Rising Nation State Cyber Attacks from…Lebanon and the Netherlands?

Optiv Security, the world’s leading security solutions integrator, has published its 2018 Cyber Threat Intelligence Estimate (CTIE), which details the current state of the cyber-threat landscape and uses estimative intelligence to predict how that landscape stands to change in the future. This report is generated to provide Optiv’s clients with a global view of security threats and trends, so they can effectively adapt their strategic plans to mitigate anticipated enterprise risk.

Among the key findings in the report:

The Rise of the Netherlands and Lebanon. Seemingly benign nation states such as Lebanon and the Netherlands are rising in the ranks of nation-sponsored attackers. The motivations for this rise are unclear, although both countries made headlines this year with cyberattacks: Lebanon for spying on thousands of people across 20 countries via an Android malware campaign; and the Netherlands for penetrating Russia’s Cozy Bear organization and uncovering the hack of the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential election in the U.S.

Cyber-Social is the Next Front for Nation States. Nation-state-sponsored attacks are expanding from “cyber-physical,” where the objective is to compromise data or critical infrastructure, to “cyber-social,” where the goal is to use social media to influence the opinions and actions of large populations of people. Russian cyber-social exploitation of European and American elections showed how relatively easy and cost-effective these can be, which dramatically increases the likelihood that this class of exploit will be exploited by a growing number of nation states, hacktivists and other groups in the future.

Critical Infrastructure Has Been Breached. The utilities and energy industries experienced high indicators of exploit activity without any high-profile breaches. This suggests that attackers have access to critical infrastructure but are waiting to exploit this access in response to events such as war, or attacks on their own infrastructure.

Healthcare IoT is Vulnerable. The Internet of Things (IoT) continues to suffer from weak security fundamentals and unmitigated vulnerabilities. The healthcare IoT is particularly problematic due to the increasing numbers of networked medical devices and the potential damage that could occur should those devices become compromised.

Phishing Remains the Delivery Vehicle of Choice. Despite years of technology countermeasures, publicity and education campaigns, phishing remains the number one malware delivery mechanism. Additionally, while modern email security solutions can detect and stop emails with malicious attachments, they are still largely impotent against detecting hyperlinks to malicious websites.

Protecting the Brand Rises in Importance. Brand security threats were the second most common source of alerts for Optiv during the year – behind phishing attacks, but ahead of typical security concerns such as data leakage and web vulnerabilities. These alerts were generated in response to the presence of “phony, misleading or malicious sites,” raising the importance of brand risk in the hierarchy of enterprise security concerns.

If you are a member of the media interested in further analysis on any of the issues addressed in Optiv’s 2018 Cyber Threat Intelligence Estimate, please contact Jade Cook at Jade.Cook@optiv.com or (816) 701-3374.

-- New Vice Chairman and Director Bring Decades of Cyber Security Leadership Experience, Product Company Knowledge and Global Threat Intelligence Insight --

DENVER – September 7, 2017 - Optiv Security, a market-leading provider of end-to-end cyber security solutions, today announced two new appointments to its Board of Directors: Dave DeWalt, former FireEye and McAfee chief executive officer, who will serve as vice chairman of the board, and retired United States Army General David Petraeus.

“Dave and Gen. Petraeus are experts in their respective domains and we are really excited to welcome them to Optiv’s Board of Directors,” said Dan Burns, Optiv chief executive officer. “A cyber security industry icon, Dave has a track record of building innovative, industry-leading technology companies. His experience advising Fortune 1000 CXOs and strong understanding of the heterogeneous platform delivery model are invaluable to Optiv, our partners and our clients in this new digital business environment.

“As a decorated retired U.S. Army commander and former CIA director, Gen. Petraeus brings to Optiv unique insight into the global threat intelligence landscape,” continued Burns. “For years, Optiv has been working with local, state and federal government agencies to successfully apply innovative private sector security practices. Now, with Gen. Petraeus as an advisor, we can step up our efforts and do even more for our country. Our lab capabilities are ideal for helping federal, government and non-governmental entities vet technologies and diffuse new threats as they are discovered.”

DeWalt has more than 25 years in the technology space, holding a series of leadership positions in some of the industry’s most innovative and successful companies. He most recently served as FireEye’s chief executive officer. Previously, DeWalt was McAfee’s president and chief executive officer, and led the acquisition of McAfee by Intel for $7.7 billion in 2010. Prior to McAfee, DeWalt served in a number of executive positions at EMC Corporation. He also has held top leadership positions at Documentum, Quest Software, Segue and Oracle Corporation.

Gen. (Ret.) Petraeus is a Member of KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which integrates geopolitical and global trends expertise, macroeconomic analyses, and environmental, social and governance issues and opportunities into KKR’s investment process. Prior to joining KKR, Gen. Petraeus served more than 37 years in the U.S. military, including command of coalition forces in Iraq, command of U.S. Central Command, and command of coalition forces in Afghanistan. Following his service in the military, Gen. Petraeus served as the director of the CIA.

