News

Hackers and cybercrime prevention

• February 28, 2024 28 Feb'24

  New version of ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware hits victims

  An updated version of the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware has been spotted in the wild amid a series of attacks on American healthcare providers, prompting a new alert from the authorities

• February 28, 2024 28 Feb'24

  75% of third-party breaches target software, IT supply chains

  Data drawn from SecurityScorecard’s telemetry reveals how supply chain breaches are becoming a weapon of choice for threat actors

• February 27, 2024 27 Feb'24

  Black Basta and Bl00dy ransomware gangs exploiting ConnectWise vulns

  More ransomware gangs have been observed exploiting two dangerous vulnerabilities in ConnectWise ScreenConnect software, prompting new warnings for users to get patching

• February 27, 2024 27 Feb'24

  VulnCheck bug listing to help track new threats quicker

  Exploit intelligence firm VulnCheck launches a proprietary Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue in hopes of improving end-user access to intel on emerging threats and reaching those that the likes of CISA do not

• February 27, 2024 27 Feb'24

  Majority of UK employees ‘willingly gamble’ with security

  Human-centric threats originating from employees continue to damage organisations both financially and reputationally, according to a report

• February 27, 2024 27 Feb'24

  Cozy Bear and other APTs changing tack as cloud adoption increases

  A change in APT tactics has been observed resulting from greater adoption of cloud-based services, according to the NCSC

• February 26, 2024 26 Feb'24

  LockBit bids to save face after NCA takedown

  The LockBit gang’s ringleader resurfaces with new infrastructure and new victims, claiming to have shrugged off a multinational police sting

• February 23, 2024 23 Feb'24

  ConnectWise users see cyber attacks surge, including ransomware

  ConnectWise ScreenConnect users who have yet to patch against a critical vulnerability are now being targeted by a barrage of cyber attacks, including ransomware

• February 23, 2024 23 Feb'24

  NCA trolls under fire LockBit gang leaders

  The NCA has teased details of the identity of LockBit's main admin via the gang’s compromised dark web site, and hinted that he has been engaging with law enforcement

• February 22, 2024 22 Feb'24

  Cyber experts alarmed by ‘trivial’ ConnectWise vulns

  The disclosure of two dangerous vulnerabilities in the popular ConnectWise ScreenConnect product is drawing comparisons with major cyber incidents, including the 2021 Kaseya attack

• February 22, 2024 22 Feb'24

  Inside LockBit: A ransomware gang in decline?

  The LockBit ransomware gang was already on the ropes prior to the NCA-led takedown, according to security researchers

• February 21, 2024 21 Feb'24

  Australian data breach report highlights supply chain risks

  The OAIC has called for organisations to proactively address privacy risks from outsourcing personal information handling to third parties

• February 21, 2024 21 Feb'24

  Assange created a ‘grave and immediate risk’, says US government, as it seeks extradition

  Lawyers for the US government hit back at claims that extraditing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is politically motivated

• February 21, 2024 21 Feb'24

  How Indian fintechs can address compliance issues

  Fintechs will need to bolster their know-your-customer practices and establish self-regulatory mechanisms, among other measures, to address compliance issues that have come under the spotlight

• February 20, 2024 20 Feb'24

  LockBit locked out: Cyber community reacts

  Reaction to the takedown of the LockBit ransomware gang is enthusiastic, but tempered with the knowledge that cyber criminals are often remarkably resilient

• February 20, 2024 20 Feb'24

  US extradition of Julian Assange is ‘state retaliation’ for exposing war crimes, court hears

  Lawyers argue that the US extradition case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is politically motivated and in is breach of the UK-US extradition treaty

• February 20, 2024 20 Feb'24

  LockBit gang members arrested in Poland and Ukraine

  The UK’s National Crime Agency and its global partners have shared more details on their audacious takedown of the LockBit ransomware operation, including news of two arrests

• February 20, 2024 20 Feb'24

  Government agrees law to protect confidential journalistic material from state hacking

  The government will update Investigatory Powers Act to require secret intelligence agencies to seek independent approval before accessing confidential journalistic material obtained by bulk hacking, but journalists remain vulnerable to other bulk ...

• February 19, 2024 19 Feb'24

  Cops take down LockBit ransomware gang

  The notorious LockBit ransomware crew has been disrupted in an international law enforcement sting led by the UK's National Crime Agency

• February 15, 2024 15 Feb'24

  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces last appeal against ‘political’ extradition

  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seeking leave to appeal against extradition to the US in a case that could have chilling implications for journalists reporting on national security

• February 14, 2024 14 Feb'24

  Microsoft: Nation-state hackers are exploiting ChatGPT

  Threat actors from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia have all been probing use cases for generative AI service ChatGPT, but have yet to use such tools in a full-blown cyber attack

• February 14, 2024 14 Feb'24

  Dutch Supreme Court approves use of EncroChat evidence

  Defence lawyers plan appeal to European Court of Human Rights after Supreme Court upholds a conviction based on intercepted messages from the EncroChat encrypted phone network

• February 14, 2024 14 Feb'24

  Southern Water customer data was taken in ransomware attack

  Southern Water has started to contact customers whose data was stolen in a January 2024 ransomware attack on its systems

• February 14, 2024 14 Feb'24

  Security experts: Investigatory powers plans will delay security updates

  Cyber security experts warn that government proposals to amend the Investigatory Powers Act will limit tech companies’ ability to respond to security threats and could hamper the use of end-to-end encryption

• February 13, 2024 13 Feb'24

  New variants of Qakbot malware under development

  Despite its infrastructure having been taken down by the FBI last year, someone appears to be actively working on a new and improved version of the infamous Qakbot malware

• February 13, 2024 13 Feb'24

  Hunter-killer malware volumes seen surging

  Latest Picus Security report on malware tactics, techniques and procedures reveals an increasing focus on disabling security defences

