News

IT security

September 29, 2020 29 Sep'20
Remote working world reveals cloud/SaaS security concerns

Research reveals pivotal moment when the cloud is playing a more important role than ever to support mass remote working, with CISO concerns over cloud security remaining stubbornly high
September 28, 2020 28 Sep'20
Julian Assange would be held in ‘solitary confinement’ in US jail

WikiLeaks founder would be held in a cell the size of a parking space for 22 or 23 hours a day without contact with other inmates before trial
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
Government updates data ethics framework

The new data ethics framework was created to better reflect how projects are run in practice after finding there was “little awareness” of the previous framework across the public sector

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 28, 2020 28 Sep'20
Airbnb hosts’ account data exposed in internal leak

Data exposure within Airbnb’s system was the result of a technical issue but was swiftly fixed, says the firm
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
Third-party code bug left Instagram users at risk of account takeover

A critical vulnerability in Instagram’s image processing could have allowed attackers to take over not just their victim’s account, but their entire device
September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20
NHS whistleblower privacy concerns passed on to regulator, but campaigners not holding their breath

NHS Improvement chair Dido Harding acknowledges receiving concerns raised about the anonymity of whistleblowers, but campaigners have little faith that anything will be done
September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20
Coronavirus shows inadequacy of rear-view mirror planning

Looking at historical data has hampered businesses’ attempts to move forward effectively during the pandemic
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 24, 2020 24 Sep'20
Data deluge grips enterprises amid digitisation

Two-thirds of respondents in a new Splunk study expect the quantity of data to grow by nearly five times by 2025 as they embrace more emerging technologies
September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20
Australians want more control over privacy

Nearly nine in 10 Australians want more control and choice over the collection and use of their personal information amid declining trust in how organisations handle personal data, survey finds
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
Over half of firms intend to continue US data transfers despite Schrems II

Survey shows many organisations do not intend to significantly change their data-sharing practices, at least until there is more guidance from regulators or governments
September 23, 2020 23 Sep'20
Public admires security professionals, but doesn’t want their jobs

(ISC)² research finds attitudes towards security roles are increasingly positive, but not many people fancy joining the fight against cyber crime
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 23, 2020 23 Sep'20
US agencies warn of election disinformation and cyber attacks

Federal agencies are warning of heightened disinformation as the crucial 2020 presidential election nears
September 22, 2020 22 Sep'20
Activision shoots down data breach claims

Gaming company denies there has been any data breach after up to 500,000 accounts appeared to have been compromised, but evidence mounts that credential stuffing attacks are to blame
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
Scam mobile apps spreading via rogue TikTok accounts

Malicious TikTok accounts are promoting a number of adware scam mobile apps
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
Trump implicated in plans to prosecute Assange over war leaks

US journalist and Trump supporter, Cassandra Fairbanks, said she was given advanced details of US plans to oust Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy and to arrest him for over documents leaked by former soldier Chelsea Manning
September 21, 2020 21 Sep'20
Big questions to be answered over TikTok and WeChat reprieve

TikTok and WeChat seem to have received a stay of execution, but big questions and contradictions remain
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
September 21, 2020 21 Sep'20
WikiLeaks video ‘electrified’ public to civilian war deaths, court hears

New Zealand investigative journalist and author Nicky Hager said that WikiLeaks’ publication of a video showing a US helicopter firing on civilians, along with the publication of secret war logs, ‘electrified’ the world to civilian deaths
September 18, 2020 18 Sep'20
Ex-NCSC boss Ciaran Martin joins cyber venture capital outfit

Outgoing NCSC CEO Ciaran Martin is to take up a new role guiding new investments in cyber security
September 18, 2020 18 Sep'20
Outgoing NCSC CEO: Ransomware threat kept us up at night

Former NCSC CEO Ciaran Martin sheds some light on some of the biggest cyber threats currently facing the UK
September 18, 2020 18 Sep'20
Congressman offered Julian Assange a ‘win-win’ deal that would help President Trump

Details have emerged of US congressman Dana Rohrabacher’s offer of a pardon to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a ‘win-win deal that would benefit US President Donald Trump
September 18, 2020 18 Sep'20
US government deplatforms TikTok and WeChat

The Commerce Department of the US government has banned new downloads of TikTok and WeChat in the US, and announced new prohibitions on doing business with them
September 18, 2020 18 Sep'20
German authorities probe ransomware hospital death

