News

Security policy and user awareness

• 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 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 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

  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 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

  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

  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

  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 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 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

• August 11, 2021 11 Aug'21

  The Netherlands still lacks digital resilience, says report

  Report by National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security says the Netherlands’ digital resilience has improved, but is still insufficient

• August 10, 2021 10 Aug'21

  Third of finance firms accelerate use of artificial intelligence to detect money laundering

  Financial services firms are stepping up their use of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to fight increasing money laundering activity

• August 06, 2021 06 Aug'21

  Apple unveils plans to scan US iPhones for child sex abuse images

  Apple will introduce child sexual abuse material detection for US users later this year, but some experts are worried that the technology could be repurposed to scan phones for other kinds of content

• August 04, 2021 04 Aug'21

  Initial access brokers unaffected by ransomware content bans

  Banning ransomware content from cyber crime forums has done little to prevent initial access brokers from advertising their services, with the number of access listings increasing in the second quarter of 2021

• August 03, 2021 03 Aug'21

  UK MoD turns to hackers to help secure digital assets

  Hackers given direct access to internal Ministry of Defence systems to identify and report security vulnerabilities

• August 03, 2021 03 Aug'21

  Ransomware attacks increase dramatically during 2021

  Dramatic increase in ransomware attacks globally during first half of 2021 driven by triple extortion technique, and is only set to expand further

• July 29, 2021 29 Jul'21

  Technical hiccups force Babuk ransomware gang to change tactics

  The Babuk ransomware operation backed away from encrypting its victims’ files, and technical difficulties may be to blame, reports McAfee

• July 28, 2021 28 Jul'21

  Almost half unaware of GP data-sharing plans

  Around half of adults in England – approximately 20 million people – remain unaware of the scope of the NHS GPDPR programme, prompting calls for a public education campaign

• July 28, 2021 28 Jul'21

  COP26 cyber resource hub launched for Glasgow businesses

  New digital information hub for Glasgow business to help organisations keep secure both physically and online ahead of major climate change summit

• July 27, 2021 27 Jul'21

  ICO ends its involvement in dispute between NatWest Bank and data breach whistleblower

  The Information Commissioner’s Office has ended its involvement in a dispute between a data breach whistleblower and NatWest bank

• July 26, 2021 26 Jul'21

  Malicious actors turn to obscure programming languages

  Using new, lesser-known or otherwise uncommon programming languages to code new malwares can help skirt cyber defences

• July 26, 2021 26 Jul'21

  No More Ransom initiative saves £850m over five years

  Initiative’s free ransomware decryption tools have been used by more than six million people since 2016

• July 25, 2021 25 Jul'21

  Tokyo 2020 hit by data breach

  The user names and passwords of Tokyo 2020 ticket holders and event volunteers were reportedly compromised, but government official claims the data leak was not large

• July 22, 2021 22 Jul'21

  Respect in Security challenges abuse and harassment in cyber

  With around a third of cyber pros saying they have personally experienced harassment at work or online, a new initiative is urging organisations to pledge their support to help free the community from the scourge of abuse. We met its founders

• July 21, 2021 21 Jul'21

  France’s Macron among alleged Pegasus targets

  Data relating to devices used by French president Emmanuel Macron and the head of the World Health Organization, among others, has been uncovered in a dataset linked to government use of spyware

• July 20, 2021 20 Jul'21

  NCSC’s Cameron urges deeper cyber alliance-building

  Speaking to an event in Israel, NCSC CEO Lindy Cameron has praised joint UK-Israeli efforts on security collaboration

• July 20, 2021 20 Jul'21

  NHS Digital tightens rules for GPDPR data scrape

  The proposed collection of patient data held by GPs will now only commence when three key criteria have been fulfilled, says NHS Digital

• July 19, 2021 19 Jul'21

  UK, US confirm Chinese state backed MS Exchange Server attacks

  UK and US governments, alongside the EU and Nato, have formally attributed the March 2021 Microsoft Exchange Server attacks to Chinese state-backed actors

• July 19, 2021 19 Jul'21

  Pegasus mobile RAT abused to monitor journalists and activists

  Israel-based surveillance specialist NSO Group is facing renewed pressure after it emerged its Pegasus mobile surveillance tool may be being widely abused by repressive regimes

• July 16, 2021 16 Jul'21

  Legacy SonicWall kit exploited in ransom campaign

  Users of older versions of SonicWall Secure Mobile Access 100 and Secure Remote Access products are at risk from a new ransomware campaign

• July 15, 2021 15 Jul'21

  Lawyers take EncroChat hacking operation to French supreme court

  Lawyers head to French supreme court after appeals court finds EnroChat inception legal under French law

• July 15, 2021 15 Jul'21

  Privacy Shield: US surveillance law reforms essential for EU-US data, says EU parliamentary study

  EU Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs study calls for major reforms of US spying laws to enable an EU-US data-sharing agreement to replace Privacy Shield

• July 15, 2021 15 Jul'21

  Singapore to invest S$50m in ‘digital trust’ capabilities

  The Singapore government is pumping in S$50m to bolster research in technologies that will foster digital trust in areas such as privacy protection and identity management

• July 14, 2021 14 Jul'21

  REvil ransomware crew drops offline, reasons murky

  The REvil ransomware operation appears to have gone dark, but claims about its demise are almost certainly exaggerated

• July 14, 2021 14 Jul'21

  Multiple Microsoft bugs being actively exploited

  Microsoft’s July Patch Tuesday update fixes 117 vulnerabilities, 13 rated as critical and four already being actively exploited

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  Regional cyber clusters score £700k of funding

  DCMS has awarded £700,000 of funding to a network of 20 regional cyber clusters

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  Modipwn vulnerability puts millions of building systems at risk

  Authentication bypass vulnerability in a Schneider Electric product could lead to device takeover

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  UK Cyber Security Council calls for new push on training

  Too many companies have cut back on security training and development during the pandemic, says UK Cyber Security Council

• July 13, 2021 13 Jul'21

  Met Police seize £180m worth of Bitcoin

  The largest ever seizure of cryptocurrency in the UK comes just weeks after a previous multi-million pound confiscation, as law enforcement clamps down on money laundering

• July 12, 2021 12 Jul'21

  Kaseya VSA services coming online after week-long outage

  Kaseya has successfully deployed a patch to its ransomware-hit VSA product as per a revised schedule, and customers are beginning to come back online