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Following months of virtual meetings, testimony and study, U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr submitted the final report of the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice to the White House.  This report represents the first comprehensive study of law enforcement in more than 55 years.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is tracking a known compromise involving SolarWinds Orion products that are currently being exploited by a malicious actor. An advanced persistent threat (APT) actor is responsible for compromising the SolarWinds Orion software supply chain, as well as widespread abuse of commonly used authentication mechanisms. If left unchecked, this threat actor has the resources, patience, and expertise to resist eviction from compromised networks and continue to hold affected organizations at risk, says CISA. 

Meet Ali Golshan, CTO and co-founder at StackRox, a Mountain View, Calif.-based leader in security for containers and Kubernetes. Prior to StackRox, he was the Founder & CTO of Cyphort (acquired by Juniper Networks) and led the company's product strategy and research initiatives. Previously, he worked as a security researcher and engineer at Microsoft and PwC. His career started in government, conducting security and vulnerability research for the intelligence community. Here, we talk to Golshan about the benefits of DevOps. 

Modern cloud based security systems and surveillance solutions have come a long way. While some companies continue to rely on the older technology they are accustomed to, traditional systems are continually being phased out in favor of the flexibility offered by cloud-based solutions. Cloud-based systems have a myriad of advantages over older, on-premises security systems, and there is rarely an instance where an on-premises system is preferred over a cloud-based framework when installing a new setup.

Relying on outdated fraud prevention and identification measures will no longer cut it, and businesses that don’t adapt will lag. As people continue to work, collaborate and socialize via their mobile devices, businesses must equip themselves with technology and tools that will prioritize fraud prevention. If not, companies risk losing their customers to those who have invested in more robust solutions.    

Sift released its Q4 2020 Digital Trust & Safety Index: Holiday Fraud and the Shifting State of E-commerce, which revealed that fraudsters are executing larger and more targeted attacks this holiday season. Derived from Sift’s global network of over 34,000 sites and apps, the Index found the average attempted fraudulent purchase value rose to over $700 from October through November 2020, a 70% year-over-year increase during the same period in 2019.

COVID-19 has accelerated a variety of global trends. Some of these are perhaps ultimately good, for example moves towards more investment in AI and automation, or a growing focus on taking this opportunity to making lasting changes to benefit the environment. Many others are, however, quite concerning. Continued threats to the global order, the likelihood of states testing the resolve of the new U.S. administration, and increasingly polarized populations are all factors that will dominate 2021.

As we have done in previous years, the Security magazine team compiled our favorite articles from this year. As we head into 2021, we hope you take a moment to review some of 2020’s top articles about lessons learned, thought leadership, security challenges and good practices.