Security Boulevard

Are You Prepared to Leverage the Full Potential of Non-Human Identities in Complex Networks? Organizations are increasingly reliant on complex networks, with machine identities playing a critical role in maintaining security and operational integrity. But how capable are these Non-Human Identities (NHIs) when navigating such intricate environments? Understanding Non-Human Identities Non-Human Identities are pivotal to […]

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Session 8A: Email Security

Authors, Creators & Presenters: Ka Fun Tang (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Che Wei Tu (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Sui Ling Angela Mak (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Sze Yiu Chau (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

PAPER
A Multifaceted Study on the Use of TLS and Auto-detect in Email Ecosystems

Various email protocols, including IMAP, POP3, and SMTP, were originally designed as "plaintext" protocols without inbuilt confidentiality and integrity guarantees. To protect the communication traffic, TLS can either be used implicitly before the start of those email protocols, or introduced as an opportunistic upgrade in a post-hoc fashion. In order to improve user experience, many email clients nowadays provide a so-called "auto-detect" feature to automatically determine a functional set of configuration parameters for the users. In this paper, we present a multifaceted study on the security of the use of TLS and auto-detect in email clients. First, to evaluate the design and implementation of client-side TLS and auto-detect, we tested 49 email clients and uncovered various flaws that can lead to covert security downgrade and exposure of user credentials to attackers. Second, to understand whether current deployment practices adequately avoid the security traps introduced by opportunistic TLS and auto-detect, we collected and analyzed 1102 email setup guides from academic institutes across the world, and observed problems that can drive users to adopt insecure email settings. Finally, with the server addresses obtained from the setup guides, we evaluate the sever-side support for implicit and opportunistic TLS, as well as the characteristics of their certificates. Our results suggest that many users suffer from an inadvertent loss of security due to careless handling of TLS and auto-detect, and organizations in general are better off prescribing concrete and detailed manual configuration to their users.

ABOUT NDSS
The Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS) fosters information exchange among researchers and practitioners of network and distributed system security. The target audience includes those interested in practical aspects of network and distributed system security, with a focus on actual system design and implementation. A major goal is to encourage and enable the Internet community to apply, deploy, and advance the state of available security technologies.

Our thanks to the Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium for publishing their Creators, Authors and Presenter’s superb NDSS Symposium 2025 Conference content on the Organizations' YouTube Channel.

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via the comic artistry and dry wit of Randall Munroe, creator of XKCD

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The post Randall Munroe’s XKCD ‘Fishing’ appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Deepfakes have moved from novelty to a practical weapon — and Brian Long, CEO of Adaptive Security, says most organizations still aren’t built to handle what comes next. Long explains why AI-driven impersonation has become one of the fastest-growing forms of social engineering: it’s cheap, widely accessible, and increasingly convincing across channels that traditional security..

The post Fighting Deep Fakes: Think Like the Attacker appeared first on Security Boulevard.

As AI becomes embedded in everyday development workflows, the security model for applications is shifting fast — and not always in ways teams are prepared for. James Wickett, CEO of DryRun Security, breaks down why “AI everywhere” is forcing organizations to rethink what application security should look like when developers are shipping faster than ever...

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A recent breach disclosure reveals that claims management firm Sedgwick was targeted by the TridentLocker ransomware group, with attackers claiming to have exfiltrated sensitive data from systems supporting its government services operations before deploying ransomware, according to Cybersecurity News. While Sedgwick has not disclosed full technical details, the incident follows a well-established ransomware playbook. Attackers

The post Ransomware Hits a Claims Giant: What the Sedgwick Breach Reveals About Modern Extortion Attacks appeared first on Seceon Inc.

The post Ransomware Hits a Claims Giant: What the Sedgwick Breach Reveals About Modern Extortion Attacks appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Session 8A: Email Security

Authors, Creators & Presenters: Shushang Wen (School of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China), Yiming Zhang (Tsinghua University), Yuxiang Shen (School of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China), Bingyu Li (School of Cyber Science and Technology, Beihang University), Haixin Duan (Tsinghua University; Zhongguancun Laboratory), Jingqiang Lin (School of Cyber Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China)

PAPER
Automatic Insecurity: Exploring Email Auto-configuration in the Wild

Email clients that support auto-configuration mechanisms automatically retrieve server configuration information, such as the hostname, port number, and connection type, allowing users to log in by simply entering email addresses and passwords. Auto-configuration mechanisms are being increasingly adopted. However, the security implications of these mechanisms, both in terms of implementation and deployment, have not yet been thoroughly studied. In this paper, we present the first systematic analysis of security threats associated with email auto-configuration and evaluate their impacts. We summarize 10 attack scenarios, covering 17 defects (including 8 newly identified ones), along with 4 inadequate client UI notifications. These attack scenarios can either cause a victim to connect to an attacker-controlled server or establish an insecure connection, putting the victim's credentials at risk. Moreover, our large-scale measurements and in-depth analysis revealed serious insecurity of auto-configuration applications in the wild. On the server-side, we discovered 49,013 domains, including 19 of the Top-1K popular domains, were misconfigured. On the client-side, 22 out of 29 clients were vulnerable to those threats. Moreover, 27 out of 29 clients exhibited at least one UI-notification defect that facilitates silent attacks. These defects arise from misconfiguration, mismanagement, flawed implementation and compatibility. We hope this paper raises attention to email auto-configuration security.

