Organizations of all sizes have embraced digital transformation. According to Gartner, 82% of CEOs responding to our annual CEO survey said they have a digital transformation program underway to make their companies more digital.1 But this transition can introduce new and unfamiliar security risks that need to be accounted for.

"For every new piece of technology we introduce into an organization, we add a new attack vector that requires protection," Jeff Schwartz, vice president of US Engineering at Check Point, said in Security Boulevard. While new technologies add new levels of production and expediency to tasks, they also add a layer of hidden network security risk.

Because of this increased dependence on IT and connectivity, developing strong security capabilities is necessary to address both known and emerging threats. The first step in developing a strong security program is knowing where the blind spots are in your network security. Here are five hidden network security risks lurking in your environment.

Digital transformation depends on a variety of software and hardware connected to your network. In a perfect world, the IT department controls the technology in all stages. Realistically, employees will often incorporate shadow ITnon-company-approved devices and software due to personal preference or to address perceived shortcomingsinto their workflow. Left undetected, shadow IT can lead to data loss and compliance violations. The best way to balance productivity with network security is through open communication. Empower employees to use their chosen technology while deploying tools like cloud access security brokers to monitor and enforce security.

Mobile devices, and the associated security risks, have become ubiquitous within the workplace. Mobile devices must be secured with a layered approach. Optimally, security controls would be applied at the device and mobile application level as well as on the network. Consider implementing policies that will require users to adopt best security practices, while your IT department maintains the ability to restrict access to certain network areas from remote locations.

IoT may present the worst hidden network security risk. Often, the staff doesn't realize just how many devices can be considered IoTand these devices rarely have extensive security features. It's difficult to know if the device has been hacked or is infected with malware until well after the damage is done.

To protect the network from IoT security holes, make sure the firmware is updated regularly, and create unique passwords for each device. Due to the nature of IoT, there also needs to be higher levels of physical security for the devices. This can help prevent theft or someone gaining access to, and manipulating, the programming.

The amount of encrypted traffic is increasing, which makes it easy to fall into the trap of thinking the transmissions are secure. However, if encrypted traffic isn't kept in check, the network is at risk of malware and other cyber threats. Because encryption can be done at either end of the transmission, a bad actor could send encrypted malware designed for data exfiltration. To combat encryption-related security, SSL inspection, a process where data is intercepted and decrypted before it is transmitted, is necessary. While not fool-proof, it does provide monitoring for malicious electronic communications.

While the technology connected to the network is vulnerable to risk, one of the biggest security threats in any organization is the employees. Most of the human-caused security risks are accidentallosing a phone or unintentionally opening a malicious attachmentbut no one knows when an employee will go rogue and willfully attack the network or compromise data.

Security isn't top of mind for most employees, which is why security awareness training needs to be mandatory and interactive. Regular reinforcements and spot drills are necessary reminders that an attack can come at any time. Communication is key, with security leadership sharing information about new and ongoing threats and encouraging users to report anything suspicious.

Learn more about how to detect security threats before they cause damage.

1 Smarter With Gartner, Avoid These 9 Corporate Digital Business Transformation Mistakes, November 6, 2019, https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/avoid-these-9-corporate-digital-business-transformation-mistakes/.

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Five Security Blind Spots You Might Not Realize You Have - Government Technology

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Learn how you can enable the new Nextcloud end-to-end encryption.

Image: Jack Wallen

The developers of the Nextcloud open source on-premise cloud solution have created a really amazing encryption setup between the latest desktop client (version 3.x) and the newest release of their server solution (version 19).

This end-to-end encryption method makes it such that encrypted files are only available to the Nextcloud desktop, and mobile applications and are not accessible via the server. In other words, you encrypt a file that exists on the server from the client app. Once you've encrypted the file, it will no longer be accessible on the server, but it will remain available (all the while encrypted) on any client application you have connected to your account on the server.

The thing about the new end-to-end encryption is that the setup isn't quite intuitive. After some stumbling around, I did manage to put the pieces together, so I can show you how it's done.

