Cyber attack

Almost three quarters of retailers have been victims of cyberattack

Some 72 percent of retailers globally have experienced a cyberattack, with 61 percent experiencing one in the last year, yet 50 percent don't have a response plan in place to deal with data breaches.

This is among the findings of a new study carried out by the Ponemon Institute for Keeper Security, which also shows the average cyberattack on a retailer involving the loss of customer/employee data results in 7,772 individual records lost or stolen, with an average price tag of $1.9M from the disruption of normal operations.

By Ian Barker -
google_health

Cybercriminals step up attacks on the healthcare sector

Comparing all of 2018 against just the first three quarters of 2019 has seen a 60 percent increase in threat detections at healthcare organizations, according to a new report from Malwarebytes.

The industry has been overwhelmingly targeted by Trojan malware during the last year, with attacks increased by 82 percent in Q3 2019 over the previous quarter. The two most dangerous Trojans of 2018–2019 for all industries, Emotet and TrickBot, were the two main culprits.

By Ian Barker -
Cybercriminal with cash

2019 could be the worst year ever for holiday retail cybercrime

Online fraud increased 30 percent overall in the third quarter of this year and bot-driven account registration fraud is up 70 percent as cybercriminals test stolen credentials in advance of the peak holiday retail season.

These are among the findings of the latest Fraud and Abuse report from Arkose Labs, its analysis of over 1.3 billion transactions spanning account registrations, logins and payments, reveals that one in five account openings were fraudulent.

By Ian Barker -
Confused woman

One in five IT workers doesn't know what a cyberattack is

A survey of over 1,000 IT workers, carried out by technology services provider Probrand reveals that more than one in five (21 percent) don't actually know what constitutes a 'cyberattack'.

Used as a catch-all term, cyberattack can cover everything from a simple phishing email, right across to a large-scale server attack, however, many IT workers have never seen, or don't understand, what the real detail of an attack actually looks like.

By Ian Barker -
controlling hacker

Hackers are winning the cybercrime war say business leaders

A Europe-wide survey of almost 600 successful businesses reveals that 61 percent of business leaders on the board of their company believe that in the war against cybercrime the hackers are more sophisticated than the software developers.

The study carried out for global network RSM by the European Business Awards also finds that 60 percent of these board members believe they may have been breached without them knowing and 73 percent consider themselves at risk from cybercrime.

By Ian Barker -
Hacker typing username and password

If your password is 'superman' or 'blink182' you might want to change it

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre has released its annual review for 2019 which sets out cybersecurity trends and looks at how the agency has been protecting consumers and businesses.

One of the most interesting findings is the list of most hacked passwords. 'Superman', exposed 333,139 times, and 'blink182', exposed 285,706 times, top the lists for fictional characters and musicians respectively. If you are a soccer fan, 'liverpool', exposed 280,723 times, is not a good password choice. But it's old favorite '123456', exposed more than 23 million times, that's top overall.

By Ian Barker -
web address bar

Cybercriminals increase use of trusted domains to trick victims

Nearly a quarter of malicious URLs are being hosted on trusted domains, as hackers know trusted domain URLs raise less suspicion among users and are more difficult for security measures to block.

This is one of the findings of the latest Webroot threat report which also shows 29 percent of detected phishing web pages use HTTPS as a method to trick users into believing they're on a trusted site via the padlock symbol.

By Ian Barker -
Thomas Cook

Cybercriminals target Thomas Cook customers in the wake of the company's collapse

The collapse of travel firm Thomas Cook has caused chaos for hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers around the world. But if losing out on planned trips was not bad enough, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the confused situation to scam customers out of their money.

There have been numerous reports of fraudsters pretending to be representatives of either Thomas Cook or a bank, using the promise of a refund to get people to part with bank account details.

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciƛlik-Wilson -
Cyber attack

Retailers remain a top target for cyberattacks

US retailers are under siege as nearly two thirds (62 percent) report experiencing a data breach and over a third (37 percent) say they were breached in the past year, according to the latest report produced by IDC for Thales.

This high rate of data breaches comes amidst a decline in the rate of growth in security spending. Less than two thirds (62 percent) say that they are increasing spending this year compared to 84 percent last year, yet nearly all (96 percent) of the retailers surveyed claimed they use sensitive data within digitally transformative environments.

By Ian Barker -
card theft

Financial sector faces a broad range of cyberthreats

The finance industry is a prime target for cyberattacks and a new report from F-Secure shows that it's facing a wide range of threats that go far beyond traditional theft.

Attacks targeting banks, insurance companies, asset managers and similar organizations can range from common script-kiddies to organized criminals and state-sponsored actors. And these attackers have an equally diverse set of motivations for their actions, with many seeing the finance sector as a tempting target due to its importance in national economies.

By Ian Barker -
Lock and money

Cyber incidents cost $45 billion in 2018


Cybercriminals are getting better at monetizing their activities, with more than two million cyber incidents in 2018 resulting in over $45 billion in losses, with actual numbers expected to be much higher as many cyber incidents are never reported.

The Internet Society's Online Trust Alliance (OTA) has released a report which finds the financial impact of ransomware rose by 60 percent last year, and losses from business email compromise doubled, despite the fact that overall breaches and exposed records were down.

By Ian Barker -
security padlock

The changing landscape of cybersecurity

Bad actors have been seeking opportunities to take advantage of unsophisticated netizens or unprotected organizations since the dawn of the World Wide Web, but today’s bad actors are in a class by themselves. Nation-state actors, often operating through a vast network of well-funded proxies, strive to exert influence, threaten stability, and sow discord through the mechanisms of cyberspace. Hacktivist organizations seek to undermine, damage or discredit organizations whose agendas and politics they oppose.

They may not be as well funded as nation-state actors, but they are populated by technically sophisticated people who have bought into a cause -- and when these people work together, they can pose serious threats to those with whom they disagree.

By Gene Yoo -
Dark web hacker

Tax identities up for sale on the dark web

While banking and identity information has been traded on the dark web for a long time, a new report from Carbon Black shows a new focus on tax identities.

The company's research shows previous year's W-2 forms and 1040 forms available on the dark web at relatively low cost, ranging from $1.04 to $52. Names, social security numbers and birthdates can be obtained for a price ranging from $0.19 to $62.

By Ian Barker -
Powerlines

90 percent of critical infrastructure hit by cyberattacks

A new survey of professionals in industries using industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT) finds 90 percent of respondents say their environment has been damaged by at least one cyberattack over the past two years, with 62 percent experiencing two or more attacks.

The study commissioned by Tenable from the Ponemon Institute also finds 80 percent of respondents cite lack of visibility into the attack surface, knowing what systems are part of their IT environments, as the number one issue in their inability to prevent business-impacting cyberattacks.

By Ian Barker -
TechJury graphic header

The world of cybersecurity in numbers

We all know that cybersecurity is a major issue, but it can sometimes be hard to grasp the scale of the problem and who is at risk.

Software reviews site TechJury has created an infographic to vizualize what is happening in the cybersecurity field as well as the top threats to look out for.

By Ian Barker -
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