News

IT security

• August 31, 2023 31 Aug'23

  Sandworm attacks Ukraine with Infamous Chisel malware

  The UK and its allies have attributed a novel malware campaign against Ukrainian state targets to the Russian intelligence-backed Sandworm APT

• August 31, 2023 31 Aug'23

  Ducktail social media marketing malware rears its head again

  Use of the Ducktail infostealer, which first popped up in 2022 targeting Meta Business accounts, seems to be increasing

• August 31, 2023 31 Aug'23

  Home Office and MoD seeking new facial-recognition tech

  The UK’s Defence and Security Accelerator is running a ‘market exploration’ exercise on behalf of the Home Office to identify new facial-recognition capabilities for security and policing bodies in the UK

• August 31, 2023 31 Aug'23

  Post Office to provide in-person identity checks for One Login

  Partnership between the Government Digital Service and the Post Office will see postmasters and staff provide face-to-face identity checks for those unable to use the One Login app or website

• August 30, 2023 30 Aug'23

  Cyber world hails downfall of Qakbot trojan

  A multinational law enforcement hacking operation disrupted the botnet infrastructure used to distribute the Qakbot trojan at the weekend, in a major setback for the cyber criminal underworld

• August 30, 2023 30 Aug'23

  NCSC warns over possible AI prompt injection attacks

  The UK’s NCSC says it sees alarming potential for so-called prompt injection attacks driven by the large language models that power AI chatbots

• August 29, 2023 29 Aug'23

  Zero-day that forced Barracuda users to bin kit was exploited by China

  Mandiant has published details of how a Chinese threat actor targeted high-profile users of Barracuda Networks' Email Security Gateway appliances, including government agencies of interest to Beijing's intelligence goals

• August 29, 2023 29 Aug'23

  Nats resorts to fail-safe manual process after technical hitch

  Just a few hours of manual processing has resulted in a massive backlog in flights

• August 29, 2023 29 Aug'23

  Top-performing CISOs reserve time for professional development

  Survey of chief information security officers conducted by Gartner sheds light on habits shared by the top-performing members of the profession

• August 24, 2023 24 Aug'23

  Google bets on AI-backed cyber controls for Workspace users

  Zero-trust and digital sovereignty controls are the focus of a series of enhancements being made for Google Workspace users

• August 24, 2023 24 Aug'23

  Teenage Lapsus$ ringleader was responsible for crime spree, UK court rules

  A court has ruled that Arion Kurtaj, allegedly a key player in the Lapsus$ cyber extortion syndicate, was responsible for the group’s year-long campaign of cyber attacks

• August 23, 2023 23 Aug'23

  St Helens Council in Merseyside hit by ransomware attack

  St Helens Borough Council is investigating a suspected ransomware incident targeting its systems, and is advising residents to be on the alert for follow-on phishing attacks

• August 23, 2023 23 Aug'23

  Cyber attacks in 2023 develop quicker as average dwell times plummet

  The median attacker dwell time shrunk from 10 to eight days in the first seven months of 2023, and in the case of ransomware attacks it is down to just five days

• August 22, 2023 22 Aug'23

  Singapore to bolster OT security capabilities

  Cyber Security Agency of Singapore teams up with Dragos and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to bolster the country’s OT security capabilities

• August 22, 2023 22 Aug'23

  Clop’s MOVEit attacks drive ransomware volumes to record high

  Such has been the scope of Clop’s activity since May that ransomware attack volumes have more than doubled year on year, according to the latest data

• August 21, 2023 21 Aug'23

  Police worker could have put investigation into EncroChat encrypted phone network at risk

  A police intelligence analyst admitted tipping-off a criminal contact that police had infiltrated the EncroChat encrypted phone network

• August 21, 2023 21 Aug'23

  Cyber attack on Aussie energy services firm may hit UK CNI

  Energy One, an Australia-based supplier of tech services to the energy sector, is investigating the possibility that some UK customers may have been caught up in an ongoing cyber attack on its systems

