News

IT security

• April 27, 2018 27 Apr'18

  Government given six months to rewrite snoopers’ charter

  The government has until 1 November 2018 to rewrite a key section of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, after the high court declared them unlawful in a judicial review brought by human rights group Liberty

• April 27, 2018 27 Apr'18

  GDPR: Put your data in Azure cloud, says Microsoft chief

  Tech giant reports strong growth in its cloud business in third-quarter 2018 fiscal results

• April 26, 2018 26 Apr'18

  British banks target Israeli security technology

  British banks are turning to Israel’s high-tech sector to protect against cyber attacks

• April 26, 2018 26 Apr'18

  Facebook posts strong first quarter despite privacy scandal

  The data exploitation scandal that hit Facebook has not yet had an adverse impact on advertising revenues or user activity, according to first quarter financial results

• April 26, 2018 26 Apr'18

  EC calls on online platforms to develop common code of practice to tackle ‘disinformation’

  The European Commission says online platforms such as social media and video sites, have not done enough to tackle unethical use, and calls on them “to decisively step up their efforts to tackle online disinformation”

• April 26, 2018 26 Apr'18

  Finnish R&D and utilities in line of cyber espionage fire, say security police

  Finnish research and development, as well as critical infrastructure, are being targeted by state-backed cyber espionage attacks, says report

• April 26, 2018 26 Apr'18

  NCSC shows support for common standards for secure communication

  The UK cyber security authority is supporting an industry drive towards common standards for secure communication by joining an industry organisation that aims to achieve this goal

• April 26, 2018 26 Apr'18

  Digital economy research projects to get funding

  Research projects aimed at building trust, privacy and security in the use of personal data and digital technologies are to receive funding

• April 25, 2018 25 Apr'18

  EC sets out plans for sharing health data across borders

  The European Commission wants to introduce EU-wide standards for health records, and allow EU citizens to access and share their patient information securely across member states

• April 25, 2018 25 Apr'18

  Google claims it is GDPR ready

  Alphabet, the parent company of Google, says that since its advertising business relies on keyword searches, the impact of GDPR is limited

• April 25, 2018 25 Apr'18

  Government urges UK businesses to beef up cyber crime defences

  Government is urging UK organisations to defend against cyber crime, as newly released figures show that large numbers of businesses and charities suffered at least one cyber attack in the past year

• April 25, 2018 25 Apr'18

  Major DDoS cyber crime website shut down

  International law enforcement has shut down the Webstresser cyber crime website, which was the world’s biggest marketplace for selling distributed denial of service attack services that were used against seven UK banks

• April 25, 2018 25 Apr'18

  Most firms will not be GDPR-ready by compliance deadline

  Survey of IT decision-makers shows one-fifth of companies lack continuous encryption capabilities and only half have the systems required for the right to erasure and the right to rectification

• April 25, 2018 25 Apr'18

  Stoke-on-Trent websites found to be most leaky ahead of GDPR

  The majority of websites in the UK could be prone to cyber attacks, a security scan across 135,035 sites has revealed

• April 25, 2018 25 Apr'18

  Employees still in the dark about data protection

  With just a month to go before the GDPR compliance deadline, many employees still don’t know how to protect confidential data, a study shows

• April 25, 2018 25 Apr'18

  Cyber fraud costs SMEs more than £1,000 per case

  Just over half of IT and telecoms SMEs are targeted by fraudsters, with each case of cyber fraud costing more than £1,000, study reveals

• April 25, 2018 25 Apr'18

  One month to GDPR compliance deadline

  With one month to go before the deadline for compliance with EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, organisations should ensure they are able to meet minimum requirements to defend against adverse scrutiny

• April 24, 2018 24 Apr'18

  Ransomware attack hit Ukraine energy ministry website

  Cyber attack on Ukraine’s energy ministry shows that websites remain a weak point for many organisations online, say security experts

• April 24, 2018 24 Apr'18

  Orangeworm cyber attack group targets health sector

  A cyber crime group is targeting the health sector and related industries in the US, Europe and Asia in a suspected corporate espionage campaign, researchers warn

• April 23, 2018 23 Apr'18

  Executive interview: Werner Knoblich, Red Hat

  Red Hat is 25 years old. We speak to its European chief about how open source, containers and hybrid cloud computing represent the foundation for IT

