Microsoft finds that mobile threat defense and intelligence are now critical part of cyber defense

When handled and analyzed properly, actionable data holds the key to enabling solid, 360-degree cybersecurity strategies and responses. However, many corporations lack effective tools to collect, analyze, and act on the massive volume of security events that arise daily across their mobile fleet. An international bank recently faced this challenge. 

By deploying Pradeo Security alongside Microsoft Endpoint Manager and Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), the bank was able to harness its mobile data and better protect the company.

Organizations rely on mobility to increase productivity and improve the customer experience. But the proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices has also expanded the attack surface of roughly 5 billion mobile devices in the world, many used to handle sensitive corporate data. To safeguard company assets, organizations need to augment their global cyber defense strategy with mobile threat intelligence.

In 2017, the Chief Information Security Office (CISO) of an international bank recognized that the company needed to address the risk of data exposure on mobile. Cybercriminals exploit smart phones at the application, network, and OS levels, and infiltrate them through mobile applications 78 percent of the time. 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was also scheduled to go into effect the following year. The company needed to better secure its mobile data to safeguard the company and comply with the new privacy regulations.

The company deployed Microsoft Endpoint Manager to gain visibility into the mobile devices accessing corporate resources. Microsoft Endpoint Manager is the recently announced convergence of Microsoft Intune and Configuration Manager functionality and data, plus new intelligent actions, offering seamless, unified endpoint management. Then, to ensure the protection of these corporate resources, the company deployed Pradeo Security Mobile Threat Defense, which is integrated with Microsoft.

Pradeo Security and Microsoft Endpoint Manager work together to apply conditional access policies to each mobile session. Conditional access policies allow the security team to automate access based on the circumstances. For example, if a user tries to gain access using a device that is not managed by Microsoft Endpoint Manager, the user may be forced to enroll the device. 

Pradeo Security enhances Microsoft Endpoint Manager’s capabilities by providing a clear security status of any mobile devices accessing corporate data, which Microsoft can evaluate for risk. If a smartphone is identified as non-compliant based on the data that Pradeo provides, conditional access policies can be applied.

For example, if the risk is high, the bank could set policies that block access. The highly granular and customizable security policies offered by Pradeo Security gave the CISO more confidence that the mobile fleet was better protected against threats specifically targeting his industry.

The bank also connected Pradeo Security to Microsoft Defender ATP in order to automatically feed it with always current mobile security inputs. Microsoft Defender ATP helps enterprises prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to advanced cyberthreats. Pradeo Security enriches Microsoft Defender ATP with mobile security intelligence. 

Immediately, the bank was able to see information on the latest threats targeting their mobile fleet. Only a few weeks later, there was enough data in the Microsoft platform to draw trends and get a clear understanding of the company’s mobile threat environment.

Pradeo relies on a network of millions of devices (iOS and Android) across the globe to collect security events related to the most current mobile threats. Pradeo leverages machine learning mechanisms to distill and classify billions of raw and anonymous security facts into actionable mobile threat intelligence.

The bank’s mobile ecosystem entirely relies on Pradeo and Microsoft, as its security team finds it to be the most cost-effective combination when it comes to mobile device management, protection and intelligence.

FBI announces two computer programmers plead guilty on operating illegal movie and TV show streaming service in US

A resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, pleaded guilty this week to multiple criminal copyright and money laundering charges related to his running of iStreamItAll, one of the biggest illegal television show and movie streaming services in the United States, and working as a computer programmer with co-defendants to help build Jetflicks, a similarly large illegal television show streaming service, the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement this week.  

Today, a second defendant, who also resides in Las Vegas, pleaded guilty in the same court to a criminal copyright charge for his work as a computer programmer for Jetflicks.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger of the Eastern District of Virginia and Assistant Director in Charge Timothy R. Slater of the FBI’s Washington Field Office announced.

Darryl Julius Polo, aka djppimp, 36, pleaded guilty yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, one count of criminal copyright infringement by distributing a copyrighted work being prepared for commercial distribution, one count of copyright infringement by reproduction or distribution, one count of copyright infringement by public performance and one count of money laundering.  

In a separate proceeding, co-defendant Luis Angel Villarino, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.  Sentencing for both defendants will be before U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III of the Eastern District of Virginia, with Polo’s on Mar. 13, 2020, and Villarino’s on Mar. 20, 2020.

According to Polo’s plea agreement, Polo ran a site called iStreamItAll (ISIA), an online, subscription-based service headquartered in Las Vegas that permitted users to stream and download copyrighted television programs and movies without the permission of the relevant copyright owners.  

Polo admitted that he reproduced tens of thousands of copyrighted television episodes and movies without authorization, and streamed and distributed the infringing programs to thousands of paid subscribers located throughout the U.S.  Specifically, Polo admitted that ISIA offered more than 118,479 different television episodes and 10,980 individual movies.  

In fact, according to the plea agreement, ISIA had more content than Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Amazon Prime, and Polo sent out emails to potential subscribers highlighting ISIA’s huge catalog of works and urging them to cancel those licensed services and subscribe to ISIA instead. 

According to Polo’s plea agreement, Polo obtained infringing television programs and movies from pirate sites around the world—including some of the globe’s biggest torrent and Usenet NZB sites specializing in infringing content—using various automated computer scripts that ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  

Specifically, Polo used sophisticated computer programming to scour global pirate sites for new illegal content; to download, process, and store these works; and then make the shows and movies available on servers in Canada to ISIA subscribers for streaming and downloading.  Polo also admitted to running several other piracy services—including a Usenet NZB indexing site called SmackDownOnYou—and earning over $1 million from his piracy operations. 

In addition, in Polo’s and Villarino’s plea agreements, they admitted that they separately worked as computer programmers at Jetflicks, another online, subscription-based service headquartered in Las Vegas that permitted users to stream and, at times, download copyrighted television programs without the permission of the relevant copyright owners.  

According to both plea agreements, Polo, Villarino and their co-conspirators at Jetflicks reproduced tens of thousands of copyrighted television episodes without authorization, and streamed and distributed the infringing programs to tens of thousands of paid subscribers located throughout the U.S.

Both Polo and Villarino also admitted that at Jetflicks they and their co-conspirators used automated software programs and other tools to locate, download, process and store illegal content, and then quickly make those television programs available on servers in the U.S. and Canada to Jetflicks subscribers for streaming and/or downloading.

In addition, as set forth in Polo’s and Villarino’s plea agreements, both Jetflicks and ISIA were not only available to subscribers over the internet but were specifically designed to work on many different types of devices, platforms and software including myriad varieties of computer operating systems, smartphones, tablets, smart televisions, video game consoles, digital media players, set-top boxes and web browsers. 

The other defendants in the case are scheduled to go to trial starting on Feb. 3, 2020.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office conducted the investigation. Senior Counsel Matthew A. Lamberti of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander P. Berrang of the Eastern District of Virginia and are prosecuting the case.  The CCIPS Cybercrime Lab provided significant assistance.