News

Hackers and cybercrime prevention

• August 25, 2021 25 Aug'21

  UK loses £1.3bn to fraud and cyber crime so far this year

  New figures from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau show a threefold spike in reported financial losses to fraud and cyber crime in the first six months of 2021

• August 24, 2021 24 Aug'21

  13 million malware attacks on Linux seen in wild

  Cryptominers, web shells and ransomware are the most common varieties of malwares targeting Linux systems, thanks to its prevalence as the backbone of most public cloud services

• August 24, 2021 24 Aug'21

  Half of MS Exchange servers at risk in ProxyShell debacle

  Up to 50% of MS Exchange users in the UK are exposed to three vulnerabilities that are now being actively exploited

• August 24, 2021 24 Aug'21

  More data breaches in Australia arising from ransomware

  The number of data breaches in Australia arising out of ransomware attacks grew by 24% during the first half of 2021, according to OAIC’s latest data breach report

• August 20, 2021 20 Aug'21

  How the pandemic transformed IAG’s Hangar 51 accelerator

  Businesses of all shapes and sizes have had to take a different approach during the pandemic – Dupsy Abiola, head of global innovation at IAG, explains how IAG transformed its Hangar 51 accelerator during the coronavirus outbreak

• August 19, 2021 19 Aug'21

  IT leaders fear ‘trickle-down’ of nation-state cyber attacks

  Three-quarters of IT decision-makers are concerned that the tactics, techniques and procedures used by nation-state attackers could be used against them

• August 18, 2021 18 Aug'21

  MoD seeks security tech to harden military systems

  The Defence and Security Accelerator has launched a programme to root out technology that will reduce the military’s exposure to cyber attacks

• August 16, 2021 16 Aug'21

  Nearly half of retailers hit by ransomware in 2020

  In the face of increasingly prevalent and sophisticated ransomware attacks, retail organisations need to develop alternative ways of restoring lost or encrypted data, as paying the ransom does not guarantee its return in almost a third of cases

• August 13, 2021 13 Aug'21

  Cyber Runway programme supports new security businesses

  The Cyber Runway programme is a government-backed scheme to support entrepreneurs, startups and scaleups in launching and growing new security businesses

• August 13, 2021 13 Aug'21

  Hospitals see cyber security investment as a low priority

  Almost half of hospitals have experienced an IT shutdown as a result of a cyber attack in the past six months, but just over one in 10 hospital executives see cyber security investment as a high priority

• August 12, 2021 12 Aug'21

  LGA goes live with Digital Pathfinders Programme

  Programme offers £20,000 in funding to councils that come up with ‘pioneering solutions’ for cyber security, digital inclusion and connectivity

• August 11, 2021 11 Aug'21

  US wins bid to widen grounds of appeal in Julian Assange extradition case

  The US government accused medical expert professor Michael Kopelman of misleading the court by failing to disclose details of Assange’s relationship 

• August 11, 2021 11 Aug'21

  Hacker makes off with $600m in world’s largest crypto-heist

  Despite bagging $600m worth of cryptocurrency in what has been described as the biggest decentralised finance hack, the hacker has already started returning the funds

• August 11, 2021 11 Aug'21

  The Netherlands still lacks digital resilience, says report

  Report by National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security says the Netherlands’ digital resilience has improved, but is still insufficient

• August 10, 2021 10 Aug'21

  Ransomware demands and payments hit new records

  Ransomware groups continue to intensify their operations as ransom demands and payments increase alongside use of “quadruple extortion” tactics during first half of 2021

• August 10, 2021 10 Aug'21

  How Grab is using Kafka in fraud detection

  Grab is using Apache Kafka in its fraud detection and prevention platform to ingest event streams from its mobile software development kits and client backends to pick up fraudulent activities

• August 09, 2021 09 Aug'21

  Possible ransomware attack hits Italian vaccine booking system

  It is still unclear who is behind the attack that caused Covid-19 vaccine bookings in Lazio, Italy, to grind to a halt, as despite masses of files being encrypted no specific ransom demands have been made for the decryptor

• August 05, 2021 05 Aug'21

  Nine security flaws found in critical hospital infrastructure

  The ‘PwnedPiper’ vulnerabilities identified in systems used by 80% of US hospitals could be used to launch ransomware attacks

• August 05, 2021 05 Aug'21

  BlackMatter goes on the record about DarkSide and REvil links

  BlackMatter gives details of its ransomware-as-a-service operation and distinguishes itself from now-defunct ransomware gangs in interview with cyber security analysts from Recorded Future

• August 05, 2021 05 Aug'21

  Cloud misconfiguration a growing cause of security incidents

  Rapid cloud adoption during the pandemic has increased the attack surface and heightened the risk of misconfiguring services, leaving organisations more vulnerable to cyber attacks

• August 04, 2021 04 Aug'21

  Six Isle of Wight schools hit by ransomware attack

  Authorities are still working to manage the fallout from the attack, which has already forced at least one school to delay the start of the new term in September

• August 04, 2021 04 Aug'21

  Initial access brokers unaffected by ransomware content bans

  Banning ransomware content from cyber crime forums has done little to prevent initial access brokers from advertising their services, with the number of access listings increasing in the second quarter of 2021

• August 03, 2021 03 Aug'21

  UK MoD turns to hackers to help secure digital assets

  Hackers given direct access to internal Ministry of Defence systems to identify and report security vulnerabilities

• August 03, 2021 03 Aug'21

  New ransomware gang spins out of DarkSide

  The emergence of a ransomware gang known as BlackMatter raises questions that it could be a re-brand of REvil or DarkSide

