Untitled

[varindia99]

Latest and Updated Information Security and IT Security News- VarIndia Magazine

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), after discovering vulnerabilities has now issued an advisory to update the Google Chrome browser to the latest version. The last version which is older than 88.0.4324.146 for Mac, Linux and Windows systems has come up with a lot of challenges and issues.

In its advisory, CERT-In said, “Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Google Chrome which could be exploited by an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system.”

According to Google blog, the security vulnerabilities are not being disclosed “until a majority of users are updated with a fix.” This could have a drastic effect on the user as it could help an attacker to execute arbitrary code, could view, change or delete data in the targeted system.

Further explaining the problem, CERT-In revealed, “Multiple vulnerabilities exist in Google Chrome due to Use after free in payments, Heap buffer in extensions, Heap buffer in Tab Groups, Use after Free in Fonts, Use after Free in Navigation, Inappropriate implementation in Skia and Heap buffer overflow in V8. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by persuading the victims to persuade a specially crafted website.”Google has already rolled out the beat version of Chrome 89 and it is going to come up with further updates over the coming weeks and days.

Keep up to date with the latest Information Security and IT Security News & Articles- VarIndia IT Magazine

[varindia99]

Latest and Updated Information Security and IT Security News- VarIndia Magazine

Veeam Software reported results for its fiscal year 2020. Veeam kicked off 2020 with the completion of its acquisition by Insight Partners, which was announced on Jan. 9 at a valuation of $5 billion, setting the pace for a year of substantial growth and expanded success across all market segments, culminating with Veeam’s acquisition of Kasten, the market leader for Kubernetes Backup and Disaster Recovery (DR), in Q4’20.

“Even with the unforeseen challenges and circumstances that began in early 2020, Veeam continued its rapid growth with its second consecutive year of bookings over $1 billion and a 22% year-over-year (YoY) increase in annual recurring revenue (ARR),” said William H. Largent, chairman and CEO at Veeam.

"2020 was a defining moment for data protection and management. More than ever, we are seeing our customers looking for reliability and ease of use in their Cloud Data Management solutions, and in Q4, APJ demonstrated another quarter of double-digit growth with an annual recurring revenue (ARR) increase of 24 percent year-over-year (YoY). This is a testament to our ongoing commitment to our customers and partners, enabling them to unleash the power of digital and data mobility," said Shiva Pillay, Vice President, Sales and Field Operations, Asia Pacific and Japan.

"APJ is growing around 10 times the market average and the exceptional growth would not be possible without the support of our customers and partners. We welcomed over 400,000+ customers globally, including APJ customers such as Kintetsu in Japan and Gammon Construction and Jebsen in Hong Kong last quarter. As a 100% channel organization, we would not have been able to garner these results without the constant support and hard work with our partners - over 1700 transacting partners in Q4. We continue to focus and invest in our relationships with existing and potential partners, which has been well received and backed with strong results. In Q4, we had investment of 200 partners to undertake the highest level of accreditation which gives them to the ability to design, build and deploy Veeam Solutions which in turn supports this customer growth. This year, businesses will be put to the test in achieving business growth while keeping up with the rapid pace of innovation and digital transformation. Veeam's priorities remain clear and focused on helping our customers and partners build the best data protection platform for virtual and modern data infrastructures, and at the same time, protect workloads on-premises and across multi-cloud environments. We continue to execute well and plan to continue our growth momentum in APJ, backing that up with hiring across all functions to support our customer and partners.”

During 2020, Veeam’s vision for hybrid cloud drove the company to continued growth, surpassing 400,000 customers. Specifically, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365, Veeam’s fastest growing product for the past two years, reported 73% growth YoY. Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 has now been downloaded by more than 154,000 organizations, representing over 15 million user mailboxes. Version 5, released in December 2020, adds purpose-built backup and recovery for Microsoft Teams, making it easier than ever for users to quickly find and restore Teams data, including entire groups, specific channels and settings. Protecting this data is more critical than ever, as the shift to remote working has created an explosion in Microsoft Teams adoption over the past year, with 115 million daily active users last month, up 475% from 20 million daily active users almost 12 months ago.

Q4 & 2020 Customer, Product and Partner Highlights

· Veeam was positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant of the 2020 Magic Quadrant for Data Center Backup and Recovery Solutions[ii]. Not only does this mark the fourth time Gartner has recognized Veeam as a category Leader, but it is the first time Veeam is positioned highest overall in ability to execute. Veeam was also the only vendor to move higher in both ability to execute and in the completeness of vision categories.

· Further proof of Veeam’s growth trajectory was displayed in the most recent IDC Semi-Annual Software Tracker for Data Replication & Protection 1H’20[iii] which showed that Veeam has delivered the fastest revenue growth year-over-year in 1H’20, among the top five vendors, the combined revenues of non-top 5 vendors and overall market average. Veeam’s YoY growth in the first half of 2020 was more than 8 percentage points above the market average.

