It has been reported that Telegram has been banned in Russia, after they refused to hand over encryption keys. Russia’s main security agency, the FSB, has said Telegram is the messenger of choice for “international terrorist organisations in Russia”. A suicide bomber who killed 15 people on a subway train in St Petersburg last April used the app to communicate with accomplices, the FSB said last year. The app is also widely used by the Russian authorities, Reuters news agency reports. Lee Munson, Security Researcher at Comparitech.com commented below. Lee Munson, Security Researcher at Comparitech.com: “Even though only a miniscule proportion…
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Hackers could steal credentials through a Microsoft Outlook vulnerability (CVE-2018-0950) just by having victims preview an email in Microsoft Outlook. This vulnerability was discovered by Will Dormann of the Cert Coordination Center.* Justin Jett, Director of Audit and Compliance at Plixer commented below. Justin Jett, Director of Audit and Compliance at Plixer: “With phishing attacks and flaws in software like the recent Microsoft Outlook vulnerability, users’ credentials are being stolen and collected by malicious actors at an alarming rate. Cybercriminals obtain these credentials and then gain a foothold on a corporate network by trying to access servers and computers. Because…
Following recent news that Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox will ship with password-less WebAuthn enabled as their default identity authentication, Duo Security R&D Engineer Nick Steele, one of the leading researchers in the WebAuthn space, commented below. Nick Steele, R&D Engineer at Duo Security: “WebAuthn is the emerging standard pushing us towards a password-free world. One of the core components to the WebAuthn spec is the support of biometric authenticators, like smart phones with fingerprint readers, for registering and logging into sites on the web. As biometrics become more widely used and normalized by the general public, WebAuthn will allow vendors…
Cyber criminals are leveraging the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol found in all routers for various criminal activities. The latest report from Akamai* reveals that about 65,000 devices have already been compromised through the UPnProxy which can be used to redirect traffic to another IP address and the flaw can also be used to create a network of proxies that redirect traffic through tens or hundreds of IPs before reaching a final destination. Ashley Stephenson, CEO at Corero Network Security commented below. Ashley Stephenson, CEO at Corero Network Security: “Millions of vulnerable systems exposing the uPnP service to the…
However, only 23 percent said they were confident in their ability to quickly find all certificates issued by a specific CA Venafi®, the leading provider of machine identity protection, today announced the results of a study conducted by Dimensional Research that evaluates how prepared organizations are to respond to Certificate Authority (CA) errors and browser distrust events. The study includes responses from eleven hundred IT security professionals who are knowledgeable about CAs from the U.S., U.K. and Germany, France and Australia. Although IT security professionals are troubled by future CA incidents, very few have the tools needed to switch CAs…
NHS is struggling to prepare for GDPR despite spending £1m. Matt Lock, Director of Sales Engineers at Varonis commented below. Matt Lock, Director of Sales Engineers at Varonis: “GDPR aside, the NHS will remain a high-value target for attackers due to the highly sensitive nature and the number of the patient healthcare records it holds. It must quickly get their house in order – not only to meet the GDPR but also to guard against the next ransomware attack. The WannaCry ransomware attack hit the NHS less than one year ago and its effects were devastating. The challenges are real.…
The volume of crypto-mining transactions has grown, spiking almost 500% on corporate networks. Zscaler has blocked more than 2.5 billion crypto-mining attempts in the last six months. The spike, the firm said, is likely tied to the sharp increase in value of cryptocurrency (Bitcoin hit highs above $19,000 in December) and the fact that legitimate sites are adopting crypto-mining as a source of revenue instead of online advertisements. IT security experts commented below. Itsik Mantin, Lead Scientist at Imperva: “The impact of the crypto-madness on cybersecurity has two faces. The first is specific to the crypto-finance industry, which turned into a very tempting target for penetration, wallet hijacking and fake transactions. However, the impact of…
Check Point’s latest Global Threat Index reveals that hackers are increasingly utilizing cryptomining malware that can operate without an active web browser session Check Point has published its latest Global Threat Index for the month of March, revealing a surge of cryptomining malware attacks – specifically, an endpoint cryptomining malware known as the XMRig variant. First seen in the wild in May 2017, XMRig entered Check Point’s top ten most wanted malware index (8th) for the first time during March 2018, after a 70% increase in global impact. By working on the end point device rather than the web browser itself, XMRig is able to mine the…
In light of the news today regarding a report from NCSC and NCA that found British organisations have been hit by ‘more online attacks than ever before’, Paul Farrington, Manager: EMEA Solution Architects at CA Veracode commented below. Paul Farrington, Manager: EMEA Solution Architects at CA Veracode: “As our dependency on software continues to grow, this creates a greater surface for hackers to attack and so it is no surprise that cybercriminals are targeting businesses at a higher rate than ever before. If businesses want to reduce the risk from hackers, ensuring that their software is secure will be crucial. With research revealing that 77%…
A new report by Verizon revealed that ransomware is the most common type of malware, found in 39 percent of malware-related data breaches – double that of last year’s DBIR – and accounts for over 700 incidents. What’s more, Verizon’s analysis show that attacks are now moving into business critical systems, which encrypt file servers or databases, inflicting more damage and commanding bigger ransom requests. IT security experts commented below. Chris Day, Chief Cybersecurity Officer at Cyxtera: “Cybercrime is profitable and hard to prosecute. Potential pay-outs can reach millions of dollars yet criminals operate in near anonymity. Even if a cybercriminal is…