News

Privacy and data protection

• August 14, 2019 14 Aug'19

  Publicly accessible biometric database highlights key failings

  The discovery of a publicly accessible database of biometric information highlights failings by the supplier, the need for supply chain security, and the challenges of using biometric data

• August 14, 2019 14 Aug'19

  DCMS funding aims to increase diversity in cyber sector

  A funding round has been announced as part of the Cyber Skills Immediate Impact Fund (CSIIF) with aims of encouraging more diverse talent into the UK’s cyber security sector

• August 14, 2019 14 Aug'19

  GDPR faces growing pains across Europe

  The General Data Protection Regulation is over a year old now, but it faces challenges across Europe where compliance has taken place at different speeds

• August 14, 2019 14 Aug'19

  Cyber criminal collaboration intensifies

  The level of cooperation between high-profile cyber threat groups has shifted up a gear, enabling a higher level of automation and making attribution more difficult, research shows

• August 14, 2019 14 Aug'19

  Digital domain identified as major security threat by Norway’s intelligence service

  Norway's intelligence services has revealed the extent of the threat posed to the country by cyber attacks

• August 14, 2019 14 Aug'19

  British Airways e-ticketing system could expose passenger details

  British Airways has not addressed a potential leak of passenger details despite warnings from security researchers, but says it is aware of the issue and is taking action

• August 13, 2019 13 Aug'19

  Breach cost $53m in Q2, says Desjardins

  Credit union cooperative Desjardins reveals that a data breach in June cost the company $53m in the second quarter, but that could be just the start, warn industry commentators

• August 13, 2019 13 Aug'19

  BACnet IoT building automation devices vulnerable to attack

  A security researcher has revealed that internet-connected building automating devices using the BACnet communication protocol are vulnerable to cyber attack

• August 12, 2019 12 Aug'19

  Phishing top security threat to business

  A new Telefónica security service for business shows that phishing is the most-blocked threat and smaller businesses are a popular attack target in the first two months of deployment

• August 12, 2019 12 Aug'19

  Digital transformation driving security rethink

  Organisations are focusing on internet of things and cloud in developing cyber defence systems, study shows

• August 09, 2019 09 Aug'19

  F-Secure warns of F5 Big IP-related security issue

  F-Secure has discovered security issues relating to an F5 device that it says could potentially turn hundreds of thousands of load balancers into beachheads for cyber attacks

• August 09, 2019 09 Aug'19

  NCC Group warns of security risks of leading printers

  Researchers uncover more than 35 vulnerabilities in six leading enterprise printers, many of which could allow access to corporate networks, underlining the need to counter security risks of embedded systems

• August 09, 2019 09 Aug'19

  Whistleblowers: James Glenn’s battle with Cisco opens new front on cyber security

  James Glenn, a 42-year-old security specialist, fought a 10-year legal battle with Cisco after blowing the whistle on serious security flaws. He lost his job, but has no regrets

• August 08, 2019 08 Aug'19

  Ransomware a continued threat to business, report warns

  Businesses are increasingly becoming the most popular targets for ransomware, which remains a top cyber threat around the world, especially in the US, a report reveals

• August 08, 2019 08 Aug'19

  Cyber criminals hijacking legitimate website comms

  Criminals are exploiting firms’ use of online feedback methods to distribute spam and phishing emails, security researchers warn

• August 07, 2019 07 Aug'19

  Southeast Asian ‘white hat’ urges more countries to sign the Paris Call

  A renowned ethical hacker in Malaysia has called for more nations to support the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace to counter the threat of cyber warfare

• August 07, 2019 07 Aug'19

  Shared files in the cloud are a top ransomware target

  Vectra 2019 Spotlight report shows recent ransomware attacks cast a wider net to ensnare cloud, datacentre and enterprise infrastructures

• August 07, 2019 07 Aug'19

  FireEye identifies dual nature Chinese cyber threat group

  Security researchers have identified a China-based cyber threat group engaged in state-spored espionage in parallel with cyber criminal activities targeting multiple industries worldwide

• August 07, 2019 07 Aug'19

  Industry collaborates to patch SwapGS CPU vulnerability

  Newly disclosed SwapGS vulnerability in modern processors has been patched in Windows, Linux and ChromeOS, underlining the importance of keeping systems up to date

• August 06, 2019 06 Aug'19

  African bank foils suspected North Korean cyber attack

  An African bank is among the financial institutions to be targeted by North Korea’s multi-billion dollar cyber theft campaign to support its weapons programmes

• August 06, 2019 06 Aug'19

  ICO joins international call for transparency around Facebook’s Libra currency

  Data protection regulators from around the world have signed a statement raising privacy concerns about Libra

• August 05, 2019 05 Aug'19

  Most UK university applicants at risk of email fraud

  The majority of hundreds of thousands of applicants to UK universities are at risk of email fraud before and after A-level results day, due to a failure to implement full Dmarc protection, a study reveals

• August 02, 2019 02 Aug'19

  Lack of resources top challenge to IT security

  A lack of resources is the top challenge to information security professionals, followed by a lack of experience and skills, a survey reveals

• August 02, 2019 02 Aug'19

  Government continues probe of UK cyber security labour market

  The government has announced a second phase of research to help understand the UK's cyber security labour market

• August 01, 2019 01 Aug'19

  Facebook asked to explain discrepancies in evidence over Cambridge Analytica

  DCMS Committee chairman asks Facebook to clarify what it knew about Cambridge Analytica’s use of its data and when

