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Cyber Security

Cybersecurity Skills Gap Contributed to 80 Percent of Breaches: Fortinet Report

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Fortinet has released its 2022 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report. The new global report reveals that the cybersecurity skills shortage continues to have multiple challenges and repercussions for organizations, including the occurrence of security breaches and subsequently loss of money. As a result, the skills gap remains a top concern for C-level executives and is increasingly becoming a board-level priority. The report also suggests ways the skills gap can be addressed, such as through training and certifications to increase employees’ education.

Sandra Wheatley, SVP Marketing, Threat Intelligence, and Influencer Communications at Fortinet says, “According to the Fortinet report released today, the skills gap isn’t just a talent shortage challenge, but it’s also severely impacting business, making it a top concern for executive leaders worldwide. Through Fortinet’s Training Advancement Agenda (TAA) and Training Institute programs, we are committed to tackling the challenges revealed in the report through various initiatives, including programs focused on cybersecurity certifications and recruiting more women into cyber. As part of this commitment, Fortinet has pledged to train 1 million professionals to increase cyber skills and awareness and make a dent in the skills gap by 2026.”

The Widespread Global Impact of the Cybersecurity Skills Shortage
According to (ISC)2’s 2021 Cyber Workforce Report, the global cybersecurity workforce needs to grow 65 percent to effectively defend organizations’ critical assets. While the number of professionals needed to fill the gap has decreased from 3.12 million down to 2.72 million in the past year, this is still a significant void that leaves organizations vulnerable.

Fortinet’s report demonstrates multiple risks resulting from the cybersecurity skills gap. Most notably, 8 in 10 organizations surveyed have suffered at least one breach they could attribute to a lack of cybersecurity skills or awareness. The survey also showed that globally 64 percent of organizations experienced breaches that resulted in the loss of revenue, recovery costs and/or fines.

Given the increasing costs of breaches on organizations’ profits and reputation, cybersecurity is becoming more of a board-level priority. Globally, 88 percent of organizations that have a board of directors reported that their board asks questions specifically about cybersecurity. And 76 percent of organizations have a board of directors who has recommended increases in IT and cybersecurity headcount.

Advancing Cybersecurity Skills Through Training and Certifications
Fortinet’s skills gap report demonstrated that training and certifications are critical ways organizations seek to further tackle the skills gap. The report revealed that 95 percent of leaders believe technology-focused certifications positively impact their role and their team, while 81 percent of leaders prefer to hire people with certifications. Additionally, 91 percent of respondents shared they are willing to pay for an employee to achieve cyber certifications. One major reason for certifications being highly regarded is due to their validation of increased cybersecurity knowledge and awareness.

In addition to valuing certifications, 87 percent of organizations have implemented a training program to increase cyber awareness. However, 52 percent of leaders believe their employees still lack the necessary knowledge, which raises questions about how effective their current security awareness programs are. For organizations looking for security awareness training, Fortinet offers a Security Awareness and Training service through the award-winning Fortinet Training Institute. The service further protects organizations’ critical digital assets from cyber threats by building employee cybersecurity awareness. This service receives updates from Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs threat intelligence so that employees are learning and keeping up with the latest evolving cyberattack methods to prevent company breaches and risks from being introduced.

Addressing Recruitment and Retention Challenges with Diversity Commitments
A significant challenge for organizations has been finding and retaining the right people to fill critical security roles ranging from cloud security specialists to SOC analysts. The report found that 60 percent of leaders admit their organization struggles with recruitment and 52 percent struggle to retain talent.

Among hiring challenges is the recruitment of women, new college graduates, and minorities. Globally, 7 out of 10 leaders see the recruitment of women and new graduates as a top hiring hurdle and 61 percent said hiring minorities has been challenging. As organizations look to build more capable and more diverse teams, 89 percent of global companies have explicit diversity goals as part of their hiring strategy according to the report. The report also demonstrated that 75 percent of organizations have formal structures to specifically recruit more women and 59 percent have strategies in place to hire minorities. Additionally, 51 percent of organizations have efforts in place to hire more veterans.