• April 23, 2018 23 Apr'18

  Nearly half of UK manufacturers hit by cyber attacks

  Nearly half of UK manufacturers have been hit by a cyber security incident, according to a report by an industry organisation, which calls for greater government focus on the specific security needs of the sector

• April 23, 2018 23 Apr'18

  Next generation of SCADA industrial controls will protect against cyber attack

  Oil, energy and chemical companies are rethinking how to control big manufacturing plants, replacing expensive control technology with cheaper, more secure systems, taking their cue from biology

• April 23, 2018 23 Apr'18

  No business safe from cyber attack, says KPMG

  Businesses that operate online should be working to ensure operational resilience, while the financial sector should focus more on collaboration, says professional services firm KPMG

• April 20, 2018 20 Apr'18

  Global cyber crime worth $1.5tn a year, study reveals

  Cyber criminal operations worldwide are generating revenues that equal the GDP of Russia though a web of profit that involves legitimate businesses, research has revealed

• April 20, 2018 20 Apr'18

  Account takeover up tenfold in past year

  The incidence of online account takeover and the proportion of high-risk account access attempts underlines the need for improved authentication, says fraud detection firm

• April 20, 2018 20 Apr'18

  Data protection is a business issue, says IAPP

  Data privacy is a rapidly maturing profession as organisations around the world increasingly see data protection as a business issue, according to an industry association

• April 19, 2018 19 Apr'18

  UK surveillance laws a potential ‘sticking point’ post-Brexit

  The UK’s controversial Investigatory Powers Act could be an impediment to achieving an adequacy agreement for free data exchanges with the EU post-Brexit, says privacy lawyer

• April 19, 2018 19 Apr'18

  UK Commonwealth cyber security funding welcomed

  The security community has welcomed the UK government announcement of funding to help Commonwealth countries strengthen their cyber security capabilities

• April 19, 2018 19 Apr'18

  CyLon continues to drive cyber security innovation with next accelerator cohort

  CyLon has selected the next group of innovative cyber security startups for its seventh London accelerator programme

• April 19, 2018 19 Apr'18

  Mastercard calls for global online payments standard

  Mastercard and its EMV partners are pushing for online payments standards similar to those for point-of-sale payments

• April 18, 2018 18 Apr'18

  Australian supermarket chain hit by IT outage

  Thirty-minute glitch knocked out checkout systems at half of Woolworths’ stores in Australia

• April 18, 2018 18 Apr'18

  Good time to be in data protection, says information commissioner

  There has never been a better time to be in data protection, Elizabeth Denham has told an IAPP data protection conference in London, addressing some key questions about the changing data protection regulatory landscape

• April 18, 2018 18 Apr'18

  PAC sets June 2018 deadline for Department of Health to count NHS cost of WannaCry

  Government spending watchdog orders Department of Health and Social Care to work out the cost of the WannaCry ransomware attack on the NHS so trusts know where to target their cyber security spending

• April 18, 2018 18 Apr'18

  DDoS attacks cost up to £35,000

  Despite the direct financial impact of DDoS attacks, this is not considered to be the most damaging effect on companies targeted this way, a survey shows

• April 18, 2018 18 Apr'18

  Security budgets up, but talent scarce, says Isaca

  Security budgets are increasing, but qualified cyber talent remains difficult to find with positions taking at least three months to fill, an industry association report on the state of cyber security reveals

• April 18, 2018 18 Apr'18

  APAC is becoming a hotspot for DDoS attacks

  The region’s largest and most-connected economies are most vulnerable to distributed denial-of-service attacks, according to CenturyLink

• April 17, 2018 17 Apr'18

  UK identity fraud reaches record level

  The level of identity fraud has reached its highest level to date, a UK fraud report shows

• April 17, 2018 17 Apr'18

  Top tech firms take cyber security pledge

  Top tech firms have committed to protecting customers worldwide from cyber attacks and prevent the misuse of their technology

• April 17, 2018 17 Apr'18

  Business at risk from unidentified network traffic, report warns

  A lack of network traffic visibility poses significant security challenges to businesses, a report on network firewalls warns

