Popular attack methods decrease as hackers shift tactics for a new year
Researchers at managed security services provider Nuspire have released their latest quarterly threat report which looks at the top botnet, malware and exploit activity throughout 2019, focusing in on the fourth quarter.
Among the findings are that malicious cyber-activity declined towards the end of the year, partly as a result of hectic holiday schedules and vacations with fewer employees around to interact with malicious activity.
How many lightbulbs does it take to put a network at risk?
If it's a Philips Hue bulb the answer to the question in the headline above is just one according to new research from Check Point which has uncovered vulnerabilities that could enable a hacker to deliver ransomware or other malware to business and home networks by taking over the smart lightbulbs and their controller.
Researchers focused on the market-leading Philips Hue smart bulbs and bridge, and found vulnerabilities that enabled them to infiltrate networks using a remote exploit in the ZigBee low-power wireless protocol that is used to control a wide range of IoT devices.
Microsoft products continue to be most targeted by cybercriminals
2019 was the third year in a row that Microsoft technology was most affected by vulnerabilities, with eight of the top 10 vulnerabilities identified targeting its products.
This is a key finding of the Recorded Future annual vulnerability report which also shows that for the first time six of the vulnerabilities, all impacting Microsoft, were repeats from the prior year.
Get 'Excel 2019 For Dummies' ($29.99 value) FREE for a limited time
Excel 2019 For Dummies has been updated to reflect the major changes and features made to Excel and covers everything you need to know to perform any spreadsheet task at hand.
It includes information on creating and editing worksheets, formatting cells, entering formulas, creating and editing charts, inserting graphs, designing database forms, adding database records, using seek-and-find options, printing, adding hyperlinks to worksheets, saving worksheets as web pages, adding existing worksheet data to an existing webpage, pivot tables, pivot charts, formulas and functions, Excel data analysis, sending worksheets via e-mail, and so much more.
Windows 7 and EOL systems and their impact on the IT workload
As of January 14, 2020, Microsoft has discontinued Windows 7 support as planned for the operating system's End of Life (EOL). To some organizations, this operating system (OS) might seem like a distant memory. However, nearly 30 percent of the world’s computers -- or more than 400 million -- still run Windows 7 and are only now contemplating migration to Windows 10. Millions of users will be depending on an unsupported OS for some time after its retirement and IT teams will still be responsible for maintaining these systems.
While Microsoft will not be globally pushing out any more security patches for Windows 7 after Jan 14th, customers can pay for a security update service which will deliver patches until 2023. Failure to sign-up for and implement these patches will mean operating an OS that is vulnerable to malicious actors. IT teams will need to continue updating and patching Windows 7 as long as their company is using it -- even if they are in the process of migrating to Windows 10.
Businesses want zero trust capability despite lack of confidence deploying it
To combat growing cyber risks, 72 percent of businesses plan to implement zero trust technology this year, yet 47 percent of security professionals lack confidence in their ability to apply it.
A new report from Cybersecurity Insiders and Pulse Secure, based on a survey of more than 400 cyber security decision makers, finds a striking confidence divide among cybersecurity professionals in applying zero trust principles.
7 types of attacks SDP protects against
Software-defined perimeters (SDP) use a combination of strong authentication, granular authorization and network segmentation to enable access from anywhere, creating a new kind of defense against a variety of cyberattacks. SDP is more secure than a firewall or a VPN and is more granular than a NAC. Compared to these alternative approaches, SDP offers improved security and operational simplicity for users and IT admins alike.
SDP employs multiple techniques in order to provide secure access. First, it leverages identity and access management (IAM) to authenticate every user that attempts to access a resource or application on the network. It then employs granular authorization to restrict the services that each user can access once logged in. Perhaps the most powerful aspect of the approach is its ability to provide "resource cloaking", ensuring that no DNS information or "visible" IP ports of protected resources are exposed to the Internet, which significantly reduces a network’s attack surface. This has the effect of creating a resilient defense against common attacks that hackers employ, such as the following:
Mobile malware incidents increase by 142 percent
According to a new study, 36.5 percent of all organizations have experienced a malware incident on a mobile device in the past year, which represents a 142 percent increase from 2018.
Research from mobile security specialist Wandera finds 57 percent of organizations have experienced a mobile phishing incident, with 60 percent of mobile phishing attacks occurring over HTTPS.
Cyber theft experts say millions of credit cards exposed in breach being sold online
The compromised information from credit card breaches often ends up on dark web marketplaces, leaving victims at risk for having their precious information sold in a transaction that's entirely out of their control.
But, people often are clueless about whether their breached data ended up on the dark web. Many assume it did and, hopefully, go through the recommended steps to stay safe from cyber identity theft.
Switching from Windows 7 to Ubuntu Linux is very easy, so why is Canonical making it seem so hard?
I am a huge proponent of using Linux-based desktop operating systems, and I try to convert people from Windows whenever it makes sense. Why do I do this? Well, Linux distributions, believe it or not, are often easier to use than Microsoft's operating system. With so many people living in the web browser these days, a Linux installation with Google Chrome is largely all an average user needs. More advanced users can install excellent free software such as LibreOffice or GIMP -- if needed. Not to mention, it can be argued that Linux is more secure than Windows. Overall, switching to Linux is a huge win for many.
Even installing a Linux distro is easy these days. Long gone are the days where the installation required a degree in computer science (except for Arch, maybe). The current Ubuntu installer, for instance, is more straightforward than the one found on Windows 10! So why in the hell is Canonical, the maker of Ubuntu, making it seem so damn hard? You see, the company has put out an installation guide that will make a person curious about switching to Ubuntu to instead run for the hills.
Facebook Messenger Kids now lets parents view their kids' chat history and remotely log them out
Facebook has announced a raft of changes to its Messenger Kids service, giving parents more control and oversight over what their children are able to do.
Parents are now about to see 30 days' worth of chat logs as well as details of the types of conversation they are having with different contacts. Other new features include the ability to see images that have been shared, and also to remotely log their child out of chat sessions using the Parent Dashboard.
Google may have shared your videos with strangers
If you used Google Takeout to download an archive of your Google Photos content, there's a chance that someone else may have ended up with your videos.
The company has admitted that for a few days in November last year, "some videos in Google Photos were exported to unrelated users' archives". This means that not only could your videos have ended up on a stranger's computer, but also that you may have received random videos belonging to someone else.
Why businesses must be ready for lots more IoT devices [Q&A]
There are expected to be more than 70 billion connected devices by 2025, which means the opportunity for hackers to infiltrate connected devices, and to get onto networks, is going to get much larger.
So how can businesses prepare for this influx, train their staff and get ahead in order to protect their critical data from cybercriminals who are always keen to update their tactics and strategies? We spoke to Jonathan Langer, CEO of healthcare device security specialist Medigate to find out.
Anonymous tweets the REAL numbers of the Coronavirus, or so they claim
As you'll be more than aware, there’s a virus rampant in China and it has spread to other countries, including cases in the US. But there’s been a lot of FUD surrounding it and we honestly don’t know what the real numbers for cases and deaths are.
If Anonymous is to be believed then we may know a bit more. The group claims its numbers are backed up and verified.
Yet another Windows 10 update is causing problems
Problematic updates for Windows 10 have become pretty common these days, and now it has happened again.
Microsoft released the KB4532695 update last week to address problems with Explorer which were introduced by the November 2019 Update. But this update has itself been found to cause issues, with users complaining of BSoDs, audio problems and more.
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