Identity Fraud: A Major Growth Area for Criminals
The lockdowns of 2020 led to an increase in online activity. This in turn led to an increase in online identity theft and fraud. The question asked for 2021 is whether 2020 was a temporary spike, or an ongoing change in fraudulent activity. This is the question discussed by Onfido in its Identity Fraud Report…
COVID-19’s Healthcare Feeding Frenzy for Cybercriminals
The vast increase in staff from all industries working from home, outside of their corporate network defenses and often on poorly protected home computers, has been a treasure trove for hackers. Two common attack methodologies have been phishing (where the pandemic has provided the opportunity to add two of the most compelling social engineering triggers:…
Beware of COVID Pass scams
You’ve likely seen fake parcel delivery texts in the news recently, and we’ve covered a few of these ourselves. SMS missives claim a package is waiting to be delivered, and a small processing fee is required. There is no package; it’s a ruse to have people hand over their credit card details. It’s been wildly…
Swedish Public Health Agency Says Disease Database Targeted in Cyberattacks
SmiNet was shut down on Thursday, after the agency identified several attempts to gain unauthorized access to the database, but it was restored by Friday night. On Thursday, the Public Health Agency announced that it had shut down the database to prevent hacking attempts, and immediately launched an investigation into the matter. The incident was…
The Benefits of Cloud Services Far Outweigh On-Premises in 2021
It’s time. If they weren’t already invested, the events of the last year have clearly forced the hands of organizations to embrace the world of cloud-delivered services. The global rise in remote work is a big driver; it has forced organizations to think more progressively about everything from their office space to their infrastructure. It’s…
Healthcare CIOs fear (and fend off) ransomware threats amid pandemic
Mt. San Rafael Hospital thwarted a ransomware attack on one of its sister facilities earlier this year before anything could be compromised. The organization is still working through the details of the hack, says CIO Michael Archuleta, whose hospital is part of the BridgeCare Health Network, which includes five hospitals in Colorado. “It could have…
What’s Behind the Surge in Cybersecurity Unicorns?
In March 2020, shortly after COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic, SecurityWeek reached out to several experts for their thoughts on the effects of the pandemic on early-stage venture investment in cybersecurity. While most agreed that there would be some negative impact, investors were optimistic. Since then, tens of companies have announced raising millions, tens…
Third French Hospital Hit by Cyberattack
The 320-bed facility in Oloron-Sainte-Marie near the Pyrenees mountains was hit by the attack on Monday, with screens displaying a demand in English for $50,000 in Bitcoin. Hospital workers have had to revert to working with pens and paper, since digital patient records are not available. The management system, used to monitor medicine stocks and…
How Enterprises are Developing Secure Applications
One of the most common ways cybercriminals breach enterprises is by finding security vulnerabilities in the applications they use. The last year delivered a plethora of security challenges. Recent breaches of third-party apps are driving many organizations to think harder about the security of their off-the-shelf software as they continue to move left in secure…
Mobile Health Apps Found to Expose Records of Millions of Users
Research conducted by Alissa Knight, partner at marketing agency Knight Ink, on behalf of mobile API threat protection firm Approov showed that the applications are to API attacks that unauthorized parties could leverage to access protected health information (PHI) and personally identifiable information (PII). With people increasingly relying on mHealth apps during the COVID-19 pandemic,…
