Tag: Dave Cole

DEVCORE announced today (February 12th) that its Red Team Exercise service will be included in the public sector co-supplier contract for cybersecurity services by the end of 2024. DEVCORE is also one of the co-suppliers of the Red Team Exercise service, indicating that government departments expect to improve cybersecurity effectiveness through Red Team Exercises. ▲Left: DEVCORE CEO and Co-founder, Ong Hao-cheng; Right: DEVCORE Co-founder and Senior Vice President, Hsu Nien-en. DEVCORE also pointed out that the value of Red Team Exercise projects in 2024 increased by 11% compared to the previous year, and it is estimated that the revenue growth of Red Team Exercise services in 2025 will exceed 20%. To strengthen cybersecurity, the government and industry are joining forces. DEVCORE's Red Team Exercises are included in the public sector joint contract. To comprehensively enhance the cybersecurity capabilities of government agencies, the Digital Industry Administration of the Ministry of Digital Development included "Red Team Exercise Services" in the "Fifth Computer Software Joint Supply Contract Procurement – ​​Cybersecurity Services and Information Services" in 2024. This is not only the first cybersecurity service item added in ten years, but also a milestone in the government's high regard for and further strengthening of cybersecurity protection. DEVCORE, as Taiwan's first professional provider of Red Team Exercise services and a leading provider in this service, assists government agencies in procuring necessary cybersecurity services through joint supply contracts in the future. This significantly improves procurement efficiency for the government, allowing them to select cybersecurity services with sufficient quality and standards based on their budgets and needs, enabling more precise cybersecurity exercises and protection enhancements. DEVCORE CEO and Co-founder Hao-Cheng Weng stated, "DEVCORE is pleased to see red team drill services included in the public sector joint supply contract. This not only symbolizes the government's increased investment in cybersecurity, but also demonstrates the value of drill services, potentially influencing industries to adopt advanced drill services. We also hope to leverage our technical expertise and years of practical experience in red team drills to help companies apply the results of red team drills to their strategies and overall response mechanisms, creating a more secure and forward-looking digital environment at the architectural and process levels, and comprehensively deepening cybersecurity resilience." Demand for red team drills is booming, with market momentum expected to peak again in 2025. According to DEVCORE's internal observations, red team drill services are being adopted by more industries, and market demand continues to grow steadily. From 2021 to 2024, DEVCORE received 2.6 times more inquiries and bookings for red team drills, and the number of inquiries and bookings in January 2025 alone has already exceeded 60% of the same period last year. Among the industries with the strongest demand for red team exercises, the financial sector stands out, while inquiries from the semiconductor industry have been steadily increasing since 2022. Looking at actual procurement data, the financial sector remains the most active in adopting red team exercises, accounting for 29%, followed by the semiconductor industry at 28% and government agencies at 14%. These three industries account for over 70% of DEVCORE's total red team revenue in 2024. DEVCORE also observed that the value of completed red team exercise cases in 2024 increased by 11% compared to the previous year, with new clients accounting for over 50% that year. Notably, unlike in the past, inquiries have also begun to come from major server foundries, indicating that the benefits of red team exercise services are gaining more attention from enterprises and various industries. Enterprises are increasingly recognizing and actively investing in cybersecurity to address the growing severity of cyber threats. To deepen cybersecurity defenses, DEVCORE continues to promote red team drills and disseminate hacker thinking in response to the ever-increasing cybersecurity capabilities and dynamic evolution of the cybersecurity landscape from both government and industry perspectives. DEVCORE will also provide different types of drills based on varying cybersecurity profiles and drill expectations. This extends beyond simply identifying vulnerabilities and maximizing their effectiveness to more realistically simulating attack scenarios. Using a red-blue team coordination model, DEVCORE verifies enterprises' response speed, capabilities, and cybersecurity incident handling procedures in the face of real attacks. This expands the focus from technical patching to a comprehensive improvement in cybersecurity strategy and management. Furthermore, supply chain security has become one of the most challenging cybersecurity issues for enterprises in recent years. DEVCORE will also launch customized proactive product security research services, led by an internationally award-winning cybersecurity research team. These services assist enterprises in verifying the security of various products, including software, hardware, and firmware, ensuring compliance with high-standard cybersecurity requirements, protecting user safety, and enhancing brand image and trustworthiness through secure products. In addition to strengthening the defense capabilities of Taiwanese agencies through red team drills, DEVCORE has long been committed to conveying hacker thinking. In 2025, it will continue to hold the DEVCORE CONFERENCE, a technical seminar focused on attack orientation. The event will take place on March 15th, bringing together industry, government, and academia to focus on the essence of attack techniques and methods, helping the industry to think about defense strategies from the attacker's perspective, and to more effectively review their own cybersecurity protection configurations in order to jointly cope with the ever-changing cyber attack threats.

