News

Hackers and cybercrime prevention

• June 24, 2025 24 Jun'25

  UK ransomware costs significantly outpace other countries

  UK organisations hit by ransomware attacks paid much higher ransoms than in other countries over the past 12 months, according to study

• June 24, 2025 24 Jun'25

  One year since being freed, Julian Assange still a victim of state secrecy

  If the State Department’s arguments prevail in FOIA litigation, the truth about US action against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks journalists will never be known

• June 23, 2025 23 Jun'25

  Widening Middle Eastern war increases cyber risk

  With the entry of the US into the widening Middle Eastern conflict, cyber risk is likely to increase across the board

• June 20, 2025 20 Jun'25

  Cyber Essentials certifications rising slowly but steadily

  The number of businesses attaining the NCSC Cyber Essentials certification continues to increase, but much more can be done to raise awareness of the scheme

• June 20, 2025 20 Jun'25

  M&S, Co-op attacks a ‘Category 2 cyber hurricane’, say UK experts

  The UK’s Cyber Monitoring Centre has published its first in-depth assessment of a major incident, reflecting on the impact of and lessons learned from Scattered Spider attacks on M&S and Co-op

• June 20, 2025 20 Jun'25

  Election workers’ data stolen in cyber breach of Oxford City Council

  Oxford City Council election workers had personal information stolen by cyber attackers in an attack over the weekend of 7-8 June. The council has stated that most disrupted systems are back online

• June 19, 2025 19 Jun'25

  UBS employee data leaked after cyber attack on supplier

  UBS and fellow Swiss bank Pictet have been affected by a cyber attack on a procurement service provider

• June 18, 2025 18 Jun'25

  Traditional fake news detection fails against AI-generated content

  As generative AI produces increasingly convincing text, Dutch researchers are exploring how linguistic cues, model bias, and transparency tools can help detect fake news.

• June 17, 2025 17 Jun'25

  Scattered Spider widens web to target insurance sector

  Following a series of high-profile attacks on prominent retailers and consumer brands, the Scattered Spider cyber crime collective appears to be expanding its targeting to the insurance sector

• June 17, 2025 17 Jun'25

  UKtech50: Vote for the most influential person in UK technology

  Our judges have selected the top 50 leaders from a shortlist of nearly 500 people – now it’s your chance to tell us who you think is the most influential person in UK technology

• June 16, 2025 16 Jun'25

  Intelligence sharing key to cyber security in Europe, says EU Commission cyber expert

  Cyber criminals choose not to attack Europe due to its resilience and preparedness, says the EU Commission’s principal advisor for cyber security coordination, Despina Spanou

• June 12, 2025 12 Jun'25

  Apple encryption row: Does law enforcement need to use Technical Capability Notices?

  History shows that law enforcement can bring successful prosecutions without the need for the Home Office to introduce ‘backdoors’ into end-to-end encryption

• June 11, 2025 11 Jun'25

  Cyber Bill at risk of becoming a missed opportunity, say MPs

  An APPG report warns that the government’s flagship cyber security legislation is too narrow in its scope and risks missing opportunities to embed resilience at the heart of the British economy

• June 10, 2025 10 Jun'25

  UK defence scheme invests in future cyber tech Cheri

  Cambridge-based SCI Semiconductors is awarded DTEP funding to work on the application of defensive Cheri technology

• June 10, 2025 10 Jun'25

  Third-party security weaknesses threaten Europe’s big banks

  Security breaches via third parties increased by 25% at Europe’s largest finance firms

• June 09, 2025 09 Jun'25

  US lawmakers say UK has ‘gone too far’ by attacking Apple’s encryption

  US politicians are calling for Congress to rewrite the US Cloud Act to prevent the UK issuing orders to require US tech companies to introduce ‘backdoors’ in end-to-end encrypted messaging and storage

• June 06, 2025 06 Jun'25

  CISOs must translate cyber threats into business risk

  To manage risk effectively and secure board-level buy-in, CISOs must stop talking about technology and start speaking the language of business, according to a senior Check Point executive

• June 05, 2025 05 Jun'25

  HMRC phishing breach wholly avoidable, but hard to stop

  A breach at HMRC saw innocent taxpayers tricked into letting scammers impersonate them through simple phishing attacks leading to account takeover. Such attacks are avoidable, but hard to stop

• June 04, 2025 04 Jun'25

  Microsoft outlines three-pronged European cyber strategy

  Microsoft chair Brad Smith outlines an expansive cyber programme targeting governments across Europe with enhanced threat intelligence and support

• June 04, 2025 04 Jun'25

  Infosecurity 2025: SMEs feel on their own in the face of cyber attacks

  Project findings to be presented at Infosecurity Europe 2025 highlight vulnerability of SMEs to cyber attack

• June 02, 2025 02 Jun'25

  US cyber agency CISA faces stiff budget cuts

  CISA is one of several US agencies facing drastic budget cuts under the Trump administration

• June 02, 2025 02 Jun'25

  Cyber and digital get over £1bn to enhance UK’s national security

  The government has set out plans to spend over a billion pounds on digital and cyber warfare capabilities to enhance the UK’s ability to defend itself and fight offensive wars

• June 02, 2025 02 Jun'25

  Infosecurity 2025: NCA cyber intelligence head spells out trends

  Will Lyne, head of cyber intelligence at the National Crime Agency, sketches out cyber criminal trends as ransomware and other attack varieties become democratised beyond Russophone, skilled software developers

• May 30, 2025 30 May'25

  Dutch businesses lag behind in cyber resilience as threats escalate

  The Netherlands is facing a growing cyber security crisis, with a staggering 66% of Dutch businesses lacking adequate cyber resilience, according to academic research.  

