Data breach incident management and recovery

Cyber criminals have World Cup Qatar 2022 in their sights

Volumes of malicious cyber activity around the upcoming FIFA World Cup are already starting to tick upwards and are likely to continue to do so Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

All means all when it comes to encryption

Nigel Thorpe, technical director at SecureAge, makes the case for encrypting everything all of the time when it comes to protecting data Continue Reading

By

• Nigel Thorpe

Optus earmarks A$140m to cover cost of data breach

Optus sets aside A$140m as an exceptional expense for a customer remediation programme following a massive data breach that affected 10 million customers Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

UK’s National Cyber Advisory Board convenes for first time

Government convenes National Cyber Advisory Board to further its goals of making the UK one of the safest places to live and work online Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Why Sophos is bullish on managed security services

Sophos has grown its managed detection and response business to more than $100m over the last three years as more organisations grapple with the increasingly complex cyber security landscape Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

NortonLifeLock, Avast debut new ‘Gen’ identity

The combined NortonLifeLock and Avast consumer cyber business, Gen, says it will serve over 500 million customers worldwide Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Department for Education escapes £10m fine over data misuse

Department entrusted data on 28 million children to a company called Trustopia, which turned out to be anything but trustworthy, but has escaped a £10m fine under new rules Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

To fight ransomware, we must treat digital infrastructure as critical

Ransomware defence is failing because we don’t view our digital infrastructure in the same way as our physical infrastructure, argues Elastic’s Mandy Andress Continue Reading

By

• Mandy Andress, Elastic

Microsoft: Nation-state cyber attacks became increasingly destructive in 2022

The willingness of nation-state actors to conduct destructive cyber attacks is a source of grave concern, as Microsoft’s latest annual Digital Defence Report lays bare Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: Ransomware and CISOs’ balancing act

Ransomware has the potential to cause irreversible business damage, so CISOs should consider not only protection but also response and recovery Continue Reading

By

• Arina Palchik and Charles Moorey

Microsoft pledges $100m in new IT support for Ukraine

Microsoft will continue to offer free-of-charge technology support to Ukraine for the foreseeable future Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Automated threats biggest source of cyber risk for retailers

Threat actors targeting retailers during the coming holiday season are increasingly turning to automated forms of cyber attack, according to a report Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Global coalition reaffirms commitment to fight ransomware

Representatives of 36 countries, as well as the EU, attended the second International Counter Ransomware Initiative Summit in Washington DC Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Dropbox code compromised in phishing attack

Cloud storage service says malicious actors successfully accessed some of its code within GitHub, but insists customer data is secure Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

UK spent £6.4m on secret cyber package for Ukraine

Westminster has revealed for the first time the existence of a previously top-secret security programme that has been helping Ukraine fend off Russian cyber attacks Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Security Think Tank: Know your networks, know your suppliers

To combat the ransomware scourge, we must work harder to monitor and learn from the increasingly complex threat environment, keep a closer eye on supply chains, and share our insights Continue Reading

By

• Rob Dartnall, SecAlliance

A third of UK cyber leaders want to quit, report says

Nearly a third of UK security leaders are considering leaving their current role, and more than half are struggling to keep on top of their workload Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NCSC looks back on year of ‘profound change’ for cyber

The NCSC ramped up its support for UK plc in the past 12 months, but it was events beyond the UK’s borders that proved the most impactful Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Prepare today for potentially high-impact OpenSSL bug

OpenSSL trailed a critical vulnerability patch last week, which will be only the second such flaw ever found in the open source encryption project. Unfortunately, the first was Heartbleed Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NCSC’s Levy steps down after 20-year intelligence career

NCSC technical director Ian Levy bids farewell, telling his successor: ‘Don’t panic’ Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Will the OCSF create an open and collaborative cyber industry?

The Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework promises to transform security data analysis and collection, but there are challenges around adoption Continue Reading

By

• Nicholas Fearn

NHS to get new national CISO

The Department for Health and Social Care is seeking a new national CISO, who will be tasked with providing strategic cyber leadership, direction and expertise across DHSC and the wider NHS Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Medibank breach casts spotlight on data security

Health insurer Medibank Private recently suffered a major data breach involving the personal and health information of millions of customers, once again casting the spotlight on data security in Australia Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Withers

The Conservatives are laughing at cyber security pros

If causing a security breach is a resigning matter, then you shouldn’t expect to get your old job back a week later. Unless you’re a Conservative home secretary, apparently Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Australia budget closes in on digital divide, cyber resilience

Australia’s latest budget is geared towards providing better broadband connectivity in regional and rural areas, shoring up the cyber security posture of its businesses and plugging tech talent shortages, among other areas Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Withers

