News

Hackers and cybercrime prevention

• May 14, 2021 14 May'21

  Colonial Pipeline paid $5m ransom, reports say

  Colonial Pipeline may have paid a significant ransom within hours of being attacked, it has emerged, but it’s unlikely the story ends here

• May 14, 2021 14 May'21

  Irish health service hit by major ransomware attack

  IT systems in hospitals across Ireland have been switched off following a significant ransomware attack

• May 14, 2021 14 May'21

  Dutch police used deep learning model to predict threats to life

  Dutch police developed a deep learning model in their EncroChat investigation to predict which messages contain serious threats to life

• May 13, 2021 13 May'21

  Publishing exploit code does more harm than good, says report

  Disclosing exploit code before patches are available gives malicious actors a ‘massive’ head-start, says Kenna Security

• May 13, 2021 13 May'21

  Biden beefs up public-private security cooperation

  Joe Biden has signed a new Executive Order to harden US cyber security and government networks, with an emphasis on information sharing

• May 13, 2021 13 May'21

  Refuge launches tech safety site for domestic abuse victims

  Created with the help of survivors, Refuge’s resource site offers guidance on protecting yourself from tech-enabled domestic abuse

• May 13, 2021 13 May'21

  Verizon DBIR underscores year of unprecedented cyber challenge

  Verizon 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report draws predictable conclusions as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to be felt

• May 12, 2021 12 May'21

  Inside DarkSide: Researchers share intel on break-out cyber gang

  Security researchers swap information on the newly famous DarkSide ransomware gang, the group that doesn’t appear to understand what ‘being a criminal’ actually means

• May 12, 2021 12 May'21

  CyberUK 2021: NCSC encourages startups to invest in cyber

  National Cyber Security Centre is launching bespoke cyber security guidance aimed at the UK’s valuable startup community

• May 12, 2021 12 May'21

  UK to fund national cyber teams in Global South

  Government will commit millions of pounds to supporting vulnerable countries in establishing cyber capacity

• May 12, 2021 12 May'21

  Microsoft fixes four critical bugs on lighter Patch Tuesday

  Four critical RCE vulnerabilities put users of various Microsoft products at risk, and should be patched right away

• May 12, 2021 12 May'21

  The Security Interviews: Why helpful bots could hurt vaccine roll-outs

  Earlier this year, spikes in traffic to websites containing information about Covid-19 vaccines was attributed by Imperva to automated bots scraping data. Why is that a problem?

• May 11, 2021 11 May'21

  UK Plc invited to sign up for Early Warning of cyber incidents

  The launch of the Early Warning incident notification service is among the enhancements being made by the NCSC to its service packages

• May 11, 2021 11 May'21

  NCSC cyber guidance targets cloud and home working

  The NCSC’s refreshed cyber security guidance for larger organisations places particular emphasis on cloud, home working and ransomware

• May 11, 2021 11 May'21

  Collaboration key to success of UK’s Cyber Security Council

  The founders of the UK’s Cyber Security Council have been setting out their plans to professionalise the cyber sector at the NCSC’s CyberUK 2021 event

• May 11, 2021 11 May'21

  Government to reform Computer Misuse Act

  Home secretary Priti Patel will explore reforming the Computer Misuse Act as calls mount for the 31-year-old law to be updated to reflect the changed online world

• May 11, 2021 11 May'21

  SolarWinds CEO calls for collective action against state attacks

  SolarWinds CEO tells NCSC’s CyberUK conference he is exploring the possibility of collaborating with other companies on collective cyber action against attacks backed by nation states

• May 11, 2021 11 May'21

  Swedish court finds ambiguities in hacked EncroChat cryptophone evidence

  Defence lawyer claims evidence obtained by hacking the EncroChat encrypted phone network has ‘no legal’ value following Swedish appeal court ruling

• May 11, 2021 11 May'21

  Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack has grave consequences

  The ramifications of a major ransomware attack against a US fuel pipeline operator could spread far and wide

• May 10, 2021 10 May'21

  NCSC Active Cyber Defence blocks surge of pandemic scams

  The NCSC responded to a surge in online scams last year as it moved to protect both the general public and critical national services during the pandemic

