Tag Archive for: Strengthen

FACT SHEET: Vice President Harris Launches New Initiatives to Strengthen U.S.-Philippines Alliance

/in


The United States and the Philippines enjoy an alliance and partnership based on deep historical, economic, and cultural ties, and our shared democratic values.  The United States and the Philippines stand together as friends, partners, and allies.  Now and always, the U.S. commitment to the defense of the Philippines is ironclad, and we are committed to strengthening our economic and investment relationship.
 
The Vice President’s travel to the Philippines reaffirms the bilateral alliance and will spur cooperation on a range of issues, including:  advancing clean energy, addressing the climate crisis, promoting inclusive growth and innovation, increasing access to quality education and health resources, combating trafficking in persons, facing common security challenges, supporting freedom of the seas, and deepening people-to-people ties.
 
The Vice President is launching the following initiatives.
 
CLIMATE ACTION, ENERGY SECURITY, AND SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

  • Energy Policy Dialogue: The U.S Department of Energy, U.S. Department of State, and Philippine Department of Energy will establish an Energy Policy Dialogue, a high-level platform for the two nations to develop new forms of energy cooperation, including on short and long-term energy planning, offshore wind development, and grid stability and power transmission.
  • Launching 123 Agreement Negotiations for Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation: The Vice President announced that the United States and the Philippines are initiating negotiations on a civil nuclear cooperation agreement (“123 agreement”) to support expanded cooperation on zero-emission energy and nonproliferation priorities.  Once in force, this agreement will provide the legal basis for U.S. exports of nuclear equipment and material to the Philippines. The United States is committed to working with the Philippines to increase energy security and deploying advanced nuclear reactor technology as quickly as safety and security conditions permit to meet the Philippines’ dire baseload power needs.  Such a deployment would support both energy security and climate goals, as well as support workers and businesses in both countries.
  • Critical Mineral…

Source…

These passwords are easily hacked; tips to strengthen your online security

/in


STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Cybercriminals have been thriving in the stolen username and password business, and adding a number or the occasional capital letter is not enough to stop them.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s annual report, nearly 190 million people were victims of an estimated 1,800 data breaches in 2021.

Data journalism website Stacker recently released a report in partnership with Twingate about the most common passwords used online. Twingate analyzed a list, compiled by SecLists, of the top 200 most used passwords in 2020 and found the following patterns:

The most common passwords tend to use only letters or numbers.

  • 45% of the top 200 contained letters only
  • 28% contained numbers only
  • 27% included both letters and numbers (no non-alpha numeric characters)

A large portion of top used passwords contain nouns.

  • 40% of the top 200 contained nouns

Keyboard patterns are popular.

  • 39% of the top 200 contained keyboard patterns such as “qwerty”

While less common, surprisingly multiple passwords included the word “password.”

  • 4 passwords in the top 200 (2% of list) contained the term “password”

According to the report, if your password is in the following list, you are considered an easy hacking target:

  • 123456
  • 123456789
  • picture1
  • password
  • 111111
  • 123123
  • 12345
  • 1234567890
  • senha
  • 1234567
  • qwerty
  • abc123
  • Million2
  • 000000
  • 1234
  • iloveyou
  • aaron431
  • password1
  • qqww1122

LOWERING SECURITY RISK

Cybercriminals can access large amounts of online users’ information by using a tactic called “credential stuffing,” which occurs when they purchase or reuse lists of commonly used and stolen passwords and “stuff” them into the login fields of websites.

According to a 2018 Google survey conducted by The Harris Poll, 65% of U.S. adults admitted to using the same passwords for some, if not all, of the websites that they use, which makes them susceptible to being hacked on numerous accounts with the same password.

Tech companies, such as Apple, are creating alternatives to traditional passwords that are more secure and convenient. The technology utilizes biometric data, including fingerprints and facial recognition.

In the meantime, the FBI recommends using “passphrases” – sentences – because longer…

Source…

Fintech Statrys Adds MFA To Further Strengthen Security

/in


(MENAFN– EIN Presswire)

Statrys MFA

Verma Pankaj CTO

mfa Statrys

In response to growing cyber security threats in Asia

We’re going the extra mile to make sure the Statrys account is safer than ever before. After all, the safety of our clients’ money is our top priority.” — Pankaj VermaHONG KONG, July 18, 2022 /EINPresswire.com / — Hong Kong-based Fintech Statrys  is introducing MFA on all its platforms to strengthen the security of its services. Statrys’s mission is to be the world’s ‘go-to’ payment platform for SMEs and entrepreneurs. The company provides virtual business accounts with all the features of a traditional bank offering but without the red tape and hassle.

This move is intended to ensure that the users’ accounts are always safe and under their control and access. The financial industry typically features in the top five sectors for severity and frequency of cyber-attacks. The 2022 IBM Security X-Force Threat Intelligence Index found that Asia has become the region most targeted by cyberattacks, with financial services and manufacturing organizations, in particular, experiencing nearly a combined 60% of attacks.

Hong Kong is an attractive target for cyberattacks as a leading global financial center. With more than USD 2 billion in transaction value , Statrys wants to ensure that further transactions are carried out without fear of fraud.

“We’re going the extra mile to make sure the Statrys account is safer than ever before. After all, the safety of our clients’ money is our top priority.’ — Pankaj Verma, Statrys’ Chief Technology Officer.

Adopting multiple-factor authentication helps Statrys secure access to the platform, protect users’ identities, and guarantee that the proper user carries out each transaction.

Multiple-factor authentication at Statrys is implemented at all platform and mobile app levels, ensuring that mobile security is just as reliable as other methods. MFA safeguards their account in case any of the devices are misplaced. Even if a password or other authentication method is compromised, it’s extremely rare that a hacker also has a second or third authentication factor.

By fully implementing…

Source…

Top ways to strengthen protection for IoT devices in OT

/in


Over the past few decades, we’ve seen cyberthreats evolve from tools to smart weapons, extending their reach as botnets that develop into advanced persistent threats and kill chains.

As IoT matures, the focus in cyberwarfare has turned to protecting devices. Traditional IT and operational technology (OT) are converging, and cybersecurity professionals must explore better ways to protect both domains.

An evolving threat landscape

The threat landscape has changed dramatically, and attacks are increasingly sophisticated. Bad actors may launch coordinated attacks that attack key infrastructure. Nation-state attackers launch ransomware attacks that use weaponized cryptography. Malware propagates from threat actors to sensors, controllers and actuators.

As attacks become more complex, industrial environments are increasingly vulnerable. Most brownfield and greenfield devices in these deployments lack cyber resilience by design, which leaves organizations unprepared.

What distinguishes threats in 2022 from earlier attacks? Fundamentally, the difference is that today’s hackers have a better understanding of how to sidestep detection and prevention controls. Traditional IT security was built with a focus on examining network traffic and utilizing rules-based firewalls, threat intelligence, and policy-based intrusion and anomaly detection.

It is challenging to adapt these IT security strategies for OT, as devices and humans have dramatically different vulnerabilities. Unlike the predictable behavior of devices, human psychology is tougher to proactively address.

Aligning security to industry trends

Device protection requires an approach based on a horizontal platform of transitive trust, together with a vertical pillar of integrated trust. For an effective strategy, organizations must align security to several industry trends.

1. Digital transformation

Digital transformation for IoT devices applies AI and machine learning (ML) to enhance operational efficiency and digital privacy, as well as enable data sharing. AI requires intelligence in both the network and devices to support continuity and runtime integrity of services in automation-powered industrial applications.

ML offers…

Source…