News

IT governance

• June 11, 2021 11 Jun'21

  CMA secures commitments from Google on future of cookies

  The Competition and Markets Authority is opening a consultation on commitments offered to it by Google to ensure its Privacy Sandbox proposals do not harm digital advertising markets

• June 11, 2021 11 Jun'21

  UK promises tougher line on cyber crime

  Speaking ahead of the G7 Summit, foreign secretary Dominic Raab says the UK is ready to take on cyber criminals and other malicious actors wherever they may be

• June 10, 2021 10 Jun'21

  Risk data shows UK energy sector most vulnerable to cyber attack

  New report compiled by insurance firm Hiscox reveals the state of cyber preparedness in the UK and beyond

• June 09, 2021 09 Jun'21

  FBI arrests distributors accused of selling An0m encrypted phones to crime groups

  Working with overseas law enforcement, the FBI has arrested eight people and named a further 13 accused of distributing An0m phones to organised crime groups

• June 09, 2021 09 Jun'21

  RSA spins out fraud and risk unit as Outseer

  RSA Security is transitioning its fraud and risk intelligence work into a new business to be called Outseer

• June 09, 2021 09 Jun'21

  Microsoft fixes seven zero-days on its Patch Tuesday rounds

  Fixes for six actively-exploited – and one yet-to-be-exploited – zero-day bugs are released in the June 2021 Patch Tuesday update

• June 09, 2021 09 Jun'21

  Colonial Pipeline ransom seizure is a win, but don’t relax yet

  The security community is enthusiastic about the US authorities’ recovery of a significant part of the Colonial Pipeline ransomware payment, but this positivity should perhaps be somewhat tempered

• June 08, 2021 08 Jun'21

  NHS Digital delays data collection plans until September

  NHS Digital has postponed its proposed collection of GP data for two months, to allow more time for the public to understand the process and opt out if wanted

• June 08, 2021 08 Jun'21

  National data guardian calls for dialogue on NHS Digital GP plans

  The UK’s national data guardian says it is important the public has clarity on how their confidential medical information will be used and kept secure under NHS data-sharing plans

• June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21

  EU privacy chief investigates use of US cloud services

  Use of Amazon and Microsoft’s cloud services by public sector bodies in the European Union is being scrutinised by the bloc’s privacy watchdog

• June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21

  Siloscape malware a risk to Windows containers, Kubernetes

  Palo Alto’s Unit 42 reports on what appears to be the first-recorded malware targeting Kubernetes clusters through Windows containers

• June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21

  NCSC updates schools ransomware guidance amid surge

  The National Cyber Security Centre says it is dealing with a renewed surge of ransomware attacks targeting schools, colleges and universities

• June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21

  IBM pushes back against US government data requests

  Technology giant IBM says the US government has ‘no jurisdiction’ to request data from its European entities

• June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21

  Campaigners plan legal action over NHS data sharing

  Privacy coalition aims to force NHS Digital to push back its plans to scrape medical information on millions of patients into a central database

• June 04, 2021 04 Jun'21

  UK immigration exemption in Data Protection Act found unlawful

  Court of Appeal rules immigration exemption unlawful, but further hearings will follow to decide what remedies must be put in place

• June 04, 2021 04 Jun'21

  BCS: Lack of communication over NHS GPDPR ‘astonishing’

  The Chartered Institute for IT has warned that millions of people are not being properly informed of NHS Digital plans to harvest their data

• June 04, 2021 04 Jun'21

  Government action on ransomware epidemic gathers pace

  The US government steps up action against ransomware operators, while the UK’s NCSC publishes guidance on preparing to deal with a ransomware attack

• June 03, 2021 03 Jun'21

  Tories fined over email data protection breaches

  The Conservative Party broke the law by failing to properly keep records of who had unsubscribed from its mailing list

• June 03, 2021 03 Jun'21

  Pandemic a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ chance to reshape security

  The volume of remote working has made it hard to paint an accurate picture of the true state of enterprise cyber security, but it presents an opportunity to change things up

• June 02, 2021 02 Jun'21

  Scottish businesses missing out on Cyber Essentials benefits

  More than a third of Scottish businesses do not believe they are adequately prepared to deal with a cyber security incident

• June 01, 2021 01 Jun'21

  Ex-IT manager stole over £800,000 from NHS trust

  A former senior IT manager at an Essex NHS trust has pleaded guilty to defrauding his employer out of more than £800,000