Hackers failed to extort a ransom from University Hospital Düsseldorf, but indirectly caused the death of a patient
September 18, 2020 18 Sep'20
Rampant Kitten spent six years hacking Iranian dissidents

Details emerge of an ongoing campaign by Tehran-backed threat actors targeting dissidents and activists
September 17, 2020 17 Sep'20
Maze ransomware borrows Ragnar Locker tactics to sneak past defences

New research from the Sophos threat response team has found the Maze ransomware gang has adopted techniques pioneered by the cyber criminals behind Ragnar Locker
September 17, 2020 17 Sep'20
Saudi Arabia sees cyber security boom as coronavirus bites

Saudi Arabian CIOs have been forced to increase their security posture as the Covid-19 pandemic transforms working methods
September 17, 2020 17 Sep'20
What are the habits of highly effective CISOs?

Data crunched by Gartner analysts reveals the behaviours that differentiate the top-performing chief information security officers from the pack
September 17, 2020 17 Sep'20
Seven charged in connection with Chinese state-backed cyber attacks

Attacks by APT41, or Wicked Panda, targeted hundreds of organisations, including the UK government
September 17, 2020 17 Sep'20
Assange revelations among most important in US history, says Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked highly classified documents that changed the course of the Vietnam War in the 1970s, says WikiLeaks exposed a serious pattern of US war crimes
September 16, 2020 16 Sep'20
NCSC steps up ransomware support for schools and universities

New alert and updated guidance comes after several academic institutions were targeted in ransomware attacks
September 16, 2020 16 Sep'20
Julian Assange held back 15,000 documents to prevent harm to US government

Investigative journalist John Goetz said today that WikiLeaks held back publication of thousands of documents that could harm individuals
September 16, 2020 16 Sep'20
Retailers urged to get to grips with Magento as attacks spike

A huge spike in online retailers being hacked with Magecart credit card skimmers is being blamed on unsupported versions of Adobe Magento
September 16, 2020 16 Sep'20
Banks report surge in impersonation scams

Fraudsters are using the Covid-19 crisis to trick people into transferring money to them
September 16, 2020 16 Sep'20
Lorca security scaleups to get Splunk data expertise

Lorca inducts Splunk onto its co-marketing programme, giving security scaleups access to new data expertise
September 16, 2020 16 Sep'20
Singapore partners Apple on LumiHealth

Singapore’s Health Promotion Board has developed a programme with Apple to encourage healthy living following a similar partnership with Fitbit last year
September 16, 2020 16 Sep'20
Western Australia government goes all-in on Microsoft

State agencies in Western Australia will be able to tap Azure cloud services and cloud applications through a new Microsoft agreement
September 15, 2020 15 Sep'20
Gartner Security Summit: Covid-19 brings agile security to the fore

The evolving threat landscape is the top driver impacting cyber security during the next three to five years, and Covid-19 has accelerated the trend towards more agile security deployments
September 15, 2020 15 Sep'20
Risky development practice leaves company access keys exposed

Database stores, cloud storage and myriad other services are being put at risk by the accidental exposure of company access keys during development
September 15, 2020 15 Sep'20
TikTok-Oracle partnership moves forward for consideration

Joint venture proposal could create thousands of jobs and secure TikTok’s future outside China
September 15, 2020 15 Sep'20
Data of every Welsh Covid-19 patient leaked online

Data on all 18,105 people in Wales who have received positive tests for the coronavirus was uploaded to a public-facing web server in error
September 15, 2020 15 Sep'20
MEPs denied access as observers to Julian Assange extradition hearing

MEPs and NGOs say they have been denied access to observe extradition proceedings against WikiLeaks founder in Central Criminal Court
September 14, 2020 14 Sep'20
Julian Assange faces solitary confinement if extradited, court hears

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be held under special administrative measures if extradited to the US, said Eric Lewis, a US legal expert, effectively placing him in solitary confinement
September 14, 2020 14 Sep'20
Microsoft drops out of TikTok talks, paves way for Oracle partnership

Microsoft confirms it is dropping out of the running to acquire the US operations of TikTok, leaving the way clear for an imminent partnership deal with Oracle
September 11, 2020 11 Sep'20
Travel industry websites are laughably insecure, claims Which?

