News

Security policy and user awareness

• January 12, 2021 12 Jan'21

  Parler collapse opens door to phishing attacks

  The shutdown of controversial social media site Parler, and the publication of huge amounts of user data scraped by ethical hackers, is giving cyber crime experts cause for concern

• January 11, 2021 11 Jan'21

  New SolarWinds CEO sets out rescue plan

  Customers can expect to see more regular and thorough checks on SolarWinds products, alongside greater engagement with the security community

• January 08, 2021 08 Jan'21

  Government use of 'general warrants' to authorise computer and phone hacking is unlawful

  A court has ruled that the security and intelligence services can no longer rely on ‘general warrants’ to authorise the hacking of large numbers of computers and phones belonging to UK citizens

• January 04, 2021 04 Jan'21

  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be extradited to face charges in US, court rules

  Court rules it would be oppressive to send Julian Assange to the US to face trial after finding he is at high risk of suicide. US government says it will appeal

• December 24, 2020 24 Dec'20

  Top 10 cyber crime stories of 2020

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 cyber crime stories of 2020

• December 23, 2020 23 Dec'20

  Top 10 cyber security stories of 2020

  Here are Computer Weekly’s 10 top cyber security stories of 2020

• December 22, 2020 22 Dec'20

  Ministry of Justice in the dock for catalogue of serious data breaches

  Annual report reveals major incidents of personal data loss affecting 121,355 people and including misplaced, unencrypted USB stick containing documents from a trial, accidental disclosure of identities, and staff files made visible to ...

• December 18, 2020 18 Dec'20

  Utility supplier People’s Energy has entire customer list stolen

  All 270,000 customers of People’s Energy, a renewable energy startup, have had their details compromised in a major data breach incident

• December 17, 2020 17 Dec'20

  Dodgy browser extensions put social media users at risk

  More than three million users of third-party browser extensions for Instagram, Facebook, Vimeo and others have been infected with malware, according to Avast

• December 17, 2020 17 Dec'20

  EU security strategy a ‘step up’ on cyber leadership, says Brussels

  The EU’s new cyber security strategy forms a key component of Shaping Europe’s Digital Future, the Recovery Plan for Europe, and the EU Security Union Strategy

• December 15, 2020 15 Dec'20

  SolarWinds cyber attack: How worried should I be, and what do I do now?

  Security teams across the world are on high alert as more details emerge of the widespread SolarWinds ‘Sunburst’ attack. What do defenders need to do next?

• December 13, 2020 13 Dec'20

  Singapore trials beacons to bolster police operations

  Police beacons equipped with video cameras, sirens, floodlights and speakers are being deployed at two parks to improve public safety in a year-long trial

• December 11, 2020 11 Dec'20

  The week in ransomware: Foxconn and Randstad are high-profile victims

  Foxconn and Randstad are laid low by cyber criminals, while Sophos spills on Egregor, and prognosticators turn to their crystal balls to divine how ransomware will develop in the next 12 months

• December 11, 2020 11 Dec'20

  Disputed PostgreSQL bug exploited in cryptomining botnet

  PGMiner cryptomining botnet remained unnoticed by exploiting a disputed CVE in PostgreSQL

• December 11, 2020 11 Dec'20

  Surge in Covid-19 vaccine phishing scams reported

  Check Point and KnowBe4 share details of a growing number of phishing campaigns using the prospect of a Covid-19 vaccine as a lure

• December 10, 2020 10 Dec'20

  French regulators fine Google and Amazon over cookie policies

  Google and Amazon rapped over their use of advertising cookies by the French data protection authorities

• December 10, 2020 10 Dec'20

  Cyber Helpline awarded lottery funding to support victims

  The Cyber Helpline, a UK charity that provides emergency support to victims of cyber crime and online stalking, is to receive funding from the National Lottery

• December 09, 2020 09 Dec'20

  Amnesia:33 IoT flaws dangerous and patches unlikely, say experts

  The disclosure of multiple flaws by Forescout has raised big questions for the developers of connected products, and for their users

• December 09, 2020 09 Dec'20

  Patch Tuesday: Microsoft presents just 58 CVEs for Christmas

  The final Patch Tuesday of 2020 contains 58 fixes, a minnow compared to some recent drops, but many are still of high importance

• December 09, 2020 09 Dec'20

  FireEye’s ethical hacking tools stolen in state-backed attack

  Hacking tools used to conduct red team penetration testing were stolen in the state-backed attack on security firm FireEye

• December 08, 2020 08 Dec'20

  Multiple D-Link routers found vulnerable to attack

  Digital Defense discloses a remotely exploitable root command injection flaw in a number of D-Link wireless router devices

• December 07, 2020 07 Dec'20

  A trillion dollars lost to cyber crime every year

  Data collated by McAfee and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies highlights the growing impact of cyber crime

• December 04, 2020 04 Dec'20

  Opportunistic Egregor ransomware is an emerging and active threat

  Researchers at Recorded Future’s Insikt Group highlight links between the emerging Egregor ransomware and other strains, and offer guidance on defending against it

• December 03, 2020 03 Dec'20

  Cyber Aware campaign to help safeguard Christmas shoppers

  New government campaign sets out to raise awareness of online shopping fraud in the run-up to Christmas

