News

IT risk management

November 27, 2020 27 Nov'20
NI police unable to delete data seized unlawfully from journalists for 10 years

The Police Service of Northern Ireland is unable to delete terabytes of unlawfully seized data taken from journalists who exposed police failings in the investigation of the Loughinisland sectarian murders
November 27, 2020 27 Nov'20
How Grab is using technology to improve trust and safety

Southeast Asian unicorn Grab is tapping artificial intelligence and other technologies to keep its users safe and cyber criminals at bay
November 26, 2020 26 Nov'20
Data safes will give users control over their data

Belgian computer scientist tells Computer Weekly how people can regain control of their online personal information
November 26, 2020 26 Nov'20
APAC plagued by APT, ransomware attacks

The Asia-Pacific region was a primary target of advanced persistent threat groups, mostly from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia, that carried out 34 campaigns between June 2019 to June 2020

November 25, 2020 25 Nov'20
Merger of national policing systems over budget and behind schedule

UK government effort to replace legacy IT systems suffers further delays, and will not be fully completed until 2025 at the earliest
November 25, 2020 25 Nov'20
Securing UK’s critical national infrastructure is a 2021 priority

Government outlines the UK’s strategic cyber security policies for the coming 12 months, with critical national infrastructure a clear priority
November 24, 2020 24 Nov'20
Nominet introduces new resources for cyber scam victims

Domain name registrar is working with law enforcement to provide new information, guidance and resources for potential victims of online scams
November 23, 2020 23 Nov'20
Telcos could face huge fines under new security laws

Government boasts of unprecedented powers to boost the security standards of the UK’s critical national infrastructure
November 23, 2020 23 Nov'20
NCSC issues retail security alert ahead of Black Friday sales

National Cyber Security Centre issues refreshed guidance as cyber criminals turn their eyes to the holiday shopping season
November 23, 2020 23 Nov'20
MPs subjected to over 22 million malicious email attacks in 2020

Members of Parliament are targeted by millions of spam and phishing emails every month, according to a Freedom of Information disclosure

November 20, 2020 20 Nov'20
Security pros fear prosecution under outdated UK laws

CyberUp, a group of campaigners who want to reform the Computer Misuse Act, finds 80% of security professionals are concerned that they may be prosecuted just for doing their jobs
November 19, 2020 19 Nov'20
Covid-19 shift to remote working adds to Earth’s growing e-waste problem

The shift to remote working has forced firms to purchase new IT equipment, but many are still lacking sustainable end-of-life processes for their devices
November 19, 2020 19 Nov'20
Security sector broadly backs Boris Johnson’s Cyber Force

Security community says the presence of a robust cyber defence force alongside a robust physical one will be vital to the UK’s national security
November 18, 2020 18 Nov'20
2021 the year of commodity ransomware, says Sophos

Sophos researchers anticipate a trickle-down effect in the cyber criminal underground
November 18, 2020 18 Nov'20
US cyber security chief fired for contradicting Trump

CISA chief Chris Krebs ousted for doing his job fighting disinformation in an apparent purge of officials deemed disloyal to president Donald Trump
November 18, 2020 18 Nov'20
How Aarogya Setu is addressing scale and security challenges

India’s contact-tracing platform leverages microservices, encryption techniques and cloud-based visibility tools to address scale and security requirements
November 17, 2020 17 Nov'20
Kaspersky shuts down data-processing activities in Russia

Cyber security provider’s data storage and processing activities for customers in Europe, the US and Canada, have now been fully relocated to Switzerland
November 17, 2020 17 Nov'20
HMRC warns over uptick in Self Assessment tax scams

HMRC issues updated warnings as 2021 Self Assessment deadlines loom
November 17, 2020 17 Nov'20
Financial services data volumes heighten risk of insider breach

Financial services organisations hold so much data that it is becoming virtually impossible to safeguard properly against data breaches caused by malicious or careless employees
November 16, 2020 16 Nov'20
How Standard Chartered approaches cyber security

Bank uses security-by-design principles and conducts red-teaming exercises among other measures to fend off cyber breaches
November 13, 2020 13 Nov'20
Ticketmaster fined £1.25m by ICO for failing to protect customer data

