A closer look at ransomware trends  
Barracuda researchers identified and analyzed 121 ransomware incidents that occurred between August 2020 and July 2021, and saw a 64% increase in attacks, year over year. Cybercriminals are still heavily targeting municipalities, health care, and education, but attacks on other businesses are surging.

Barracuda Ransomware 3rd annual research report highlights:

• Attacks on corporations, such as infrastructure, travel, financial services, and other businesses, made up 57% of all ransomware attacks between August 2020 and July 2021, up from just 18% in our 2020 study.
• Infrastructure-related businesses account for 10% of all the attacks we studied. In fact, ransomware attacks are quickly evolving to target software supply chains, which reach more businesses in a single attempt.
• The ransom amount is increasing dramatically and now the average ransom ask per incident is over 10 million dollars. 18% of the incidents had a ransom ask less than $10 million, and 30% of the incidents had a ransom ask greater than $30 million.
• Ransomware attacks are becoming pervasive across the globe. Just under half (44%) of the attacks in the past 12 months hit U.S organizations.

“As cybercriminals are working towards bigger paydays in the future, the security industry needs to continue to create solutions that are easily consumable for companies of all sizes,” said Fleming Shi, CTO at Barracuda. “Attackers often start with small organizations that are connected to the larger targets and then work their way up. All of us in the security industry have an obligation to turn sophisticated technology into products and services that can be easily consumed by customers.”

Resources: 

Read the full Threat Spotlight blog post: http://cuda.co/49656

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The post Barracuda Ransomware Protection Attack Patterns Revealed appeared first on Digital IT News.

  Acquisition highlights:   

• Expands Barracuda’s solutions for MSPs, offering XDR platform for proactive real-time continuous security monitoring with response services for managed endpoints, networks, and cloud.
• SKOUT’s XDR platform connects with critical security infrastructures such as email, firewall, identity and access, and a 24×7 SOC that aids the detection of and response to cyberattacks.
• Enables customers to address threats more efficiently with additional threat detection, threat analysis, and response capabilities.
• Eliminates customers’ expense of training and staffing for 24×7 service, instead utilizing SKOUT’s security professionals to handle the SOC operation. Provides MSPs with choice and flexibility when building out their cybersecurity practice, and features a powerful combination of solutions, enablement tools, and human security expertise.
• By integrating with existing security infrastructure, SKOUT offers investment protection for MSPs, making it easier to handle cyberattacks in diverse customer environments.

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Barracuda enhances solution and service offering for today’s security-centric MSP

New research reveals today’s biggest application security challenges

The post Barracuda completes acquisition of SKOUT Cybersecurity appeared first on Digital IT News.

Modern IoT analytics and edge intelligence solutions depend on the data collected on the edge. Barracuda Secure Connector provides scalable and secure connectivity in industrial IoT environments. With the Crosser Edge application running in a container on Barracuda Secure Connector, data collected at the edge can be aggregated, combined, and prefiltered to reduce the cost for storage and intermittent transmission, and enable effective processing of useful data in an on-premises or cloud analytics platform.

Benefits

When utilizing Crosser on Barracuda products, users can obtain the following advantages:

• Scalable connectivity to accommodate large and dispersed networks of industrial and IoT devices
• Transforms raw data and combines more data points without increasing the cost of data
• Data reduction by removing dirty and irrelevant data
• Granular control of data sent for remote analytics or received for remote control
• No additional hardware required for the Crosser rollout as the software is run directly on the edge device

“Maintaining secure connectivity for the large, complex networks necessary to run industrial IoT devices can be challenging for organizations as they scale, and managing the data collected at the edge adds another layer of complexity,” said Klaus Gheri, VP, Network Security, Barracuda. “This combined solution helps address these challenges in a scalable way.”

Use cases

Data cleansing and normalization

A common IoT scenario is collecting data from various sensors and devices, often communicating with different protocols and setups. To be able to use that data, the user must normalize and prepare the data for further processing.

Predictive maintenance

Crosser detection intelligence combined with the Barracuda secure remote access solution is a powerful tool for maintenance. A global manufacturer could improve real-time remote condition monitoring and predictive maintenance by using anomaly detection algorithms and machine models for predicting and optimizing machine runtime windows.

Remote condition monitoring and connected machines

The Barracuda small-factor hardware device with its Wi-Fi and LTE capabilities was designed to bring connectivity to distributed environments. Stationary and mobile machines and vehicles can be connected with the purpose of analyzing data for condition monitoring and enhanced service programs for the end customer.

Remote access

While traditional edge solutions have a limited capability when it comes to controlling and accessing edge devices, using the Barracuda connectivity solution enables access over an encrypted VPN connection. This provides granular control on which data is processed . In addition, access can be controlled via various authentication methods.