· Veeam announced 16 major releases (25+ including updates) in 2020, with hundreds of new capabilities. This includes Veeam Backup & Replication v10, Veeam ONE™ v10, Veeam Backup for Nutanix AHV v2, Veeam Service Provider Console v4, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Azure v1, Veeam Availability Orchestrator v3, Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 v5 and Veeam Backup for AWS v3.

· With more than 650,000 unique downloads of Veeam Backup & Replication v10 since general release in late February 2020, the product averages more than one download per minute, a testament to the product’s simplicity, flexibility and reliability. With more than 150 new features and enhancements, including powerful NAS support, multi-VM Instant VM Recovery® and heightened ransomware protection, v10 includes data protection capabilities that increase availability, portability, and extensibility for Cloud Data Management.

· Veeam continues to release new features and enhancements ideal for enterprise environments, which has resulted in +250% growth YoY in large-deal transactions.

· Veeam now counts 82% of the Fortune 500 and 69% of the Global 2000 as customers. Key customers include Airbus Defence & Space, Alpha Bank, Avnet, Broward County Schools (FL), Dassault Aviation, Datev, Deloitte, Engie, Hero MotoCorp, Hertz, IBM Cloud, Pernod Ricard, Penske Australia and New Zealand, Puma, Quinnipiac University, Rabobank, Royal Dutch Shell, Siemens and Wenatchee Valley College.

· Veeam Universal License (VUL), the industry’s first portable license that enables IT agility and workload mobility for multi and hybrid cloud enterprises, accounted for 56% growth YoY.

Veeam’s technology alliance resell agreements with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Cisco, NetApp, and Lenovo reported 16% YoY growth.

Keep up to date with the latest Information Security and IT Security News & Articles- VarIndia IT Magazine

[varindia99]

Latest and Updated Information Security and IT Security News- VarIndia Magazine

HCL Technologies (HCL) announced it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) to collaborate in the area of cybersecurity. As part of the MoU, HCL will work with C3iHub, a specialized cybersecurity research center at IITK.

This collaboration will bring together the country’s brightest minds, advanced research capabilities and global resources to develop advanced solutions in the area of cybersecurity. HCL and IITK will bring in real world industry exposure to carry out joint initiatives and research.

The teams will develop a security framework and solutions for cybersecurity challenges in current and future operational technologies as one of the first areas of interest. They will also work together to discover and manage cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and risks for critical infrastructure.

HCL will also work with IITK to identify selective research projects in order to bring them to scale. The projects will be tested on international benchmarks for potential commercialization to products and services, with testing and development performed in a special HCL environment.

Keep up to date with the latest Information Security and IT Security News & Articles- VarIndia IT Magazine

[varindia99]

Latest and Updated Information Security and IT Security News- VarIndia Magazine

Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, today published its latest findings into real world attacks investigated by its Rapid Response team. The article, “Nefilim Ransomware Attack Uses ‘Ghost’ Credentials,” details how a failure to keep close tabs on “ghost” account credentials facilitated two recent cyberattacks, one of which involved Nefilim ransomware.

Nefilim, also known as Nemty ransomware, combines data theft with encryption. The target hit by Nefilim had more than 100 systems impacted. Sophos responders traced the initial intrusion to an admin account with high level access that attackers had compromised more than four weeks before they released the ransomware. During this time, the attackers were able to quietly move through the network, steal credentials for a domain admin account, and find and exfiltrate hundreds of GB of data, before unleashing the ransomware that revealed their presence.

The hacked admin account that enabled this belonged to an employee who had sadly passed away around three months previously. The company had kept the account active because it was used for a number of services.

In the second, unrelated attack, Sophos responders found that intruders had created a new user account and added it to the target’s domain admin group in Active Directory. With this new new domain admin account, the attackers were able to delete approximately 150 virtual servers and encrypt the server backups using Microsoft Bitlocker – all without setting off alerts.

“If it wasn’t for the ransomware that flagged the presence of intruders, how long might the attackers have had domain admin access to the network without the company knowing?” said Peter Mackenzie, manager, Sophos Rapid Response. “Staying on top of account credentials is basic, but critical cybersecurity hygiene. We see far too many incidents where accounts have been set up, often with considerable access rights, that are then forgotten about, sometimes for years. Such ‘ghost’ accounts are a prime target for attackers.

“If an organization really needs an account after someone has left the company, they should implement a service account and deny interactive logins to prevent any unwanted activity. Or, if they don’t need the account for anything else, disable it and carry out regular audits of Active Directory.

“The danger is not just keeping outdated and unmonitored accounts active; it is also giving employees greater access rights than they need. Fewer accounts need to be a domain admin than most people think. No account with privileges should be used by default for work that doesn't require that level of access. Users should elevate to using the required accounts when needed and only for that task. Further, alerts should be set so that if the domain admin account is used or if a new admin account is created, someone knows.”

Nefilim ransomware was first reported on in March 2020. Like other ransomware families such as Dharma, Nefilim mainly targets vulnerable Remote Desktop Protocol (RPD) systems as well as exposed Citrix software. It is one of a growing number of ransomware families, alongside DoppelPaymer and others that engages in so-called “secondary extortion,” with attacks that combine encryption with data theft and the threat of public exposure.