Ticket website’s customer data was exposed through an attack on a third-party chatbot
November 12, 2020 12 Nov'20
IT Priorities 2020: Budgets rejigged to support 2021 recovery

IT has been essential in helping organisations remain operational. IT chiefs are now considering the IT to drive a sustained business recovery
November 12, 2020 12 Nov'20
Company accused of spying on Assange acted for Ecuadorian Intelligence, says ex UC Global manager

Former operations chief of UC Global told Spanish Court the company accused of spying on Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London was acting on the orders of Ecuadorian Intelligence
November 11, 2020 11 Nov'20
Security pros coped admirably with remote working transition

Despite facing tight timescales at the onset of the pandemic, security professionals have come through the transition to remote working remarkably well, according to a report
November 11, 2020 11 Nov'20
Microsoft drops fix for serious zero-day among 112 Patch Tuesday updates

November’s Patch Tuesday contains fixes for 112 bugs, including a potentially serious zero-day exploit that malicious actors are already taking advantage of
November 11, 2020 11 Nov'20
EU aid funds used to train ‘unaccountable intelligence agencies’ in high-tech surveillance

Hundreds of documents obtained by campaign group Privacy International show how the EU is supporting surveillance programmes in the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa
November 10, 2020 10 Nov'20
Intel and AMD processors affected by another side-channel exploit

Two years after Spectre and Meltdown, the x86 processor faces another side-channel exploit – only this time, it is based on sensing temperature
November 10, 2020 10 Nov'20
Leaky AWS S3 bucket once again at centre of data breach

Prestige Software exposed millions of records after failing to pay attention to the security of its cloud instances
November 10, 2020 10 Nov'20
IT Priorities 2020: After Covid-19, security goes back to basics

This year’s transition to remote working highlighted big gaps in the fundamentals of security, as updated TechTarget/Computer Weekly data reveals
November 09, 2020 09 Nov'20
EU moves closer to encryption ban after Austria, France attacks

Draft resolution document setting up an EU-wide ban on end-to-end encryption is set to be waved through this week
November 06, 2020 06 Nov'20
NHS warned over Ryuk spreading through Trickbot replacements

NHS Digital tells healthcare organisations to be mindful of a marked rise in usage of the Bazar and Buer loaders
November 06, 2020 06 Nov'20
ICO sued over ‘failure’ to address ad industry practices

Privacy campaigner the Open Rights Group claims the advertising technology industry is systematically breaching the GDPR, and the ICO is doing nothing about it
November 05, 2020 05 Nov'20
Consumer rights organisation warns of computer takeover scams

Consumers warned to be on guard against criminals pretending to be IT support staff to gain access to personal banking information
November 05, 2020 05 Nov'20
Singapore government rolls out digital signature service

Individuals and businesses will soon be able to sign documents digitally using a new service on the Singapore government’s SingPass digital identity platform
November 04, 2020 04 Nov'20
India and Japan report stronger concern over cyber threats

Security operations teams in the two Asian giants see the increased volume of cyber threats as their biggest challenge amid the Covid-19 pandemic
November 02, 2020 02 Nov'20
NHS weathers cyber crime storm during pandemic, says NCSC

The NCSC dealt with over 700 incidents in the 12 months to August 2020, with over 200 specifically related to Covid-19, and the NHS a critical area of focus
November 02, 2020 02 Nov'20
Maze ransomware shuts down with bizarre announcement

The operators of Maze announce they are shutting down, and claim their crime spree was merely intended to demonstrate lax security at their targets
October 30, 2020 30 Oct'20
Accidental heroes: How one scaleup pivoted to cyber

Simeon Quarrie designed his business using virtual reality and interactivity as a tool to tell stories that effect cultural change in enterprise environments – then a cyber criminal emptied his bank account
October 30, 2020 30 Oct'20
CISOs more confident in identity practice after pandemic shock

Identity practice and management has become a critical element of cyber security strategies to support remote workers
October 29, 2020 29 Oct'20
Zero-trust investment seen accelerating through pandemic

New analyst report details some of the main indicators for success in zero-trust implementation
October 28, 2020 28 Oct'20
Barracuda eyes Indochina markets

