Time for Black Hat again! Day one is almost complete and I’ve seen some big themes.

There’s some of the usual. Vulnerability scanning and pen testing are definitely present and the topics of identifying and learning from data breaches are still big—especially around the area of SIEM. There are also some new developments. For example, more exhibitors are simply about education, including your typical certification schools, but general higher learning institutions, like the University of Maryland, are also here.

As usual, Black Hat USA is full of security vendors and their products, but there seem to be more ‘service’ offerings showcased this year. This may not be surprising to those who have heard analysts increasingly discuss the weaknesses assumed by an organization that is overly dependent on purely in-house resources.

Education, services and research tools are obviously taking center stage in the battleagainst cybercrime. All this focus on education is precisely why we’ve developed a few new tools and resources to help resource-strapped customers tap into the expertise of the Websense® Security Labs™ researchers.

Sometimes you need more than what you have on-hand—especially when you are dealing with highly advanced malware and complex data stealing attacks. That’s when you need an expert security researcher to help. Our Websense Security Labs have morethan one hundred team members worldwide, hip–deep in the latest threats. The new Websense CyberSecurity Intelligence™ (CSI) services, announced today, help extend their expertise and educational benefits right into your organization.

Websense CSI services offer both online and 1:1 time with our researchers, through tools, training, in-person guidance and malware forensics.

All Websense CSI customers will have access to ThreatScope™, an online sandbox environment, to safely test potential malware. It uses our Websense Advanced Classification Engine (ACE) analytics to compile an extensive report of observed behavior on an uploaded file. Insights include the infection process; post-infection activities (such as calling home); system-level events and processes; registry changes and filemodifications.

Think about it, Black Hat USA only comes around once a year, but every day needs to be about education in the security field. Websense CSI services can be an extension of your learning process— giving you access to our researchers and the necessary tools to help you become more educated on the threats of today.

If you could study one aspect of today’s threats, what would you dive into?

We recently released findings on the current state of security in Canada. If you’ve read that piece, you may now be wondering how that compares with the rest of the world. The Websense Security Labs recently released our 2012 Threat Report exploring the biggest threats, trends, and themes collected by the Websense ThreatSeeker Network and investigated by our security lab research teams.

2011 redefined the way many think of and view internet and corporate security. 2012 is continuing this trend. From high profile targeted attacks, hacktivism, data theft and the leverage of exploit kits to selectively deliver malware dropper files when vulnerabilities are detected on user systems, the year forced everyone to think, “Am I next?”

The Websense Security Labs Threat Report provides metrics and practical advice for IT Security professionals. Take a read and let us know if you have any questions about the findings.