News

IT security

• 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 13, 2021 13 Sep'21

  Olympus likely victim of BlackMatter ransomware

  Key IT systems remain shut off at Olympus, five days after what seems to have been a BlackMatter ransomware attack

• September 13, 2021 13 Sep'21

  UK government’s new digital identity system to cost up to £400m

  Cabinet Office is seeking £300m-£400m in funding to build its replacement for the failed Gov.uk Verify system, which itself cost over £220m

• 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

  Procuring law enforcement tech needs greater scrutiny

  Tech firms are playing a high-stakes game to drive adoption of artificial intelligence and surveillance technology in law enforcement

• 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 07, 2021 07 Sep'21

  ICO in bid to end cookie pop-ups

  Outgoing information commissioner Elizabeth Denham will call on her equivalents across the G7 group of countries to collaborate on an overhaul of cookie consent pop-ups

• September 07, 2021 07 Sep'21

  Banking anti-fraud scheme blocks 65% more fraud

  Scheme designed to protect vulnerable people against banking fraud has been expanded to include online scams

• September 06, 2021 06 Sep'21

  How NZ schools are tapping managed network services

  Using managed network services has freed up time and resources for New Zealand school teachers and alleviated the pressure and challenges of maintaining technology infrastructure

• September 03, 2021 03 Sep'21

  Berlin court reverses ban on use of EncroChat evidence in criminal trials

  Berlin Superior Court allows use of EncroChat evidence in criminal trials but lawyers say the question will ultimately need to be decided by the German Supreme Court

• 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 02, 2021 02 Sep'21

  Twitter tests auto-block feature for accounts at risk of abuse

  Latest Twitter feature automatically blocks abusive users, and is intended to help victims regain control of their experience on the platform

• 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

  Tech giants commit to Biden's cyber security action plan

  Some of the world’s most prominent tech giants have made a series of commitments to enhance the US’ national cyber security posture following a high-profile meeting with president Biden

• 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

  13 million malware attacks on Linux seen in wild

  Cryptominers, web shells and ransomware are the most common varieties of malwares targeting Linux systems, thanks to its prevalence as the backbone of most public cloud services

• 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 24, 2021 24 Aug'21

  Campaign groups claim police have bypassed Parliament with plans for live facial-recognition tech

  Civil society groups call for Parliament to scrutinise the use of live facial-recognition cameras

• August 24, 2021 24 Aug'21

  More data breaches in Australia arising from ransomware

  The number of data breaches in Australia arising out of ransomware attacks grew by 24% during the first half of 2021, according to OAIC’s latest data breach report

• 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 20, 2021 20 Aug'21

  Swedish IT industry braced for China’s response to Huawei 5G ban

  Swedish IT and communications equipment suppliers fear economic backlash from China following Huawei ban

• August 20, 2021 20 Aug'21

  How the pandemic transformed IAG’s Hangar 51 accelerator

  Businesses of all shapes and sizes have had to take a different approach during the pandemic – Dupsy Abiola, head of global innovation at IAG, explains how IAG transformed its Hangar 51 accelerator during the coronavirus outbreak

• 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

  How Australia’s Octopus Deploy is simplifying DevOps

  Brisbane-based startup Octopus Deploy recently secured $172.5m in venture funding to advance its goal of simplifying software deployments for DevOps teams

• 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 18, 2021 18 Aug'21

  Global VPN downloads soar in first half of 2021

  Song remains the same with VPNs as repressive regimes’ continued regulatory demands and remote working see virtual private network usage rocket over the first six months of the year

• 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

  ICO consults public on personal data in employment practices

  The ICO has launched a public consultation on employers’ use of personal data to help it provide practical guidance for both businesses and workers

• 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

  UN special rapporteurs call for surveillance tech moratorium

  In the wake of revelations about NSO Groups Pegasus spyware, a number of special rapporteurs from the United Nations are re-igniting calls for a global moratorium on the sale and transfer of surveillance technologies

• 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 13, 2021 13 Aug'21

  Hospitals see cyber security investment as a low priority

  Almost half of hospitals have experienced an IT shutdown as a result of a cyber attack in the past six months, but just over one in 10 hospital executives see cyber security investment as a high priority

• 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