IT security

CW Europe: Finland prepares for drone technology take-off

Finland is preparing for a future where it could rely on flying drone technology. Read about its plans in this issue. Also find out how a PhD student in the Netherlands is helping to detect hidden messages on the internet by using steganography. Continue Reading

Cyber threats to Europe’s grid: Utilities rethink strategy

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Australia to develop new cyber security strategy

New strategy to be developed by top cyber security experts aims to turn Australia into a global cyber leader, among other goals Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Withers

Rackspace email outage confirmed as ransomware attack

An ongoing outage affecting Rackspace email customers is the result of a ransomware attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Google, MS, Oracle vulnerabilities make November ’22 a big month for patching

Vulnerabilities affecting the likes of Google, Microsoft and Oracle proved particularly troublesome in November Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: As cyber pros, we need to articulate our needs better

There is always a lot to learn about security, but one of the most important lessons may not relate to technology at all, says Petra Wenham Continue Reading

By

• Petra Wenham

Legacy IT magnifies cyber risk for Defra, says NAO

Some 30% of Defra’s applications are currently unsupported, magnifying cyber risk as the government department struggles to make progress on a digital transformation programme Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Industrial IoT focus of next NCSC startup challenge

The NCSC for Startups programme is looking for innovative ideas to encrypt and secure the industrial internet of things Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

EU fails to protect human rights in surveillance tech transfers

Transfers of surveillance technology from the European Union to African governments are carried out without due regard for the human rights impacts, the European Ombudsman has found after a year-long investigation into the European Commission’s management of an aid fund Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Don’t become an unwitting tool in Russia’s cyber war

Researchers have turned up evidence that enterprise networks are being co-opted by Russian threat actors to launch attacks against targets in Ukraine. How can you avoid becoming an unwitting tool in a state-backed attack? Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

AWS mutes trash talk at Re:Invent – Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

The team chats through the AWS Re:Invent conference, as well as an initiative for getting young women into cyber security, and how SAP Build travelled from Vegas to SAP users in Birmingham Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK
• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor
• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Is Elon Musk’s Twitter still safe, and should you stop using the platform?

With a litany of security and compliance issues exposed and in many cases caused by Elon Musk’s takeover of social media platform Twitter, some may be asking if it’s still safe or appropriate to use. Continue Reading

Is Twitter still safe, and should you stop using the platform?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, with a litany of security and compliance issues caused by Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, we ask if it’s still safe for enterprises. Our latest buyer’s guide examines the technologies and best practices behind data visualisation. And we look at the emerging devices for accessing the metaverse. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Fake investment ads persist on Meta’s social networks

Online adverts for investment scams relating to property and crypto assets are still getting past measures designed to stop them Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Cohesity doubles down on cyber-defence failings via backup

Datahawk service and Data Security Alliance bring clean data restores, ransomware artefact detection, data vaulting and data audit for a clearer understanding of attack impact Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

French cyber consultancy Hackuity sets up UK operation

Risk-based vulnerability management company is to establish a UK base of operations in the hope of expanding its enterprise client base Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: The more you buy, the less you protect

The most important lesson learned this year is that the more controls you have in place, the less secure you become, argues 2-sec’s Tim Holman Continue Reading

By

• Tim Holman, 2-sec

User Principal Name (UPN)

In Microsoft Active Directory, a User Principal Name (UPN) is a username and domain in an email address format. Continue Reading

By

• Gavin Wright

Twitter ‘replacement’ Hive Social shuts off service in privacy alert

Hive Social, a recently established social media network, has temporarily closed its servers to address deep structural privacy issues identified by ethical hackers Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

MI6 chief’s hacked emails attacked MI5 and betrayed British spy operations in China

Former UK spy boss Richard Dearlove leaked names of MI6 secret agent recruiters in China to back an aggressive right-wing US campaign against tech company Huawei. His emails were hacked and then leaked – probably by Russian intelligence Continue Reading

By

• Duncan Campbell , 2QQ Ltd, Sussex University
• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly
• Meike Eijsberg

LastPass probes new cyber incident related to August attack

The August 2022 cyber attack on LastPass seems to have begat another incident, according to company CEO Karim Toubba Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Ransomware: Is there hope beyond the overhyped?