Cyber Security

ESET Research Uncovers Iran-Aligned BladedFeline Spying on Iraqi, Kurdish Officials

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The Iran-aligned threat group BladedFeline has targeted Kurdish and Iraqi government officials in a recent cyber-espionage campaign, according to ESET researchers. The group deployed a range of malicious tools discovered within the compromised systems, indicating a continued effort to maintain and expand access to high-ranking officials and government organizations in Iraq and the Kurdish region. The latest campaign highlights BladedFeline’s evolving capabilities, featuring two tunneling tools (Laret and Pinar), various supplementary tools, and, most notably, a custom backdoor Whisper and a malicious Internet Information Services (IIS) module PrimeCache, both identified and named by ESET.

Whisper logs into a compromised webmail account on a Microsoft Exchange server and uses it to communicate with the attackers via email attachments. PrimeCache also serves as a backdoor: it is a malicious IIS module. PrimeCache also bears similarities to the RDAT backdoor used by OilRig Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group.

Based on these code similarities, as well as on further evidence presented in this blogpost, ESET assesses that BladedFeline is a very likely subgroup of OilRig, an Iran-aligned APT group going after governments and businesses in the Middle East. The initial implants in the latest campaign can be traced back to OilRig. These tools reflect the group’s strategic focus on persistence and stealth within targeted networks.

BladedFeline has consistently worked to maintain illicit access to Kurdish diplomatic officials, while simultaneously exploiting a regional telecommunications provider in Uzbekistan, and developing and maintaining access to officials in the government of Iraq.

ESET Research assesses that BladedFeline is targeting the Kurdish and Iraqi governments for cyberespionage purposes, with an eye toward maintaining strategic access to the computers of high-ranking officials in both governmental entities. The Kurdish diplomatic relationship with Western nations, coupled with the oil reserves in the Kurdistan region, makes it an enticing target for Iran-aligned threat actors to spy on and potentially manipulate. In Iraq, these threat actors are most probably trying to counter the influence of Western governments following the US invasion and occupation of the country.

In 2023, ESET Research discovered that BladedFeline targeted Kurdish diplomatic officials with the Shahmaran backdoor, and previously reported on its activities in ESET APT Activity reports. The group has been active since at least 2017, when it compromised officials within the Kurdistan Regional Government, but is not the only subgroup of OilRig that ESET Research is monitoring. ESET has been tracking Lyceum, also known as HEXANE or Storm-0133, as another OilRig subgroup. Lyceum focuses on targeting various Israeli organizations, including governmental and local governmental entities and organizations in healthcare.

ESET expects that BladedFeline will persist with implant development in order to maintain and expand access within its compromised victim set for cyberespionage.

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Cloud

SentinelOne Simplifies Secure Cloud Migrations on AWS

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SentinelOne today announced its participation in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Workload Migration Program. This initiative supports AWS Partner Network (APN) members with SaaS offerings on AWS to accelerate and streamline workload migrations.

Through the program, SentinelOne will provide AWS customers with accelerated, secure cloud migration support, leveraging modern AI-powered CNAPP capabilities to ensure rapid and protected transitions. With access to AWS funding, technical resources, and go-to-market support, SentinelOne will help organizations reduce migration timelines and costs while maintaining robust security.

SentinelOne’s Singularity Cloud Security delivers real-time visibility and protection throughout the migration journey—whether from on-premises or another cloud—enabling a secure, seamless transition to AWS.

“Through our participation in the AWS ISV Workload Migration Program, SentinelOne is helping customers accelerate secure cloud migrations with end-to-end protection and visibility,” said Ric Smith, President of Product, Technology, and Operations at SentinelOne. “Whether moving from on-prem or another cloud to AWS, organizations can count on us to deliver the security they need throughout their journey—realizing the performance, speed, agility, and cost benefits of the cloud.”

Singularity Cloud Security combines agentless and agent-based protection for deep visibility, continuous posture management, and real-time threat detection across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. By collaborating with AWS and ecosystem partners, SentinelOne ensures seamless integration into migration projects, helping customers move faster, reduce risk, and scale confidently in the cloud.

Availability: SentinelOne’s solutions are available globally.

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Cyber Security

Beyond Blocklists: How Behavioural Intent Analysis Can Safeguard Middle East Businesses from Rising AI-Driven Bot Threats

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The Middle East is facing an unprecedented surge in AI-driven bot attacks, with malicious automation now outpacing traditional defenses. Mohammad Ismail, Vice President for EMEA at Cequence Security, warns that legacy tools like IP blocklists and rate limiting are no match for today’s sophisticated threats (more…)

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