• August 03, 2021 03 Aug'21

  Destruction and integrity cyber attacks on the rise

  Cyber security professionals have reported a sharp rise in debilitating attacks aimed at destroying or manipulating data

• August 03, 2021 03 Aug'21

  Ransomware attacks increase dramatically during 2021

  Dramatic increase in ransomware attacks globally during first half of 2021 driven by triple extortion technique, and is only set to expand further

• August 02, 2021 02 Aug'21

  Government publishes second version of digital identity trust framework

  The second iteration of the framework, still in alpha version, sets out how organisations can become certified digital identity service providers

• July 29, 2021 29 Jul'21

  Technical hiccups force Babuk ransomware gang to change tactics

  The Babuk ransomware operation backed away from encrypting its victims’ files, and technical difficulties may be to blame, reports McAfee

• July 29, 2021 29 Jul'21

  Investigatory Powers Tribunal finds UK spy agencies unlawfully collected personal data

  Campaign groups Privacy International and Liberty are gearing up to bring further legal action after a court found that UK spy agencies unlawfully collected phone and internet records

• July 28, 2021 28 Jul'21

  Top vulnerabilities target perimeter devices

  The most frequently exploited CVEs of the year so far are to be found in perimeter and network access devices, according to a joint advisory from the NCSC and partners

• July 28, 2021 28 Jul'21

  COP26 cyber resource hub launched for Glasgow businesses

  New digital information hub for Glasgow business to help organisations keep secure both physically and online ahead of major climate change summit

• July 27, 2021 27 Jul'21

  US lawmakers call for probe into ‘arrogant’ spyware firm

  US members of Congress have called for an investigation into NSO Group, the spyware supplier at the centre of a massive surveillance scandal

• July 27, 2021 27 Jul'21

  TikTok sets up cyber security hub in Dublin

  Dublin-based cyber centre will oversee the security of TikTok’s users across Europe

• July 27, 2021 27 Jul'21

  How IBM is solving the data privacy problem

  IBM’s fully homomorphic encryption technology lets enterprises apply analytics and machine learning to encrypted data without compromising data privacy

• July 26, 2021 26 Jul'21

  Malicious actors turn to obscure programming languages

  Using new, lesser-known or otherwise uncommon programming languages to code new malwares can help skirt cyber defences

• July 26, 2021 26 Jul'21

  No More Ransom initiative saves £850m over five years

  Initiative’s free ransomware decryption tools have been used by more than six million people since 2016

• July 25, 2021 25 Jul'21

  Tokyo 2020 hit by data breach

  The user names and passwords of Tokyo 2020 ticket holders and event volunteers were reportedly compromised, but government official claims the data leak was not large

• July 25, 2021 25 Jul'21

  OAIC: Uber failed to protect personal data of Australians

  Uber did not take reasonable steps to protect Australians’ personal information from unauthorised access, says Australia’s national privacy watchdog

• July 23, 2021 23 Jul'21

  Kaseya obtains universal ransomware decryptor

  Kaseya says it obtained a ransomware decryptor key from a trusted third party, but there is no word on whether a ransom was paid

• July 22, 2021 22 Jul'21

  Respect in Security challenges abuse and harassment in cyber

  With around a third of cyber pros saying they have personally experienced harassment at work or online, a new initiative is urging organisations to pledge their support to help free the community from the scourge of abuse. We met its founders

• July 21, 2021 21 Jul'21

  France’s Macron among alleged Pegasus targets

  Data relating to devices used by French president Emmanuel Macron and the head of the World Health Organization, among others, has been uncovered in a dataset linked to government use of spyware

• July 20, 2021 20 Jul'21

  NCSC’s Cameron urges deeper cyber alliance-building

  Speaking to an event in Israel, NCSC CEO Lindy Cameron has praised joint UK-Israeli efforts on security collaboration

• July 19, 2021 19 Jul'21

  UK, US confirm Chinese state backed MS Exchange Server attacks

  UK and US governments, alongside the EU and Nato, have formally attributed the March 2021 Microsoft Exchange Server attacks to Chinese state-backed actors

• July 19, 2021 19 Jul'21

  Pegasus mobile RAT abused to monitor journalists and activists

  Israel-based surveillance specialist NSO Group is facing renewed pressure after it emerged its Pegasus mobile surveillance tool may be being widely abused by repressive regimes

• July 16, 2021 16 Jul'21

  Legacy SonicWall kit exploited in ransom campaign

  Users of older versions of SonicWall Secure Mobile Access 100 and Secure Remote Access products are at risk from a new ransomware campaign

• July 15, 2021 15 Jul'21

  Macquarie Data Centres to build Sydney North facility

  Macquarie Data Centres’ latest 32MW facility will come with a cyber security centre that monitors and manages cyber security events

• July 15, 2021 15 Jul'21

  Lawyers take EncroChat hacking operation to French supreme court

  Lawyers head to French supreme court after appeals court finds EnroChat inception legal under French law

• July 15, 2021 15 Jul'21

  Singapore to invest S$50m in ‘digital trust’ capabilities

  The Singapore government is pumping in S$50m to bolster research in technologies that will foster digital trust in areas such as privacy protection and identity management

• July 14, 2021 14 Jul'21

  REvil ransomware crew drops offline, reasons murky

  The REvil ransomware operation appears to have gone dark, but claims about its demise are almost certainly exaggerated

• July 14, 2021 14 Jul'21

  Multiple Microsoft bugs being actively exploited

  Microsoft’s July Patch Tuesday update fixes 117 vulnerabilities, 13 rated as critical and four already being actively exploited