News

IT risk management

• October 18, 2021 18 Oct'21

  How Samlesbury, Lancashire became the home of the National Cyber Force

  The National Cyber Force, a new branch of the military, is gearing up to fight battles in cyber space from the fields of Lancashire. Its presence is expected to bring a high-tech renaissance to the region

• October 14, 2021 14 Oct'21

  Apple scheme to detect child abuse creates serious privacy and security risks, say scientists

  Apple’s plan to automatically scan photos to detect child abuse would unduly risk the privacy and security of law-abiding citizens and could open up the way to surveillance, say the world’s top cryptographic experts

• October 14, 2021 14 Oct'21

  NHS Digital enhances in-house cyber awareness drive

  Keep IT Confidential campaign aims to help NHS staff understand more about security threats and learn how to reduce risk

• October 13, 2021 13 Oct'21

  Google Cybersecurity Action Team springs into life

  Google has announced a new Cybersecurity Action Team, with a mission to support security and digital transformation in governments, critical infrastructure, enterprises and small businesses

• October 13, 2021 13 Oct'21

  FCA warns over future hybrid working security risks

  Earlier this week, the Financial Conduct Authority issued fresh guidance to regulated organisations on keeping hybrid workers safe and secure

• October 13, 2021 13 Oct'21

  Microsoft warns of MysterySnail on October Patch Tuesday

  Microsoft has fixed a zero-day that is being actively exploited to deliver a new remote access trojan dubbed MysterySnail to targets

• October 13, 2021 13 Oct'21

  Australia unveils ransomware action plan

  The Australian government has established a task force to address the ransomware menace and is proposing legislation to mandate reporting of ransomware incidents by businesses

• October 12, 2021 12 Oct'21

  BCS calls on government to retain protections against AI

  BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, wants the government to retain protections that allow people to have decisions about them made by an AI reviewed by humans if needed

• October 11, 2021 11 Oct'21

  Covid-19 will loom over cyber strategy for years to come

  In remarks delivered to a Chatham House conference, NCSC head Lindy Cameron reflects on the security challenges facing the UK, and sets out some plans for the future

• October 11, 2021 11 Oct'21

  Sensitive documents to stay with whistleblower after deadline for agreement for their return passes

  A deadllne to agree the safe return of the sensitive banking details of former and current NatWest Group customers has passed without agreement

• October 11, 2021 11 Oct'21

  Singapore refreshes cyber security strategy

  The city-state updates its national cyber security strategy to shore up the security of critical infrastructure and enterprises while growing its cyber security industry, among other goals

• October 08, 2021 08 Oct'21

  Fast-moving Ryuk campaign targets healthcare organisations

  Newly designated FIN12 gang leverages the work of the cyber criminal ecosystem to conduct lightning-fast ransomware attacks

• October 08, 2021 08 Oct'21

  NatWest admits to weaknesses in anti-money laundering systems

  Bank pleads guilty to failures concerning the laundering of hundreds of millions of pounds, but says it has since improved its anti-money laundering systems

• October 07, 2021 07 Oct'21

  ICO expresses concerns over its future independence

  In its response to the government’s data protection consultation, the Information Commissioner’s Office has raised worries over its future ability to function independently of government interference

• October 06, 2021 06 Oct'21

  US lawmakers propose ransomware reporting rules

  Former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren lends her support to a bill that would require corporate ransomware victims to disclose more information about their attacks to the authorities

• October 06, 2021 06 Oct'21

  Gaming service Twitch hacked, data leaked

  Users of livestreaming platform Twitch may be at risk after a 125GB torrent of data was leaked

• October 06, 2021 06 Oct'21

  Auto-enrolment begins for Google multi-factor authentication

  Google has started to turn on multi-factor authentication on consumer accounts by default, and aims to auto-enrol 150 million users by the end of 2021

• October 05, 2021 05 Oct'21

  New Python-based ransomware attacks unfold in record time

  Sophos researchers detail a new variety of Python-based ransomware attack targeting VMware ESXi-hosted VMs

