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Decoding Unified Access Control: A Comprehensive Guide

Decoding Unified Access Control: A Comprehensive Guide 

In an age where cyber threats are not only becoming more sophisticated but are also increasing in volume, ensuring the security of your network is paramount. Enter Unified Access Control (UAC), a robust security framework designed to guard digital assets against unauthorized access while maintaining a seamless user experience. By creating a secure environment that functions as an independent parallel to the Internet, UAC represents a critical evolution in how organizations protect their data. This guide aims to decode Unified Access Control, offering insights into how it operates across networks and its role in the contemporary cybersecurity landscape.

Understanding Unified Access Control and Its Importance

Unified Access Control (UAC) marks a paradigm shift in network security, centralizing the management and enforcement of access policies across a diverse array of entry points within an organization’s digital ecosystem. Organizations can restrict access to specific resources, limit privileges, and reduce the risk of data breaches using network access controls. This centralized approach is a departure from conventional security strategies that often operate in isolation, addressing specific areas of the network without a cohesive overarching framework. UAC stands out by offering a unified security posture, integrating access controls and policies across various platforms and devices to ensure consistent protection.

The criticality of UAC in today’s cybersecurity landscape cannot be overstated. As businesses continue to diversify their technology stacks, incorporating cloud solutions and mobile technologies, the challenge of securing an ever-expanding network perimeter intensifies. UAC addresses this challenge head-on by providing a scalable and adaptable framework that can evolve in response to new threats and changing business needs. This adaptability is crucial in maintaining a robust defense against a backdrop of rapidly evolving cyber threats.

By harmonizing the enforcement of security policies, UAC significantly streamlines the management of network security. This consolidation reduces the operational burdens associated with managing multiple security solutions, allowing for more efficient allocation of resources and improved security oversight. The centralization of access controls under UAC also enhances the organization’s ability to enforce compliance with regulatory standards, an aspect of paramount importance in an era of stringent data protection laws.

Furthermore, UAC’s comprehensive approach to security management empowers organizations to implement a more proactive defense strategy. By facilitating a deeper insight into network activities and access patterns, UAC enables security teams to identify potential vulnerabilities and address them before they can be exploited. This proactive stance is essential for staying ahead of cyber threats and ensuring the integrity of the organization’s digital assets.

The Role of Network Access Control in UAC

Network Access Control (NAC) stands as a critical pillar within the Unified Access Control ecosystem, orchestrating the intricate dance of device and user permissions across a network. In its essence, NAC enforces a rigorous vetting process for devices seeking network entry, evaluating their compliance with the organization’s security policies. This evaluation encompasses a comprehensive checklist including, but not limited to, the verification of updated antivirus programs, the presence of necessary security patches, and adherence to established security configurations.

NAC’s strategic function extends beyond mere gatekeeping, delving into the architectural design of the network itself by facilitating effective segmentation. This segmentation, critical for the containment of potential security incidents, ensures that access to sensitive compartments of the network is meticulously regulated. By implementing stringent access protocols, NAC significantly mitigates the risk associated with lateral movements—an attacker’s method of choice for navigating through a network post-initial breach.

Central to NAC’s effectiveness is its dynamic adaptability to an organization’s evolving security landscape. As devices attempt network access, NAC dynamically assesses their security posture in real-time, adjusting access permissions based on the current threat environment and the specific security policies in place. This dynamic approach is paramount in an era where device and user behaviors are increasingly complex and unpredictable.

Moreover, the role of NAC in UAC is instrumental in enforcing the principle of least privilege, a cornerstone of modern cybersecurity strategies. By ensuring that users and devices have access only to the resources essential for their specific roles and functions, NAC minimizes the potential attack surface within the network, thereby enhancing the overall security posture.

Through its comprehensive approach to evaluating device compliance, enforcing network segmentation, and adapting to the evolving security needs of the organization, NAC plays an indispensable role in the holistic security strategy afforded by Unified Access Control.

 

Looking for a NAC solution for your organization? Portnox’s cloud-native NAC solution delivers passwordless authentication, endpoint risk monitoring, and 24/7 compliance enforcement.

Segmenting Your Network for Enhanced Security

Effective network segmentation under Unified Access Control (UAC) is not just about dividing a network into separate pieces; it’s about crafting a strategic, security-first architecture that intelligently controls who and what can access different zones of your network. It necessitates a deep dive into the organization’s data flow and access needs, leveraging insights to establish micro-perimeters around sensitive information and critical systems. This method ensures that, should a breach occur, its spread and impact are significantly contained, safeguarding vital assets and maintaining business continuity.

To embark on this segmentation journey, it’s imperative to conduct a detailed analysis of the network, pinpointing critical data and systems, understanding their interaction points, and identifying the users and devices that require access. This analytical phase lays the groundwork for developing nuanced access policies that govern the movement within and between network segments. These policies are designed to enforce the principle of least privilege, restricting access rights for users and devices to the bare minimum necessary for their roles.

Implementing these segmented zones involves configuring access control lists (ACLs), virtual LANs (VLANs), and firewall rules that act as gatekeepers, monitoring and controlling entry and exit points to these zones. Each segment acts as a fortified enclave, designed to limit potential attack vectors and reduce the overall attack surface of the network.

