The Cyberattack Surface

THE CYBERATTACK SURFACE CONTINUES TO EXPAND

Giuseppe Brizio, CISO EMEA at Qualys, says that the insider threats are often underestimated but are very dangerous

How has the security threat landscape evolved over the past few months?

Digital Transformation, accelerated by the pandemic, has heralded a new reality characterized by the hybrid (remote and mobile) workforces and fast adoption of new technologies (e.g. Cloud Computing, Containers, Enterprise Mobility etc.) which have dramatically increased the cyberattack surface and weakened organizations’ cybersecurity posture. Consequently the cyberattacks have increased in volume and bad actors have gained higher possibility of succeeding.

Supply chain attacks for instance, are complex and require a lot of resources, but are very attractive to hackers because one successful hacking on a commonly used software gives the attackers a multiplying effect, providing potential access to all the customers using that software. The SolarWinds attack is an example of the supply chain risk. As it was the case in 2020, cyber-criminals will continue and increase the focus on remote workers, launching attacks which exploit “stay at home” technology vulnerabilities but also behavioural weaknesses through social engineering. Cybercriminals continue to take advantage of the sudden shift to remote working caused by the pandemic, to launch phishing, ransomware and malware attacks, targeting gaps in security postures, as many organizations were

not really prepared to support a large scale remote workforce, securely.

The insider threats are often underestimated but are very dangerous. Employees might not be the ones facing the consequences but they might be the ones causing the problem by unconsciously facilitating a cyber-attack due to lack of awareness of security policies. The real threat for many companies has now become the insider because the attacks on businesses and infrastructure can be much easier and more damaging when launched from within, where the security tends to be not as strong.

What are the top 3 cybersecurity trends we should be looking out for?

The accelerated business digitization and the newly digitally enabled business models, means more and more people are doing business online, whether it be remote work or e-commerce. In addition, with an estimated number of 30+ billion connected objects (IoT) by 2025, the physical and digital world boundaries are blurring, giving hackers a growing number of opportunities to perpetrate cyberattacks and breach cyber-defence. The advent of the 5G means the growing billions of connected objects, and the trillions of related sensors, will connect and interact at unprecedented speeds.

So from my perspective, the cyberattack surface continues to expand. Therefore, protecting it becomes imperative, via cybersecurity solutions that provide real-time visibility into the IT hybrid environment. You also need to predict and prevent cyber threats from occurring and detect and respond swiftly to cyberattack attempts. Artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies will provide more efficient and faster decision making by prioritizing and acting on threats, especially in large IT hybrid environment.

Ransomware and malware have respectively increased by 4x and 3.5x in 2020 compared to 2019, and the average payout of Ransomware is in the neighborhood of US$250K per event. The trend is that cyber criminals are becoming more powerful by sharing cyberattack opportunities on the dark web and also joining forces in coordinated and broader scale cyberattack ventures. Cyber criminals are the actors of the “crime digitization” who bring crime from physical to the digital world. Ransomware and malware prevention can be done through cybersecurity education and training, anti-malware programs, phishing awareness campaigns, ensuring timely vulnerabilities patching and user cybersecurity hygiene (e.g. identity management, secure password etc.).

Operational technology in the Industrial Control Systems, keeps developing at a fast pace and are interconnected like never before. This provides new opportunities for the cybercriminals, and we’ve seen Operational Technology cyber threats increase by 3x in the last 12 months. The critical infrastructures in the industrial sectors, but also in healthcare, utilities, transportation etc. could be particularly vulnerable to cyberattack because these infrastructures were not designed to take into account cybersecurity. To protect Operational Technology (OT) from cybersecurity threats, a comprehensive risk assessment and risk-based approach is required, to address vulnerabilities, ensure “security by design” whenever possible and apply zero trust cybersecurity framework.

What sort of security challenges are people facing when working from home and how is your company equipped to handle those challenges?

