Category: SonicWall

Google’s Ambitious Leap: AI to Replace Web Browsers?

In a bold move that could redefine how users access information online, Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., is introducing an innovative initiative called Project Jarvis. This groundbreaking project aims to embed advanced artificial intelligence technology into smartphones, effectively eliminating the traditional need for web browsers. With Project Jarvis, users will be able to interact with the internet through a voice-activated AI assistant, allowing them to navigate and retrieve content effortlessly and anonymously.

While this shift promises to enhance the user experience significantly, it also raises crucial concerns regarding data privacy and the potential for a lack of anonymity. As users become more reliant on AI to handle their online queries, questions about the security of personal information and the extent to which their browsing activities are monitored will inevitably come to the forefront. As such, balancing innovation with privacy protection will be paramount in the rollout of this new technology.

Black Basta Ransomware Threatens Microsoft Teams Users

For those utilizing Microsoft Teams in professional settings, vigilance is crucial. A cybersecurity firm, ReliaQuest, has uncovered a troubling trend involving the notorious Black Basta ransomware group. This organization has been infiltrating Microsoft Teams platforms to orchestrate sophisticated phishing attacks aimed at extracting sensitive corporate information and distributing malicious software.

Employees should exercise extreme caution when interacting with help-desk personnel or any support requests within Teams. It is essential to verify the authenticity of individuals claiming to represent Microsoft or affiliated services. This approach will help prevent falling victim to deception where fraudsters pose as legitimate support agents, potentially compromising organizational security through malware or espionage techniques.

SonicWall Firewalls Under Siege by Ransomware Gangs

Recent reports from Arctic Wolf Labs reveal that SonicWall firewalls have become prime targets for approximately 30 active ransomware groups, including notorious factions like Akira and FOG. These attackers exploit vulnerabilities in SonicWall’s security systems to deploy file-encrypting malware within networks. Despite patches having been issued, many users remain unprotected, leaving them vulnerable to attacks that have surged since August 2023.

The implications of this trend are alarming, particularly as the cybersecurity landscape evolves. Organizations relying on SonicWall firewalls must ensure they are updated to defend against these ongoing threats effectively. As ransomware tactics grow more sophisticated, the urgency for comprehensive security measures has never been greater.

Indian Prime Minister Modi Addresses Digital Arrest Fraud

As India continues its digital transformation, citizens are increasingly facing new cyber threats, particularly in the form of Digital Arrest Fraud. In a recent episode of his monthly address, Mann Ki Baat, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi highlighted the rising concerns surrounding this type of fraud. He urged the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities, emphasizing the importance of community awareness in combatting cybercrime.

The Prime Minister advised individuals to call 1930 to report incidents of Digital Arrest Fraud and encouraged them to provide screenshots and other evidence to assist law enforcement agencies in their efforts to apprehend these criminals. By fostering a culture of awareness and proactive reporting, Modi aims to empower citizens in safeguarding themselves against the increasing prevalence of cyber threats in the digital landscape.

The post Trending Cybersecurity News Headlines on Google appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

SonicWall is on a roll. In recent months, the cybersecurity leader has completed three acquisitions and extended its cybersecurity portfolio to include managed security services and cloud edge security solutions for Managed Service Providers and Managed Security Service Providers. After riding a wave of momentum, what is next for SonicWall?

We sat down with SonicWall President and Chief Executive Officer Robert “Bob” VanKirk to hear his insights on the industry, the trends shaping the future, and his priorities for the remainder of this year into next.

Q: Bob, congratulations on some exciting progress. What is driving all this momentum from SonicWall?

A: Thank you! First and foremost, credit goes to the entire SonicWall team. Our momentum is a direct result of taking an outside-in approach with our partners and customers: listening intently to their needs and pain points, and then acting on those insights. We have new leadership and key talent across the company, a refreshed product roadmap that we’re delivering against, and now the proof points are lining up as the team executes.