Further information on the incidents, including Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) and tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) for the Nefilim attack, can be found in “Nefilim Ransomware Attack Uses ‘Ghost’ Credentials.”

Keep up to date with the latest Information Security and IT Security News & Articles- VarIndia IT Magazine

[varindia99]

Latest and Updated Information Security and IT Security News- VarIndia Magazine

IDEMIA has partnered with Federal Bank in India to improve their existing access control and employee management systems with contactless biometric access control. Based on IDEMIA’s SmartBio SDK, this solution leverages facial and iris verification to authenticate employees for attendance and for access to the Core Banking System (CBS).

The shift to contactless solutions is underway globally, with biometric technology being increasingly explored as an alternative to touch-based authentication methods (such as fingerprint authentication). In this regard, Federal Bank solicited IDEMIA to help them implement a new access control system leveraging facial and iris verification to enable touchless access control at various points. To complete enrolment, employees register their iris using a dedicated device plugged into a laptop. Once registered, the employee’s biometric template is registered to Federal Bank’s database and is used as a reference when access is requested to its secure systems.

Shalini Warrier, Executive Director, Federal Bank said, “Federal Bank is constantly on the lookout for innovative solutions and new technologies that will drive improvements for our employees and customers. The introduction of face authentication techniques is one more step in this direction, and we are delighted to be a pioneer in this capability in India. We are excited to partner with IDEMIA to help implement this new biometric access control system and are confident their expertise in the fields of identity and security will make this a great success.”

In addition to providing additional levels of security, the augmented biometric templates will also enable Federal Bank to extend the capabilities of its multi-biometric system in a post-COVID work scenario.

“IDEMIA is proud to partner with Federal Bank to design and implement a secure biometric system that offers a smarter and more efficient working environment for employees,” says Pankaj Kundra, Digital Business Regional Head for India, Middle East & Africa at IDEMIA. “Together, our partnership will address a key operational challenge of the pandemic by reducing contact points. Implementation of this robust, reliable, and powerful access control system reaffirms IDEMIA’s leadership in contactless biometrics for a secure, convenient and hygienic access control in India.”

Keep up to date with the latest Information Security and IT Security News & Articles- VarIndia IT Magazine

[varindia99]

Latest and Updated Information Security and IT Security News- VarIndia Magazine

A hacker group has claimed leaked data of Army personnel using Bharti Airtel network in Jammu and Kashmir, however, the company has denied any breach in its system.

The group named by Red Rabbit Team, hacked some Indian websites and posted the data on the web pages of those portals.

The hackers shared some links of those web pages on Twitter in a comment over a tweet of cyber security researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia and tagged several media organisations.

The query sent to the Indian Army did not elicit any reply but an Army official said "We are not aware of any such information but it appears to be malicious intent of some inimical elements".

"We can confirm there is no hack or breach of any Airtel system as claimed by this group. Multiple stakeholders outside of Airtel have access to some data as per regulatory requirements. We have apprised all the relevant authorities of the matter to, therefore, investigate this and take appropriate action."

"This group has been in touch with our security team for over 15 months now and has made varying claims in addition to posting inaccurate data from one specific region," the spokesperson said.

The links shared by the hacker were initially accessible with mobile number, name and address of subscribers but stopped working after sometime.

Red Rabbit Team in a message to PTI claimed that it has access to pan-India data of Bharti Airtel through a shell uploaded on the company''s server and will leak more data soon.

Rajaharia said that hackers have failed to show any credible evidence of possessing pan-India data of Bharti Airtel and it is also unclear on the way they got subscriber''s data.

"The hacker group failed to show evidence that they have a whole India database. Their claim of shell upload may be also fake. The video of SDR portal seems real but only a short portion of data may leak via this. It is still unclear how they got access to whole Jammu and Kashmir subscriber data," he said.

Telecom operators are required to give access to government and law enforcement agencies of subscriber data registration (SDR) portal through which phone numbers and subscribers details can be verified. Rajaharia is suspecting on the hackers are may be from Pakistan.

"The website which was used to upload alleged Airtel data was hacked on December 4, 2020 by Mr Clay (TeamLeets - a Pakistani Hacker Group). This indicates that a Pakistani hacker group TeamLeets may be behind this data leak," Rajaharia said.

Keep up to date with the latest Information Security and IT Security News & Articles- VarIndia IT Magazine

[varindia99]

Latest and Updated Information Security and IT Security News- VarIndia Magazine

ESET researchers have discovered Kobalos, a malware that has been attacking supercomputers – high performance computer (HPC) clusters. ESET has worked with the CERN Computer Security Team and other organizations involved in mitigating attacks on these scientific research networks. Among other targets was a large Asian ISP, a North American endpoint security vendor as well as several privately held servers.

