News
Security policy and user awareness
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September 20, 2023
20
Sep'23
Parliament passes sweeping Online Safety Bill but tech companies still concerned over encryption
Ofcom will consult on standards to enforce new powers, but tech companies remain concerned about the impact of the bill’s ‘spy clause’, which could require them to scan encrypted messages
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September 20, 2023
20
Sep'23
Organisations failing to proactively address insider cyber risk
Organisations are spending less than 10% of their annual security budgets on trying to solve one of the costliest problems in cyber: insider risk
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September 19, 2023
19
Sep'23
38TB Microsoft data leak highlights risks of oversharing
An accidentally disclosed SAS token with excessive privileges enabled researchers to access nearly 40TB of Microsoft’s data, highlighting the risks of privilege mismanagement and oversharing
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September 19, 2023
19
Sep'23
Nominet and European counterparts link up on intelligence sharing
The new European TLD ISAC, a collaborative project between top-level domain providers across Europe, aims to enhance their collective security posture to better protect internet users
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September 18, 2023
18
Sep'23
Unregulated DeFi services abused in latest pig butchering twist
Pig butchering scammers are taking advantage of the unregulated nature of DeFi crypto trading apps to siphon off even more money from their victims, according to the latest findings of an ongoing investigation
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September 18, 2023
18
Sep'23
Government seeks industry views on cyber threat to UK CNI
The Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee is seeking evidence from the cyber sector as it launches an inquiry into the resilience of the UK's critical national infrastructure
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September 15, 2023
15
Sep'23
Las Vegas mainstay Caesars Palace likely paid off ransomware crew
Caesars Entertainment, owner of the lavish Roman Empire-themed Caesars Palace casino in Las Vegas, has revealed it also suffered a ransomware attack, and appears to have paid off its hackers
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September 14, 2023
14
Sep'23
Google, Microsoft and Mozilla push browser updates to foil zero-day
A zero-day in Google’s Chrome browser was first reported by surveillance researchers at The Citizen Lab and Apple, but also affects other browsers
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September 14, 2023
14
Sep'23
As vehicle safety regulations loom, carmakers fret over cyber risks
Global, UN-backed car safety and security regulations come into force next year, and automotive bosses say they are not only unprepared, but “swamped” by a tide of compliance and security risks
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September 13, 2023
13
Sep'23
GitHub fixes race condition that could have led to ‘repojacking’
A subtle flaw in how GitHub handled repository creation and user renaming could have had serious consequences for the open source community, but has now been fixed. Learn more about how it worked
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September 13, 2023
13
Sep'23
Storm-0324 gathers over Microsoft Teams
An initial access broker associated with several different ransomware operations is now conducting Microsoft Teams phishing attacks
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September 13, 2023
13
Sep'23
NCSC and ICO sign MoU to forge deeper collaborative links
The scope of the MoU signed by the NCSC and the ICO includes collaboration on new cyber regulations and guidance, and how to support cyber attack victims appropriately and minimise regulatory penalties
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September 13, 2023
13
Sep'23
Patch Tuesday: Microsoft fixes zero-days in Word and Streaming Service
September 2023 brings a light Patch Tuesday, with two zero-days and five critical vulnerabilities listed in the latest release
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September 12, 2023
12
Sep'23
US casino giant MGM Resorts battles 36-hour outage after cyber attack
Multiple systems at US hotel and casino operator MGM went down in the wake of the incident on 10 September, crippling several of Las Vegas’ most prominent casinos
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September 11, 2023
11
Sep'23
Brits happy to break cyber law if the price is right
A study conducted ahead of an upcoming security trade fair reveals a slim majority of Brits would come out in favour of offensive government security ops and even engage in cyber criminality themselves in the right circumstances
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September 11, 2023
11
Sep'23
Professional ransomware gangs clearly a threat, but attacks can be easily stopped
NCSC and NCA report reveals insight into business models and underpinnings of ransomware gangs and their affiliates, but also urges defenders to take heart, as stopping a ransomware attack is not that hard to do
