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ARLINGTON, Va., June 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- GroupSense, a cyber reconnaissance company, today announced it will host an online expert roundtable discussion, titled "Threat Intel in the Real World," on Wednesday, July 1 at 2:30 p.m. EDT. The roundtable is open to the public – people who would like to attend can register now. The roundtable will also be available to view on-demand, beginning immediately after the conclusion of the live session.  Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions to roundtable members.

Find out what happens…when intel analysts stop being polite…and start getting real.

Today’s typical enterprise security team subscribes to at least four, often more, intelligence feeds, which analysts must comb through to find relevant information for operationalization. As a result, most threat intel has become “yet another tool to manage.” It’s simply not practical to expect every security organization to be able to hire threat intelligence analysts to make sense out of the feeds. Vendors need to deliver “threat-analyst-in-a-box” capabilities, so intelligence can be operationalized with minimal intervention.

Kurtis Minder, GroupSense CEO, talks with Charlene O'Hanlon about the black market and Dark Web activities as they pertain to COVID-19.

Dave shares a story of an attempt on his father's Verizon account, Joe has the story of an Amazon gift card phishing attempt, The Catch of the Day is a funny phishing email, and later in the show, Joe checks in with Kurtis Minder from GroupSense. They dig a little deeper into some of the topics Kurtis discussed in his previous appearance on our show. 

Dan Patterson: Kurtis Minder works for GroupSense, and they have been tracking some of the most outrageous coronavirus scams. Kurtis, what are you seeing right now that people need to pay attention to?

David Raviv will be hosting Kurtis Minder for a virtual fireside chat to talk operational security and other cyber security topics. Hear what he has to say at the meetup tomorrow at 5:00 pm EST by signing up!

With the average cost to bring a new drug to market surging upwards of $2.5 billion, our client
wanted to get in front of any mentions of trial drugs before they are officially available. This is
the story of how GroupSense partners with a global pharmaceutical company to fight back against IP fraud.

GroupSense identified a syndicate claiming to have access to name-brand medications. Whether the activities are the result physical theft of medication, or manufacturing of counterfeit drugs, there could be negative impact for the client.

Armed with this intel, our customer can quickly take action to prevent further activities from this
group. Understanding how a threat actor operates empowers the client to modify their own processes in the future to prevent recurrences.

Humans were the weak link in this tech giant’s supply chain. Motivated by easy access to dark web marketplaces, assembly line workers had no qualms about using their access to  intellectual property for personal gain.

Information and cybersecurity audits are a fundamental part of the M&A due diligence process. Given the impact of a breach on potential valuation, market acceptance, public relations and brand value, the security posture of a business being considered for an acquisition is a key element in understanding the liability, risk and value of the business.

As the COVID-19 pandemic pushes the above-ground economy to the brink of a major recession, the cybercrime economy appears to still be hard-charging ahead. And yet, the virus has rapidly reshaped the way business is being done on the dark web, as buyers and sellers jump on the opportunity to capitalize on global fears, as well as dramatic shifts in supply and demand.

Videoconferencing tools may help bridge the communication gap credit unions are currently facing during the coronavirus, but at what cost?

Business continuity has been strained as credit union employees work remotely. To help with that, many management teams have turned to videoconferencing to keep their institutions running and employees informed.

However, the last few weeks have unveiled a host of cybersecurity concerns with the popular video messaging platform Zoom. There have been problems with end-to-end encryption, and hackers have been able to access the webcams of users. As a result, thousands of personal photos and email addresses of users have been exposed. And that's just the tip of the iceberg for Zoom's cyber vulnerabilities.

Despite this, credit unions are still using the software.

Dave warns of fake QR code websites stealing Bitcoin, Joe has the return of classic cons, the Catch of the Day forgets one crucial element, and later in the show, our interview with Kurtis Minder. He’s with a company called GroupSense and they’ve been commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Dark Web.

What the Podcast Talks About:

With trillions of dollars of financial aid being made available to help individuals and organizations weather the COVID-19 pandemic, it should come as no surprise there is now a massive wave of attempts being made to divert those funds into the hands of cybercriminals.

GroupSense named Adam Bregenzer as chief technology officer and Jeffrey Duran as chief marketing officer. Prior to joining GroupSense, Bregenzer was a senior engineering manager at Venmo. Duran, who has had stints with Verizon and U.S. Army Cyber Command, most recently was vice president of marketing for threat investigation company Nisos.

Talent – Digital Risk Mitigation: GroupSense has named Adam Bregenzer as chief technology officer and Jeffrey Duran as chief marketing officer.

ARLINGTON, Va., April 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- GroupSense, a digital risk protection company, today announced it has named Adam Bregenzer as chief technology officer and Jeffrey Duran as chief marketing officer. Bregenzer will be responsible for the direction and implementation of GroupSense's technology roadmap, particularly in the area of frictionless delivery of finished, actionable digital risk intelligence into customer security operations. Duran, a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, will lead the vision and strategy for the company's marketing operations.

The $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act will provide economic relief to millions of businesses and taxpayers during the coronavirus pandemic. This stimulus bill may recall the last time government injected a huge sum of money into the U.S. economy— via the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, following the 2008 mortgage crisis. But this time, the fraud risks are far more extensive due to the emergence of cyber crime.

Please join us for insights on what your organization can do now and moving forward to proactively prevent fraud in these uncertain times. Our group of fraud experts will explore the risks posed by recent events with a focus on how fraud professionals can minimize risk through a series of tools and techniques, and help their organizations to keep going.

Question: How do I make sure my work-from-home users install updates?

Cybersecurity practitioners who scan the dark web for threats against a client, or its stolen assets, also commonly spot data or assets belonging to non-client organizations and offer courtesy reports to those businesses.

