Pandemic Cyber Crime, By the Numbers
Almost a year ago, the world turned upside down and seemingly everything changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In that time, entire workforces went – and stayed – home, cloud adoption skyrocketed and digital transformation has become a business imperative at scale. This confluence of events has also spelled “opportunity” for attackers – a fact…
Cryptojacking Fluctuates Along with Cryptocurrency Values
It’s hard to know who tracks the value of cryptocurrencies more closely. Is it the investors who own the virtual coins, or the criminals who hijack computing power to mine them? For their part, the criminals clearly do follow cryptocurrency values. Symantec, as detailed in its annual Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), tracked a decline…
10 ways to prevent, detect and recover from ransomware and zeroday threats
Ransomware is a kind of malware that typically encrypts data, blocking access to it until a fee is paid to the attacker. While the hype used to outweigh the actual risk, ransomware has evolved, spread and grown rapidly more sophisticated in response to our efforts to defend against it. There have been some high-profile ransomware…
Cybersecurity – how confident (complacent?) are you?
Attention all cybersecurity professionals! We all know that today’s cybersecurity landscape is an ever-changing one. So how often should organizations review their cybersecurity strategy? If it’s a question that hasn’t been asked in a while, chances are that in this world of constant threat, you’re probably at risk. For despite the near constant stream of…
New Bill in Georgia Could Criminalize Security Research
A new bill passed by the Georgia State Senate last week deems all forms of unauthorized computer access as illegal, thus potentially criminalizing the finding and reporting of security vulnerabilities. The new bill, which met fierce opposition from the cybersecurity community ever since it first became public, amends the Georgia code that originally considered only…
Hackers Tried to Cause Saudi Petrochemical Plant Blast: NYT
Cyber-attackers tried to trigger a deadly explosion at a petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia in August and failed only because of a code glitch, The New York Times reported. Investigators declined to identify the suspected attackers, but people interviewed by the newspaper unanimously said that it most likely aimed to cause a blast that would have guaranteed…
Cryptomining: the new lottery for cybercriminals
Cryptomining has surpassed even ransomware as the revenue generator of choice according to a Cisco Talos report, which claims crypto-mining botnets can earn hackers up to $500 dollars a day and a dedicated effort could equate to more than $100,000 dollars a year. Representing the perfect balance of stealth and wealth for cybercriminals and some unscrupulous,…
A view of the global threat landscape: Cybercrime and intrusion trends
Established and well-resourced cyber operations will continue to innovate, developing new methods of distributing crimeware and incorporating advanced tactics to infiltrate, disrupt and destroy systems, according to a new report by CrowdStrike. “We’ve already seen cyber adversaries launch massive, destructive attacks that render organizations inoperable for days or weeks. Looking ahead, security teams will be under…
The global cyber war is heating up: Why businesses should be worried
Last Friday, the Department of Justice indicted 13 Russians and three Russian companies for interfering with the 2016 elections. Also last week, several countries including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, and Denmark accused Russia of being behind last summer’s NotPetya attack. “[NotPetya] was part of the Kremlin’s ongoing effort to destabilize Ukraine, and it demonstrates ever more clearly…
U.K. Officially Blames Russia for NotPetya Attack
The United Kingdom on Thursday officially accused the Russian government of launching the destructive NotPetya attack, which had a significant financial impact on several major companies. British Foreign Office Minister for Cyber Security Lord Tariq Ahmad said the June 2017 NotPetya attack was launched by the Russian military and it “showed a continued disregard for…