Cloud environments have become the core of business operations. Cloud networks have helped in generating numerous new opportunities for businesses, including faster, cheaper, & robust application capabilities, team collaboration, and data storage & distribution. However, cybercriminals are also taking advantage of the increased use of cloud storage by exploiting vulnerabilities in the cloud. They use these vulnerabilities to gain access to the cloud network & steal user credentials, data, and application functions.

The increasing number of cyber attacks involving cloud networks has made it crucial for organizations to focus on cloud security. A cloud security solution helps in ensuring data integrity, confidentiality, & availability across public, private, and hybrid cloud environments deployed by an organization. In addition, a cloud security solution also assists an organization in ensuring compliance with laws & regulations emphasized across the industry.

Choosing the right cloud security solution is one of the major tasks when formulating a cloud security strategy for the organization. In general, an effective cloud security solution is one that is easily scalable, can detect & manage multiple & complex threats, and is easy to deploy.

Let us delve more into the important factors that a cloud security solution must address in order to be efficient.

1. Workload Visibility: The cloud security solution should provide deep and clear visibility of all the workloads running in the cloud environment of an organization. Thorough visibility at all times helps in the effective monitoring of the workloads and helps in reducing the risk of being exposed to cyber threats. It also helps in the early detection of vulnerabilities and intruding cyber threats. However, an important point to consider is that the cloud security solution should be able to maintain visibility even when new workloads are added to the cloud environment. In case new workloads are not monitored, they can be exposed to misconfigurations & vulnerabilities.
2. Advanced Threat Prevention: The cloud security solution must be able to detect and prevent known and zero-day vulnerabilities. With new vulnerabilities & threats emerging every day, this is one of the critical aspects of cloud security. The cloud security solution must have features such as deep traffic inspection and threat intelligence to ensure effective prevention. It should monitor incoming & outgoing traffic regularly and isolate any suspicious traffic until validation.
3. Seamless Integration: What is the point of deploying a security solution that is incompatible with your cloud environment? A cloud security solution can serve its purpose only if it integrates seamlessly with your cloud set-up, irrespective of whether it is a public, private, hybrid, or multi-cloud environment. The compatibility & effective integration helps in ensuring in-depth monitoring & data synchronization across the network while making sure that no workload runs in isolation.
4. Automation & Real-Time Detection: The amount of data being created, fast scalability of DevOps, and high speed of digital operations make it impractical to manually configure the cloud security solution while matching the pace of operations. If the security tools are not configured according to the processes running across the cloud network, they will not be able to monitor the operations in real-time. As a result, it can allow cyber criminals ample time to exploit the vulnerabilities of new workloads. Therefore, the solution needs to offer a high level of automation, including policy updates, security gateways control, automated threat response, and remediation to ensure real-time detection of threats & vulnerabilities. This can be achieved by employing AI & ML based solutions.
5. Data Compliance: An organization has to comply with internal data policies & local or state laws governing the collection, storage, & sharing of data. The cloud security solution should allow the usage, storage, management, transmission, & protection of sensitive data while adhering to applicable compliance laws.
6. Context-Aware Security Management: Cloud environment is highly dynamic & changes at a fast pace. The cloud security solution should be capable of collecting, aggregating, & correlating information across the entire cloud environment of the organization & update the security policies such that they are context-aware & consistent across the whole environment.

To know more about cyber security solutions, contact Centex Technologies. You can contact Centex Technologies at Killeen (254) 213 - 4740, Dallas (972) 375 - 9654, Atlanta (404) 994 - 5074, and Austin (512) 956 – 5454.

Ransomware is malicious software that is designed to encrypt files on the victim’s system or device and demand a ransom in exchange for the decryption key or tools. BlueSky is a modern ransomware that uses multiple techniques for security evasions and device infection. It targets Windows hosts & encrypts the files on the system using multi-threading.

BlueSky was first spotted in June 2022. A deeper analysis of the multithread architecture of BlueSky ransomware has revealed code resemblance to Conti v3. Additionally, it has been found that the BlueSky ransomware uses the ChaCha20 algorithm for file encryption and Curve25519 for key generation which marks its similarity to Babuk ransomware.

How does BlueSky Ransomware infect a system?

The ransomware uses downloads from fake sites and phishing emails for initial infection. Once the user clicks on the malicious link, a PowerShell script is dropped in the target device using a Base64-encoded initial dropper. After extraction, it launches another PowerShell script which contains multiple comments to overshadow the malicious code.

This code analyzes the device configuration and downloads multiple payloads in accordance with the configuration to increase the privilege of the script. Some examples of these payloads include JuicyPotato, CVE-2022-21882, and SMBGhost. These payloads allow the script to run as a privileged user and gain access to all files on the system.

What does BlueSky Ransomware do?

Once the ransomware code runs successfully, it encrypts the files on the system. The encrypted files are saved with a new file extension ‘.bluesky’. For example, if a file was initially saved as ‘1.pptx’ on the system, it will be saved as ‘1.pptx.bluesky’ after encryption.

After encrypting all files, the ransomware drops two ransomware notes (one in html format and other in txt format) on the desktop. The notes are identical in contents and inform the user about the ransomware attack & ways to contact the cyber criminals via their Tor network.

The ransomware notes also contain warnings against the use of decryption methods other than contacting cyber criminals as it may lead to permanent encryption of files.

The website of the ransomware attackers creates a panic environment by stating decryption fees on the first day and then increasing ransom after week 1. It also states

How to stay protected against BlueSky Ransomware?

Prevention is the best action against BlueSky ransomware. Exercise following cautionary practices to stay protected against BlueSky ransomware.

• Make sure to download software from the official website only.
• Do not crack software & always use authentic activation tools provided by the developer to activate the software.
• Be cautious with emails and avoid clicking on links in irrelevant or suspicious emails.
• It is highly important to install an antivirus on the system and keep it updated.
• Regularly scan your system.

For more information about cybersecurity solutions, contact Centex Technologies. You can call the following office locations - Killeen (254) 213 - 4740, Dallas (972) 375 - 9654, Atlanta (404) 994 - 5074, and Austin (512) 956 – 5454.

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