Moreover, the dynamic nature of modern networks requires that segmentation strategies be regularly reviewed and updated in response to evolving business needs and emerging threats. This continuous optimization ensures that the segmentation remains effective, relevant, and aligned with the overarching goals of Unified Access Control. By meticulously segmenting the network, organizations can create a resilient infrastructure that not only defends against today’s cyber threats but is also primed to adapt to the security challenges of tomorrow.

The Process: Implementing Unified Access Control

The journey toward deploying Unified Access Control within an organization requires a strategic, step-by-step approach that begins with an in-depth evaluation of the existing network environment and security measures. Unpatched vulnerabilities were involved in 60% of data breaches. This initial analysis is critical for identifying valuable assets, pinpointing vulnerabilities, and understanding the current state of access controls. Insights gained from this phase are invaluable, serving as the cornerstone upon which the UAC framework is built.

Following this, the development of comprehensive security policies is paramount. These policies must be carefully crafted to resonate with the unique objectives and regulatory demands facing the organization. They are instrumental in guiding the setup and fine-tuning of the UAC system, dictating the specifics of access granting mechanisms as well as the required levels of authentication and authorization. This meticulous planning phase ensures that the UAC system’s foundation is both robust and aligned with the overarching security strategy.

The actual deployment of UAC solutions commences with a targeted approach, prioritizing areas of the network that are deemed most critical. This phased deployment allows for the gradual extension of UAC coverage, ensuring that each step is manageable and that the system’s effectiveness can be continuously assessed. It is during this stage that the flexibility of the UAC framework truly shines, allowing for real-time adjustments based on the feedback and the evolving security landscape.

Key to the successful implementation of UAC is the commitment to ongoing monitoring and testing. This iterative process is essential for uncovering any potential security shortcomings and for refining the system to counter new threats. By adopting a proactive stance, organizations can ensure that their UAC system remains not only effective but also ahead of potential cyber threats, safeguarding their digital assets in an ever-evolving cyber environment.

The Future of Unified Access Control

Looking ahead, Unified Access Control is poised for significant advancements that promise to redefine its role in cybersecurity. Anticipated developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are expected to introduce a new level of sophistication to UAC systems. These technologies hold the potential to transform UAC into a more intuitive and anticipatory security mechanism, capable of analyzing patterns, predicting potential security breaches, and automatically adjusting access controls to mitigate risks before they materialize. This predictive capability will mark a monumental shift towards a more proactive cybersecurity posture.

The expansion of cloud computing and the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices are set to broaden the horizons for UAC, necessitating innovative approaches to access control policy formulation and enforcement. As these technologies continue to evolve, UAC systems will need to adapt, ensuring that they provide seamless security coverage across an increasingly diverse and decentralized digital landscape. This evolution will involve crafting dynamic policies that can effectively respond to the unique challenges presented by cloud environments and IoT infrastructures, where traditional perimeter-based security models are no longer sufficient.

Moreover, the integration of UAC with blockchain technology could offer an additional layer of security, leveraging decentralized verification processes to enhance identity management and access control. This could further fortify UAC systems against cyber threats, providing a more transparent and tamper-resistant framework for managing digital identities and permissions.

As we move forward, the imperative for UAC systems to not only adapt to but also anticipate the shifting dynamics of cybersecurity is clear. The journey ahead will be marked by continuous innovation, as these systems evolve to meet the demands of a digital ecosystem that is becoming increasingly complex and interconnected. Embracing these advancements will be crucial for organizations aiming to stay one step ahead in the cybersecurity arena, ensuring the protection of their digital assets in the face of evolving threats.

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.。

Spy Skills for Your Business: Threat Intelligence Explained

Ever wanted to be a spy? With such a great deal of espionage operations happening online, gathering threat intelligence might feel like being a modern-day James Bond.

Think about cyber threat intelligence as having a spy network working to protect your business online. It’s all about gathering information on potential cyber threats — understanding how bad actors operate, what areas of business they might target, and what tools they use. Companies cannot effectively defend themselves from cyberattacks without well-researched, reliable data. With threat intelligence, businesses can stay one step ahead of cybercriminals, know what to look out for, and have a clear understanding of how to protect their assets.

A brief history of threat intelligence and its role in cybersecurity

Without cyber threat intelligence, a company is “blind and deaf.” It would not be an exaggeration to say that it is an essential part of cybersecurity. However, its shape and role in cybersecurity have changed over the years as a result of the internet’s evolution and the growth of worldwide interconnectivity. New cyber threats arise daily, making security experts develop innovative defensive strategies and tactics.

Initially, companies focused solely on basic security measures such as IP and URL blacklists and antivirus solutions. However, with the spread of malware, worms, and viruses in the early 2000s, they found themselves in need of more sophisticated threat detection and response capabilities. As cyber criminals got smarter and more organized, it became evident that security experts needed to collaborate and share information. Consequently, the President of the United States established the Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC), a non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating the sharing of threat intelligence within specific industries.