The travel industry is failing to take the data security of its customers seriously, according to a Which? investigation
September 11, 2020 11 Sep'20
Zoom adds two-factor authentication for all users

Latest enhancements to Zoom security make it easier for organisations to protect users and prevent breaches and unauthorised meeting access
September 11, 2020 11 Sep'20
Russian interference in US elections ramps up on schedule

With the critical US 2020 presidential election looming, Russian-state backed hackers are once again after organisations directly involved in political elections, launching thousands of targeted attacks
September 10, 2020 10 Sep'20
Cyber security is next frontier for open source

Open security will facilitate the interoperability and capabilities of cyber security tools while alleviating vendor lock-in for enterprises, says IBM
September 10, 2020 10 Sep'20
Lorca security scaleups hit funding milestone

£153m of investment has been raised by Lorca cohort companies in just two years, almost four times the original target
September 10, 2020 10 Sep'20
Datacentre firm Equinix investigating ransomware attack

A number of internal systems at cloud and datacentre firm Equinix have been affected by a ransomware attack
September 10, 2020 10 Sep'20
Government launches £500k healthcare security plan

A £500,000 funding pot from the government aims to help support small and mid-sized healthcare firms during the pandemic
September 10, 2020 10 Sep'20
Assange prosecution would put journalists around the world at risk

Trevor Timm, co-founder of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, tells a court that if the US prosecutes WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, every reporter who receives a secret document will be criminalised
September 09, 2020 09 Sep'20
Branch-based anti-fraud scheme to be expanded to online banking

A successful branch-based anti-fraud scheme will be expanded by banks to include online and telephone banking
September 09, 2020 09 Sep'20
September’s Patch Tuesday heavy on RCE vulnerabilities

Microsoft’s September update contains patches for 129 common vulnerabilities and exposures, including a high number of remote code execution issues
September 09, 2020 09 Sep'20
US conspiracy charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange ‘politically motivated’

US journalism historian and investigative journalist Mark Feldstein tells a UK court that use of the Espionage Act against Assange will have wide implications for the press
September 08, 2020 08 Sep'20
Julian Assange warned against interrupting witnesses in extradition hearing

On the second day of his extradition hearing at the Old Bailey, judge informs the WikiLeaks founder he could be removed and potentially banned from court for interrupting witnesses
September 07, 2020 07 Sep'20
Court rejects request to exclude ‘11th hour’ US evidence against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

Lawyers for Julian Assange say the US has introduced an 11th hour indictment against the WikiLeaks founder that provides additional grounds for his extradition
September 07, 2020 07 Sep'20
Government DPOs challenged by volume of GDPR work

Data protection officers working across the UK government are finding it tough to keep up with the increased workload generated by GDPR, according to a report
September 06, 2020 06 Sep'20
Why predictive threat intelligence is key

Threat intelligence startup Cyfirma is using virtual agents to gather intelligence on potential cyber attacks that are being coordinated in underground forums before they occur
September 04, 2020 04 Sep'20
Lockdown sees increase in girls applying for GCHQ cyber courses

The shift to online learning saw an increase in participants for its CyberFirst cyber security training programme, GCHQ found
September 03, 2020 03 Sep'20
Phishing scam targets Lloyds Bank customers

Bank customers warned of emails and SMS messages that direct them to a fraudulent site and then request account log-in details
September 03, 2020 03 Sep'20
Only 10% of tech talent have cyber skills to fill skills gap

The UK has a growing need for cyber skills as a result of the pandemic, but few IT professionals have the skills firms actually need
September 03, 2020 03 Sep'20
One actor behind Magecart skimmer kit

RiskIQ has identified that variations in software tools used for Magecart ecommerce site attacks are based on kits from the same group
September 03, 2020 03 Sep'20
UK businesses hardest hit financially by fallout from cyber attacks, research shows

Latest edition of Hiscox’s annual cyber readiness report suggests UK businesses are among those worst affected by the financial fallout from cyber attacks
September 03, 2020 03 Sep'20
New normal of remote working compounds enterprise security challenges

Sudden changes in priorities, poor network visibility and lack of time cited by Juniper Networks as key issues for security professionals struggling to cope with new norms
September 03, 2020 03 Sep'20
How Certis is digitising security operations

Certis has developed more than 50 applications in a year to help employees do their jobs better and has set up an AI centre to tap the potential of robotics and video analytics in security
September 02, 2020 02 Sep'20
Northumbria University suffers major disruption after cyber attack