• August 21, 2023 21 Aug'23

  Cyber Explorers programme reaches 50,000 11-14 year olds in 18 months

  The government-backed Cyber Explorers programme has reached 50,000 students in its first 18 months, and more schools are being invited to sign up for the Autumn Term

• August 18, 2023 18 Aug'23

  NatWest customer calls bank’s handling of breach of his data ‘disgusting’

  A second NatWest customer has contacted Computer Weekly after finding out from a whistleblower that his sensitive personal data has been in her home for 14 years

• August 18, 2023 18 Aug'23

  MongoDB secures IRAP certification

  MongoDB’s certification from Australia’s Information Security Registered Assessor Program will pave the way for federal government agencies to use its Atlas database service for protected workloads

• August 17, 2023 17 Aug'23

  Researchers demo fake airplane mode exploit that tricks iPhone users

  Exploit chain that tricks a victim into believing their iOS device is offline in airplane mode when it is not could open the door to grave privacy concerns

• August 17, 2023 17 Aug'23

  Top marks for graduates of CIISec vocational cyber course

  132 young people who sat the UK’s first Extended Project Qualification in Cyber Security have received their results today

• August 16, 2023 16 Aug'23

  CyberArk eyes growth beyond PAM

  CyberArk is seeing exponential growth in the broader identity security market as the company expands its capabilities beyond privileged access management

• August 16, 2023 16 Aug'23

  AI is the most hyped technology of 2023

  Gartner's 2023 hype cycle puts generative AI at the peak of inflated expectations in its latest analysis of emerging tech trends

• August 16, 2023 16 Aug'23

  BT flies into NATS network, cyber security project

  Organisation tasked with managing air travel in the UK implements ‘transformational’ technology programme to keep skies safe and support customers worldwide

• August 16, 2023 16 Aug'23

  NCSC expands Cyber Incident Response service more widely

  The NCSC has added a level to its CIR programme to enable more cyber attack victims to take advantage of the service, which offers access to assured incident response specialists

• August 16, 2023 16 Aug'23

  ITAM influence on cyber risk becoming a factor in credit ratings

  Credit agency S&P Global Ratings warns that organisations that pay inadequate attention to IT asset management as a factor in their cyber risk management processes may find their creditworthiness takes a dive

• August 15, 2023 15 Aug'23

  Norfolk and Suffolk police hit by FoI-linked data breach

  Latest UK police data breach relates to crime suspects, victims and witnesses across East Anglia, and comes just days after a similar incident at the Northern Irish service

• August 15, 2023 15 Aug'23

  Online safety message failing to get through to women

  The security community could be doing a lot more to make its advice and guidance more accessible to women, according to a study

• August 14, 2023 14 Aug'23

  NatWest offers compensation to customer affected by data breach exposed by whistleblower

  NatWest bank has offered compensation to a former customer affected by a data breach alongside around 1,600 other former and current customers

• August 14, 2023 14 Aug'23

  US Cyber Board to probe cloud security after latest Exchange hack

  CSRB review of cloud security comes in the wake of a major Chinese cyber attack on US government bodies orchestrated through Microsoft’s cloud services

• August 12, 2023 12 Aug'23

  Datacentre management vulnerabilities leave public clouds at risk

  At the annual DEF CON hacking convention, researchers from Trellix have disclosed multiple vulnerabilities in key datacentre products underpinning the world’s public cloud infrastructure

• August 10, 2023 10 Aug'23

  Google speeds up security update frequency for Chrome

  Changes to Google’s security update policy are supposed to help close the gap in which cyber criminals can exploit n-day vulnerabilities

• August 10, 2023 10 Aug'23

  A non-conventional career journey into IT security

  GCSEs and A-levels are not the only route to higher education. We speak to an IT security expert who left school with no formal qualifications