In the 2010s, the rise of data automation and the emergence of Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs) resulted in organizations having the right tools to manage and analyze large volumes of data. These platforms are technological solutions that can manage data collected from multiple sources and presented in various formats.

Later on, TIPs were integrated into Security Operations Centers (SOCs), providing security analysts with a unified interface for accessing and utilizing cyber threat intelligence seamlessly in a company’s day-to-day operations. Threat Intelligence Platforms also became an integral part of Incident Response (IR) processes, delivering actionable scenarios for managing and mitigating the impact of a security incident on an organization. This integration made the response to cybercrime faster and more efficient.

Nowadays, the role of machine learning and AI in cyber threat intelligence grows stronger every day, helping to analyze and predict cyber threats. We can also see a shift in the cybersecurity objectives — from threat detection to cyber resilience, focusing on the business’s ability to recover quickly from cyberattacks. Fortunately, throughout the years of the digital revolution, the cybersecurity community has recognized the importance of collaboration, data sharing, and the integration of threat intelligence into the overall cybersecurity strategy.

Threat Intelligence Lifecycle

Gathering threat intelligence is a complicated process that involves collecting, processing, and analyzing large volumes of data. The outcome of this process should focus on vulnerabilities specific to your organization. It should be detailed and contextual and, last but not least, be actionable.

Let’s examine the six phases of the threat intelligence lifecycle:

1. Direction

The direction phase is a crucial part of the process: you cannot perform a secret service operation without specifying its objectives. Therefore, you should follow in the footsteps of the character played by Jodie Foster in the 4th season of “True Detective” and ask questions such as:

  • Who are the attackers?

  • What motivates them?

  • Which data assets and business processes need to be protected?

  • Protection of which aspects of the organization is our priority?

  • What happens if we fail to protect them?

  • What types of threat intelligence do we need to protect the company’s assets and respond to emerging dangers?

2. Collection

After setting goals and objectives, we can move to the next phase: data collection. The security team gathers raw data from various sources, including open-source intelligence (OSINT), commercial feeds, internal logs, and information shared within the cybersecurity community. At this stage, it’s important to validate our sources of information and the accuracy of collected data. This will allow us to avoid missing severe cyber threats or being misled by false positives.

3. Processing

Remember that nowadays, threat analysis relies on processing huge volumes of data, which is automated and requires data to be standardized and formatted. When our collected data are compatible, we can identify relationships and connections between different pieces of information to better understand the cyber threat landscape.

4. Analysis

Threat intelligence analysis is a human process that turns processed information into actionable intelligence, enabling data-driven decision-making. The analysis should prioritize risks, resulting in the creation of a threat management roadmap. It should also provide a context for collected threat intelligence by understanding the motives, capabilities, and tactics of cybercriminals. What’s important here is to present threat analysis in a way that decision-makers will easily understand.

5. Dissemination

Dissemination is a crucial part of threat intelligence management. Analyzed data must be transformed into actionable intelligence reports, alerts, or indicators of compromise (IOCs) that the security team can use to strengthen the company’s defense system. Then, those should be shared with relevant teams and decision-makers within the organization and, in some cases, with trusted external partners.

6. Feedback

Threat intelligence management and effectiveness must be evaluated. Did the intelligence have the impact you expected? Did it improve the company’s safety? What went wrong in the entire process? Answering those questions helps your business move forward and improve its threat intelligence program.

Four types of threat intelligence

We need to understand the types of threat intelligence to fully grasp its impact on overall business cybersecurity. Usually, cyber threat intelligence is divided into four categories, ranging from high-level information to specific technical details about cyber threats.

Strategic

Strategic threat intelligence is non-technical information focused on understanding the broader context of cyber threats. It may come in the form of reports describing hackers’ motives and capabilities, geopolitical influences, or industry-specific risks. Usually, this type of threat intelligence is presented to high-level stakeholders, e.g. the board of directors.

Tactical

This type of threat intelligence includes information that can be used by security experts to make data-driven decisions and actively defend the organization. Tactic intelligence is more detailed than strategic. For example, it may describe cybercriminals’ tools, attack avoidance tactics, or weak points in the company’s security infrastructure.

Operational

It provides real-time information on specific threats, ongoing crime operations, and emerging attack patterns. This type of intelligence enables the company to respond to specific cyberattacks immediately; it can also help mitigate the damage made by hackers.

Technical

Technical threat intelligence may come in the form of evidence that an attack is happening or specific indicators of compromise (IOCs). Ideally, it’s provided in real-time before the hackers can cause any significant damage. Examples of tactical cyber threat intelligence include phishing emails detected by AI tools or real-time data breach notifications sent by an advanced enterprise password manager.

How NordPass can help protect organizations

A country needs all kinds of security measures to protect its citizens: the border guard, the police, an army, and special agents. It can be safe only if all parties work together. The same rule applies to keeping your business safe. It requires all types of threat intelligence — every single one of them is an important part of the cybersecurity landscape. They are interconnected, and only together can they provide comprehensive defense against cybercrime. Even the best strategic plans won’t stand a chance if the company fails to recognize data breaches in real-time.