• October 05, 2021 05 Oct'21

  Australian organisations lack maturity in responsible AI

  Most Australian organisations are still in the early stages of their responsible artificial intelligence efforts despite growing use of AI by businesses and consumers, study finds

• October 04, 2021 04 Oct'21

  One Identity buys OneLogin for access management expertise

  Acquisition of OneLogin adds access management solutions to One Identity’s Unified Identity Security platform

• October 04, 2021 04 Oct'21

  Two arrests made in European ransomware investigation

  Unnamed ransomware operation was disrupted last week in Kiev, Ukraine, following a coordinated investigation

• October 01, 2021 01 Oct'21

  Amnesty International exploited in malware campaign

  According to new intelligence from Cisco Talos, Amnesty International’s branding and profile is being used as part of a new malware campaign that exploits people’s fears of the notorious Pegasus spyware app

• September 29, 2021 29 Sep'21

  FoggyWeb malware latest tool of dangerous Nobelium APT

  Microsoft’s threat intelligence team warns of a new strain of malware being used by the Russia-linked Nobelium APT

• September 29, 2021 29 Sep'21

  Dedicated number for victims of fraud launched amid national security threat

  Consumers that suspect they are being targeted by fraudsters can call 159 to be directly linked to their bank, as part of a 12-month pilot

• September 29, 2021 29 Sep'21

  The Security Interviews: How SolarWinds came through its darkest hour

  In his first major UK press interview, SolarWinds CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna tells Computer Weekly how a relentless focus on transparency saw the company safely through a nightmare cyber breach scenario

• September 28, 2021 28 Sep'21

  How one red team exercise averted a new SolarWinds-style attack

  Palo Alto Networks shares details of how its red teamers found and sealed a customer vulnerability that could have led to another SolarWinds-style supply chain attack

• September 27, 2021 27 Sep'21

  Women and BAME people bear brunt of cyber crime impact

  Cyber crime has a disproportionate impact on women and BAME people, according to a new report

• September 24, 2021 24 Sep'21

  How Australia punches above its weight in cyber security

  Australia is playing to its strengths in niche areas such as governance and deep tech to punch above its weight in the cyber security industry

• September 23, 2021 23 Sep'21

  Fresh alert over Conti ransomware surge

  Conti ransomware crew appears increasingly active, prompting fresh warnings from the US authorities

• September 23, 2021 23 Sep'21

  MoD in second leak of Afghan citizens’ data

  A second breach of data relating to Afghan citizens at risk of Taliban reprisals has been reported by the Ministry of Defence

• September 23, 2021 23 Sep'21

  Threat actors target VMware vCenter Server users

  Users of VMware vCenter Server are advised to patch a series of vulnerabilities post haste

• September 23, 2021 23 Sep'21

  Authorised push payment fraud sees huge increase as criminals switch tactics

  Criminals tricking people into making payments through channels such as fake emails and websites have stolen more money than payment card fraudsters

• September 21, 2021 21 Sep'21

  US sanctions Suex crypto exchange over ransomware links

  US Treasury cracks down on cryptocurrency exchange that supposedly facilitated proceeds from multiple ransomware gangs

• September 21, 2021 21 Sep'21

  Investigation launched after MoD email blunder

  Exposure of PII on Afghan interpreters who worked with the UK may put hundreds at risk of Taliban reprisals

• September 16, 2021 16 Sep'21

  Dutch education administrators underestimate threat of cyber crime

  Research shows educational establishments in the Netherlands are becoming favoured targets of cyber criminals and administrators are underestimating the risks

• September 16, 2021 16 Sep'21

  Travel-themed phishing lures spiked this summer

  As people begin to take holidays again after more than a year of restrictions and lockdowns, opportunist cyber criminals have taken note, according to new data from Palo Alto’s Unit 42

• September 15, 2021 15 Sep'21

  Microsoft patches 66 vulnerabilities in September update

  Another lighter-than-usual Patch Tuesday update includes important fixes for recently disclosed vulnerabilities, including a dangerous zero-day, and an update in the PrintNightmare saga

• September 14, 2021 14 Sep'21

  Mass health tracker data breach has UK impact

  The leak of a database of 61 million users of health-tracking devices includes records on individuals located in the UK

