The Recorded Future web-conference today was a great insight into the deep Cyber-Intelligence technology the company has developed and what it offers organizations. On display were both a definitive set of broad trend data combined with deep and granular information on every aspect of the MITRE ATT&CK framework and beyond. Recorded Future’s LinkedIn profile reports the company as having had Series E funding of $25 million dollars, however Crunchbase reports an even higher total investment of over $50 million dollars. A press report on PRNewswire in October 2021 outlines Recorded Future’s recent investment in CVE intelligence company Cyber Threat Cognitive Intelligence (CTCI) and describes the Intelligence Fund; Recorded Future’s investment platform. For anyone as passionate about Cyber-Security, predictive forecasting, and Intelligence as I am, there is a ton to be excited about with Recorded Future’s platform and capabilities. Here’s what I learned from the conference today. Recorded Future aggregates data…
Information Technology
Linux Dominates Performance-based Computing Market Share Linux may be less susceptible to cyber-attacks because Windows presents such an attactive target by holding the majority of the desktop marketshare. However, Linux servers dominate the global market in some powerful ways. According to industry reports, Linux OSs comprise 100% of all supercomputers, and over 95% of the top 1 million web servers are running Linux. Linux runs on 90% of all cloud infrastructure and dominates the mobile phone market with > 80% of market share. Embedded operating systems, and RTOS for IoT devices? Again, Linux is by far the most popular OS of choice. If you want more interesting facts about Linux’s market presence, you can Read Nick Galov’s revealing 2021 comprehensive summary of Linux market penetration. Knowing how to conduct a Security Audit of a Linux system and services is very important indeed. This most often includes whitelisting required applications and…
What is GVM and OpenVAS? WikiPedia does a really nice introduction to GVM so let jump start our understanding with that: OpenVAS is the scanner component of Greenbone Vulnerability Manager, a software framework of several services and tools offering vulnerability scanning and vulnerability management. All Greenbone Vulnerability Manager products are free software, and most components are licensed under the GNU General Public License. To understand the relationship between OpenVAS and GVM we should refer to the OpenVAS website, which does a good job explaining the relationship between OpenVAS and GVM: In 2019 the branding separation was completed. OpenVAS now represents the actual vulnerability scanner as it did originally and the “S” in “OpenVAS” now stands for “Scanner” rather than “System”. These changes are accompanied by an updated OpenVAS logo. The framework where OpenVAS is embedded is the Greenbone Vulnerability Management (GVM).OpenVAS released with GVM-10 receives numerous performance optimization to address…
Trojan Source: Raw-Bin Hood Pick Pocketing Source Code with Unicode Bidirectional Control Characters
A new type of vulnerability has been disclosed by researchers at Cambridge University in the UK where Unicode Bidirectional Control Characters are used to change the way text appears in the IDE or text editor compared to how the compiler will interpret and compile the source code into an executable. Proof of concept code has been released for virtually every language including C, C#, C++, Go, Java, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, Rust, and more. Here is a link to the original paper, a GitHub repository released by the authors that includes proof-of-concept code samples for virtually every popular language and the issued CVEs CVE-2021-42574 and CVE-2021-42694, both having severity score of 9.8 “Critical”. Unicode Bidirectional Control Characters are needed in Unicode because Unicode is meant as a super encoding standard which allows all languages (and even emojis) to be contained in a single encoding standard as opposed to say, ASCII which…
What is an Axial Flux Motor? To skip to the patent data click here. An axial flux motor is an electromagnet based motor technology that uses pulses of electromagnetic charge to create a rotating force . Axial flux motors are great because they avoid the use of a drive-train altogether. The problem with a drive-train is that it includes a drive-shaft, crankshaft, propeller shaft, and transmission (gearbox). These components connect together and when working use the kinetic pressure between themselves to transfer power as torque. However, the connections cause friction and this friction between components results in a loss of energy. If you look at the image of the gearbox below, you can see how complex and exact the contact surfaces are, but there is still energy loss at each of those contact points. A traditional automotive drive-train is inefficient due to the transfer of kinetic…
These study notes are provided for students of CompTIA Pentest+ exam. If you notice any problems with the notes, please let me know via email (joseph@ripplesoftware.ca). General Pentesting Engagement Scoping Information Gathering Vulnerability Scanning Exploitation Process Pentest Tools Exploit Specifics Post Exploit Communication Processes
The Goal of Reducing Climate Change The OECD advisory on climate change (Green Grown Studies) states that a multi-pronged approach is required to reduce, stop, or reverse climate change. The critical stages in the energy lifecycle that need to be addressed include: Energy generation Transportation Conversion Storage Consumption Smart-grid technology Smart-homes Smart Manufacturing Smart circuits and computer chips Of all the green / renewable sources of power, nuclear fusion has the biggest potential impact. Nuclear fusion is the holy grail of renewable green energy sources and has the potential to drastically reduce CO2 output by replacing other fossil fuels such as coal-fired electricity plants. Other potential sources of renewable power such as solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro offer benefits over non-renewable power such as coal, and oil and gas, but none have the potential to output as much clean energy as realizing commercial of nuclear fusion. However, a future global…
3 Major Reasons Why Your Small Business Needs a Website More credibility and professionalism – Websites provide a sense of credibility and further establishes your brand as a professional service. Without a website most people will not acknowledge your products or services simply because it cannot be found online. Having a website gives you the opportunity to build a long-lasting online relationship with your clients. Giving them the reassurance they need to trust your brand. Increase in customer reach – Online shopping has blown up over the years- everything from computers and cars to food and services can all be found online nowadays. This means, the number in online shoppers have increased and since the internet doesn’t have a closing time, sales are growing even after hours! Because you are able to access a website almost anywhere at anytime, the reach has become much wider, allowing your business to globally…
This short introduction to cyber-security covers fundamental concepts. These concepts are the basis for all other cyber-security topics. If you are studying for CompTIA Security+ SY0-501 Exam this a good first video to watch.
General Details SolarWinds is a publicly traded company worth $5.4B dollars that developing IT infrastructure management software products for small and medium-sized enterprises. Two separate pieces of malware known as SUPERNOVA and SUNBURST worked against vulnerabilities in SolarWind’s product Orion. The malware known as SUNBURST potentially allows an attacker to compromise the server on which the Orion products run. The manner in which SUNBURST malware was used against its victims resulted in it being labelled a “supply chain attack,” a technique in which an adversary uses malware to disrupt a companies ability to produce or deliver it’s products to customers. Although the term “supply chain attack” a broad term without a universally agreed upon definition, theoretically, the intended target of a supply chain attack is not necessarily the company whose network was breached and disrupted. For example, if an attacker wanted to disrupt operations of a large retail target such…
