Security Audit and Compliance
Lumen Technologies | September 13, 2023
Lumen Technologies announces the launch of key security enhancements to its industry-leading secure access service edge product.
The company’s SASE Solutions represents a first-of-its-kind, fully digital experience for purchasing, configuring, and overseeing enterprise SASE.
The latest features incorporated into Lumen SASE Solutions are security service edge and cloud-hosted gateways.
On September 12, 2023, Lumen Technologies, a leading provider of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions, committed to advancing human progress through technology facilitating the connection of people, data, and applications, announced the addition of key enhancements to its landmark SASE product. The addition of new features makes lumen SASE solutions even more simplified and flexible for customers.
Lumen SASE Solutions represents a pioneering, entirely digital experience for purchasing, configuring, and managing enterprise SASE. This is a significant step in Lumen's ongoing efforts to drive innovation and foster growth. Notably, the SASE product improvements launch are a direct outcome of valuable customer feedback.
The Lumen SASE approach focuses on simplification in order to deliver flexible, secure, and scalable SASE solutions to organizations of all sizes and industries.
Senior Director of SASE Product Management at Lumen, Darren Wolner, said,
There has been a rapid adoption of cloud-based services as more organizations implement hybrid work, but security is paramount to any cloud-based experience. This means savvy organizations soon realized a whole new set of requirements and challenges. We quickly enhanced the product to fit their requirements.
[Source – Cision PR Newswire]
Darren mentioned that Lumen has a strong focus on meeting customer wants and needs. He cited the latest SASE updates as a prime illustration of this commitment.
The new capabilities added to Lumen SASE Solutions include:
Security Service Edge (SSE)
SSE encompasses a suite of integrated, cloud-centric security capabilities, which feature cloud-hosted gateways. These capabilities are designed to ensure secure access to websites, facilitate the safe sharing of sensitive data, and manage user permissions for software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. These solutions are delivered in partnership with prominent SD-WAN and security providers.
Cloud-hosted Gateways
Cloud-hosted gateways offer organizations the flexibility to adopt 'grow as they go' network and security management features as they scale without the necessity of on-premises equipment.
In addition to the global expansion of Lumen technologies, customers based in the US can now deploy premise-based SASE services to locations in EMEA and Canada.
Pete Finalle, Research Manager with IDC, stated,
The new, hybrid perimeter – encompassing the main office down to the remote workforce – has collided with multi-cloud resources. This has created numerous networking and security complexities that are difficult to solve without a customer outcomes-based approach, which few companies can provide.
[Source – Cision PR Newswire]
Finalle pointed out that Lumen has a distinctive position to deliver real business outcomes through a comprehensive, cloud-based network security stack. This stack significantly benefits from Lumen's presence in both network and cloud infrastructure. Additionally, he mentioned that the company's digital customer experience and managed approach to resolving the intricate security and networking challenges allow them to mitigate the deployment and management difficulties that frequently hinder the adoption of SASE.
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Cloud Security
Google | September 18, 2023
Google reveals its pioneering approach to applying generative AI in cybersecurity at the Google Cloud Next conference in San Francisco.
Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai's keynote emphasizes Google's AI-first approach and the transformative impact of AI across industries.
Google introduces innovative security updates and trends, highlighting its commitment to enhancing cybersecurity capabilities.
Google Cloud extends Duet AI to three key products in preview mode, empowering security teams to address complex cybersecurity challenges more efficiently.
Google unveiled its pioneering approach to applying generative AI in cybersecurity at the Google Cloud Next conference in San Francisco. This significant revelation follows the broader accessibility of generative AI, made possible earlier this year by technologies like ChatGPT. Google's strategic endeavor aims to harness the potential of AI to combat cybersecurity challenges. Additionally, the event featured a keynote address by Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who underscored the transformative influence of AI across sectors and emphasized Google's extensive history of adopting an AI-first approach.
During the conference, Google seized the opportunity to introduce innovative security updates and trends, signifying its commitment to enhancing cybersecurity capabilities for its customers. These developments come at a time when the integration of AI technologies in addressing cybersecurity concerns has gained substantial attention and recognition. Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, a prominent figure in the technology industry, initiated the conference, reiterating the profound influence of AI across various sectors, industries, and business functions. His emphasis on Google's decade-long dedication to an AI-first approach solidified the company's leadership position in this transformative era.
