The Last Watchdog - Software

MY TAKE: The workflow cadences of GenAI — what’s being lost, what’s starting to be reclaimed - The Last Watchdog

Gen-AI disruption is real. It’s profound, high-stakes, and unprecedented. It’s also accelerating — faster than any technological shift in recent memory. But beneath the hype and uncertainty, a distinct set of rhythms is beginning to emerge. That’s what I’ve come to believe, after two years of covering this space closely. I’ve interviewed dozens of practitioners,

News alert: Link11 tracks 225% surge in DDoS attacks, record-breaking scale and duration - The Last Watchdog

Frankfurt, Sept. 9, 2025, CyberNewswire — The threat landscape surrounding distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks intensified significantly in the first half of 2025, according to the latest Link11 European Cyber Report. Documented attacks targeting the Link11 network increased by 225% compared to the same period in 2024. The report highlights not only a marked rise in

SHARED INTEL Q&A: Is your antivirus catching fresh threats — or just echoing VirusTotal? - The Last Watchdog

In cybersecurity, trust often hinges on what users think their software is doing — versus what’s actually happening under the hood. Related: Eddy Willem's 'Borrowed Brains' findings Take antivirus, for example. Many users assume threat detection is based on proprietary research, unique signatures, and internal analysis. But what happens when a product’s detection engine is

News alert: Sendmarc taps Rob Bowker to grow MSPs, DMARC adoption in North America - The Last Watchdog

Wilmington, Del., Sept. 4, 2025, CyberNewswire — Sendmarc today announced the appointment of Rob Bowker as North American Region Lead. Bowker will oversee regional expansion with a focus on growing the Managed Service Provider (MSP) partner community, developing strategic Value-Added Reseller (VAR) partnerships, and broadening the enterprise customer base. Bowker brings more than two decades

SHARED INTEL Q&A: Inside the mind of a hacker — shadowing adversaries across API pathways - The Last Watchdog

In today’s digital economy, business starts with the application. Increasingly, the critical activity lives in the APIs that support it. Related: The hidden cost of API security laspses For Jamison Utter, Field CISO at A10 Networks, this moment marks a profound shift. Traditional defenses — WAFs, DDoS scrubbing, bot management — have long operated in

Critical Insight Q&A: As digital trust compresses, resilience will require automation and scale - The Last Watchdog

A quiet but consequential change is reshaping the foundations of online trust. Related: CISA on quantum readiness Starting in 2026, TLS certificate lifespans will shrink in stages — from 200 days, to 100, and eventually just 47 by 2029. The shift marks a sharp departure from today’s 398-day standard and will force organizations to rethink

News alert: Halo Security’s custom dashboards give security teams control while streamlining workflows - The Last Watchdog

Miami, Aug. 28, 2025, CyberNewswire — Halo Security, a leading provider of external risk management solutions, today announced significant platform enhancements designed to give security teams greater flexibility and control within the platform. The new features include custom dashboards, configurable reports, and improved automation capabilities that give organizations better control over how they visualize and

Black Hat Fireside Chat: API sprawl turns SMBs into prime targets — simple flaws invite breaches - The Last Watchdog

Cyber attackers don’t always need sophisticated exploits. Too often, they succeed by exploiting the basics. Related: 51 common SMB cyberattacks That’s the warning from Chris Wallis, founder and CEO of London-based Intruder, who sat down with Last Watchdog during Black Hat USA 2025. His company has carved out a niche helping small and mid-sized businesses,

News alert: SquareX finds browser flaw undermining passkeys while exposing banking and SaaS apps - The Last Watchdog

Palo Alto, Calif., Aug. 28, 2025, CyberNewswire — It is no secret that passwords are highly susceptible to phishing and brute force attacks. This led to the mass adoption of passkeys, a passwordless authentication method leveraging cryptographic key pairs that allows users to log in with biometrics or a hardware key. According to FIDO, over

News alert: Global security leaders to convene at OpenSSL 2025 — final week for early-bird rates - The Last Watchdog

Newark, N.J., Aug. 25, 2025, CyberNewwire — Only 7 days left to secure the Early Bird registration at the OpenSSL Conference 2025, October 7 – 9 in Prague. The event will bring together lawyers, regulators, developers, and entrepreneurs to explore issues of security and privacy for everyone, everywhere. Attendees will have the opportunity to: •Meet