ESET researchers have reverse engineered this small, yet complex malware that is portable to many operating systems including Linux, BSD, Solaris, and possibly AIX and Windows. “We have named this malware Kobalos for its tiny code size and many tricks; in Greek mythology, a kobalos is a small, mischievous creature,” explains Marc-Etienne Léveillé, who investigated Kobalos. “It has to be said that this level of sophistication is only rarely seen in Linux malware,” adds Léveillé.

Kobalos is a backdoor containing broad commands that don’t reveal the intent of the attackers. “In short, Kobalos grants remote access to the file system, provides the ability to spawn terminal sessions, and allows proxying connections to other Kobalos-infected servers,” says Léveillé.

Any server compromised by Kobalos can be turned into a Command & Control (C&C) server by the operators sending a single command. As the C&C server IP addresses and ports are hardcoded into the executable, the operators can then generate new Kobalos samples that use this new C&C server. In addition, in most systems compromised by Kobalos, the client for secure communication (SSH) is compromised to steal credentials.

Keep up to date with the latest Information Security and IT Security News & Articles- VarIndia IT Magazine

[varindia99]

Latest and Updated Information Security and IT Security News- VarIndia Magazine

AppDynamics, a part of Cisco and an APM solution and full-stack, business-centric observability platform, announced Cisco Secure Application, a solution to drastically simplify vulnerability management, defend against attacks and protect applications - from the inside-out. Co-innovated with the Cisco Security business, this new solution correlates security and application insights through a single solution. Built natively into the AppDynamics platform, users benefit from reduced alert fatigue, real time threat detection, and automatic breach prevention.

The result is businesses’ confidence in application performance without the fear of significant damage to brand reputation and customer trust.

Organizations are increasingly reliant on applications to engage with and deliver services to customers, which leads to huge volumes of personal user data being housed within the application. As a result, organizations face increased vulnerability to cyber threats and security incidents. This challenge is further exacerbated as they continue to support more employees working from home who are using laptops and devices connected to the public internet. This is testing the limits of monitoring practices and vastly expanding the IT perimeter, creating new weaknesses and vulnerabilities in even the most secure IT estates. Failure to have the right processes and solutions in place to safeguard data housed in applications not only puts brand reputation and consumer trust at risk, but also may cost organizations millions of dollars in the event of a breach.

With applications now running anywhere from on premise to multi-cloud and cloud-native micro services, combined with accelerated innovation, the need for an application-led approach to security is paramount. This critical shift will enable technologists to identify vulnerabilities within the application during production, correlate vulnerabilities and breaches with business impact, and bring together Application and Security teams to facilitate speedy remediation.

With Secure Application, IT teams will no longer sacrifice security for velocity. Secure Application is the only solution that uniquely brings together business performance and security insights with zero friction to protect brands against slowdowns and exploits.

“A slow or underperforming application can significantly impact the user experience, but when an application’s security is breached and exploited, it can be life altering for the end user. Companies simply cannot afford to ignore the risk,” said Jeetu Patel, senior vice president and general manager, security and applications, Cisco. “Secure Application is the first of its kind to deliver this level of security insight that empowers both Application and Security teams to safeguard customer and organization assets while delivering a best-in-class digital experience.”

With Secure Application, enterprise IT teams will have access to:

● Automatic runtime protection: Visibility into an application's true behaviour to easily detect attacks, identify deviations, and block attacks automatically.

● Simplified vulnerability management: Access at the code level to detect dependency and configuration level security vulnerabilities in production.

● Security insights informed by business impact: Security details correlated with the application topology to apply business relevance to security events and helps teams focus on the incidents that matter most.

● Collaboration between Application and Security teams: Shared context for Application and Security teams for optimal collaboration, improved security posture, and healthy digital business.

"Enterprise IT Organizations are often considering how to transform and align their security, application development, and operations tools, processes, and teams,” said Stephen Elliot, IDC Program Vice President, DevOps and I&O team. “Application vulnerability management is one of the key capabilities where transformation can be accomplished, while delivering substantial business benefits."

AppDynamics with Cisco Secure Application is currently accessible through early availability.

Keep up to date with the latest Information Security and IT Security News & Articles- VarIndia IT Magazine

[varindia99]

Latest and Updated Information Security and IT Security News- VarIndia Magazine

The enterprises, instead of focusing on security solutions, products, softwares, etc, should set right the security philosophy. In many occasions, information security is taken as an afterthought, whereas it should be seen as a business and a board function and not a technical function.

The information security and cyber security should be integrated. “It should be embedded right from conceptualising to the disposal stage, for e.g. zero trust is currently a widely discussed topic,” says N. Raman, Group GM – CISO, ONGC.

Usually, on an ongoing basis, for e.g. the operations department implements a solution for cost reduction or improving efficiency and then it is being brought to the IS department, as an afterthought for the sake of compliance. This is not the right approach.

The corporate ecosystem is growing up to the realisation about CISO being a board function and relatively more important than other corporate functions. ONGC comes under the Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) category. “Recently, requirements have come-in to integrate the operations technology (OT) with the internet. This is a major challenge as it amounts to security repercussions,” says Raman.

is a demand from the government for growth in digitisation to ramp up business productivity, coupled with the onslaught of security regulations of unprecedented nature. It’s imperative to balance the both, which is also a major challenge for government organisations. The benefits of cloud computing is driving government adoption of cloud in one of the many options that cloud is offered however it has its own share of security challenges too. The current staff is also ill equipped to handle the changing technology landscape.

