News

Hackers and cybercrime prevention

• December 22, 2022 22 Dec'22

  NCA ‘wrong-footed’ defence lawyers after agreeing to take expert evidence on EncroChat ‘as read’

  The National Crime Agency argued at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal that expert evidence it agreed to ‘take as read’ is limited, flawed and often based on an incorrect interpretation of the law

• December 22, 2022 22 Dec'22

  Mitiga researchers disclose AWS Elastic IP hijacking vulnerability

  Cloud incident response supplier Mitiga has said a new AWS feature has led to a vulnerability that could allow hackers to access and steal Elastic IP addresses and gain control over AWS accounts

• December 22, 2022 22 Dec'22

  Top 10 cyber security stories of 2022

  The war in Ukraine loomed large over the cyber security news agenda, but 2022 also saw growing awareness of open source security, discussion around cyber insurance, and more besides

• December 22, 2022 22 Dec'22

  Top 10 crime, national security and law stories of 2022

  Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 crime, national security and law stories of 2022

• December 22, 2022 22 Dec'22

  Top 10 cyber crime stories of 2022

  Cyber crime continued to hit the headlines in 2022, with impactful cyber attacks abounding, digitally enabled fraud ever more widespread and plenty of ransomware incidents

• December 21, 2022 21 Dec'22

  Top 10 ANZ IT stories of 2022

  We recap the top 10 stories in Australia and New Zealand, including the opportunities and challenges that organisations in the region have faced over the past year

• December 16, 2022 16 Dec'22

  Defence lawyers claim NCA witness gave unreliable evidence on EncroChat hacking operation

  National Crime Agency argues that the lawfulness of surveillance warrants issued to hack the EncroChat phone network should only be considered in the light of facts and assessments known at the time

• December 16, 2022 16 Dec'22

  UK unis implement new IP traffic policies to combat ransomware

  Jisc will introduce new measures to protect UK universities and research institutions from ransomware attacks that exploit the Remote Desktop Protocol remote-access feature

• December 15, 2022 15 Dec'22

  Lego fixes dangerous API vulnerability in BrickLink service

  The Lego Group has remediated two potentially serious API vulnerabilities in its BrickLink digital resale platform, just in time for Christmas

• December 15, 2022 15 Dec'22

  Cops dismantle 48 DDoS-for-hire websites

  An operation combining law enforcement from the UK, US, Netherlands and Europol has disrupted 48 of the world’s most popular DDoS booter websites

• December 15, 2022 15 Dec'22

  NCA officer questioned in Investigatory Powers Tribunal over failure to disclose EncroChat notes

  EncroChat hacking warrant was unlawful and in breach of human rights law, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal hears

• December 14, 2022 14 Dec'22

  Advanced Azov data wiper likely to become active threat

  Check Point deep dives into an emergent data wiper strain known as Azov, which is making waves with hundreds of new samples being submitted to VirusTotal daily

• December 14, 2022 14 Dec'22

  Ethical hackers flex their muscles in 2022

  Ethical hackers working through HackerOne programmes found 21% more vulnerabilities in 2022 than in 2021

• December 13, 2022 13 Dec'22

  Crime Stoppers Tasmania debuts new reporting portal

  Reporting tool will enable the public to share crime-related information with law enforcement agencies to support policing in Tasmania

• December 13, 2022 13 Dec'22

  Finnish government launches information security voucher scheme

  Finland’s government is offering businesses financial support to help them improve their cyber security

• December 13, 2022 13 Dec'22

  More Uber data exposed in possible supply chain attack

  A second incident affecting ride-sharing app Uber appears to have originated through a third party in a supply chain attack

• December 13, 2022 13 Dec'22

  Customer frustrations mount as Rackspace investigation proceeds

  Rackspace says it is making progress on restoring services following a ransomware attack on its Hosted Exchange business, but customers are becoming frustrated with a lack of communication

• December 12, 2022 12 Dec'22

  Top IT predictions in APAC in 2023

  Robotics, cross-cloud data mobility and cyber insurance are some of the key trends that will shape Asia-Pacific’s technology landscape in 2023

• December 11, 2022 11 Dec'22

  How Zscaler is cracking APAC’s cloud security market

  Zscaler’s head in Asia-Pacific and Japan talks up the company’s growth momentum in the region and what it is doing to address areas where it can do better

• December 09, 2022 09 Dec'22

  CIISec, DCMS to fund vocational cyber courses for A-level students

  The Chartered Institute of Information Security and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport plan to fund vocational cyber qualifications for 300 teenagers

• December 09, 2022 09 Dec'22

  Iranian APT seen exploiting GitHub repository as C2 mechanism

  A subgroup of the Iran-linked Cobalt Mirage APT group has been caught taking advantage of the GitHub open source project as a means to operate its latest custom malware

• December 08, 2022 08 Dec'22

  Apple to tap third party for physical security keys

  Apple is launching a number of new security protections, including the addition of third-party-provided hardware security keys

• December 08, 2022 08 Dec'22

  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

• December 07, 2022 07 Dec'22

  Rackspace email outage confirmed as ransomware attack

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

• December 07, 2022 07 Dec'22

  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

• December 06, 2022 06 Dec'22

  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

• December 06, 2022 06 Dec'22

  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?

• December 05, 2022 05 Dec'22

  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

• December 05, 2022 05 Dec'22

  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

• December 05, 2022 05 Dec'22

  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

• December 02, 2022 02 Dec'22

  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

• December 01, 2022 01 Dec'22

  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

• December 01, 2022 01 Dec'22

  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

• November 30, 2022 30 Nov'22

  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

• November 30, 2022 30 Nov'22

  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

• November 29, 2022 29 Nov'22

  Cyber criminals exploiting naked TikTok ‘challenge’

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

• November 27, 2022 27 Nov'22

  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

• November 24, 2022 24 Nov'22

  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

• November 23, 2022 23 Nov'22

  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

• November 23, 2022 23 Nov'22

  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

• November 23, 2022 23 Nov'22

  Dutch national cyber security strategy aims to protect digital society

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

• November 22, 2022 22 Nov'22

  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

• November 22, 2022 22 Nov'22

  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

• November 21, 2022 21 Nov'22

  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

• November 18, 2022 18 Nov'22

  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

• November 18, 2022 18 Nov'22

  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

• November 18, 2022 18 Nov'22

  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

• November 17, 2022 17 Nov'22

  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

• November 16, 2022 16 Nov'22

  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

• November 15, 2022 15 Nov'22

  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