News alert: Attaxion launches agentless traffic monitoring to flag threats and prioritize risk - The Last Watchdog

Dover, Del., Aug. 25, 2025, CyberNewswire—Attaxion announces the addition of the Agentless Traffic Monitoring capability to its exposure management platform. Agentless Traffic Monitoring is a new capability designed to give cybersecurity teams actionable visibility into network traffic flowing to and from their digital assets – all without the need to deploy any agents or sensors

News alert: Link11 warns of rising API and bot attacks, launches integrated WAAP platform - The Last Watchdog

Frankfurt, Germany, Aug. 20, 2025, CyberNewswire — Link11, a Germany-based global IT security provider, has released insights into the evolving cybersecurity threat landscape and announced the capabilities of its Web Application and API (WAAP) platform, designed to provide multi-layered defenses against modern digital threats. The rapid pace of digital transformation has expanded the opportunities for

EMERGING TRENDS Q&A: Pentesting goes continuous as Plainsea joins wave reshaping security - The Last Watchdog

Penetration testing has long served as a cornerstone of cybersecurity—a red-team exercise, often once or twice a year, designed to surface exploitable weaknesses. But in today’s dynamic threat landscape, that model is showing its age. Related: Pentesting in the AI era Cloud-native architectures evolve hourly. APIs sprawl. Misconfigurations are exploited within days—sometimes hours—of deployment. Manual

BLACK HAT FIRESIDE CHAT: Straiker extends ‘red teaming’ to the AI layer as AI attacks surge - The Last Watchdog

The enterprise software model that defined the past two decades — SaaS — is being rapidly eclipsed by a new center of gravity: AI-native systems. These are autonomous agents wired directly into company data, tools, and workflows. Related: LLMs fuel automated attacks According to Straiker CEO Ankur Shah, this shift is happening faster than cloud

SHARED INTEL Q&A: Rethinking Zero Trust to close the widening gap on file-borne threats - The Last Watchdog

For years, “Zero Trust” has reshaped cybersecurity architecture — pushing organizations to move beyond the perimeter and reframe everything around identity, access control, and segmentation. Related: The Zero-Trust revolution These shifts are overdue. But as the frameworks mature, a critical blind spot remains: files. Spreadsheets, PDFs, Word docs — they flow freely across teams, vendors,

CRITICAL INSIGHT Q&A: The high-stakes push to safeguard ‘FirstNet’ broadband spectrum - The Last Watchdog

First responders have long depended on calling for backup and clearing the airwaves. Since its launch in 2018, FirstNet—America’s public safety broadband network—has become indispensable. Related: The FirstNet petition With over 7.5 million connections, support for more than 30,000 agencies, and an estimated $8 billion economic impact in 2023, FirstNet has proven its value not

Black Hat Fireside Chat: Automation takes center stage as TLS lifespans grow ever shorter - The Last Watchdog

The countdown is on for security teams still managing digital certificates with spreadsheets and manual workarounds. Related: Preparing for the quantum future Starting in 2026, TLS certificate lifespans will begin dropping sharply — from 398 days to just 47 by 2029. That shift isn’t just a technical nuance. It’s a foundational disruption to how enterprises

SHARED INTEL Q&A: From Code Red to the ‘new control plane’ — Marc Maiffret on identity - The Last Watchdog

The identity security market got its moment of validation. Related: Inside Palo Alto Networks acquisition of CyberArk Palo Alto Networks’ blockbuster $25 billion acquisition of CyberArk — its largest to date — underscores a strategic inflection point: identity has become the new control plane of modern cybersecurity. The move marks Palo Alto’s aggressive entry into

MY TAKE: Black Hat 2025 vendors define early contours for a hard pivot to AI security architecture - The Last Watchdog

Black Hat USA 2025 concluded amid a noticeable shift in tone. Compared to prior years, the discussions were more grounded, and the stakes more clearly defined. Related: GenAI security gaps few see While generative AI remained the central theme, what stood out was the growing consensus that the security community must now contend with a

News alert: INE named among top providers of practical, career-ready cybersecurity training in 2025 - The Last Watchdog

Cary, NC, Aug. 11, 2025, CyberNewswire—INE has been selected for Training Industry's 2025 Top 20 Online Learning Library Companies list, recognizing the company's leadership in cybersecurity training, cybersecurity certifications, and IT training that emphasizes hands-on, practical learning experiences. Training Industry evaluated companies based on course quality and scope, market presence and innovation, client relationships, and