The dark web, a segment of the internet used by outlaws, dissidents, and hackers to share information without scrutiny, will turn 20 years old this month.

According to AT&T's A CEO Guide to Navigating the Threat Landscape report, approximately, 50 percent of data breaches are first detected by the breached company's employees. What about the other 50 percent? Those notifications are more-or-less evenly distributed across law enforcement, customers and service providers. 

Darknet groups where corporate employees illegally peddle inside information come with their own sets of rules.

In the hidden corners of the internet, company insiders routinely offer access to their employers’ computer systems, sensitive client information and even advance looks at financial statements and business deals, security professionals say. Experts say little can be done to stop them.

While we're all being encouraged to sing 'Happy Birthday' as we wash our hands to ward off the COVID-19 virus, you might like to know that you can sing it to the Dark Web, which turns 20 this month.

The dark web has been around for 20 years, and in “celebration” we’ve put together a timeline of the major events from these past two decades. It’s important to note that many events have formed it into the dark web we see today. This is only a taste of its history…

Alliance – Risk Mitigation: GroupSense, a digital risk protection company, and Grant Thornton LLP, one of the nation’s largest audit, tax and advisory firms, have teamed to offer a digital crime mitigation solution, the companies say.

ARLINGTON, Va., March 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- GroupSense, a digital risk protection company, and Grant Thornton LLP, one of the nation's largest audit, tax and advisory firms, have teamed to offer a digital crime mitigation solution. The new solution couples GroupSense's operationally ready intelligence, gathered through both automated and human reconnaissance, with Grant Thornton's cyber and fraud risk, data privacy and due diligence offerings to give Grant Thornton clients a powerful, tailored solution for identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities in their digital environments. 

Question: How should I answer a nontech exec who asks, "How secure are we?"

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- RSA Conference -- GroupSense, a digital risk protection company, today announced it was honored with the "Most Innovative Security Team of the Year" award as part of the InfoSec Awards program from Cyber Defense Magazine (CDM), one of the industry's most influential electronic information security magazines.

Kurtis Minder joins Security Guy TV as part of the RSA pre-show interview to discuss how companies are overwhelmed with intelligence and how a human element can improve their security processes.

Spoofed emails may be an Iranian espionage effort. And the confessed Ninendo hacker cops a plea. Craig Williams from Cisco Talos with updates on Emotet. Guest is Kurtis Minder from GroupSense on the Pros and Cons of notifying breached companies at 6:15.

Using biometrics for authentication has always been a source of controversy. At face value, it seems like a fool-proof way to authenticate users (everyone has unique fingerprints, right?). But dig a level deeper, and biometric access management systems store that fingerprint (or iris, or facial map, or walking gait) as data. And, we all know what happens to data if it’s not protected properly. Which brings us to the big problem with biometrics: while passwords can be changed if there’s a data breach, fingerprints and other biometric data are permanent. One breach of a biometrics database is all it takes for someone to lose their identity for a lifetime.

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- GroupSense, a digital risk management company, and Cybraics, a security analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) company, today announced a strategic technology partnership. GroupSense's customer-specific, operationally ready intelligence, which is gathered and pre-processed through both automated and human reconnaissance, combined with Cybraics' advanced AI-based threat detection, will provide enterprises with an unparalleled end-to-end security-as-a-service offering to prevent and remediate cyberattacks.

Question: Are there any tools that can help me find misconfigurations in my AWS S3 cloud buckets?

Question: Should I have a security travel policy to protect devices and sensitive data, particularly when our staff are crossing international borders?

We've all been there. The battery percentage on your mobile is in the red and you forgot your charger. And, you're expecting an important call. Luckily, you remember there's a public charging station at the discount department store at the local strip mall. 

“All it takes is faith and trust, oh! and something I forgot: dust,” Peter Pan tells Wendy, John, and Michael in Disney’s 1953 adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s novel. But after a widespread breach of the entertainment company’s new Disney+ accounts, at least one cybersecurity research company is indicating that its new streaming service needs more than a magical concoction to fly among those it’d qualify as reasonably secure.

As a CISO, you constantly worry if today is the day you’ll have a security incident. It’s a common problem. There are huge expectations on you and your team, but the support from the business is not always in line with those expectations.

Last week I was asked by one of the 24-hour news networks to comment on camera about Jared Kushner’s use of WhatsApp for official White House business. The news network wanted my thoughts on the vulnerabilities and risks associated with this behavior. My first thought was that this was outside the core focus of what we do at GroupSense, but before I declined I gathered my thoughts on the topic. I quickly realized that this falls squarely in line with the GroupSense mission. Since the networks only want sound bites, I thought I would crystalize the concerns with greater context here. It is my intention to make this post apolitical, but in today’s climate, people are likely to trigger on the particular individual, so replace “Mr. Kushner” with “WH Staffer with critical national intelligence information”, and the risks remain.

Stolen digital information accelerates and enables fraud. This simple truth is changing the way organizations think about protecting themselves from fraudsters. A recent example drives this point home. Ridesharing has become part of our daily life—Uber and Lyft are ubiquitous across the United States and abroad. Not long ago, someone began ordering rides and then contacting the drivers via phone. This is possible given that rideshare applications offer up the driver’s phone number once a ride is hailed. The fraudster would spoof the calling number to look like it came from the rideshare HQ and then tell the driver to cancel their ride with “Mark,” which the driver recognized as the passenger’s name, and pull over.

One of the most fundamental aspects in the world of intelligence is the application of a process known as The Intelligence Cycle.  It enables intelligence professionals regardless of the area of focus – from Counterterrorism to Cyber security – to establish a plan of action and execute on that plan to deliver a high-quality intelligence product to the client.