How Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Cybersecurity

SDxCentral | March 07, 2019

AT&T announced a new standalone security division, AT&T Cybersecurity, at this week’s RSA Conference. It combines technology and threat intelligence from Alien Vault, which the operator acquired last year, and AT&T’s security consulting and managed services. Also this week, AT&T became the first North American operator to join the Global Telco Security Alliance. The group, which was launched last year by Etisalat, Singtel, SoftBank, and Telefónica, shares threat intelligence and security best practices in an effort to help telcos protect their customers from cyberattacks. AT&T joined as a founding member. “Threat intelligence will continue to be a core of what we do,” said Sanjay Ramnath, assistant vice president of product marketing for AT&T Cybersecurity, in an interview at RSA. “We already have a really strong history of collaborating with the community and making our intelligence data available to our customers and sharing with the larger community.” When asked if he expects AT&T’s move to spur other North American carriers to join the Global Telco Security Alliance, he said “I hope so. If we can be an inspiration for the others to participate then we’re doing a good job.” Ramnath joined AT&T through the AlienVault purchase. Merging the two companies into a new AT&T division “has a very unique value proposition that can be articulated from three pillars,” he said. “The first pillar is phenomenal threat intelligence.” Alien Labs Threat Intel: Even before joining AT&T, AlienVault was perhaps best known for creating the Open Threat Exchange. Today, the open community has more than 100,000 participants across the globe. These researchers and security experts collaborate and deliver community-generated threat data that helps companies keep on top of the latest security threats.

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Infosecurity Magazine | March 01, 2019

The state of Massachusetts is reportedly facing increased cyber threats from adversaries who are trying to steal sensitive information, according to the Gloucester Daily Times. In an interview with Stephanie Helm, director of the MassCyberCenter, State House reporter Christian M. Wade learned that the state’s computer systems as well as Massachusetts businesses and individuals are at risk due to increased cyber threats. "The threat is very real, and anything that is computer-based is vulnerable to exploitation," Helm told the Gloucester Daily Times. "The severity of the threats depend on the adversary and their objective. Sometimes they want your information, sometimes they want your money." "We have a lot of very unique intellectual property in Massachusetts that we need to do our best to protect," she said. "We've also got a lot of big corporations, and their livelihood is based on strong cybersecurity." Part of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the MassCyberCenter is an initiative to improve cyber-resiliency and strengthen the cybersecurity ecosystem in Massachusetts. Developed two years ago, the center's mission is to "enhance conditions for economic growth through outreach to the cybersecurity ecosystem of Massachusetts while fostering cybersecurity resiliency within the Commonwealth," according to its website. Lofty goals for a team of two: director Helm and Meg Speranza, resiliency program manager. "Consistent with the efforts that Governor Baker announced in his 2017 State-of-the-State address, Massachusetts has made combatting advanced cyber threats a priority," said Michael Figueroa, executive director, Advanced Cyber Security Center.

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SecurityWeek | January 11, 2019

Rapid7 on Friday announced the release of Metasploit 5.0. The latest major version of the popular penetration testing framework introduces several new important features, improved performance, and its developers say it should be easier to use. According to Rapid7, Metasploit 5.0 brings significant changes in terms of database and automation APIs, improving the way the platform interacts with data and other tools. Metasploit has been using the PostgreSQL database system, but the latest version also allows users to run the database as a RESTful service, enabling interaction with Metasploit consoles and external tools. There is also a new JSON-RPC API that should make it easier to integrate the framework with new tools and languages. In addition, Metasploit’s own automation protocol is now complemented by a common web service framework for the database and automation APIs. Another significant improvement in Metasploit 5.0 is related to evasion modules and libraries. Penetration testers can now generate their own evasion modules more easily using the C programming language. The latest version also enables the execution of an exploit module against multiple targets at a time.

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