Companies want to go after their attackers
Corporates on both sides of the Atlantic are calling for changes in the law to allow them to fight back against the current wave of cybercrime.
As things now stand, corporates are discovering that the very laws meant to protect individuals against being hacked are now serving to protect the organized criminal gangs (OCGs) who are stealing billions from their accounts, compromising sensitive customer data and ransoming their most confidential data.
Critical Zen Cart vulnerability could spell Black Friday disaster for online shoppers
It's around this time of year, with Black Friday looming and Christmas just around the corner, that online sales boom. Today security firm High-Tech Bridge has issued a warning to retailers and shoppers about a critical vulnerability in the popular Zen Cart shopping management system.
High-Tech Bridge has provided Zen Cart with full details of the security flaw which could allow remote attackers to infiltrate web servers and gain access to customer data. Servers running Zen Cart are also at risk of malware, meaning that hundreds of thousands of ecommerce sites pose a potential danger.
The cost of cybercrime in UK reaches £1.6 billion
Norton by Symantec has released the findings from its Cybersecurity Insights Report. This online survey was conducted across 17 markets and took into account the responses from 17,125 consumers over the age of 18.
Norton’s report has revealed how heavily British consumers have been affected by cybercrime and the stark differences between the ways in which Baby Boomers and Millennials protect themselves online.
UK's Trident nuclear weapons could be hit by cyberattacks
The UK's former defense secretary Des Browne has issued a stark warning that the country's nuclear weapons could be vulnerable to cyberattacks. The Trident program is already a highly-divisive subject, and Browne is seeking assurance from the Prime Minister that it is secured against attacks from hostile states such as China and Russia.
He has called upon the government to perform an end-to-end assessment of the system. The US had previously warned that it could not be confident that its own defenses and those of its allies would be capable of withstanding a cyberattack from a "sophisticated and well-resourced opponent".
Europe should set up its own cybersecurity agency
Europe is being urged to set up its own international cybersecurity agency to tackle the growing threat posed by cyberattacks. Jose Luiz Gilperez, security chief at Telefonica, said that cyberthreats have developed in recent years to pose just as significant a danger as physical threats.
Of particular concern is a fundamental change in the types of individuals perpetrating cyberattacks. While the stereotypical image of the lone hacker may have held true in the past, cyberattacks are now being carried out by hacking collectives, gangs of organized criminals or even national governments. Gilperez stressed that in order to counter this new threat, cybersecurity must become "a matter of business, and a matter of states".
Anonymous releases guides to help anyone hack Islamic State
Hacktivist group Anonymous, which has recently declared "war" on ISIS, has released a guide on how to find and take out ISIS-related websites and social media accounts.
The group posted three different guides, to be used within #OpParis, the online campaign against the Middle-Eastern militants.
Most smartphone owners fear hackers, thieves and government control
Edward Snowden's NSA and GCHQ revelations seem to be unending. One of his more recent disclosures was that UK intelligence agencies had the ability hack and remotely control any smartphone.
A survey by Broadband Genie shows that smartphone owners are more than a little concerned about this, with more than half (55 percent) saying the possibility of remote control worries them. A similar number (53 percent) express concern that these surveillance and control powers are open to abuse, and nearly a quarter (24 percent) feel they are a breach of human rights.
FCC says it's legal to hack your router
Router hacking is a geek staple. No computer geek worth his or her salt would consider running vanilla firmware -- the likes of Tomato are where it's at. A little while back, the FCC suggested plans to ban such hacking via open source firmware... or at least that's how it seemed.
The commission has now acknowledged that there was more than a little confusion from people who believed that manufacturers would be encouraged to prevent router modifications. The FCC wants to make it clear that most router hacking is fine and will remain fine. With a few exceptions, that is.
The NSA keeps 9 percent of the vulnerabilities it discovers to itself
Openness and the NSA are not happy bedfellows; by its very nature, the agency is highly secretive. But in recent years, post-Edward Snowden, the organization has embarked on something of a PR campaign in an attempt to win back public trust.
The latest manoeuvre sees the NSA promoting the fact that when it discovers security vulnerabilities and zero-days in software, it goes public with them in 91 percent of cases... but not before it has exploited them. No information about the timescale for disclosures is given, but what most people will be interested in is the remaining 9 percent which the agency keeps to itself.
People care more about hacker attacks than break-ins
People feel more violated when someone hacks into their computer, than when someone breaks into their house, a new research has shown.
The research, done by American multinational software Citrix, polled 2,000 full-time workers in the UK about hacking and private files they keep on their computers. The poll shows that 48 percent of young people, aged 16 to 24 have more than one private file on their computers which they want to remain secret.
ProtonMail sets a dangerous precedent and opens itself up to further attacks by paying ransom
In the world of malware, one of the most recent trends is ransomware -- malicious software that either blocks access to a computer until a fee is paid, or files are encrypted until a ransom is put forward. As with ransomware and kidnapping, a ransom is often demanded by hackers and instigators of DDoS attacks.
This is precisely what happened to 'secure' email provider ProtonMail the other day when it found its datacenter inundated with traffic. At the time, the company asked for donations to cover the costs of the "quite expensive solutions" needed to fight back against "the sophistication of this attack". But rather than fighting back, ProtonMail decided to pay the ransom instead. This could prove to be a terrible mistake.
Google says Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge reduces Android security
Samsung's Galaxy S6 Edge is blighted by 11 security problems according to the Project Zero team at Google. The team carried out research to determine how easy it would be for an attacker to exploit an Android phone produced by an OEM.
Over the course of just a week of investigations, Google discovered "a substantial number of high-severity issues". While Samsung has now fixed some of the problems, at least three are still to be addressed.
Anonymous begins releasing details about Ku Klux Klan members (maybe)
The hacker group Anonymous is almost synonymous with attacks and data leaks, but while they tend to strike fear into some people, the truth is, if you aren't doing anything wrong then don't be scared. The group tends to stand up against bullies and human rights infractions -- witness its attack against ISIS.
Anonymous has threatened to release details about one the most feared hate groups in the United States, the Ku Klux Klan. The organization was conceived in 1865, just after the Civil War, It was quickly suppressed but reemerged in 1915, though the current incarnation began in 1946. Thankfully, after a long reign of terror, membership numbers have dwindled in recent times.
Vodafone customer accounts hit by hackers
UK customers of Vodafone are the latest victims of a hack attack. The telecoms company said that nearly 2,000 customer accounts had been accessed this week, exposing personal data including phone numbers and bank account details.
The security breach took place earlier this week, but it was only this weekend that Vodafone went public about it. A spokesperson said that the attack "was driven by criminals using email addresses and passwords acquired from an unknown source external to Vodafone". There is warning that the owners of the affected accounts could be subject to phishing attacks.
The security implications of a cyber-insurance policy
The recent cyber-attack on TalkTalk has reinforced a common perception that cyber-attacks are the work of shadowy figures operating from bedrooms or basements, attempting to mimic the work of James Bond’s arch rival, Spectre. The reality -- and a lesser known fact -- is that the majority of attacks (55 percent) involve insiders.
These insider-inspired attacks may not grab the headlines in the same way as attacks by 15 year-olds do -- in fact for obvious reputational reasons, they rarely make the newspapers at all -- but they do give the IT departments of the organizations that have suffered the attack just as big a headache.
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