This week, Golroted malware is up to new tricks, SonicWall Hosted Email Security gets its stars, nefarious PDFs and Office files are running wild, and the classic board game ‘Risk’ foreshadows today’s cyber arms race.

SonicWall Spotlight

That Word Document You Just Downloaded Might Contain Malware – Verdict UK

• SonicWall identifies malware in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Rich Text Format (.RTF) files, including the first known case of Golroted being spread through trusted file types.

Document-based Malware on the Rise, Businesses Warned – ComputerWeekly

• More malware is hiding in PDF and Office files. ComputerWeekly investigates the growing threat while poring through data from the new 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report.

SonicWall Hosted Email Security Garners 5-Star Rating – SC Magazine

• “If safeguarding your network with the latest protection is something that you aspire to have, then SonicWall’s Hosted Email Security or Email Security Appliance should be on your shortlist of products to consider.”

What Does SonicWall’s New UK Boss Have in Store for the Channel? – CRN

• SonicWall regional director Helen Jackson outlines the company’s enterprise expansion in the U.K.

Don’t Have a Risk(y) Defense Against Malware, Ransomware – SonicWall Blog

• SonicWall’s Scott Grebe recalls his love for the classic board game ‘Risk’ and how its mechanics sometimes mirror today’s cyber threat landscape.

A Review of SD-Branch and its Progression from SD-WAN – TechTarget

• In an exploration of SD-WAN technology, SonicWall is mentioned as one of the growing number of vendors to integrate the software-defined capabilities into its firewall offerings.

Cyber Security News

Cyberattacks ‘Damage’ National Infrastructure – BBC

• New Ponemon Institute study reveals that cyberattacks against network infrastructure have successfully taken systems offline during the last two years.

Georgia Tech Cyberattack Exposes Data of 1.3 Million People – Dark Reading

• An attacker infiltrated a central Georgia Tech database and made off with personal information on up to 1.3 million current and former faculty, students, staff and applicants.

Hospital Viruses: Fake Cancerous Nodes in CT Scans, Created by Malware, Trick Radiologists – The Washington Times

• Israeli researchers authored malware to put the spotlight on security weaknesses in medical imaging equipment and networks.

New York Capital Hit by Ransomware Attack, Taking Services Offline – CNET

• The city of Albany, New York, announced it was the victim of a ransomware attack, taking down several city services.

Why Phishing Emails Are Still Your Biggest Security Nightmare – ZDNet

• According the 2019 Cyber Security Breaches Survey published by the UK government, the most common type of cyberattacks are phishing attacks, whether through fraudulent emails, or being directed to fake websites.

Apple Card, ASUS Live Update Backdoor, Statistics on Malware Attacks – Security Boulevard

• The 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report makes the news yet again as Security Boulevard sifts through the paper’s most intriguing findings.

In Case You Missed It

• Webinar: The State of the Cyber Arms Race – Geoff Blaine
• Advanced Security Training: New SonicWall Network Security Professional (SNSP) Course & Certification — Bob VanKirk

This week, vote for SonicWall in 2019 CRN Channel Madness, Facebook suffers an outage worldwide, and one U.S. County pays a $400,000 ransom.

SonicWall Spotlight

SonicWall’s HoJin Kim has been nominated in the 2019 CRN Channel Madness Tournament.

• CRN’s fifth annual Channel Madness Tournament of Chiefs pits some of the channel’s best-known executives against in each other. Vote for HoJin Kim now!

SonicWall Launches Security Solutions for Wireless Networks, Cloud Apps and Endpoints – CRN (India)

• SonicWall’s Debasish Mukherjee is quoted talking about the release of new SonicWall products and the expansion possibilities for SonicWall in the Indian market.

SonicWall Now a California Multiple Award Schedule (CMAS) Vendor – SonicWall Blog

• Being a CMAS vendor allows SonicWall to support K-12 education through the E-rate program, a Federal funding program that allows technology products and services to be purchased by school districts and libraries.

Cyber Security News

Hackers Use Slack to Hide Malware Communications – CSO Online

• Cyberattackers have been using a previously undocumented backdoor program to launch an attack on users of Slack. A fully patched computer will prevent the attack but in cases where the exploit runs successfully it triggers a damaging multi-stage infection.

Web Inventor Tim Berners-Lee Calls for ‘Fight’ Against Hacking and Abuse on its 30th Birthday – CNN

• On the 30th anniversary of its launch, the inventor of the world wide web called out three major “sources of dysfunction” affecting it; deliberate malicious intent, system design and the unintended negative consequences of benevolent design.

