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A donut by any other name would not taste as sweet

Friends,

How do cyber criminals come-up with names? While the good guys have to settle for safe names --names that convey trust and are in good taste-- the bad guys have no such qualms. From organizations (Krypton, Venomous Bear, Fancy Bear, Blind Eagle, Lazarus Group…) to attacks (REvil, Operation Shady RAT, VulcanBOT, Nitro and Blackmatter Ransomware…), threat actors have the cool name market cornered. Still, I think we can do better than Zero Trust, Unified Threat Management and XDR (granted, any name that starts with an “X” must by necessity be cool!).  Then again, perhaps it's for the best. Who wants to hire Dragon's Bane to vanquish viruses with their Ultimate Forcefield or Funky Phantom to thwart threats by implementing their Bot Thingamajig. So, it seems best that the companies that keep your IT infrastructure safe should themselves use safe naming conventions. Some donut shops, on the other hand, seem unencumbered by that constraint (I'm looking at you Habit Donut Dispensary, Sugar Rush Donuts, Pandemic Donuts, Wake and Bake...). Which reminds me, I should have one before the day gets too busy.

Happy Friday!


Is that a harmless caterpillar or snake/ekans ransomware in my back yard?

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