Welcome to your monthly Automation digest! This May, we introduced several important features in vRealize Automation Cloud. However, this month’s launch pinnacle is SaltStack Config becoming available as-a-service for the first time! Salt up your Cloud We’re excited to announce that vRealize Automation Cloud customers can now get access to a hosted version of SaltStack Config, the powerful configuration management component for vRealize Automation. Powered by the open source Salt Project, vRealize Automation SaltStack Config…

American Express is the latest big-name brand to receive a fine from the UK’s data protection regulator after spamming millions of customers. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) fined American Express Services Europe (Amex) £90,000 after it sent over four million marketing emails to customers who did not want them. The ICO said it began its investigation after complaints from some of those customers, who claimed to have opted out of receiving the missives. Amex rejected these…

If File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) were easy, everyone would be doing it. Actually, it is pretty easy. It’s not exactly rocket science. Practically anyone with a modicum of Python, Perl or development skills can write an app or a script to gather the checksum of a file, compare it to a list or baseline, and tell you whether or not said file has changed. Hell, turn the auditing of most operating systems on and start sending change…

One of America’s largest insurers agreed to pay a $40 million ransom after its IT systems were locked down and data stolen by threat actors, according to a report. CNA Financial paid its attackers in late March, about a fortnight after the incident, two people familiar with the attack told Bloomberg. A statement shared with the news site refused to comment on the ransom but claimed that the firm had followed all “laws, regulations and…

Two in five businesses reported a cyber attack or data breach in the past 12 months, according to the UK government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021. Among those, 35% reported negative effects including the loss of money, data or other assets. These are alarming figures, but how exactly are organisations being affected? After all, there are many ways that cyber criminals can target your organisation – from scamming employees with bogus emails to exploiting vulnerabilities…