• April 17, 2018 17 Apr'18

  China’s ZTE a national security risk, UK telcos warned

  UK national cyber security authority has warned telecommunications companies against using equipment and services from Chinese network equipment supplier ZTE, citing national security risks

• April 17, 2018 17 Apr'18

  Targeted cyber attacks doubled in past year, study shows

  The number of targeted attacks has doubled in the past year compared with the previous 12 months, despite improvements in detecting and blocking them, a cyber resilience study shows

• April 17, 2018 17 Apr'18

  Judge in Max Schrems v Facebook action raises red flag on EU-US data transfers

  The Irish High Court (Commercial Division) has once again cast a long shadow, with a very short deadline, over the arrangements for the safe and legal transfer of data between the EU and the US

• April 17, 2018 17 Apr'18

  Why AI skills, broadband and machine liability must be addressed

  The House of Lords select committee on artificial intelligence has urged the government to adapt policies to bolster AI and protect the public

• April 16, 2018 16 Apr'18

  Flashpoint researchers warn of new VBS Loader

  Researchers have issued warnings about a new VBScript downloader that behaves like a remote access Trojan, is designed to run undetected and can update and delete itself

• April 16, 2018 16 Apr'18

  UK and US accuse Russia of targeting network infrastructure

  The UK and US have accused the Russian government of targeting network infrastructure, calling on network operators to take the necessary protective measures

• April 16, 2018 16 Apr'18

  UK businesses urged to ensure they do cyber security basics

  The cyber threat to business has never been greater, so the National Cyber Security Centre is urging UK companies to ensure they have implemented all the basic, best-practice cyber security controls and processes

• April 15, 2018 15 Apr'18

  Australian healthcare services most hit by data breaches

  Nearly a quarter of data breaches reported under Australia’s new mandatory data breach regime took place in the healthcare sector

• April 13, 2018 13 Apr'18

  EU-US data sharing under threat as Irish court refers Facebook case to Europe

  The Irish High Court is seeking answers from the European Court of Justice in a case that could have huge implications for EU-US data sharing and raises questions about US government surveillance of EU citizens. The move could bring a five-year ...

• April 13, 2018 13 Apr'18

  Cyber attackers can breach targets in hours, report reveals

  The majority of hackers claim they can breach an organisation within hours, while most security professionals admit they do not know what to look for

• April 13, 2018 13 Apr'18

  Companies must take a share of cloud security responsibility

  The cloud is seen as highly secure and more and more critical data is being held in public clouds, but organisations need to adapt their internal security processes

• April 13, 2018 13 Apr'18

  UK playing central role in Facebook data misuse probe

  Data protection is a hot issue and all about increasing confidence in the way data is handled, says UK privacy watchdog

• April 12, 2018 12 Apr'18

  Cyber security a shared responsibility, says Amber Rudd

  The UK home secretary has emphasised that cyber security is a shared responsibility and committed to promote EU cyber cooperation post-Brexit at the National Cyber Security Centre’s conference in Manchester

• April 12, 2018 12 Apr'18

  GCHQ growing cyber capability to match threat

  GCHQ continues to grow and develop its cyber capability to match the rapidly expanding and evolving threat landscape, says agency director

• April 12, 2018 12 Apr'18

  UK cyber attack reporting set to be more streamlined

  Government funding has been allocated to help streamline cyber attack reporting, according to the National Cyber Security Centre

• April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18

  New cyber incident classification to boost UK response

  A new cyber attack categorisation system has been unveiled to improve UK response to incidents

• April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18

  Government to set up £13.5m cyber security centre

  Located at the 2012 Olympic Park, the London Cyber Innovation Centre could create up to 2,000 jobs in cyber security

• April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18

  Diversity key to more effective cyber security, says NCSC

  Diversity in defence teams is key to improved cyber security, according to the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)

• April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18

  GCHQ to set up shop in Manchester

  UK intelligence, security and cyber agency GCHQ is expanding its network of UK sites to north west England

• April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18

  NSA calls for cyber security community collaboration

  A US National Security Agency (NSA) representative has called for cyber security community collaboration at the National Cyber Security Centre’s conference in Manchester

• April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18

  UK to launch crackdown on dark web

  The UK is to enhance its specialist law enforcement response to crack down on criminals operating on the dark web

