Quote for the day:
“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” -- C.S. Lewis
How to Use Passive DNS To Trace Hackers Command And Control Infrastructure
This technology works through a network of sensors that monitor DNS
query-response pairs, forwarding this information to central collection points
for analysis without disrupting normal network operations. The resulting
historical databases contain billions of unique records that security analysts
can query to understand how domain names have resolved over time. ... When
investigating potential threats, analysts can review months or even years of DNS
resolution data without alerting adversaries to their investigation—a critical
advantage when dealing with sophisticated threat actors. ... The true power of
passive DNS in C2 investigation comes through various pivoting techniques that
allow analysts to expand from a single indicator to map entire attack
infrastructures. These techniques leverage the interconnected nature of DNS to
reveal relationships between seemingly disparate domains and IP addresses.
IP-based pivoting represents one of the most effective approaches. Starting with
a known malicious IP address, analysts can query passive DNS to identify all
domains that have historically resolved to that address. This technique often
reveals additional malicious domains that share infrastructure but might
otherwise appear unrelated.
Why digital identity is the cornerstone of trust in modern business
The foundation of digital trust is identity. It is no longer sufficient to treat
identity management as a backend IT concern. Enterprises must now embed identity
solutions into every digital touchpoint, ensuring that user interactions –
whether by customers, employees, or partners – are both frictionless and secure.
Modern enterprises must shift from fragmented, legacy systems to a unified
identity platform. This evolution allows organisations to scale securely,
eliminate redundancies and deliver the streamlined experiences users now expect.
... Digital identity is also a driver of customer experience. In today’s
hyper-competitive digital landscape, the sign-up process can make or break a
brand relationship. Clunky login screens or repeated verification prompts are
quick ways to lose a customer. ... The foundation of digital trust is identity.
It is no longer sufficient to treat identity management as a backend IT concern.
Enterprises must now embed identity solutions into every digital touchpoint,
ensuring that user interactions – whether by customers, employees, or partners –
are both frictionless and secure. Modern enterprises must shift from fragmented,
legacy systems to a unified identity platform. This evolution allows
organisations to scale securely, eliminate redundancies and deliver the
streamlined experiences users now expect.
Is your business ready for the IDP revolution?
AI-powered document processing offers significant advantages. Using advanced ML,
IDP systems accurately interpret even complex and low-quality documents,
including those with intricate tables and varying formats. This reduces manual
work and the risk of human error. ... IDP also significantly improves data
quality and accuracy by eliminating manual data entry, ensuring critical
information is captured correctly and consistently. This leads to better
decision-making, regulatory compliance and increased efficiency. IDP has
wide-ranging applications. In healthcare, it speeds up claims processing and
improves patient data management. In finance, it automates invoice processing
and streamlines loan applications. In legal, it assists with contract analysis
and due diligence. And in insurance, IDP automates information extraction from
claims and reports, accelerating processing and boosting customer satisfaction.
One specific example of this innovation in action is DocuWare’s own Intelligent
Document Processing (DocuWare IDP). Our AI-powered solution streamlines how
businesses handle even the most complex documents. Available as a standalone
product, in the DocuWare Cloud or on-premises, DocuWare IDP automates text
recognition, document classification and data extraction from various document
types, including invoices, contracts and ID cards.
Practical Strategies to Overcome Cyber Security Compliance Standards Fatigue
The suitability of a cyber security framework must be determined based on
applicable laws, industry standards, organizational risk profile, business
goals, and resource constraints. It goes without saying that organizations
providing critical services to the USA federal government will pursue NIST
compliance while Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) may want to focus
on CIS Top 20, given resource constraints. Once the cyber security team has
selected the most suitable framework, they should seek endorsement from the
executive team or cyber risk governance committee to ensure shared sense of
purpose. ... Mapping will enable organizations to identify overlapping
controls to create a unified control set that addresses the requirements of
multiple frameworks. This way, the organization can avoid redundant controls
and processes, which in turn reduces cyber security team fatigue, accelerates
innovation and lowers the cost of security. ... Cyber compliance standards
play an integral role to ensure organizations prioritize the protection of
consumer confidential and sensitive information above profits. But to reduce
pressure on cyber teams already battling stress, cyber leaders must take a
pragmatic approach that carefully balances compliance with innovation, agility
and efficiency.
The Elaboration of a Modern TOGAF Architecture Maturity Model
This innovative TOGAF architecture maturity model provides a structured
framework for assessing and enhancing an organization’s enterprise
architecture capabilities in organizations that need to become more agile. By
defining maturity levels across ten critical domains, the model enables
organizations to transition from unstructured, reactive practices to
well-governed, data-driven, and continuously optimized architectural
processes. The five maturity levels—Initial, Under Development, Defined,
Managed, and Measured—offer a clear roadmap for organizations to integrate EA
into strategic decision-making, align business and IT investments, and
establish governance frameworks that enhance operational efficiency. Through
this approach, EA evolves from a support function into a key driver of
innovation and business transformation. This model emphasizes continuous
improvement and strategic alignment, ensuring that EA not only supports but
actively contributes to an organization’s long-term success. By embedding EA
into business strategy, security, governance, and solution delivery,
enterprises can enhance agility, mitigate risks, and drive competitive
advantage. Measuring EA’s impact through financial metrics and performance
indicators further ensures that architecture initiatives provide tangible
business value.