Furthermore, Google unveiled significant developments in the conference, including expanding Vertex AI with over 100 foundation models and introducing enhancements like PaLM 2, supercomputing capabilities, and the fifth-gen Tensor Processing Units. However, their commitment to democratizing AI was highlighted, demonstrated through customer stories and live demos. Google Cloud's developer advocate, Priyanka Vergadia, showcased Duet AI, an intelligent chatbot assistant that streamlines developers' tasks, saving time and enhancing security. Duet AI automates deployments, configures applications correctly, aids in debugging, and strengthens security. Its preview release marks a step towards achieving shift-left and DevSecOps goals, empowering developers to secure their code effectively and allowing security teams to scale their efforts.
The research conducted by ESG and ISSA highlights the challenges faced by cybersecurity professionals. A significant majority (63%) have found their roles increasingly complex over the past two years. A closer look reveals that the surge in complexity (81%), rising workloads, and growing cyberthreats (59%), as well as understaffing issues (46%), are the primary factors contributing to this challenge. In response to these evolving demands, Google Cloud has taken a proactive step by extending the application of Duet AI to three key products, now available in preview mode. These applications empower security teams with Mandiant Threat Intelligence for threat analysis, Google Chronicle for accelerated SecOps processes, and Google Security Command Center for risk mitigation. A live demonstration showcased how Duet AI streamlines security analysts' workflows, making threat detection and response more efficient and enhancing overall security posture management.
Google Cloud announced Mandiant Hunt for Chronicle Security Ops in preview, boosting threat hunting with expert Mandiant insights. Agentless vulnerability scanning (powered by Tenable) in preview detects OS, software, and network vulnerabilities on Google Compute Engine VMs. Custom posture findings and threat detectors are now available in the Security Command Center. Cloud Firewall Plus, in preview, enhances firewall service with advanced threat protection (Palo Alto Networks). These updates, utilizing Duet AI in preview, demonstrate Google Cloud's dedication to cybersecurity innovation, with specific availability details to come. The conference also highlighted partner offerings in the ever-evolving cloud security landscape.
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Software Security
Okta | October 09, 2023
Okta, Inc. announces Identity Threat Protection with Okta AI, a new product for Okta Workforce Identity Cloud.
It enables security teams and admins to constantly evaluate user risk during active sessions and respond automatically to Identity threats across the entire ecosystem.
Identity Threat Protection enables organizations to mitigate risk with enhanced threat detection and response capabilities.
Okta, Inc., the leading independent Identity partner, has introduced Identity Threat Protection with Okta AI, a revolutionary product within the Okta Workforce Identity Cloud. This innovative solution provides identity-based threat detection and mitigation in real-time. Identity Threat Protection goes beyond initial authentication by employing Okta AI and security infrastructure insights. It assures continuous user risk assessment during active sessions and enables automatic responses to Identity threats across the entire ecosystem.
Organizations are increasingly adopting diverse cybersecurity tools to counter evolving threats. However, this leads to a flood of detailed security data, making it daunting for administrators to set up efficient policies and identify crucial threats. This fragmentation makes it challenging to track the risk of any specific user session over time and requires navigating various consoles.
Okta stands out with its unified Identity deployment, offering a unique ability to evaluate risks across security domains and active user sessions. This innovative strategy solves a crucial business challenge as, according to Gartner, "By 2025, organizations that adopt a continuous adaptive trust strategy will reduce [account takeover] along with other identity risks by 30%..."
President and CDO of Workforce Identity Cloud at Okta, Sagnik Nandy, said,
Organizations need the ability to not only bring together risk insights at the point of login, but also to re-evaluate at any point in a user’s session. Identity Threat Protection extends Okta’s adaptive risk analysis and delivers automatic remediation and response, assisting businesses stop potential threats in real-time.
[Source – Business Wire]
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a vital tool in combating identity-based attacks. However, its effectiveness typically extends only to the login stage. Using shared signals throughout a user's active session, Identity Threat Protection equips organizations with enhanced threat detection and response capabilities, thereby mitigating risk. Initial launch capabilities include:
Continuous Risk Evaluation
Shared Signals Pipeline
Adaptive Actions
CIO at Palo Alto Networks, Meerah Rajavel, said,
Our world-class threat intelligence innovations assist secure enterprises against evolving attack methods. Partnering with Okta’s Identity Threat Protection is a great opportunity to further empower enterprises with security signal sharing, assisting them to better detect changes in user risk across their tech stack.
[Source – Business Wire]
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