Data Security & Compliance Blog

1) UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) Date Disclosed: January 3, 2018 Records Breached: 1.1 billion Details: Using a service promoted on WhatsApp, hackers were able to access personal data belonging to Indian citizens by entering a 12-digit unique identity number – assigned to all residents based on their biometric and demographic data. 2) Exactis (Florida-Based Marketing Firm) Date Disclosed: June 26, 2018 Records Breached: 340 million Details: A database … Read more

You may think that information security and cybersecurity are the same thing, and I wouldn’t blame you as there is a lot of crossover. However, there are some key differences between the two that differentiate the terms. Many believe that cybersecurity and information security are completely inseparable, and one will not work without the other. Whilst this isn’t completely true, I recommend ensuring that your information security and cybersecurity strategies … Read more

It’s that time of year when you might be expecting many of your employees (some of which will be privileged users) to take some well-earned holidays. In their absence, much of the work is delegated to other members within the organization or even to contractors in some cases. In the case of your privileged users, for this to happen, often temporary access needs to be provided. Managing this privileged access, … Read more

Active Directory has long been a go-to platform for many organizations for centralized user account information. Because of its wide adoption, it has become a high value target for attackers – often attempting to steal credentials and elevate their privileges for access to the most sensitive data. As per a recent Forrester report on the State of Microsoft Active Directory 2018, there are a few key areas in which Active … Read more

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) rely on our inability to detect, alert and respond to any indicators that may suggest that our system has been compromised. Such indicators include; unusual account activity, traffic patterns, registry changes, and anomalous file and folder activity. Below are the top 10 different ways to tell if your system has been compromised. 1. Suspicious Privileged Account Activity Should an attacker gain access to a user account … Read more

Apart from the obvious difference in on-premise vs cloud location, there are many more nuanced differences between Windows Active Directory and Azure AD. Due to the changing nature of how organizations interact with data, Microsoft were pretty much forced to create a cloud-based directory, using completely different code bases and with completely different purposes. This means that you cannot simply assume that Azure AD is the same as Windows Active … Read more

Having a strong password policy is your first line of defence. Many users are aware of the security risks associated with having an easy-to-guess passwords, yet often they choose one anyway. We understand that it can be frustrating to be asked to memorize complex passwords, only to be asked to change them every 90 days. It is therefore necessary for sysadmins to reason with staff members and make sure that … Read more

Data drives almost every critical business function, from decision making to analytics. That’s why maintaining both data security and data integrity are an important part of keeping your business running smoothly. Data security is the hotter topic in the IT world at the moment, and as a result data integrity is in danger of being just an afterthought. However, it’s just as important to maintain good data integrity if you … Read more

Through Active Directory, administrators can assign and enforce the security policies of the entire domain and manage them from a central location. A big part of dealing with both external and internal attacks is tracking logon activity. Most organizations need to work on increasing log on control measures and proactively tracking the logon activities of all users. However, Active Directory logon and logoff controls have some major limitations which make … Read more

July 28th 2017 – SysAdmin Day. A day to celebrate the work, that often takes place behind closed doors, of System Administrators worldwide. We’re taking today to think about being a Sys Admin, in particular the pros and cons of the coveted role. First things first, what is a Systems Administrator? Officially they are responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems; especially multi-user computers, such as … Read more