The rapid advancement of technology and growing capabilities of the internet has brought us to a much more sophisticated level across different areas: healthcare, business and even our own homes. We’re constantly connected through things like advanced cloud file storage at work to intelligent home assistants in our kitchens. One of the unfortunate trade-offs with our progress includes increased security risks. These connections give hackers more opportunities to invade our privacy and steal our information.

Vulnerability disclosure policies (VDPs) are increasingly popular among many different types of industries. This blog explores why organizations of all shapes and sizes need an avenue to openly communicate with ethical hackers. To learn more about VDPs, visit HackerOne at Cyber Security Chicago, booth 300.

HackerOne recently published the Hacker-Powered Security Report 2018, the most comprehensive report on hacker-powered security. It is the largest repository of hacker activity and vulnerability data on display in a comprehensive report. We pulled the top 118 fascinating facts from the report. Visit us at booth 300, Cyber Security Chicago, to chat with our team and learn more.

Vulnerability disclosure policies (VDPs) are critical to reduce risk. The quotes below are compiled from industries in a variety of sectors on how important VDPs have been to help them reduce risk and control what used to be chaotic. To learn more about VDPs, visit HackerOne at Cyber Security Chicago, booth 300.

Just when cyber security professionals figure out how to combat and guard against one type of attack, another stronger malware attacks an unsuspecting — and unprepared — network. Newer, more evolved attacks are designed to skirt antivirus software and firewalls and access a targeted network. 

Identity and access management tends to be a balancing act for information technology professionals. They want their networks to be secure, but they don’t want to deal with complaints from fellow employees that it is cumbersome and too time-consuming to log on to a network. For example, frequently changed, hard-to-remember passwords might be a hindrance to workers, but they often are crucial for blocking hackers from accessing a network.

With more and more data stored online these days, hackers have plenty of reasons to attack company networks to modify or steal data and even hold it for ransom. Cybint Solutions , a cyber security and legal support organization, estimates that a cyber attack happens every 39 seconds. This means that companies and websites are being bombarded by malicious users. It’s easier for information security professionals to thwart these attacks when they are launched head-on from the outside. Unfortunately, more and more attacks are occurring on the inside through social engineering, which makes them harder to predict and prevent. 

Cloud computing is one of the hottest trends in IT today. Cloud adoption is at its peak, with 81 percent of cloud-using companies employing a multi-cloud approach and only 5 percent of companies not using any cloud solutions, according to Right Scale. The average company accesses about 5 private and public clouds, which can include AWS (64 percent of companies), Azure (45 percent), Google Cloud (18 percent), IBM Cloud (10 percent), VMware Cloud on AWS (8 percent), Oracle Cloud (6 percent) and Alibaba Cloud (2 percent), according to its “2018 State of the Cloud Report .”

As developers are tasked with churning out new applications in record amounts of time, cyber security professionals are left with less time to check for cyber security holes and protect these apps against hackers and other potential breaches. This means that apps often have lengthy windows of vulnerability until cyber security issues are uncovered and addressed. The 2017 “Application Security Statistics Report ” by WhiteHat Security reports that approximately 50 percent of applications are vulnerable every single day of the year.

At parks and playgrounds, a sandbox is a relatively safe place to play. Little children who tend to fall will softly land on a cushiony pile of sand. The enclosed space also gives them room to experiment with how sand tools, toys, and their own hands and feet interact with the sand environment. A different kind of sandbox offers the same safe experimental environment in the IT world.

Facebook recently has been at the center of a media controversy as allegations have surfaced that Cambridge Analytica inappropriately obtained data from around 50 million Facebook users, used this data to influence the 2016 presidential election, and failed to delete the data upon Facebook’s request.