News

Hackers and cybercrime prevention

• April 12, 2018 12 Apr'18

  Cyber security a shared responsibility, says Amber Rudd

  The UK home secretary has emphasised that cyber security is a shared responsibility and committed to promote EU cyber cooperation post-Brexit at the National Cyber Security Centre’s conference in Manchester

• April 12, 2018 12 Apr'18

  GCHQ growing cyber capability to match threat

  GCHQ continues to grow and develop its cyber capability to match the rapidly expanding and evolving threat landscape, says agency director

• April 12, 2018 12 Apr'18

  UK cyber attack reporting set to be more streamlined

  Government funding has been allocated to help streamline cyber attack reporting, according to the National Cyber Security Centre

• April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18

  New cyber incident classification to boost UK response

  A new cyber attack categorisation system has been unveiled to improve UK response to incidents

• April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18

  Government to set up £13.5m cyber security centre

  Located at the 2012 Olympic Park, the London Cyber Innovation Centre could create up to 2,000 jobs in cyber security

• April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18

  Diversity key to more effective cyber security, says NCSC

  Diversity in defence teams is key to improved cyber security, according to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)

• April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18

  GCHQ to set up shop in Manchester

  UK intelligence, security and cyber agency GCHQ is expanding its network of UK sites to north west England

• April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18

  NSA calls for cyber security community collaboration

  A US National Security Agency (NSA) representative has called for cyber security community collaboration at the National Cyber Security Centre’s conference in Manchester

• April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18

  UK to launch crackdown on dark web

  The UK is to enhance its specialist law enforcement response to crack down on criminals operating on the dark web

• April 10, 2018 10 Apr'18

  Mobile phishing a growing threat, warns report

  Phishing on mobile devices is a growing threat to business as attacks move beyond email to text messages and apps

• April 10, 2018 10 Apr'18

  Cyber criminals earn up to $2m a year, study shows

  Academic study reveals just how lucrative cyber crime can be, with top-level cyber criminals out-earning government leaders and university graduates

• April 10, 2018 10 Apr'18

  Ransomware top cyber threat, DBIR shows

  Ransomware remains the top cyber security threat to organisations, humans continue to be significant weakness and HR departments are a top target, according to the latest Verizon Data breach investigations report

• April 09, 2018 09 Apr'18

  Cyber threat to UK business greater than ever, report reveals

  The cyber threat to UK business is “bigger than ever” and the best way to defend against it is collaboration between government, law enforcement and business, a report shows

• April 09, 2018 09 Apr'18

  More than one in 10 employees fall for social engineering attacks

  Employees download malicious files, click phishing links, correspond with hackers, and even share contact information for their colleagues, a report reveals

• April 06, 2018 06 Apr'18

  Business increases use of encryption in the cloud

  The use of encryption has seen double-digit growth in the past year due to a number of security-related drivers, a study has revealed

• April 06, 2018 06 Apr'18

  HSBC IT whistleblower faces extradition to Switzerland

  Hervé Falciani, who stole data from thousands of private banking customers, is apprehended in Spain following the issuing of an international arrest warrant

• April 05, 2018 05 Apr'18

  Retail sector top cyber attack target

  The retail sector was the top cyber attack target in 2017, as cyber attacks evolved to become more organised and structured, a report reveals

• April 05, 2018 05 Apr'18

  Business should note Facebook data sharing, say security advisers

  Businesses that use Facebook and have employees that use it should take note that data is shared with potential cyber attackers, security advisers warn, as Facebook reveals the Cambridge Analytica data exploitation scandal may affect 87 million users

• April 05, 2018 05 Apr'18

  More than 1.5 billion business and consumer files exposed online

  With just over a month to go before the GDPR compliance deadline, more than 1.5 billion data files are exposed online without adequate protections, a report reveals

• April 05, 2018 05 Apr'18

  Interview: GDPR will give Dutch privacy watchdog its teeth

  The Netherlands’ privacy watchdog has not handed out fines so far because there has been no reason to, says the organisation’s chairman, Aleid Wolfsen

• April 04, 2018 04 Apr'18

  Ransomware puts pressure on incident response

  Cyber attackers switched focus to ransomware attacks in 2017 putting pressure on incident response, while human error was responsible for two-thirds of compromised records, a study shows