• September 14, 2021 14 Sep'21

  Cost of ransomware attack in financial sector exceeds $2m

  Mid-sized financial services organisations worldwide spend an average of over $2m recovering from ransomware attacks

• September 13, 2021 13 Sep'21

  Smishing attacks up sevenfold in six months

  Scam text messages are reaching pandemic proportions, thanks in part to the pandemic

• September 09, 2021 09 Sep'21

  UK GDPR faces changes under planned reforms

  DCMS is launching a major consultation on proposed changes to the UK’s data protection regime, under which several key elements of the GDPR are likely to change

• September 09, 2021 09 Sep'21

  Latest Microsoft zero-day being actively exploited

  New Microsoft zero-day CVE-2021-40444 affects multiple versions of Windows and is probably being exploited through convincing phishing attacks

• September 08, 2021 08 Sep'21

  REvil reappearance may herald new ransom campaigns

  The re-emergence of the infamous REvil ransomware gang is a likely sign that more high-profile attacks will unfold over the coming weeks

• September 08, 2021 08 Sep'21

  Covid positive for security market, but still a source of stress

  CIISec’s latest “State of the profession report” highlights both positives and challenges for cyber pros arising from the past two years

• September 08, 2021 08 Sep'21

  Stolen credit card data worth about £13 on dark web, PayPal worth more

  The average price of a stolen credit card on a dark web marketplace comes in at around $17.40, or £12.60, according to new data – but the real money for cyber criminals is in hacked PayPal accounts

• September 07, 2021 07 Sep'21

  OT security in APAC remains work in progress

  Two operational technology security experts shed light on the state of OT security in the region, and what’s being done to address skills, competency and organisational challenges

• September 03, 2021 03 Sep'21

  Mandiant, Sophos detail dangerous ProxyShell attacks

  Threat researchers and incident responders continue to track threat activity around the dangerous ProxyShell Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities, including impactful ransomware hits

• September 03, 2021 03 Sep'21

  China accused of cyber attacks on Norwegian IT systems

  China-based cyber attackers have been blamed for multiple assaults on IT systems in Norway

• September 02, 2021 02 Sep'21

  How high can the contactless card limit go without two-factor authentication?

  The spending limit for contactless cards has reached an eyebrow-raising triple-digit figure – £100 – raising questions about the need for user authentication

• September 02, 2021 02 Sep'21

  WhatsApp fined €225m over GDPR breaches

  Irish data protection watchdog has issued one of the largest GDPR fines to date against Facebook-owned WhatsApp

• September 02, 2021 02 Sep'21

  Finance firms faced up to £760,000 costs per DNS attack during pandemic

  Financial services firms have been the focus of attacks by cyber criminals during the Covid-19 crisis

• September 01, 2021 01 Sep'21

  Experts warn on Office 365 phishing attacks

  Newly observed campaign is particularly dangerous because it appears to neutralise one of the most widely known anti-phishing techniques

• September 01, 2021 01 Sep'21

  Remote workers routinely bypassed security tools during pandemic

  New data from Palo Alto Networks reveals that over 25% of UK security leaders saw their employees circumventing or switching off security measures at the height of the pandemic

• August 31, 2021 31 Aug'21

  GovTech launches vulnerability rewards programme

  Vulnerability rewards programme will offer rewards ranging from $250 to $5,000 to white hat hackers who find vulnerabilities in critical government systems

• August 27, 2021 27 Aug'21

  Are proposed data protection changes a threat to UK citizens’ privacy?

