Business email compromise attacks spike in March
In yet another sign that cybercriminals are keen to exploit the current world situation, in the second and third weeks of March business email compromise (BEC) attacks increased more than 430 percent according to email security specialist Abnormal Security.
In the early part of the year attacks on C-Suite executives decreased by 37 percent from Q4 2019 to Q1 2020, while the focus shifted to finance employees, attacks targeting them increasing 87 percent in Q1 2020 against Q4 2019.
Half of security professionals had no plan for a pandemic scenario
New research from Bitdefender shows that half of information security professionals didn't have a contingency plan in place -- or didn't know if they did -- for a situation like COVID-19 or similar.
Yet 86 percent admit that attacks in the most common vectors have been rising during this period. Cyberwarfare and IoT as an attack vector were reported to be up by 38 percent, and APTs, cyberespionage IP theft and social media threats/chatbots by 37 percent -- all of which could turn 2020 into a bumper year for breaches.
Internet Archive to close its National Emergency Library two weeks early following legal action
Three months ago, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown, the Internet Archive created a National Emergency Library with over 1.4 million books that you could borrow immediately.
By suspending waitlists for books in its lending library, the Internet Archive hoped to best serve the nation’s displaced learners. The plan at the time was to offer this Emergency Library "through June 30, 2020, or the end of the US national emergency, whichever is later".
Security priorities change as businesses adapt to 'new normal'
A new study from Check Point looks at how organizations have managed their cyber-security during the recent lockdowns and also their security priorities and concerns over the coming months as they move to the 'new normal.'
Over 86 percent of respondents say their biggest IT challenge during the pandemic was moving to mass remote working, and the biggest security concern (62 percent) was maintaining VPN capacity for staff.
How CISOs can get their good days back
The recent reminder of the importance of basic hygiene has been glaring not only within the physical world, but also the cybersecurity one. Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) understand this more than most, given the sudden surge in remote work and additional threats this has brought to their organizations. Because so many people have started working from home, corporate perimeters have expanded in a way that many security professionals were not prepared to manage but must now understand in order to effectively safeguard their organizations.
With pundits anticipating a lasting impact on the way we work brought on by the pandemic, CISOs must consider all of the necessary steps to manage cyber risk in what could be the "new normal." And, like nearly anyone following social distancing guidelines right now, a good CISO understands that good security is built on a foundation of good, basic hygiene.
How to ensure communication security when working from home
With millions working from home for the first time thanks to coronavirus, many businesses have had to act quickly in order to facilitate remote communication which may never have been an option before the virus struck. Though these businesses may have already made the switch to internet-hosted calls and communications at work, providing access to all employees from home will not have been common. One of the most common concerns of using internet communication software is its security capacity, so how secure is it? And how can business leaders ensure the highest levels of safety for a remote workforce?
From news stories of vulnerable video conferencing software to threats from less secure home networks, navigating the security issues of a remote workforce may be a trial by fire for businesses attempting to maintain levels of normality during this time. Therefore, it will be important to understand both the benefits and drawbacks of internet communications to know what to look out for and how to inform staff of the best practice.
How COVID-19 has accelerated the move from a 'cloud first' to a 'cloud now' approach
Recent market data from Synergy Research Group via CRN suggests 2019 was a milestone for IT and that for the first time ever, enterprises are spending more money annually on cloud infrastructure services than on data center hardware and software. For example, total spend on cloud infrastructure services reached $97 billion, up 38 percent year over year, whereas total spend on data center hardware and software hit $93 billion in 2019, an increase of only 1 percent compared to 2018.
This means that many companies that have historically owned, maintained, and managed their own IT operations in their own data center are now evolving how they support their business operations by transforming their IT to cloud.
Securing the cloud for healthcare
The Cloud is a $200 billion business that analyst firm IDC expects to nearly double in valuation by 2022. It enables collaborative productivity apps, on-demand entertainment, and promises much needed advances in telemedicine. But all this potential will come crashing to a halt unless we take seriously the corresponding rise of cloud-based cybersecurity threats. The increase we have seen in cyber-attacks seeking cloud-based data is worrisome and the potential for crippling the healthcare industry is high especially given the current global climate and their dependency on cloud-based services.
Recent warnings and actual attacks are a prominent example of the active and persistent threats to our global healthcare networks, economy, and connected infrastructure. Organizations involved in national and international COVID-19 responses are being actively targeted by hacking teams and threat groups. This is according to a recent alert from DHS ‘s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) Europe’s largest hospital. In addition, the Czech Republic warned of expected cyberattacks targeting healthcare systems designed to damage or destroy computers in critical healthcare infrastructure. And last month, Interpol announced that its Cybercrime Threat Response team had detected a significant increase in ransomware extortion schemes against healthcare organizations and infrastructures. The list goes on…
Awareness of the digital accessibility divide: A silver lining of The COVID-19 crisis?
Most of us have adapted quickly -- perhaps seamlessly -- to increased reliance on digital devices for the day-to-day processes of life and business. For many people with disabilities however, it’s a very different picture.
Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, so for a few minutes let’s put ourselves in the place of a person with a visual, hearing, motor or cognitive disability. With many physical places of business now closed, essential activities like banking, shopping and working must be solely conducted online or at great personal peril.
Less development please, we're British and we have coronavirus
New research from DevOps automation specialist Sonatype has discovered that software development activity in the UK decreased by 28 percent since February.
However, the UK position contrasts with some other countries where development activity has continued to grow in the midst of the pandemic. Notably, this includes the United States with a six percent increase and Germany with a 12 percent increase since January 2020.
Dark Web scams seek to cash in on COVID-19
With cybercriminals ever keen to exploit the latest trends to their advantage, it should come as no surprise that the latest research from Trustwave SpiderLabs shows a raft of Dark Web activity based around COVID-19.
Scams range from adverts for supposed vaccines to malicious infection maps. But there's also evidence that Dark Web activities are being hit by the pandemic in much the same way as legitimate businesses.
COVID-19 scam sites pass quarter of a million
The first quarter of this year has seen a massive growth in phishing and counterfeit pages, with around a third of them related to COVID-19.
A new report from fraud prevention company Bolster shows that it detected 854,441 confirmed phishing and counterfeit pages and four million suspicious pages, with more than a quarter of a million devoted to COVID-19.
Things to do while you're stuck at home thanks to COVID-19
Unless your job is considered necessary like a hospital, nursing home, grocery store, gas station and a few others, then you are probably home now thanks to the current coronavirus pandemic. Maybe on unemployment or perhaps working from home.
So what is there to do while you’re stuck looking at four walls? Well there are a few things to occupy your time.
Gaming helps people cope with lockdown -- but at a cost
A new survey, commissioned by cybersecurity company BullGuard, has revealed that gamers are taking advantage of the social isolation to up their playing time
By doing so, 49 percent say they are alleviating lockdown anxiety, 84 percent are understandably relieving their boredom, while 60 percent are battling it out online to help block out the current situation.
How ransomware attacks are making the most of the COVID-19 crisis [Q&A]
Ransomware is a business that's thriving in the current climate, but what's behind this and what wider problems do attacks create for businesses?
We had a socially-distanced chat with Chris Morales, head of security analytics at network detection and response specialist Vectra to find out more.
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