With the appointments of DeWalt and Gen. Petraeus, Optiv’s board currently consists of six members, including: Dan Burns, Optiv’s chief executive officer; Herald Chen, head of KKR’s Technology investment team, who serves as chairman of the board; John Park, member of KKR’s Technology industry team; and Anushka Sunder, principal in Blackstone’s Private Equity Group.

Optiv is continuing to build its Board of Directors and client advisory board with top cyber security experts. The company also is expanding its platform with new innovations with next generation security operations center (SOC), and orchestration and automation that meet clients’ ever-expanding global needs.

Optiv Security: Secure greatness.®

Optiv is the cyber advisory and solutions leader, delivering strategic and technical expertise to nearly 6,000 companies across every major industry. We partner with organizations to advise, deploy and operate complete cybersecurity programs from strategy and managed security services to risk, integration and technology solutions. With clients at the center of our unmatched ecosystem of people, products, partners and programs, we accelerate business progress like no other company can. At Optiv, we manage cyber risk so you can secure your full potential. For more information, visit www.optiv.com.

Denver – July 26, 2016 - Optiv Security, a market-leading provider of end-to-end cyber security solutions, today announced that five of its security experts will present at Black Hat 2016. The seasoned security professionals will demonstrate three separate open source tools for enterprise penetration testers at the Arsenal Hall, provide advice to attendees on how to succeed in their career and give a behind-the-scenes look at the Black Hat network. The conference is scheduled to take place from July 30 – August 4 at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Session details include:

Staying Connected, and Surviving, on the Black Hat Network

Who/Topic: The Black Hat network is often the subject of quiet whispers, fear and sometimes laughter. In this session, Bart Stump, solutions engineer, will discuss what many security professionals believe to be one of the most hostile networks in the world. Attendees will learn what to expect while staying connected at Black Hat and tips to stay safe.

When/Where: Tuesday, August 2 from 5:00 p.m. – 5:20 p.m. | Mandalay Bay G

Advancing Your Career as a Security Pro

Who/Topic: Security professionals are in one of the fastest-growing – and potentially lucrative – careers available today. The industry’s negative-unemployment market means many organizations compete for security experts’ services. In this panel session, Dawn-Marie Hutchinson, executive director office of the CISO, will join a discussion on how security professionals can take advantage of these opportunities and advance their careers.

When/Where: Wednesday, August 3 from 12:50 p.m. – 1:40 p.m. | Reef C

Pay No Attention to that Hacker Behind the Curtain: A Look Inside the Black Hat Network

Who/Topic: Each year thousands of security professionals attend Black Hat USA to learn the latest tactics and techniques from the sharpest minds in the industry. Once they have that knowledge, they can't wait to test it on the closest network they can find: the Black Hat network. In this presentation, Bart Stump, solutions engineer, will show conference attendees what happens behind the scenes at Black Hat. Who's attacking who? What are they doing? And what makes it all tick.

When/Where: Thursday, August 4 from 5:00 p.m. – 5:50 p.m. | Mandalay Bay EF

Black Hat Arsenal presentations include:

SERPICO

Who/Topic: SERPICO, the simple report writing collaboration tool, provides enterprise penetration testing teams a portable platform to ease report writing and generation. Pete Arzamendi, research scientist, returns to Black Hat to demonstrate new features of this open source tool, including new data imports and a bundled version for quicker reporting.

When/Where: Thursday, August 4 from 10:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. | Palm Foyer, Level 3, Station 1

BurpBuddy

Who/Topic: BurpBuddy is an open source tool originally released in 2014. Arsenal 2016 will mark the release of version three, which offers a complete rewrite and provides a smorgasbord of new functionality. With BurpBuddy, pen testers can write their own plugins for Burp in any language they want. During this demo, Tom Steele, managing principal consultant, will discuss the functionality of the API and showcase examples written in various programming languages.

When/Where: Thursday, August 4 from 12:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m. | Palm Foyer, Level 3, Station 5

NetNeedle

Who/Topic: Hiding a needle in a haystack is easier if the needle looks like hay. Join John Ventura, research practice manager, who will demonstrate NetNeedle, an open source tool developed for pen testers to provide encrypted control channels and chat sessions that are disguised to look like other common network activity. Originally written to demonstrate network-based steganography principals, this tool exploits presumptions about the nature of protocols that are largely ignored in a modern network.

When/Where: Thursday, August 4 from 2:00 p.m. – 3:50 p.m. | Palm Foyer, Level 3, Station 6

Optiv is a Black Hat 2016 platinum sponsor and will exhibit at booth #1008. Media wishing to interview Optiv experts should contact Lauren Howe at lauren.howe@optiv.com or (443) 519-5455.