Using a risk model based on security statistics is a valid and useful approach to defending against cyber attacks. A company can decide that if one type of attack is affecting a large percentage of companies, then chances are, they may be next. The company can take steps to defend against that attack. However, sometimes past statistics are not enough and can be … [Read more...]
The Seattle CTO Club ~ Sharing Security Information
Yesterday I had the honor of presenting some security information at the Seattle CTO Club. I loosely based the discussion on a similar presentation I gave last week at an event for Equinox IT, a WatchGuard partner, covering the cyber security landscape and top threats businesses face. Members of the group learned common attack patterns and discussed strategies for effectively … [Read more...]
Using Firewall Policies to Auto-Block Rogue Hosts on External Networks
Automatically preventing all traffic from hosts that attempt to connect to blocked ports can help prevent further malicious actions from those IP addresses as explained in Auto-Blocking Suspicious Hosts Found in Traffic Logs. After posting that article, one WatchGuard customer sent me a note about using the auto-block feature to help prevent DDoS attacks. By reducing the … [Read more...]
Auto-Blocking Suspicious Hosts Found in Traffic Logs
Many attackers and hosts infected with malware try to infect other hosts by scanning networks for open ports exposed to the Internet. After finding an open port, a malicious third party will attack software running on that port using known vulnerabilities. These published software flaws can cause damage or allow unauthorized access to hosts and networks. Often vendors publish … [Read more...]
How to Automate Deployment of a WatchGuard Firebox Cloud on AWS
The last Secplicity blog post in this series on cloud security described the security benefits of CloudFormation for automated deployments. CloudFormation can deploy security appliances in AWS accounts that help protect applications and data in cloud environments. UTM (or Next-Gen Firewall) on AWS Deploying a WatchGuard Firebox Cloud is one way to increase security in an … [Read more...]