To reduce the risk of vulnerabilities, IT administrators must ensure the devices they manage, which sometimes includes Mac devices, have the latest updates installed, even if support for Mac is not their major competency.
What does the acronym QA mean?
We interview Daniel Rodríguez, head of QA at Pandora FMS
Today, in the intriguing adventures of the Pandora FMS blog, we are finally going to discover and reveal the secret behind the initials “QA”. For this investigation we will have the help of Daniel Rodríguez, the very celebrated head of the QA team at Pandora FMS.
Thanks to him we will get rid of all doubts, as we did with other enigmatic investigations on acronyms, such as UFO, CD or, how to forget!, WTF, which made us work for months on the day-to-day of the streets and in the deepest parts of the net.
If you want to follow us again in this reading, go ahead, you will feel like someone who came out of an adventure: satisfied and eager to tell it.
How did you end up in a company like Pandora FMS?
I knew some people who worked here at the time and they recommended the company. They started by saying that “it’s the best”, “come here”, “we would make a great team, you’ll see how much you will like these people and how well they will treat you”… And, you know, I couldn’t resist.
For the inexperienced: What does QA mean?
Don’t worry, I will solve your ancestral doubt. “QA” is equal to “Quality Assurance”. My brand, my crew.
What exactly do you do in the QA team?
We run batteries of tests on the tools we offer every time something is fixed or a new feature is added to find bugs. So customers can have versions that are as stable as possible.
And you as the head of this team, what are you in charge of?
As head of QA, I am in charge of managing the team’s work, maintaining the test environment, and testing the most difficult or demanding tests.
What are the most satisfying tasks of your day to day?
Uhhh, when the release is out without any trouble and in a convenient way, it gives me a high all over my body…
And the most stressful or terrible ones?
Final pre-release testing. They tend to be very stressful because we have a release date and unforeseen events always arise at the last minute, as you can imagine.
What do you think is the most important lesson you have learned working for this company?
Adapting to situations where work is developed differently, in this case with remote working due to the current situation. Yes, that could be an example.
Any remarkable/unspeakable anecdotes at this time in Pandora FMS?
Many, almost all of them unspeakable.
What hobbies drive you crazy?
Video games and music. They blow me away.
Tell me the first thing that comes to mind when I say these words:
* Pandora: Collaboration
* Friday night: Friends
* Bugs: Work
* Sunday evening: Movie
About Version 2 Digital
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.
Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.
About PandoraFMS
Pandora FMS is a flexible monitoring system, capable of monitoring devices, infrastructures, applications, services and business processes.
Of course, one of the things that Pandora FMS can control is the hard disks of your computers.
How Does Pam Help Protect Healthcare Organizations?
Cyberattacks on healthcare organizations have increased in recent years. As we have already stated on our blog, this is due to the sector’s unpreparedness to deal with confidential data, since health services do not invest as they should in information security.
In addition, health professionals, for the most part, are not trained to detect threats in virtual environments and do not receive proper awareness of the inconvenience a malicious action can cause.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, this problem has worsened, since remote work favors access to personal devices for corporate purposes, making the IT infrastructure of institutions even more vulnerable. Because of this, we strongly recommend implementing cybersecurity solutions such as PAM to protect this infrastructure.
In this article, we will explain what a PAM solution is and how it can benefit healthcare services. To facilitate your reading, we divided the text into three main topics:
- What is a PAM Solution, and Why is It Important?
- How Does Pam Help Protect Healthcare Organizations?
- About senhasegura
Keep reading!
1. What is a PAM Solution, and Why is It Important?
Privileged Access Management (PAM) consists of strategies and tools that allow you to protect technological environments, controlling privileged access and permissions for systems, processes, accounts, and users.
In practice, this solution makes it possible to prevent and correct damage resulting from threats to privileged credentials, such as carelessness by employees and attacks by malicious agents.
Its main purpose is to apply the concept of least privilege, restricting access rights and permissions, ensuring that users have only the access necessary to perform their duties.
For this reason, experts and technologists consider this feature one of the most important for reducing cyber risks and reinforce its advantages for the Return on Investment (ROI) in security.
2. How Does Pam Help Protect Healthcare Organizations?
PAM is a solution that benefits healthcare services and medical organizations in a variety of ways: by protecting legacy devices, managing third-party access in the environment, and protecting them against insider threats. See how senhasegura helps in these aspects:
- Legacy Device Protection:
PAM makes it possible to remove passwords and credentials encoded in scripts, application code, and configuration files, in addition to automatically managing these passwords.