Up-and-coming cyber concepts attack surface management and security mesh architectures seem to hold some promise in tackling ransomware, but they are a little way off maturity Continue Reading

By

• Paul Lewis, Nominet

Microsoft 365 banned in German schools over privacy concerns

German schools cannot legally use Microsoft Office 365 over lack of clarity about how data is collected, shared and used, as well as the potential for unlawful transfer of European citizens’ personal data to the US Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

South Staffs Water customer data leaked after ransomware attack

Personal data of water utility’s direct debit customers exposed on the dark web following a Clop ransomware attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Latest LockBit ransomware versions have wormable capabilities

Sophos researchers have reverse-engineered the Lockbit 3.0 ransomware, shedding new light on its evolving capabilities and firming up links with BlackMatter Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NIS regulations to be extended to cover MSPs

The UK government is moving ahead with plans to update the Network and Information Systems regulations to bring outsourcers and MSPs into scope Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Think technology, process, human risk to manage ransomware

Effective ransomware handling boils down to three core areas – technology, process and human risk Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Morris, Turnkey Consulting

AWS doubles down on data management

Cloud giant Amazon Web Services declares a bold vision to eliminate the need to extract, transform and load data alongside other efforts to address business problems in domains like cyber security and logistics Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Chartered status and aligned standards are crucial for the UK's cyber sector

As the UK moves closer to ushering in the world’s first chartered cyber professionals, the UK Cyber Security Council’s Simon Hepburn outlines the sector’s defining moment Continue Reading

By

• Simon Hepburn, UK Cyber Security Council

Cyber criminals exploiting naked TikTok ‘challenge’

Malware operators lured targets by promising them they would be able to view nude videos of TikTok users Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

‘Legal but harmful’ clause dropped from Online Safety Bill

Online Safety Bill’s ‘legal but harmful’ provision will be dropped by the UK government in favour of public risk assessments, tools to help users control the content they consume, and new criminal offences around self-harm Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

How gamifying cyber training can improve your defences

Security training is the cornerstone of any cyber defence strategy. With ever-escalating online threats, it is now more important than ever that this training is an engaging experience Continue Reading

By

• Peter Ray Allison

Trustpilot gets agile to build trust online

Consumer reviews website Trustpilot has built and scaled its IT security team and is now turning to agile methods and DevSecOps to further enhance its cyber capabilities, as CISO Stu Hirst explains. Continue Reading

How to stop data retention from killing the planet

In this week’s Computer Weekly, there’s a hidden environmental cost to the vast volumes of data being generated – we examine what can be done to address it. We talk to the CISO of consumer reviews site Trustpilot, about building trust in IT security. And we look at what IT leaders can do if they inherit a toxic team environment. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Protecting children as they spend years in virtual worlds

To protect children online, we must now focus on pre-emptive and robust regulation around immersive technologies Continue Reading

By

• Patrick Cronin

Panzura partners with AWS on ransomware counter-measures

Panzura might have slipped beneath the waves, but it’s come back reinvigorated, and now boasts integration with AWS with ransomware protection and Outposts hardware Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

Ransomware: Practical tips to improve resiliency

With ransomware attacks on organisations increasing, the question is not if an attack will happen, but when. We look at ways to minimise the impact of such an attack Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Plexal inducts six into cyber leadership scheme

Tech innovation hub Plexal is expanding its Cyber Runway programme with a new Ignite strand dedicated to supporting high-potential security leaders Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Data management, backup becoming the CISO's responsibility

More and more CISOs are taking on responsibility for wider data management strategies, and this trend looks set to grow next year Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Not-for-profit aims to encourage 1,300 girls into cyber careers

CyNam, a not-for-profit cyber security initiative, is collaborating with industry, education providers and government to encourage young women into cyber Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

