages of your website.

◉ With PHP, you can add, delete, modify elements within your database.

◉ PHP is used to access cookies variables and set cookies.

◉ PHP can perform system functions such as creating, opening, reading, writing, and closing files.

◉ like gathering data from files, saving data to a file, etc.

Benefits of PHP

◉ PHP is open source and can support a large number of databases.

◉ It runs on multiple platforms, which makes it convenient to use

◉ PHP has low development and maintenance cost with high performance and reliability

◉ You can connect PHP to almost every server and database.

◉ It has an easy authentication and authorization system.

PHP Security

As stated above, PHP is regarded as the most popular server-side web programming language. However, with PHP’s popularity, it is important to enforce PHP security because there are many different vulnerable PHP applications out there.

Causes of Vulnerabilities

Most PHP vulnerabilities are caused by bad coding practices or lack of PHP application security awareness among the developers. This is why it is important to apply two key procedures when writing codes: validation and sanitization.

However, if you can implement both procedures for user data, you have to ensure that anything that is processed and executed is valid and meets specified criteria. Furthermore, Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) plays a big role when applying PHP security procedures.

You can use a well-written reusable code to increase the system’s overall security and make sure the same data processing procedure is followed.

Top 10 Security Best Practices For PHP

◉ Update your PHP version regularly.

◉ Beware of XSS attacks (cross-site scripting).

◉ Use prepared SQL statements.

◉ Don’t upload all framework files to your server.

◉ Always validate user input.

◉ Limit directory access.

◉ Verify your SSL configuration.

◉ Use URL encoding.

◉ Avoid remote file inclusion.

Get a Micro Degree in PHP Security

Adding security to an existing application can be expensive and cumbersome, but a data breach can prove costlier to an organization. Under the GDPR, the organization can be fined for about €10 million if you do not secure your customer’s data.

In this course, you will learn about the practical skills that you can use to develop a secure web application. You will get a practical approach to security for addressing all parts of your web application and ways to deploy it.

Who can pursue this course?

This course is suitable for PHP professionals who want to expand their awareness and knowledge of security principles. You will learn how to write better code, use tools that identify problems, and spot common problems during and after the web development process. This course is ideal for anyone who wishes to advance their career in PHP and enhance their skills.

Source: eccouncil.org

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