Global digital trust market to double by 2027

The global market for digital trust technology is expected to double to $537bn by 2027, up from $270bn today as demand for cyber security and other capabilities continues to grow Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Complacency biggest cyber risk to UK plc, says ICO

Information commissioner John Edwards warns against complacency as his office issues a multimillion-pound fine to a building company that failed to prevent a ransomware attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Half of staff might quit after a cyber attack, report says

Findings from a survey of CISOs, IT leaders and staffers reveal how experiencing a cyber incident may take a larger-than-thought toll on employee retention Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Microsoft slams external researchers over its own data leak

Microsoft inadvertently leaked customer data after misconfiguring an Azure Blob, but has hit out at the organisation that discovered its error, claiming it is exaggerating the scope of the issue Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

RAT (remote access Trojan)

A RAT (remote access Trojan) is malware an attacker uses to gain full administrative privileges and remote control of a target computer. Continue Reading

By

• Kinza Yasar, Technical Writer

Cyber professional shortfall hits 3.4 million

Shortage of cyber security professionals continues to grow and shows no signs of abating, says report Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NatWest data breach whistleblower demands bank pay data controller fee to ICO

Whistleblower calls for NatWest to pay the Information Commissioner’s Office annual data controller fee, as the personal details of 1,600 current and former NatWest customers remain under her bed Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Ransomware crews regrouping as LockBit rise continues

Overall ransomware activity dropped off in the third quarter of 2022, but increasing attack volumes in September may herald a difficult few months ahead Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Treat cyber crime as a ‘strategic threat’, UK businesses told

The government’s new National Cyber Advisory Board aims to help elevate cyber discussion and spur action in the business community Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

How Russia hacked a former MI6 spy chief

In this week’s Computer Weekly, Russian hackers leaked emails and documents from British government, military, and intelligence officials – we examine the implications. New EU laws will govern online safety and the use of AI, but what do they mean for organisations? And we look at the growth in checkout-free shopping. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Annual costs of Hackney ransomware attack exceed £12m

Hackney Council reveals new insight into the ongoing cost of a ransomware attack that devastated its systems two years ago Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Advanced: Healthcare data was stolen in LockBit 3.0 attack

Advanced has revealed a total of 16 of its health and social care sector customers had their data exfiltrated in a recent ransomware attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Australia becoming hotbed for cyber attacks

Research by Imperva shows an 81% increase in cyber security incidents in Australia between July 2021 and June 2022, including automated attacks that doubled in frequency Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

NCSC urges organisations to secure supply chains

NCSC’s latest guidance package centres supply chain security, helping medium to large organisations assess and mitigate cyber risks from suppliers Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Contractor left Toyota source code exposed for five years

Source code related to Toyota’s T-Connect service was left exposed on GitHub for over five years by a contractor Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Australia to amend telecoms regulations following Optus breach

Amendments to Australia’s telecoms regulations are in the works to temporarily allow sharing of individuals’ identifier information between telcos and financial institutions Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Withers

Air gaps for backup and how they help against ransomware

The air gap is a basic of backups and storage. We look at what’s meant by an air gap, the rise of the logical air gap, and its place in the fight against ransomware Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Inside Dell Technologies’ zero-trust approach

Dell Technologies’ zero-trust reference model starts with defining business controls and having a central control plane that manages all the security aspects of an organisation’s infrastructure Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Tories to replace GDPR

IT industry reacts to the government’s plan to replace the pan-European data protection regulation Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Failure of Russia’s cyber attacks on Ukraine is most important lesson for NCSC

Russia has so far failed in its attempts to destabilise Ukraine through cyber attacks due to strength of Ukrainian, security industry and international efforts Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Optus breach casts spotlight on cyber resilience

The massive data breach that affected more than 10 million Optus customers has cast the spotlight on API security and other factors that contribute to the cyber resilience of organisations in Australia Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Withers

UK suffers third highest number of ransomware attacks globally

Based on an analysis of around 5,000 ransomware incidents, NordLocker has found that UK businesses, and small businesses in particular, are a priority target for ransomware gangs Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Data protection in Finland, four years after GDPR came into force

Data privacy has always been a big concern in Finland, so the country naturally has a lot to say about the General Data Protection Regulation four years on Continue Reading

By

• Pat Brans, Pat Brans Associates/Grenoble Ecole de Management

Most hackers exfiltrate data within five hours of gaining access

Insights from more than 300 sanctioned adversaries, otherwise known as ‘ethical’ hackers, reveal that around two-thirds are able to collect and exfiltrate data within just five hours of gaining access Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Bank warns of spike in online cost-of-living scams

Fraudsters are exploiting the cost-of-living crisis by tricking people into sending money to help friends and relatives pay bills, TSB has warned Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

How Russian intelligence hacked the encrypted emails of former MI6 boss Richard Dearlove