• May 07, 2021 07 May'21

  NCSC, CISA publish new information on Russia’s Cozy Bear

  New intelligence from UK and US cyber agencies suggests that APT29, or Cozy Bear, has been switching up its tactics

• May 07, 2021 07 May'21

  NCSC publishes smart city security guidelines

  Guidance for local authorities, IT and cyber professionals aims to ensure the security of connected, smart city projects

• May 07, 2021 07 May'21

  Cyber accreditation to improve legal standing of security pros

  Institute of Cyber Digital Investigations Professionals will help incident responders and cyber investigators get the professional recognition they deserve

• May 07, 2021 07 May'21

  Reddit enlists HackerOne to run public bug bounty programme

  Online community platform is opening up its HackerOne bug bounty programme to any ethical hacker who cares to have a look under the bonnet

• May 07, 2021 07 May'21

  Ransomware, supply chain attacks show no sign of abating

  Security experts at Black Hat Asia 2021 discuss the state of ransomware and supply chain attacks, two of the most common attack vectors that offer high returns for threat actors

• May 06, 2021 06 May'21

  Government urged to add scam protections to Online Safety Bill

  Group of organisations calls for the government to use the Online Safety Bill to protect people from cyber scams

• May 06, 2021 06 May'21

  Google to introduce mandatory MFA for users

  In future, holders of Google accounts will have no option but to use multifactor authentication if they want to use the firm’s services

• May 06, 2021 06 May'21

  HSBC blocks £249m in UK fraud with voice biometrics

  HSBC voice recognition technology has reduced telephone banking fraud as demand for the channel increases

• May 05, 2021 05 May'21

  Sophos: How timely intervention stopped a ProxyLogon attack

  A recent incident at an undisclosed customer sheds new light on how malicious actors exploit unpatched Microsoft Exchange servers

• May 03, 2021 03 May'21

  New standard to simplify IoT device onboarding

  Fido Alliance’s device onboarding protocol will automate the process of connecting internet-of-things devices to device management platforms while improving security

• April 30, 2021 30 Apr'21

  EncroChat: Top lawyer warned CPS of risk that phone hacking warrants could be unlawful

  Lord David Anderson QC warned prosecutors that there were formidable arguments against the lawfulness of a police operation to infiltrate the encrypted phone network, EncroChat

• April 29, 2021 29 Apr'21

  Northern Ireland pilots security training plan for 16-25s

  Pilot scheme in Northern Ireland aims to widen access to cyber security careers

• April 28, 2021 28 Apr'21

  Covid-19 security challenges leave bank customers at risk

  Challenges arising from the pandemic have left gaping holes in banking security, putting consumers at risk of fraud

• April 28, 2021 28 Apr'21

  Recruiters can’t afford to hold out for cyber ‘unicorns’

  The perfect security candidate is hard to find, so hiring policy needs to be more pragmatic

• April 28, 2021 28 Apr'21

  Office 365 compromise likely led to Merseyrail ransomware attack

  Compromise of Merseyrail employee data seems to have begun after a key email account was hacked

• April 27, 2021 27 Apr'21

  Total cost of ransomware attack heading towards $2m

  Sophos’ latest study finds that ransomware attacks are proving increasingly disruptive to their victims’ finances

• April 27, 2021 27 Apr'21

  Apple OS updates patch multiple security holes

  The much-heralded release of the privacy-centric iOS 14.5 also brings patches for multiple CVEs, and users of Apple smartphones, tablets and notebooks are best advised to update as soon as possible

• April 27, 2021 27 Apr'21

  North London school wins NCSC girls’ cyber challenge

  Highgate School in North London is the winner of this year’s CyberFirst Girls security competition

• April 27, 2021 27 Apr'21

  UnitingCare Queensland hit by cyber attack

  Healthcare service provider UnitingCare Queensland was reportedly hit by a ransomware attack that crippled several IT systems

• April 26, 2021 26 Apr'21

  How Toffs is seizing Asia’s CDN market

  Toffs Technologies is eyeing second- and third-tier cities in Asia as it bolsters its infrastructure and experiments with the use of home networks as content delivery networks

• April 22, 2021 22 Apr'21

  GCHQ: Cyber investment a guarantor of UK’s global status

  GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming sets out a vision for the UK’s cyber security future