• April 10, 2018 10 Apr'18

  Mobile phishing a growing threat, warns report

  Phishing on mobile devices is a growing threat to business as attacks move beyond email to text messages and apps

• April 10, 2018 10 Apr'18

  Cyber criminals earn up to $2m a year, study shows

  Academic study reveals just how lucrative cyber crime can be, with top-level cyber criminals out-earning government leaders and university graduates

• April 10, 2018 10 Apr'18

  Ransomware top cyber threat, DBIR shows

  Ransomware remains the top cyber security threat to organisations, humans continue to be significant weakness and HR departments are a top target, according to the latest Verizon Data breach investigations report

• April 09, 2018 09 Apr'18

  Cyber threat to UK business greater than ever, report reveals

  The cyber threat to UK business is “bigger than ever” and the best way to defend against it is collaboration between government, law enforcement and business, a report shows

• April 09, 2018 09 Apr'18

  Security professionals admit patching is getting harder

  Vulnerable systems need patching to avoid being attacked by security exploits, yet many businesses find it hard to apply patches quick enough

• April 09, 2018 09 Apr'18

  More than one in 10 employees fall for social engineering attacks

  Employees download malicious files, click phishing links, correspond with hackers, and even share contact information for their colleagues, a report reveals

• April 09, 2018 09 Apr'18

  Facebook data scandal a game changer, says ICO

  Facebook’s controversial data sharing with London-based data mining firm Cambridge Analytica is a game changer, according to the UK’s privacy watchdog

• April 06, 2018 06 Apr'18

  Business increases use of encryption in the cloud

  The use of encryption has seen double-digit growth in the past year due to a number of security-related drivers, a study has revealed

• April 06, 2018 06 Apr'18

  HSBC IT whistleblower faces extradition to Switzerland

  Hervé Falciani, who stole data from thousands of private banking customers, is apprehended in Spain following the issuing of an international arrest warrant

• April 06, 2018 06 Apr'18

  Facebook among 30 organisations under investigation by the ICO

  Facebook is among 30 organisations under investigation by the UK’s privacy watchdog for misusing personal data for political and other purposes

• April 05, 2018 05 Apr'18

  Retail sector top cyber attack target

  The retail sector was the top cyber attack target in 2017, as cyber attacks evolved to become more organised and structured, a report reveals

• April 05, 2018 05 Apr'18

  Business should note Facebook data sharing, say security advisers

  Businesses that use Facebook and have employees that use it should take note that data is shared with potential cyber attackers, security advisers warn, as Facebook reveals the Cambridge Analytica data exploitation scandal may affect 87 million users

• April 05, 2018 05 Apr'18

  More than 1.5 billion business and consumer files exposed online

  With just over a month to go before the GDPR compliance deadline, more than 1.5 billion data files are exposed online without adequate protections, a report reveals

• April 05, 2018 05 Apr'18

  Only newer systems will get Intel firmware updates for Spectre chip flaw

  Intel will not issue patches for legacy processors, so older systems and legacy embedded applications will remain vulnerable to Spectre exploits

• April 05, 2018 05 Apr'18

  Interview: GDPR will give Dutch privacy watchdog its teeth

  The Netherlands’ privacy watchdog has not handed out fines so far because there has been no reason to, says the organisation’s chairman, Aleid Wolfsen

• April 04, 2018 04 Apr'18

  Ransomware puts pressure on incident response

  Cyber attackers switched focus to ransomware attacks in 2017 putting pressure on incident response, while human error was responsible for two-thirds of compromised records, a study shows

• April 04, 2018 04 Apr'18

  Average attacker dwell time nearly six months for EMEA, study shows

  Firms in Europe, the Middle East and Africa take nearly six months to detect cyber attacks on average, a report reveals

• April 04, 2018 04 Apr'18

  InfiniSync backup ‘bunker’ gives zero RPO for critical apps

  Infinidat launches InfiniSync “black box” as off-site storage on-site, plus new Infinibox PB-scale array, cloud storage service Neutrix Cloud and InfiniGuard backup appliance

• April 04, 2018 04 Apr'18

  IT decision-makers trust Facebook less and are changing policies

  As Facebook scrambles to contain the damage from the Cambridge Analytica data exploitation scandal, a survey reveals that a majority of IT decision-makers have lost trust in the social networking firm

