Matias Madou

In 2022, some of the world’s biggest technology companies, including Microsoft and T-Mobile, fell victim to attacks by the cybercrime group LAPSUS$, with members of the hacking group operating from the UK and Brazil. While the breaches differed in scope and size, many of them made active use of vulnerabilities in third-party applications to access a company’s network. Once inside, the LAPSUS$ attackers could steal valuable data or hold the company to ransom, threatening to steal the source code of their most sensitive products unless they were paid. While LAPSUS$ has earned a particular reputation for high-profile targets, these kinds…

Research by McAfee discovered that 81% of global organisations experienced increased cyber threats during the Covid-19 pandemic. This threat has also extended to the public sector, and has become a significant enough concern to prompt the UK government to launch the nation’s first ever cybersecurity strategy to help protect public sector bodies from bad actors. A Cyber Coordination Centre is also being set up, with the aim of transforming the sharing of data and cyber intelligence. Following major incidents such as the cyberattacks on SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange Servers, the UK government is going further by taking steps to introduce…

Much like technology itself, the tools, techniques and optimum processes for developing code evolve quickly. We humans have an insatiable need for more software, more features, more functionality… and we want it faster than ever before, more qualitative, and on top of that: secure. Just a few years ago, Agile development was the next big thing being used to break up big chunks of work into smaller pieces, and being able to quickly adapt to rapid feedback cycles coming from the customer. Before that, the Waterfall method was king of the hill.  While many people and organizations are moving on…

When someone wants to fly a plane, there is a very rigorous process that ensures training, practical experience, medical checks, safety knowledge and exams before they are able to fly. No-one would dare imagine that they would be let loose in the sky without this extensive preparation and validation of skills, yet this is what happens on a day-to-day basis with code writing. There’s a well-known theory that cockroaches can survive basically anything – even a nuclear explosion. While that theory only rings true to a point, their simple body composition makes them extremely hardy for their size, and difficult…