News

Privacy and data protection

• 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

• May 07, 2021 07 May'21

  Ransomware, supply chain attacks show no sign of abating

  Security experts at Black Hat Asia 2021 discuss the state of ransomware and supply chain attacks, two of the most common attack vectors that offer high returns for threat actors

• May 06, 2021 06 May'21

  Government urged to add scam protections to Online Safety Bill

  Group of organisations calls for the government to use the Online Safety Bill to protect people from cyber scams

• May 06, 2021 06 May'21

  Scammers accidentally reveal fake Amazon review data

  More than 13 million records relating to an organised fake review scam have been found on an unsecured ElasticSearch database, implicating hundreds of thousands of people in unethical behaviour

• May 06, 2021 06 May'21

  Google to introduce mandatory MFA for users

  In future, holders of Google accounts will have no option but to use multifactor authentication if they want to use the firm’s services

• May 04, 2021 04 May'21

  Half of organisations breached via a third party in 12 months

  New report highlights the risks of outsourcing key business processes without paying due care and attention to your service provider’s security

• April 30, 2021 30 Apr'21

  EncroChat: Top lawyer warned CPS of risk that phone hacking warrants could be unlawful

  Lord David Anderson QC warned prosecutors that there were formidable arguments against the lawfulness of a police operation to infiltrate the encrypted phone network, EncroChat

• April 30, 2021 30 Apr'21

  MPs accuse government of unduly interfering in information commissioner appointment

  Cross-party group of MPs says government is influencing the appointment of a new information commissioner by explicitly seeking a candidate who will support its policy agenda, rather than regulate independently

• April 29, 2021 29 Apr'21

  G7 countries to cooperate on digital regulation

  Digital and technology ministers outline their agenda for how technology can be used to facilitate the post-Covid recovery, signalling closer collaboration in key areas of the digital economy

• April 28, 2021 28 Apr'21

  Covid-19 security challenges leave bank customers at risk

  Challenges arising from the pandemic have left gaping holes in banking security, putting consumers at risk of fraud

• April 28, 2021 28 Apr'21

  Recruiters can’t afford to hold out for cyber ‘unicorns’

  The perfect security candidate is hard to find, so hiring policy needs to be more pragmatic

• April 28, 2021 28 Apr'21

  Office 365 compromise likely led to Merseyrail ransomware attack

  Compromise of Merseyrail employee data seems to have begun after a key email account was hacked

• April 28, 2021 28 Apr'21

  NHS App to serve as vaccine passport for foreign holidays

  Existing NHS App will have vaccine passport functionality added to it, transport secretary confirms

• April 27, 2021 27 Apr'21

  Total cost of ransomware attack heading towards $2m

  Sophos’ latest study finds that ransomware attacks are proving increasingly disruptive to their victims’ finances

• April 27, 2021 27 Apr'21

  Leaky Azure storage account puts software developer IP at risk

  Source code for multiple products was left exposed in an unsecured Microsoft Azure cloud storage account, say researchers, but attributing responsibility for the error has proved difficult

• April 27, 2021 27 Apr'21

  Apple OS updates patch multiple security holes

  The much-heralded release of the privacy-centric iOS 14.5 also brings patches for multiple CVEs, and users of Apple smartphones, tablets and notebooks are best advised to update as soon as possible

• April 27, 2021 27 Apr'21

  The Security Interviews: Making sense of outbound email security

  Screening inbound emails is an accepted part of an organisation’s security posture, but the topic of securing outbound traffic is less often discussed. Zivver’s Rick Goud is on a mission to change this