Luckily, there are tools available that can make gathering technical threat intelligence easier and more efficient. The NordPass built-in Data Breach Scanner automatically scans leaked databases and compares them with information stored in your and your employees’ password manager vaults. It generates password breach reports with detailed information about data leaks that have affected your company. Most importantly, it notifies you or your security team in real time about every new breach so you can act and protect your company immediately. Give it a try, and don’t let cyber threats slip through your company’s defense anymore!

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 NordPass
NordPass is developed by Nord Security, a company leading the global market of cybersecurity products.

The web has become a chaotic space where safety and trust have been compromised by cybercrime and data protection issues. Therefore, our team has a global mission to shape a more trusted and peaceful online future for people everywhere.

What’s New? Quarterly Release 24.2 Mimas

This article covers what’s new our latest Quarterly release series from December 2023 to February 2024. Read the release notes here. 

Comet 24.2.0 Mimas

We’re very pleased to announce our latest Quarterly release series – Comet 24.2 Mimas. This is the the latest entry in our quarterly rollup series, that branches off from our main rolling Voyager development into a fixed target for you to qualify and build your service offering upon.

Mimas is named after a moon of Saturn, which in turn takes its name from an ancient Greek mythological giant. Mimas is relatively small compared to Earth’s moon, with a diameter of about 396 kilometers (246 miles). Its composition is primarily made up of water ice with a small amount of rocky material. Its most distinguishing feature is a giant impact crater which stretches a third of the way across the face of the moon, making it look like the Death Star from “Star Wars.”

For users coming from the previous 23.11 Saturn quarterly release series, Mimas adds 3 features and 15 enhancements, including Dark Mode for the Comet Server web interface and a Debian installer for the Comet Backup desktop app as mentioned below.

The full set of changes can be found in the release notes.

Webinar announcement

If you’d prefer to watch rather than read, we’re hosting a webinar to discuss this new quarterly release and all the new changes. Please register before we go live on Tuesday 12 March (4pm ET / 1pm PT) to catch up on all the latest Comet news with Comet’s CTO, Mason – and as usual, there will be time for a live question-and-answer session at the end of the presentation.

As well as that, we have many more videos available on our YouTube channel, including guides on getting started with Comet, individual features, demonstrations with our technology partners, and webinars for previous quarterly software releases.

Dark Mode for the Comet Server

To continue our visual improvements to the Comet Server web interface we have added Dark Mode support. This completely overhauls the look and feel of the Comet Server and automatically applies based on the theme you have chosen for your system. Next time you have a chance check it out by logging into your Comet Server and clicking the new toggle button in the top right corner.

Light Mode:

Dark Mode:

Debian Installer for the Comet Backup desktop app

To make it easier to install Comet on your Debian Linux installs, we are pleased to announce our new Debian Installer. Our new installer will walk you through all of the required steps to install Comet. Comet is installed as a systemd service meaning it will now automatically start when your device boots.

Once installed you can still upgrade Comet remotely using the Comet Server web interface meaning you now have multiple options for managing, installing and upgrading Comet on your Linux devices.

Improved S3-compatible Object Lock Performance

Object Lock is a great way to add additional security to your data stored in an S3-compatible Storage Vault. This month we’ve been hard at work finding ways to optimize Comet’s performance when backing up to an S3-compatible Storage Vaults. We have found a way to significantly decrease the time taken to extend the object lock duration on objects stored in the vault. As a result, backup jobs to an S3-compatible Storage Vault now complete up to 16 times faster than before.

Custom Headers added for Custom Remote Buckets

Comet has a great list of S3-compatible storage providers that we have storage templates for. To add better support for other S3-compatible storage providers you can now add Customer Headers to a Custom Remote Bucket in the Comet Server web interface. This greatly expands your options for which provider you would like to use as you can now add additional data such as long lived authentication tokens as part of the request Comet makes when connecting to the storage provider.

Faster Logins between the Comet Account Portal and Comet Hosted

Once Comet Hosted is running our new 24.2.0 Mimas release, we will enable the overhauled login button for Comet Hosted servers from the Comet Account Portal.

The new login button shares credentials between the Comet Account Portal and Comet Hosted meaning you no longer need to remember two sets of passwords. Because of this we have been able to solve all of the failing cases and can provide you with a reliable login experience for your Comet Hosted servers.

Once you’ve logged in with the new system for the first time, when you log out of your Comet Hosted Server you will see a new Login with Comet Account Portal appear on the login page. This allows you to jump straight back into your Comet Hosted server faster than ever before. This button will only appear on web browser sessions that remember you’ve clicked the login button from the Comet Account Portal first to ensure we don’t show Comet branding to unexpected users of your Comet Hosted Servers.

VM Pricing Adjustments

At Comet, we are committed to continuously improving our products and services to meet your evolving data protection needs. In order to do this, occasionally we find it necessary to make adjustments to our product offerings. We are updating our pricing structure in order to further standardize our virtual machine protected item types – VMware and Hyper-V.