ONGC is also in the process of laying out an initial set of baseline guidelines from the regulatory bodies for securing the OT systems. Initiatives on the people part of the people, process, and technology triad are being taken. The endpoint security is of paramount importance and thus the VAPT tests will soon be exercised. In an already established process of simulating the exercise of sending phishing emails, the plan is to continue with the programme.

The regulatory regime issues lengthy guidelines and regulations, which equally apply to the OT systems, thus the company is mulling on simplifying some specific guidelines on OT. Even, globally, the regulators have not come to a crystalline and conclusive regulatory approach.

On the adoption of cloud computing, Raman says, it is more suited to the customer focussed industries, where demand elasticity is higher compared to the oil industry. “It’s also important that the skills of the employees are upgraded to match to manage the cloud system and we are in the process of getting skill certifications. Even the world over, our kind of organisation hasn’t gone for cloud adoption because of lack of demand elasticity,” concludes Raman.

Keep up to date with the latest Information Security and IT Security News & Articles- VarIndia IT Magazine

[varindia99]

Latest and Updated Information Security and IT Security News- VarIndia Magazine

Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, today published new research into Agent Tesla, “Agent Tesla Amps Up Information Stealing Attacks,” which details new evasive techniques attackers are using to disable endpoint protection before they deliver the malware and install and run the payload.

The techniques feature a multi-stage process where a .NET downloader grabs chunks of malware from legitimate third-party websites such as pastebin and hastebin – where they are hosted in plain sight – and then joining, decoding and decrypting the chunks to form the loader that carries the malicious payload.

At the same time, the malware attempts to alter code in Microsoft’s Anti-Malware Software Interface (AMSI) – a Windows feature that enables applications and services to integrate with installed security products – so that AMSI-enabled endpoint security protection doesn’t work, and the payload can download, install and run without being blocked.

Agent Tesla is a widely used information stealer and Remote Access Tool (RAT), known since 2014. The creators advertise it for sale on dark-web forums and constantly update it. Attackers generally distribute the malware through malicious spam emails as an attachment.

The new Sophos research looks in-depth at the two versions of Agent Tesla that are currently circulating. Both feature recent updates, such as the number of applications targeted for credential theft, including web browsers, email clients, virtual private network clients, and other software that store usernames and passwords. They also have the ability to capture keystrokes and record screenshots.

However, differences between the two versions demonstrate how attackers have recently evolved the RAT by employing multiple types of defense evasion and obfuscation to avoid detection. These include options to install and use the Tor anonymizing network client, as well as the Telegram messaging API for command and control (C2) communications and the targeting of Microsoft’s AMSI.

“Agent Tesla malware has been active for more than seven years, yet it remains one of the most common threats to Windows users. It has been among the top malware families distributed via email in 2020. In December, Agent Tesla payloads accounted for around 20% of malicious email attachment attacks intercepted by Sophos scanners,” said Sean Gallagher, senior security researcher, Sophos. “A variety of attackers use the malware to steal user credentials and other information from targets through screenshots, keyboard logging and clipboard capture.

“The most widespread delivery method for Agent Tesla is malicious spam—such as the emails we highlighted in our RATicate research. Sophos believes that cybercriminals will continue to update the malware and modify it to evade endpoint and email protection tools. The email accounts used to spread Agent Tesla are often legitimate accounts that have been compromised. Organizations and individuals should, as always, treat email attachments from unknown senders with caution, and verify all attachments before opening them.”

Recommended IT admin checklist for email security

· Install an intelligent, security solution that can screen, detect and block suspicious emails and their attachments before they reach users

· Implement the recognised authentication standards to verify emails are what they claim to be

· Educate employees to spot the warning signs of suspicious emails and what to do if they encounter one

· Advise users to double check that emails come from the address and the person they claim to

· Advise users to never open attachments or click on links in emails from unknown senders

Sophos endpoint protection, Intercept X, detects Agent Tesla’s installer malware and the RAT itself, both through machine learning and the signatures Troj/Tesla-BE and Troj/Tesla-AW.

Indicators of compromise for Agent Tesla are posted on SophosLabs’ GitHub page.

Further information on Agent Tesla and other cyberthreats is available on SophosLabs Uncut where Sophos researchers regularly publish their latest research and breakthrough findings. Threat researchers can follow SophosLabs Uncut in real time on Twitter at @SophosLabs.

Keep up to date with the latest Information Security and IT Security News & Articles- VarIndia IT Magazine

[varindia99]

Latest and Updated Information Security and IT Security News- VarIndia Magazine

The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) disclosed a ransomware attack that has disrupted services and may have led to data theft. The cyberattack has impacted two of the group's services: a portal used by the Brussels-based UK Research Office (UKRO) and an extranet, known as the BBSRC extranet, which is utilized by UKRI councils.