Barracuda is looking to expand its local presence and headcount in fast-growing emerging markets of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos
October 27, 2020 27 Oct'20
APAC CISOs warm up to zero trust

Security leaders in Asia-Pacific are adopting zero-trust security, but challenges stand in their way of reaping the full potential of the security model
October 26, 2020 26 Oct'20
Highly unusual hacking attack directly threatens therapy patients

A hacker has directly contacted therapy patients to say their highly personal therapy notes will be put on the internet unless they pay the ransom
October 26, 2020 26 Oct'20
Cooperation between Norway’s security agencies planned following cyber attack on parliament

Government seeks to develop enhanced national IT infrastructure with an embedded early warning system and defence shield to protect the IT systems of public and private organisations
October 23, 2020 23 Oct'20
Cyber attack on Hackney Council is ‘morally repugnant’, says mayor

Mayor of Hackney is ‘incredibly angry’ at the cyber criminals behind the attack, which will continue to disrupt key council services for some time
October 22, 2020 22 Oct'20
SonicWall patches 11 firewall vulnerabilities

SonicWall users are advised to download updates that fix 11 CVEs in the SonicOS operating system, uncovered by Positive Technologies
October 22, 2020 22 Oct'20
Protecting remote workers an opportunity to do security better

Securing the fully remote workforce has been a challenge for IT teams, but it presents an opportunity to commit to a higher standard of cyber security, according to a Cisco report
October 21, 2020 21 Oct'20
NSA’s top CVE list a timely reminder to patch

Many of the CVEs detailed on the NSA’s top 25 chart are golden oldies
October 21, 2020 21 Oct'20
Charities warned over ‘Robin Hood’ cyber criminals

Accepting donations from cyber criminal groups could be deemed as profiting from crime, money laundering or handling stolen goods – so don’t do it
October 21, 2020 21 Oct'20
Financial services staff want work-from-home policies to continue after Covid

About half of workers in the finance sector want their employers to retain remote working policies brought in during the pandemic
October 21, 2020 21 Oct'20
Customer loyalty accounts in danger from cyber criminals

Billions of credential stuffing attacks are harvesting valuable customer data for the dark web economy
October 21, 2020 21 Oct'20
Retailers get access to new security toolkit

The British Retail Consortium has worked with the NCSC to develop a new cyber security toolkit pitched at retailers
October 20, 2020 20 Oct'20
Resilient Trickbot down but not yet knocked out

Global, Microsoft-led effort to disrupt the Trickbot botnet has seen some success, but new command and control servers continue to pop up
October 20, 2020 20 Oct'20
BA breach penalty sets new GDPR precedents

The 90% reduction in the fine levied on BA over a 2018 data breach has legal experts talking about the ramifications for the future of data protection
October 15, 2020 15 Oct'20
Cloud data protection keeps the Crick’s medical research Covid-secure

Cloud data management services from Rubrik gave the Francis Crick Institute a data protection edge and have helped keep its vital work going through the pandemic
October 15, 2020 15 Oct'20
Hackney services still offline in ongoing cyber attack

Services remain disrupted two days after council was hit by a serious incident, as residents are warned to be on their guard
October 14, 2020 14 Oct'20
Public sector security failings leave UK at risk, says think tank

Reform report urges adoption of new policies in the next version of the UK’s National Cyber Security Strategy
October 14, 2020 14 Oct'20
US Elections: Malicious internet domains spike as campaigns heat up

Internet domains related to the US presidential election are 56% more likely to be malicious than regular ones
October 14, 2020 14 Oct'20
Fintech ‘unicorn’ Klarna probed over data misuse

Online bank blames misuse of user data on human error as Information Commissioner’s Office weighs in
October 14, 2020 14 Oct'20
Microsoft fixes 87 bugs in October 2020 Patch Tuesday

Smaller October Patch Tuesday update includes fixes for critical bugs in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019
October 13, 2020 13 Oct'20
Suppliers neglecting virtual appliance security, putting users at risk

Software suppliers are often distributing their products on virtual appliances that contain known vulnerabilities or are running outdated or unsupported operating systems, according to a report
October 12, 2020 12 Oct'20
Trickbot forced offline in major cyber security victory

