Articles about Cybercrime

The manufacturing industry has become a major target for ransomware attacks. The reason is simple: if criminals can cripple the operational technology that controls the manufacturing plant, a company will rapidly come to its knees. With no product to sell, any company will fear for its existence -- and with that fear, the criminals believe any manufacturing company will be more likely to pay a sizable ransom to stay in business. Sophisticated cyber criminals understand this. They choose and research their targets and set their ransom to the maximum amount they believe the company can afford to pay.

For many years, the manufacturing industry didn’t worry about cyber threats. Its operational technology (OT) was air-gapped from outside interference, and was therefore safe from external compromise. This is no longer true. The advent of the fourth industrial revolution -- otherwise known as business digitisation -- has eroded that airgap. IT and OT are now totally interdependent. Bringing down a manufacturing company’s IT will almost certainly have a knock-on effect against its OT.

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Cybercrime is getting more organized than ever, as threat actors increase collaboration and adapt methods to drive greater monetization, selling access to breached systems to organized criminal groups and ransomware gangs.

The latest HP Wolf Security Threat Insights Report, reveals a 65 percent rise in the use of hacking tools downloaded from underground forums and file sharing websites between the second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021.

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A new study from Atlas VPN shows that 51 percent of exploits sold on underground cybercriminal forums are for Microsoft products.

Microsoft Office exploits make up 23 percent while Windows accounts for 12 percent of exploits sold on hacker forums. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) exploits make up 10 percent, with Internet Explorer and Share Point taking three percent each.

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After scrutinizing numerous cybersecurity strategies in this book, Tim Rains, Microsoft’s former Global Chief Security Advisor, helps you understand the efficacy of popular cybersecurity strategies and more.

Cybersecurity Threats, Malware Trends, and Strategies offers an unprecedented long-term view of the global threat landscape by examining the twenty-year trend in vulnerability disclosures and exploitation, nearly a decade of regional differences in malware infections, the socio-economic factors that underpin them, and how global malware has evolved. This will give you further perspectives into malware protection for your organization. It also examines internet-based threats that CISOs should be aware of.

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New research from Deep Instinct finds that 78 percent of SecOps professionals are concerned that cyber adversaries will develop and deploy AI to cause a global cyber incident in the next 12 months.

The study of 600 IT and cybersecurity professionals finds more than half of respondents believe ransomware or zero-day attacks are the biggest threats to their organization.

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2020 was a difficult year all around. Many organizations are still adjusting to the new landscape while trying to plan for the future. Cybercrime was at its prime in 2020 with global costs climbing as high as $1 trillion, according to CSIS research. Unfortunately, with the pandemic dragging on and an extremely drained remote workforce that still needs to be secured, there is every chance that cybercrime will be an even bigger headache in the months ahead. 

Numerous aspects are aligning to create even more dangerous situations. Organizations that fail to identify and address these impending hazards will be at risk from increased cyber-attacks and data breaches. But these types of imminent disaster can be averted with the right plans. By aligning security efforts with business goals, redesigning infrastructure, and looking at new technologies, organizations can build resilience while setting themselves up for future success. 

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A new report from financial crime management platform Feedzai shows that all banking fraud -- combining internet, telephone, and branch attacks -- grew by 159 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the end of 2020.

Based on analysis of over 12 billion global banking transactions from January to March 2021 the study shows online banking made up 96 percent of all banking transactions and accounted for 93 percent of all fraud attempts.

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The core of the Internet is getting weaker as we connect ever more of our lives -- phones, tablets, cars, refrigerators -- to it. Meanwhile, the attacks are getting stronger.

Cybercrime is a global pandemic. Cybersecurity is mainstream today because we’ve seen the repercussions personally, professionally and financially from not keeping our corporate and customer data secure.

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Over the past 12 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has created the perfect environment for cybercrime to flourish, according to Verizon's 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report.

The report analyzed 29,207 quality incidents, of which 5,258 were confirmed breaches. With large numbers of people working remotely, phishing attacks increased by 11 percent, while attacks using ransomware rose by six percent.

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Almost three-quarters (74 percent) of banks and insurers have experienced a rise in cybercrime since the pandemic began according to a new report.

The findings released today by by BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, the cyber and intelligence arm of BAE Systems, as part of The COVID Crime Index 2021 analyze the changing nature and impact of fraud, risk and cyber threats on UK and US financial institutions and consumers over the last 12 months

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Researchers at digital risk protection company CybelAngel recently tracked bad actors targeting French hospitals by analyzing conversations on the dark web.

It discovered how cybercriminals plan healthcare-related fraud, ransomware and other attacks by obtaining stolen credentials, leaked database files and other materials from specialized sources in the cybercrime underground.

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You would think that getting to work for a ransomware gang would be a bit different from applying for a normal IT job.

However, after following up a post on a forum a researcher at CyberNews managed to get an interview with the Ragnar Locker ransomware operators which reveals a surprisingly corporate approach to recruitment and remuneration as well as uncovering some of how the gangs operate.

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Organizations today face a major threat in terms of cybersecurity, from malicious URLs to credential reuse, and having robust security systems can make all the difference.

With Machine Learning for Cybersecurity Cookbook you'll learn how to use Python libraries such as TensorFlow and scikit-learn to implement the latest artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and handle challenges faced by cybersecurity researchers.

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Historically ransomware has relied on encrypting data and then demanding money in order to release it.

But a new report from F-Secure shows that 2020 has seen an increase in ransomware that also steals data, giving the attackers more leverage over their victims. If organizations first refuse to pay a ransom to decrypt their data, attackers threaten to leak the stolen information, increasing pressure on victims.

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Hot on the heels of yesterday's study revealing a lack of trust in online banking a report out today shows a 250 percent increase in attempted online banking fraud last year.

The research from Feedzai shows a 200 percent increase in mobile banking use, but both telephone and branch fraud rates dropping to lower levels than they had been before the pandemic.

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