This is possible because the application receives the updated password of the resource to be accessed in a way that keeps critical data inaccessible to malicious users.
- Third-party Management:
Medical organizations typically have a heterogeneous infrastructure, with devices from numerous manufacturers. This is a factor that adds to the complexity of the maintenance process for these devices, which rely on multiple vendors, third-party assistance, consultants, and service providers, who need access to your organization’s network resources. This type of access requires even more protection than by employees, and with the use of PAM, your system will be protected.
- Insider Threats:
When it comes to data breaches, employees themselves can pose risks to the company. In order to avoid these risks, PAM makes it possible to limit users’ privileges and have control over access to privileged accounts.
Using this important information security tool brings a series of positive results for organizations. Among them, the following stand out:
- Cyber Risk Reduction: PAM drastically reduces the risks associated with attacks by malicious actors in virtual environments;
- Effective Management of Credentials: Healthcare employees will only have the necessary access to perform their duties;
- Remote Access Protection: It is a way to protect IT systems that are more vulnerable with remote work, which has become a reality for many professionals in times of a pandemic;
- Reduction in Incident Response Time: With PAM‘s efficiency in issuing reports, alerts, in addition to dashboards and remote session recording, operations are not stopped for a long time, nor do they cause negative impacts on productivity;
- Unified OT and IT Security: PAM considers the convergence between OT and IT in Industry 4.0;
- Compliance with Security Policies: Healthcare services need to follow security policies in order to preserve the confidentiality of their patients’/clients’ data, and PAM makes it possible to adopt the necessary standards to achieve this goal.
In Brazil, the main legislation on the subject is the General Data Protection Law (LGPD), which has been in force since August 2020.
However, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is also a reference for good security practices, as well as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a set of North American protection standards aimed at health services.
3. About senhasegura
In order to avoid the loss of information and traceability of actions in networks, databases, servers, and devices, senhasegura works to ensure digital sovereignty for institutions in various areas, including healthcare.
Also, it brings these organizations into compliance with auditing requirements and security standards, such as:
- HIPAA;
- LGPD;
- GDPR;
- ISO 27001;
- PCI DSS;
- and Sarbanes-Oxley.
By reading this article, you have understood how a PAM solution can be useful to healthcare services.
ALSO READ IN SENHASEGURA’S BLOG
Top 5 Cyber Threats to Healthcare Organizations
Multifactor Authentication: How to Benefit from This Security Strategy
An Overview of Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPL)
About Version 2 Digital
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.
Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.
About Segura®
Segura® strive to ensure the sovereignty of companies over actions and privileged information. To this end, we work against data theft through traceability of administrator actions on networks, servers, databases and a multitude of devices. In addition, we pursue compliance with auditing requirements and the most demanding standards, including PCI DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley, ISO 27001 and HIPAA.
5 Best Practices To Protect Your Network
As with everything else in life: so many network security options, so little budget. How do you know which one will best protect your network, users and devices? No need to agonize over endless hours of research, we’ve shortlisted the five critical elements of cyber security: firewalls, NAC, anti-virus software, proxy servers, and endpoint security.
Firewalls
Filtering out malware that might otherwise bury itself so deeply into the network that it cannot be removed is a pure gain for your network security. That is what a firewall is for. How can you be sure you have a firewall suited to your network? Test it for stability under tough traffic conditions. According to NSS Labs you should subject your firewall to traffic from several protocol randomizers and mutation tools. And at a maximum of 350Mbps and 60,000 packets per second. Another test is to see if your firewall blocks a constant stream of attacks over time, while allowing most of the legitimate traffic and alerting the admin to the attack.
On the downside, employees pressured to get their jobs done, might turn a firewall off as if it slows down their computers. Only regular employee training and raising awareness to the importance of the firewall will help here.
Network Access Control
Network Access Control (NAC – sometimes AKA Network Administration Control), provides visibility and control for any user and any device in the corporate network. Utilizing its agentless technology, it can detect and profile any device on the corporate network in real time across all network layers; wired and wireless network, VPN, Virtual and Cloud.