Azure integration

Barracuda has native product integration with Azure. Barracuda Firewall Control Center, Barracuda Secure Access Controller, and Crosser Node are available in Azure Marketplace and provide seamless connectivity to Azure services. Both Barracuda Secure Connector and the Crosser Node application can be integrated with Azure IoT Edge, enabling deployments directly via the Azure Marketplace. And finally, with Crosser the data can be streamed directly to other Azure Services, simplifying the architecture and reducing cloud consumption costs.

This new functionality is enabled through separate purchase of Crosser software from Crosser or its authorized resellers. Read the solution brief for more details on how to get started.

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The post Barracuda expands its scalable IoT connectivity solution with support for powerful analytics capabilities from Crosser appeared first on Digital IT News.

Highlights:

• On average, respondent organizations were successfully breached twice in the past 12 months as a direct result of an application vulnerability.
• 44% of respondents say bot attacks contributed to a successful security breach that exploited a vulnerability in the organization’s applications in the last 12 months.
• Respondents identified their top application security challenges as bad bots (43%), software supply chain attacks (39%), vulnerability detection (38%), and securing APIs (37%).

Read the full report: https://www.barracuda.com/appsec-report-2021

Overall, the findings indicate that more needs to be done to protect against application security threats, particularly newer threats like bot attacks, API attacks, and supply chain attacks. Highlights from the report include:

• On average, respondent organizations were successfully breached twice in the past 12 months as a direct result of an application vulnerability.
  • 72% of respondents say their organization suffered at least one breach from an application vulnerability.
  • 32% say their organization suffered two breaches due to an applications vulnerability.
  • 14% were breached three times for due to application vulnerabilities.
• The range of application security-related challenges facing organizations extends beyond difficulties securing multiple attack vectors.
  • Respondents identified their top application security challenges as bad bots (43%), software supply chain attacks (39%), vulnerability detection (38%), and securing APIs (37%).
• Bot-based attacks are the most likely contributor to successful security breaches resulting from application vulnerabilities in the past 12 months.
  • 44% of respondents say bot attacks contributed to a successful security breach that exploited a vulnerability in the organization’s applications in the last 12 months.

“Applications have been steadily rising as one of the top attack vectors in recent years, and the rapid shift to remote work in 2020 only intensified this,” said Tim Jefferson, SVP, Engineering for Data, Networks and Application Security, Barracuda. “Organizations are struggling to keep up with the pace of these attacks, particularly newer threats like bot attacks, API attacks, and supply chain attacks, and they need help filling these gaps effectively.”

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Highlights:

• Barracuda CloudGen Access makes Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) capabilities available to Barracuda’s MSP Partners
• Enhancements to Barracuda’s cloud-based remote monitoring and management platform, now called Barracuda RMM, deliver expanded integrations, improved Microsoft patch management capabilities, and more

“As organizations continue to adapt to hybrid work scenarios to support their growing remote workforces, the introduction of Barracuda CloudGen Access and enhancements to Barracuda RMM are  necessary next steps in our commitment to supporting MSPs in their security-centric journey,” said Brian Babineau, Senior Vice President and General Manager, MSP Solutions. “By enabling MSPs to adopt a security-centric operational model, we are helping them to better mitigate the security risks associated with the work-from-anywhere approach and creating new business opportunities for them to deliver more flexible, secure access to valuable data, and streamline data protection operations.”

Barracuda CloudGen Access enables MSPs to provide Zero Trust Network Access

Barracuda initially launched Barracuda CloudGen Access in November 2020 following the company’s acquisition of Fyde. The addition of multi-tenant management and monthly pricing options for CloudGen Access makes it easier for MSPs to deploy and manage, while capturing value.

“As the network has become more amorphous, particularly over the past 12 months, relying on traditional measures such as a firewall alone to protect networks and customers’ devices has become inconvenient and insufficient, particularly given the significant rise in remote work and cloud adoption,” said Sinan Eren, Vice President Zero Trust Access, Barracuda. “CloudGen Access helps enable secure, reliable, and fast access to cloud and on-premises applications and workloads from any device and location.”

With Barracuda CloudGen Access, MSPs can expand their security services to protect customers’ resources and implement control for any unmanaged BYOD devices, without making changes to customers’ existing workflows. MSPs can also demonstrate increased value and strengthen the security posture of their customers by safeguarding against a breach caused by a potentially insecure or compromised device. As a result, MSPs are better positioned to drive business continuity, customer productivity, and mitigate business transformation risk for customers.

Managed Workplace becomes Barracuda RMM

Formerly known as Managed Workplace, the scalable, cloud-based RMM platform will now be called Barracuda RMM.

Since the acquisition of Managed Workplace RMM in 2019, Barracuda MSP has been innovating the cloud-based platform, connecting to Office 365 APIs, adding automated third-party software update and patch management via Barracuda Advanced Software Management, and more.