ABOUT NDSS
The Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS) fosters information exchange among researchers and practitioners of network and distributed system security. The target audience includes those interested in practical aspects of network and distributed system security, with a focus on actual system design and implementation. A major goal is to encourage and enable the Internet community to apply, deploy, and advance the state of available security technologies.

Our thanks to the Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium for publishing their Creators, Authors and Presenter’s superb NDSS Symposium 2025 Conference content on the Organizations' YouTube Channel.

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Bryan Fleming, who founded the stalkerware business pcTattletale, pleaded guilty in federal court to hacking and conspiracy charges. Investigators said he crossed the line when he started marketing the software to people who wanted to covertly plant it on the smartphones of unsuspecting victims to track their activities and movements.

The post Owner of Stalkerware Maker pcTattletale Pleads Guilty to Hacking appeared first on Security Boulevard.

In fraud and bot detection, people usually think of fingerprinting as the classic browser or device fingerprint. This comes from techniques that use JavaScript and HTTP signals to recognize a device across sessions. We also use this type of fingerprint at Castle to detect account takeover attempts or users creating

The post Fingerprints beyond device IDs: engineered representations for fraud detection appeared first on Security Boulevard.

The old saying ‘prevention is better than cure’ has lost value in today’s cybersecurity industry. Instead, security teams are advised to assume that the business has been breached and focus on threat detection, investigation, response and recovery. However, during cyber incident postmortems, it is not uncommon to find that the business owned the tool that would have protected it against the breach...

The post The Shift Left of Boom: Making Cyberthreat Prevention Practical Again  appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Staying one step ahead of cybercriminals requires a proactive approach. Integrating dark web intelligence into your open-source intelligence (OSINT) gives you an early view of emerging threats. As security expert Daniel Collyer says, dark web intelligence is “an essential part of a good OSINT strategy,” it’s the information that’s invisible on the surface web. Open-source intelligence is when you take all the publicly available data and turn it..

The post Dark Web Intelligence: How to Leverage OSINT for Proactive Threat Mitigation  appeared first on Security Boulevard.

A practical overview of security architectures, threat models, and controls for protecting proprietary enterprise data in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems.

The post Securing the Knowledge Layer: Enterprise Security Architecture Frameworks for Proprietary Data Integration With Large Language Models  appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Fix “reverse DNS does not match SMTP banner” errors by aligning PTR, A records, and server identity to restore trust and reliable email delivery.

The post Reverse DNS mismatch: Fix SMTP banner errors appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Cofense Intelligence relies on over 35 million trained employees from around the world, therefore a considerable number of analyzed campaigns are written in languages other than English. This report covers from May 2023 to May 2025 and focuses on the overall themes of campaigns in the top five most commonly seen languages besides English that bypassed perimeter filtering such as Secure Email Gateways (SEGs). 

The post International Threats: Themes for Regional Phishing Campaigns appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Recently, the world-renowned market research firm Frost & Sullivan officially released a strategic report: Insights for CISOs: Challenges and Opportunities in the Software Supply Chain Security Space. In this report tailored for the global CISO community, NSFOCUS was featured among vendors offering Software Supply Chain Security (SSCS). The report provided an overview of NSFOCUS’s specialized […]

The post NSFOCUS SSCS Recognized by Frost&Sullivan in Insights for CISOs: Challenges and Opportunities in the Software Supply Chain Security Space appeared first on NSFOCUS, Inc., a global network and cyber security leader, protects enterprises and carriers from advanced cyber attacks..

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Learn how to implement algorithmic agility and post-quantum cryptography in MCP server-client negotiations to secure AI infrastructure against future threats.

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Learn how refresh tokens work in enterprise SSO. This guide covers implementation, rotation, and security best practices for CIAM systems.

The post What are Refresh Tokens? Complete Implementation Guide & Security Best Practices appeared first on Security Boulevard.

A deep dive into implicit identity authentication methods for software development, covering oauth 2.0 flows, security risks, and modern alternatives for single-page applications.

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What Role Does Agentic AI Play in Enhancing Business Value? A pertinent question arises: How can organizations leverage Agentic AI to enhance business value effectively? Where a data management and cybersecurity expert specializing in Non-Human Identities (NHIs) and secrets security management, exploring the strategic implementation of Agentic AI in various industries is crucial. This AI […]

The post How does Agentic AI drive business value? appeared first on Entro.

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Are Your Machine Identities Safeguarded? The management of non-human identities (NHIs) is fast becoming a pivotal element in ensuring robust data protection. Focusing on machine identities used within cybersecurity frameworks, NHIs are essentially the lifeblood of cloud-based environments, bridging the gap between technological innovation and security protocols. This focus seeks to alleviate the disconnection often […]

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