CW Nordics: Icelandic datacentres point way to greener IT

Iceland may soon become even more attractive to firms wanting to minimise their carbon footprint while using high-performance computing services. Read more about it in this issue. Also find out how a robo investment company, Nord Investments, is harnessing open banking to make thing easier for its clients. Continue Reading

Data protection in Finland, four years after GDPR came into force

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Your staff are the frontline in your ransomware fight

As part of a solid cyber defence plan, the CISO must make sure that the frontline within the organisation is prepared for an attack, says Theodore Wiggins of Airbus Protect Continue Reading

By

• Theodore Wiggins, Airbus Protect

How APAC organisations are hiring cyber security pros

Hiring managers in cyber security are turning to existing employees in non-IT roles and providing professional development for junior-level staff to plug the talent gap Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

UK police arrest 120 in largest-ever cyber fraud crackdown

The administrator and more than 100 users of the iSpoof.cc cyber fraud website have been arrested in a major counter-fraud operation led by the Metropolitan Police Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

South Korea data adequacy pact brings £15m Brexit bonus

UK government finalises a data adequacy agreement with South Korea, saying it will unlock a post-Brexit business bonus of just under £15m Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Red team tool developer slams ‘irresponsible’ disclosure

UK security firm MDSec defends its Nighthawk command and control penetration testing framework after suggestions were made that it could be appropriated by threat actors Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Dutch national cyber security strategy aims to protect digital society

Cabinet sets up national cyber security strategy to make the Netherlands digitally secure Continue Reading

By

• Kim Loohuis

Ducktail spins new tales to hijack Facebook Business accounts

The increasingly active Ducktail cyber crime operation is refining its operations, seeking new methods to compromise its victims’ Facebook Business accounts Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Killnet DDoS hacktivists target Royal Family and others

Russia-aligned hacktivists targeted multiple UK websites, including those of the Royal Family, in a new campaign of DDoS attacks Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

C-suite mystified by cyber security jargon

Malware, supply chain attack, zero-day, IoC, TTP and Mitre ATT&CK are just some of the everyday terms that security pros use that risk making the world of cyber incomprehensible to outsiders Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Cyber criminals have World Cup Qatar in their sights as tournament kicks off

Malicious cyber activity around the FIFA World Cup was ticking upwards even before the opening game, with threats likely to present themselves in great numbers and many forms throughout the event. Continue Reading

Cyber criminals target World Cup Qatar 2022

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as the FIFA World Cup opens in Qatar, we examine the cyber security threats from criminals targeting the event. We report from the Gartner Symposium on the latest predictions for enterprise software development. And we talk to the CIO of Kyiv City Council about managing IT in the shadow of war. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Ransomware preparedness: The long road ahead

Is your organization ready for ransomware? A recent survey shows that businesses in a variety of industries are all struggling with ransomware prevention and recovery. Continue Reading

By

• Christophe Bertrand
• Enterprise Strategy Group

  We provide market insights, research and advisory, and technical validations for tech buyers.

Bug Bounty Calculator helps organisations fine-tune their payouts

Newly launched comparison tool will supposedly help operators of vulnerability disclosure or bug bounty programmes to ensure their payments match market rates and expectations, and attract the right sort of attention Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NHS federated data platform must avoid repeating Care.data mistakes, says national data guardian

UK’s national data guardian agrees with the ambitions of the platform, but warns that the programme must avoid ‘common pitfalls around trust and transparency’ Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

NHS trust that deleted up to 90,000 emails cleared of deliberately concealing evidence

A tribunal found in a high-profile case brought by whistleblower Chris Day that an NHS trust had not deliberately concealed evidence when a director deleted up to 90,000 emails before he was due to testify Continue Reading

By

• Tommy Greene

Ransomware, storage and backup: Impacts, limits and capabilities

We look at the impact of ransomware on storage and backup, how storage and data protection can best be used to combat ransomware, and how they fit in the fight against it Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

Is Elon Musk’s Twitter safe, and should you stop using it?