Effective February 28th 2024, we are introducing a new unlimited guest license option for VMware, priced at $39. If you have 8 or more VMware guests backing up, you will automatically get the unlimited pricing; no action needed on your part. This change supports your business growth as you scale and add VM deployments.

Also as of February 28th 2024, we are dropping the $2 base charge for Hyper-V. You will only pay the booster charge for all virtual environment backups (both VMware and Hyper-V) going forward.

To bring our virtual machine licensing into alignment, starting February 28th 2024, Hyper-V licensing will be charged at $3 per guest or $24 for unlimited guests per host.

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 Comet
We are a team of dedicated professionals committed to developing reliable and secure backup solutions for MSP’s, Businesses and IT professionals. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, we understand the importance of having a reliable backup solution in place to protect your valuable data. That’s why we’ve developed a comprehensive suite of backup solutions that are easy to use, scalable and highly secure.

How to use dark web monitoring: a talk with Mary D’Angelo

Today is just like any other day at the office. You are going through emails and laying out plans for your company’s upcoming big project when suddenly, your screen freezes. None of the troubleshooting steps work. Quickly, your IT team becomes anxious; the company’s network has stopped working. The reason is a security breach tied to stolen credentials from RIPE, an organization that assigns IP addresses across numerous countries.

This situation is similar to what Orange Spain experienced, suffering an outage due to a hacker who improperly accessed their RIPE account. Researchers at Resecurity have noticed a troubling trend: the dark web now houses millions of stolen network operator credentials, which cybercriminals are poised to misuse.

The dark web serves as a hidden space where these stolen credentials remain unseen. It is also where attackers coordinate their plans and recruit accomplices for future breaches. 

For businesses, keeping an eye on the dark web is vital. It helps uncover new threats and trends as they arise. 

Equally important are cybersecurity practices. They shield businesses from an increasing array of cyber threats. 

By combining dark web monitoring with solid cybersecurity, businesses can establish a protective strategy to remain secure.

That’s why we talked with Mary D’Angelo, a leading Cyber Threat Intelligence and Dark Web Advisor. We discussed how the dark web works and explored why businesses might need dark web monitoring.

The interview’s highlights

  • The deep web makes up 80% of the internet, while the dark web and clear web each make up 10%.

  • The US Navy originally created the Tor network for good reasons, but now less than 1% is for whistleblowers and journalists.

  • Dark web monitoring lets businesses see planned attacks, indicating the immediate need for protection.

  • Ransomware groups are growing, and threat actors are switching to platforms like Telegram.

  • Companies should combine dark web monitoring and cybersecurity practices for early threat detection.

Key insight #1: the clear web makes up only 10% of the internet

NordLayer: To start, what is the dark web?

Mary D’Angelo: When I discuss the dark web, I refer broadly to its distinction from the deep web and the clear web. The dark web is a segment of the internet accessible only through specialized software, typically Tor, which I’ll mostly reference. It’s because Tor is the most commonly used. The deep web and clear web are other internet segments. The clear web includes anything findable via Google and other search engines. The deep web, while still accessible through search engines, comprises sites that are very hard to enter. Statistics indicate that the deep web constitutes 80% of the internet, with the dark web and the clear web each accounting for only 10%.

Dark web takes up to 10% of the internet

NordLayer: The dark web ensures anonymity and is technically limitless. How does the Onion Router contribute to this anonymity?

Mary D’Angelo: The Onion Router, a type of software made to connect to the dark web, encrypts messages in multiple layers, similar to an onion. These messages, when sent, pass through various relays or nodes, mixing up communications. Upon receiving a message, each relay cannot trace its origin, making it extremely difficult to track the messages and users’ activities.

Key insight #2: the original purpose of the dark web, initiated by the U.S. Navy, now makes up just 1% of its current content

NordLayer: Could you explain the legal and illegal aspects of the dark web?

Mary D’Angelo: It’s a common misconception that the dark web is entirely illegal. Initially, the Tor network was developed by the US Navy research team to enable secure communications. 

The primary purpose of the dark web was to assist journalists and whistleblowers in remaining anonymous and using encrypted messaging on a privatized platform. Over time, it has evolved to host a significant amount of illegal activity. 

It’s estimated that 40% of the dark web is comprised of child sexual exploitation material, with less than 1% now dedicated to whistleblower and journalism activities. The majority involves illegal marketplaces, threat actor forums, ransomware groups, and similar entities.

NordLayer: But the dark web also has positive uses for privacy and free speech. Can you discuss them?

Mary D’Angelo: The dark web is valuable for media organizations and individuals in censored countries, providing a secure communication channel. Organizations like ProPublica use the dark web for secure communications, offering a platform for whistleblowers and those reporting from repressive regimes.

NordLayer: Considering its origins, does the dark web offer more security than platforms like Amazon?

Mary D’Angelo: The comparison depends on what you mean by security. The dark web provides anonymity, encrypted messaging, and privacy, even for websites. Users on the dark web enjoy encrypted and anonymized communication unseen by others. Conversely, Amazon tracks all user information, making the dark web, in some respects, more secure. However, this anonymity also contributes to the prevalence of illegal activities.

NordLayer: Is regulation of the dark web a significant challenge?

