Monday, June 1, 2015

6 Trends Driving Vulnerability Exploits You Need to Know

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6 Trends Driving Vulnerability Exploits You Need to Know

   
Cybercrime continues to grow in 2015, judging on account of headlines during the past few weeks, it looks like everybody is getting hacked, from Slack and Lufthansa all the way to the Whitehouse.
In order to make some sense of this, let's take a step back and walk through the 6 trends that are driving vulnerabilities and their exploitation to understand the bigger picture - and what can be done to mitigate it.
Pace of discovery - 4 New Highly Critical Vulnerabilities a Day
According to Secunia, during 2014 alone over 15,400 new vulnerabilities were found reflecting an increase of 18% compared to 2013. Of these vulnerabilities 11% were categorized as being highly critical - that makes for over 100 new highly critical vulnerabilities per month or approximately 4 per day! With the development of new automated vulnerability discovery tools that check new methods of attack, the number of new vulnerabilities discovered is expected to further grow considerably, according to recent research fom IBM.
Widely Shared Components - Vulnerable
The study quoted above also found that of the 3,870 applications on which vulnerabilities were found in 2014, especially damaging are those that lie at the heart of Content Management Systems (CMS), Open Source Libraries and Operating Systems embedded in literally hundreds of millions of websites. These systems are riddled with vulnerabilities making them popular targets for cyber criminals and a constant source of concern for companies using them. A study from Menlo Security published recently reinforces this with findings that of the 1 Million most visited websites a whopping 1 in 5 sites run vulnerable software.
Shared Vulnerability Database - Double Edged Sword
In an interest to consolidate information about vulnerabilities known in the wild so patches can be developed and implemented as fast as possible, a number of international organizations have been established to standardize the way vulnerabilities are characterized and communicated, the main one being the 'Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures' (CVE) database.
While this standardization helps security researchers understand these vulnerabilities faster and, allows companies deploy patches more efficiently it also makes life easier for cybercriminals who have an updated online database of vulnerabilities to exploit for malicious purposes.
Chasing the Corporate Tail
Any IT professional will confess that system upgrades in general and patch installations in particular are costly and complex procedures. Companies will therefore typically have set schedules for undergoing these periodic upgrades. The relentless pace of new vulnerabilities being discovered in the wild means that most companies are at any point in time exposed.
Immediate Exploitation Databases - Publicly Available
Not only do cyber criminals have immediate access to the CVE database, but the exploits for these vulnerabilities are also managed in organized databases readily available for both professional cybercriminals and amateur 'script kiddies' to take advantage of for their next "victim".
Examples of such databases are:
·         http://www.exploit-db.com
·         http://securityvulns.com
Open Source Automated Vulnerability Scanners
One thing is scanning websites and servers manually with the tools detailed above to find targets for exploitation, another is being able to do so automatically. With a wide variety of open source automated vulnerability scanning tools available online cybercriminals can search for exponentially more targets, further shortening the time corporations have to respond to new vulnerabilities.
With these trends at play cybercriminals no longer need years of experience or expensive resources to exploit vulnerabilities.
Summary - Cyber Criminal Modus Operandi
Cyber criminals employ hordes of bots programmed to automatically scan the Internet for vulnerable servers and websites, when found, the vulnerability is exploited and the server put to use for malicious purposes. This level of sophistication in automatically scouting for targets andexploiting their vulnerabilities, drastically improves the speed and reach cyber criminals have to execute malicious activity.
The Solution
With the industry dynamics outlined above and cybercriminals' relentless modus operandi, the solutions expected to help corporations successfully mitigate the threat of cybercriminals exploiting vulnerabilities on their perimeter need to address the following:
·         Fast detection of vulnerabilities to keep one step ahead of cybercriminals;
·         Prioritization of identified vulnerabilities so critical bugs can be patched. Fast.
·         Detailed remediation for immediate and effective action.
·         Defensive solutions like WAFs (Web Application Firewalls) are another key component
Regain control of your company's cyber security with MazeBolt's Unified Threat Assessment Platform that validates your security posture for the three main attack vectors: Vulnerabilities on your perimeter, DDoS Mitigation, and Phishing attacks. Visit our website http://www.mazebolt.comtoday for a demo.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

What Makes Your Website Valuable?

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What Makes Your Website Valuable?

   
Here's a super-simple, no-brainer list of things that one needs to bear in mind before putting a website for sale.
Like I said earlier- Prepare, Prepare, Prepare - needs to be your mantra :-)
1. Analytics:
Get a Google Analytics account as soon as you set up your site / purchase it. For medium-end sites, most buyers like to see historical details for at least 6-8 months. If you have any spikes / drop in your traffic - or there have been frequent spurts, share the reasons for these changes proactively. No one likes to buy a site that doesn't have the predictable traffic.
Tip: Create a separate analytics account that you can simply handover to your buyer. That makes it easy for the buyer if he / she intends to flip it again, else all of the earlier history is lost or spread across different GA accounts.
2. Social Media Presence:
Never undermine the value of having a dedicated audience that is tuned in to your messages - whether via Twitter, Facebook, any other social networking tool. Having a loyal fan following however small or big is a huge asset and increases the value of your site dramatically.
This can't happen overnight just before you put up your site for sale, so spend a few minutes everyday, diligently to build your presence in the social networking world.
3. PageRank/ Alexa Rank / Backlinks:
These are just some of the parameters that a buyer would use to evaluate your site - again, you will need to set aside some time everyday to optimize your site for your target audience. And yes, you will need to read up on that dreaded word "SEO". SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is a process of submitting the links to different directories of your website, articles and Blog. And you can bookmark yourself in different websites that help in increasing the backlinks for the website. Even you can do ON page optimization to reduce the load time of your website.
4. Revenue:
Last but not the least, a site that has some source of generating revenue, however minuscule, is worth far more than a beautiful site that has not made any money at all. Even a loss-making site is worth more than one that has not made any money!!