• April 03, 2018 03 Apr'18

  UK firms failing to make financial plans for cyber attacks

  Most UK firms are failing to plan for the financial impact of cyber attacks, a survey by Lloyds Bank has revealed

• April 03, 2018 03 Apr'18

  Data breaches revealed at four US retail chains

  The Easter weekend has seen another round of data breaches, further underlining that many companies are still failing to take the necessary steps to protect customer data

• April 03, 2018 03 Apr'18

  Future of internet regulation is focus of Lords inquiry

  Inquiry will seek evidence on whether or not the law is up to the job of regulating online platforms such as Facebook, and what improvements can be made

• April 03, 2018 03 Apr'18

   Automation and gamification key to cyber security

  The use of automation and gamification are key to winning the fight against cyber criminals in the face of the skills’ shortage, a study investigating challenges facing IT security teams reveals

• April 02, 2018 02 Apr'18

  Lawyers more influential than IT staff in cloud deployments

  Traditionally considered risk-adverse, lawyers are twice as more influential than in-house technology staff about cloud, research finds

• March 29, 2018 29 Mar'18

  Europol operation nabs another 20 cyber criminals

  Police have arrested 20 cyber criminals in connection with a €1m fraud operation across Italy and Romania

• March 29, 2018 29 Mar'18

  Business unaware of scale of cyber threat

  Many businesses, especially board members, do not understand the scale of the cyber threat, but international efforts to combat cyber crime are being hampered by political barriers

• March 29, 2018 29 Mar'18

  Cryptocurrency mining rampant in higher education

  Higher education institutions are the biggest target for illicit cryptocurrency mining, data shows

• March 29, 2018 29 Mar'18

  Most airports not protected from cyber threats

  The chairman of the Israel Airports Authority paints a dismal picture of the state of cyber security in aviation, and offers advice on what can be done to avert the next disaster

• March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18

  Consumer group calls for Zuckerberg to step down after data misuse

  A social media firm's value is in the size of the network of users it can offer advertisers. But this model is now under the spotlight

• March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18

  Organisations can use GDPR ambiguity to contest fines in court, experts say

  Businesses can use the vagueness of the regulation to argue against fines in court, say experts

• March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18

  Majority of European firms unprepared for phishing attacks

  Most cyber attacks can be traced back to a phishing email, but more than half of European firms are unprepared to deal with email-based attacks, research has revealed

• March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18

  Home Office issues guidance on tech to prevent identity fraud

  Advice highlights the benefits of using identity document validation to audit and share data on fraudulent documents

• March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18

  Facebook announces more privacy control updates

  Social media giant updates privacy settings and tools in response to the unfolding controversy over Cambridge Analytica’s use of Facebook data for political campaigns

• March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18

  Microsoft Word document and zero-day attacks on the rise

  Macro-less Microsoft Word document attacks and zero-day malware are on the rise, according to data from WatchGuard

• March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18

  AWS ups ante on cloud services for Australian government

  Cloud supplier AWS says government agencies can now assess the prospect of running protected workloads, following an independent cloud security assessment

• March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18

  Majority of firms fear mobile workers have been hacked

  More than half of organisations fear that their mobile workers have been hacked and most are concerned that a growing mobile workforce means increased cyber security risk, a survey reveals

• March 27, 2018 27 Mar'18

  UK organisations urged to develop cyber security skills

  Managed cloud computing firm Rackspace is calling on UK organisations to do more to develop cyber security skills in the light of research into expertise in cloud security

• March 27, 2018 27 Mar'18

  Most top UK firms fail to disclose cyber risk testing details

  Most of the largest UK companies do not reveal their testing of cyber protection plans and do not share security updates with the board regularly, a Deloitte report reveals

• March 27, 2018 27 Mar'18

  Facebook could be hit with $2tn fine after FTC inquiry

  Facebook could face huge fines as the result of a federal inquiry into the data exploitation scandal, further underlining the importance of personal data protection for all enterprises

• March 27, 2018 27 Mar'18

  Case study: Berkshire NHS trust provides mental health support through social network

  Berkshire NHS is using its Support Hope and Recovery Online Network to provide 24/7 support and advice to service users struggling with mental health issues