Mary D’Angelo: Yes, law enforcement faces considerable difficulties in tracking down illegal activities due to the dark web’s structure. Although recent efforts have improved, the process is complex and time-consuming.

NordLayer: Can dark web marketplaces be shut down successfully?

Mary D’Angelo: Marketplaces like Silk Road and Alpha Bay have been taken down by law enforcement, involving extensive international investigations. Often, the downfall of these sites is due to the carelessness of threat actors. However, new marketplaces frequently emerge, creating a continuous cat-and-mouse game between law enforcement and dark web users.

NordLayer: How does law enforcement investigate the dark web?

Mary D’Angelo: Investigations involve collaboration with various agencies and platforms like ours that can index and search the dark web efficiently. Law enforcement builds cases on threat actors, tracking their movements and communications, often capitalizing on their mistakes to dismantle operations.

Key insight #3: dark web monitoring helps to detect the threat on its planning stage

NordLayer: How did your interest in the dark web begin?

Mary D’Angelo: My journey into the dark web began with my background in cybersecurity and network detection. Joining Searchlight Cyber, I deepened my understanding of threat intelligence and the significance of dark web monitoring to identify potential security threats to organizations.

Dark web is a hub for threat actors to plan attacks

NordLayer: Why is it important for businesses to monitor the dark web?

Mary D’Angelo: The dark web is a hub for threat actors to plan attacks. Dark web monitoring allows businesses to detect potential threats early in the planning stage, giving them more time to prevent attacks.

“You can also try NordLayer’s ThreatBlock to prevent threats. It automatically blocks access to harmful websites, making it easier to avoid entering a malicious site. You won’t see harmful ads and pop-ups, and you will be prevented from accessing websites linked to illegal activities or those marked as unsafe in trusted databases. This tool makes life easier.”

Martyna Gaidelė, Product Marketing Manager at NordLayer

Click to tweet

NordLayer: So how can organizations monitor the dark web effectively?

Mary D’Angelo: Companies like Searchlight Cyber provide services to monitor the dark web safely and efficiently, helping businesses to protect themselves without risking exposure to malicious content.

7 stages of cyber-attacks

NordLayer: Can you share a success story related to dark web monitoring?

Mary D’Angelo: Our human intelligence team does a lot of the undercover work. Accessing some dark web sites is tough; it requires specific permissions. Our team managed to enter these sites and found someone selling domain access control credentials for a large US airline. They didn’t name the airline to avoid detection but shared details like the revenue size, location, and access type. High pricing often indicates legitimacy. Upon discovering this, I contacted the airline’s security team to alert them, despite them not being our client. We then discussed the intelligence, which was new to them, and together, we devised a plan to enhance their security.

NordLayer: That’s impressive. What security measures do you generally recommend to introduce? 

Mary D’Angelo: We generally suggest enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all platforms. The approach depends on the attack type, but ensuring MFA is in place is crucial so that only authorized individuals have access.

“Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an essential part of NordLayer. However, we advocate for a broader range of multi-layered authentication solutions and encourage our customers to implement more comprehensive Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) strategies.

Multi-layered network access control minimizes the risks of data breaches and aids in achieving compliance certificates, contributing to business credibility as well.

My favorite NordLayer features for network access control are the Cloud Firewall and Device Posture Security. They are easy to use and powerful solutions, ensuring advanced network access control.”

Martyna Gaidelė, Product Marketing Manager

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Key insight #4: Ransomware groups are hiring, which means even more attacks in 2024

NordLayer: Have you observed any trends in the dark web, such as an increase in ransomware groups?

Mary D’Angelo: Last year, we saw ransomware groups increase their recruitment. This means that they only plan to increase their attacks. They now have larger budgets because they were so successful last year in terms of the ransom payments. And so now they have more purchasing power, they can buy better exploits and better credentials. Bad actors also have their AI tool, called fraud GPT, which can just more easily and quickly make very sophisticated attacks.

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NordLayer: How can businesses and law enforcement adapt to the evolving threat landscape on the dark web?

Mary D’Angelo: Understanding the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of threat actors allows organizations to build more effective defenses. Monitoring threat actor movements helps in developing predictive security measures.

NordLayer: There is also a kind of “Robin Hood” mentality among some ransomware groups. Can you elaborate on this?

Mary D’Angelo: Interestingly, some ransomware groups adhere to a moral code, avoiding attacks on hospitals and focusing on other targets. This nuanced behavior among threat actors highlights the complex ethical landscape of the dark web.

Ransomware groups have been increasing their recruitment and budgets

NordLayer: Despite some groups avoiding healthcare targets, the sector remains highly vulnerable. Why is that?

Mary D’Angelo: The healthcare sector often faces the highest ransom demands, with many hospitals lacking the security infrastructure to defend against sophisticated attacks. The sale of access credentials to healthcare institutions is alarmingly common.

NordLayer: There’s also a trend where threat actors are shifting from dark web forums to encrypted messaging platforms like Telegram. Why do you think threat actors are choosing these platforms?

