The Data Driver

CyberArk outlined its security predictions for 2014. 2013 has seen many high-profile security breaches, including the NSA-Edward Snowden case, involving the exploitation of privileged or administrator accounts. The theft, misuse and exploitation of privileged accounts has become an increasingly key tactic in each phase of an advance persistent threat (APT) attack cycle, and this will largely continue into 2014.

Cybercriminals prey on organizations through reconnaissance, luring victims, redirecting web traffic, executing exploit kits, deploying dropper files, calling home and ultimately stealing critical data. But, because each of these actions could occur on a different part of a network, or over a different communication channel, cybercriminals can break in and steal data at will.

According to Trend Micro's Q2 2013 Security Roundup Report, the number of malicious and high-risk Android apps surged from 509,000 in the first quarter of 2013 to 718,000 in the second quarter. This volume is expected to exceed one million by the end of 2013. 
“In 2012, we saw how the number of mobile malware quickly grew to the same volume that PC malware took more than a decade to reach. In just six months, number of malicious high risk apps surged by more than 350,000. The majority of these malware were still packaged as spoofed or Trojanized versions of popular apps. Similar to the previous quarter, almost half of the mobile malware uncovered this quarter were designed to subscribe unwitting users to costly services. Almost 99% of Android devices were deemed vulnerable to android master key vulnerability,” said Dhanya Thakkar, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Trend Micro. 

McAfee has announced what it claims as an end-to-end solution to help organizations combat the increasing challenges of advanced malware. Organizations can respond to attacks faster and seamlessly move from analysis and conviction to protection and resolution.  McAfee, as claimed, goes beyond single-feature, static analysis sandboxing products to address all three key requirements needed to counter today’s stealthy threats: the ability to find advanced malware with the new McAfee Advanced Threat Defense appliance, the ability to freeze the threats with McAfee network solutions, and the ability to initiate a fix with McAfee Real Time Advanced for ePO.

Data security is a question in the cloud. Business executives still are clueless on the data security question in the cloud. They would rather show worry about the security of cloud-based applications, they are not deterred from using them to store their personal and professional data, and they are not losing sleep over their data and information, according to a recent survey from SafeNet Labs, the creator of SafeMonk.
When SafeNet Labs, a technology incubator initiative of SafeNet, Inc., asked hundreds of business professionals worldwide if they were worried about the security of the cloud-based applications or data stored in the cloud, 52 percent checked “Yes”; however, sixty-four percent of respondents said they still frequently use cloud-based apps to store their personal and professional data. Ironically, when asked what keeps them up at night regarding their data and information, more than half answered, “Nothing keeps me up; I sleep like a baby.”
Further examination of the sur…