DEVCORE, an offensive cybersecurity company, is celebrating its 10th anniversary and announced today (January 6th) that it will be expanding its recruitment drive, calling on like-minded partners with a passion for cybersecurity to join and strengthen the cybersecurity industry's protective capabilities, becoming an important player in safeguarding cybersecurity in Taiwan and globally. Founded in 2012, DEVCORE's proactive cybersecurity services have broken through the industry's previous perception of primarily defensive operations. Its red team drills, employing a "hacker's mindset" and closely mimicking real attacks with comprehensive attack capabilities, assist large enterprises and government agencies in sectors including semiconductors, finance, transportation, healthcare, and e-commerce to identify potential attacker paths, assess the effectiveness of cybersecurity measures, and mitigate cybersecurity risks. Recognizing the growth potential of the cybersecurity market and red team drill services, DEVCORE is taking this opportunity to announce continued recruitment, aiming to double its team size by 2023. The company will continue to recruit and train red team drill experts, creating a larger, more technologically diverse team to conduct red team drills for Taiwan's key industries. DEVCORE CEO and co-founder Hao-Cheng Weng stated, "Over the past 10 years, we are pleased to see the gradual improvement in cybersecurity awareness among the government and industry, as well as their ongoing assessment of their own cybersecurity capabilities and adjustments to their cybersecurity strategies and priorities. At the same time, we also want to remind everyone that while security providers are accelerating their deployments, hackers' attack capabilities and techniques are constantly evolving. Organizations must test the effectiveness of their own cybersecurity protection, and red team drills are a strong cybersecurity support for businesses." Staying true to its original mission of protecting the world, DEVCORE continues to cultivate new cybersecurity talent. DEVCORE hopes to nurture more cybersecurity professionals in Taiwan who understand "hacker thinking," and further encourage more young people to engage in cybersecurity, thus strengthening Taiwan's cybersecurity protection network. DEVCORE is one of the few cybersecurity teams in Taiwan with world-class research capabilities in attack techniques and the ability to provide offensive cybersecurity services. Driven by a passion for innovative technologies and expertise in cybersecurity, since its founding in 2012, it has not only garnered recognition in major global cybersecurity competitions such as Pwn2Own and the Pwnie Award, but has also identified and reported over 130 vulnerabilities, winning over 25 vulnerability reward programs from major global companies. Furthermore, since 2017, it has been ranked among the top 10 global website hacking techniques for five consecutive years and has been invited to speak at the prestigious Black Hat USA conference five times, frequently taking its place on the international stage. Adhering to the spirit of "giving back to society," DEVCORE expanded its cybersecurity scholarship program in 2022, extending it from Fu Jen Catholic University and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology to all universities and colleges in Taiwan. The "DEVCORE National Cybersecurity Scholarship" aims to help students connect with industry resources and needs, promote community cohesion in cybersecurity, and cultivate a new generation of cybersecurity professionals in Taiwan. Meanwhile, the DEVCORE founding team, whom we met through a cybersecurity exchange community during our school days, has been tirelessly supporting NISRA (Network and Information Security Research Association), a campus cybersecurity club they founded during our student days, for the past ten years. They will also continue to provide support and exchange for various cybersecurity community activities through the 2022 cybersecurity education activity sponsorship program. DEVCORE CEO and co-founder Hao-Cheng Weng stated, "Taiwan has strong cybersecurity capabilities, so how to pass on knowledge and experience to the next generation and how to retain talent in the cybersecurity field are important issues for the future. We hope that through DEVCORE's energy and resources, we can cultivate more cybersecurity talents in Taiwan who understand 'hacker thinking,' and we also hope to encourage more young people passionate about cybersecurity to join the cybersecurity industry, strengthen the cohesion of the cybersecurity community, and lay a solid foundation for Taiwan's future cybersecurity industry."