• April 22, 2021 22 Apr'21

  Researchers shed more light on APT29 activity during SolarWinds attack

  RiskIQ’s Atlas threat intel team uncovers new patterns and threat infrastructure used in the SolarWind’s attacks

• April 22, 2021 22 Apr'21

  ToxicEye malware exploits Telegram messaging service

  The Telegram instant messaging service is being used by malicious actors to manage a remote access trojan called ToxicEye

• April 21, 2021 21 Apr'21

  NCSC offers teachers free cyber security training

  The NCSC’s latest security training offer builds on a package of measures designed to protect schools from cyber attack

• April 21, 2021 21 Apr'21

  SonicWall Email Security zero-days need urgent patch

  Users of SonicWall Email Security are advised to patch immediately, but the supplier is being criticised for the pace of its response

• April 21, 2021 21 Apr'21

  Time is running out to probe networks for Emotet

  Security teams will lose an unprecedented opportunity to gain valuable intelligence to enhance their defences when Emotet is finally ‘executed’ in a few days’ time

• April 20, 2021 20 Apr'21

  UK’s proposed IoT cyber security law gathers momentum

  New statistics appear to vindicate UK government proposals to force suppliers to be upfront about IoT security

• April 20, 2021 20 Apr'21

  Chinese APT exploits critical CVE in Pulse Secure VPN

  A newly disclosed vulnerability in Pulse Secure’s VPN is being exploited by a Chinese advanced persistent threat group – assume compromise and mitigate today

• April 20, 2021 20 Apr'21

  Codecov supply chain attack has echoes of SolarWinds

  Supply chain attack on code auditing service may have compromised the likes of HPE and IBM

• April 20, 2021 20 Apr'21

  Singapore’s ViewQwest debuts security service

  ViewQwest’s SecureNet service uses Palo Alto Networks’ next-generation firewall with deep packet inspection capabilities to guard against cyber threats

• April 18, 2021 18 Apr'21

  Government puts Facebook under pressure to stop end-to-end encryption over child abuse risks

  Facebook faces growing government pressure to abandon its plans to offer users end-to-end encryption to secure the privacy of their messages as the NSPCC raises concerns about child protection

• April 16, 2021 16 Apr'21

  Finnish government strengthens country’s IT network security

  Finland’s government has created a new national organisation to help public and private bodies improve network security

• April 15, 2021 15 Apr'21

  Biden sanctions Russia over SolarWinds cyber attacks

  US president imposes new sanctions on Russia following malicious cyber attacks against the US and allies

• April 15, 2021 15 Apr'21

  University of Hertfordshire is latest academic cyber attack victim

  Multiple systems are offline at the University of Hertfordshire following a cyber attack

• April 15, 2021 15 Apr'21

  Microsoft is most impersonated brand in phishing attempts

  Technology companies continue to be frequently spoofed by cyber criminals in their phishing attempts

• April 14, 2021 14 Apr'21

  FBI accesses ProxyLogon target servers to disrupt cyber criminals

  US Justice Department reveals successful court-authorised effort to clamp down on ProxyLogon exploitation

• April 14, 2021 14 Apr'21

  NSA unearths more MS Exchange vulnerabilities

  Microsoft patches more critical vulnerabilities in Exchange Server a month after the ProxyLogon incident, after being warned by the US National Security Agency

• April 13, 2021 13 Apr'21

  MP told to ditch official email over hacking fears

  MP Tom Tugendhat claims the intelligence services advised him to switch to the Gmail service due to concerns his parliamentary email could be hacked

• April 13, 2021 13 Apr'21

  Covid-19 left people feeling vulnerable to cyber crime

  Around 15 million people in the UK experienced cybercrime in the past 12 months, with a cumulative 64 million hours wasted dealing with the fallout

• April 13, 2021 13 Apr'21

  Millions of devices at risk from NAME:WRECK DNS bugs

  Newly disclosed set of nine DNS vulnerabilities puts over 100 million consumer, enterprise and industrial IoT devices at risk

• April 13, 2021 13 Apr'21

  EncroChat lawyers raise questions over use of PII secrecy orders on UK decryption capabilities

  Lawyers claim that public interest immunity certificates may have been used to withhold information on UK intelligence agencies’ ability to decrypt encrypted communications

• April 12, 2021 12 Apr'21

  Vaccine passports and travel plans race up Covid threat charts

  With lockdown restrictions easing in the UK, cyber criminals are tailoring their phishing lures to new areas of interest

