News

Privacy and data protection

• August 11, 2020 11 Aug'20

  NHS hit by thousands of malicious emails at height of pandemic

  The NHS received nearly 30,000 malicious emails at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in March and April

• August 11, 2020 11 Aug'20

  Coronavirus: Phishing lures pivot to exploit vaccine hopes

  Phishing emails are increasingly luring in victims with subject lines relating to the development of a vaccine for Covid-19

• August 11, 2020 11 Aug'20

  French data protection authorities to probe TikTok as suitors circle

  France’s CNIL has confirmed a new investigation into TikTok’s data protection practices

• August 11, 2020 11 Aug'20

  Hospitality sector is failing on contact-tracing obligations

  Cyber security experts urge the government to do more to help small hospitality businesses improve their contact-tracing data-handling practices

• August 10, 2020 10 Aug'20

  Retailer Monsoon allegedly exposing data via Pulse Connect server

  A researcher has found a critically insecure Pulse Connect Secure VPN version belonging to UK retailer Monsoon Accessorize, but claims the firm is ignoring his disclosures

• August 07, 2020 07 Aug'20

  Virgin Media customers targeted in Twitter phish

  Customers seeking help from the ISP are being targeted by a scam Twitter account

• August 07, 2020 07 Aug'20

  Data Standards Authority publishes guidance on government data sharing

  The Data Standards Authority (DSA) wants government departments to use new open data standards when sharing data, with the aim of improving public services

• August 07, 2020 07 Aug'20

  TikTok to be banned in US in 45 days

  Trump says his Executive Orders against Chinese mobile apps are in the interests of dealing with a national emergency

• August 06, 2020 06 Aug'20

  Australia updates cyber security strategy but offers little new

  The nation’s latest cyber security strategy includes centralised management of networks and a voluntary code of practice for deploying internet-connected devices, among other areas

• August 06, 2020 06 Aug'20

  Qualcomm chip vulnerability puts millions of phones at risk

  Qualcomm has patched multiple vulnerabilities in its chip hardware that left hundreds of millions of smartphones open to compromise by malicious actors

• August 06, 2020 06 Aug'20

  Canon said to be latest Maze ransomware victim

  Canon may have had up to 10TB of its data exfiltrated by the Maze ransomware gang

• August 06, 2020 06 Aug'20

  GCHQ seeks researchers to tackle deep fakes and misinformation

  A GCHQ research fellowship based at its Manchester office will explore various national security priorities such as deep fakes, fake news and the impact of AI

• August 05, 2020 05 Aug'20

  Netherlands investigates innovative privacy technology SSI

  Dutch research organisation is looking into areas where self-sovereign identity technology could be used in society and business

• August 05, 2020 05 Aug'20

  Second wave of Covid-19 cyber attacks locked in

  More cyber attacks exploiting the pandemic seem likely, says Interpol

• August 04, 2020 04 Aug'20

  Five signs you’re about to get hit with ransomware

  A series of Sophos reports on the ransomware threat landscape shows how security professionals can sniff out a potential ransomware attack before it happens

• August 04, 2020 04 Aug'20

  Liam Fox hack raises questions over government security

  The hack of a former cabinet minister’s emails casts doubt over the effectiveness of safeguards and security training processes at the highest levels of the British government

• August 04, 2020 04 Aug'20

  New foundation to bolster security of open source software

  The Open Source Security Foundation will bring together key open source security initiatives across the industry to improve and support the security of open source software

• August 03, 2020 03 Aug'20

  Estonian police and border services need better IT to block criminals from becoming e-residents

  Police and Border Guard Board of Estonia needs to improve its IT systems to stop criminals from becoming e-residents, says report

• August 03, 2020 03 Aug'20

  Microsoft offers way out of TikTok impasse

  Microsoft offers to buy TikTok from its Chinese parent to ease security fears in the US

• August 02, 2020 02 Aug'20

  More data breaches from ransomware attacks in Australia

  The number of data breaches caused by ransomware rose to 33 in the first half of 2020 from 13 in the previous six-month period, according to the latest report from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

• July 31, 2020 31 Jul'20

  ICO launches guidance on AI and data protection

  The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published guidance aimed at rendering the application of machine learning to data compliant with data protection principles

• July 31, 2020 31 Jul'20

  Labour Party is latest victim of Blackbaud ransomware attack

  Widening Blackbaud data breach ensnares the Labour Party as the cloud software firm continues to duck questions about its behaviour

• July 31, 2020 31 Jul'20

  US lawmakers grill big tech chiefs over market power

  Sixth antitrust hearing sees CEOs of major technology companies face combative questioning from members of Congress over their market power and dominance

• July 31, 2020 31 Jul'20

  Twitter confirms it was hit by targeted spearphishing attack

  Investigation into 15 July 2020 hack of a number of high-profile accounts by cryptocurrency scammers has found evidence of a targeted spearphishing incident

• July 31, 2020 31 Jul'20

  EU sanctions China and Russia over cyber attacks

  The EU is applying restrictive measure to six individuals and three entities accused of conducting disruptive cyber attacks in Europe, including the Russian GRU

• July 30, 2020 30 Jul'20

  Former UC Global staff confirm Embassy surveillance operation against Julian Assange

  Spanish court investigates claims that security company illegally recorded meetings between Julian Assange, politicians, lawyers and celebrities at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London

