Cybercrime

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A new report from BlackBerry shows that as our digital habits have changed over the past year cybercriminals have become increasingly successful at finding and targeting vulnerable organizations.

The greater adoption of digital offerings has exposed companies to inadequate protections for employees and customers amongst an ever-growing and under-secured attack surface.

Entrepreneurial cybercriminals are operating as middlemen by breaching as many companies as possible and then selling on access to the highest bidder rather than infiltrating systems themselves.

New research from Digital Shadows reveals that these 'Initial Access Brokers' are flourishing during the pandemic as employees increasingly log in to systems remotely.

The pandemic-driven shift to remote working has led cybercriminals to ditch many of their old tactics, and put a new emphasis on gathering intelligence and exploiting and preying on fears with targeted and sophisticated attacks.

The latest State of Malware report from Malwarebytes has found a major shift in the devices targeted and strategies deployed by cybercriminals.

Every year, cybersecurity becomes a bigger issue for businesses large and small. While computer experts and regular people are getting better at protecting their data, hackers and digital criminals are keeping up every step of the way.

A well-informed and bad-intentioned hacker could cause your business serious harm, engaging in such nefarious behavior as freezing your accounts, demanding a ransom, and stealing your customers’ sensitive personal data. In order to avoid these catastrophes, you need to do everything you can to beef up your cybersecurity operations. These days, failing to take these threats seriously is simply asking for trouble. Here are seven essential cybersecurity tips that can benefit any small business owner.

Nothing could have prepared us for 2020 -- a year that demanded a swift and dramatic restructure of corporate operations in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Remote workforces were created overnight, even within industries who never had the experience of managing effective, remote working teams. With limited time and resources to prepare and support home working employees, a makeshift remote setup was thrust upon us. This, consequently, created an opportunity for massive cyber security breaches and a stream of cyber attacks, which can have a devastating impact on businesses when the cost of a data breach averaged between $184k and $715k for a medium-sized business in 2019. 2020 was an opportunistic year for cyber criminals, who took advantage of a time of uncertainty. In the UK, businesses experienced a 31 percent increase in cyber crime during the height of the pandemic, with phishing emails up by nearly 700 percent, preying on what should be a company’s greatest cyber defense asset; their employees. 

It's no secret that there is a huge talent gap in the cybersecurity industry. Everyone is talking about it including the prestigious Forbes Magazine, Tech Republic, CSO Online, DarkReading, and SC Magazine, among many others. Additionally, Fortune CEO's like Satya Nadella, McAfee's CEO Chris Young, Cisco's CIO Colin Seward along with organizations like ISSA, research firms like Gartner too shine light on it from time to time.

Cybersecurity: The Beginner's Guide puts together all the possible information with regards to cybersecurity; such as why you should choose it, the need for it, and how can you be part of it and fill the cybersecurity talent gap bit by bit.

2020 has seen cybercriminals step up their efforts to exploit the surge of people working from home, as well as seeking to exploit news and information about the pandemic.

This is a notoriously difficult area to predict, but what do experts think we’ll see happening in 2021?