Cybersecurity chiefs, required by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), have become sought-after high-level talents. How can they grasp current cybersecurity threat trends and allocate cybersecurity resources while maintaining compliance? DEVCORE, an offensive cybersecurity company, was recently invited by Microsoft to the Microsoft CISO Salon. As a white-hat hacker, DEVCORE shared its insights on enterprise cybersecurity risks and resource allocation, and explored optimal cybersecurity investment strategies with Microsoft representatives. Microsoft launched the CISO Salon enterprise cybersecurity team exchange platform program in April of this year, inviting industry professionals to discuss technology, regulations, market trends, and talent development. DEVCORE was invited to be the first external partner to serve as a CISO Salon participant, working together to find the best cybersecurity configuration and improve the cybersecurity capabilities of various industries. Cybersecurity risks are difficult to prevent, and an attacker's mindset can help cybersecurity chiefs achieve twice the results with half the effort. The pandemic has accelerated the pace of digital transformation in industries, making cybersecurity threats more serious than ever before and causing concern for enterprises. The Financial Supervisory Commission recently announced a two-phase requirement for listed companies to establish cybersecurity-related units, prompting large enterprises to start looking for suitable cybersecurity chiefs and developing more comprehensive cybersecurity strategies. DEVCORE, as one of the few "attack-oriented cybersecurity companies" in Taiwan that focuses on research into world-class attack methods and has extensive experience in detection and cybersecurity risk assessment, helps cybersecurity chiefs assess risks and allocate resources with an "attack-side" mindset. DEVCORE CEO Hao-Cheng Weng pointed out at the CISO Salon that the biggest challenge currently faced by enterprises is not the difficulty in complying with regulations or the lack of a strategy, but rather that the battlefield of cybersecurity risks is far larger than enterprises imagine. In the case of information asymmetry between defenders and attackers, enterprises find it difficult to identify key attack areas from the hacker's perspective and implement effective corresponding protection configurations. As a result, undefended areas often become attack intrusion paths, leading to losses for enterprises. DEVCORE CEO Hao-Cheng Weng stated, "When reviewing risks, companies should not merely examine regulatory requirements to select the scope and target of protection, or to purchase cybersecurity equipment and services. Instead, they should comprehensively consider external risk assessment methods such as red team drills and penetration testing to verify the effectiveness of their cybersecurity investments and continuously examine the investment in cybersecurity resources. This includes reviewing monitoring coverage, incident accuracy, and response time to identify unknown risks." Cybersecurity resource allocation is not just about increasing budgets; correctly assessing the scope of risks is crucial. Furthermore, with the increasing frequency of cybersecurity crises, corporate budgets for cybersecurity have become a focus. Most organizations have increased their cybersecurity budgets in accordance with regulations and for sustainable development considerations. However, based on DEVCORE's long-term experience, many companies overemphasize known and existing vulnerabilities in their budget preparation and considerations, neglecting the fact that undiscovered system vulnerabilities can also have a high impact on the organization. Therefore, allocating budgets to external teams with attack capabilities to assist in drills can effectively reduce risks. "Enterprises should recognize that cybersecurity budgets, as a crucial component of maintaining stable operations, should not merely be part of the IT budget, but rather considered from a sustainable operational perspective. Strategic thinking is often more effective than simply purchasing weapons. Enterprises should allocate budgets or make purchases based on actual risks, developing commensurate budget plans through risk assessment to optimize cybersecurity investments. Regarding the scope of risk assessment, a proactive approach can be adopted, starting with a 'hacker's mindset,' using red team exercises to identify potential threat areas in the system, fully optimizing the enterprise's internal risk assessment mechanism, and improving the overall quality of cybersecurity protection," shared Weng Haozheng at the meeting.

DEVCORE, a world-class attack-oriented cybersecurity company from Taiwan, announced that it won the "Best Server-Side Bug" award at the Pwnie Awards, often referred to as the Oscars of cybersecurity, at the Black Hat USA conference earlier this year. Orange Tsai, DEVCORE's chief cybersecurity researcher, beat out six other teams from around the world to become the only Taiwanese team to win the award, thanks to his in-depth research on Microsoft Exchange server vulnerabilities. DEVCORE is a world-class attack-oriented cybersecurity company that was among the first globally to discover and report two Microsoft Exchange server vulnerabilities in late 2020. The research team subsequently continued its in-depth research on Microsoft Exchange servers, finding a total of eight different Microsoft Exchange server vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities, when combined, could form an attack surface that could potentially create a larger-scale threat, allowing attackers to obtain plaintext passwords or even execute arbitrary code without authentication, with a significant impact on enterprises worldwide. This year marks DEVCORE's third nomination and second Pwnie Awards. Back in 2019, they won the "Best Server Vulnerability Award" for revealing vulnerabilities in Pulse Secure and other SSL VPN products, becoming the first team in Taiwan to receive a Pwnie Awards recognition. Furthermore, DEVCORE is currently the only Taiwanese team to have received a Pwnie Awards award. This year, seven significant studies were nominated for the "Best Server Vulnerability Award," including a remote code execution vulnerability in VMware and the PrintNighmare vulnerability affecting the print multiplexing buffer processor in all Windows versions. The Pwnie Awards, often referred to as the "Oscars of cybersecurity," are judged by a panel of the world's most authoritative cybersecurity experts. Each year, they nominate 10 different vulnerability awards, including Best Client-Side Vulnerability, Best Encryption Attack, and Most Innovative Research, with winners announced at the prestigious Black Hat USA conference. It's worth noting that in addition to the "Oscars" recognizing the best cybersecurity research, the Pwnie Awards also recognize outstanding contributions to cybersecurity research...