Thursday, May 21, 2015

The Power of Press Releases - Why They Work and How to Make Them Work for You

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  The Power of Press Releases - Why They Work and How to Make Them Work for You

   

If you've done any internet marketing at all, or participated in any direct online advertising, then you have probably heard of the press release. If you have done none of these things, then this article will be a powerful eye-opener to you because the online PR is one of the most powerful and cost-effective promotional tools you can use today.
What is a press release?
You can think of a PR as a highly-focused and newspaper-like article that is promoted and syndicated for you. Unlike free articles, the press release, once written, is a paid distribution. You choose a press release service such as PR Web or PR Leap, pay their submission fee, and the press release service will publish your PR on their site and syndicate it to dozens or perhaps hundreds of online news sites as well.
Why is a PR so effective?
Consider the concept of article marketing. You write an article, like this one, and publish it on a site like EzineArticles, articlebase, hubspot and so on. This is a free service, generally, and your article is then read and possibly syndicated by other web users. It's a great way to build back links and to establish you and your business' authority on your related subjects.
Now, a press release is similar to this, except that because you pay a PR service to distribute your article, you get much faster and bigger results. Like a free article, a PR can contain useful information, a link to your website or other online sources and even your mailing and contact information. It is a very fast and effective means of drawing attention to yourself and your company.
What makes a good press release?
Now we come to the heart of the matter. A PR must be treated a bit differently than an article or a blog. It's generally thought of, and rightly so, as a more serious and professional publication. In many cases, in fact, a good press release will get picked up and published in print as well as online.
It's a lot more difficult to get away with amateur writing, poor content and sloppy grammar in a press release. The expected standards are much higher for a PR and the audiences who read them do so with a certain expectation of being informed by a serious source.
So unlike a blog entry, which can be very informal, or an article which can be humorous while being informative, a release should be thought of as a real piece of journalism. It's important to write it carefully or have it written by a professional who knows what they are doing. Let's look at the three core features of a good release:
1.   Content quality: Keep the quality of your PR's content very high. This means not only compelling writing that is designed for the human as well as the search engine, but it also means stick to a specific point. Make your press release about one topic related to your company or what it is you're trying to get noticed.
2.   Be accurate: it's a good idea to include statistics, figures and facts to support your news item when writing a press release. But make sure these bits of information are correct. It's a good idea to even cite your sources whenever possible. This gives your PR credibility and you as well.
3.   Grammar is important: This seems simple but it's quite critical. Carefully write your press release, spell check it and then review for grammatical errors. It's not a bad idea to have someone else review it as well. Even if you do not do this, give yourself a day after writing to review it again, just to get a fresh perspective. Remember, once the release goes live, you can't edit it.
The rule of thumb for a good and effective press release is accuracy and credibility. If you throw something together that is sloppy or incorrect, it can have long-reaching negative effects on your traffic and your reputation. You want each PR you publish to strengthen the message of the next. If you are careful, and take the time, efforts and pay the price to create high-quality press releases, the effect on your image, traffic and financial bottom line will be better than you can imagine.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Building Niche Sites

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Building Niche Sites

   

That income may start flowing in, it is important to build not only your site but the function or your niche site. You go, oh okay, the niche sigh - what!? Come on, you have heard about niche sites by this time and that treasures could be buried there somewhere.
But how do you define niche site, really? Yes, it is a website or a blog that centers, primarily, on a particular topic which is either product or information. Product-based niches are of course about products that are available for consumers and the site is where you could find all that is related to a product: product details, reviews, prices or where you can get them.
Now when you want to find out how things work, how to do this and how to do that, get tips on saving money or how to lose weight in so and so days, that's information niche site for you. It basically focuses on answering questions.
Okay so if they are what they are, people would come and visit your site if they need a product or need information. Nope, not so fast because this is why there is such thing as building niche sites.
Why build your niche site?
·         How else will you be able to dig the treasure out if in doing keyword research, your site does not appear in the top 5 results? This is where your creative genius in featuring interesting but factual topics should come out so that your site can enjoy great traffic.

·         It is your opportunity to learn new things, too. How can you build an information-based site if you don't want to come out of your comfort zone, learn new things and get to share them?

·         Once you see something that you created grow and prosper, don't you love that feeling of great satisfaction? Knowing that your site is among the top ranking is a great feeling not to mention that it is the gateway for income to start flowing.

·         Ah, yes, income. When you have successfully built your niche site and money starts coming in, you can have the opportunity to make it grow - diversify! If you are one who has the gift of being able to handle various topics, why not create another site or sites.

·         If you are able to build your site and succeed in making it grow, you can have the chance to give back. Nothing beats sharing the opportunities and being able to help your fellowmen.
When I say build your niche site, build it with integrity in mind and not just for the sound of cash register in your head going ding-ding-ding ceaselessly. Make sure you build a credible site, one that will make people keep coming back for more because there is good value in it. Because it is honest and sincerely beneficial, aiming to actually help people find what they are looking for whether that is a product or knowledge.