Facebook’s Daylong Malfunction Is a Reminder of the Internet’s Fragility – New York Times

• A technical error by Facebook led to a worldwide outage that affected Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. The New York Times looks at how the more tightly woven a computer network becomes, the more likely it is that a small problem can grow into a large one.

Applicant Data Hacked and Ransomed at Three U.S. Colleges – Fortune

• Three U.S. colleges recently suffered successful ransomware attacks. The hackers were able to fool college staff members into handing over passwords and then took control of databases that housed student applicant information.

Hackers Cop a FILA Thousands of UK Card Deets After Slinking Onto Clothing Brand’s Servers – The Register (UK)

• Sportswear brand FILA are the latest company to suffer from a damaging malware infection with an attack similar to Magecart infecting card payments on their website.

US Senators Want to Know How Many Times They’ve Been Hacked – ZDNet

• Two US senators have requested the US Senate Sergeant at Arms to provide each senator with both annual statistics about cyberattacks and a commitment to disclosing breaches within five days of discovery.

Georgia County Pays a Whopping $400,000 to Get Rid of a Ransomware Infection – ZDNet

• Officials in Jackson County, Georgia, negotiated with cybercriminals to pay a $400,000 ransom after being successfully infected with ransomware.

In Case You Missed It

• Wireless Security, Wi-Fi Management Hot Topics at RSA Conference 2019 – Srudi Dineshan
• New Spoiler Side-Channel Attack Threatens Processors, Mitigated by SonicWall RTDMI – Brook Chelmo
• Eight New Ways the SonicWall Capture Cloud Platform Protects Businesses – Bill Conner
• Modern SaaS Security: How to Secure Email, Data, User Access in the Age of Cloud Apps – Ganesh Umapathy
• Easier Wi-Fi Planning, Security & Management from the Cloud – Srudi Dineshan
• Advanced Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) Comes to Capture Client 2.0 – Brook Chelmo

This week, SonicWall announces a whole range of new products, there is an investigation into cloud computing that finds that hackers can leave malware waiting for customers, and a study finds that cybercriminals are spending their money like rock stars.

SonicWall Spotlight

Slate of New Product Offerings Marks Rebirth of SonicWall – Forbes

• SonicWall CEO Bill Conner speaks to Forbes about the announcement of new SonicWall products and services, including a new line of firewalls, and discusses how far the company has come since splitting from Dell.

SonicWall Enhances Wi-Fi, Cloud Apps and Endpoints Security for SMBs and Distributed Enterprises – Help Net Security

• Help Net Security review the new SonicWall releases in detail and James Crifasi of Redzone Technologies talks about the Wi-Fi improvements to the Capture Security Center saying, “We are thrilled at the improvements in security, management, and performance the new series has given us.”

2019 Security 100: 20 Coolest Network Security Vendors – CRN

• SonicWall is named one of the coolest network security vendors of 2019 as part of CRN’s 2019 Security 100 list.

Inside the Biometrics of Those Post-Brexit Blue Passports – ComputerWorld UK

• SonicWall CEO Bill Conner spoke to Computer World UK for their story on post-Brexit passports. He talks about his previous experience as CEO of Entrust and the problems faced successfully developing biometric passports.

Cyber Security News

Hackers Can Slip Invisible Malware Into ‘Bare Metal’ Cloud Computers – Wired (UK)

• Cybersecurity researchers have shown that cyberattackers could leave malware undetected on a rented “bare metal” cloud computer. Once successfully infected at the firmware level the computer would then wait for the next customer and infect them.

European Telecommunications Standards Institute Publishes New IoT Security Standard – Security Week

• The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ERSI) published a cybersecurity standard for consumer Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The hope is that this will provide the basis for future IoT certification schemes that will be designed to prevent both the loss of users’ personal data and the recruitment of consumer IoT devices into botnets.

Persistent Attackers Rarely Use Bespoke Malware – Dark Reading

• Cybercriminals have been found to be using open-source over custom-made malware because bespoke programs are more likely to trigger cybersecurity systems. In addition, the quality of readily-available malware is to a high enough standard that hardened cybercriminal groups are able to incorporate it into their own toolsets without having to make major changes.

Surge in Number of Data Breaches Reported to Commission in 2018 – RTE News (Ireland)

• Both Ireland and the UK reported a huge increase in the number of data breaches reported to regulators after the implementation of GDPR. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Apple, all which have their European headquarters in Ireland, are named as having ongoing breach inquiries.

Over 25 Million Home Voice Assistants at Increased Hacking Risk – The International Business Times

• A recent report concluded that the very rudimentary cybersecurity on more than 25 million voice assistants is leaving them at an increased risk of being hacked.