With a litany of security and compliance issues exposed and in many cases caused by Elon Musk’s takeover of social media platform Twitter, some may be asking if it’s still safe or appropriate to use Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

pen testing (penetration testing)

A penetration test, also called a pen test or ethical hacking, is a cybersecurity technique that organizations use to identify, test and highlight vulnerabilities in their security posture. Continue Reading

By

• Kinza Yasar, Technical Writer
• Puneet Mehta, SDG

New gold standard to protect good faith hackers

HackerOne’s new Gold Standard Safe Harbour statement will supposedly act as a guarantee for good faith hacking Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CyberPeace Institute helps NGOs improve their security resilience

Adrien Ogée of the CyberPeace Institute talks about his work supporting NGOs and humanitarian organisations, and how the security community at large can help protect the world’s most vulnerable people Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Enterprises embrace SD-WAN but miss benefits of integrated approach to security

Research from managed network and security services provider finds virtually all enterprises have deployed software-defined wide area networks or plan to do so within the next 24 months, but nearly half reported they either don’t have security integrated with SD-WAN or have no specific SD-WAN security at all Continue Reading

By

• Joe O’Halloran, Computer Weekly

Another Log4Shell warning after Iranian attack on US government

The breach of a US federal body by an Iranian threat actor exploiting the Adobe Log4j Log4Shell vulnerability has prompted a fresh flurry of patching Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Scottish government to pilot digital identity platform in early 2023

Pilot of Scotland’s digital identity platform will be run in partnership with Disclosure Scotland, using secure sign-on and identity verification Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

HMRC will begin migration from Government Gateway to One Login in summer 2023

One Login for Government programme has the objective of simplifying access to central government, says HMRC chief technology and design officer Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Global network fragmentation a source of increasing risk

Risk consultancy’s report says the weaponisation of cyber space and geopolitical clashes herald a breakdown of global networks into distinct regional or national architectures Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: Ransomware defences: An extended to-do list

Strategies to extend ransomware protection beyond backups and intrusion detection must centre dark web monitoring, among other things Continue Reading

By

• Alex Holden

APP fraud volumes expected to double by 2026, says report

Losses to authorised push payment fraud in the UK are expected to climb to over $1.5bn in the next four years. Meanwhile, the NAO accuses the Home Office of lagging on progress to tackle the issue Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

How to prepare for ransomware

We look at ways to protect against ransomware attacks and how to manage such attacks when they happen. Continue Reading

How to protect against ransomware attacks

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at how to prepare for and protect against ransomware, and what to do if you’re hit by an attack. We gauge industry reaction to Ofcom’s plan to investigate the big three cloud providers. And we find out how travel giant TUI is implementing self-service analytics. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Inside Singapore’s public sector IT strategy

Adopting a platform approach with products that can scale across the board and building a strong engineering bench are some of the key aspects in Singapore’s public sector IT strategy Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

How Google and Mandiant are forging synergies in cyber security

Google’s AI smarts and Mandiant’s intelligence on new and emerging threats could lay the foundation of proactive security Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Security Think Tank: Let’s be transparent about ransomware

Greater transparency regarding ransomware attacks, including details about attack methods used and what kinds of assets were compromised, would likely help the community prevent future attacks Continue Reading

By

• John Tolbert, KuppingerCole

How to prepare for ransomware

What are the best practices you should use to protect against ransomware attacks and manage such attacks when they do happen? Continue Reading

By

• Paul Furtado

Online scam victims lose an average of £1,000 each

New data from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau shows victims of online fraud lose an average of £1,000 per person Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Cyber insurance: The good, the bad and the ugly

Most cyber insurance contracts are innately flawed because they exclude losses arising from state-backed cyber attacks, and this will make proper attribution even more important in the future, says Cisco Talos’ Martin Lee Continue Reading

By

• Martin Lee

Volume of self-reported breaches to ICO jumps 30%

The number of self-reported breaches to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office soared by nearly 30% in the 12 months to 30 June 2022 Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

MoD recruits Immersive Labs to bolster cyber resilience

UK’s Ministry of Defence will run cyber drills and address its security talent gap with Immersive Labs’ CyberPro, Cyber Crisis Simulator and Application Security products Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: To stop ransomware, preparation is the best medicine