Two of our acquisitions, Solutions Granted Inc. and Banyan Security, were key to filling specific gaps in our solution set based on feedback from our partners, namely delivering more security as a co-managed service and delivering cloud-native security capabilities that they need to protect their customers’ evolving needs. We’ve used these two acquisitions to further transform SonicWall, our culture and our platform offering.

In terms of our channel direction, we have doubled down on listening to our partners. Moving forward, we are going to continue to have our partners help shape our roadmap as we focus on how we can enable them to provide value-added services and play a larger role as trusted security advisors to the businesses they protect. Our commitment to our channel partners will always be at the core of who SonicWall is, and that is clearly resonating and fueling our growth.

Q: What is your current outlook on the cybersecurity sector?

A: Cautious optimism – how’s that for an oxymoron? While attacks, threats, and numerous variants of the same remain steadily on the rise, we’re also witnessing customer and partner caution around upgrades or expansions. It’s true that cybersecurity is no longer viewed as an added expense to the bottom line, but a necessary mandate to protect a firm and its assets from financial ruin or severe reputational damage. That said, most companies and organizations are also dealing with concerns around the economy and being asked to do more with less, which can place them in a tough spot when it comes to doing what’s needed for cybersecurity. So, in a nutshell, the demand for cybersecurity won’t slow down, but how partners deliver it and how their customers consume it will. We expect to see a continued migration to the cloud, more demand for security as a service and a growing desire to shift from capex to opex in terms of security spend.

Q: What are some of the latest threats and current trends business should be aware of?

A: SonicWall just released our 2024 Mid-Year Cyber Threat Report, researched and compiled by SonicWall Capture Labs, and some of the findings are quite alarming including the following:

  • Attacks continue to rise in volume and complexity
  • In fact, while a typical business may be open eight hours a day, we’re finding that our average customer is experiencing mid to high level attacks via their firewalls for more than 10 to 12 hours a day.
  • That means that they were protected for more than 46 days of downtime. Do the math with top line revenue and the savings there quickly adds up. We also know that many SMBs can easily be out of business as the result of a single attack.
  • Malware trended up 30% YoY, including a massive 92% spike in May alone
  • Ransomware continues to intensify in North America (+15%) and explode in LATAM (+51%)
  • IoT attacks (+107%) and encrypted threats (+92%) continue to climb globally
  • 83% of customer-received alerts seen by our managed services team are related to cloud apps and compromised credentials
  • Alarmingly, SonicWall identified 78,923 ‘never-before-seen’ malware variants which equates to 526 a day

Q: What keeps Bob VanKirk up at night?

A: Unequivocally, bad actors and the sheer number and complexity of cyber-attacks. We are embroiled in a cyber arms race. Because bad actors—and their continually evolving mode of attacks and threats—never sleep, we need to remain vigilant and intent upon staying one step ahead. That said, we’re intentionally staying up all night, every night – offering 24x7x365 MSS/SOC protection—so our partners and customers can leverage SonicWall as an extension of their team and provide this key layer of security services.

Driving partner value means doing more though – we’re looking at our levels of support (reducing response times to seconds from hours and minutes), how we charge for and deliver our cyber solutions and services (offering more pay as you go and monthly billing), and offering partner programs and enablement designed to position our partners and their businesses for growth and success.

Q: After three acquisitions and the release of numerous industry-leading solutions and services, what is next for SonicWall?

A: SonicWall will maintain its outside-in approach with a focus on responding to our partners’ needs, which will include investing in both organic and inorganic efforts. As partners look to vendor consolidation and a platform approach to managing across multiple solutions, look for SonicWall to lean into its recently announced cloud management platform and to do more and be more integrated from the endpoint to the network, to the cloud.

What we do know emphatically is that threats and attacks are inevitable and how well prepared our partners and customers are able to deal with the same can mean significant savings or loss from a financial or brand reputation perspective. This is not a responsibility we take lightly. Our commitment is to empower our partners with a platform of modern solutions designed to help them grow their business along with enhancing the solutions and tools they need to sustain their current business momentum and success now and well into the future.

The post Cybersecurity Insiders Q&A: SonicWall President and Chief Executive Officer Robert VanKirk appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

Outside-In Approach to Partners Key to Firm’s Continued Growth

Welcome to the new SonicWall! 