UKRI, launched in 2018, is a public body supported by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Nine councils come together under the brand to manage research grants and to support innovative businesses and opportunities in the United Kingdom.

UKRI said that the IT incident has resulted in "data being encrypted by a third-party," which implies that ransomware is at fault.

Ransomware is a type of malware that is now often a culprit in attacks against the enterprise. Once ransomware has landed on a compromised system, it will usually encrypt data and files and may also spread throughout a network to take out backups and other resources.

The users will be locked out and ransomware operators will demand a payment in return for a decryption key. This blackmail demand is often required in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), once data encryption is complete.

UKRI is yet to disclose concrete details concerning the ransomware and is still dealing with disruption to its services.

The UKRO portal is used to provide information to subscribers -- of which there are roughly 13,000 -- and the extranet is the infrastructure used for peer review processing. Both services are currently suspended.

"At this stage, we cannot confirm whether any of that data was extracted from our systems whilst investigations continue," UKRI says. "We take incidents of this nature extremely seriously and apologize to all those affected."

If data has been stolen, this may include grant applications and review information contained in the portals, as well as expense claims. The agency however does not yet know if financial information has been taken.

"We are working to securely reinstate impacted services as well as conducting forensic analysis to ascertain if any data was taken, including the potential loss of personal, financial or other sensitive data," the group says. "If we do identify individuals whose data has been taken we will contact them further as soon as possible."

The ransomware attack has been reported to the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

While the UK is no longer part of the EU, there is little material change as the data protection legislation has been incorporated into UK laws, in what is now known as UK GDPR. Any company found to have breached UK GDPR may be subject to fines by the ICO.

Keep up to date with the latest Information Security and IT Security News & Articles- VarIndia IT Magazine

[varindia99]

Latest and Updated Information Security and IT Security News- VarIndia Magazine

The cloud for developers, startups, and SMBs, DigitalOcean announced the results of its latest Currents report, which surveys developers and entrepreneurs on the latest trends in technology.

Of the more than 9,500 developers surveyed, the report focused on the 4,440 responses of those who actively participated in open source throughout 2020. The survey revealed the role that open source played in the lives of its members in what was a year unlike any other and explored whether the core tenets of open source – “free” and “open” – still hold today.

"There's no denying that technology played a major role in 2020. However, what we found most inspiring was how the individuals and community behind the code rose to the occasion," said Raman Sharma VP Product and Programs Marketing, DigitalOcean.

"Our survey showed that developers dug deeper into the open source community, participating more actively and contributing to the causes that mattered to them most. Many also questioned the traditions of the past in favor of a more ethically accountable and economically sound ecosystem. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for the community and its participants," concluded Sharma.

Keep up to date with the latest Information Security and IT Security News & Articles- VarIndia IT Magazine

[varindia99]

Latest Storage News, Cloud Storage and Backup News, News Trends and Analysis-VarIndia

Synology has launched the RackStation RS1221+ and RS1221RP+ (redundant power) 2U 8-bay rackmounted storage servers built to deliver high performance in a space-efficient form factor.

Michael Wang, Synology Product Manager, says, “The RS1221+ and RP+ units are designed for the small-business sector, and indeed, "small" they are. These units not only pack in a huge leap forward in performance, but do it at a modest depth for 2U units in their class. What's more, for businesses who require higher availability, the RP+ version is equipped with dual power supplies for redundancy and added reliability."

Breaking new grounds

The RS1221+ and RS1221RP+ are the first RackStation series units built around the AMD Ryzen V1500B processor. Compared to their predecessor1, they deliver 3.6X higher compute performance2, 3.8X random read IOPS at 108K, and 2.3x higher sequential write performance at 1,147 MB/s. This translates to faster performance in data management and backup tasks and allows businesses to scale to higher numbers of concurrent users and services while maintaining a high performance output.

Compact servers for space-sensitive deployments

At only 306.6 mm and 407.5 mm deep (including front server handles), the RS1221+ and RS1221RP+ are less than half the depth of standard 2U rackmounted devices, making them ideal for smaller rackmount enclosures, such as wall mounted cabinets, or two-post racks (RS1221+ only), where space is at a premium.

Customizable to meet business requirements

The units are configured with 4 GB of DDR4 ECC memory by default, upgradable to 32 GB. Its PCIe 3.0 slot enables easy upgrading to 10GbE with a compatible NIC3, or to add super-fast NVMe cache via Synology M.2 cards and Synology SVN3000 series SSDs4. The units can scale to 12 drive bays using an RX418 expansion unit5 and compatible drives6. For businesses wanting extended support, its 3-year limited warranty can be extended to 5 years7.

Making data management and protection a breeze

Synology Diskstation Manager (DSM), Synology's unified operating system, simplifies difficult and cumbersome data management processes while still giving users ample control over decisions that matter. It enables backup of IT infrastructure with the Synology Active Backup suite and hosting of on-premises private cloud with Synology Drive, virtual machines with Virtual Machine Manager, mail servers with MailPlus, and other SaaS services.