Securing digital products under the Cyber Resilience Act
CRA explicitly states that products should have appropriate level of
cybersecurity based on the risks, the risk based approach is fundamental in
the regulation. This has the advantage that we can set the bar wherever we
want as long as we make a good risk based argumentation for this level. This
implies that we must have a methodical categorization of risk, hence we need
application risk profiles. In order to implement this we can follow the
quality criteria of maturity level 1, 2 and 3 of the application risk profiles
practice. This includes having a clearly agreed upon, understood, accessible
and updated risk classification system. ... Many companies already have SAMM
assessments, if you do not have SAMM assessments but use another maturity
framework such as OWASP DSOMM or NIST CSF you could use the available mappings
to accelerate the translation to SAMM. Otherwise we recommend doing SAMM
assessments and identifying the gaps in the processes needed. Then deciding on
a roadmap to develop the processes and capabilities in time. ... In CRA we
need to demonstrate that we have adequate security processes in place, and
that we do not ship products with known vulnerabilities. So apart from having
a good picture of the data flows we need to have a good picture of the
processes in place.
Insider Threats, AI and Social Engineering: The Triad of Modern Cybersecurity Threats
Insiders who are targeted or influenced by external adversaries to commit data
theft may not be addressed by traditional security solutions because attackers
might use a combination of manipulation techniques with tactics to get access
to the confidential data of an organization. This can be seen in the case of
Insider Threats carried out by Famous Chollima, a cyber-criminal group that
targeted organizations through the employees, that were working for the
criminal group. This criminal group collected individuals, falsified their
identities, and helped them secure employment with the organization. Once
inside, the group got access to sensitive information through the employees
they helped get into the organization. ... Since AI can mimic user behavior,
it is hard for security teams to detect the difference between normal activity
and AI-generated activity. AI can also be used by insiders to assist in their
plans, such as like an insider could use AI or train AI models to analyze user
activity and pinpoint the window of least activity to deploy malware onto a
critical system at an optimal time and disguise this activity under a
legitimate action, to avoid detection with monitoring solutions.
How Successful Leaders Get More Done in Less Time
In order to be successful, leaders must make a conscious shift to move from
reactive to intentional. They must guard their calendars, build in time for deep
work, and set clear boundaries to focus on what truly drives progress. ...
Time-blocking is one of the simplest, most powerful tools a leader can use. At
its core, time-blocking is the practice of assigning specific blocks of time to
different types of work: deep focus, meetings, admin, creative thinking or even
rest. Why does it work? Because it eliminates context-switching, which is the
silent killer of productivity. Instead of bouncing between tasks and losing
momentum, time-blocking gives your day structure. It creates rhythm and ensures
that what matters most actually gets done. ... Not everything on your to-do list
matters. But without a clear system to prioritize, everything feels urgent.
That's how leaders end up spending hours on reactive work while their most
impactful tasks get pushed to "tomorrow." The fix? Use prioritization frameworks
like the 80/20 rule (20% of tasks drive 80% of results) to stay focused on what
actually moves the needle. ... If you're still doing everything yourself,
there's a chance you're creating a bottleneck. The best leaders know that
delegation buys back time and creates opportunities for others to grow.
The tech backbone creating the future of infrastructure
Governments and administrators around the world are rapidly realizing the
benefits of integrated infrastructure. A prime example is the growing trend for
connecting utilities across borders to streamline operations and enhance
efficiency. The Federal-State Modern Grid Deployment Initiative, involving 21 US
states, is a major step towards modernizing the power grid, boosting reliability
and enhancing resource management. Across the Atlantic, the EU is linking energy
systems; by 2030, each member nation should be sharing at least 15% of its
electricity production with its neighbors. On a smaller scale, the World
Economic Forum is encouraging industrial clusters—including in China, Indonesia,
Ohio and Australia—to share resources, infrastructure and risks to maximize
economic and environmental value en route to net zero. ... Data is a nation’s
most valuable asset. It is now being collected from multiple infrastructure
points—traffic, energy grids, utilities. Infusing it with artificial
intelligence (AI) in the cloud enables businesses to optimize their operations
in real time. Centralizing this information, such as in an integrated
command-and-control center, facilitates smoother collaboration and closer
interaction among different sectors.
No matter how advanced the technology is, it can all fall apart without strong security
One cybersecurity trend that truly excites me is the convergence of Artificial
Intelligence (AI) with cybersecurity, especially in the areas of threat
detection, incident response, and predictive risk management. This has motivated
me to pursue a PhD in Cybersecurity using AI. Unlike traditional rule-based
systems, AI is revolutionising cybersecurity by enabling proactive and adaptive
defence strategies through contextual intelligence, shifting the focus from
reactive to proactive measures. ... The real magic lies in combining AI with
human judgement — what I often refer to as “human-in-the-loop cybersecurity.”
This balance allows teams to scale faster, stay sharp, and focus on strategic
defence instead of chasing every alert manually. What I have learnt from all
this is the fusion of AI and cybersecurity is not just an enhancement, it’s a
paradigm shift. However, the key is achieving balance. Hence, AI should augment
human intelligence, rather than supplant them.... In the realm of financial
cybersecurity, the most significant risk isn’t solely technical; it stems from
the gap between security measures and business objectives. As the CISO, my
responsibility extends beyond merely protecting against threats; I aim to
integrate cybersecurity into the core of the organisation, transforming it into
a strategic enabler rather than a reactive measure.
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