IT security

C-suite’s biggest ransomware fear: Post-attack regulatory sanctions

Exposure to regulatory sanctions such as fines are the biggest worry for C-suite executives in the wake of a ransomware attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

ISA Server

Microsoft's ISA Server (Internet Security and Acceleration Server) was the successor to Microsoft's Proxy Server 2.0 and was part of Microsoft's .NET support. Continue Reading

By

• Katie Terrell Hanna

OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol)

OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol) is one of two common schemes used to maintain the security of a server and other network resources. Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Zola

What are the challenges associated with the MITRE ATT&CK framework?

Businesses sometimes struggle to use the MITRE ATT&CK framework effectively. Learn more about some of the challenges, and how to overcome them Continue Reading

By

• Shannon Flynn, ReHack Magazine

UK and US to collaborate on privacy innovation contest

Joint UK-US innovation challenge contest centring on privacy-enhancing technology announced at Summit for Democracy in Washington DC Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: Good documentation could save your bacon

Security learning is a career-long process, so as 2021 draws to a close, participants in the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank sum up the most important cyber lessons they’ve taken away from the past 12 months Continue Reading

By

• Petra Wenham

Aryaka announces ‘all-in-one’ SD-WAN, SASE offerings for hybrid workplace

Cloud-first software-defined wide area network firm claims hybrid network innovation breakthrough, enabling businesses of all sizes to navigate change while focusing on growth and digital transformation Continue Reading

By

• Joe O’Halloran, Computer Weekly

Elk Cloner

Elk Cloner is the first personal computer virus or self-replicating program known to have spread in the wild on a large scale. Continue Reading

By

• Rahul Awati

2021 another record-breaker for vulnerability disclosure

More than 50 CVEs were logged every day in 2021, more than at any time since records began, while ethical hackers continue to prove their value Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Russia may be collaborating with US to bring cyber criminals to heel

Trustwave’s SpiderLabs says its analysis of chatter on underground dark web forums suggests cyber criminals are starting to panic that formerly ‘friendly’ governments are on their case Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Most consumers expect banks to cover losses to scams

Consumers expect banks to cover losses to cyber crime, as the number of attacks grows Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK privacy chief denies conflict of interest in new role

UK information commissioner will join a private law firm that represents technology companies she used to regulate, raising questions about conflicts of interest and drawing ‘revolving door’ criticisms Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Number of .uk domain suspensions at record low

Statistics from Nominet show how effective law enforcement action against cyber crime in the UK is paying off Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

biometric payment

Biometric payment is a point-of-sale (POS) technology that uses biometric authentication physical characteristics to identify the user and authorize the deduction of funds from a bank account. Continue Reading

By

• Katie Terrell Hanna

Investigation mounted into Spar supermarket cyber attack

Possible supply chain cyber attack left more than 300 Spar supermarkets unable to process credit card payments Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: Attackers leveraging the supply chain

Security learning is a career-long process, so as 2021 draws to a close, participants in the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank sum up the most important cyber lessons they have taken away from the past 12 months Continue Reading

By

• Paddy Francis

IT Priorities 2022: Pandemic’s long tail for cyber buyers

Pandemic response has been top of mind for cyber leaders these past 18 months, and as Covid-19 turns two, the TechTarget/Computer Weekly IT Priorities 2022 study shows buyers are still focused on how Covid has upended the workplace Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Surge in Nobelium-linked supply chain attacks

Mandiant’s researchers share new intel on two distinct clusters of Russian APT activity, linked to the Nobelium SolarWinds attackers Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Millions of credit card details for sale on dark web for as little as 75p

The credit card details of millions of people from across the world can be bought by criminals using the dark web for as little as $1 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

GTT teams with Palo Alto to power SASE platform

Secure access service edge platform will offer advanced security techniques, fortifying network access from any location Continue Reading