• May 28, 2021 28 May'21

  Privacy experts concerned over NHS data collection plans

  Security and data privacy experts warn NHS Digital that its data collection plans could increase risk and cause a public backlash

• May 27, 2021 27 May'21

  Loss of 150,000 police records made worse by management failures

  The loss of 150,000 records from a number of national policing systems was caused by a human coding error, but made worse by process and management failures

• May 27, 2021 27 May'21

  MP-backed push to stop tech giants claiming super-deduction tax relief thwarted

  Move to prevent the likes of Amazon using the government's new super-deduction policy to minimise their UK tax liabilities even further fails to win support in the House of Commons

• May 27, 2021 27 May'21

  NGOs file complaints against Clearview AI in five countries

  Privacy and human rights organisations have asked data protection regulators in the UK, France, Austria, Italy and Greece to investigate controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI

• May 26, 2021 26 May'21

  More data stolen in January 2021 than in all of 2017, says report

  The volume of data being stolen through breaches is growing steadily and shows no sign of slowing, according to a report from Imperva

• May 26, 2021 26 May'21

  Millions of pounds lost to crypto fraud on social media

  More than £63m has been lost nationally by victims of investment fraud via a social media platform, says Action Fraud

• May 26, 2021 26 May'21

  Nordic CIO interview: Tommi Tuovila, Neste

  Former Olympian talks to Computer Weekly about the challenges facing CIOs in a rapidly changing world

• May 25, 2021 25 May'21

  Threat of group GDPR legal action haunts CISOs

  The vast majority of security leaders questioned for a new report say they are concerned about the possibility of group legal settlements against them following a serious data breach

• May 25, 2021 25 May'21

  McAfee to change terms of auto-renewing consumer plans

  Consumers who found their McAfee antivirus contracts auto-renewed will be able to get out of their contracts and get their money back

• May 25, 2021 25 May'21

  Industry reflects on three years of GDPR

  Looking back on 12 tumultuous months, we assess how GDPR has weathered the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, and consider what the coming year may hold for data protection

• May 25, 2021 25 May'21

  Legacy vulnerabilities may be biggest enterprise cyber risk

  While high-profile cyber attacks and zero-days grab headlines, statistics gathered by network security specialists Cato suggest CISOs should be addressing legacy threats

• May 24, 2021 24 May'21

  Air India is latest victim of Sita hack

  Data on millions of people who flew with Air India between 2011 and 2021 appears to have been compromised in the recent Sita supply chain attack

• May 21, 2021 21 May'21

  Lack of developer attention to cloud security prompts alerts

  The personal data of over 100 million Android users may have been put at risk through a variety of cloud service misconfigurations

• May 20, 2021 20 May'21

  UK regulators commit to closer cooperation on digital economy

  Two UK regulators have issued a joint statement and signed a memorandum of understanding on the need for closer collaboration on digital markets

• May 20, 2021 20 May'21

  Pandemic tech use heightens consumer privacy fears

  Report on consumer attitudes to privacy finds evidence of a “heightened sense of fear” as digital footprints expand inexorably

• May 20, 2021 20 May'21

  Malicious scans for at-risk systems start minutes after disclosure

  Statistics collated by Palo Alto Networks reveal malicious actors begin scanning the internet for systems at risk of new CVEs within minutes

• May 20, 2021 20 May'21

  UK government publishes framework on automated decision-making

  The framework focuses on making the use of algorithms and automated decision-making systems within the public sector more ethical, transparent and accountable

• May 19, 2021 19 May'21

  ‘Nothing off the table’ in statutory Post Office scandal inquiry

  The government confirmed that the inquiry into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal will be given statutory status and wider scope

• May 19, 2021 19 May'21

  Reports of stolen Irish health service data being leaked online

  Leaking of deeply confidential and personal information on patient healthcare marks a new low for the criminal Conti gang

• May 18, 2021 18 May'21

  Microsoft EU Data Boundary dubbed ‘smoke and mirrors’

  Data protection experts claim Microsoft’s decision to create an EU Data Boundary is a tacit admission that it routinely transfers and processes the personal data of European citizens outside the bloc

• May 18, 2021 18 May'21

  Irish High Court dismisses legal bid by Facebook over EU-US data transfers

  Latest twist in long-running legal battle sees Facebook lose legal bid to prevent the Irish Data Protection Commissioner suspending its transfer of data about European citizens to the US

