News

Privacy and data protection

June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21
NCSC updates schools ransomware guidance amid surge

The National Cyber Security Centre says it is dealing with a renewed surge of ransomware attacks targeting schools, colleges and universities
June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21
Campaigners plan legal action over NHS data sharing

Privacy coalition aims to force NHS Digital to push back its plans to scrape medical information on millions of patients into a central database
June 07, 2021 07 Jun'21
Updated standard contractual clauses will provide ‘legal certainty’ for transfer of data

Organisations have 18 months to update data transfer agreements, known as standard contractual clauses, or SCCs, to continue sharing data outside the European Union
June 04, 2021 04 Jun'21
BCS: Lack of communication over NHS GPDPR ‘astonishing’

The Chartered Institute for IT has warned that millions of people are not being properly informed of NHS Digital plans to harvest their data

June 04, 2021 04 Jun'21
Secrecy around EncroChat cryptophone hack breaches French constitution, court hears

French lawyers claim that investigators are unlawfully withholding details of a cryptophone hacking operation in a case that could impact UK prosecutions
June 04, 2021 04 Jun'21
Government action on ransomware epidemic gathers pace

The US government steps up action against ransomware operators, while the UK’s NCSC publishes guidance on preparing to deal with a ransomware attack
June 03, 2021 03 Jun'21
Norway’s auditor general lifts lid on energy industry’s cyber security risks

Auditor General’s Office questions the security posture of Norway’s energy industry
June 03, 2021 03 Jun'21
Tories fined over email data protection breaches

The Conservative Party broke the law by failing to properly keep records of who had unsubscribed from its mailing list
June 03, 2021 03 Jun'21
FireEye sold to private equity, Mandiant regains independence

FireEye has agreed to sell its products business and name to a private equity consortium, while Mandiant will spin out as an independent threat intel business
June 01, 2021 01 Jun'21
Exagrid pays $2.6m to Conti ransomware attackers

Backup appliance specialist hit by Conti ransomware in May with cyber criminals downloading employee and customer data, confidential contracts and source code

May 28, 2021 28 May'21
Privacy experts concerned over NHS data collection plans

Security and data privacy experts warn NHS Digital that its data collection plans could increase risk and cause a public backlash
May 27, 2021 27 May'21
Loss of 150,000 police records made worse by management failures

The loss of 150,000 records from a number of national policing systems was caused by a human coding error, but made worse by process and management failures
May 27, 2021 27 May'21
NGOs file complaints against Clearview AI in five countries

Privacy and human rights organisations have asked data protection regulators in the UK, France, Austria, Italy and Greece to investigate controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI
May 26, 2021 26 May'21
More data stolen in January 2021 than in all of 2017, says report

The volume of data being stolen through breaches is growing steadily and shows no sign of slowing, according to a report from Imperva
May 26, 2021 26 May'21
Millions of pounds lost to crypto fraud on social media

More than £63m has been lost nationally by victims of investment fraud via a social media platform, says Action Fraud
May 25, 2021 25 May'21
GCHQ bulk interception programme breached privacy rights, Strasbourg court rules

European Court of Human Rights finds that the UK’s bulk surveillance programme breached citizens’ privacy rights
May 25, 2021 25 May'21
CyberSprinters game gives kids a head start, says NCSC

An online game for primary schools, clubs and youth organisations will teach children aged seven to 11 the fundamentals of staying safe online
May 25, 2021 25 May'21
Threat of group GDPR legal action haunts CISOs

The vast majority of security leaders questioned for a new report say they are concerned about the possibility of group legal settlements against them following a serious data breach
May 25, 2021 25 May'21
Industry reflects on three years of GDPR

Looking back on 12 tumultuous months, we assess how GDPR has weathered the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, and consider what the coming year may hold for data protection
May 24, 2021 24 May'21
Air India is latest victim of Sita hack

Data on millions of people who flew with Air India between 2011 and 2021 appears to have been compromised in the recent Sita supply chain attack
May 24, 2021 24 May'21
Dutch researchers build security software to mimic human immune system

Software could help IT systems develop immunity to some cyber attacks in a similar way to how the body fights infection
May 24, 2021 24 May'21
MEPs urge European Commission to revise UK adequacy decisions

Members of the European Parliament are calling for the European Commission to ensure EU citizens have greater privacy rights
May 21, 2021 21 May'21
Lack of developer attention to cloud security prompts alerts

The personal data of over 100 million Android users may have been put at risk through a variety of cloud service misconfigurations
May 20, 2021 20 May'21
Pandemic tech use heightens consumer privacy fears

Report on consumer attitudes to privacy finds evidence of a “heightened sense of fear” as digital footprints expand inexorably
May 20, 2021 20 May'21
HP taps micro virtual machines in endpoint security

HP’s Wolf Security technology stack uses an endpoint security controller to run computing tasks in micro virtual machines so that any potential malware can be isolated and contained
May 20, 2021 20 May'21
UK government publishes framework on automated decision-making