Availability

RS1221+ and RS1221RP+ are available from Synology resellers globally.

Stay up to date with the latest data storage news, including information on cloud storage, disaster recovery, data backup and managed storage service providers

[varindia99]

Latest Storage News, Cloud Storage and Backup News, News Trends and Analysis-VarIndia

Fortinet has announced continued customer momentum of Fortinet Secure SD-WAN and the official completion of the roll-out of Fortinet’s SD-WAN ASIC-based FortiGate Next-Generation Firewalls with the FortiGate 200F series.

Enterprise customer deployments of Fortinet Secure SD-WAN average a 70 percent return on investment (ROI) in three years and 100 percent ROI in five years. Fortinet attributes this to its ability to consolidate SD-WAN, advanced routing, a wireless controller, and in many cases built-in LTE connectivity, on Fortinet’s industry-leading next-generation firewall built around a common operating system and centralized management and orchestration system.

Rajesh Maurya, Regional Vice President, India & SAARC, at Fortinet, says, “Fortinet delivers the industry’s only SD-WAN ASIC-powered WAN edge solution to deliver better performance, reduce point products and achieve unmatched ROI for our customers. Recently joining this line-up is the FortiGate 200F, which completes Fortinet’s portfolio of SD-WAN ASIC-based appliances, enabling us to provide flexibility of both WAN edges and thin edges using the same platform to help large enterprises secure any edge at scale.”

FortiGate 200F Delivers Flexible Support for Both Converged and Thin Edges

The recently announced FortiGate 200F Next-Generation Firewall completes the roll-out of FortiGate appliances to include the latest version (SOC4) of Fortinet’s SD-WAN ASIC, built to accelerate the performance of WAN Edge deployments. The FortiGate 200F showcases Fortinet’s ability to support both WAN edge and thin edge deployments.

· WAN Edge: FortiGate 200F integrates industry-leading SD-WAN and next-generation firewall capabilities to allow enterprises to consolidate point products and secure the WAN edge.

· Thin Edge: For enterprises with thin branch offices, FortiGate 200F allows the easy replacement of legacy routers in favor of an SD-WAN appliance with integrated advanced routing capabilities and support for diverse network topologies. This allows organizations to move from traditional IP routing to application-centric networks and reduce costs.

Fortinet Delivers SD-WAN Anywhere

Thousands of customers around the world have chosen Fortinet Secure SD-WAN to accelerate their digital innovation goals. Fortinet attributes this success to its security-driven networking approach allowing enterprises to combine SD-WAN and network firewall in one unified solution that is scalable across branch, campus, home and multi-cloud deployments. Going well beyond simply connecting branch offices to cloud services or the core network, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN runs natively in every major public cloud environment, scales to support large data centers, is the only SD-WAN appliance suitable for harsh operational technology environments, and comes in a form factor small enough to fit on a home office desktop. This can ensure and enable a wide range of fast and secure connections from anywhere to anywhere, from the WAN Edge to the LAN Edge (SD-Branch), Home Edge, Operational Technology (OT) Edge, Data Center Edge, and Cloud Edge (SASE).

Stay up to date with the latest data storage news, including information on cloud storage, disaster recovery, data backup and managed storage service providers

[varindia99]

Latest Storage News, Cloud Storage and Backup News, News Trends and Analysis-VarIndia

Seagate Technology has announced the launch of Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S in India. The Storage Expansion Card will deliver an additional 1 TB of external storage for a streamlined gaming experience, replicating the speed and performance of the consoles’ internal SSDs and Xbox Velocity Architecture.

Designed in collaboration with Microsoft, the Seagate Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S is the only external storage device that enables users to achieve the same performance as the Xbox Velocity Architecture when playing games that have been optimised for next-generation Xbox consoles. The custom storage card seamlessly mirrors the functionality of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S internal SSDs and adds 1 TB of capacity letting gamers collect new and legacy games across four generations of Xbox including existing backwards compatible Xbox One, Xbox 360 and original Xbox games.

Jeff Fochtman, Senior Vice President at Seagate, says, “Seagate is thrilled to be a key player in next-generation gaming. With a new standard in performance, games will be more dynamic, visually stunning, and immersive than ever. Seagate's Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S technology delivers additional game storage at peak speeds, replicating the consoles’ internal SSD experiences. We are proud to join forces with Xbox and can’t wait to help gamers immerse themselves in the high-fidelity experience.”

With a sleek design, the Storage Expansion Card is optimised to play Xbox games from the internal SSD or the Storage Expansion Card without sacrificing graphics, speed, load times or framerates.

Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S includes a three-year limited warranty and will be available in India on Amazon from February 8, 2021 onwards retailing at INR 23,499, with a promo price of INR 22,999 on Amazon from February 8 – 14, 2021

Stay up to date with the latest data storage news, including information on cloud storage, disaster recovery, data backup and managed storage service providers

[varindia99]

Latest Storage News, Cloud Storage and Backup News, News Trends and Analysis-VarIndia

Samsung announced the release of 870 EVO SSD in India, the company's latest SATA solution in its consumer SSD series. The new drive combines best-in-class performance and reliability, making it an all-round storage solution for a wide range of consumers from general PC users to IT professionals.