It also employs an access-control policy that matches users and permissions. This policy also defines endpoint security via wired or wireless networks. NAC enables you to set a policy for every user or group of users. This means that once a NAC solution is deployed, your cyber security team have a much easier time controlling access to the network (denying access if necessary), thus protecting it. Some of the NAC solutions are deployed in a central location (on premise / cloud) and can see all of the network locations – whether headquarter or a remote branch.
The 802.1x NAC protocol is not always the most viable option. Next generation NAC sets out to resolve all the issues that have made NAC deployment complex. With NG-NAC, you control who accesses the network and what activities they can take once they have entered it. NG-NAC also copes with smartphones and IoT devices by separating them for core components/ layers of the network. Cloud based solutions such as Portnox CLEAR, make deployment even simpler as they easily integrate with other existing security solutions and offer pre set-up infrastructure for easy deployment. Portnox CLEAR also delivers continuous risk monitoring as well as Risk Adaptive Access over the VPN utilizing its two factor authentication approach, enabling access not only by the user strong identity but also based on the device risk score when accessing through VPN.
Get Your Free IoT Security Risk Assessment With Portnox
Anti-Virus
The best “anti-virus program” is to get network users to be aware of how easily viruses can attack their computers, laptops and smartphones every day. Employees tend to remove the anti-virus applications from their devices because they often consume a lot of resources during scans. After the firewall, the anti-virus software is the second level of protection, detecting malware on the hard drive. A good anti-virus software should also protect your network from viruses, spam, spyware, Trojan worms and identity theft. Automated updates are essential for optimal protection.
Proxy Servers
Deciding what you want to use a proxy server for is the first step of the equation.
Will it be used solely for the purpose of forwarding requests for internet access, or also as a replacement for IP addresses? Proxy servers can thus save expenses of providing routable addresses to access many systems. In this mode they also obscure the location of the client but it is still advised to use a firewall.
Proxy servers can also increase performance by acting as caching servers. But look out! The high quality of the cache system might well mean that your secured data is being viewed by the proxy service provider. You can place filters and anti-virus programs on the proxy. This is however not foolproof as not all data is scanned. A proxy server can simplify access to blocked websites. This however is not always good news. Hackers create proxies to achieve high level access to networks, using them for repeated attacks.
Endpoint Device Security
Endpoint devices come in all shapes and sizes and are probably today’s biggest security loophole. For example, no security application is known to completely stop someone from attaching a USB drive to a computer (and stealing confidential data in large volumes). Endpoint devices are also used to initiate a malware attack.
Securing the endpoint devices directly is usually limited to a specific device and sometimes to a specific version (no updates for more advanced devices). Unfortunately, Network Administrators cannot ensure all network users are using permitted and secured endpoint devices. The biggest culprit is the USB stick. According to Hendon Publishing, most frequently, the vast majority of sloppy endpoint practices are the result of employees trying to get things done quickly. Once again training and awareness play a key role to your ability to implement a successful network security program.
The Optimal Solution for Enterprise Network Security
Of all of these methods, next generation NAC is the best all-around type of protection. It is more comprehensive than just anti-virus, end point security, firewalls or proxy servers. NG-NAC controls access to the network and provides full visibility to activities within it. It thus stops one of today’s most prevalent network threats, namely illegitimate mobile devices used to access corporate information.
Training and awareness are important, but you do not want to depend on others when securing your network. Only NAC is dynamic enough to provide you with peace of mind.
About Version 2 Digital
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.
Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.
About Portnox
Portnox provides simple-to-deploy, operate and maintain network access control, security and visibility solutions. Portnox software can be deployed on-premises, as a cloud-delivered service, or in hybrid mode. It is agentless and vendor-agnostic, allowing organizations to maximize their existing network and cybersecurity investments. Hundreds of enterprises around the world rely on Portnox for network visibility, cybersecurity policy enforcement and regulatory compliance. The company has been recognized for its innovations by Info Security Products Guide, Cyber Security Excellence Awards, IoT Innovator Awards, Computing Security Awards, Best of Interop ITX and Cyber Defense Magazine. Portnox has offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia. For information visit http://www.portnox.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.。
SSH Keys: Learn More About the Importance of Secure Control
Counting on maximum security is essential to bring a protected environment and strengthen customers’ trust in the company. SSH keys are an important authentication mechanism that ensures data and information protection.