The framework focuses on making the use of algorithms and automated decision-making systems within the public sector more ethical, transparent and accountable
May 19, 2021 19 May'21
Reports of stolen Irish health service data being leaked online

Leaking of deeply confidential and personal information on patient healthcare marks a new low for the criminal Conti gang
May 19, 2021 19 May'21
Barclays first bank to publish online scam refund details

All banks must be transparent about the proportion of victims of authorised push payment fraud they refund, says consumer rights organisation Which?
May 19, 2021 19 May'21
Flexxon bakes AI into SSDs to fight unknown threats

Singapore-based Flexxon has developed a solid-state drive that uses artificial intelligence to fend off malware and other unknown threats
May 18, 2021 18 May'21
Microsoft EU Data Boundary dubbed ‘smoke and mirrors’

Data protection experts claim Microsoft’s decision to create an EU Data Boundary is a tacit admission that it routinely transfers and processes the personal data of European citizens outside the bloc
May 18, 2021 18 May'21
Government response to National Data Strategy consultation depicts data as ‘asset, not threat’

Government responds to consultation with a promise of delivery, putting an emphasis on data as an asset, not a threat, and finding respondents keen on levelling up
May 18, 2021 18 May'21
Irish High Court dismisses legal bid by Facebook over EU-US data transfers

Latest twist in long-running legal battle sees Facebook lose legal bid to prevent the Irish Data Protection Commissioner suspending its transfer of data about European citizens to the US
May 18, 2021 18 May'21
Australian budget lends support to digital economy

Australia’s A$1.2bn Digital Economy Strategy ticks most of the right boxes, but some industry experts say areas such as broadband infrastructure and artificial intelligence are still underfunded
May 17, 2021 17 May'21
Conti ransomware syndicate behind attack on Irish health service

More details continue to emerge of the significant ransomware attack on Ireland’s HSE
May 17, 2021 17 May'21
Government seeks input on supply chain security

Amid concerns that too few companies are addressing vulnerabilities in their supply chain, DCMS is opening a consultation on new measures to enhance security
May 14, 2021 14 May'21
Dutch police used deep learning model to predict threats to life

Dutch police developed a deep learning model in their EncroChat investigation to predict which messages contain serious threats to life
May 14, 2021 14 May'21
Okta and Auth0 to expand APAC coverage

Okta’s acquisition of rival Auth0 will enable both companies to expand their footprint in the Asia-Pacific region as demand for identity management services soars amid the pandemic
May 13, 2021 13 May'21
NHSX data strategy due in ‘a few weeks’

NHSX director of policy and strategy Simon Madden says the long-awaited strategy is expected to “trigger huge debates” on issues such as access, choice and transparency, and will be published in draft form shortly to allow for consultation
May 13, 2021 13 May'21
Publishing exploit code does more harm than good, says report

Disclosing exploit code before patches are available gives malicious actors a ‘massive’ head-start, says Kenna Security
May 13, 2021 13 May'21
Refuge launches tech safety site for domestic abuse victims

Created with the help of survivors, Refuge’s resource site offers guidance on protecting yourself from tech-enabled domestic abuse
May 13, 2021 13 May'21
Verizon DBIR underscores year of unprecedented cyber challenge

Verizon 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report draws predictable conclusions as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to be felt
May 12, 2021 12 May'21
UK government publishes Online Safety Bill draft

Bill builds on previous commitments by the government, which has added new measures to uphold democracy and freedom of speech while making tech giants more accountable
May 12, 2021 12 May'21
Inside DarkSide: Researchers share intel on break-out cyber gang

Security researchers swap information on the newly famous DarkSide ransomware gang, the group that doesn’t appear to understand what ‘being a criminal’ actually means
May 12, 2021 12 May'21
UK to fund national cyber teams in Global South

Government will commit millions of pounds to supporting vulnerable countries in establishing cyber capacity
May 12, 2021 12 May'21
The Security Interviews: Why helpful bots could hurt vaccine roll-outs

Earlier this year, spikes in traffic to websites containing information about Covid-19 vaccines were attributed by Imperva to automated bots scraping data. Why is that a problem?
May 11, 2021 11 May'21
UK Plc invited to sign up for Early Warning of cyber incidents

The launch of the Early Warning incident notification service is among the enhancements being made by the NCSC to its service packages
May 11, 2021 11 May'21
Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack has grave consequences

The ramifications of a major ransomware attack against a US fuel pipeline operator could spread far and wide
May 10, 2021 10 May'21
NCSC Active Cyber Defence blocks surge of pandemic scams

The NCSC responded to a surge in online scams last year as it moved to protect both the general public and critical national services during the pandemic
May 07, 2021 07 May'21
NCSC publishes smart city security guidelines

Guidance for local authorities, IT and cyber professionals aims to ensure the security of connected, smart city projects
May 07, 2021 07 May'21
Cyber accreditation to improve legal standing of security pros

Institute of Cyber Digital Investigations Professionals will help incident responders and cyber investigators get the professional recognition they deserve