• April 11, 2021 11 Apr'21

  Executive interview: Unleashing blockchain’s potential

  Labrys founder and CEO Lachlan Feeney offers his observations about blockchain adoption in Australia, and what his firm is doing to help organisations unleash the full potential of the technology

• April 09, 2021 09 Apr'21

  Egypt, Italy and US most affected in Facebook leak

  Researchers at VPN firm Surfshark have been analysing data on 533 million people leaked from Facebook

• April 09, 2021 09 Apr'21

  NCSC: Using your pet’s name as a password is very stupid

  If your email password is still Rex, Rover or Mr Fluffles, it’s probably best to change it, the NCSC has said

• April 09, 2021 09 Apr'21

  Cring ransomware hits ICS through two-year-old bug

  A long-disclosed vulnerability in Fortinet’s Fortigate VPN servers is being exploited to distribute Cring ransomware

• April 08, 2021 08 Apr'21

  Nation-state cyber attacks double in three years

  Cyber attacks backed by nation states are becoming more frequent and varied, moving the world closer to a point of ‘advanced cyber-conflict’, according to a University of Surrey research project

• April 07, 2021 07 Apr'21

  Facebook ducks calls to apologise over huge data leak

  Facebook gives its side of the story as data on millions of its users leaks, but is yet to apologise for security lapses that put half a billion people at risk of compromise

• April 07, 2021 07 Apr'21

  Unpatched SAP applications are target-rich ground for hackers

  Report from SAP and cyber threat research company Onapsis warns that hackers are attacking mission-critical SAP business applications that contain unpatched vulnerabilities

• April 06, 2021 06 Apr'21

  Facebook data leak could be outside scope of GDPR

  Regulators may be unable to do much about leaked data on 533 million Facebook users, as it seems to have been stolen before GDPR came into force

• April 01, 2021 01 Apr'21

  EncroChat hearings delayed as lawyers seek disclosure on police hacking

  Court hearings precipitated by police cracking the EncroChat secure mobile phone network have been delayed after defence lawyers request further disclosures on police decryption capabilities

• March 31, 2021 31 Mar'21

  NHS is apparently closing security skills gap

  By the end of 2020, there were more than twice as many in-house security professionals at NHS trusts as there were two years before

• March 31, 2021 31 Mar'21

  Cyber Security Council to champion UK security pros

  A new cyber security professional body has launched with the aim of developing and promoting UK cyber security excellence globally and growing the skills base

• March 30, 2021 30 Mar'21

  Ransomware attack on London schools highlights warnings

  Ransomware attack on Harris Federation comes just days after a fresh NCSC alert for the education sector

• March 30, 2021 30 Mar'21

  The Security Interviews: How to secure an F1 team in a pandemic

  A multi-year digital transformation programme paid off for F1 team Williams Racing when the 2020 season was abruptly postponed thanks to Covid-19. Learn how the team’s CIO has been supporting remote working and protecting data

• March 29, 2021 29 Mar'21

  UK courts face evidence ‘black hole’ over police EncroChat mass hacking

  French investigators have refused to disclose how they downloaded millions of messages from a supposedly secure cryptophone network used by organised criminals – leaving UK courts to grapple with a forensic ‘black hole’ of evidence

• March 29, 2021 29 Mar'21

  Cyber attack takes Channel Nine off-air

  The Australian broadcaster was hit by an alleged ransomware attack that disrupted broadcasting operations in its Sydney studio

• March 26, 2021 26 Mar'21

  Retailer FatFace pays $2m ransom to Conti cyber criminals

  Retailer FatFace paid out a $2m ransom to restore its data following a January 2021 cyber attack by the Conti ransomware syndicate

• March 26, 2021 26 Mar'21

  Leading Israeli IoT firm lands in US as worldwide malware attacks surge

  With US end-user internet of things devices expected to grow to $1.6tn by 2025 and with more than 5.4 billion IoT connected devices in North America alone, tech firms and the black hat community are weighing up the potential

• March 26, 2021 26 Mar'21

  ‘Major’ security flaw detected in 5G core network slicing design

  Mobile security specialist details potentially revenue-threatening vulnerabilities with key element of next-generation networks and reveals plans to work with industry to provide mitigation prior to widespread deployments