• July 30, 2020 30 Jul'20

  List of Blackbaud breach victims tops 120

  More than 120 education and third-sector organisations may have had their data compromised through the breach of Blackbaud’s cloud platform

• July 29, 2020 29 Jul'20

  Serious BootHole vulnerability puts millions of systems at risk

  BootHole is a GRUB2 bootloader vulnerability and puts millions of PCs, servers and other devices at risk of compromise

• July 29, 2020 29 Jul'20

  Campaigners urge government to resist big tech lobbying pressure

  Lobbyists for big tech, supported by senior US politicians, have rallied against stricter regulation of technology companies, and threatened the US-UK trade deal unless Britain scraps plans to levy a digital services tax

• July 29, 2020 29 Jul'20

  Schrems steps up pressure on Irish data protection commissioner on Facebook’s data sharing with US

  Austrian lawyer is considering ‘other’ options if the Irish data protection commissioner does not make a decision by October on his seven-year-old complaint against Facebook

• July 29, 2020 29 Jul'20

  Cosmetics firm Avon faces new cyber security incident

  Technical information relating to Avon’s web and mobile sites was inadvertently left exposed on an unsecured Microsoft Azure server

• July 28, 2020 28 Jul'20

  De Montfort, KCL, Newcastle universities join list of Blackbaud victims

  Embattled cloud services provider now has big questions to answer over its handling of data belonging to UK universities and charities

• July 28, 2020 28 Jul'20

  Garmin may have paid hackers ransom, reports suggest

  Garmin’s services are coming back online, but the company remains tight-lipped about what exactly happened to it

• July 28, 2020 28 Jul'20

  NCSC names national security expert Lindy Cameron as new CEO

  New National Cyber Security Centre head joins from the Northern Ireland Office and has spent 20 years in government at home and abroad

• July 28, 2020 28 Jul'20

  Scotland’s security resilience centre concept goes national

  Based on the success of the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, a series of regional Cyber Resilience Centres are now launching across the rest of the UK

• July 28, 2020 28 Jul'20

  NCSC inducts six security startups to Cyber Accelerator

  10-week programme will guide some of the UK’s most innovative security startups as they scale their businesses for future growth

• July 27, 2020 27 Jul'20

  MI6 apologises after attempt to interfere with intelligence court

  The UK Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, has apologised after attempting to persuade the secretary of Britain’s most secret court to withhold documents from senior judges in a case about crimes by undercover agents

• July 27, 2020 27 Jul'20

  Court adjourns hearing into Assange extradition as US delays serving new indictment

  Westminster Magistrates Court suspends scheduled extradition hearing into WikiLeaks founder after it emerged the US had failed to serve a second superseding indictment against him

• July 26, 2020 26 Jul'20

  Australia issues new cloud computing guidelines

  The new guidance, which comes after the expiry of the government’s cloud services certification programme, will help to bolster Australia’s cyber security resilience

• July 24, 2020 24 Jul'20

  Garmin outage prompts ransomware attack speculation

  Details are thin on the ground following a major service outage at Garmin, prompting industry speculation that the firm has fallen victim to a ransomware attack

• July 24, 2020 24 Jul'20

  A question of trust: University and supplier on the hook for data breach

  Data on students at the University of York was stolen in a ransomware attack on a supplier two months ago, and the response of both parties raises serious questions

• July 23, 2020 23 Jul'20

  Post-Privacy Shield, what chance for a Brexit data adequacy deal?

  The striking down of Privacy Shield has been hailed as a victory for digital rights and privacy campaign groups, but it will have consequences that go beyond transatlantic data transfers

• July 22, 2020 22 Jul'20

  NCSC reveals scale of cyber attacks on UK sports industry

  The UK’s sports industry is under near constant cyber attack, according to new statistics from the National Cyber Security Centre

• July 22, 2020 22 Jul'20

  US charges Chinese nationals with Covid-19 research hacking

  The two hackers allegedly worked with the Chinese Ministry of State Security, targeting intellectual property and confidential business information

• July 22, 2020 22 Jul'20

  Privacy Shield: Companies face new hurdles to legally transfer data to the US

  Businesses will have to conduct legal assessments to ensure they can transfer data from the EU to the US and other countries, following a European Court of Justice ruling

• July 21, 2020 21 Jul'20

  Coronavirus: Government drags its feet on online misinformation

  Online misinformation about Covid-19 continues to spread unchecked, according to a DCMS committee report which has accused the government of dragging its feet over online harms

• July 21, 2020 21 Jul'20

  Russia Report reveals long-running cyber warfare campaign against UK

  Russia has been hacking the UK for years and the British government has also known about it for years, according to the Intelligence and Security Committee’s report

• July 21, 2020 21 Jul'20

  Australian industry panel calls for ‘clear consequences’ of cyber attacks

  A government-appointed panel recommends strong deterrence and other measures to be implemented in Australia’s next cyber security strategy

• July 20, 2020 20 Jul'20

  ICO hails transformative year as average fine trebles

  Information Commissioner’s Office annual report reflects on a busy period, during which it levied two of the largest fines so far seen under the GDPR

• July 20, 2020 20 Jul'20

  Test and Trace programme unlawful, admits government

  The Department of Health and Social Care failed in its legal obligation to complete a mandatory Data Protection Impact Assessment