Identity Management and Information Security News for the Week of August 9; Balbix, Elastic, Critical Start, and More

Keeping tabs on all the most relevant identity management and information security news can be a time-consuming task. As a result, our editorial team aims to provide a summary of the top headlines from the last month, in this space. Solutions Review editors will curate vendor product news, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital funding, talent acquisition, and other noteworthy identity management and information security news items.

Identity Management and Information Security News for the Week of August 9

Personal Data of 3 Billion People Stolen in Hack, Suit Says

Jerico Pictures Inc., a background-check company doing business as National Public Data, exposed the personal information of nearly 3 billion individuals in an April data breach, a proposed class action says. On April 8, a cybercriminal group by the name of US DoD posted a database entitled “National Public Data” on a dark web forum, claiming to have the personal data of 2.9 billion people, according to the complaint filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which said the group put the database up for sale for $3.5 million. If confirmed, the breach could be among the biggest ever, in terms of the number of individuals affected.

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IBM Introduces Generative AI-Powered Cyber Assistant for Threat Detection and Response Services

This week, industry titan IBM announced the introduction of generative AI capabilities to its managed Threat Detection and Response Services utilized by IBM Consulting analysts to advance and streamline security operations for clients. Built on IBM’s watsonx data and AI platform, the new IBM Consulting Cybersecurity Assistant is designed to accelerate and improve the identification, investigation and response to critical security threats. “As cyber incidents evolve from immediate crises to multi-dimensional and months-long events, security teams are facing the enduring challenge of too many attacks and not enough time or people to defend against them,” said Mark Hughes, Global Managing Partner of Cybersecurity Services, IBM Consulting. “By enhancing our Threat Detection and Response services with generative AI, we can reduce manual investigations and operational tasks for security analysts, empowering them to respond more proactively and precisely to critical threats, and helping to improve overall security posture for clients.”

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Balbix Introduces GenAI-Powered Assistant for Cyber Risk and Exposure Management

This week, Balbix, a Cyber Risk and Exposure Management platform, introduced its BIX conversational AI assistant at Blackhat USA 2024. The BIX AI assistant is already in use at many Fortune 1000 companies as part of an early access program. “Cybersecurity is inherently complex, demanding not only extensive automation but also simplification and streamlined communication,” stated Gaurav Banga, founder and CEO of Balbix. “Until now, Balbix has used AI primarily for computational tasks in cyber risk management. We are pioneering its use to demystify the complexities of cyber risk for all stakeholders and enhance communication between them. This release of BIX is a step forward in managing risk and exposures more effectively. It marks a significant development in our ability to be proactive, rather than reactive, in our cybersecurity efforts.”

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Beyond Identity Launches RealityCheck, an Identity Assurance Plugin for Zoom

Beyond Identity, a leading provider of identity and access management (IAM) solutions, this week announced the release of RealityCheck, an identity assurance plugin for Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Beyond Identity’s new solution protects organizations from AI deception, such as impersonation attacks and deepfakes, by certifying the authenticity of call participants using Authenticator Assurance Level 3 (AAL3) authentication combined with device security verification. Zoom is only the first application of RealityCheck as Beyond Identity seeks to deliver additional value to security-oriented customers for use cases requiring attestations of authenticity assurance. The technology will further apply to other communication applications including email and chat in the future.

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LevelBlue Report: LevelBlue Accelerator: C-Suite Cyber Resilience Responsibilities

LevelBlue, a leading provider of managed security services, strategic consulting, and threat intelligence, this week released the LevelBlue Accelerator: C-Suite Cyber Resilience Responsibilities, an analysis of C-level executives who are responsible for cyber resilience with their organizations. The Accelerator is an in-depth look into data from the 2024 LevelBlue Futures Report, analyzing the dynamics among C-suite executives to better understand issues that prevent risk reduction, stall or complicate compliance, and create barriers to cyber resilience. “Understanding the C-suite’s business priorities is critical for shaping effective cybersecurity strategies,” said Theresa Lanowitz, Chief Evangelist of LevelBlue. “Identifying how these essential roles look at the business helps to ensure alignment among CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs, as well as the teams that report into them. It’s a key first step towards bolstering cyber defenses, especially with the CEO and Board support.”

