Human error continues to be one of the leading causes of cyber breaches, posing significant threats to businesses and individuals alike. In fact, according to a report by IBM, 95% of all cybersecurity incidents involve human error, with the average cost of a data breach amounting to $4.45 million. These figures show the significant financial and reputational impact that human error can have on businesses....

As threats in the digital realm evolve, the NIST Cyber security framework (CSF) 2.0 serves as a crucial resource to help businesses of all sizes, across industries to reinforce their defences against cyber security threats. This updated guidance focuses on a comprehensive set of standards, guidelines, and best practices and aims to streamline risk management and bolster information security frameworks [1]. The...

CrowdStrike’s new 2024 Global Threat Report has been creating some buzz around the latest trends in the cyberattacks, and we are here to make the key takeaways from the main topics that were talked about in the report more accessible to you. To summarise, the cyberattacks ecosystem have been increasing and here are certain figures to keep in mind- CrowdStrike recorded 34 new adversaries in 2023 with an increase of...

AMARU would like to draw your attention to an advisory published by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC UK) which details recent tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) of the group commonly known as APT29, also known as Midnight Blizzard, the Dukes or Cozy Bear. The NCSC UK and international partners assess that APT29 is a cyber espionage group, almost certainly part of the SVR, an element of the...

// Overview  On February 19th, 2024, ConnectWise released a security advisory for its remote monitoring and management (RMM) software. The advisory highlighted two vulnerabilities that impact older versions of  ScreenConnect and have been mitigated in version 23.9.8 and later. CVE-2024-1709 (CWE-288)— Authentication Bypass Using Alternate Path or Channel Base CVSS score of 10 (Critical) CVE-2024-1708 (CWE-22)—...

Amaru would like to draw your attention to a crucial alert we received from The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) regarding two zero-day vulnerabilities discovered in Microsoft Products. These vulnerabilities pose severe threats to the security of organisations and individuals alike. Vulnerability Details: 1. CVE-2024-21410 - Microsoft Exchange Server: CVSS Score: 9.8...

// Overview  Amaru's MDR is aware of an active ransomware campaign targeting unpatched VMware ESXi hosts facing the public internet. On February 3rd, 2023 the French National CERT first reported a threat actor campaign targeting VMware ESXi hypervisors with the aim of deploying ransomware. The initial access vector is CVE-2021-21974, a vulnerability that allows an attacker to remotely execute arbitrary code. A...

The name Simplify Security doesn’t capture our mission enough. And as a result, we’re rebranding to Amaru. Bigger mission, same vision, same values, same purpose. When I started this business in 2019, I wanted to help organisations grow better with more innovative, pragmatic and affordable security solutions at a global scale - that hasn’t changed.  When I take a look at the last three years, we have helped several...

Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is the practice of gathering, analyzing, and using information from publicly available sources. This can include data from websites, social media, news articles, government reports, and other sources that can be legally and ethically collected and analyzed. An OSINT exercise is a structured process of collecting and analyzing open-source information to support a specific goal or...

A penetration test, also known as a "pen test" or "ethical hacking," is a simulated attack on a computer system, network, or web application to identify and exploit vulnerabilities. The goal of a penetration test is to assess the security of a system by attempting to gain unauthorised access, and to identify and evaluate potential vulnerabilities. Benefits of a penetration test include: Identifying vulnerabilities:...

A checklist that you can use to help achieve SOC 2 compliance: Review and understand the SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria (TSC) and select the appropriate type of SOC 2 report (Type 1 or Type 2). Most organisations start with Type 1 and Security (mandatory), Confidentiality and Availability. Conduct a risk assessment to identify and evaluate the potential threats and vulnerabilities to your organisation's systems and...

  SOC 2, NIST CSF, and ISO 27001 are all different frameworks that organisations can use to improve their cybersecurity and data protection efforts. Each framework has its own set of requirements, and they all have different purposes, although there are some similarities among them. The differences SOC 2: SOC 2 is a set of security and privacy standards for service providers that handle customer data. SOC 2...