• March 25, 2021 25 Mar'21

  Cyber security complacency puts UK at risk, says NCSC head

  National Cyber Security Centre CEO Lindy Cameron, in her maiden speech in the role, warns of challenges ahead for the UK and sets out the future agenda for cyber

• March 25, 2021 25 Mar'21

  Facebook disrupts Chinese espionage operation

  Social media giant’s in-house security team has tracked down and disrupted a long-running Chinese campaign targeting the Uighur Muslim minority

• March 25, 2021 25 Mar'21

  More than £34.5m stolen in pandemic scams over past year

  City of London Police and National Cyber Security Centre report large uptick in threats and crime related to Covid-19 over the past year, in some cases directed specifically at health organisations

• March 24, 2021 24 Mar'21

  Oil giant Shell hit through Accellion FTA breach

  Energy firm discloses cyber attack through Accellion File Transfer Appliance

• March 24, 2021 24 Mar'21

  Apparent drop in cyber incidents highlights underlying problems

  UK organisations report fewer cyber security incidents, but the headline data masks more serious issues, according to a report

• March 24, 2021 24 Mar'21

  UK faces significant cyber talent shortfall

  Cyber security sector is struggling to attract the talented workforce it needs

• March 24, 2021 24 Mar'21

  Cyber criminals forging Covid-19 vaccine certificates

  Vaccine passports and certificates are gaining mainstream traction, which means cyber criminals are also on the bandwagon

• March 23, 2021 23 Mar'21

  NCSC beefs up support for education sector after spate of attacks

  Refreshed guidance from the NCSC recommends a defence-in-depth strategy as schools and universities face a renewed wave of cyber attacks

• March 22, 2021 22 Mar'21

  $50m ransomware demand on Acer is highest ever

  Record-breaking double-extortion cyber attack saw REvil gang exfiltrate financial data from Taiwan-based PC manufacturer

• March 18, 2021 18 Mar'21

  Eastern Health reports ‘cyber incident’, takes systems offline

  Australian healthcare provider Eastern Health takes IT systems offline as a precaution while it looks into a cyber incident

• March 17, 2021 17 Mar'21

  Average ransomware cost triples, says report

  The average amount paid out by ransomware victims has grown almost threefold to more than $300,000 per incident, according to a report

• March 17, 2021 17 Mar'21

  Cyber sector welcomes PM’s defence review

  Security commentators approve of measures to improve the UK’s cyber resilience, strengthen its R&D and skills base, lead on the development of new technology and promote a free, open, peaceful and secure global internet

• March 16, 2021 16 Mar'21

  Unusual DearCry ransomware uses ‘rare’ approach to encryption

  Hybrid approach to encryption used by DearCry bears similarities to WannaCry

• March 16, 2021 16 Mar'21

  Microsoft releases one-click ProxyLogon mitigation tool

  Microsoft’s mitigation tool is designed to help customers without dedicated security or IT teams navigate fixing their vulnerable Exchange servers

• March 15, 2021 15 Mar'21

  UK plans ‘full spectrum’ approach to national cyber security

  PM Boris Johnson expands on proposed National Cyber Force and plans to set up a north of England Cyber Corridor

• March 15, 2021 15 Mar'21

  Microsoft Exchange ProxyLogon attacks spike 10 times in four days

  Exploitations of the Microsoft Exchange ProxyLogon vulnerabilities have increased tenfold in just four days

• March 12, 2021 12 Mar'21

  NCSC issues emergency alert on Microsoft Exchange patch

  UK’s national cyber agency calls on organisations affected by the ProxyLogon vulnerabilities to patch their Microsoft Exchange Servers immediately

• March 12, 2021 12 Mar'21

  DearCry ransomware targets vulnerable Exchange servers

  As predicted, ransomware gangs have started to target vulnerable instances of Microsoft Exchange Server, making patching an even greater priority

• March 12, 2021 12 Mar'21

  Brewer Molson Coors targeted in cyber attack

  Cyber criminals have disrupted beer production at Molson Coors, one of the world’s largest brewers

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  Attack on surveillance cameras a warning over security, ethics

  The attack on a video surveillance startup by a hacktivist group raises questions not just over cyber security, but the use and extent of surveillance technology