News

Privacy and data protection

• December 13, 2019 13 Dec'19

  Alarm bells ring, the IoT is listening

  With Christmas bearing down on us, a series of vulnerability disclosures has drawn attention to the parlous state of IoT security, and serves as a timely warning to people planning to buy smart devices as gifts

• December 10, 2019 10 Dec'19

  Rapid evolution of quantum computing a concern for CISOs

  With the race to achieve so-called quantum supremacy hotting up, security pros are concerned that it will outpace the development of appropriate safeguards, according to a report

• December 10, 2019 10 Dec'19

  Scottish Justice Committee wants extra powers for biometrics commissioner

  Members of Scottish Parliament in the Justice Committee have welcomed the creation of a biometrics commissioner for Scotland, but want ensure that they have the ‘necessary teeth’ for the job

• December 09, 2019 09 Dec'19

  Public sector still losing user devices in high numbers

  The Ministry of Justice has lost 354 smartphones, PCs, laptops and tablets in the past 12 months, according to a Freedom of Information request, and other government departments are in the same boat

• December 09, 2019 09 Dec'19

  Jailed hacker ordered to pay back £270k

  An Essex man jailed in April over malware offences dating back years has been ordered to pay back the profits of his crime spree, and sell valuable assets

• December 06, 2019 06 Dec'19

  How commodities firm ED&F Man solved its threat detection challenges

  After a minor server breach, leading commodities trader turned to Vectra’s Cognito service to expose hidden threats, spot privilege misuse, and conduct conclusive investigations

• December 06, 2019 06 Dec'19

  Dutch government must facilitate and coordinate a broad eID system

  The Dutch government should push for an electronic ID system for its citizens that works across the public and private sectors, according to a report

• December 06, 2019 06 Dec'19

  Cyber security takes its place alongside UK’s armed services

  Head of armed services says cyber security will take its place alongside the army, navy and air force as a key pillar of the UK’s defence strategy

• December 06, 2019 06 Dec'19

  Great Cannon DDoS operation fires on Hong Kong protesters

  AT&T’s security unit has evidence that China is pressing its Great Cannon DDoS tool into service once again, specifically to target pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong

• December 05, 2019 05 Dec'19

  Two Russians indicted over Dridex and Zeus malware

  The US Department of Justice has indicted two Russian citizens over their alleged role in the distribution of the virulent Bugat, or Dridex, and Zeus banking trojans

• December 05, 2019 05 Dec'19

  Black Hat Europe: Mental health websites are leaking user data

  At Black Hat Europe in London, researchers reveal the extent to which confidential data is being leaked to third parties by online mental health websites

• December 05, 2019 05 Dec'19

  Aviatrix VPN vulnerability left user endpoints wide open

  Immersive Labs has disclosed a serious vulnerability in VPN supplier Aviatrix’s enterprise client that could have granted hackers elevated user privileges across enterprise targets

• December 04, 2019 04 Dec'19

  Black Hat Europe: Red teams and blue teams must evolve in the 2020s

  The red team versus blue team dichotomy is somewhat arbitrary and risks pigeonholing skilled security professionals into certain roles, says Facebook’s Amanda Rousseau

• December 03, 2019 03 Dec'19

  General Election 2019: Which manifesto is best for the UK’s tech sector?

  Computer Weekly breaks down each political party’s technology policies ahead of the upcoming General Election to see how they compare

• December 03, 2019 03 Dec'19

  Tenable buys Indegy to integrate IT and OT security

  Acquisition of industrial security specialist Indegy will create a unified, risk-based platform spanning both IT and OT security for Tenable

• December 03, 2019 03 Dec'19

  Chinese web users take more risks than Brits or Americans

  A research paper published by the University of Birmingham seems to show that differences in cultural values have an impact both on risky behaviour online and legal regulation

• December 02, 2019 02 Dec'19

  Top Android apps at risk from StrandHogg vulnerability

  Researchers at Promon say all of the 500 most-downloaded Android apps are at risk from a newly discovered vulnerability

• November 29, 2019 29 Nov'19

  Cyber criminal RAT busted by cops

  Police forces around the UK have arrested nine people as part of an international operation targeting users of a remote access trojan

• November 29, 2019 29 Nov'19

  TfL locks down Oyster accounts to ward off credential stuffing

  Mandatory password reset for all travellers who use Oyster and contactless payment systems follows minor breach incident earlier in 2019

• November 29, 2019 29 Nov'19

  Hack Friday: This Christmas, fight back against cyber criminals

  It’s nearly Christmas, and cyber attacks and fraud attempts in the retail sector are ramping up. Is it time to panic? And is there anything we can do beyond hammering home the message around basic cyber security hygiene?

• November 28, 2019 28 Nov'19

  The Security Interviews: Do cyber weapons need a Geneva Convention?

