Mathew Payne, GitHub: Protecting code while nurturing user experience

Developer caught up with Mathew Payne, Principal Field Security Specialist at GitHub, to discuss the platform’s security strategies and how they aim to strike a balance between robustness and a seamless user experience.

At the heart of GitHub's security philosophy lies a commitment to safeguarding user code. Payne emphasised that a major focus is on securing the code created by both users and developers.

“The first thing that we focus on at GitHub is the security...

18 August 2023 | Development Tools

Checkmarx uncovers supply chain attacks targeting banking

Checkmarx has uncovered a new and sophisticated cyber threat targeting the banking sector.

The security testing firm's research team detected two distinct open-source software supply chain attacks targeting financial institutions. These attacks, which involved advanced techniques and deceptive tactics, have raised alarm bells among cybersecurity experts.

Attack one: NPM

The first attack occurred on April 5th and 7th when a threat actor exploited the NPM platform,...

21 July 2023 | Hacking & Security

Visual Studio Marketplace is the latest supply chain attack vector

Aqua Security researchers have found that hackers are using Visual Studio Marketplace to conduct supply chain attacks.

In a new report, the researchers uncovered that attackers could impersonate popular VS Code extensions to trick developers into downloading malicious versions.

VS Code is the most popular IDE, with around 74.48 percent of developers using it. The vast array of extensions available for VS Code is partly what drives its popularity.

Here are some...

9 January 2023 | Development Tools

GitHub will mandate 2FA to help secure the software supply chain

GitHub will require all users who contribute code on the platform to use 2FA as part of its latest security improvements.

Attacks on the software supply chain are on the increase. GitHub, which has over 83 million code-contributing users, is stepping up to the plate to protect developers and the software supply chain with this major policy change announcement.

“At GitHub, we believe that our unique position as the home for all developers grants us both an opportunity...

4 May 2022 | Git

Large-scale supply chain attack used 218 malicious NPM packages

A large-scale supply chain attack has been uncovered that used 218 malicious NPM packages.

Researchers from JFrog claim that several of their automated analysers started throwing up alerts regarding a set of packages in the npm registry earlier this week.

Over a few days, the number of packages swelled from around 50 packages to more than 200 (as of March 21st).

The researchers manually analysed the packages and found that it was a targeted attack against the...

24 March 2022 | Hacking & Security

Software supply chain attacks increased over 300% in 2021

We all knew there was an increase in software supply chain attacks in 2021, but a new study has quantified just how bad things got.

Argon Security – recently acquired by Aqua Security – published the latest edition of its annual Software Supply Chain Security Review this week.

The headline stat from Argon’s report that software supply chain attacks grew by more than 300 percent in 2021 compared to 2020.

Eran Orzel, Senior Director of Argon Customer...

20 January 2022 | Development Tools

Sonatype analysis reveals a 73 percent surge in open-source demand

A report from Sonatype has revealed a 73 percent surge in the demand for open-source despite a year of high profile vulnerabilities.

The growing use of open-source to keep up with the pace of modern development makes it a prime target for cybercriminals. We’ve seen this multiple times in practice over the past year with devastating attacks like that on SolarWinds even making national headlines for its widespread implications.

In fact, Sonatype’s report highlights a...

15 September 2021 | Hacking & Security

Checkmarx acquires Dustico in wake of increasing supply chain attacks

Developer-centric app security testing (AST) firm Checkmarx has acquired Dustico to help counter the increasing threat of supply chain attacks.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Dustico and its team to Checkmarx as the Israeli tech ecosystem continues to push the boundaries of cybersecurity innovation and talent,” said Emmanuel Benzaquen, CEO, Checkmarx.

“Blending Dustico’s differentiated approach to open source analysis with Checkmarx’s best-of-breed security...

6 August 2021 | Hacking & Security