• February 09, 2024 09 Feb'24

  MoD ethical hacking programme expands after initial success

  The Ministry of Defence has expanded the scope of its defensive security partnership with HackerOne

• February 08, 2024 08 Feb'24

  Executive alleged to be behind EncroChat encrypted phone network arrested

  A businessman allegedly behind EncroChat, an encrypted phone network that was used by organised crime groups, has been extradited from the Dominican Republic to France

• February 07, 2024 07 Feb'24

  NCSC warns CNI operators over ‘living-off-the-land’ attacks

  Malicious, state-backed actors may well be lurking in the UK’s most critical networks right now, and their operators may not even know until it is too late, warn the NCSC and its partners

• February 07, 2024 07 Feb'24

  How Iranian cyber ops pivoted to target Israel after 7 October attacks

  Microsoft has shared new intelligence on how Iranian government-aligned threat actors have turned their fire on Israel over the past four months

• February 07, 2024 07 Feb'24

  South Staffs Water faces group action over Clop ransomware attack

  South Staffordshire Plc, the parent company of South Staffordshire and Cambridge Water, is facing legal action from customers whose data was compromised in a 2022 Clop ransomware attack

• February 06, 2024 06 Feb'24

  UK’s McPartland Cyber Review to probe trust in technology

  The UK government has launched a cyber security review that will investigate how best to give businesses the confidence they need to use new technologies

• February 06, 2024 06 Feb'24

  Inquiry to explore cyber risk to Sunak-Starmer showdown

  The UK’s Joint Committee on National Security Strategy is opening an inquiry into securing the democratic process ahead of the next general election

• February 05, 2024 05 Feb'24

  Blackbaud blasted for failing to prevent customer breaches

  A supply chain attack at software supplier Blackbaud in 2020 saw data on multiple UK organisations compromised. The US authorities are now taking steps to ensure it can’t happen again

• February 05, 2024 05 Feb'24

  US sanctions Iranians behind CNI cyber attacks

  US government issues new sanctions against six Iranians suspected of being behind a series of cyber attacks targeting critical national infrastructure, notably water supply systems

• February 01, 2024 01 Feb'24

  US government disrupts Chinese botnet containing hundreds of end-of-life Cisco and Netgear routers

  The US government has succeeded in halting a botnet comprised of hundreds of end-of-life routers that posed a threat to critical national infrastructure (CNI) organisations in multiple countries

• January 26, 2024 26 Jan'24

  Akira ransomware gang claims Lush cyber attack

  The Akira ransomware gang claims to have stolen over 100GB of data from cosmetics manufacturer and retailer Lush

• January 25, 2024 25 Jan'24

  Bugcrowd sees surge in vulnerability submissions, led by public sector

  Crowdsourced vulnerability disclosure and bug bounty platform Bugcrowd says it saw a 151% uptick in submissions related to government and public sector organisations in 2023

• January 24, 2024 24 Jan'24

  WebKit vulnerability sparks Apple’s first major security update of 2024

  A zero-day in the open source WebKit browser engine that powers Safari has sparked Apple’s first major patch roll-out of the new year

• January 24, 2024 24 Jan'24

  Southern Water confirms cyber attack after Black Basta claims

  Southern Water, which supplies millions of customers in southeast England, has confirmed it has fallen victim to a cyber attack, although its services appear to be running normally

• January 24, 2024 24 Jan'24

  Inside Cisco’s security platform strategy

  Raj Chopra, senior vice-president of Cisco’s security business, outlines the company’s security platform strategy and how it brought different products together into a single platform

• January 24, 2024 24 Jan'24

  Critical vulnerability exposes Fortra GoAnywhere users

  Fortra GoAnywhere MFT users must take steps to address a newly disclosed zero-day vulnerability without delay

• January 24, 2024 24 Jan'24

  AI will heighten global ransomware threat, says NCSC

  The benefits of artificial intelligence to cyber criminals being well-known, the NCSC now assesses it’s likely AI will soon be widely used to enhance ransomware attacks

• January 24, 2024 24 Jan'24

  Salesforce’s bug bounty programme paid out $3m in 2023

  Ethical hackers disclosed more than 4,000 vulnerabilities to Salesforce last year through its bug bounty programme, and received over $3m in rewards

• January 22, 2024 22 Jan'24

  SolarWinds hackers attack Microsoft in apparent recon mission

  Russian-backed threat actor behind infamous 2020 SolarWinds Sunburst intrusion hacked into Microsoft’s systems, apparently in an attempt to get hold of intel on themselves

• January 22, 2024 22 Jan'24

  Chat control: Tech companies warn ministers over EU encryption plans

  Tech companies have written to EU ministers to urge them to back the European Parliament, rather than the European Commission, over proposed regulations to police child abuse

• January 19, 2024 19 Jan'24

  Neighbouring Kent councils hit by simultaneous cyber attacks

  Canterbury, Dover and Thanet Councils in Kent have all been struck by simultaneous cyber attacks knocking systems offline, with indications of a link between all three

• January 18, 2024 18 Jan'24

  Cyber non-profit enlists ex-NCSC head as technical chair

  Founding NCSC chief exec Ciaran Martin is to join the newly launched Cyber Monitoring Centre non-profit as chair of its technical committee

• January 17, 2024 17 Jan'24

  NCSC invites security pros to join the big leagues

  The NCSC is inviting security pros from across the UK to sign up to work with its experts on an intelligence-sharing initiative

• January 17, 2024 17 Jan'24

  The Security Interviews: Rebecca Taylor, SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit

  In October 2023, Rebecca Taylor of the SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit was recognised at the annual Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards for her work. Computer Weekly caught up with her to talk mentoring, cyber career development and diversity