• May 17, 2021 17 May'21

  Conti ransomware syndicate behind attack on Irish health service

  More details continue to emerge of the significant ransomware attack on Ireland’s HSE

• May 17, 2021 17 May'21

  Government seeks input on supply chain security

  Amid concerns that too few companies are addressing vulnerabilities in their supply chain, DCMS is opening a consultation on new measures to enhance security

• 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 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

  CISOs weathered the pandemic well, but at personal cost

  Over 80% of CISOs think their existing security capabilities stayed strong during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, but now face stress and burnout on an unheard-of scale

• 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

  UK government publishes Online Safety Bill draft

  Bill builds on previous commitments by the government, which has added new measures to uphold democracy and freedom of speech while making tech giants more accountable

• 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 were 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

  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

  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

  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

  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 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

  Scammers accidentally reveal fake Amazon review data

  More than 13 million records relating to an organised fake review scam have been found on an unsecured ElasticSearch database, implicating hundreds of thousands of people in unethical behaviour

• 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 05, 2021 05 May'21

  Dysfunctional cyber, network teams disrupt digital transformation

  Despite shared goals, combative and dysfunctional relationships within specialist tech teams are putting digital transformation projects at risk, according to a report

• 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 04, 2021 04 May'21

  Half of organisations breached via a third party in 12 months

  New report highlights the risks of outsourcing key business processes without paying due care and attention to your service provider’s security

• April 30, 2021 30 Apr'21

  MPs accuse government of unduly interfering in information commissioner appointment

  Cross-party group of MPs says government is influencing the appointment of a new information commissioner by explicitly seeking a candidate who will support its policy agenda, rather than regulate independently

• April 29, 2021 29 Apr'21

  G7 countries to cooperate on digital regulation

  Digital and technology ministers outline their agenda for how technology can be used to facilitate the post-Covid recovery, signalling closer collaboration in key areas of the digital economy

• 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

  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 28, 2021 28 Apr'21

  NHS app to serve as vaccine passport for foreign holidays

  Existing NHS app will have vaccine passport functionality added to it, transport secretary confirms

• April 28, 2021 28 Apr'21

  Government extends Gov.uk Verify for a further two years

  The government’s Gov.uk Verify identity platform will continue to run until April 2023 while a new identity service is developed

• April 27, 2021 27 Apr'21

  UK supermarkets to trial age estimation tech for alcohol purchases

  Biometric age estimation technology developed by Yoti to be tested in UK supermarkets for alcohol purchases as part of government-led digital identities initiative

• 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

  Leaky Azure storage account puts software developer IP at risk

  Source code for multiple products was left exposed in an unsecured Microsoft Azure cloud storage account, say researchers, but attributing responsibility for the error has proved difficult

• 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

  The Security Interviews: Making sense of outbound email security

  Screening inbound emails is an accepted part of an organisation’s security posture, but the topic of securing outbound traffic is less often discussed. Zivver’s Rick Goud is on a mission to change this

• 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

  EU lays out plans to regulate AI development

  Proposal aims to encourage the development of ethical artificial intelligence systems that do not infringe the human rights of EU citizens

• 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 20, 2021 20 Apr'21

  Health app myGP adds Covid-19 vaccine passport function

  The new feature is described as the UK’s first NHS-assured Covid-19 certification feature

• 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 19, 2021 19 Apr'21

  Digital secretary steps in on Nvidia/Arm deal

  The first stage of a formal investigation by the CMA is now underway, to look at whether the sale of Arm to Nvidia will damage the chip industry

• April 19, 2021 19 Apr'21

  YouGov incentivises sharing of personally identifiable information

  YouGov Safe is a new service to help organisations target consumers more precisely, where people can select how much personal data they wish to share

• April 15, 2021 15 Apr'21

  Uber ordered to reinstate six drivers fired by automated process

  A default judgment handed down by Dutch court has ordered Uber to reinstate six drivers with compensation following unevidenced accusations of fraud and automated firing via algorithm

• 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

  Ireland’s DPC launches probe into Facebook leak

  The Irish Data Protection Commission has launched an ‘own volition’ inquiry into the leak of data from 500 million Facebook profiles

• 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

  EU set to tilt AI balance in favour of citizen rights

  New draft EU regulations aim to protect people from biased decision-making

• 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