Heimdal Security Blog

Shift Browser is signed adware that fingerprints your endpoint before it drops payload

Alexandru Gurgu — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:25:11 +0000

Heimdal’s SOC flagged a surge in detections tied to a program called Shift Browser on 2 September 2026. Our team confirmed activity on more than 50 client environments in a single day. The installers we captured trace to a malvertising lure. Shift Browser also runs a documented paid creator and affiliate marketing operation, though we […]

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6 ThreatLocker alternatives that should make your shortlist

Livia Gyongyoși — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 12:56:02 +0000

There are a few reasons that MSPs start looking for ThreatLocker alternatives. You might have had enough of the friction with end users. The high levels of admin required to set policies for your different customers. Or that, while powerful, it can only handle certain kinds of security risks. If so, we wrote this guide […]

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50+ insider threat statistics for 2026

Livia Gyongyoși — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 15:00:30 +0000

In 2026, insider threats are probably a bigger risk than you think. In fact, they could cost your organization $19.5 million a year. But it’s not really a problem with hackers, spies, or malicious employees. Instead, it’s about negligence, training, and IT privileges. Often, the most expensive mistake is a stolen credential doing exactly what […]

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The Planting Seeds philosophy. Selling into schools takes years, not quarters

Adam Pilton — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 06:44:59 +0000

It’s tempting for MSPs to write off event sponsorship in education as a waste of money. You sponsor an event, hand out flyers, follow up with an email, and hear nothing back. Rick Cowell says you’re judging it on the wrong timescale. Rick spent 20 years as a school network manager, and he founded the […]

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What the DfE’s cyber security update means for multi-academy trusts

Danny Mitchell — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:13:59 +0000

Before dawn on 10 July 2024, one ransomware attack took down ten schools inside the same multi-academy trust at once. Every control that eventually stopped it was something the Department for Education’s own cyber security standard already asked for, well before the attack. That’s a case DfE has published on its own Cyber Security Hub, […]

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9 Proofpoint alternatives. Pros & cons of the leading options

Livia Gyongyoși — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:27:17 +0000

Proofpoint catches malicious traffic and blocks data exfiltration well, with solid coverage for business email compromise, phishing, and malware. But it’s built for the enterprise, and it shows. G2 reviewers flagged a steep learning curve and steep pricing, and suggested Proofpoint’s support would need improving. The platform’s also in flux. Proofpoint closed a $1.8 billion […]

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The risk awareness radar. A superpower every MSP needs to train

Adam Pilton — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:28:45 +0000

Most of the cyber incidents landing on our desks these days start with someone believing a lie. It’s not a brilliant piece of code that causes most breaches. A convincing email, a confident phone call, and a fake sense of urgency can make people hand over exactly what the attacker needs. Last week I talked […]

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Heimdal data reveals MediaArena adware completes persistence before antivirus quarantine finishes

Madalina Popovici — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:49:55 +0000

London, UK, 30 July 2026 – New data from Heimdal’s telemetry measures the gap between execution of the MediaArena adware and the completion of quarantine. The same pattern has been confirmed across more than 40 client environments. MediaArena is a browser-modifier adware family that Microsoft has tracked since 2023. It is low-severity, and that is […]

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How Heimdal grew from a bold idea into a global cybersecurity platform

Morten Kjaersgaard — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 08:32:57 +0000

Heimdal did not start as a traditional cybersecurity company. It started with two Danish cybersecurity researchers, a piece of innovative technology and a challenge. Could they create something that could identify vulnerabilities, intercept malicious activity and help protect machines before threats could take hold? That technology went on to compete at the Defcon CTF world […]

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MediaArena malvertising: why a quarantine isn’t the end of the incident

Alexandru Gurgu — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 08:21:38 +0000

If Microsoft Defender quarantines BrowserModifier:Win32/MediaArena on one of your endpoints, the alert reads like a win. Our SOC data says treat it as a live persistence incident instead. In the case we timed, the payload finished writing its persistence 21 seconds into execution. Quarantine didn’t complete until 29 seconds. By the time the alert fired, […]

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Tools Change. Teach People How to Keep Up

Adam Pilton — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:51:27 +0000

“Make everyone one percent better and it compounds across the team.” That’s the line Joe Head wrote about his own job and when I read it back to him, he didn’t hesitate. “That is 100% the objective,” he said. Joe runs AI adoption for an 80-person team as the only AI automation specialist in the […]

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4 Best Managed EDR Solutions & Service Suppliers (and how to choose)

Danny Mitchell — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:25:54 +0000

There are several cybersecurity companies that offer managed EDR services in 2026. Here’s what actually separates them, and who each one suits. Most successful cyber attacks begin with a breached laptop, a smartphone or a server. Over the past 15 years, endpoint detection and response (EDR) has gone from niche to a mainstream security solution. […]

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Top 4 Best SOC Platforms 2026 – Provider Comparison

Danny Mitchell — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 15:52:54 +0000

Without the right tools, no security operations centre (SOC) can do its job properly. A SOC platform brings together a range of security technologies that let your analysts rapidly identify threats, investigate them and implement fixes. There are many cybersecurity tools that an SOC can use, and there are many vendors selling comparable products. The […]

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Top 6 Best Managed Detection and Response Providers 2026

Danny Mitchell — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 12:57:58 +0000

There are several major managed detection and response (MDR) companies to choose from. We’ve compared the main offerings of the best MDR providers to help you decide which is right for your organisation. Maybe it was a near miss, or a security team stretched too thin and drowning in alerts from dozens of tools. Whatever […]

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Cyber-Aware Customers Are Raising the Bar for MSPs and Other Vendors

Adam Pilton — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:19:02 +0000

Your client is no longer just buying your security advice. They’re auditing whether you live by it. That was a clear message from my exclusive interview with Heather MacDonald Alford, an MSP finance specialist and owner of Counting Creators. Heather’s exactly the kind of customer MSPs should be paying attention to. She’s informed, commercially minded, and willing to challenge vendors to […]

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