Hack by Russian-linked ColdRiver group exposed former MI6 chief Richard Dearlove’s contacts and email communications with government, military, intelligence and political officials Continue Reading

By

• Duncan Campbell , 2QQ Ltd, Sussex University

Threat actors abused lack of MFA, OAuth in spam campaign

Microsoft threat researchers have reported on a series of cyber attacks in which enterprises with lax IAM policies had their systems hijacked to conduct spam email campaigns Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Nordic private equity firms pursue cyber security acquisitions

Increasing interest in the security sector from Nordic private equity firms is a reflection of growing threats and increasing enterprise security budgets Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware family becoming more dangerous

Researchers from Symantec share fresh insight into the ongoing development of the ransomware-as-a-service family known variously as ALPHV, BlackCat and Noberus Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NCSC publishes cyber guidance for retailers

The NCSC has published tailored advice to support online retailers, hospitality providers and utility services in protecting themselves and their customers from cyber crime Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Thousands of customers affected in Revolut data breach

Digital challenger bank has warned its customers to be vigilant after their data was exposed in a cyber attack Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IHG attackers phished employee to deploy destructive wiper

A couple from Vietnam who claim to be behind a destructive wiper cyber attack on hotel operator IHG told the BBC how they orchestrated their operation Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Reports Uber and Rockstar incidents work of same attacker

Rockstar Games was hit over the weekend by an attacker who claimed to have accessed its Slack channel to steal data on an upcoming release, and may be the same person who compromised Uber Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

A gold medal performance for networking

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how the IT team behind the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham delivered a winning performance. We also look at how the centuries-old London insurance market is going digital, thanks to Lloyd’s of London. And we find out how low-cost high street stores succumbed to the inevitable and are going online. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Uber suffers major cyber attack

Details are trickling out of an apparent ‘near total’ compromise of ride-sharing service Uber by an alleged teenage hacktivist Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Nominations closing soon for annual cyber awards

Nominations for the annual Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards closes 16 September Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

New player pioneers ‘active cyber insurance’ for UK market

Arrival of US-based insurer Coalition in London will supposedly offer SMEs more options when it comes to cyber security insurance Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

US charges three Iranians over CNI cyber attacks

Three Iranian nationals have been indicted over a spate of ransomware attacks against organisations in the US, UK, Israel and Iran Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Ex-CISA head Krebs: Disrupt ransomware support networks to win the war

Speaking at an event hosted by data protection specialist Rubrik, former CISA director Chris Krebs calls for the security community to work collectively to kick out the supports from under ransomware gangs Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

DDoS attacks on UK financial sector surged during Ukraine war

A quarter of cyber security incidents reported to the Financial Conduct Authority in the first six months of 2022 involved DDoS, with a likely link to events in Ukraine Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Cisco confirms leaked data was stolen in Yanluowang ransomware hit

Cisco has confirmed that data leaked last week by the Yanluowang ransomware gang was that stolen during a May 2022 cyber attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Multi-persona impersonation adds new dimension to phishing

Iranian APT used multiple personas on a single email thread to convince targets of the legitimacy of its phishing lures Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

How Okta is working to regain customer trust after a cyber attack

Earlier this year, cyber firm Okta was one of several tech companies hit by the Lapsus$ gang. Vice-president of customer trust Ben King describes how he has been working to rebuild confidence after the incident. Continue Reading

air gap (air gapping)

An air gap is a security measure that involves isolating a computer or network and preventing it from establishing an external connection. Continue Reading

By

• Alexander S. Gillis, Technical Writer and Editor

Mandiant floats off into Google Cloud

As planned, the acquisition of Mandiant will see the threat intel and incident response giant become a part of Google’s Cloud business Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CISOs should spend on critical apps, cloud, zero-trust, in 2023

Faced with a global recession next year, security buyers should try to direct investment towards technology that protects customer-facing and revenue-generating workloads, say analysts Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Chinese APT using PlugX malware on espionage targets

China’s Bronze President APT is once again targeting government officials of interest to its paymasters, this time using forged diplomatic correspondence, according to the Secureworks Counter Threat Unit Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Dutch cyber security organisations to join forces

Cyber security organisations in the Netherlands are going to merge into a single central expertise centre and information hub, which all organisations in the country will soon be able to tap into Continue Reading

By

• Kim Loohuis

Albania cuts diplomatic ties with Iran after cyber attack

In a global geopolitical first, the Albanian government has severed diplomatic ties with Iran and expelled its ambassador after it was targeted by an APT backed by Tehran Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

August ’22 a bumper month for high-impact vulnerabilities

Bugs in products from Apple, Google, Microsoft and VMware dominated the threat landscape in August, says Recorded Future Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Prince’s Trust teams with threat management specialist in skills push