  Though changes are as-yet undefined pending an upcoming consultation, concerns are already being expressed over the government’s plan to liberalise data protection laws in the service of innovation and growth

• August 26, 2021 26 Aug'21

  Government unveils post-Brexit data flow proposals

  The government will pursue data partnerships with countries including Australia, South Korea and the US as part of a post-Brexit data regime that may also see substantial changes to the UK’s data protection law

• August 26, 2021 26 Aug'21

  NZ privacy lead John Edwards named new information commissioner

  DCMS has named John Edwards, currently New Zealand privacy commissioner, to succeed Elizabeth Denham as UK information commissioner

• August 25, 2021 25 Aug'21

  Calling the cops for ransomware attacks doesn’t help, say cyber pros

  A new study for the #Ransomaware campaign reveals some insight into why so few victims report ransomware attacks

• 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

  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

  Over a million opt out of NHS data-sharing

  Failure to communicate benefits of data-sharing proposals and privacy concerns are prompting large numbers of people to opt out of a proposed NHS Digital scheme

• August 23, 2021 23 Aug'21

  Flexxon and Lenovo tie up on AI-infused SSDs

  Singapore-based Flexxon teams up with Lenovo to make its solid-state drive that uses artificial intelligence to fend off cyber threats available on ThinkPad-based laptops

• August 19, 2021 19 Aug'21

  Pub apps harvesting swathes of customer data unnecessarily

  Some pub and restaurant chain apps demand data such as gender and marital status, raising eyebrows among privacy campaigners

• 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 17, 2021 17 Aug'21

  Educational publisher Pearson fined for data breach cover-up

  Securities and Exchange Commission says publisher misled its investors over the extent of a 2018 data breach

• August 17, 2021 17 Aug'21

  Security Think Tank: Building privacy-preserving apps and platforms

  ISACA’s Gaurav Deep Singh Johar explores how to embed privacy practices into digital platform architecture

• 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 12, 2021 12 Aug'21

  ICO consults on new international data transfer agreement

  Information Commissioner’s Office to consult on its draft international data transfer agreement and guidance, which will replace standard contractual clauses to protect personal data during overseas transfers

• August 11, 2021 11 Aug'21

  Microsoft fixes seven critical bugs on light Patch Tuesday

  All seven critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s August Patch Tuesday were related to remote code execution, and there was one zero-day related to Windows Update Medic Service

• 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

  Dutch lead the way in protecting themselves against internet risks

  Dutch citizens come top in a study on awareness of internet risks in Europe, which showed major differences across the continent

• August 10, 2021 10 Aug'21

  Researchers uncover database with 126 million unsecured records

  Business-to-business marketing firm OneMoreLead was storing tens of millions of records in an unsecured database, exposing at least 63 million people to fraud, identify theft and phishing campaigns

• 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 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

  SAP customers more alert to internal than external threats

  SAP customers are more concerned by insider threats than by external attacks, according to a report. And yet the average SAP customer has around 2,500 vulnerabilities within their customised SAP code

• 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

  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

  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

• July 28, 2021 28 Jul'21

  Almost half unaware of GP data-sharing plans

  Around half of adults in England – approximately 20 million people – remain unaware of the scope of the NHS GPDPR programme, prompting calls for a public education campaign

• 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

  ICO ends its involvement in dispute between NatWest Bank and data breach whistleblower

  The Information Commissioner’s Office has ended its involvement in a dispute between a data breach whistleblower and NatWest bank

• 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 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 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 20, 2021 20 Jul'21

  NHS Digital tightens rules for GPDPR data scrape

  The proposed collection of patient data held by GPs will now only commence when three key criteria have been fulfilled, says NHS Digital

• 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

  Privacy Shield: US surveillance law reforms essential for EU-US data, says EU parliamentary study

  EU Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs study calls for major reforms of US spying laws to enable an EU-US data-sharing agreement to replace Privacy Shield

• 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

  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

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  Modipwn vulnerability puts millions of building systems at risk

  Authentication bypass vulnerability in a Schneider Electric product could lead to device takeover

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  Met Police seize £180m worth of Bitcoin

  The largest ever seizure of cryptocurrency in the UK comes just weeks after a previous multi-million pound confiscation, as law enforcement clamps down on money laundering

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  Dutch prosecutor ordered to give evidence on EncroChat hack

  Netherlands court rules that a public prosecutor should give evidence about the role of the Dutch in the EncroChat cryptophone hack which has led to arrests of organised gangs worldwide

• July 12, 2021 12 Jul'21

  NSW department of education hit by cyber attack

  Australia’s New South Wales department of education takes some systems offline as a precautionary measure in response to a cyber attack last Thursday