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September 11, 2023
11
Sep'23
UK boardrooms and CISOs increasingly aligned on cyber risks
Board members and CISOs in UK organisations seem to be working together much better, but while this is an encouraging sign, there remain some areas of concern over how the two relate to each other
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September 11, 2023
11
Sep'23
Salesforce and Zoom embrace ethical hackers. You should, too
Software companies Salesforce and Zoom discuss their successful bug bounty programmes, what they learned at a recent in-person hackathon in which they participated, and why others shouldn’t be scared of hackers
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September 08, 2023
08
Sep'23
Deputy PM urges UK plc not to lose focus on cyber
In a speech at TechUK, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden urges the cyber security community not to lose focus, and to do more to further collaboration across sectors
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September 08, 2023
08
Sep'23
North Koreans using new zero-day to target security researchers
A threat actor linked to the North Korean government is continuing a long-running campaign targeting legitimate security researchers, using an as-yet undisclosed zero-day vulnerability to gain access to their victims
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September 07, 2023
07
Sep'23
Finnish government to bolster spending on cyber-AI defences
Finland’s government will increase spending on cyber security amid heightened threats from artificial intelligence-based attacks
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September 06, 2023
06
Sep'23
Meet the professional BEC op that targeted Microsoft 365 users for years
The so-called W3LL cyber crime operation ran a phishing empire that has played a large role in compromising Microsoft 365 accounts for years. Its activities are now coming to light thanks to Group-IB researchers
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September 06, 2023
06
Sep'23
Okta customers targeted in new wave of social engineering attacks
Authentication specialist Okta has warned customers to be on alert for a campaign of social engineering attacks exploiting highly privileged users
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September 05, 2023
05
Sep'23
Law firm Fieldfisher launches data breach management tool
UK and European data breach law specialist Fieldfisher has enlisted legal tech specialist Lawcadia to supply a 24-hour data breach notification assessment platform
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September 05, 2023
05
Sep'23
Hacked Electoral Commission failed Cyber Essentials audit
The Electoral Commission failed an NCSC Cyber Essentials audit on multiple counts at about the same time as cyber criminals breached its systems in 2021, it has emerged
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September 05, 2023
05
Sep'23
NCSC names ex-NCC man as new CTO
New NCSC CTO Ollie Whitehouse joins from NCC Group, having also worked at BlackBerry and Symantec
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September 01, 2023
01
Sep'23
Police Scotland five-year digital strategy approved
Police Scotland’s new strategy outlines how the force will approach and invest in its digital transformation over the next five years, but notes its ability to achieve its ambitions is subject to the availability of funding
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August 31, 2023
31
Aug'23
Ducktail social media marketing malware rears its head again
Use of the Ducktail infostealer, which first popped up in 2022 targeting Meta Business accounts, seems to be increasing
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August 29, 2023
29
Aug'23
Top-performing CISOs reserve time for professional development
Survey of chief information security officers conducted by Gartner sheds light on habits shared by the top-performing members of the profession
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August 23, 2023
23
Aug'23
St Helens Council in Merseyside hit by ransomware attack
St Helens Borough Council is investigating a suspected ransomware incident targeting its systems, and is advising residents to be on the alert for follow-on phishing attacks
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August 23, 2023
23
Aug'23
Cyber attacks in 2023 develop quicker as average dwell times plummet
The median attacker dwell time shrunk from 10 to eight days in the first seven months of 2023, and in the case of ransomware attacks it is down to just five days
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August 21, 2023
21
Aug'23
Cyber Explorers programme reaches 50,000 11-14 year olds in 18 months
The government-backed Cyber Explorers programme has reached 50,000 students in its first 18 months, and more schools are being invited to sign up for the Autumn Term
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August 18, 2023
18
Aug'23
NatWest customer calls bank’s handling of breach of his data ‘disgusting’
A second NatWest customer has contacted Computer Weekly after finding out from a whistleblower that his sensitive personal data has been in her home for 14 years