Some exams cancelled as university appoints external specialists to investigate incident
September 01, 2020 01 Sep'20
UK government unveils next steps in digital identity plans

Long-awaited response to July 2019 consultation highlights private sector demands for digital identity support from government
September 01, 2020 01 Sep'20
Norway’s corporates want government to support ‘herd immunity’ to cyber attack

Leading business organisations in Norway call on government to play a more active role in improving and coordinating the country’s cyber defences
September 01, 2020 01 Sep'20
Vint Cerf: Why everyone has a role in internet safety

The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the power of internet connectivity. Vint Cerf talks to Computer Weekly about the challenges the internet now faces
August 28, 2020 28 Aug'20
New Zealand activates security services as DDoS outage enters fourth day

New Zealand government calls in its national cyber security agencies to help investigate a continuing cyber attack on the country’s financial systems
August 28, 2020 28 Aug'20
Machine learning wards off threats at TV studio Bunim Murray

TV studio behind reality hits including The Real World and Keeping Up With The Kardashians turned to Darktrace’s Antigena email protection service to keep its people safe from Covid-19 threats
August 28, 2020 28 Aug'20
Benefit fraud: Underground trade in stolen identities revealed

A roaring underground trade in stolen identities is undermining the Universal Credit system and could potentially defraud it out of millions of pounds
August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20
DDoS downs New Zealand stock exchange for third day

Distributed denial of service attack from overseas has left stock exchange offline for days
August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20
Tour de France 2020 fans to get virtual experience delivered by NTT

This year’s Tour de France was delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. IT services company NTT has teamed up with event organiser ASO to offer a virtual experience to fans who cannot be at the roadside
August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20
NHS whistleblowers’ anonymity at mercy of inadequate trust IT policies and processes

They were clapped in the streets for their bravery at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but some NHS staff who raise workplace concerns are suffering abuse as a result
August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20
TikTok CEO clocks off

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has resigned from the firm after just three months
August 26, 2020 26 Aug'20
Avaddon ransomware operators having a go at double extortion

The operators of the Avaddon ransomware seem to be tooling up to leak the data of their victims in addition to holding it to ransom, Cofense researchers confirm
August 26, 2020 26 Aug'20
Government must urgently prioritise digital identity, says tech sector

TechUK calls on government to make digital identity a focus of its digital strategy as the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the ‘urgent need’ for digital IDs
August 25, 2020 25 Aug'20
Microsoft wins on public cloud trust

IT spending set to grow in 2021, with many organisations buying more public cloud services. Security and trust are top buying criteria
August 25, 2020 25 Aug'20
North Korea’s Lazarus targets cryptocurrency vertical

APT group behind the infamous WannaCry incident is targeting cryptocurrency operators, according to new research
August 25, 2020 25 Aug'20
TikTok takes Trump to court

Under-fire video app TikTok files a formal complaint in the federal courts challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to ban it in the US
August 21, 2020 21 Aug'20
TikTok’s GDPR compliance probed amid accusations of data misuse

Dutch privacy organisation SOMI claims TikTok falls short in protecting young users, and that it is likely violating GDPR
August 21, 2020 21 Aug'20
MPs accuse ICO of failing to do its job on contact-tracing data

Cross-party group of MPs say the ICO has failed to enforce data protection standards or hold the government to account over the unlawful Test and Trace programme
August 21, 2020 21 Aug'20
Australian regulator sues RI Advice for cyber security lapses

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is suing RI Advice for cyber security breaches at the financial firm’s authorised representatives
August 20, 2020 20 Aug'20
UKAS rejects ISO certification concerns

UK’s certification body says refreshed guidance is in place to cover the possibility of lapsed ISO certifications
August 20, 2020 20 Aug'20
Social media data leak highlights murky world of data scraping

A data brokerage left its database of 235 million Instagram, TikTok and YouTube profiles exposed to anybody who cared to access it
August 19, 2020 19 Aug'20
HMRC investigates over 10,000 Covid-19 phishing reports

HM Revenue & Customs received thousands of reports of coronavirus phishing scams exploiting its name during April, May and June
August 19, 2020 19 Aug'20
Coronavirus: Thousands of ISO certifications set to lapse

Delays and postponements in the auditing process are putting hard-earned security and data protection certifications at risk of lapsing