Stay secure online with the latest on authentication techniques, best practices, and industry updates at the forefront of information security.
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Background for this topic.
Authentication confirms the identity of users or systems before granting access to resources, typically using factors like passwords (knowledge), hardware tokens (possession), or biometrics (inherence). It establishes trust boundaries that prevent unauthorized entities from impersonating legitimate users or devices within networks and applications.
Weak authentication enables attackers to perform account takeover, privilege escalation, or lateral movement by exploiting stolen credentials, phishing, or replay attacks. Deploying multi-factor authentication (MFA) with independent factors significantly reduces these risks. Secure credential storage, regular rotation, and monitoring authentication logs for anomalies are critical defenses to detect and block unauthorized access attempts early in the attack chain.
Flaws in Solar Inverters Threaten Power Grid StabilityResearchers from Forescout's Vedere Labs detected security shortcomings in the world’s leading solar inverters that could enable hackers to hijack solar energy production and destabilize power grids. Flaws include unauthorized remote access, insecure authentication and remote code execution.
AICD's Figueroa on Business-Focused Communication for Authentication ProgressModern phishing tactics now leverage voice, SMS and AI-powered impersonation, yet many Asia-Pacific organizations continue relying on vulnerable single-factor authentication, said Marco Figueroa, senior manager of cyber security, risk and compliance at the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Microsoft has released the KB5053656 preview cumulative update for Windows 11 24H2 with 38 changes, including real-time translation on AMD and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs and fixes for authentication and blue-screen issues. [...]
Dennis Giese on Reverse Engineering, Flawed Authentication, Poor Threat ModelingIoT security flaws expose users and businesses to serious risks. Weak authentication methods allow attackers to manipulate devices, leading to data breaches and privacy violations. Reverse engineering highlights these weaknesses, said Dennis Giese, IoT security and privacy researcher.
UK ICO Says Advanced's Security Measures 'Fell Seriously Short'A British IT service company must pay a 3.07 million pound fine for a 2022 ransomware hack that exposed medical records of tens of thousands of National Health Service patients. Hackers breached the Advanced system through a user account that did not have multifactor authentication in place.
Who knew social media stars had a role to play in building national cyber resilience? The world's biggest brands have benefited from influencer marketing for years – now the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has hopped on the bandwagon to preach two-factor authentication (2FA) to the masses.…
Broadcom has issued security patches to address a high-severity security flaw in VMware Tools for Windows that could lead to an authentication bypass
Broadcom released security updates today to fix a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in VMware Tools for Windows. [...]
A set of five critical security shortcomings have been disclosed in the Ingress NGINX Controller for Kubernetes that could result in unauthenticated remote code execution, putting over 6,500 clusters at immediate risk by exposing the component to the public internet