Depending on the countries and the business sectors, it’s estimated that during Q1 2021, between 50% to 80% of the workforces operated remotely due to the pandemic. Home offices by nature are not as protected as companies’ office sites which are equipped with security infrastructure (e.g. firewalls, routers etc.) and operated by security teams. Remote work has created new opportunities for hackers to exploit vulnerable employee devices and networks. The forced and immediate home office adoption created the “perfect storm” conditions for hackers to take advantage of “staying at home” vulnerabilities such as unprotected personal devices (BYOD) and unsecured networks (Wi-Fi) but also stressful situations when people are confronted with juggling between work and family duties.

The WFH or remote work in general, is also known as the cloudification of work, which is, paraphrasing the Cloud, when employees no longer need to be “on premise”, in company office locations, to perform their work duties. Companies have to increase security awareness among their remote and mobile workers, educating them about cyber risks, cyber threats and cyber security hygiene (e.g. preventive best practices). Security policy should be enforced (e.g. account mgt, password mgt, least privileged access etc.) for WFH users and WFH devices should be protected through an EPP (Endpoint Protection Platform) tool at minimum, providing broader than antivirus cyber-defence.

But additionally, there should also be an EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) solution which provides most advanced layer of endpoint protection by collecting and analysing data from endpoints across a network, so it can stop an attack whilst taking place. Furthermore, once the threat has been removed, EDR can then be used to identify and trace the root causes and the exact source of the attack, to avoid similar events from happening in the future. To give you an analogy, the EPP is like a “shield” from a protection standpoint whilst the EDR is like a “sword” allowing the organization to respond to a cyberattack.

How has ransomware evolved during the pandemic period and what are you doing to tackle the problem?

The volume of ransomware threats grew 4x in 2020 vs 2019, as well as in value, with some estimating that ransomware damage will reach US$20+ billion by the end of 2021. Ransomware officially claimed its first life in 2020 as consequence of an attack on a German healthcare facility. Around 80% of the ransomware attacks do target enterprise organizations and therefore this constitutes a very serious issues for businesses around the world. Training users on the proper ways of detecting and reacting to these threats and using secured email management solutions are effective ransomware countermeasures. If all users know how to recognize a phishing email and make sure it’s signalled to the security team, this can considerably reduce the ransom risk as roughly 50% of the ransomware are introduced via phishing emails.

4/5

AED 4,799

ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED (UX325)

ASUS’ new ZenBook 13 OLED (UX325) is being touted by the company as the world’s lightest OLED laptop. The new UX325 is a second refresh of the original ZenBook 13. While the last refresh introduced 11th-gen Intel Core Tiger Lake CPUs, this refresh now adds an OLED display option.

The UX325 weighs just 1.14-kgs, with the chassis and lids of the device built using diamond-cut aluminum alloy. The ZenBook 13 OLED also boasts a side profile of 13.9 mm. The laptop measures 304-by-203-by13.9mm in dimension, and comes with a larger keyboard than on previous ZenBook 13 models.

You also get an ErgoLift hinge, which raises the keyboard up for a more comfortable angle when the screen is opened. There is also a NumberPad 2.0 alongside the ErgoLift hinge mechanisms and IR cameras for fast face-recognition. The ZenBook 13 OLED has also been tested to meet the ultra-demanding MIL-STD-810G U.S. military standard for reliability and durability.

The laptop features a 13.3-inch OLED HDR display that offers a resolution of 1920-by1080 pixels and a 0.2 ms response time. The display also offers an ultrawide colour gamut of 100% DCI-P3, which is widely used in the motion picture industry, and is PANTONE Validated to provide the most precise colour accuracy for content creators. The display offers 400 nits of brightness. You also get 100-percent DCI-P3 colour gamut support, while it’s also TÜV Rheinland-certified for low blue light output. The panel is powered by Intel Iris Xe Graphics and like the original UX325, the OLED model still boasts 88% screen-to-body ratio with full-size connectivity options.

The UX325 is powered by a 11th Gen Intel Core i7 1165G7 processor running at a clock speed of 1.80GHz. You also get 16 GB of memory and 1TB PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD storage. In terms of connectivity, you get two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports that offer up to 40Gbps with 5V-20V Easy Charge. There is also one USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, one standard HDMI 2.0, and one MicroSD card reader rounding off the connectivity options list.

The ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED also comes with a 67 Wh lithium-polymer battery that offers a battery life of up to 13 hours. You also get WiFi 6 (802.11ax) with speeds of up to 2.4 Gbps through ASUS WiFi Master technology and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless connectivity options.

Since there is no 3.5mm audio jack on this one, considering the slim form factor, the ZenBook comes packed with a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle for users who want to connect via a 3.5 mm audio jack. The dongle also has Hi-Res Audio certification to ensure good audio performance. The speakers on this laptop are certified by Harman Kardon. Since the ZenBook 13 OLED is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor, 12 GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage, performance is not an issue. Booting up the laptop as well as running various applications were quite fast and lag free thanks to the robust specs. We put the laptop through a variety of real world situations such as editing photos, rendering videos and even gaming. We are glad to report that the device was able to handle all these tasks without any major hiccups even with multiple browser tabs and applications running simultaneously. In terms of the gaming performance, the ZenBook 13 OLED was able to run graphics heavy games without any struggle.

Considering the blockbuster performance it offers, the ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED (UX325) is not your typical ultrabook. It’s a powerful device that offers the visual benefits of an OLED screen in a light and portable build. You also get good set of connectivity options, strong specs-sheet, and good overall performance.

If you are a road warrior who needs to deal with heavy files and graphics-intensive work, but would prefer a thin and light laptop to carry around in your backpack, the ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED (UX325) should be one of the options you could look at.

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4/5

ASUS ProArt B550-Creator

$299

ASUS’ ProArt series has been known for years for quality products aimed at content creators. The company recently announced the new ProArt B550-Creator motherboard, which supports the latest AMD Ryzen series of processors. The motherboard speeds up jobs such as 3D rendering and video post-production, in addition to working with and sharing large files.

In terms of design, the B550-Creator borrows design cues from its earlier iterations such as the ASUS ProArt Z490-Creator 10G, keeping the overall design simplistic with straight lines provided by a pair of rectangular M.2 and an L-shaped power delivery heatsink. The B550-Creator is also the first AMD AM4 motherboard and it benefits from Intel’s updated Thunderbolt 4 controller. You also get 12+2 phase power delivery and dual 2.5 GbE networking.

Keeping in line with its minimalist design, the motherboard also does not come with any integrated RGB LED lighting. In terms of connectivity options, the B550-Creator comes with two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two Intel 2.5G Ethernet, and four USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. Each of these Thunderbolt 4 ports delivers up to 40 Gbps of bidirectional bandwidth for the latest high-speed devices and drives. Thunderbolt 4 also supports up to two external 4K UHD displays or one 8K display. PS/2 combo port, a DisplayPort In connector, an HDMI port, a collection of USB ports, and audio I/O. There is also an 8-pin EPS and 4-pin ATX CPU ProCool II power input combo that provides all the power your processor would ever need.

The motherboard also comes with four DDR4 memory slots for up to 128GB of memory, a pair of M.2 slots using the Asus Q-latch install system (PCIe 4.0 x4), three PCIe x16 and two PCIe x1 expansion slots, four SATA ports, and Realtek’s ALC1220A premium audio solution. You also get a BIOS Flashback Button which can help with troubleshooting along with the Asus QLED POST system.

The AM4 socket on the motherboard can take in AMD Ryzen 5000 Series, 4000 G-Series, and 3000 Series desktop processors. In terms of performance, the B550-Creator delivers, irrespective of whether the job at hand is video editing, rendering, compiling, or even batch conversions. Since the B550-Creator comes packed with teamed power stages through the use of a 12+2 VRM design and ProCool II power connectors, you get all the power required for the B550-Creator. Meanwhile, two large VRM multi finned/ridged heatsinks, keep the VRM cool.

The B550-Creator also comes with an isolated audio codec, the ALC 1220A featuring shielding, audio-grade capacitors, and an integrated amplifier. Hence, you get a high-quality audio experience, when listening to music, watching movies, and so on. Furthermore, ASUS’ AiNoise Canceling feature helps in improving audio quality by filtering out noises and distractions whether it be on your mic or incoming audio.