Prince’s Trust hopes to address shortfall in cyber professionals and improve diversity in the industry Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Hotel group IHG confirms cyber attack after two-day outage

IHG, the operator of hotel chains Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Intercontinental and Kimpton, says it has been targeted by an unknown threat actor Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Cyber threats to Europe’s grid: Utilities rethink strategy

The separation of operational and information technology at utilities across Europe is opening doors for cyber criminals Continue Reading

By

• Gordon Feller

Bus company Go-Ahead fighting off cyber attack

Go-Ahead Group, which operates bus companies around the UK, says it is in the process of dealing with a cyber attack that may cause disruption to services Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Saudi Arabian organisations choose to outsource to improve cyber security posture

Overwhelmed by rising threats and a growing number of government mandates, many organisations in Saudi Arabia are looking for outside help to take care of cyber security Continue Reading

By

• Pat Brans, Pat Brans Associates/Grenoble Ecole de Management

How Okta is regaining customer trust after a cyber attack

In early 2022, cyber firm Okta was among several tech companies hit by the Lapsus$ gang. Vice-president of customer trust Ben King talks about how he has been working behind the scenes to rebuild confidence after the incident Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Local authorities experience 10,000 attempted cyber attacks every day

Local authorities across the UK face a daily deluge of cyber incidents, with phishing and DDoS attacks the most prevalent, according to an insurance broker Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Swedish Electronics Protection Act coincides with major cyber spend

Swedish cyber security law comes at a time of heavy government investment Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

New (ISC)² cyber careers schemes go live

(ISC)² has opened up two new global cyber careers schemes to applicants to try to help organisations fill 2.7 million vacant roles worldwide Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Norway has NOK200m plan to bolster cyber defences

Norway is investing heavily in its cyber defences amid heightened threat from Russia Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

NHS staff fall further behind amid ransomware attack

While some NHS bodies are now recovering their services after the ransomware attack on a crucial software supplier, others are still being forced to rely on pen and paper, and some will be waiting months to recover Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Four years into GDPR, Norway hopes for safer data transfer to US

Much of the data on the internet ends up on US servers at some point, and that is not always compatible with the General Data Protection Regulation, says Norwegian data protection authority Continue Reading

By

• Pat Brans, Pat Brans Associates/Grenoble Ecole de Management

IAM house Okta confirms 0ktapus/Scatter Swine attack

Following last week’s disclosureby Group-IB researchers of a major phishing campaign, Okta has warned its customers to be on their guard Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

LastPass breach limited in scale and well-managed, say experts

A breach of LastPass’s developer environment does not seem to have affected users of the password management service, but it may still be time for a credential reset Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Criminal 0ktapus spoofed IAM firm in massive phishing attack

Researchers at Group-IB have published research on a major phishing campaign that ensnared victims at the likes of Cloudflare and Twilio Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Adaptive RedAlert, Monster ransomwares go cross-platform

Kaspersky researchers have shared new intelligence on two emergent cyber criminal groups that have adapted their ransomwares to target different operating systems at the same time Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Millions of Plex users may be at risk in password breach

Up to half of Plex’s 30 million users may have had their personal data stolen by an unknown threat actor Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

LockBit 3.0 cements dominance of ransomware ecosystem

Ransomware attacks were up 47% in July compared with the previous month, according to the latest threat data from NCC Group, with the LockBit family largely to blame Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Most CISOs think they’ve been attacked by a nation state

Most organisations have made changes to their cyber strategies and policies following Russia’s invasion, and almost two-thirds suspect they have been directly targeted or impacted by a nation-state cyber attack Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NCSC shares cyber guidance for large infrastructure builds

Balfour Beatty and McAlpine are among the large construction firms to have input into latest NCSC guidance for ensuring the security of major infrastructure projects Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Kaspersky threat data added to Microsoft Sentinel service

Microsoft and Kaspersky have agreed a collaboration to integrate Kaspersky’s threat data feeds into Microsoft’s cloud-native SIEM/SOAR service Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Lloyd’s to end insurance coverage for state cyber attacks

Lloyd’s of London has instructed its members to exclude nation state cyber attacks from insurance policies beginning in 2023, saying they pose unacceptable levels of risk Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Cozy Bear targets MS 365 environments with new tactics

Cozy Bear, or APT29, is trying out new tricks as it seeks access to its targets’ Microsoft 365 environments Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

It takes a breach to force boards to take notice of cyber, says UK government

Too often, it takes a major incident for business leadership to pay attention to cyber issues, according to a government-commissioned study of victims Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Ukraine war drives DDoS attack volumes ever higher

There has been a boom in distributed denial-of-service attacks in the first six months of 2022, according to a report, with Russia’s war on Ukraine helping to drive activity Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor