Author: Bethany Kozal

OT Security Assessment of Water Utility Illuminates the Path for Widespread Industry Improvement

By: Bethany Kozal 10.16.23

Our recent OT security assessment at a private water utility illustrates how no industry is safe from security threats. Regardless of sector, all industries, from education, to finance, to water treatment, are susceptible to bad actors taking advantage of their internally-overlooked vulnerabilities. While water utilities have historically lagged behind other industries in OT security, the… Read more »

The Power of a Physical Penetration Test

By: Bethany Kozal 10.05.23

Is Your Organization’s Physical Security Top-Notch? Having high-level security measures at any organization is a must, especially for large corporations that deal with specific clientele and hold confidential and sensitive information. We know attackers find ways to gain access to corporate networks remotely, but physical access poses even more risk, as attackers can potentially get… Read more »

Physical Penetration Testing Breaches Weak Boundaries

By: Bethany Kozal 09.07.23

How Secure Are Your Organization’s Premises? When it comes to entry points into an organization, network security gaps and vulnerabilities aren’t the only concern. Bad actors can choose a more traditional way in – physically walking through the doors. You may have locks, ID badges, cameras, and employee protocols, but the best way to know… Read more »

Detecting Hardware Vulnerabilities with IoT Penetration Testing

By: Bethany Kozal 08.24.23

Welcome to a new series of DirectDefense blog posts about hardware and IoT penetration testing! The goal of this 101 series is to shed light on common hardware I/O interfaces, associated protocols, and the multitude of vulnerabilities that can arise when they are left unprotected. While hardware reconnaissance will be briefly discussed, this particular article… Read more »

What An Enterprise Risk Assessment Looks Like

By: Bethany Kozal 08.15.23

Has your corporation been keeping up-to-date on the latest security practices? An important one to bring into your security repertoire is an enterprise risk assessment. It’s crucial to regularly conduct enterprise assessments to ensure the effectiveness of your corporation’s security measures. An enterprise risk assessment helps your organization continuously update and measure all security protocols,… Read more »

Combat Ransomware: Try Halcyon’s Anti-Ransomware Platform Free for 60 Days

By: Bethany Kozal 08.08.23

Armor Your Endpoints Free for 60 Days If you’ve experienced the impact of a ransomware attack, you understand how severely it can disrupt business operations. That is why we’re partnering with Halcyon to offer a 60-day free trial of their anti-ransomware platform. Halcyon’s next-generation anti-ransomware solution stops attackers at all phases of a breach using… Read more »

Tales From the Road: A Cyber Security Breach is Only A Phone Call Away

By: Bethany Kozal 07.10.23

How DirectDefense Compromised a Banking Institution’s Help Desk and Member Services Using a Phone Social Engineering Attack + 5 Common Vishing Pitfalls to Avoid Cyber criminals will stop at nothing to steal personal and confidential information from their target. In recent years, many high-profile attacks have leveraged targeted phone social engineering attacks, known as vishing.… Read more »

Tales From the Road: When it comes to your SCADA Network: Segment. Segment. Segment.

By: Bethany Kozal 06.13.23

How DirectDefense uncovered weaknesses in a municipality’s SCADA systems and a need for SCADA network segmentation A large municipality enlisted the services of DirectDefense to perform a Critical Infrastructure Assessment of the SCADA network controlling their water and electric services. During the SCADA assessments, our team identified several weaknesses that demonstrated the need for SCADA… Read more »

Tales From the Road: Minimize Third-Party Software Security Risks

By: Bethany Kozal 05.09.23

How to Prevent Credential Stuffing with IPv6 Protocol Security Third-party software security risks are created when third-party vendor products lack security, giving attackers wide open access to your organization’s networks and databases. When a vendor has access to your network, including customer and corporate information, your own company’s security doesn’t cover all the gaps, so… Read more »

WATCH: Why Should CISOs Consider a MSSP and How Do You Choose the Right One?

By: Bethany Kozal 05.05.23

Discover the Benefits of Partnering with an MSSP and Tips for Selecting the Right One for Your Organization A resilient cybersecurity strategy is essential to running your business while protecting against security threats and preventing data breaches. For CISOs, partnering with a managed service security provider (MSSP) means you can be in control of your… Read more »