Coalition led by Microsoft obtained a court order enabling them to take down the infamous Trickbot botnet’s back-end server infrastructure
October 12, 2020 12 Oct'20
Five Eyes spy group again demands access to private messages

Spooks are once again calling for the tech industry to break end-to-end encryption in messaging platforms
October 12, 2020 12 Oct'20
Making sense of zero-trust security

Implementing zero-trust security is not an easy feat, but enterprises can still get it right if they approach it from a process perspective and get a handle on their infrastructure footprint
October 08, 2020 08 Oct'20
NCSC relaunches SME security guide with home working focus

The NCSC is issuing an updated version of its guide to security for SMEs, reflecting the long-lasting changes to the world of work seen in 2020
October 08, 2020 08 Oct'20
Emotet rated September’s ‘most popular’ malware

The current resurgence of Emotet is attracting attention as governments issue new warnings and cyber criminals rush to exploit the chaotic US election
October 08, 2020 08 Oct'20
Crown Prosecution Service suffers 1,600 data breaches in 12 months

CPS sees a spike in data security incidents, many of them serious enough to be reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office
October 08, 2020 08 Oct'20
Threat of GDPR fines increasingly driving security buying decisions

Scaring the people who hold the purse strings may be the best option for CISOs who need a little extra budget
October 07, 2020 07 Oct'20
5G regulation failures are a threat to UK’s national security

Defence Committee report on the security of 5G brands existing regulations outdated and unsatisfactory
October 07, 2020 07 Oct'20
Department for Education failed to protect data on millions of children, says ICO

The Department for Education’s National Pupil Database, which contains millions of items of data on the UK’s schoolchildren, was found to be non-compliant with data protection regulations across the board
October 07, 2020 07 Oct'20
UK accounts for 45% of Europe’s card fraud as criminals target online transactions

Payment card fraudsters steal €1.5bn, with card-not-present attacks accounting for three-quarters of this sum
October 07, 2020 07 Oct'20
Southeast Asia remains hotspot for cyber attacks

Geopolitics and Covid-19 have been fodder for cyber criminals to advance their motives in Southeast Asia in 2020
October 06, 2020 06 Oct'20
EU’s top court questions legality of UK phone and internet data surveillance

European Court of Justice rules that the UK and EU member states must comply with EU privacy laws when harvesting people’s sensitive communications data from telecoms and internet companies
October 06, 2020 06 Oct'20
Ransomware attacks go through the roof

The volume of ransomware attacks has jumped 50% in the past three months, according to data produced at Check Point
October 06, 2020 06 Oct'20
CISOs struggle to keep up with MITRE ATT&CK framework

Despite its proven benefits for security, the MITRE ATT&CK framework is proving difficult for many, according to a joint study from McAfee and UC Berkeley
October 05, 2020 05 Oct'20
Fake news tops list of online concerns worldwide

Receiving false information is a greater worry than other online risks such as cyber bullying and fraud, says the Lloyd’s Register Foundation
October 05, 2020 05 Oct'20
HMRC warns locked-down freshers of ‘wave’ of tax scams

New university intake may be being targeted by cyber criminals amid Covid-19 confusion
October 05, 2020 05 Oct'20
FBI seized ‘legally privileged’ material from Ecuador Embassy, claims Julian Assange’s lawyer

The US struck a secret deal with Ecuador to seize WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s property from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London days before his arrest. The haul included legally privileged documents, says his solicitor
October 02, 2020 02 Oct'20
WikiLeaks led the way for newsrooms to use encryption to protect sources, says Italian journalist

Stefania Maurizi says in written evidence that Julian Assange pioneered the use of encryption by journalists to protect sources. Her work shows that the US put pressure on Italy to stop the extradition and prosecution of CIA officers responsible for...
October 02, 2020 02 Oct'20
Honesty is the best policy: Forging a security culture in the NHS

Clinician and technologist Sam Shah helped set up NHSX in 2019. Now he’s helping advance digital transformation in healthcare from the outside, and a big part of that is addressing security in the sector
October 02, 2020 02 Oct'20
Security pros face sanctions if they help ransomware victims pay