“These innovations, along with Barracuda’s proven track record in helping MSPs accelerate their cloud journey, have created the perfect opportunity to evolve the product name,” said Babineau “When MSPs hear ‘Barracuda RMM,’ they should immediately know we are combining the best aspects of Barracuda’s commitment to securing their businesses for life with a robust solution needed to address that mandate.”

Highlights of the latest Barracuda RMM release include:

• Integration with Barracuda Intronis Backup, enabling MSPs to deploy, monitor, and manage their Intronis Backup from within Barracuda RMM.
  • MSPs can seamlessly deploy agents, identify what to back up, where the backups are stored, and how often backups are performed, while centralizing the management through Barracuda RMM.
  • MSPs can set up alerts from Barracuda RMM to monitor the progress of their Intronis Backup and sync to their Professional Service Automation tool.
  • New Intronis Backup reports in Barracuda RMM help MSPs demonstrate their value.
• Improved Microsoft patch management capabilities and improvements to the new Central Dashboard based on feedback from partners.

Additionally, Barracuda is also introducing a new RMM Migration service, in which Barracuda MSP’s team will setup and configure Barracuda RMM, ensuring that existing preferences and needs are considered. This new service includes setup of service plans, branding, monitoring and alerting polices, automations, and maintenance schedules including patch management. Integrations, such as a Professional Service Automation tool, Office 365, virtualization, backup, and many others, are configured and ready for the MSP’s use. The service also features a coordinated onboarding process with the MSP through the deployment.

Get more information about Barracuda CloudGen Access for MSPs at https://barracudamsp.com/product-details/secure-access/. For more information on Barracuda RMM visit https://barracudamsp.com/product-details/barracuda-rmm/.

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Highlights:

• In 2020, 4,550 organizations used Barracuda Email Threat Scanner to scan 2,600,531 unique mailboxes and found 2,029,413 unique attacks.
• On average, 512 attacks were found per organization.
• 14% of all mailboxes had at least one email attack detected.
• 59% of the threats detected were phishing scams.

Each scan provides a report on attacks found inside the environment, as well as at-risk domains and employees. This helps organizations identify gaps in existing email protection and assess email security vulnerabilities.

The refreshed Barracuda Email Threat Scanner brings a complete user interface update to the scanner’s dashboard. This includes:

• A scan preview page, which allows users to monitor their scan’s progress while the scan is running.
• Access to early results as Email Threat Scanner scans mailboxes and finds attacks.
• Improved dashboard reporting of detected threats, making it easier to hone in on specific insights and interpret the findings.
• A 14-day free trial of Barracuda Sentinel can now be launched directly from the scanner, giving customers a chance to experience the benefits of ongoing protection.

In 2020, 4,550 organizations used Barracuda Email Threat Scanner to scan 2,600,531 unique mailboxes and found 2,029,413 unique attacks. On average, 512 attacks were found per organization, and one out of 7 mailboxes (14%) had at least one attack currently sitting inside, even if messages were scanned by an email gateway solution.

The attacks detected fall into four email threat types: phishing, scamming, extortion, and business email compromise (BEC). Of the 2,029,413 unique attacks detected, phishing was the number one threat missed by the organizations’ email security solutions (59%). Scamming was the second most common (39%). Extortion (9%) and BEC (8%) were less prevalent, but cybercriminals tend to send these types of attacks in smaller volumes because they are highly personalized.

“Spear phishing threats are more dangerous than ever due to the sophistication of attackers, and while organizations have invested in protection against email threats, many of these attacks slip through gateways, landing in users’ inboxes,” said Don MacLennan, SVP, Engineering & Product Management, Email Protection, Barracuda, Barracuda. “As these numbers show, traditional email gateways are not enough. Customers should also use API-based inbox defenses to maximize their protection.”

Barracuda Sentinel integrates directly into Office 365 to find threats inside your mail system that security gateways can’t see. Visit https://www.barracuda.com/products/sentinel to get more information.

What service providers are saying:

“It’s critical to help our customers assess and understand email security vulnerabilities. The Barracuda Email Threat Scanner helps us quickly and effectively find social engineering attacks that might be going undetected in mailboxes and help close the gaps in those areas for our customers. The Email Threat Scanner makes the ‘invisible’ security threats visible, so that our customers see what they are up against and act to put a Barracuda solution in place quickly.”  — Chris Riley, Director, System Source

“Many email threats slip past the email gateway. Threats like spear phishing and business email compromise put companies at significant risk. Barracuda Email Threat Scanner detects these threats and helps us uncover additional ways we can help customers protect their people and data.” — Kristian Connor, Director, Xitenys

“Using Barracuda Email Threat Scanner we’ve helped our customers uncover serious threats hiding in their Office 365 environment in a fast, free, and safe way. Not only does this make our customers more secure, but it helps us show the value of the solutions we offer them.” — Troy Radloff, General Manager, Alliance Business Tech

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• More than three-quarters of organizations use multiple cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
• 56% of respondents are struggling to ensure seamless availability and “always-on” access to cloud applications for their organizations.
• Nearly 70% experience latency and performance issues running SaaS workloads, such as Office 365.
• More than 60% say their MPLS costs increase heavily due to seasonal workload peaks.

Barracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, released key findings from a report titled Cloud networks: Shifting into hyperdrive. Commissioned by Barracuda, the research surveyed global IT decision makers to capture their attitudes and opinions about public cloud, access constraints, security concerns, emerging solutions, and a variety of related topics.

Read the full report: www.barracuda.com/sase-report

The survey, conducted by independent market researcher Censuswide, includes responses from 800 executives, individual contributors, and team managers with responsibility for their organization’s cloud infrastructure. They came from organizations of all sizes in EMEA and the US, across a broad range of industries, including construction, education, finance, healthcare, technology, manufacturing, retail, transportation, and others.

Overall, the findings indicate that although IT professionals are gaining confidence in the cloud, organizations face growing constraints when it comes to cloud access. Highlights from the report include:

• IT professionals are gaining confidence in the cloud.
  • More than three-quarters of respondents use multiple cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
  • Nearly 80% say their organization has deployed an Azure-based network.
• Organizations face growing constraints when it comes to cloud access.
  • 56% of respondents are struggling to ensure seamless availability and “always-on” access to cloud applications for their organizations.
  • Nearly 70% experience latency and performance issues running SaaS workloads, such as Office 365.
• Current network infrastructure is growing increasingly costly.
  • More than 70% of respondents are using traditional access methods, such as MPLS, in their organization’s network.
  • More than 60% say their MPLS costs increase heavily due to seasonal workload peaks.
• IT professionals are looking for easier and more economical connectivity.
  • More than 70% of respondents have plans to implement an SD-WAN solution in the next 12 months to address cloud-connectivity issues.
  • At the same time, nearly 60% say their organization is hesitant to adopt an SD-WAN solution because of fears that they are complex and expensive.

“As organizations continue to radically transform their infrastructures and rely more on the public cloud, they are uncovering new connectivity and security challenges,” said Klaus Gheri, VP, Network Security, Barracuda. “But by embracing highly-flexible secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, organizations of all sizes and types can improve connectivity, simplify management, and strengthen security.”

Resources: 

Download the full report: www.barracuda.com/sase-report

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• Business email compromise (BEC) attacks are increasing as cybercriminals see how lucrative this type of attack can be.

• Attackers’ exploitation of fears around the COVID-19 pandemic show how quickly they can adapt to current events.

• Hackers use multiple tactics to disguise malicious links and avoid detection by URL protection solutions.

Barracuda, released a new report with key findings about the ways cybercriminals are adapting quickly to current events and new tactics. The latest report, titled Spear Phishing: Top Threats and Trends Vol. 5 – Best practices to defend against evolving attacks, reveals new details about these highly targeted threats, including the latest tactics used by cybercriminals and the steps you can take to defend your business.

The report takes an in-depth look at how attackers are quickly adapting to current events and using new tricks to successfully execute attacks — spear phishing, business email compromise, pandemic-related scams, and other types. It also tackles why organizations need to invest in protection against lateral phishing and other internally-launched attacks from compromised accounts, including solutions that use artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Attack trends and beyond
Barracuda’s research reveals key takeaways about how these targeted attacks are evolving and the approaches cybercriminals are using to maximize their impact.

• Business email compromise (BEC) makes up 12% of the spear-phishing attacks analyzed, an increase from just 7% in 2019.
• 72% of COVID-19-related attacks are scamming. In comparison, 36% of overall attacks are scamming. Attackers prefer to use COVID-19 in their less targeted scamming attacks that focus on fake cures and donations.
• 13% of all spear-phishing attacks come from internally compromised accounts, so organizations need to invest in protecting their internal email traffic as much as they do in protecting from external senders.
• 71% of spear-phishing attacks include malicious URLs, but only 30% of BEC attacks included a link. Hackers using BEC want to establish trust with their victim and expect a reply to their email, and the lack of a URL makes it harder to detect the attack.

“Cybercriminals adapt very quickly when they find a new tactic or current event that they can exploit, as their response to the COVID-19 pandemic proved only too well,” said Don MacLennan, SVP, Engineering & Product Management, Email Protection, Barracuda. “Staying aware of the way spear-phishing tactics are evolving will help organizations take the proper precautions to defend against these highly targeted attacks and avoid falling victim to scammers’ latest tricks.”

See the full report: https://www.barracuda.com/spear-phishing-report-5

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