Mary D’Angelo: The shift to encrypted platforms like Telegram reflects threat actors’ increasing paranoia and desire to evade detection. As law enforcement and security firms improve their monitoring capabilities, actors seek new ways to communicate securely.

Healthcare sector and ransomware

NordLayer: How do you conduct research on the deep web and platforms like Telegram?

Mary D’Angelo: Our team utilizes a combination of human intelligence and proprietary automated technologies to gather intelligence from various platforms. This allows us to monitor threat actor activities across the deep web and dark web comprehensively.

NordLayer: What future research directions do you see for dark web intelligence?

Mary D’Angelo: Collaborating with security practitioners and academic researchers can lead to innovative strategies for mitigating risks and combating cyber threats. Future research will likely focus on predictive analysis and the development of more sophisticated defense mechanisms.

Encrypted platforms need increase

Key insight #5: for businesses to stay safe, they need all employees to be aware of possible attacks

NordLayer: What general advice would you give businesses to enhance their security?

Mary D’Angelo: Businesses should prioritize early detection of threats by monitoring for reconnaissance activities. Leveraging threat intelligence to understand the landscape and adopting a proactive security posture can significantly reduce the risk of attacks.

NordLayer: How important is cybersecurity awareness?

Mary D’Angelo: Cultivating a culture of security throughout an organization is crucial. Integrating cyber threat intelligence across all levels can inform strategic decisions and prioritize security measures, ultimately making it more difficult for threat actors to succeed.

Proactive security costs less

NordLayer: In conclusion, investing in cybersecurity is more cost-effective than facing the consequences of a ransomware attack.

Mary D’Angelo: Absolutely. The cost of proactive security measures is significantly lower than the potential losses from a successful cyber attack.

How NordLayer can help

NordLayer offers a comprehensive security approach, protecting your team with Threat Prevention from harmful sites, securing online activities with VPN, and ensuring appropriate access with Cloud Firewall. Beyond these tools, we advocate for adopting Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Security Service Edge (SSE), and other cybersecurity frameworks to strengthen your defense. Our sales team is always here if you need any help along the way. 

Beyond NordLayer’s offerings, it’s essential to create a culture of cybersecurity, maintain up-to-date software, and use secure communication tools. Additionally, assessing your vendors through a Third-Party Risk Management Plan and restricting their access can significantly mitigate risks.

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 NordPass
NordPass is developed by Nord Security, a company leading the global market of cybersecurity products.

The web has become a chaotic space where safety and trust have been compromised by cybercrime and data protection issues. Therefore, our team has a global mission to shape a more trusted and peaceful online future for people everywhere.

Collectd Pandora FMS: Maximizing Monitoring Efficiency

Collectd is a daemon (i.e. running in the background on computers and devices) that periodically collects metrics from different sources such as operating systems, applications, log files, and external devices, providing mechanisms to store values in different ways (e.g. RRD files) or makes it available over the network. With this data and its statistics you may monitor systems, find performance bottlenecks (by performance analysis) and predict system load (capacity planning).

Content:

Programming language and compatibility with operating systems

Collectd is written in C for *nix operating systems; that is, UNIX-based, such as BSD, macOS and Linux, for portability and performance, since its design allows it to run on systems without scripting language or cron daemon, as integrated systems. For Windows it can be connected using Cygwin (GNU and open source tools that provide similar features to a Linux distribution on Windows).
Collectd is optimized to take up the least amount of system resources, making it a great tool for monitoring with a low cost of performance.

Plug-ins of collectd

Collectd as a modular demon

The collectd system is modular. In its core it has limited features and to use it, you need to know how to compile a program in C. You also need to know how to start the executable in the right way so that the data is sent to where it is needed. However, through plug-ins, value is obtained from the data collected and sent, extending its functionality for multiple use cases. This makes the daemon modular and flexible and the statistics obtained (and their format) can be defined by plug-ins.

Plug-in types

Currently, there are 171 plug-ins available for collectd. Not all plug-ins define data collection themes, as some extend capabilities with interfaces for specific technologies (e.g. programming languages such as Python).

  • Read plug-ins fetch data and are generally classified into three categories:
    • Operating system plug-ins, which collect information such as CPU usage, memory, or the number of users who logged into a system. Usually, these plug-ins need to be ported to each operating system.
    • Application plug-ins, which collect performance data about an application running on the same computer or at a remote site. These plug-ins normally use software libraries, but are otherwise usually independent of the operating system.
    • Generic plug-ins, which offer basic functions that users may make use for specific tasks. Some examples are the query for network monitoring (from SNMP) or the execution of custom programs or scripts.
  • Writing plug-ins offer the ability to store collected data on disk using RRD or CSV files; or send data over the network to a remote daemon instance.
  • Unixsock plugins allow you to open a socket to connect to the collectd daemon. Thanks to the collectd utility, you may directly obtain the monitors in your terminal with the getval or listval parameters, where you may indicate the specific parameter you wish to obtain or obtain a list with all the parameters that collectd has collected.
  • You also have the network plug-in, which is used to send and receive data to and from other daemon instances. In a common network configuration, the daemon would run on each monitored host (called “clients”) with the network plug-in configured to send the collected data to one or more network addresses. On one or more of the so-called “servers”, the same daemon would run, but with a different configuration, so that the network plug-in receives data instead of sending it. Often, the RRDtool plugin is used in servers to store performance data (e.g. bandwidth, temperature, CPU workload, etc.)