• August 10, 2023 10 Aug'23

  PSNI investigating second breach after laptop stolen

  Just hours after accidentally disclosing the personal details of 10,000 personnel, the Police Service of Northern Ireland has notified a second data breach after a police issue laptop and documents were stolen from a parked car

• August 09, 2023 09 Aug'23

  Three UK expands business offering with device management proposition

  Cloud-based offering to enable UK operator to offer businesses ability to manage over-the-air configuration of devices, simplifying complex IT admin while securely increasing employee productivity

• August 09, 2023 09 Aug'23

  Microsoft addresses Office vulnerability attacked by Russian spooks in latest update

  Microsoft has issued fixes for over 70 vulnerabilities in its August Patch Tuesday drop, including remedies for CVE-2023-36884, which was disclosed without a fix in July and has been the subject of Kremlin-backed cyber attacks

• August 09, 2023 09 Aug'23

  Northern Irish police expose staff data in botched FoI response

  Human error is being blamed for the leak of personally identifiable information on all serving officers and civilian staff at the Police Service of Northern Ireland

• August 08, 2023 08 Aug'23

  MPs warn about growing prevalence of tech-enabled domestic abuse

  The UK government must take action to prevent perpetrators from being able to use connected or smart technologies to conduct their domestic abuse, a select committee has warned

• August 08, 2023 08 Aug'23

  UK voter data hacked in cyber attack on election watchdog

  An unknown threat actor who attacked the UK’s Electoral Commission had access to data on millions of UK voters for over a year, the watchdog has revealed

• August 08, 2023 08 Aug'23

  Black Basta, Hive and Royal ransomware gangs may share real-world connection

  At Black Hat USA, Sophos X-Ops researchers share data revealing potential connections between three active ransomware crews

• August 08, 2023 08 Aug'23

  Workplace monitoring needs worker consent, says select committee

  Employers looking to monitor their employees through connected devices should only to so with the consent of those affected due to negative impacts such surveillance can have on work intensification and mental health

• August 08, 2023 08 Aug'23

  Many UK organisations considering ChatGPT bans on employee devices

  More than 60% of organisations in the UK have either banned, or are considering banning, the use of generative AI tools on employee- or business-owned devices

• August 07, 2023 07 Aug'23

  NHS trust suspends two governors as whistleblower email dispute continues

  Governors at an NHS trust have been suspended after asking questions about emails used to bring a General Medical Council investigation against a whistleblower

• August 07, 2023 07 Aug'23

  Microsoft fixes Azure flaw that was subject of researcher criticism

  Microsoft has confirmed a potentially-dangerous flaw in the Azure platform has now been fully fixed, and moved to reassure customers that despite criticism it is committed to responsible disclosure and timely fixes

• August 07, 2023 07 Aug'23

  Rise in fraudsters spoofing the websites of leading UK banks

  Despite safeguards to protect customers from scams, UK retail banks are still seeing high volumes of fake phishing websites exploiting their brands, and the problem seems to be increasing in scope and scale

• August 04, 2023 04 Aug'23

  Log4Shell, ProxyShell still among most widely exploited flaws

  Statistics released by the collective Five Eyes cyber agencies reveals insight into the most exploited vulnerabilities of 2022, and unsurprisingly there are some old ‘friends’ on the list

• August 04, 2023 04 Aug'23

  Biden’s SBOM mandate a ‘shot heard around the world’, report says

  Two years and three months after Joe Biden mandated new standards in supply chain security, over 40% of UK respondents to a survey say they have implemented new SBOM policies in direct response

• August 03, 2023 03 Aug'23

  Scottish NHS trust ducks fine after staff shared patient data via WhatsApp

  NHS Lanarkshire has been issued a formal reprimand by the ICO after staff members used WhatsApp to share patients’ personal data with one another

• August 03, 2023 03 Aug'23

  Plexal takes on new cohort for cyber security leadership scheme

  Six more cyber security startup founders have been selected to take part in Plexal’s latest Cyber Runway Ignite programme, which is designed to help them develop their leadership skills