Fraudulent transactions increase over 70 percent
Fraudulent transactions in the first half of 2024 were up over 73 percent year on year, and suspected fraudulent transactions increased by over 84 percent, according to the 2024 Mid-Year Identity Fraud Review, released today by AuthenticID.
The report also looks at the latest trends including a surge in AI-enabled fraud, as well as the increased use of deepfakes for identity fraud tactics like account takeover attacks and injection attacks.
Why adding a 7 might make your password stronger
Including a number in your password doesn't make it much more secure, does it? If that number is a seven then it just might, according to ProxyScrape.
Strange though it may sound, seven is a rare number in terms of people's preference for it. People naturally gravitate towards using predictable patterns in their passwords. Numbers like 0, 1, and 2 are often overused due to their convenience on both keyboards and number pads. The number 7, however, is less predictable and less frequently used, making it a statistically rare choice.
Attackers defeat SEGs using… SEGs
Email security tools such as Secure Email Gateways (SEGs) often encode URLs that are embedded in emails. This enables the security appliance to scan the URL before the recipient visits the website.
But when SEGs detect URLs in emails that have already been SEG encoded they don't scan the URL. A new report from Cofense reveals that threat actors are making use of this to avoid detection.
Cyberecurity budgets increase as complexity grows
An overwhelming 91 percent of respondents to a new survey say their security budget is increasing this year, demonstrating a growing recognition of the importance of cybersecurity within organizations.
However, the report from Seemplicity shows organizations report using an average of 38 different security product vendors, suggesting high levels of complexity and fragmentation within their attack surfaces.
The impact of generative AI cybersecurity [Q&A]
Since ChatGPT's launch in 2022, there's been an explosion of speculative use cases for generative AI in the workforce -- and concern from the cybersecurity community over an unproven, unvetted, and potentially powerful new tool.
How have those concerns played out in the real world? We sat down with Nick Hyatt, director of threat intelligence at Blackpoint Cyber, to hear about the reality of generative AI's risk to the modern workplace.
Life sciences sector turns to AI to bridge cybersecurity skills gap
A new survey reveals that 73 percent of life sciences companies are turning to artificial intelligence to address the cybersecurity skills gap.
The report from Code42 shows the life sciences sector is at the forefront of artificial intelligence use, with AI tools presenting new opportunities for cybersecurity teams to enable automated detection and response, as well as freeing up the resources to concentrate on strategic tasks.
Druva adds new threat hunting capability
Data security company Druva is adding to its platform with a new threat hunting capability that empowers IT and security teams to search their global data footprint for indicators of compromise (IOCs).
The company is also announcing the expanded global availability of Managed Data Detection and Response (Managed DDR), a service that uses a combination of technology and human expertise to proactively monitor customer backups for faster detection of and response to threats.
URL protection services used to mask phishing attacks
Cybercriminals are abusing legitimate URL protection services to hide malicious URLs in phishing emails, according to a new Threat Spotlight from Barracuda Networks.
Researchers have observed phishing attacks taking advantage of three different URL protection services to mask their phishing URLs. The services are provided by trusted, legitimate brands. To date, these attacks have targeted hundreds of companies.
Olympics face serious risk of malicious cyber activity
The Olympic Games begin next week in Paris and cybersecurity company WithSecure is warning that they face a greater risk of cyberattack than ever due to the current state of geopolitical uncertainty.
As the world's biggest sporting event, the Olympics draws potential attacks from both criminal and nation-state threat actors, with various objectives and capabilities.
Why mobile connectivity is essential for the enterprise [Q&A]
While enterprise computing was once tied to the desktop, theses days mobile connectivity is essential to the smooth running of any business.
This is partly as a result of changed working patterns -- accelerated by the COVID pandemic -- and partly down to rapidly evolving technology. We spoke to Allwyn Sequeira, CEO of mobile cloud service Highway 9 Networks, to learn more about the enterprise mobile space.
Proton Pass launches secure password sharing feature
Sharing of passwords is a problem. It's reckoned that 43 percent of US internet users share their passwords with others, probably using insecure methods such as messaging, writing them down, or shared documents.
The issue is even worse for businesses, with approximately 69 percent of employees admitting to sharing passwords with colleagues. Good news then is that open-source password manager Proton Pass is launching Secure Links, a new feature enabling users to share items easily and securely with anyone, including non-Proton Pass users.
Forensics or fauxrensics? What to look for in cloud forensics and incident response [Q&A]
The rapid deployment of cloud resources has led to misconfigurations and security risks, leaving security teams scrambling to adapt and secure their businesses following migrations away from traditional on-premises environments.
Despite successfully enhancing prevention and detection in the cloud, organizations now face a significant challenge in assessing the true scope and impact of issues that do arise.
Cybersecurity pros don't like being ignored
A new survey reveals that 29 percent of security professionals say their biggest frustration is that their advice is being ignored.
The study, conducted by security awareness specialist KnowBe4 at Infosecurity Europe 2024 in London, finds other issues include a stated a lack of skilled workers to employ (15 percent), while a further 13 percent highlight working in an inadequate security culture or environment is their biggest complaint, with the same percentage claiming they have too many tools to manage at their organizations.
Offices not prepared for hybrid working
New research, from AV solutions company Kinly, reveals that despite calling workers back into the office 65 percent of enterprises admit that their office spaces are not optimized for hybrid working.
The complexities of flexible and remote communication may be a factor in the call to return to office, with 28 percent of enterprises naming it as a top challenge. Over half of respondents also say that poor hybrid workflows (57 percent) and outdated AV technologies (58 percent) are damaging the productivity of hybrid teams.
Breaches increase despite confidence in security measures
Despite there being a record-breaking number of data breaches in the last year, 63 percent of organizations report that they believe their security measures are effective.
A new report from Dasera looks at how data risk perceptions and actual preparedness against breaches fluctuates across different industries and finds the top threats concerning organizations are data breaches, ransomware, insider threats, and misconfigurations.
Ian's Bio
Ian spent almost 20 years working with computers before he discovered that writing about them was easier than fixing them. Since then he's written for a number of computer magazines and is a former editor of PC Utilities. Follow him on Mastodon
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