News alert: New Heimdal study reveals tool overload is driving fatigue, missed threats in MSPs - The Last Watchdog

London, Aug. 11, 2025, CyberNewswire—A survey of 80 North American MSPs shows fragmented security stacks drive fatigue, missed threats, and business inefficiency Security tools meant to protect managed service providers are instead overwhelming them. A new study from Heimdal and FutureSafe reveals that 89% of MSPs struggle with tool integration while 56% experience alert fatigue

MY TAKE: The GenAI security crisis few can see — but these startups are mapping the gaps - The Last Watchdog

LAS VEGAS — A decade ago, the rise of public cloud brought with it a familiar pattern: runaway innovation on one side, and on the other, a scramble to retrofit security practices not built for the new terrain. Related: GenAI workflow risks Shadow IT flourished. S3 buckets leaked. CISOs were left to piece together fragmented

SHARED INTEL Q&A: From alert to fix — Gomboc brings trusted AI to Infrastructure-as-Code - The Last Watchdog

The promise of AI in cybersecurity has been loudly heralded—yet quietly limited. Related: What is IaC? Machine learning has proven effective at spotting anomalies and flagging misconfigurations. But resolving those issues remains largely manual, slow, and labor-intensive. A recent Cloud Security Alliance survey found: •75% of teams spend at least one-fifth of their time manually

News alert: OpenSSL conference to convene experts on cryptograohy, compliance and open-source - The Last Watchdog

Newark, NJ, Aug. 4, 2025, CyberNewswire—Early Bird registration is now available for the inaugural OpenSSL Conference, scheduled for October 7–9, 2025, in Prague. The event will bring together leading voices in cryptography, secure systems, and open-source infrastructure. Early registrants can save up to $240 per ticket. Registration Information Registration packages are designed to reflect the

Black Hat Fireside Chat: Inside the ‘Mind of a Hacker’ — A10’s plan for unified threat detection - The Last Watchdog

In today's threat landscape, attackers are no longer just exploiting technical flaws — they're exploiting business logic. Think gaps in workflows, permissions, and overlooked assumptions in how applications behave. This subtle shift is creating powerful new footholds for cybercriminals and evading traditional defenses. A10 Networks’ Field CISO Jamison Utter calls this the new front in

News alert: SpyCloud’s AI-powered platform mimics veteran analysts, speeds threat detection - The Last Watchdog

Austin, TX, Aug. 6, 2025, CyberNewswire: SpyCloud, the leader in identity threat protection, today announced a significant enhancement to its SaaS Investigations solution: the integration of advanced AI-powered insights that mirror the tradecraft of SpyCloud’s seasoned investigators. Building on the foundation of its industry-leading IDLink identity analytics, this new capability further automates and accelerates complex

News alert: Comp AI lands $2.6M pre-seed to modernize compliance, disrupt SOC 2 market - The Last Watchdog

San Francisco, Calif., Aug. 1, 2025, CyberNewswire—Comp AI, an emerging player in the compliance automation space, today announced it has secured $2.6 million in pre-seed funding to accelerate its mission of transforming how companies achieve compliance with critical frameworks like SOC 2 and HIPAA. The funding round was co-led by OSS Capital and Grand Ventures,

STRATEGIC REEL: Proactive by design: Fortinet retools network defense for real-time threats - The Last Watchdog

Security teams can no longer afford to wait for alerts — not when cyberattacks unfold in milliseconds. That’s the core warning from Fortinet’s Derek Manky in a new Last Watchdog Strategic Reel recorded at RSAC 2025. As adversaries adopt AI-driven tooling, defenders must rethink automation, exposure management, and the role of human analysts. “We saw

SHARED INTEL Q&A: Inside the access mess no one sees — and the identity risk no one owns - The Last Watchdog

For decades, identity and access management (IAM) and privileged access management (PAM) sat on the sidelines of cybersecurity strategy—viewed more as IT maintenance than frontline defense. Related: The hidden threat of rogue access But that’s changing. Fast. Historically, security investments prioritized the visible: firewalls, antivirus software, endpoint monitoring. IAM and PAM—meant to control who gets

News Alert: SquareX exposes DevTools blind spot allowing widespread browser extension attacks - The Last Watchdog