The ProArt Creator Hub on the other hand offers a clean and modern UI for monitoring and management while also offering integration for calibration with ASUS ProArt monitors. In addition, it also simplifies workflows with convenient features such as Task Grouping.

You can also assign multiple apps to a group and launch them simultaneously. You also get some hardware features such as a pre-mounted IO shield, ASUS M.2 Q-Latch for simple and tool-free M.2 installation, QLED for quick visual POST troubleshooting, and more.

If you are a content creator who needs ultra-fast USB and Thunderbolt connectivity alongside stable and reliable operation, good overall performance under trying conditions, and a boatload of connectivity options, the B550-Creator is the one for you. The ASUS ProArt B550-Creator Motherboard is thus, highly recommended.

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4/5

Samsung Galaxy A52

Samsung’s Galaxy A series of smartphones have always been known for value for money in the mid-range segment of smartphones. The company recently announced its Galaxy A52 smartphone, which offers a refreshed overall design, while offering value for money with a bunch of excellent features. The A52 is available in two variants – 5G and non-5G. The one we have reviewed here is the non-5G variant.

The Samsung Galaxy A52 borrows a few design cues from the company’s Galaxy S series of smartphones. The build quality of the device is top-notch, even though it comes in at a mid-range price point. The phone is available in a bunch of colour options – the review unit we received was the violet variant, which looks quite refreshing.

On the right edge of the device, you will find the volume rockers and the power button, which also doubles up as a Bixby button. The left edge of the device is clean. On the top edge, you will find the SIM card slot and a noise-cancelling microphone. On the bottom edge, you get the 3.5mm audio jack, USB Type C port, a speaker grille, and a second noise-cancelling microphone. The Samsung Galaxy A52 is also IP67 rated, making it dustproof and waterproof.

On the front, you get a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED FHD+ display that offers a resolution of 1080-by-2400 pixels and a pixel density of 407PPI. The display offers a refresh rate of 90Hz, which is pretty good for viewing content and playing games. The Galaxy A52’s display can either work at 90Hz or 60Hz based on the settings you choose.

The Samsung Galaxy A52 comes with a quad-camera setup at the back. Now, this includes a primary 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor that offers an aperture of f/1.8. You also get optical image stabilisation, and the sensor supports autofocus. The second camera is an ultra-wide 12MP sensor with an aperture of f/2.2. There is a third 5MP macro sensor that offers an aperture of f/2.4, and a fourth 5MP depth sensor with an aperture of f/2.4. The rear camera allows you to capture videos at 4K@30fps and 1080p@30/120fps. The front camera meanwhile allows you to capture videos at 4K@30fps and 1080p@30fps.

Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy A52 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor. Furthermore, the graphics are handled by an Adreno 618 GPU. The variant we received for review came with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, which can be expanded by using a microSD card.

The Galaxy A52 derives its power from a 4500mAh battery that supports fast charging at 25W. Samsung claims that the battery can charge up to 50% of its capacity in about 30 minutes. The A52 also runs on the Android 11 operating system with Samsung’s One UI 3.1 on top of it. The camera of the A52 performs quite well. Images captured with the 64MP mode in the Galaxy A52 are crisp and clear without any over-saturation. Images, overall, had natural tones and were quite vibrant. boosted. At night or in low-light conditions, the camera’s pixel binning feature adds a good amount of exposure to the image. The Galaxy A52’s camera extends the exposure time even without the Night Mode, taking well-lit night shots. You can see some samples below:

The performance of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipset on the Samsung Galaxy A52 is quite good. We did not encounter lags or stutters during our review period. Gaming sessions on the device were also quite fluid, even when running games such as Call of Duty Mobile.

For pricing that starts at AED 1299, the Samsung Galaxy A52 does sound like a good deal. The A52 is indeed a major upgrade over its predecessors. In fact, the refined UI experience may also appeal to those mid-range device users looking to join the Samsung camp.

If you are on the market looking for a budget-friendly smartphone that offers many premium bells and whistles, while also offering good overall performance, the Samsung Galaxy A52 does come across as highly recommended.

AED 1299