QR codes have been around for a while, but they became far more widespread in daily life after the COVID-19 pandemic. What started as contactless menus became boarding passes, payment systems, and authentication gateways. But this ubiquity created a... Read More
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[New research] FTP ports under attack: Which passwords are hackers using?
The Specops research team has analyzed passwords being used to attack FTP ports over the past 30 days, in live attacks happening against real networks. Our team have found the most common passwords being used in brute force attacks,... Read More
Password manager security: Are password managers really safe?
Strong password security calls for a unique password for each account we use. But with our online lives growing increasingly complex, spreading across potentially hundreds of accounts, it’s becoming nearly impossible for users to remember and keep track of... Read More
[New research] Cracking bcrypt: Is new-gen hardware and AI making password hacking faster?
Almost two years ago, the Specops research team analyzed how long it took to crack passwords hashed with the bcrypt algorithm. Two years is a long time in cybersecurity, so we’re revisiting the research with newer, more powerful hardware,... Read More
[New whitepaper] How to secure your service desk against social engineering attacks
At first glance, these companies couldn’t be more different. A cleaning products giant, an iconic British retailer, a tech behemoth, and Las Vegas entertainment empire. Different industries, different locations, and different business models entirely. Yet they all share something... Read More
How to optimize Entra MFA with Specops uReset and Secure Service Desk
At Specops Software, we work closely with many customers and assist with the challenges they face in transitioning to more secure authentication methods. This has become increasingly critical as both the complexity and frequency of cyberattacks have increased. Our... Read More
Specops expands cloud offering to self-service password resets
Good news for cloud-first organizations: we’re pleased to announce Specops uReset is now joining Specops Secure Service Desk as being supported for customers who have fully migrated to the Entra ID cloud. Specops uReset is now available for cloud-only... Read More
How to secure hybrid cloud environments: Best practices for cloud password security
As more organizations adopt cloud-first or hybrid IT strategies, identity and access management (IAM) has taken on a new level of complexity. According to a recent report from Flexera, 89% of enterprises now use a multi-cloud strategy, with many... Read More
Stale admin account with ‘123456’ password gives McDonald’s a security scare
Interacting with a chatbot as part of a hiring process feels somewhat dystopian from a candidate’s perspective. In this case, there was almost an added twist when candidate data was nearly exposed thanks to weak cybersecurity controls from the... Read More
Third-party risk: Behind the Google, Chanel, & Air France-KLM breaches
2025 has been a summer of high-profile breaches. This post will focus on four notable and high-profile victims: Chanel, Google, Air France, and KLM. Although the companies and exact data sets differ, these breaches share a clear pattern: attackers... Read More