They work as an access credential, being an essential tool to strengthen the secure control of companies and bring more credibility to their operations. With the General Data Protection Law (LGPD), investing in data security is a huge need for companies.
Therefore, in this text, we are going to explain what SSH keys are, how they came about, and their importance when it comes to bringing more security to the company’s day-to-day. Check it out.
What Are SSH Keys?
SSH (or Secure Socket Shell) is a network protocol that gives users access, modification, or administration permissions remotely to servers. In this way, one can bring a layer of protection during use.
Its security capability occurs through cutting-edge encryption that enables user access to data, information, documents, and files between machine and server. SSH keys rely on an authentication mechanism that is capable of masking transmitted user data.
They can come in various sizes, but the most common model is the SSH key with RSA 2048-bit encryption, which supports passwords up to 617 digits. SSH keys come in pairs — where one part is private and the other public.
Typically, SSH keys are used as a form of login or to perform other operations on servers and remote machines. However, they can also be used as a means of transferring information and files securely and reliably.
How Do SSH Keys Work?
When accessing through SSH keys, the user enters a shell session — which works as a text interface that allows direct interaction with the server. During this session, all commands entered in the terminal are sent through an encrypted SSH tunnel and executed on the server.
So, the SSH connection is implemented using a client-server model, and to enable access, the remote machine or server must have a tool capable of listening for connections and authenticating requests.
For this, the user’s computer must have an SSH client installed to enable communication via the SSH protocol and then receive information about the remote host to which it intends to connect.
What Are The Types of SSH Encryption?
SSH keys encryption is the main guarantee of protection during access requests and data transfer. We separate the three structures used in this protocol. Check them below.
Symmetric Encryption
In this encryption model, users have a feature that works as a personal identifier to allow data sharing between server and user. For this, a secret key is responsible for the process of encrypting and decrypting the information that is sent.
Symmetric encryption is also known as the “shared secret” model due to the need to rely on a secret key to make data sharing available. Typically, there is only one key that is used for all operations.
SSH symmetric keys are responsible for encrypting the entire connection. Therefore, this model makes it possible for both password authentication and data transfer to be protected against intrusion and unauthorized access.
Asymmetric Encryption
Unlike the previous model where only one secret key is used, in asymmetric encryption, we rely on two keys — one for the user and one for the server. This process is essential for data encryption and maximizing information protection.
These keys are known as public and private and are responsible for the combination capable of generating SSH and its entire security protocol. The public key can be shared freely with any party. It is associated with the paired key. However, the private key cannot be derived from the public one.
There is a relationship between both keys that allows the public one to encrypt messages that can only be decrypted by the private key. Therefore, the private key must be kept entirely secret and must never be shared with other parties.
This key is the only component capable of decrypting a message encrypted by the public key. Therefore, it exercises secure control over the transmission of data and information and only entities that hold the private key are able to carry out this process.
Hashing
Hashing is another form of data manipulation that can benefit SSH. Here, the information is scrambled into a random sequence of characters that works as a kind of signature generated through an algorithm, which summarizes all the data.
This method ensures messages are protected through this data manipulation, providing greater security against tampering with codes that are received remotely by servers.
How Important Are SSH Keys in Secure Control?
One of the main points that determine the importance of SSH in companies is their ability to extend security on-premises. SSH keys are able to protect the integrity of data and information transmitted and changes made to the server.
Through its encryption methods, the SSH protocol is capable of providing maximum protection in the event of malicious actions where there are attempts to intercept data or invade the servers where the information is stored.
With SSH keys, a company has more control over its data, as access is restricted only to the legitimate authentication key. This security protocol also works as a reinforcement when allowing access to remote machines or servers, blocking any unauthorized access to the system.
That’s it! SSH keys are one of the most secure communication protocols out there today. In addition to bringing more security to a company’s routine, counting on this encryption method is an excellent way to strengthen its credibility and bring more efficient means to deal with sensitive data.
Take the opportunity to check out other articles on our blog to deepen your knowledge and learn new methods to bring security to your business.
About Version 2 Digital
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.
Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.
About Segura®
Segura® strive to ensure the sovereignty of companies over actions and privileged information. To this end, we work against data theft through traceability of administrator actions on networks, servers, databases and a multitude of devices. In addition, we pursue compliance with auditing requirements and the most demanding standards, including PCI DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley, ISO 27001 and HIPAA.