Palo Alto, Calif., July 29, 2025, CyberNewswire — Despite the expanding use of browser extensions, the majority of enterprises and individuals still rely on labels such as “Verified” and “Chrome Featured” provided by extension stores as a security indicator. The recent Geco Colorpick case exemplifies how these certifications provide nothing more than a false sense

MY TAKE: The signal vs. the noise: email messaging in the era of my AI talking to your AI - The Last Watchdog

Not long ago, I found myself staring at a reply that could’ve come from a bot. Related: Microsoft purges 'knowledge workers' It was a polite follow-up from a PR rep reiterating a pitch I had already acknowledged — and responded to with a thoughtful, clearly outlined counter-offer. My reply wasn’t off-the-shelf. It was a handcrafted

News alert: xonPlus launches real-time alerting platform to detect exposed enterprise credentials - The Last Watchdog

Chennai, India, July 25, 2025, CyberNewswire — xonPlus, a real-time digital risk alerting system, officially launches today to help security teams detect credential exposures before attackers exploit them. The platform detects data breaches and alerts teams and systems to respond instantly. Built by the team behind XposedOrNot, an open-source breach detection tool used by thousands,

STRATEGIC REEL: From guesswork to ground truth — stopping threats before they spread - The Last Watchdog

In today’s post-signature world, attackers don’t just break in — they blend in. In this second installment of the Last Watchdog Strategic LinkedIn Reel (LW SLR) series, Corelight CEO Brian Dye delivers a clear-eyed take on how defenders can regain the upper hand with network-derived ground truth. This high-impact reel distills key insights from our

News Alert: SquareX, Fortune 500 CISOs to debut bowser security guide at Black Hat USA 2025 - The Last Watchdog

Palo Alto, Calif., July 17, 2025, CyberNewswire — SquareX announced the official launch of The Browser Security Field Manual at Black Hat USA 2025. In addition to a comprehensive practical guide to the latest TTPs attackers are using to target employees in the browser, this comprehensive manual features industry perspectives from leading CISOs from multiple

News alert: Living Security report reveals that just 10% of employees drive 73% of cyber risk - The Last Watchdog

Austin, TX, July 21, 2025, CyberNewswire — Living Security, the global leader in Human Risk Management (HRM), today released the 2025 State of Human Cyber Risk Report, an independent study conducted by leading research firm Cyentia Institute. The report provides an unprecedented look at behavioral risk inside organizations and reveals how strategic HRM programs can reduce that risk 60%

GUEST ESSAY: Why IoT security must start at the module—a blueprint for scaling IoT security - The Last Watchdog

A few years ago, a casino was breached via a smart fish tank thermometer. Related: NIST's IoT security standard It’s a now-famous example of how a single overlooked IoT device can become an entry point for attackers — and a cautionary tale that still applies today. The Internet of Things (IoT) is expanding at an

News alert: INE Security debuts advanced eMAPT certification to close mobile security talent gap - The Last Watchdog

Cary, NC, July 10, 2025, CyberNewsire—INE Security, a leading provider of cybersecurity education and cybersecurity certifications, today launched its significantly enhanced eMAPT (Mobile Application Penetration Testing) certification. The updated certification delivers the industry's most comprehensive and practical approach to mobile application security testing. CSO Magazine recently recognized eMAPT among the Top 16 OffSec, pen-testing, and

MY TAKE: Microsoft gave rise to the ‘knowledge worker’—and now it’s rendering them obsolete - The Last Watchdog

When Chris Sacca declared that AI would decimate professional services, he wasn’t exaggerating. He was just early. Related: Are we Super F**ked by AI? Now, with Microsoft laying off 15,000 workers in two months, we have confirmation that this is not theoretical. It’s happening. And it’s not just happening somewhere abstract. It’s happening in Redmond.

News alert: Reflectiz expands Datadog’s security scope to cover client-side web vulnerabilities - The Last Watchdog

BOSTON, July 9, 2025, CyberNewswire -- Reflectiz, a leading cybersecurity company specializing in web exposure management, today announced a new integration with Datadog, Inc. (NASDAQ: DDOG), the monitoring and security platform for cloud applications. This integration combines advanced website security intelligence with enterprise-grade observability, empowering organizations with continuous visibility and control over their expanding attack

Test Again July 1st 4:58pm - The Last Watchdog