Why Knowing How Your Data Behaves Is the Key to Cybersecurity – InfoSecurity Magazine

• “Data in transit” or “data at rest” – Infosecurity Magazine argues that thinking of data in terms of these two poles will help decide what kind of cybersecurity best suits your needs.

Cybercriminals Spend Like Rockstars – SC Magazine

• A recent study found that while some cybercriminals use their ill-gotten gains to simply cover their day-to-day necessities, others are splashing out on luxury goods like flashy cars and jewelry.

In Case You Missed It

• Five Reasons to Visit SonicWall at RSA Conference 2019 – Terri O’Leary
• 7 Reasons to Upgrade to the Next Generation of SonicWall Email Security Appliances – Ganesh Umapathy
• Bill Conner: How the UK Is Taking Malware Seriously – Nicole Landfield
• Network Security for K-12 School District Simplified with Powerful Firewall, Failover Capabilities – Brook Chelmo
• In the Field: Real-World Success with SonicWall Overdrive 2.0 – Joe Velderman

This week, SonicWall highlights how the UK is taking malware seriously, there is an investigation into new vehicles that are vulnerable to cyberattacks, and an update on the average price paid for ransomware.

SonicWall Spotlight

Bill Conner: How the UK Is Taking Malware Seriously – Information Age

• SonicWall CEO Bill Conner was interviewed by Information Age editor Nick Ismail on the changing cybersecurity landscape, how malware can be region specific, the possibilities of cross-border collaboration, and more.

DCC Inks Distribution Deal With SonicWall –

• IT products distributor Drive Control Corporation (DCC) has been appointed as an official distributor for SonicWall in South Africa.

SMBs Need Layered Security to Defend Their Businesses – Forbes

• Bill Conner, CEO of SonicWall, talks as part of the Forbes Technology Council on why small and medium businesses (SMBs) need layered cybersecurity. He argues that if you’re running an SMB online cybercriminals see you as an easy target and, without adequate investment in cyberdefenses, they might just be correct.

Cyber Security News

Is Your Car Hackable? Cybersecurity Experts Say It Might Be – USA Today

• A modern car is full of small computers, but in a new survey of 15,900 IT security practitioners and engineers in the automotive industry, many acknowledged a huge number of flaws in the cybersecurity makeup of the vehicles. 62 percent of those surveyed say a malicious attack against automotive technologies is likely or very likely to occur in the next 12 months.

Trojan Malware: The Hidden Cyber Threat to Your PC – ZDNet

• While Ransomware and cryptocurrency mining have been making the headlines recently, ZDNet investigates the quiet growth of Trojan malware – made possible by the huge number of recent breaches leading to targeted phishing emails.

Ransomware Victims Who Pay Cough up $6,733 (on Average) – BankInfoSecurity

• A new report has found that in the fourth quarter of 2018 ransomware victims who paid the ransom spent, on average, $6.73; an increase of 13 percent from the previous quarter. Unsurprisingly Bitcoin is the preferred method of payment.

Two Hacker Groups Responsible for 60 Percent of All Publicly Reported Hacks – ZDNet

• Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis investigated publicly reported cryptocurrency exchange hacks and concluded that 60 percent could be traced back to two hacking groups.

True Crime: SamSam Ransomware I Am – SC Magazine

• SamSam may not be the worst malware out there but its impact on enterprise cybersecurity became difficult to ignore in 2018. SC Magazine traces the history of the malware throughout the year.

Report: Nation-State Malware Attack Could Cripple US – BankInfoSecurity

• A new report has concluded that without improved private and public data co-operation, the US is at risk of being crippled by well-made malware. The report recommends closer technical data sharing and action taken to improve communication between public and private entities.

A Hacker’s Take on Blockchain Security – Forbes

• With Blockchain seen by some as the solution to cybersecurity problems, Forbes asks a black hat hacker to investigate with them just how true that is. They come across some less obvious stumbling blocks in blockchain security.

In Case You Missed It

• Bill Conner: How the UK Is Taking Malware Seriously – Nicole Landfield
• Network Security for K-12 School District Simplified with Powerful Firewall, Failover Capabilities – Brook Chelmo
• In the Field: Real-World Success with SonicWall Overdrive 2.0 – Joe Velderman
• SSL, TLS Certificates Expiring on US Government Sites During Federal Shutdown – Brook Chelmo
• December 2018 Cyber Threat Data: Ransomware Peaking Globally – John Lynch
• 4 Security Predictions for MSSPs in 2019 – Brook Chelmo