New advisory from the US government warns cyber insurance and incident response specialists that they could be skating on thin ice if they help ransomware victims pay their attackers off
October 02, 2020 02 Oct'20
Find and fix your Adobe Flash dependencies, says NCSC

As Adobe’s Flash Player approaches end-of-life, the National Cyber Security Centre is urging organisations to fix their Flash dependencies
October 01, 2020 01 Oct'20
Judge to give verdict on Julian Assange’s extradition after Christmas

Judge Vanessa Baraitser said today that she would make a ruling in early January on whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to the US
September 30, 2020 30 Sep'20
GitHub makes code vulnerability scanning feature public

Code-scanning service is now out of beta and generally available, helping teams to bake security into their code at the development stage
September 29, 2020 29 Sep'20
Julian Assange would be held with convicted terrorist Abu Hamza in supermax prison, court hears

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would be held alongside convicted terrorist Abu Hamza in a supermax federal prison in Colorado, isolated from other prisoners, if he is extradited to the US, Old Bailey told
September 29, 2020 29 Sep'20
Threat actors becoming vastly more sophisticated

Malicious actors have been busily honing their craft and cyber security incidents are up across the board as a result, according to a Microsoft report
September 29, 2020 29 Sep'20
NatWest offers online banking customers free security services

Bank responds to a surge in cyber crime targeting users of online banking services
September 28, 2020 28 Sep'20
Sustrans opens door to NCSC cyber certification via the cloud

Sustainable transport charity turned to Qualys to help it attain needed certifications to bid for government work
September 28, 2020 28 Sep'20
TikTok ban stayed after last-minute court case

TikTok’s lawyers have staved off an imminent ban for the time being, after successfully arguing that it infringed rights guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States
September 28, 2020 28 Sep'20
Police Scotland to set up new cyber crime centre

National Centre of Excellence will employ specially trained officers to tackle a vertiginous rise in cyber crime
September 28, 2020 28 Sep'20
Security now main driving force behind digital transformation

Organisations are urgently remodelling their core technology stack in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, and this is pushing security to the top of the agenda
September 25, 2020 25 Sep'20
Forensic expert questions US claims that Julian Assange conspired to crack military password

Forensic computer expert Patrick Eller told the Old Bailey that US allegations that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange attempted to decrypt a password to help former soldier Chelsea Manning leak sensitive government documents anonymously do not fit ...
September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20
‘Not unjust’ to extradite WilkiLeaks founder Julian Assange, court hears

Nigel Blackwood, NHS consultant psychiatrist, told the Old Bailey court that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had ‘moderate depression’ and autistic traits, but said they did not prevent his extradition
September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20
Government blasted over ‘reckless’ contact-tracing security

The Open Rights Group and Big Brother Watch accuse the government of endangering public health with a reckless attitude to contact-tracing data security
September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20
Race to patch as Microsoft confirms Zerologon attacks in the wild

Don’t be the organisation that made the headlines because it failed to patch. Microsoft says it is seeing cyber attacks ramping up around the Zerologon CVE-2020-1472 bug
September 23, 2020 23 Sep'20
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has Asperger syndrome and depression, court hears

Julian Assange is on the autistic spectrum and has a history of depression that would put him at risk of suicide if he is extradited to a US prison, psychiatrists tell the court
September 23, 2020 23 Sep'20
Video gamers barraged with cyber attacks

From credential stuffing to SQL injection and DDoS, video game producers and players are seeing massive volumes of cyber attacks
September 22, 2020 22 Sep'20
GDS reviewing Cloud First policy post-Schrems II

Review seeks to determine the future of government engagement with cloud hosting services as they relate to cross-border data flows
September 22, 2020 22 Sep'20
WikiLeaks published unredacted cables after password was disclosed in book

WikiLeaks published a cache of unredacted government cables after the publication of a book containing the password led to their publication on other parts of the internet, court told
September 21, 2020 21 Sep'20
WikiLeaks cables showed US interfered in German torture investigation

Khalid El-Masri, a German citizen who was kidnapped and tortured by the CIA in a case of mistaken identity, told a court that disclosures by WikiLeaks showed that the US had intervened in a German judicial investigation into his treatment