• August 01, 2019 01 Aug'19

  GDPR taken more seriously after first fines

  Security professionals believe the first big fines under the General Data Protection Regulation will get organisations to take the new rules more seriously, but will not necessarily change policies or practices

• August 01, 2019 01 Aug'19

  Leaked Sephora databases peddled on dark web

  Cyber security firm finds two databases likely to be related to the Sephora data breach that affected online customers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand

• July 31, 2019 31 Jul'19

  Financial services top cyber attack target

  Financial services are among the most attractive targets for cyber attackers, security researchers reveal, with phishing and credential stuffing among the top threats

• July 30, 2019 30 Jul'19

  Australian firms grappling with “train-smash” of security legislation

  While businesses should avoid going into checkbox compliance mode, the constant flux of regulations on cyber security and privacy has led to calls for more legislative coherence from regulators

• July 30, 2019 30 Jul'19

  Huawei ‘galvanised’ by Trump ban

  Huawei has found itself caught in the crossfire of the US president’s trade war with China, but chairman Liang Hua says the firm is rising to the challenge

• July 30, 2019 30 Jul'19

  Former AWS engineer arrested for Capital One data breach

  Capital One announces data breach affecting more than 100 million customers as US federal authorities arrest a Seattle woman formerly employed by Amazon Web Services

• July 29, 2019 29 Jul'19

  ICO selects first innovation Sandbox participants

  UK privacy watchdog has chosen the first firms to take part in its Sandbox programme aimed at developing innovative and beneficial products and services that are privacy compliant

• July 29, 2019 29 Jul'19

  Visa card vulnerabilities enable contactless limit bypass

  Security researchers have discovered vulnerabilities on Visa cards that could be exploited to bypass contactless payment limits and result in huge losses

• July 29, 2019 29 Jul'19

  WannaCry hero Marcus Hutchins spared jail

  British security researcher who helped halt the global WannaCry ransomware attack that hit the NHS in 2017 has avoided jail in the US for creating other malware

• July 29, 2019 29 Jul'19

  Cyber kill chain is outdated, says Carbon Black

  The chief cyber security officer of Carbon Black calls for a new cognitive paradigm to fend off cyber adversaries that are now attacking in cycles

• July 26, 2019 26 Jul'19

  Email security as important as ever, report shows

  Cyber security professionals need to keep up to date with email-borne threats because they continue to evolve and have a major impact on business, research reveals

• July 26, 2019 26 Jul'19

  86 million reasons to support No More Ransom

  Anti-ransomware cross-industry initiative says it has prevented more than £86m in ransom payments as it marks its third anniversary, which coincides with a resurgence in ransomware in many parts of the world

• July 25, 2019 25 Jul'19

  F-Secure talks up threat-hunting to stay ahead of cyber attacks in APAC

  Cyber security firm calls for organisations to double up on threat-hunting now that nearly all attack and reconnaissance traffic is automated

• July 25, 2019 25 Jul'19

  Mobile banking malware surges in 2019

  Mobile banking malware surged in the first half of the year, email scams geared up and attacks on cloud increased, while illicit cryptocurrency miners declined, report reveals

• July 25, 2019 25 Jul'19

  Facebook shrugs off $5bn fine, reports strong quarter

  Investors responded positively after social networking firm reported better-than-expected second-quarter results after budgeting for FTC fine, but the company faces a further antitrust investigation

• July 24, 2019 24 Jul'19

  Zuckerberg responsible for Facebook privacy compliance after $5bn FTC fine

  Facebook pays record fine after breaching users’ privacy, following settlements with Federal Trade Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission

• July 24, 2019 24 Jul'19

  Controversial ‘immigration exemption’ used in 60% of cases

  The UK government has used a controversial GDPR opt-out in response to the majority of its immigration-related data requests since the start of 2019, the High Court has heard

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  Phishing attack highlights cyber security need at universities

  UK university cyber security is once again under the spotlight after Lancaster University reveals that it has been targeted by a phishing attack used to send fake invoices

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  Almost a third of European firms still not compliant with GDPR

  Almost a third of European businesses admit they are still not compliant with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, but there are encouraging signs of increased maturity in data protection, with the new rules driving better, ...

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  Norsk Hydro cyber attack could cost up to $75m

  March 2019 ransomware attack could cost Norwegian aluminium giant up to $75m in the first half of the year, according to latest estimates

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  Data breach costs on the rise, IBM study shows

  Data breach costs have risen in the past decade, and the financial impact can be felt for years. Breaches posing a growing risk for small businesses, a study shows, underlining the importance of incident response

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  High Court to hear challenge to immigration exemption in DPA

  The High Court is to hear a challenge by two human rights groups of a controversial clause in new UK data protection legislation they say is in conflict with the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and undermines the General Data Protection Regulation

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  Government delays final decision on Huawei

  Culture secretary says he cannot yet make specific decisions about Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s telecoms and mobile networks due to a lack of clarity from the US, effectively green-lighting its use

• July 22, 2019 22 Jul'19

  US fines Equifax $700m over 2017 breach

  Global settlement with US authorities follows systems breach that saw more than 140 million customer records stolen

• July 22, 2019 22 Jul'19

  Big tech firms back UK cyber security initiative

  Big technology firms have pledged their support for UK investment in an initiative to “design out” of new tech the most damaging cyber security threats