By

• Joe O’Halloran, Computer Weekly

Overcome the security talent shortage by addressing your tech stack

This is a guest post by Graham Pearson, vice-president and general manager for ANZ at Lacework Australians will spend approximately $5.6bn on cyber security alone this year, according to AustCyber, ... Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Security Think Tank: Think people, processes and systems

Security learning is a career-long process, so as 2021 draws to a close, participants in the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank sum up the most important cyber lessons they’ve taken away from the past 12 months Continue Reading

By

• Cate Pye, PA Consulting

Kaspersky introduces cyber policy for bionic devices

Cyber firm Kaspersky has become one of the first organisations in the world to develop and implement a security policy covering the use of bionic devices and other forms of human augmentation Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

A ‘whole of society’ approach to cyber may be on the horizon

Nominet Cyber managing director David Carroll reflects on the NCSC’s latest annual review amid 2021’s fast-evolving threat landscape Continue Reading

By

• David Carroll, Nominet Cyber

The way we talk and think about tech is crucial to helping solve the skills shortage crisis

Companies are looking to short-term fixes to find IT specialists, but there is still a need for long-term solutions Continue Reading

By

• Andy Heyes, Harvey Nash

Security Think Tank: In the cloud, anti-human approaches set us up to fail

Security learning is a career-long process, so as 2021 draws to a close, participants in the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank sum up the most important cyber lessons they’ve taken away from the past 12 months Continue Reading

By

• Mike Lloyd, RedSeal

Compliance, device management a challenge for NHS cyber teams

Information gleaned by asset visibility specialist Armis reveals that despite improvements, some daunting security challenges still dog the NHS Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

MI6 will ‘open up’ to tech firms to innovate faster than adversaries, says chief Richard Moore

MI6 will use investment fund to back tech companies to develop long-term technologies that will help it to keep pace with China and Russia Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

HP patches bugs in over 150 printer models

More than 150 HP multifunction printers are at risk of compromise through a series of newly disclosed vulnerabilities, one of them wormable Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Recovering from ransomware: One organisation’s inside story

In February 2021, French office equipment supplier Manutan fell victim to a DoppelPaymer ransomware hit. IT ops director Jérôme Marchandiau tells the inside story of the incident Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT

Why does ransomware still work?

As someone who first encountered ransomware during the last millennium – thankfully at second-hand – and has been writing about it for almost as long, I sometimes find myself amazed by the high ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Betts, Freeform Dynamics

Digital beats – how Warner Music turned to the cloud

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to the CIO of Warner Music about how cloud computing helps it meet the needs of music lovers. AstraZeneca discusses how its enterprise social media system helped through the pandemic. And we assess the tech sector’s response to the government’s plans to tackle digital skills shortages. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

ICO warns facial recognition company Clearview AI it could face £17m fine over privacy breaches

The UK’s information commissioner has issued a preliminary decision to fine Clearview over £17m for breaching UK data protection law and invited the company to make representations Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Ransomware teaches us the importance of data protection

Several years ago, around the time that ransomware attacks started making the front pages of mainstream newspapers, not just in the IT press, I took part in a number of webcasts on the topic. The ... Continue Reading

By

• Tony Lock, Freeform Dynamics

British Army picks Immersive Labs for cyber training

The British Army will make Immersive Labs’ security training platform available to all serving personnel Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Three latest trends and developments around the Mitre ATT&CK framework

Framework is set to receive important updates to help organisations and businesses evolve their cyber security. Learn more about what it offers Continue Reading

By

• Shannon Flynn, ReHack Magazine

Security Think Tank: Dissecting the true value of SASE is a challenge

As a relatively nascent technology that is getting a lot of publicity, dissecting the true value of SASE is still a difficult proposition, for now Continue Reading

By

• Maximilian Brook

Computing at the edge: Let’s get on board

With the increasing complexity of networks today, whether it’s hybrid cloud infrastructure or time-sliced 5G, somehow we’ve got to manage it Continue Reading