• May 30, 2025 30 May'25

  Noisy quantum hardware could crack RSA-2048 in seven days

  Research highlights the need for quantum safe cryptography given the speed with which quantum computing is evolving

• May 28, 2025 28 May'25

  Adidas confirms customer data was accessed during cyber attack

  Sportswear manufacturer Adidas has confirmed its systems were infiltrated by an unauthorised third party

• May 28, 2025 28 May'25

  Remote purchase fraud surges 14%, says banking industry

  Brits lost over £1bn to payment fraud in its many forms last year, according to the latest banking industry numbers

• May 27, 2025 27 May'25

  Maturing UK fintechs increase tech and cyber security hiring

  Increased hiring reflects that fintechs are maturing and now require more cyber security and compliance experts

• May 27, 2025 27 May'25

  US makes fresh indictments over DanaBot, Qakbot malwares

  US charges the operators of two malwares, DanaBot and Qakbot, whose actions led to millions of dollars worth of cyber theft and fraud

• May 22, 2025 22 May'25

  Microsoft raises posse to target dangerous Lumma malware

  Microsoft, along with a consortium of partners, has seized and disrupted a significant part of the Lumma malware-as-a-service network used to steal data and funds

• May 22, 2025 22 May'25

  How to tackle your infrastructure technical debt

  Gartner analysts explain how infrastructure and operations teams can address the accumulation of outdated systems and make a compelling business case for upgrades

• May 21, 2025 21 May'25

  M&S cyber attack disruption likely to last until July

  M&S says it has moved into recovery mode after a ransomware attack, but expects some disruption to persist throughout the coming weeks

• May 21, 2025 21 May'25

  NCSC: Russia’s Fancy Bear targeting logistics, tech organisations

  The NCSC and its partner agencies have blown the whistle on an extensive campaign of malicious cyber attacks orchestrated by the Russian state Fancy Bear operation

• May 21, 2025 21 May'25

  Strong fintech security posture at risk via third-party weak links

  Despite having a strong security posture, the financial technology sector could be open to attack via third parties

• May 21, 2025 21 May'25

  Ransomware attacks dropped by a third last month

  Reported ransomware attacks eased off during April following a dramatic spike in the first quarter of 2025

• May 20, 2025 20 May'25

  Retail cyber attacks hit food distributor Peter Green Chilled

  Cold chain services provider Peter Green Chilled, which supplies the likes of Aldi, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, has been forced to halt operations after succumbing to a ransomware attack

• May 19, 2025 19 May'25

  Chinese cyber spooks lure laid-off US government workers

  A Washington DC-based think tank has published evidence that Chinese intelligence services have been running a network of digital ‘front’ companies targeting laid-off government workers as recruits

• May 19, 2025 19 May'25

  Legal Aid Agency breach may encompass millions of people

  Legal Aid Agency says the data of anybody who applied for legal aid over the past 15 years has been compromised in a cyber attack

• May 16, 2025 16 May'25

  Security tests reveal serious vulnerability in government’s One Login digital ID system

  A ‘red teaming’ exercise to simulate cyber attacks on the government’s flagship digital identity system has found that One Login can be compromised without detection

• May 15, 2025 15 May'25

  NHS asks suppliers to sign up to cyber covenant

  NHS digital and security leaders call on their suppliers to commit to a cyber security charter as the health service works to improve its resilience in the face of growing threat levels

• May 15, 2025 15 May'25

  How close is quantum computing to commercial reality?

  At a recent event, experts explored the progress towards logical qubits and how these will be applied to empower business IT

• May 14, 2025 14 May'25

  Scattered Spider retail attacks spreading to US, says Google

  Google’s threat intel analysts are aware of a number of in-progress cyber attacks against US retailers linked to the same Scattered Spider gang that supposedly attacked M&S and Co-op in the UK

• May 14, 2025 14 May'25

  Why we must reform the Computer Misuse Act: A cyber pro speaks out

  Britain’s outdated hacking laws are leaving the UK’s cyber practitioners hamstrung and afraid. Security professional Simon Whittaker reveals how he nearly ran afoul of the Computer Misuse Act, and why he’s speaking out for reform

• May 14, 2025 14 May'25

  New security paradigm needed for IT/OT convergence

  Industry leaders and policymakers highlight growing cyber threats from the integration of IT and operational technology systems, calling for collaboration and regulatory frameworks to protect critical systems, among other measures

• May 13, 2025 13 May'25

  May Patch Tuesday brings five exploited zero-days to fix

  Microsoft fixes five exploited, and two publicly disclosed, zero-days in the fifth Patch Tuesday update of 2025

• May 13, 2025 13 May'25

  M&S forces customer password resets after data breach

  M&S is instructing all of its customers to change their account passwords after a significant amount of data was stolen in a DragonForce ransomware attack

• May 13, 2025 13 May'25

  Australian data breaches hit record high in 2024

  More than 1,100 data breaches were reported in Australia last year, a 25% jump from 2023, prompting calls for stronger security measures across businesses and government agencies

• May 09, 2025 09 May'25

  Ransomware: What the LockBit 3.0 data leak reveals

  An administration interface instance for the ransomware franchise's affiliates was attacked on 29 April. Data from its SQL database has been extracted and disclosed

• May 08, 2025 08 May'25

  Government will miss cyber resiliency targets, MPs warn

  A Public Accounts Committee report on government cyber resilience finds that the Cabinet Office has been working hard to improve, but is likely to miss targets and needs a fundamentally different approach

• May 08, 2025 08 May'25

  Preparing for post-quantum computing will be more difficult than the millennium bug

  The job of getting the UK ready for post-quantum computing will be at least as difficult as the Y2K problem, says National Cyber Security Centre CTO Ollie Whitehouse