• April 04, 2018 04 Apr'18

  Average attacker dwell time nearly six months for EMEA, study shows

  Firms in Europe, the Middle East and Africa take nearly six months to detect cyber attacks on average, a report reveals

• April 03, 2018 03 Apr'18

  UK firms failing to make financial plans for cyber attacks

  Most UK firms are failing to plan for the financial impact of cyber attacks, a survey by Lloyds Bank has revealed

• April 03, 2018 03 Apr'18

  Data breaches revealed at four US retail chains

  The Easter weekend has seen another round of data breaches, further underlining that many companies are still failing to take the necessary steps to protect customer data

• April 03, 2018 03 Apr'18

   Automation and gamification key to cyber security

  The use of automation and gamification are key to winning the fight against cyber criminals in the face of the skills’ shortage, a study investigating challenges facing IT security teams reveals

• March 29, 2018 29 Mar'18

  Europol operation nabs another 20 cyber criminals

  Police have arrested 20 cyber criminals in connection with a €1m fraud operation across Italy and Romania

• March 29, 2018 29 Mar'18

  Business unaware of scale of cyber threat

  Many businesses, especially board members, do not understand the scale of the cyber threat, but international efforts to combat cyber crime are being hampered by political barriers

• March 29, 2018 29 Mar'18

  Cryptocurrency mining rampant in higher education

  Higher education institutions are the biggest target for illicit cryptocurrency mining, data shows

• March 29, 2018 29 Mar'18

  Most airports not protected from cyber threats

  The chairman of the Israel Airports Authority paints a dismal picture of the state of cyber security in aviation, and offers advice on what can be done to avert the next disaster

• March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18

  Majority of European firms unprepared for phishing attacks

  Most cyber attacks can be traced back to a phishing email, but more than half of European firms are unprepared to deal with email-based attacks, research has revealed

• March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18

  Facebook announces more privacy control updates

  Social media giant updates privacy settings and tools in response to the unfolding controversy over Cambridge Analytica’s use of Facebook data for political campaigns

• March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18

  Microsoft Word document and zero-day attacks on the rise

  Macro-less Microsoft Word document attacks and zero-day malware are on the rise, according to data from WatchGuard

• March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18

  Majority of firms fear mobile workers have been hacked

  More than half of organisations fear that their mobile workers have been hacked and most are concerned that a growing mobile workforce means increased cyber security risk, a survey reveals

• March 27, 2018 27 Mar'18

  Most top UK firms fail to disclose cyber risk testing details

  Most of the largest UK companies do not reveal their testing of cyber protection plans and do not share security updates with the board regularly, a Deloitte report reveals

• March 27, 2018 27 Mar'18

  UK organisations urged to develop cyber security skills

  Managed cloud computing firm Rackspace is calling on UK organisations to do more to develop cyber security skills in the light of research into expertise in cloud security

• March 26, 2018 26 Mar'18

  Police arrest €1bn cyber heist mastermind

  Police have arrested a key member of the Carbanak gang believed to be responsible for more than 100 cyber heists worldwide

• March 26, 2018 26 Mar'18

  Blockchain not ready for cross-border bank payments

  The use of blockchain in certain parts of the financial services industry is limited at present due to the additional IT work required around its use

• March 26, 2018 26 Mar'18

  UK government publishes export strategy for UK cyber security

  The government has published a guide for UK cyber security firms on how it plans to support their efforts to find and secure opportunities to export their products and services

• March 26, 2018 26 Mar'18

  Ransomware publicity heightened awareness but other threats remain, experts say

  Due to several high profile attacks over the past year, ransomware is now well known across organisations, but there are other threats to be aware of, say cyber security experts

• March 26, 2018 26 Mar'18

  Dutch SMEs’ cyber security is insufficient

  Nowhere in the Netherlands is digitisation as big as it is in small and medium-sized enterprises, but the sector still has a lot to do in terms of cyber security

• March 23, 2018 23 Mar'18

  Cloud key to cyber defence, says Palo Alto Networks

  Organisations need to make sense of security intelligence and act on it faster to get ahead of attackers, and cloud-based security is one way of making that possible, according to Palo Alto Networks

• March 23, 2018 23 Mar'18

  Private sector over-investing against nation-state attacks

  The creator of a routing technique that protects the domain name system says the money spent on guarding against nation-state actors could have been better used for other purposes