The first thing you must do is enable encryption on your Nextcloud instance. To do that, log in to Nextcloud with an admin account and then click your profile icon at the top-right of the window. From the popup menu, click Settings. In the resulting window, click Security from the menu in the left sidebar.

From the Security Settings window, click the checkbox for Enable Server-Side Encryption (Figure A).

Figure A

Enabling server-side encryption in Nextcloud 19.

The next step is to install the end-to-end encryption app. To do that, click the profile icon again and click Apps. In the Apps window, type encryption in the search bar. When the End-to-End Encryption entry appears (Figure B), click Download And Enable.

Figure B

Installing the End-to-End Encryption app in Nextcloud 19.

Next, you need to enable a default encryption module. To do that, go back to Apps and search for encryption a second time. You should see an entry for Default Encryption Module. Click Enable to enable this module.

Okay, this is the tricky part, because it depends on a number of things. First, is this installation WAN- or LAN-facing? Second, do you need true HTTPS, or do you just need to be able to point a browser to a secure HTTP address. For example, in my LAN-facing, non-domain using instance, I don't need to work with an SSL certificate, I only need the client to think it's using HTTPS. If you're accessing your Nextcloud instance via IP address, and don't have a domain for the cloud server, you'll want to use the same method I use.

If, on the other hand, you do use a domain for your Nextcloud instance, and your server is accessible via both WAN and LAN, you'll need to go the full-on, certificate-enabled HTTPS route.

I'm going to show you how to use the "tricky" method, just to get you up and running with end-to-end encryption. If you need to go the true HTTPS route, make sure you have your certificate and that your Apache or NGINX configuration file points to the proper keys.

Otherwise, log in to your Nextcloud server, via SSH, and issue the following commands:

At this point, you should be able to access your Nextcloud instance using https.

Open your Nextcloud client on your desktop. You should now see a new button labeled Enable Encryption (Figure C).

Figure C

Enabling encryption on the Nextcloud client.

Click that button and encryption will then be enabled between the client and the server.

With everything in place, you can now encrypt a folder from within the Nextcloud app by right-clicking a folder and select Encrypt (Figure D).

Figure D

Encrypting a folder in Nextcloud from the client.

At this point, the folder will appear in the Nextcloud web interface with a lock. You can see the folder, but you don't have permission to upload or create files in that encrypted directory. The only way you can do that is via the desktop or mobile app. If you navigate into that folder, the file will be listed as a random string of characters (Figure E).

Figure E

An encrypted file that is no longer accessible from within the server.

Congratulations, you now have end-to-end file encryption enabled between your Nextcloud 19 server and the desktop/mobile application.

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How to enable end-to-end encryption for the Nextcloud app - TechRepublic

NordVPN

NordVPN stays on our list of best 2020 mobile VPNs for many reasons, including its status as the reigning champion of the bang-for-buck ratio. Hands down, you aren't going to get a VPN anywhere else that can do more than NordVPN does, as cheaply as NordVPN does it. Despite a security breach reported last year (more on that below), you'd still be hard pressed to find another VPN that can do what NordVPN does at all.

Sure, NordVPN could offer a little more privacy if it boosted the number of servers it owns, but we're talking about over 5,300 servers in 59 countries, a strict zero-log policy and a jurisdiction in Panama. It's an encryption powerhouse, and has a feature that allows you to VPN into Tor.

It's no surprise NordVPN racked up more than 59,000 ratings in the App Store for a score of 4.6 out of 5, and 132,871 reviews in the Google Play Store for a 4.4 out of 5 rating. Also no surprise it's snagged my trophy for best value.

With all that security, NordVPN has no business being as fast as it is. As a speed bonus, its SmartPlay feature lets NordVPN do with ease what so many other VPNs struggle with: streaming video. It's available for not only iOS and Android, but also Windows Phone and even Blackberry.

Read more:How we review VPNs

We ran our NordVPN speed tests over the course of three days, in two locations, using both wireless and Ethernet connections -- one location offered slower broadband speeds, and the other offered higher speeds via fiber-optic internet. Internet speeds in the US vary widely by state and provider. And with any speed test, results are going to rely on your local infrastructure, with hyperfast internet service yielding higher test speed results.