You can’t ‘stop’ ransomware, but you can do a lot to keep yourself from becoming ensnared when it strikes Continue Reading

By

• Paul Watts, Information Security Forum

Cyber criminals have World Cup Qatar 2022 in their sights

Volumes of malicious cyber activity around the upcoming FIFA World Cup are already starting to tick upwards and are likely to continue to do so Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

All means all when it comes to encryption

Nigel Thorpe, technical director at SecureAge, makes the case for encrypting everything all of the time when it comes to protecting data Continue Reading

By

• Nigel Thorpe

CW Benelux: Heineken finds the right brew for digital

Heineken’s data management director has revealed some of the ways the company is using information technology to transform digitally. Also read how a PhD student in the Netherlands is detecting hidden messages on the internet by exploring the practice of steganography. Continue Reading

France extradites Spanish EncroChat cryptophone distributors for complicity with organised crime

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Optus earmarks A$140m to cover cost of data breach

Optus sets aside A$140m as an exceptional expense for a customer remediation programme following a massive data breach that affected 10 million customers Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

What is Wi-Fi Piggybacking?

Piggybacking, in the context of Wi-Fi, is the use of a wireless connection to gain access to the internet without proper authority. Continue Reading

By

• Katie Terrell Hanna
• Ivy Wigmore

UK’s National Cyber Advisory Board convenes for first time

Government convenes National Cyber Advisory Board to further its goals of making the UK one of the safest places to live and work online Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Microsoft serves smorgasbord of six zero-days

November’s Patch Tuesday fixes significantly fewer vulnerabilities of late, but includes six actively-exploited zero-days, three of them of critical severity Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Why Sophos is bullish on managed security services

Sophos has grown its managed detection and response business to more than $100m over the last three years as more organisations grapple with the increasingly complex cyber security landscape Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Security Think Tank: Anti-ransomware strategies should be as easy as ABC

When developing and implementing ransomware protection strategies, the importance of paying thorough attention to security measures you might consider elementary cannot be understated Continue Reading

By

• Petra Wenham

NortonLifeLock, Avast debut new ‘Gen’ identity

The combined NortonLifeLock and Avast consumer cyber business, Gen, says it will serve over 500 million customers worldwide Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

How the US-China chip war will affect IT leaders

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as the US ramps up semiconductor sanctions on China, we examine the ramifications across the tech sector. Cyber criminals are turning to new forms of encryption – we talk to the Dutch researchers trying to catch them. And we look at what cloud providers need to do to improve customer experience. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Probing the secrets of the internet

Research in the Netherlands is focused on detecting hidden messages on the internet. Continue Reading

Public sector IT projects need ethical data practices from start

Data ethics needs to be integrated into public sector IT projects from the very start, and considered throughout every stage of the process, to be effective Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Department for Education escapes £10m fine over data misuse

Department entrusted data on 28 million children to a company called Trustopia, which turned out to be anything but trustworthy, but has escaped a £10m fine under new rules Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Keeping personally identifiable data personal

As it celebrates its 100th birthday, the BBC has begun a pilot looking into its role in enabling the general public to store their personal data Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

To fight ransomware, we must treat digital infrastructure as critical

Ransomware defence is failing because we don’t view our digital infrastructure in the same way as our physical infrastructure, argues Elastic’s Mandy Andress Continue Reading

By

• Mandy Andress, Elastic

Elon Musk begins mass Twitter layoffs via email

New Twitter owner Elon Musk has begun the process of cutting the company’s workforce in half, but is already facing a legal backlash for allegedly violating US labour laws Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Microsoft: Nation-state cyber attacks became increasingly destructive in 2022

The willingness of nation-state actors to conduct destructive cyber attacks is a source of grave concern, as Microsoft’s latest annual Digital Defence Report lays bare Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: Ransomware and CISOs’ balancing act

Ransomware has the potential to cause irreversible business damage, so CISOs should consider not only protection but also response and recovery Continue Reading

By

• Arina Palchik and Charles Moorey