“Compatible for casual laptop and desktop PC users as well as Network Attached Storage (NAS) users, the new SATA SSD offers an exceptional blend of performance, reliability and compatibility. Designed with the environment in mind, 870 EVO minimizes carbon footprint, leaving the consumers with the choice of using an ecofriendly product,” said Akash Saxenaa, Senior Director, Enterprise Sales, Samsung India.

The Samsung 870 EVO features the company's latest V-NAND and controller, allowing it to reach the maximum SATA sequential read and write speeds of 560 and 530MB/s, respectively. Using a large variable SLC buffer, the drive’s Intelligent TurboWrite technology helps maintain its peak performance levels. The 870 EVO also delivers a nearly 38% improvement in random read speed over the previous 860 model, enabling enhanced user experiences when multi-tasking, web browsing or simply booting up PCs.

Harnessing its accumulated experience and expertise in storage memory technologies, Samsung designs all SSD components in-house to ensure that every part works together cohesively. As a result, the 870 EVO offers around 30% improvement in sustained performance over the 860 EVO, as well as a class-leading terabytes written (TBW) rating of 2,400TB, or a 5-year limited warranty, for its 4TB model.

In addition to exceptional performance and reliability, the 870 EVO provides broad compatibility with many computing devices and the most up-to-date PC features. The drive can be used with all devices that have 2.5-inch SATA interface connection. Moreover, with its power saving sleep mode, the 870 EVO is compatible with devices that support Window's Modern Standby function, offering added convenience to PC users.

The new 870 EVO is also designed with the environment in mind. By minimizing its carbon footprint throughout the entire production process, the drive expands consumer choice for greener products.

Samsung 870 EVO will be offered in 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB and 4TB sizes, making it suitable for a wide range of uses. The Samsung 870 EVO will be available across retail channels, online and offline, from January 20, 2021 in India. The Samsung 870 EVO will be priced at INR 3,599 for 250 GB, INR 5999 for 500GB, INR 10999 for the 1TB, INR 21999 for 2TB and INR 43999 for 4TB model.

Stay up to date with the latest data storage news, including information on cloud storage, disaster recovery, data backup and managed storage service providers

[varindia99]

Latest Storage News, Cloud Storage and Backup News, News Trends and Analysis-VarIndia

Toshiba Electronics Asia announces the newest models of the Canvio Portable Storage line up. Canvio Flex is the new USB- C portable storage designed for PCs/ Mac computers/ iPad Pro mobile digital devices/ tablets for cross platform compatibility. Canvio Gaming is the new portable game storage designed for game consoles and gaming PCs.

The Canvio Advance and Canvio Ready both boast a new design that offers portable storage that's easy to access and take anywhere. This next generation of Canvio designs delivers seamless portability, high storage capacity and broad compatibility for various USB devices.

"The Canvio series delivers data storage excellent for a broad range of use cases and applications. The two new models, Canvio Flex and Canvio Gaming, allow garners and multi-platform users respectively to expand storage seamlessly and across various devices. They can take their favourite content on the go in a sleek, portable design," says Takayoshi Tokushima, Senior Manager of Marketing Division at Asia Strategic Alliance, Toshiba Storage Products. "The next generation models of Canvio Advance and Canvio Ready come in a distinctive new design that deliver portability, storage capacity, and broad capability for your PC, making them a great option for those who like simple but reliable storage."

The new Toshiba Canvio series delivers storage solutions for a wide range of consumers and use cases:

•             Canvio Flex

The Canvio Flex portable storage features up to 4TB[1] of storage in its most compatible form­ offering both USB- C and USB-A cable, that enables users to seamlessly store and access their data on multiple devices including Mac computers, Windows PC, iPad Pro  mobile  digital  devices, and supported tablet devices interchangeably with a simple one-stop solution.

•             Canvio Gaming

With the Canvio Gaming portable storage, users will be able to expand their game library easier than ever with the ability to carry up to 100 games (4TB) in a stylish portable case designed for popular gaming consoles and PC game systems. Canvio Gaming features a firmware -customized "Always-On" mode to support responsive gameplay.

•             Canvio Advance

Featuring a unique textured design with new colours, the Canvio Advance portable storage helps content creators and photographers protect their content on the go. With portable storage, using with both auto backup, and data security software, users will be able to take life anywhere.

•             Canvio Ready

A great storage solution for students and other entry-level users who want simple storage that's easy to use-now featuring a new two-tone design. This portable storage offers USB plug & play, file drag & drop, and simple storage expansion for your PC.

The Canvio Portable Storage Series illustrates our commitment to advancing consumer HDD design to meet the evolving needs for storage solutions suited for a broad range of users, including multi­ platform users, garners, business professionals, outdoor photographers, and students.  There's a model that fits everyone's needs.

Stay up to date with the latest data storage news, including information on cloud storage, disaster recovery, data backup and managed storage service providers