• March 22, 2018 22 Mar'18

  Application layer DDoS attacks increasing, Imperva data shows

  Distributed denial of service attacks targeting applications almost doubled in the last three months of 2017, according to Imperva Incapsula data

• March 22, 2018 22 Mar'18

  Businesses lack cyber security confidence after majority were breached in past year

  Most businesses were hit by a data breach in the past year, yet less than half are confident they would detect a breach, a survey shows

• March 21, 2018 21 Mar'18

  MoD to focus on SMEs to raise supply chain cyber security

  The Ministry of Defence continues to develop a joint initiative with industry aimed at raising the security posture throughout the UK’s defence supply chain, with increasing focus on SMEs

• March 21, 2018 21 Mar'18

  SD-WAN still too complex, survey shows

  Despite SD-WAN adoption, WAN complexity remains a major challenge, a survey has revealed, driving firms to managed services, mainly because of security concerns

• March 21, 2018 21 Mar'18

  Popular culture key to giving cyber security much-needed boost

  The cyber security industry should turn to popular culture to raise awareness of the cyber threat to businesses and consumers and attract new blood to the field, says McMafia author

• March 20, 2018 20 Mar'18

  Think tank reports lifts lid on police cyber crime training

  UK think tank Parliament Street has lifted the lid on spending by police forces on training staff to deal with cyber crime and recommended greater collaboration in this regard

• March 20, 2018 20 Mar'18

  Firms need to move from DevOps to DevSecOps, says expert

  In the face of competition, organisations are turning to DevOps to improve efficiency and accelerate innovation, but this is creating new security risks, an industry expert warns

• March 19, 2018 19 Mar'18

  Wigan data breaches underline need to share threat intelligence

  Ongoing data breaches experienced by local authorities underline the need for greater sharing of threat intelligence, say security experts

• March 19, 2018 19 Mar'18

  Russia compromised core router in US energy attacks

  Russian cyber attackers used a compromised core router in a series of attacks on the US energy sector, security researchers have revealed as the UK energy sector is placed on alert

• March 16, 2018 16 Mar'18

  IT contractors not a risk despite Snowden leaks, GCHQ tells court

  The government argues in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal that contractors with systems administration rights to computers holding GCHQ’s most sensitive intelligence pose no more of a security risk than the agency’s employees

• March 16, 2018 16 Mar'18

  Cyber criminals using complex financial system, study shows

  Cyber criminals are using a combination of new cryptocurrencies, gaming currencies and micro-payments to launder up to $200bn in ill-gotten gains, research has revealed

• March 16, 2018 16 Mar'18

  Defence industry urges government to relax controls on crypto exports

  Trade body representing defence, aerospace and security companies calls on government to make it easier to export “non-contentious” cryptography to secure organisations against cyber crime

• March 16, 2018 16 Mar'18

  US blames Russia for cyber attacks on energy firms

  The US has blamed Russia for a series of attacks on energy sector firms, underlining the need to ensure critical infrastructure IT systems are up to date and secure

• March 15, 2018 15 Mar'18

  DocuTrac medical software is a breach risk, warns Rapid7

  Security researchers have issued a security warning about medical billing and documentation software they say puts patients at risk of data breach

• March 14, 2018 14 Mar'18

  Researchers accused of irresponsible disclosure of AMD chip flaws

  Israel-based researchers have been accused of irresponsible disclosure for going public with more than a dozen security flaws discovered in AMD processors

• March 14, 2018 14 Mar'18

  Most people think cryptocurrency will be accepted on buses by 2025

  Cryptocurrency is a mystery to many people, yet 55% of respondents to a survey expect shops and buses to accept digital money in seven years’ time

• March 14, 2018 14 Mar'18

  APAC security chiefs expect imminent attack on critical systems

  Nearly 70% of cyber security leaders in the APAC region believe a major attack affecting critical infrastructure across multiple countries will happen in the next two years, a survey reveals

• March 13, 2018 13 Mar'18

  Government ‘unlawfully delegated’ bulk data powers to GCHQ, court hears

  Privacy International urges Britain’s most secret court, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, to rule that the government illegally collected surveillance data from internet and phone companies until at least September 2017