By

• Graham Williamson

UK’s surveillance culture may be normalising use of tech for abuse

Intense surveillance of public spaces by UK authorities may be playing a part in the normalisation of cyber stalking in intimate relationships Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: SASE will become operational reality

While still considered very much a buzzword, the pace of change in corporate networks and operational technology means secure access service edge (SASE) is becoming reality for many Continue Reading

By

• Tom Venables, Turnkey Consulting

Government must prove its plans to police encryption work, says ex-cyber security chief

Ciaran Martin, the former UK cyber security chief, says the government must explain how it can access encrypted communications without damaging cyber security and weakening privacy Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

UK consumers warned of increase in credit card application fraud

There has been a sharp rise in fraudsters using stolen personal details to open credit card accounts Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

black hat hacker

A black hat hacker has been historically used to describe one who has malicious intent -- such as theft of information, fraud or disrupting systems -- but increasingly, more specific terms are being used to describe those people. Continue Reading

By

• Katie Terrell Hanna
• Taina Teravainen

Consumer cyber bill to protect mobiles, smart devices

Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill will reinforce protections for consumer devices and mandate improvements to default security settings Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Apple sues under-fire malware firm NSO

Lawsuit alleges spyware firm NSO Group targeted Apple’s users, adding to the pressure on the under-fire company Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Police tech introduced with little scrutiny or training

A Lords inquiry into the adoption of advanced algorithmic technologies by police in England and Wales has been told that new tools are being introduced without proper training and with little scrutiny of their impacts Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Schrems accuses Irish DPC of trying to block publication of Facebook documents

Austrian lawyer Max Schrems has filed a complaint after the Irish data protection commissioner put his privacy organisation under pressure to sign a non-disclosure agreement Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

NCSC commits to new diversity measures

The National Cyber Security Centre’s second annual report on diversity in cyber security finds room for improvement Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

footprinting

Footprinting is an ethical hacking technique used to gather as much data as possible about a specific targeted computer system, an infrastructure and networks to identify opportunities to penetrate them. Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Zola

cookie poisoning

Cookie poisoning is a type of cyber attack in which a bad actor hijacks, forges, alters or manipulates a cookie to gain unauthorized access to a user's account, open a new account in the user's name or steal the user's information for purposes such as identity theft. Continue Reading

By

• Rahul Awati

Back on the office network: What are the risks for mobile users?

Many people are returning to offices and bringing their mobile devices with them. What are the cyber security implications of this? Continue Reading

Can the tech community show us how to save the world?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we report from the COP26 conference on how the tech world’s collaborative open source model could help tackle climate change. Gartner has urged IT leaders to rethink their role as business come to rely on digital technologies. And we ask if your office security is at risk as staff return. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Upcoming holidays prompt ransomware warning from authorities

Ransomware gangs know how calendars work, and may target their attacks around major holidays to take advantage of more people being off work, according to a new alert Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Black Friday cyber warning for 4,000 card-skimming victims

NCSC warns thousands of small retailers that their websites are being exploited to steal customer data Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CIO interview: Karl Hoods, CDIO, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Moving to the cloud, developing staff skills and responding quickly to the pandemic – from a public sector IT leader’s perspective Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Back to the past with government identity

The UK government plans to spend up to £400m developing yet another digital identity system – why is taxpayer money going into a time warp when there is surely a better and cheaper way? Continue Reading

By

• Jerry Fishenden

Nimda

First appearing on September 18, 2001, Nimda is a computer virus that caused traffic slowdowns as it rippled across the internet. Continue Reading

By

• Katie Terrell Hanna

Why is Emotet back, and should we be worried about it?

