All posts tagged: firewalls

5 Signs You Need a Virtual Firewall to Secure Your Cloud

5 Signs You Need a Virtual Firewall to Secure Your Cloud

Published by Webster

As businesses increasingly shift to cloud-based and virtualized environments, traditional network security approaches — particularly firewalls — are falling short. Virtual firewalls, purpose-built for environments like public and private clouds or Software-Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN), have emerged as a critical solution. Their ability to scale dynamically and integrate deeply with virtual infrastructure enables security tailored to the demands of modern, distributed networks. Unlike hardware firewalls, virtual firewalls excel in protecting east-west traffic within virtual networks, safeguarding sensitive data, and enforcing precise policies in multi-tenant environments. They offer an agile, cost-effective approach to cybersecurity, making them indispensable for securing complex, cloud-native architectures while adapting to the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape. 1 CloudTalk Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features 24/7 Customer Support, Call Management/Monitoring, Contact Center, and more Virtual firewall vs physical appliance Physical firewalls are hardware-based devices positioned at the network’s edge. A virtual firewall is software-based and operates in virtualized environments, such as cloud infrastructures, VPN or SD-WAN. Unlike traditional …

US Sanctions Chinese Cybersecurity Firm for Ransomware Attack

US Sanctions Chinese Cybersecurity Firm for Ransomware Attack

Published by Webster

The U.S. has sanctioned Sichuan Silence, a Chinese cybersecurity firm involved in ransomware attacks targeting critical infrastructure in 2020. One of its employees, Guan Tianfeng, has also been charged individually. Guan, a security researcher, discovered a zero-day vulnerability in a firewall product developed by U.K.-based security firm Sophos. He exploited the vulnerability, designated CVE 2020-12271, using a SQL injection attack that retrieved and remotely executed a script from a malicious server. Guan and his co-conspirators had registered legitimate server domains, such as sophosfirewallupdate.com. This script, part of the malicious Asnarök Trojan toolkit, was initially designed to steal data like usernames and passwords from the firewalls and the computers behind them and send them to a Chinese IP address. If the victim attempted to reboot their device, Ragnarok ransomware would automatically install, disabling antivirus software and encrypting every Windows device on the network. However, within two days of the attack, Sophos deployed a patch to impacted firewalls that did not require a reboot and removed all malicious scripts. Guan then modified the malware to install ransomware …