  On a cold afternoon in Finland, F-Secure’s Mikko Hypponen discusses cyber weapons and nation state threats, and explains why arms limitations treaties might one day expand to include malware and other threats

• November 28, 2019 28 Nov'19

  Australia’s Fenner Dunlop ditches tape backups for cloud

  Australian manufacturer of conveyor belts Fenner Dunlop has freed up its IT staff to focus on future projects by moving tape backups to the cloud

• November 28, 2019 28 Nov'19

  Top APAC security predictions for 2020

  More attacks on critical infrastructure, supply chain vulnerabilities and file-less attacks are some of the security threats that enterprises should keep an eye on next year

• November 26, 2019 26 Nov'19

  Enterprises muddled over cloud security responsibilities

  A McAfee study suggests that 2020 will be a big year for cloud adoption, but confusion still persists over who is responsible for securing it

• November 26, 2019 26 Nov'19

  Facebook undermined rivals in bid to dominate global messaging

  Facebook used buyouts and bullying tactics towards competitors to grow its business empire, documents leaked to Computer Weekly reveal

• November 25, 2019 25 Nov'19

  General Election 2019: The Conservatives’ technology policies and digital plans

  With the UK gearing up for its third general election in four years, Computer Weekly outlines the Conservative and Unionist Party’s main technology policies and digital plans, as laid out in its manifesto

• November 25, 2019 25 Nov'19

  AI may open dangerous new frontiers in geopolitics

  Truly artificial intelligence has the potential to provoke an international geopolitical crisis, warns F-Secure’s Mikko Hypponen

• November 25, 2019 25 Nov'19

  Uber app exploit posed safety risk to passengers

  A flaw in Uber’s system meant thousands of trips in London were taken with unauthorised drivers at the wheel

• November 25, 2019 25 Nov'19

  Tim Berners-Lee launches nine principles for the web

  Inventor of the worldwide web sets out Contract for the Web to protect its freedom, data privacy and access for all

• November 25, 2019 25 Nov'19

  Conservatives propose national cyber crime force

  Manifesto also says Tories would “empower the police to safely use new technologies like biometrics and artificial intelligence, along with the use of DNA, within a strict legal framework”

• November 22, 2019 22 Nov'19

  Mystery surrounds leak of four billion user records

  Threat researchers uncover four billion user records on a wide-open Elasticsearch server but who left them there is a mystery

• November 22, 2019 22 Nov'19

  IT chiefs recognise the risks of artificial intelligence bias

  Artificial intelligence promises to change the way businesses operate. IT leaders are now taking bias in AI algorithms seriously

• November 22, 2019 22 Nov'19

  Some 29,000 UK web domains suspended for criminal activity

  Domain suspensions for criminal activity over the past year has dropped for the first time since 2014

• November 22, 2019 22 Nov'19

  Druva eyes data protection for IoT workloads

  Cloud data protection software supplier Druva is looking at a comprehensive platform that will protect data generated by IoT workloads

• November 21, 2019 21 Nov'19

  Labour pledges review of NCSC in UK security overhaul

  The UK's National Cyber Security Centre may get expanded powers under a Labour government

• November 21, 2019 21 Nov'19

  F-Secure’s Blackfin challenges perceptions of how AIs think

  New research project aims to develop adaptive, autonomous and collaborative AI agents, and challenges the notion that machine intelligence should merely mimic human intelligence

• November 20, 2019 20 Nov'19

  Senators raise questions over Facebook’s monitoring of phone users’ locations

  After Facebook publishes a blog post with conflicting statements, two US senators ask for clarification on how the company collects location data from its users

• November 20, 2019 20 Nov'19

  Mimecast blocked 99 billion suspicious emails in third quarter

  Latest threat intelligence report reveals the scale of the threat posed by malicious emails, with the transport, legal and financial sectors hit hardest

• November 20, 2019 20 Nov'19

  Massive increase in fraud attacks on TSB customers during IT meltdown

  There was a massive spike in attempts by fraudsters to steal from TSB customers when the bank’s IT systems failed in 2018

• November 20, 2019 20 Nov'19

  Conservatives slammed over social media trickery

  The Conservative Party has been caught spreading online disinformation during the General Election campaign for a second time

• November 19, 2019 19 Nov'19

  Public sector risks downplayed by senior IT leaders

  Sophos reveals a significant cyber security perception gap between senior IT and security leaders in the public sector and their front-line teams

• November 19, 2019 19 Nov'19

  Macy’s Magecart breach presages Christmas fraud spike

  US retailer Macy’s admits some customer data was accessed by unknown actors during a week-long Magecart attack

• November 19, 2019 19 Nov'19

  Anti-stalkerware coalition calls time on intrusive abusers

  New coalition plans to tackle the scourge of stalkerware as a tool of domestic and other forms of abuse

• November 19, 2019 19 Nov'19

  Businesses failing to wipe data from old endpoints

  Organisations are not taking adequate precautions to sanitise data held on endpoints when refreshing their PC or mobile device estates

• November 15, 2019 15 Nov'19

  Notorious hackers claim responsibility for Labour DDoS

  Hackers claiming to represent Lizard Squad say they were behind a distributed denial of service attack on the UK’s Labour Party

• November 14, 2019 14 Nov'19

  Home Office Brexit app contains multiple security flaws

  The Home Office’s Brexit app may be putting EU citizens’ personal data at risk

• November 14, 2019 14 Nov'19

  Cyber criminals tool up for Christmas fraud season

  Organised criminals are trying to cash in on the festive retail boom with both brand new and tried-and-tested techniques

• November 13, 2019 13 Nov'19

  11 new 5G hacks enable user device tracking and monitoring

  Researchers at Purdue University and the University of Iowa publish details of several new 5G mobile network vulnerabilities

• November 13, 2019 13 Nov'19

  Business leaders fibbing to cover up lax security posture

  Nominet study finds evidence that many businesses tout the robustness of their security posture as a selling point even though their security teams lack confidence in themselves

• November 13, 2019 13 Nov'19

  Attack on Labour shows need for DDoS defence but should alarm few

  After being hit by two DDoS attacks in the space of 24 hours, many commentators are convinced the UK’s Labour Party is the victim of foreign interference in the General Election campaign. It probably isn’t