To activate and deactivate the plug-ins you have, you may do so from the configuration file “collectd.conf”, in addition to configuring them or adding custom plugins.

Benefits of Collectd

 

  • Open source nature
    Collectd is open source software, just like its plug-ins, though some plug-ins don’t have the same open source license.

 

Collectd Integration with Pandora FMS

Monitoring IT environments

Collectd provides statistics to an interpretation package, so in a third-party tool, it must be configured to generate graphs and analysis from the data obtained, in order to see and optimize IT environment monitoring. Collectd has a large community that contributes improvements, new plugins, and bug fixes.

Effective execution in Pandora FMS

The pandora_collectd plugin (https://pandorafms.com/guides/public/books/collectd) allows to collect this information generated by collectd itself and send it to your Pandora FMS server for further processing and storage.
The plugin execution generates an agent with all the information of collectd transformed in Pandora FMS modules; with this, you may have any device monitored with collectd and obtain a data history, create reports, dashboards, visual consoles, trigger alerts and a long etcetera.

A very important feature of “pandora_collectd” is that it is a very versatile plugin, as it allows you to process data collected from collectd before sending it to your Pandora FMS server. By means of regular expressions, it allows you to decide according to the features you have, which metrics you want to collect and which ones you want to download, to send the desired metrics to your Pandora FMS server, in an optimal way. In addition, it allows you to modify parameters such as the port or the IP address of the tentacle server that you wish to use.
Also, it is possible to customize what we want your agent to be called, where the modules will be created, and modify their description.
Another important aspect of this plug-in is that it can run both as an agent plug-in and as a server plug-in. By being able to modify the agents resulting from the monitoring, you may easily differentiate one from the other and monitor a high amount of devices in your Pandora FMS environment.
In addition, your plugin is compatible with the vast majority of Linux and Unix devices so there will be no problems with its implementation with collectd.
To learn how to set up collectd in Pandora FMS, visit Pandora FMS Guides for details.

Collectd vs StatsD: A Comparison

Key differences

As we have seen, collectd is suitable for monitoring CPU, network, memory usage and different plugins for specific services such as NGinx. Due to its features, it collects ready-to-use metrics and must be installed on machines that need monitoring.

Whereas StatsD (written in Node.js) is generally used for applications that require accurate data aggregation and sends data to servers at regular intervals. Also, StatsD provides libraries in multiple programming languages for easy data tracking.

Once this is understood, collectd is a statistics gathering daemon, while StatsD is an aggregation service or event counter. The reason for explaining their differences is that collectd and StatsD can be used together (and it is common practice) depending on the monitoring needs in the organization.

Use cases and approaches

  • Cases of StatsD use:
    • Monitoring Web Applications: Tracking the number of requests, errors, response times, etc.
    • Performance Analysis: Identification of bottlenecks and optimization of application performance.
  • Cases of use of collectd:
    • Monitoring hardware resources such as CPU usage, memory used, hard disk usage, etc.
    • Monitoring specific metrics of available IT services.

The Importance of Collectd Integration with Pandora FMS

    • Lightweight and efficient
      Collectd in Pandora FMS is lightweight and efficient, with the ability to write metrics across the network, by itself a modular architecture and because it runs mainly in memory.
    • Versatility and flexibility
      This plugin allows you to decide which metrics you want to collect and which to discard in order to send only the metrics you want to your Pandora FMS server. It also allows you to adjust the data collected from time to time, according to the needs of the organization.
    • Community support and continuous improvement
      In addition to the fact that collectd is a popular plugin, there is community support for those who constantly make improvements, including specialized documentation and installation guides.
      All this makes us understand why collectd has been widely adopted for monitoring IT resources and services.

Conclusion

Collectd is a very popular daemon for measuring metrics from different sources such as operating systems, applications, log files and external devices, being able to take advantage of the information for system monitoring. Among its key features we can mention that, being written in C, in open source, it can be executed on systems without the need for a scripting language. As it is modular, it is quite portable through plug-ins and the value of the collected and sent data is obtained, the collectd feature is extended to give a better use in monitoring IT resources. It is also scalable, whether one or a thousand hosts, to collect statistics and performance metrics. This is of great value in IT ecosystems that continue growing for any company in any industry.

The pandora_collectd plugin collects information generated by the collectd itself and sends it to Pandora FMS server from which you may enhance the monitoring of any monitored device and obtain data from which to generate reports or performance dashboards, schedule alerts and obtain history information for capacity planning, among other high-value functions in IT management.

For better use of collectd, with the ability to be so granular in data collection, it is also good to consolidate statistics to make them more understandable to the human eye and simplify things for the system administrator who analyzes the data. Also, it is recommended to rely on IT monitoring experts such as Pandora FMS, with best monitoring and observability practices. Contact our experts in Professional services | Pandora FMS

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.

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