• December 03, 2020 03 Dec'20

  Covid-19 vaccine supply chain attacked by unknown nation state

  An unknown nation state actor is attempting to disrupt the supply of coronavirus vaccines

• December 03, 2020 03 Dec'20

  Dangerous Trickbot evolves to target UEFI/BIOS firmware

  Dubbed Trickboot by researchers, Trickbot’s new features enable malicious actors to read, write or even erase UEFI/BIOS firmware

• December 02, 2020 02 Dec'20

  Covid-19: Cyber criminals will target vaccine programmes

  Interpol issues a global alert to law enforcement as the UK becomes one of the first countries to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use

• December 02, 2020 02 Dec'20

  Singapore government remains ‘juicy target’ for cyber attackers

  The government is baking security into the design and implementation of its IT systems and looking to increase bug bounties to fend off cyber threats

• December 01, 2020 01 Dec'20

  DHL, Amazon and FedEx are most phished delivery services

  DHL has emerged as the most imitated delivery brand in Europe, accounting for 77% of the total volume of phishing emails received in November 2020

• December 01, 2020 01 Dec'20

  22,000 malicious .uk domains suspended in past year

  Nominet has suspended just over 22,000 domains in the 12 months to 31 October 2020, continuing a downward trend, and with less impact from Covid-19 than might be expected

• November 27, 2020 27 Nov'20

  How Grab is using technology to improve trust and safety

  Southeast Asian unicorn Grab is tapping artificial intelligence and other technologies to keep its users safe and cyber criminals at bay

• November 26, 2020 26 Nov'20

  APAC plagued by APT, ransomware attacks

  The Asia-Pacific region was a primary target of advanced persistent threat groups, mostly from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia, that carried out 34 campaigns between June 2019 to June 2020

• November 25, 2020 25 Nov'20

  Securing UK’s critical national infrastructure is a 2021 priority

  Government outlines the UK’s strategic cyber security policies for the coming 12 months, with critical national infrastructure a clear priority

• November 24, 2020 24 Nov'20

  Belgian security researcher hacks Tesla with Raspberry Pi

  Belgian security researcher Lennert Wouters once again succeeds in hacking a Tesla vehicle, this time by exploiting the Bluetooth Low Energy standard

• November 24, 2020 24 Nov'20

  Nominet introduces new resources for cyber scam victims

  Domain name registrar is working with law enforcement to provide new information, guidance and resources for potential victims of online scams

• November 23, 2020 23 Nov'20

  NCSC issues retail security alert ahead of Black Friday sales

  National Cyber Security Centre issues refreshed guidance as cyber criminals turn their eyes to the holiday shopping season

• November 23, 2020 23 Nov'20

  Manchester United praised for swift response to cyber attack

  Manchester United’s systems were attacked last week, and the club has been praised for a swift and decisive response

• November 23, 2020 23 Nov'20

  MPs subjected to over 22 million malicious email attacks in 2020

  Members of Parliament are targeted by millions of spam and phishing emails every month, according to a Freedom of Information disclosure

• November 20, 2020 20 Nov'20

  Security pros fear prosecution under outdated UK laws

  CyberUp, a group of campaigners who want to reform the Computer Misuse Act, finds 80% of security professionals are concerned that they may be prosecuted just for doing their jobs

• November 19, 2020 19 Nov'20

  Security sector broadly backs Boris Johnson’s Cyber Force

  Security community says the presence of a robust cyber defence force alongside a robust physical one will be vital to the UK’s national security

• November 18, 2020 18 Nov'20

  2021 the year of commodity ransomware, says Sophos

  Sophos researchers anticipate a trickle-down effect in the cyber criminal underground

• November 18, 2020 18 Nov'20

  US cyber security chief fired for contradicting Trump

  CISA chief Chris Krebs ousted for doing his job fighting disinformation in an apparent purge of officials deemed disloyal to president Donald Trump

• November 17, 2020 17 Nov'20

  HMRC warns over uptick in Self Assessment tax scams

  HMRC issues updated warnings as 2021 Self Assessment deadlines loom

• November 17, 2020 17 Nov'20

  Ransomware stats overload risks confusing buyers

  UK-based organisations are either more, or less, likely to pay ransoms, depending on which cyber security supplier you want to believe

• November 17, 2020 17 Nov'20

  Financial services data volumes heighten risk of insider breach

  Financial services organisations hold so much data that it is becoming virtually impossible to safeguard properly against data breaches caused by malicious or careless employees

• November 16, 2020 16 Nov'20

  How Standard Chartered approaches cyber security

  Bank uses security-by-design principles and conducts red-teaming exercises among other measures to fend off cyber breaches

• November 16, 2020 16 Nov'20

  Privacy advocates call for European probe into Palantir

  Dutch group SOMI is trying to raise awareness of Palantir’s data privacy practices and how it works with European government agencies

• November 16, 2020 16 Nov'20

  Hackney systems could be unavailable for months, says council

  A month after a highly disruptive cyber attack on its systems, Hackney Council is still struggling to get back up and running

• November 12, 2020 12 Nov'20

  Online kids’ game Animal Jam confirms large breach

  Cyber criminals have stolen data on 46 million Animal Jam player accounts via a third-party attack

• November 11, 2020 11 Nov'20

  Security pros coped admirably with remote working transition

  Despite facing tight timescales at the onset of the pandemic, security professionals have come through the transition to remote working remarkably well, according to a report