The sudden reappearance of Emotet this week has security teams on high alert, but do we need to be worried about its return, and what should we be doing about it? Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Cloud storage compliance pitfalls: Post-pandemic and post-Brexit

We look at the key areas of cloud storage compliance that can trip you up, with shared responsibility with cloud providers and data residency among the most important Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

GCHQ, NSA chiefs recommit to counter cyber threats

UK and US intelligence services reaffirm a joint commitment to disrupt and deter new and emerging cyber threats Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Forced on-line by the NHS: to be confused, exploited, ignored, mistreated and/or patronised

All this informed my MSc IT Security final dissertation entitled ‘Inclusion, Confusion and Exclusion – is technology making the Vulnerable more Vulnerable?’ I looked at Social, Financial and ... Continue Reading

By

• Philip Virgo, Winsafe Ltd

Government to legislate to make APP fraud reimbursement mandatory

UK payments regulator wants to reduce the huge sums of money lost to authorised push payment fraud and is calling on the banking and tech industries to play their part Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Memento ransomware gang quick to retool for ‘optimum’ outcome

The operators of a new ransomware called Memento are quick to retool for ‘success’ if they run up against a competent defender, says Sophos Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Alert over spate of Iran-linked BitLocker attacks

A joint advisory from western cyber agencies warns of a campaign of ‘ongoing malicious activity’ by an Iran-linked APT group exploiting BitLocker to extort its targets Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Sky ECC provided free cryptophones to a Canadian police force

Internal emails disclosed in a US court show how Sky Global supplied sample encrypted phones to a Canadian police force before its phone users became subject to an international police investigation Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

AstraZeneca looks at the bigger picture in enterprise social media

How do you work with people in different time zones and from different cultures and what happens when people leave the company? Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Cryptophone supplier Sky Global takes legal action over US government website seizures

Canadian tech company Sky Global has filed a legal motion claiming that the US government unlawfully seized the company’s internet sites following police investigations into the use of its cryptophones by organised crime Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Security startups line up on Cyber Runway

Some 108 cyber security startups representing the UK’s most cutting-edge innovators are to join Plexal’s Cyber Runway accelerator Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Zero-days: The next element of the service-based cyber economy?

Digital Shadows researchers have reported on the emergence of zero-days as a service, which could be the next big thing in the cyber criminal underworld Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Out of the shadows: The rise of ethical hackers in 2021

Ethical hackers working on the Bugcrowd platform have saved organisations almost $30bn in risk during the Covid-19 pandemic, as the community sheds old stereotypes Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Cloud repatriation: Five reasons to repatriate data from cloud

We look at key drivers of cloud repatriation, including cost, compliance, issues around latency and data gravity, reversing poorly planned moves to the cloud, and supplier failure Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

GovTech to enhance Government on Commercial Cloud

GCC 2.0 will include improvements in user onboarding and provide single credential access to public cloud services and engineering tools, among other areas Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

One-fifth of NCSC-supported cyber incidents linked to Covid-19

National Cyber Security Centre has helped to thwart multiple cyber incidents that could have seriously disrupted the UK’s response to the pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

What are 3 best practices for storage encryption at rest?

Consider the fine print of encrypting data at rest. For example, access control permissions can make or break a storage encryption plan. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Security Think Tank: SASE – more than the sum of its parts?

Airbus Cybersecurity’s Paddy Francis asks what makes an integration of the various components of SASE more the sum of their parts, and what are the benefits and pitfalls? Continue Reading

By

• Paddy Francis

How cosmetics retailer Lush made over its approach to authentication

Evolving approaches to IT at cosmetics retailer Lush meant the organisation’s previous approach to authentication was no longer up to scratch. Find out how it overcame this hurdle Continue Reading

How cosmetics retailer Lush authenticates with ease

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how Lush has modernised user authentication, governed by a desire to care for customer data. We also talk to the chief data officer at Nasa about data as a strategic asset, and the ground of better decision-making. And we foreground a call for the government and the Post Office to compensate victims of the Horizon computer system without delay. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

UK government proposes new rules for digital supply chain security

Proposals could see IT service providers legally required to adhere to the NCSC’s Cyber Assessment Framework, among other things Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

virus hoax

A virus hoax is a false warning about a computer virus. Continue Reading

By

• Katie Terrell Hanna

Government bodies refuse FOI requests on basis of misleading database search times, says academic

