Microsoft is a leader in cybersecurity solutions and is arguably the most attacked software developer in the world. As the company fights against threat actors leveraging its products to conduct attacks, expanding its cybersecurity platform is important. With that in mind, Microsoft this week announced it has acquired ReFirm Labs.
ReFirm Labs is a US-based provider of security solutions that monitor and assess risks within IoT device firmware. The company will now work directly in Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT, bringing firmware protection to Microsoft’s cloud customers.
“We are excited to announce that ReFirm Labs is joining Microsoft to enrich our firmware analysis and security capabilities across devices that form the intelligent edge, from servers to IoT. The addition of ReFirm Labs to Microsoft will bring both world-class expertise in firmware security and the Centrifuge firmware platform to enhance our ability to analyze and help protect firmware backed by the power and speed of our cloud.”
Microsoft points out attackers are increasingly turning to firmware as a target for campaigns. IoT devices are often vulnerable because they lack sophisticated security protection. Microsoft agues this is not a concern for the future but a real threat in the current IoT market.
ReFirm Labs will help to address Microsoft’s concerns with its much-respected Binwalk firmware analysis tool working in Azure. Binwalk is an open-source solution that offers a cloud-based ways to identify and monitor security risks at firmware level.
CyberX Acquisition
Almost exactly a year ago, Microsoft made another IoT security-focused decision when it purchased CyberX.
CyberX, is a cybersecurity platform for IoT that works to cut risk. Furthermore, the service protects organizations from IoT-related outages, theft of IP, and operational problems. Amongst its customers are three of the largest utilities in the US, three of the top 10 global pharmaceuticals, and major government agencies.
Tip of the day: Did you know that your data and privacy might be at risk if you run Windows 10 without encryption? A bootable USB with a live-linux distribution is often just enough to gain access to all of your files.
If you want to change that, check out our detailed BitLocker guide where we show you how to turn on encryption for your system disk or any other drive you might be using in your computer