That's one reason we're more interested in the amount of speed lost, as the use of any VPN can typically cut your internet speed by half or more. NordVPN only reduced our speeds by 32% on average. While not as fast as some of its competitors like ExpressVPN, we found NordVPN's speeds were reliably fast; there were never any sudden dips or service interruptions, and where we expected them to underperform, they proved themselves up to the task.

We charted peak speed when using servers in Singapore, although the average for Singapore servers was on par with those in London. At peak speed, an exuberant moment of seeming lossless internet occurred when our connection speed surpassed any speeds we'd measured without the use of a VPN, resulting in an eyebrow-raising instance of -4% speed loss and a hasty math-check.

London and western European servers held strong (we tested in both France and Germany), with the highest among multiround average speeds found on Australian servers, an astonishing feat given current infrastructural threats across the country.

Read more: All the VPN terms you need to know

We like that NordVPN is headquartered in Panama, which is generally considered a privacy-friendly country due to its lack of surveillance-sharing agreements with other countries.

Its encryption is standard AES-256-CBC, and it supports Perfect Forward Secrecy, which means it frequently changes encryption keys to avoid security compromises. NordVPN also uses OpenVPN protocol (one of the most secure protocols available) and IPSec/IKEv2 (which is less secure but still quite fast). No IP address, DNS or other potentially user-identifying data leaks were detected during our testing.

The company offers a useful kill switch feature, which prevents network data from leaking outside of its secure VPN tunnel in the event the VPN connection fails. Those unfamiliar with the software should note the additional customizable kill switch that allows you to select which apps to kill in the event of a VPN drop-out. Keep in mind that any apps not on that list will still transmit information over the internet and could therefore become a privacy liability.

Additional features include a site filter to block out a broader swath of malicious sites, along with optional ad and tracker blocker. The latter goes a long way toward keeping speeds up for the average user. We also like Nord's double VPN feature, which allows users to leap across multiple servers for a bit of extra encryption. And we found its obfuscation (the process of making a VPN not look like a VPN) effective in every instance of testing.

While NordVPN has lived on our list of recommended vendors for a long time, we moved it to the penalty box in October 2019 to re-evaluate our recommendation after a report emerged that one of its rented servers was accessed without authorization in 2018. Nord's actions following the discovery included -- eventually -- multiple security audits, a bug bounty program and heavier investments in server security.

While we'd have preferred that Nord self-disclosed the issue much earlier, the fact that the breach was very limited in nature and involved no user-identifying information served to further verify that NordVPN keeps no logs of user activity. And NordVPN's subsequent move to full RAM-disk use -- meaning it's not storing anything on hard drives -- as a breach response went a long way toward convincing us of the company's security commitment. As a result, Nord remains on our list of recommended vendors.

Read more: After the breach, Nord is asking people to trust its VPN again

We like NordVPNs clean, easy-to-use interface, its toggle controls, and its server search functions. The interactive map graphic is pleasant in design, but could be made more useful if its default setting identified cities instead of only the countries.

NordVPN offers 24/7 customer service support through live chat, with an email option. It also has a well-built support section on its website, which contains a veritable library of FAQs and tutorials.

NordVPN imposes no data caps and allows unlimited server switching and torrenting. We had no problems using it to access Netflix. Unlike some competitors, however, you can only run six devices simultaneously on a single subscription.

Since the world of VPNs moves at a fast pace, we'd prefer to see NordVPN's steep discounts applied laterally toward all of its contracts in order to report better overall purchasing value. That would be a sharper criticism if NordVPN wasn't already a long-standing industry leader with a lengthy history, and it's certainly a criticism that could be applied to nearly all VPN providers. As it stands, its best deal is via its two-year contract at $3.71 per month, a 68% discount, billed once every two years for $89. NordVPN does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, however.

While NordVPN no longer accepts PayPal payments, you can pay with a credit card or cryptocurrency including Bitcoin, AliPay, WeChat Payments, iTunes, Google Pay, Amazon Pay and UnionPay.

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