The Information Commissioner’s Office tells tribunal it would need to bring in external experts to search data using an Excel spreadsheet Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Security Think Tank: What to find out before investing in SASE

Petra Wenham of the BCS shares her thoughts on what organisations need to consider as they investigate whether or not to invest in secure access service edge technology Continue Reading

By

• Petra Wenham

New law needed to rein in AI-powered workplace surveillance

MPs and peers call for new legislation to regulate the growing use of artificial intelligence in the workplace, which is being used to surveil workers’ performance and behaviour Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Oversight of biometrics and surveillance should not go to ICO

Biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner Fraser Sampson has panned the UK government’s proposed plan to absorb the functions of those roles under the remit of the information commissioner Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

BT applies Covid-19 R number modelling to threat response

A prototype cyber security tool developed at BT uses epidemiological principles to detect and respond to cyber threats Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

IT Priorities 2022: APAC enterprises invest in digital future

Nearly two-thirds of enterprises in Asia-Pacific plan to increase their IT budgets next year in areas such as cloud computing and cyber security to secure their digital future Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

AT&T launches a managed SASE offering with Cisco

AT&T aims its latest managed SASE service at enterprises using Cisco hardware. The offering's features range from firewall and secure web gateway functionality to DNS layer security. Continue Reading

By

• Madelaine Millar, TechTarget

HPE’s Aruba networking unit hit by cyber attack

Undisclosed threat actor compromised data buckets used to run the Aruba Central cloud environment using a stolen access key Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Finance ombudsman overturns more than three-quarters of bank decisions on APP fraud

The financial services ombudsman is siding with customers in over 75% of complaints against banks that refuse to repay losses to authorised push payment fraud Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Scale of crime-as-a-service economy a growing concern, say researchers

The cyber criminal underground continues its evolution towards a service-based economy Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

The ICO is right to push back against government meddling

Some criticisms of the ICO are justified, but the answer to that is not to give Whitehall more oversight over the data protection regulator, argues legal expert Edward Machin Continue Reading

By

• Edward Machin

CW Benelux: Dutch IT company rips up the HR rule book for better work-life balance

One Dutch tech firm has used learnings from the pandemic to rip up its HR rule book and implement an official work-from-home policy. In fact, Infolearn has gone further than hybrid working, with a personal mobility budget for staff and a four-day working week, all with retention of full-time salary. Also in this issue, read how Dutch education administrators appear to be underestimating the threat of cyber crime. Continue Reading

Bank of England loses 161 computing devices in three years

Bank cannot account for phones, laptops and tablets that have gone missing over the past three years Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lloyd v Google Supreme Court verdict brings end to privacy class actions against big tech in UK

A ruling by the Supreme Court has left it financially unviable for individuals to bring class actions in the UK against big tech companies for privacy breaches Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Zero trust: Now is the time

The cyber security industry has been talking about a zero-trust approach to security for just over a decade, but now it’s time to move towards full implementation because it is more appropriate than ever, and it is rapidly gaining support from suppliers Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Dutch education administrators underestimate threat of cyber crime

 Continue Reading

The Netherlands still lacks digital resilience, says report

 Continue Reading

November Patch Tuesday drop fixes bugs in Excel, Exchange Server

Another relatively light Patch Tuesday drop from Microsoft addresses 55 vulnerabilities, two of them already being exploited Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

EU artificial intelligence regulation risks undermining social safety net

Europe’s proposed artificial intelligence regulation will not adequately protect people from European governments' increasing use of the technology in social security decisions and resource allocation, says Human Rights Watch Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Digital surveillance of remote workers may increase enterprise risk

From productivity tools to security threats, we explore how digital surveillance is forcing remote workers towards shadow IT Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

How to manage endpoint security in a hybrid work environment

The future of the workplace is clearly hybrid, but this has untold implications around endpoint security. How can businesses overcome these? Continue Reading

By

• Nicholas Fearn