NEW YORK, Aug. 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flashpoint, the global leader in Business Risk Intelligence (BRI), is honored to announce that Allison Nixon, director of security research, has been named a “Threat Seeker” in the 2018 SC Media Reboot Leadership Awards. The awards, which are an extension of SC Media’s Reboot edition, recognizes leaders for their unique contributions that improve security and shape the industry.
Nixon specializes in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack attribution, cybercrime attribution, and analysis of criminal communities. In 2013, she spoke at Black Hat USA about finding the origins of DDoS-protected domains. In 2014, she released a paper detailing methods for verifying leaked databases. From 2015-2018, her work has pushed DDoS attack attribution forward in numerous investigations.
In October 2016, Nixon spearheaded Flashpoint’s investigation into a series of DDoS attacks against DNS provider Dyn that impacted the availability of a number of major websites nationwide. In collaboration with Dyn and Akamai, Nixon helped confirm that a Mirai botnet had participated in the attacks against Dyn, and that many of the devices used in the Dyn attacks were digital video recorders (DVRs) that been infected with Mirai malware due to an internet of things (IoT) vulnerability present in each device.
After the initial Mirai attacks, Nixon continued to track Mirai and the actors behind it. Her ongoing research was integral to the law enforcement investigation that resulted in the arrest and indictment of three of the Mirai botnet’s operators and creators. In December 2017, her efforts were recognized in an official press release by the U.S. Department of Justice.
An avid supporter of information sharing and research collaboration, Nixon has been extremely vocal about how the Mirai attacks of 2016 were a "wake-up call for the security industry" that signified the need for more collaboration among researchers.
In August 2017, Nixon was a member of a cross-organizational team of researchers from Akamai, Cloudflare, Flashpoint, Google, Oracle Dyn, RiskIQ, and Team Cymru that collaborated to identify, track, and halt a series of ongoing DDoS attacks and ultimately neutralize the WireX botnet. Members of this cross-organizational collaboration, including Nixon, received widespread recognition for how their efforts transcended boundaries that have long hindered the efficacy of information sharing in security and intelligence.
More recently, Nixon’s research on SIM swap fraud has placed her at the forefront of defenders seeking to combat this increasingly prevalent threat. Specifically, she played a pivotal role in the identification of an ongoing and large-scale insider recruitment campaign involving SIM swapping that targeted employees at mobile phone carriers. Her expertise on this threat has also catalyzed widespread awareness and new discussions about how mobile phone numbers have evolved to become personal identifiers, emphasizing the critical need for new defenses and legislation that account for the security risks posed by the evolution of telecom infrastructure.
“Core to our mission at Flashpoint is to produce high quality intelligence and data to help our customers understand adversaries in order to keep themselves safe from harm. Because of the incredible talent and integrity on our team, we are often able to assist law enforcement on significant investigations, as well participate in game-changing sharing and collaboration,” said Josh Lefkowitz, CEO and co-founder, Flashpoint. “Allison epitomizes that talent and integrity, from her notable work on Mirai, WireX, and SIM Swap, to the myriad protections that she and her team provide our customers daily. All of us at Flashpoint are very proud of her.”
Read more about why Allison Nixon is a recognized “Threat Seeker”.
About Flashpoint
Flashpoint delivers Business Risk Intelligence (BRI) to empower organizations worldwide with meaningful intelligence and information that combats threats and adversaries. The company’s sophisticated technology, advanced data collections, and human-powered analysis uniquely enables large enterprises and the public sector to bolster cybersecurity, confront fraud, detect insider threats and build insider threat programs, enhance physical security, improve executive protection, and address vendor risk and supply chain integrity. Flashpoint is backed by Georgian Partners, Greycroft Partners, TechOperators, K2 Intelligence, Jump Capital, Leaders Fund, Bloomberg Beta, and Cisco Investments. For more information, visit https://www.flashpoint-intel.com/ or follow us on Twitter at @FlashpointIntel.
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