• March 13, 2018 13 Mar'18

  Public sector organisations ill-prepared for GDPR

  Public sector organisations in the UK need to do much more to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation rule on providing information to citizens about details held about them

• March 13, 2018 13 Mar'18

  Slingshot router malware: a warning for businesses

  A stealthy malware that has been used to carry out cyber espionage undetected for six years should raise a red flag to businesses, say security commentators

• March 12, 2018 12 Mar'18

  Eight new cyber threats a second in Q4 2017, McAfee report reveals

  There was an increase in cyber attacks on healthcare organisations, the use of fileless malware and cryptocurrency mining in the last three months of 2017, with eight new threats a second

• March 12, 2018 12 Mar'18

  Fileless attacks surge as hackers exploit PowerShell scripts

  Malicious scripting through Microsoft’s PowerShell IT admin tool is being used to take control of Windows machines and Apple Macs

• March 12, 2018 12 Mar'18

  UK leads global upward trend in SOC maturity

  The UK is leading the way towards more efficient security operations centres, but many still continue to operate with serious gaps in security, a report reveals

• March 09, 2018 09 Mar'18

  Cooperation and exercises key to cyber defence, says Nato centre

  International cooperation and regular tabletop exercises are essential to ensure effective cyber defence, according to the Nato cyber defence centre

• March 09, 2018 09 Mar'18

  Security researchers demonstrate ransomware attack on robots

  Researchers have carried out a ransomware attack on robots to show that such attacks are possible and should be guarded against

• March 09, 2018 09 Mar'18

  Cryptojacking cyber criminals up their game

  Cyber criminals hijacking computing resources to mine for cryptocurrencies are raising their efforts to bypass enterprise security controls, researchers have found

• March 08, 2018 08 Mar'18

  Mac malware more than doubled in 2017

  Malware targeting Apple Mac computers more than doubled from 2016 to 2017, according to security firm Malwarebytes

• March 08, 2018 08 Mar'18

  UK cyber security certification pilot launched

  UK businesses now have the opportunity to improve their cyber security and prove they have taken steps to protect data they hold, thanks to a police-backed certification scheme

• March 08, 2018 08 Mar'18

  Businesses warned not to ignore cryptojacking threat

  Businesses should not ignore the threat of malware designed to carry out illicit cryptocurrency mining, warns NTT Security

• March 07, 2018 07 Mar'18

  Only half of ransomware payments honoured

  Only half of ransomware victims who pay ransoms to cyber criminals recover their data, a report reveals, pointing to a need for more effective strategies to deal with these attacks

• March 07, 2018 07 Mar'18

  Businesses under pressure to allow easier access to cloud

  Businesses are under pressure from employees to use consumer-focused authentication methods for cloud applications, but that could have both positive and negative security implications, warns Gemalto

• March 07, 2018 07 Mar'18

  Cyber attacks up nearly 20% in 2017

  Research by SonicWall shows there were 9.32 billion malware attacks globally last year, but ransomware attacks fell by 71%

• March 07, 2018 07 Mar'18

  Cyber security is a team sport, says NCSC

  The UK’s national cyber security agency aims to help organisations understand the need to act collaboratively and collectively against the cyber threat, urging them to raise the bar

• March 07, 2018 07 Mar'18

  World Economic Forum creates fintech focus group for cyber security

  WEF consortium of companies will focus on protecting financial technology firms from cyber threats

• March 06, 2018 06 Mar'18

  Government sets out tighter security measures for IoT devices

  The government has announced plans to develop a new code of practice to improve the security of connected internet of things devices

• March 06, 2018 06 Mar'18

  EC to boost cyber security support and collaboration

  The European Commission is focused on boosting cyber security support and collaboration throughout the European Union

• March 05, 2018 05 Mar'18

  Most healthcare organisations have been breached, report shows

   Less than a third of global healthcare organisations remain untouched, as data breaches rise across the industry, a report reveals

• March 02, 2018 02 Mar'18

  Cyber crime is a top threat to UK charities, says NCSC

  Cyber crime poses the most serious threats to UK charities, the National Cyber Security Centre has warned

• March 02, 2018 02 Mar'18

  Cyber threat to industrial control systems highest yet

  The cyber threat to industrial control systems has never been greater, according to a report analysing malicious activity aimed at such systems