2024 marks a high note in the transformation of SonicWall, which was founded in 1991 as Sonic Systems, shipping Ethernet cards for NuBus and SE expansion slots. Now, over thirty years later, SonicWall is serving the needs of well over 500,000 global businesses in more than 215 countries and territories, proudly standing as one of the foundational pillars of the cybersecurity industry.

The transformation process began in 2023 with the evolution of our executive leadership team. This resulted in SonicWall bolstering its North American and EMEA executive lineup and security expertise as well as strengthening its channel leadership.

SonicWall’s transformation didn’t end with our leadership changes. The company also doubled down on our commitment to providing the very best security solutions and business tools to our valued partners and customers around the globe. 

To that point, SonicWall made several key strategic acquisitions in the last year. These came from taking an outside-in approach, listening intently to our valued partners about how we could better meet their specific needs and then executing on those insights to better improve our offerings and services. 

The acquisition of Banyan Security, a leading provider of security service edge (SSE) solutions, strengthened SonicWall’s portfolio by adding zero trust security, relied on by leading fortune 100 companies to small businesses who are replacing legacy architectures for SSE solutions. This acquisition was a direct response to the current shift to more dynamic solutions that can adapt to the ever-evolving landscape of threats in the cloud. Banyan’s technology extends SonicWall’s portfolio to the cloud and provides partners and their customers with more flexibility, which is key to the continued development of SonicWall’s cybersecurity platform.

The acquisition of Solutions Granted, Inc., a top Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), delivering world-class cybersecurity solutions to hundreds of Managed Service Providers (MSPs), reinforces SonicWall’s commitment to our valued partners. Solutions Granted further extends our portfolio to include U.S.-based Security Operations Center services (SOCaaS), Managed Detection and Response (MDR), and other managed services that are tailor-made for MSPs and MSSPs. The acquisition, again, aligns with SonicWall’s outside-in approach, providing partners with a best-of-suite, comprehensive and flexible portfolio that accelerates their growth.

In addition to our strategic acquisitions, SonicWall is proud to unveil SonicPlatform, an innovative cybersecurity management platform designed to unify SonicWall products on a single integrated interface. This platform is especially beneficial for MSPs and MSSPs, enabling them to efficiently manage multiple client environments, automate key tasks, reduce operational costs, enhance service delivery, and garner valuable insights. SonicPlatform represents a significant stride towards a more integrated, efficient, and secure management ecosystem for SonicWall’s increasingly diverse suite of security solutions. 

It’s encouraging to experience the remarkable momentum sweeping across our business and even more exciting to know that this very momentum is fueled in large part by the renewed focus on and growth of our partner community with key new partner wins over the last three quarters as part of a growing trend. 

SonicWall enhanced our partner program with more strategic benefits and opportunities—and it is resonating. Within the last six months, our commitment to providing meaningful initiatives to partners has led to a 42% increase in partner growth year-over-year, with 63% of new partners transacting within the same quarter they onboarded. Additionally, partners in our Service Provider Program increased 91% year-over-year. 

I am proud of our team for its ongoing commitment to excellence from a solutions and partner perspective. It is their combined contributions and efforts that continue to fuel the ongoing success of SonicWall and those we serve. As a team, we remain steadfast in our commitment to delivering the most security-rich, cost-effective, partner-centric, and user-friendly products and services to protect organizations from constantly emerging cyberthreats.

 

The post Cybersecurity Leader SonicWall Rides Wave of Momentum with Company Transformation, Acquisitions, and New Cyber Platform appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

All of us at Tripwire’s Vulnerability Exposure and Research Team (VERT) are constantly looking out for interesting stories and developments in the infosec world. Here’s what cybersecurity news stood out to us during the week of March 28, 2022. I’ve also included some comments on these stories. Muhstik Botnet Targeting Redis Servers Using Recently Disclosed […]… Read More

The post Extra, Extra, VERT Reads All About It: Cybersecurity News for the Week of March 28, 2022 appeared first on The State of Security.