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Elastic Launches Express Migration for Legacy SIEM Users

This week, cybersecurity solutions leader Elastic, announced Elastic Express Migration, a new incentive program that provides an “accelerated path for organizations to migrate away from legacy SIEM vendors and adopt Elastic’s AI capabilities quickly and efficiently.” The program’s two key incentives build on Elastic’s simple consumption-based pricing model, with migration credits to mitigate dual-vendor costs during transition plus service credits that can be applied towards Elastic’s migration professional services. “Migrating a SIEM or log analytics solution has typically been very painful, and this is often why most organizations stay on outdated technology,” said Santosh Krishnan, general manager of Security at Elastic . “Today, we’re easing migration for organizations looking to move away from their existing solutions with Elastic Automatic Import and the Elastic Express Migration program.”

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Trend Micro Adds Protection from Deepfakes and AI-based Cyber-attacks to Platform

Trend Micro, a leader in cybersecurity solutions, this week announced new innovations in its enterprise platform and consumer cybersecurity products focused on protecting all environments from the rapidly growing threat of AI-based attacks and fraud. Kevin Simzer, COO at Trend, noted, “Our latest research reveals several new deepfake tools that make it easy for cyber-criminals at all skill levels to launch damaging scams, social engineering, and security bypass attempts. We are leading the industry in fighting back for both our enterprise and consumer customers with new capabilities to detect deepfakes and other forms of AI fraud. Like past shifts in the threat and IT landscape, we’ve seen the challenge of securing AI and risen to it.”

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Critical Start Unveils Cyber Range: A New Platform for Cybersecurity Training and Evaluation

Critical Start, a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) cybersecurity solutions provider, this week announced the launch of the Critical Start Cyber Range. Critical Start Cyber Range is a virtual environment that simulates real-world cyber threats and scenarios curated from thousands of real-world attacks identified and stopped by the Critical Start MDR security operations team. This capability allows organizations to train their cybersecurity teams on the MDR service user interface, test new security products as organization migrate to new cybersecurity vendors, and evaluate their overall cyber readiness without risking their actual infrastructure. “In today’s rapidly evolving threat landscape, organizations need a safe space to hone their cybersecurity skills and test their defenses,” said Chris Carlson, Chief Product Officer at Critical Start. “Our Cyber Range provides that environment, enabling companies to move beyond simple demonstrations to hands-on, realistic scenarios that truly prepare them for real-world cyber challenges.”

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Expert Insights Section

Watch this space each week as our editors will share upcoming events, new thought leadership, and the best resources from Insight Jam, Solutions Review’s enterprise tech community for business software pros. The goal? To help you gain a forward-thinking analysis and remain on-trend through expert advice, best practices, trends and predictions, and vendor-neutral software evaluation tools.

Simulated Cyber-attacks: How Tabletop Exercises Enhance Security Preparedness

Mark Cunningham-Dickie of Quorum Cyber rolls for initiative in a discussion on how tabletop exercises can enhance your cybersecurity strategy. The criminal world of the cyber hacker has evolved with sinister sophistication. Today’s cyber-criminal works in a multi-tiered business structure, costing an average of $4.45 million due to data breaches in 2023. In 2020, the U.S. suffered 46 percent of the global breaches, more than double any other country. IT departments must explain to those controlling budgets that these ever-more sophisticated attacks have operational and business risks. With hackers employing access brokers who search for targets, developers who constantly evolve the tech, and individuals who purchase the stolen data, the need to invest in equally sophisticated cybersecurity is imperative. There is no stopping the efforts of these threat actors. Attack surfaces will be expanded, and additional operating system architectures like macOS and Linux will be targeted. Ransomware perpetrators will likely use triple and quadruple extortion strategies that put significant pressure on those attacked, improving their success rates. A recent alliance of forty countries culminating in an agreement not to pay ransoms to cyber-criminals will probably result in even more aggressive extortion tactics. To mitigate the risk of ransomware, the best defense against bad actors remains vigilance, preparedness, and planning.

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