When it comes to most digital initiatives, user experience is a primary focal point. Not only is user experience a critical element in the design process, it also remains pertinent as product evolution keeps pace with business scale. As online interactions have exponentially grown during the pandemic, it has become startlingly clear that seamless and secure user experiences (UX) are necessary for success.

NSA released the first video of its new Cybersecurity Collaboration Center speaker series. In these talks, NSA experts will share insights, lessons, and contributions of their cybersecurity work. The Center works with government and industry partners to protect U.S. National Security Systems, the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Defense Industrial Base (DIB).

Slack rolled out a new cross-organizational direct messaging feature, and hours later disabled the option to send a message alongside an invite due to concerns that the feature could be used to send abusive messages or enable harassment. 

Has the pandemic and remote working created an environment of heightened risk of insider data breaches? Here, Darren Cooper, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Egress, speaks to Security magazine about what organizations can do to prevent data loss. 

The Synopsys Cybersecurity Research Center (CyRC) analyzed more than 3,000 popular Android applications to assess the state of mobile app security during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study targeted the most downloaded and highest grossing apps across 18 categories, many of which have seen explosive growth during the pandemic.

Clop ransomware group has allegedly hacked the grades and social security numbers for students at the University of Colorado and patient data of the University of Miami. 

Cyberinsurance firm CNA Financial was reportedly hit by a possible cyberattack. The company is one of the largest insurance providers in the U.S. The company's website is experiencing widespread network disruptions and employee services have been down for more than three days. CNA says it was hit by a sophisticated cyberattack and has engaged a team of third-party forensic experts to investigate and determine the full scope of this incident, which is ongoing.

WhiteHat Security released AppSec Stats Flash Volume 3, the latest installment of the company’s monthly report and podcast reflecting on the current state of application security and the wider cyber threat landscape.

Another challenge is the new home office, where spouses may be working remotely, often alongside their children attending school online. Home networks lack typical protections and bifurcations of the corporate office and may be prone to attacks using lateral movement techniques. In these scenarios, after gaining initial access through an insufficiently protected device, such as a family computer, attackers move deeper into a network, searching for other devices to compromise or obtain increased privileges. This continued probing could eventually lead to the exfiltration of sensitive corporate data or high-value intellectual property. 

As economic uncertainty continues alongside the ongoing pandemic, IT and Security budgets are likely to see modest - if any – growth this year. Therefore, it will fall to CIOs to focus on maximizing existing investments, getting back to the basics, and doing more with the same (or less). There are some core principles I believe are important to keep top of mind when it comes to minimizing risk and maximizing budgets.