Six out of 10 businesses struggle to manage cyber risk
A new study from Barracuda Networks finds just 43 percent of organizations surveyed have confidence in their ability to address cyber risk, vulnerabilities, and attacks.
The findings also show that many organizations find it hard to implement company-wide security policies such as authentication measures and access controls. 49 percent of the smaller to mid-sized companies surveyed listed this as one of their top two governance challenges.
Ransomware rampage -- how to fight back against attacks [Q&A]
Amid a tumultuous 2023 marked by economic anxieties and rising geopolitical tensions, threat actors seized the opportunity to weaponize fear and uncertainty. While ransomware trends had previously ebbed and flowed, experiencing a 23 percent decrease in just the first half of 2022, they took a shocking turn in 2023, skyrocketing by a staggering 95 percent.
We spoke with Andrew Costis, chapter leader of the Adversary Research Team at AttackIQ, to discuss why ransomware has taken headlines by storm and how the industry can empower security teams with the tools to fight back.
Phishing attacks up 60 percent driven by AI
A new report reveals a year-on-year increase of nearly 60 percent in global phishing attacks, fueled in part by the proliferation of generative AI-driven schemes such as voice phishing (vishing) and deepfake phishing.
The report from Zscaler ThreatLabz shows that in 2023 the US (55.9 percent), UK (5.6 percent) and India (3.9 percent) are the top countries targeted by phishing scams. The high level of phishing in the US is attributable to its advanced digital infrastructure, large population of internet-connected users and extensive use of online financial transactions.
Email still the most popular phishing technique even on mobile
Most incidents of phishing or spoofing on smartphones still happen via email, according to MEF's (Mobile Ecosystem Forum) 9th Annual Trust Study.
The report shows 52 percent of users reporting personal experience of data harm via this channel. Surprisingly, 39 percent of those users still took no preventative measures to protect their online data.
Proton Mail launches Dark Web Monitoring to alert users to leaks
One of the most common forms of cyberattack is credential stuffing, using exposed details on different sites to exploit the fact that people frequently reuse passwords.
Proton Mail is introducing a new Dark Web Monitoring feature that will alert customers if their credentials are exposed on the dark web, where stolen emails and credentials get bought and sold.
Cloud security and speed -- how fast do your processes need to be? [Q&A]
Moving to the cloud offers many benefits for businesses, but it doesn't remove the need to keep your systems secure. The tools that make the cloud fast and attractive for business can also be used by attackers.
We spoke to Anna Belak, director, Office of Cybersecurity at Sysdig to discuss the pain points that she sees security teams dealing with today, where those problems come from, and how to address them around process and skills rather than just looking at the tech side.
Millennials are key targets for phishing
A new report reveals that millennials are the top targets for phishing attacks, receiving 37.5 percent of phishing emails.
The latest phishing trends report from Egress also highlights the widespread adoption of AI and QR code phishing (quishing). Quishing has risen from 0.8 percent in 2021 to 10.8 percent in 2024, whereas attachment-based payloads halved from 72.7 percent to 35.7 percent in the same period.
The dynamics of modern Windows device management [Q&A]
Despite Apple and Linux gaining ground in recent years Windows still commands over 50 percent of the endpoint desktop market.
This means that Windows device management is a key priority for enterprises. We spoke to Apu Pavithran, founder and CEO of Hexnode, to learn more about device management and how it can be used effectively.
Cyberwarfare incidents reported by almost half of UK firms
New research shows that 49 percent of UK businesses have reported cyberwarfare incidents to the authorities.
The report from Armis also shows 52 percent of UK IT leaders believe the government can't defend its citizens and enterprises against an act of cyberwarfare.
Number of ransomware victims up 20 percent in first quarter of 2024
A new report shows a 20 percent year-on-year increase in the number of ransomware victims, along with major shifts in the behavioral patterns of ransomware groups.
The Q1 2024 ransomware report, from the GuidePoint Security Research and Intelligence Team (GRIT), finds the number of active ransomware groups more than doubled, increasing 55 percent from 29 distinct groups in Q1 2023 to 45 distinct groups in Q1 2024.
Low-code tools boost developer productivity
Over 90 percent of respondents to a new survey say that low-code tools have boosted developer productivity in their organizations. 43.5 percent of developers are saving up to 50 percent of their time when they use low-code tools on a project.
The 2024 Reveal Biggest Software Development Challenges survey, finds that 28.2 percent of software developers' time is dedicated to coding, compared with 43.4 percent of their time the previous year.
CISOs not changing priorities in response to AI threats
A new report by ClubCISO in collaboration with Telstra Purple finds that despite significant concerns around the impact of AI cyberattacks, many organizations have not seen their priorities or investment plans change.
Of CISOs surveyed 63 percent rate the severity of the threat posed to their businesses by AI cyber-attacks as critical or high, with 63 percent also suggesting that AI cyberattacks will be extremely damaging to businesses.
80 percent of companies don't have sufficient cyber insurance
According to a new report, 80 percent of insured companies that have suffered a data breach didn't have sufficient coverage for the incident.
The study, from cybersecurity optimization platform CYE, finds the average coverage gap is 350 percent, which means that more than 75 percent of the incident was not covered.
Cybercriminals take aim at ERP apps
Many enterprises rely on some sort of ERP application for their business operations and decision making. The vast majority of large organizations use ERP applications from leading vendors like SAP and Oracle.
New research from threat data and intelligence leader Flashpoint and ERP cybersecurity and compliance leader Onapsis reveals evidence that SAP business-critical applications are increasingly in the sights of and valuable for cybercriminals.
Biometric bias and how to prevent it [Q&A]
As we move away from passwords to other forms of authentication, there's increasing reliance being placed on technologies like biometrics.
But there's growing evidence that this technology could be flawed, with facial recognition exhibiting higher error rates for those with darker skin for example. We spoke to Dr. Mohamed Lazzouni, CTO of Aware, to discuss the ethical issue of bias in biometrics and what needs to be done to prevent it.
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
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.