Best of NetSPI: Top Cybersecurity Blogs, Resources, Webinars, and Podcasts of 2021

Keeping up with modern cybersecurity best practices and the latest news is no simple task. In today’s digital world there are countless ways to digest information – from social media to podcasts to whitepapers and beyond.

At NetSPI we’ve made it our mission to keep our finger on the pulse of the security industry and only report on the most important news and cybersecurity challenges of the moment. We pay close attention to our client’s biggest pain points, gaps where more cyber awareness and education is needed, and when we can provide insight and support around the most critical security incidents.

This is evident in our top blogs, resources, webinars, and podcasts of 2021. Not only were these the most read, downloaded, watched, and listened to content of the year, but can also serve as an indicator of the security industry’s focus over the past 365 days. Continue reading to learn which topics were deemed “The Best of NetSPI” in 2021.

Top Executive Blogs

Log4j: Is My Organization Impacted? | Team NetSPI

It’s no surprise that a Log4j-centric blog post topped the charts with only one month left in the year… not to mention ThreatPost referenced the blog in a story about Log4Shell mutations. Read the blog for an overview of Log4j, its impact, detection best practices, and more.

The State of ATM Security: DMA Vulnerabilities are Lurking | Larry Trowell, Principal Consultant

NetSPI’s Larry Trowell is one of the foremost experts on IoT penetration testing. In this article, he explores the current state of ATM security, including common vulnerabilities, a deep dive on DMA attacks, and ATM security best practices. Attending the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA) annual conference in February? Larry will be sharing additional ATM cybersecurity tips during the Fraud and Logical Security Workshop on Tuesday, February 8.

A Checklist for Application Security Program Maturity | Nabil Hannan, Managing Director

Applications are the lifeblood of organizations today – and application security must be prioritized. However, building an AppSec program that stays current is no easy feat. To help, Nabil developed an application security checklist to help organizations shore up their security processes and take the necessary steps to establish a mature AppSec program.

The Best Blogs for Pentesters

Escalating Azure Privileges with the Log Analytics Contributor Role | Karl Fosaaen, Director

Karl explains how he discovered a privilege escalation that allowed an Azure AD user to escalate from the Log Analytics Contributor role to a full Subscription Contributor role. He also details how he worked with Microsoft to remediate the situation by removing the Automation Accounts permissions from the affected role.

Azure Persistence with Desired State Configurations | Jake Karnes, Managing Consultant

Jake details how pentesters can use the Desired State Configuration (DSC) VM extension to run arbitrary commands in Azure environments, with built-in functionality for recurring commands and persistence.

Tokenvator Release 3 | Alexander Polce Leary, Principal Consultant

NetSPI’s Alexander Polce Leary authored Tokenvator, a pentesting tool that can alter privileges with Windows tokens. This year, he made some big improvements to the tool including the user interface, impersonation/thread tokens, and the ability to change privileges on the token.

Ransomware, Pentesting, and Red Teams Top the Resource Charts

The Ultimate Guide to Ransomware Attacks

Ransomware was and continues to be one of the greatest threats to businesses. We developed this Ultimate Guide to Ransomware Attacks to help business leaders get up to speed on the latest ransomware trends, targets, and families, understand how ransomware works, and provide checklists for ransomware prevention and detection.

How to Choose a Penetration Testing Company

There are hundreds of penetration testing companies, and each offer different levels of service, pentesting methodologies, and technologies. We created this guide to help you choose the best pentesting company to work with. It features criteria to consider, questions to ask your partners during the RFP process, pentesting use cases, and more.

5 Things Every Red Team Needs to Optimize Operations

For a red team to be successful, it must have these 5 things: the right soft skills, an understanding of the business objectives, alignment on goals, ability to communicate business impact, and the best red team tools. Learn more about what it takes to create a successful red team in this tip sheet.

Most Watched Webinars

Understanding Modern EDR Tools: How They Work, How They Provide Value, and How to Bypass Them | Nick Landers, Head of Adversarial Research and Development

During this webinar, Nick explores the role modern EDRs play today, details the latest defensive evasion techniques adversaries use to bypass EDR tools, and shares advice for evaluating the technologies.

CVE-2020-17049: Kerberos Bronze Bit Attack – Explained and Exploited | Jake Karnes, Managing Consultant

In late 2020, Jake Karnes discovered the Kerberos Bronze Bit Attack: CVE-2020-17049. Stemming from the discovery and responsible disclosure to Microsoft, he presented a webcast to explain the inner workings of the vulnerability, which would allow attackers to bypass security features and escalate privileges in an Active Directory domain. This webinar is a must-watch for those looking to better understand Kerberos.

Automated Social Engineering for the Antisocial Engineer | Patrick Sayler, Principal Security Consultant

Phone communication remains a lucrative avenue for attackers, otherwise known as “vishing.” Putting your employees to the test against realistic vishing attempts is manual and time consuming. In this webcast, NetSPI’s Patrick Sayler describes how he configured interactive voice response (IVR) technology into a build-you-own social engineering robot.

Top Cybersecurity Podcasts

Startup Security, Threat Modeling, Pre-Social Engineering, and More – Insights Gained from a Unique Career Path | Episode 024 – Hadas Cassorla, CISO at M1 Finance

Nabil sits down with Hadas to discuss the challenges and opportunities of startup security, the effectiveness of threat modeling, what “pre-social engineering” means, and unconventional, empathetic security training tactics.

What Makes a Successful Technologist, A Day in the Life of a Security Firm CISO, and Lessons from an Effective Phishing Engagement | Episode 020 – Roshan Popal, CISO at MicroStrategy

Nabil is joined by Roshan, who shares advice for emerging security professionals, discusses what it’s really like to be a CISO at a security firm, and reminisces about an effective phishing campaign that fooled Nabil when the two worked together.

A Day in the Life of a NetSPI Penetration Tester | Episode 037 – Austin Altmann and Marissa Allen, NetSPI Security Consultants

Want a glimpse into a day in the life of a NetSPI penetration tester? Austin and Marissa explore what it takes to be a great pentester, share stories from their entry-level days in NetSPI University, how the current security curriculum could be improved, cybersecurity career misconceptions and more.