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August 17, 2023
17
Aug'23
Researchers demo fake airplane mode exploit that tricks iPhone users
Exploit chain that tricks a victim into believing their iOS device is offline in airplane mode when it is not could open the door to grave privacy concerns
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August 17, 2023
17
Aug'23
Top marks for graduates of CIISec vocational cyber course
132 young people who sat the UK’s first Extended Project Qualification in Cyber Security have received their results today
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August 16, 2023
16
Aug'23
CyberArk eyes growth beyond PAM
CyberArk is seeing exponential growth in the broader identity security market as the company expands its capabilities beyond privileged access management
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August 16, 2023
16
Aug'23
ITAM influence on cyber risk becoming a factor in credit ratings
Credit agency S&P Global Ratings warns that organisations that pay inadequate attention to IT asset management as a factor in their cyber risk management processes may find their creditworthiness takes a dive
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August 15, 2023
15
Aug'23
Norfolk and Suffolk police hit by FoI-linked data breach
Latest UK police data breach relates to crime suspects, victims and witnesses across East Anglia, and comes just days after a similar incident at the Northern Irish service
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August 15, 2023
15
Aug'23
Online safety message failing to get through to women
The security community could be doing a lot more to make its advice and guidance more accessible to women, according to a study
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August 14, 2023
14
Aug'23
US Cyber Board to probe cloud security after latest Exchange hack
CSRB review of cloud security comes in the wake of a major Chinese cyber attack on US government bodies orchestrated through Microsoft’s cloud services
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August 10, 2023
10
Aug'23
Google speeds up security update frequency for Chrome
Changes to Google’s security update policy are supposed to help close the gap in which cyber criminals can exploit n-day vulnerabilities
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August 10, 2023
10
Aug'23
PSNI investigating second breach after laptop stolen
Just hours after accidentally disclosing the personal details of 10,000 personnel, the Police Service of Northern Ireland has notified a second data breach after a police issue laptop and documents were stolen from a parked car
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August 09, 2023
09
Aug'23
Microsoft addresses Office vulnerability attacked by Russian spooks in latest update
Microsoft has issued fixes for over 70 vulnerabilities in its August Patch Tuesday drop, including remedies for CVE-2023-36884, which was disclosed without a fix in July and has been the subject of Kremlin-backed cyber attacks
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August 09, 2023
09
Aug'23
Northern Irish police expose staff data in botched FoI response
Human error is being blamed for the leak of personally identifiable information on all serving officers and civilian staff at the Police Service of Northern Ireland
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August 08, 2023
08
Aug'23
MPs warn about growing prevalence of tech-enabled domestic abuse
The UK government must take action to prevent perpetrators from being able to use connected or smart technologies to conduct their domestic abuse, a select committee has warned
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August 08, 2023
08
Aug'23
UK voter data hacked in cyber attack on election watchdog
An unknown threat actor who attacked the UK’s Electoral Commission had access to data on millions of UK voters for over a year, the watchdog has revealed
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August 08, 2023
08
Aug'23
Many UK organisations considering ChatGPT bans on employee devices
More than 60% of organisations in the UK have either banned, or are considering banning, the use of generative AI tools on employee- or business-owned devices
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August 07, 2023
07
Aug'23
Microsoft fixes Azure flaw that was subject of researcher criticism
Microsoft has confirmed a potentially-dangerous flaw in the Azure platform has now been fully fixed, and moved to reassure customers that despite criticism it is committed to responsible disclosure and timely fixes
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August 07, 2023
07
Aug'23
Rise in fraudsters spoofing the websites of leading UK banks
Despite safeguards to protect customers from scams, UK retail banks are still seeing high volumes of fake phishing websites exploiting their brands, and the problem seems to be increasing in scope and scale
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August 04, 2023
04
Aug'23
Log4Shell, ProxyShell still among most widely exploited flaws
Statistics released by the collective Five Eyes cyber agencies reveals insight into the most exploited vulnerabilities of 2022, and unsurprisingly there are some old ‘friends’ on the list