• March 02, 2018 02 Mar'18

  Equifax ups breach figure by a further 2.5 million

  Credit rating agency Equifax has increased the number of US records believed to have been compromised in 2017

• March 02, 2018 02 Mar'18

  Memcached servers irresistible to DDoS attackers, expert warns

  In the light of the biggest distributed denial of service attack to date against GitHub, organisations should ditch memcached servers or risk a blizzard of blistering attacks, says security researcher

• March 02, 2018 02 Mar'18

  New privacy fears as IT challenges delay surveillance oversight body by a year

  IT challenges have delayed government plans for an independent body to authorise requests to access the public’s internet and phone records by nearly a year, raising new legal and privacy concerns

• March 01, 2018 01 Mar'18

  Imaging systems biggest security risk in healthcare

  Imaging systems have been identified as the biggest cyber security risk in the healthcare sector, a report on internet of things security has revealed

• March 01, 2018 01 Mar'18

  Security fears delay roll-out of national e-voting system in Finland

  Project enters problem-solving phase to identify advanced, effective and best practice solutions to develop a secure internet-based voting system

• February 28, 2018 28 Feb'18

  Salary is not top way to attract cybersec pros, report reveals

  Salary is not the highest priority for cyber security professionals, a report on hiring and retaining top cyber security talent shows

• February 28, 2018 28 Feb'18

  Firms failing to learn from cyber attacks

  Organisations are failing to learn from cyber attacks, and lax security practices are leaving organisations worldwide open to damaging cyber attacks, a report reveals

• February 28, 2018 28 Feb'18

  Government must rewrite illegal sections of Snoopers’ Charter, court told

  A court has been asked to give ministers until July 2018 to rewrite powers to require phone and internet companies to retain data on the population. The government acknowledges parts of surveillance regime are unlawful

• February 28, 2018 28 Feb'18

  Businesses urged to patch Oracle WebLogic flaw

  Security researchers are again urging businesses to patch an Oracle WebLogic flaw that continues to be exploited by cyber criminals to mine cryptocurrencies

• February 27, 2018 27 Feb'18

  Understanding the cyber threat key to UK defence, says NCSC

  Understanding cyber threats is key to defending the UK and ensuring it is a safe place to do business, says the National Cyber Security Centre

• February 26, 2018 26 Feb'18

  Singapore firms unprepared for GDPR

  An EY study reveals that only 10% of organisations in Singapore are ready to comply with Europe’s new data protection regime

• February 26, 2018 26 Feb'18

  Cryptomining is top attack type, says Malwarebytes

  Malicious cryptomining has been the top cyber criminal activity detected since September 2017, a report reveals

• February 26, 2018 26 Feb'18

  Surveillance watchdog investigates security risks of GCHQ IT contractors

  The investigatory powers commissioner is reviewing the security arrangements for IT contractors that have access to live computer systems at GCHQ holding highly sensitive records on the UK population

• February 26, 2018 26 Feb'18

  Cyber criminals catching up with nation state attacks

  The trickle-down effect of advanced “military-grade” tools is seeing the gap between cyber criminal and nation state attack capabilities closing, outpacing many organisations’ defence capabilities

• February 26, 2018 26 Feb'18

  2018 could be year of mobile malware, says McAfee 

  Security firm announces several mobile industry partnerships as its latest mobile threat report shows mobile malware is becoming increasingly popular with cyber attackers

• February 23, 2018 23 Feb'18

  Avast discovers Tempting Cedar Android spyware campaign

  Security researchers have uncovered a three-year-old Android spyware campaign spread through social media and targeting people in the Middle East

• February 22, 2018 22 Feb'18

  Unprotected Kubernetes consoles expose firms to cryptojacking

  A number of big companies have been targeted by crytojacking attacks, where cyber criminals hijack computing power to mine cryptocurrencies, but some have unprotected Kubernetes consoles in common

• February 22, 2018 22 Feb'18

  UK plans laws to protect company directors from ID theft

  Legislation will make it easier for directors to remove their personal addresses from the company register

• February 22, 2018 22 Feb'18

  Google calls out Microsoft for failing to fix reported flaw

  Google’s Project Zero has gone public with a Windows 10 flaw that Microsoft claimed to have fixed in its February security update