Amazon page

Amazon discloses names and addresses -- but doesn't disclose details

If you're an Amazon customer you may have received a rather strange email this morning. It states that the company has, "...inadvertently disclosed your name and email address due to a technical error."

It then goes on to say, "The issue has been fixed. This is not a result of anything you have done, and there is no need for you to change your password or take any other action."

By Ian Barker -
DDoS attacks

European DDoS attack volumes more than double

In Europe DDoS attack volumes have increased sharply during the third quarter 2018 according to a new report.

The report from DDoS protection specialist Link11 shows the average attack volume more than doubled in July, August and September, to 4.6 Gbps (up from 2.2 Gbps in Q2).

By Ian Barker -
data threat

Almost a quarter of reported vulnerabilities have no known solution

The number of reported vulnerabilities in 2018 is seven percent down on the same period last year, according to a new report from Risk Based Security.

It's not all good news though, as 24.9 percent of 2018's reported vulnerabilities currently have no known solution which is a reminder that, while patching is very important, it can't be relied on exclusively as a remedy.

By Ian Barker -
api

Businesses struggle with the rate of growth in API use

In the last few years APIs have become a critical enabler of digital transformation for businesses across all sectors.

Cybersecurity company Ping Identity has surveyed more than 100 security and IT professionals to determine their concerns surrounding the increased use of APIs.

By Ian Barker -
Startpage,com relaunch

Privacy-focused search engine Startpage.com relaunches with new look, faster speeds and Anonymous View

Startpage.com is a privacy-focused alternative to the likes of Google (although the search results are provided by Google -- minus all the ads and stripped of tracking), and the search engine has just relaunched with a new look and new features. The visual changes will be apparent to anyone who has used the site before, but for anyone who is concerned about their online privacy, it is new options such as Anonymous View that will be of greater interest.

This new feature makes it possible to visit websites completely privately, essentially using Startpage.com as a proxy. Importantly, this extra level of privacy and protection does not come at the expense of speed, meaning you can browse the web anonymously without compromise.

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
Firefox Monitor

Firefox Monitor Notifications will issue a warning if you visit a breached site using Mozilla's web browser

If a website suffers a security breach you may well decide that you want to give it a wide berth. The problem is that it is impossible for individuals to keep track of all of the breaches that take place, and Mozilla wants to help out.

After teaming up with Have I Been Pwned recently, Mozilla created Firefox Monitor to help inform people about breaches, and this is now expanding to more languages. On top of this, the organization has also now launched Firefox Monitor Notifications that will issue a warning if you visit a site that has been breached.

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
Hacker detection

70 percent of SMBs suffer cyberattacks

Cyberattacks are often thought of as being a problem just for large organizations. But a new study by the Ponemon Institute, sponsored by Keeper Security, shows that small businesses increasingly face the same cybersecurity risks as larger ones.

The number of attacks is on the rise -- with 67 percent experiencing a cyberattack and 58 percent experiencing a data breach in the last 12 months.

By Ian Barker -
BYOD key

85 percent of companies permit BYOD but security remains a concern

While a large majority of companies now permit employees to use their own devices for work, they have concerns over security and privacy.

Organizations are making BYOD available to employees (76 percent), contractors (27 percent), partners (25 percent), customers (22 percent), and suppliers (19 percent).

By Ian Barker -
credit card phishing

Phishing emails with .com payloads target finance departments

There has been an increase in the use of .com extensions in phishing emails that target financial service departments, according to a new analysis.

In October alone, anti-phishing company Cofense Intelligence analyzed 132 unique samples with the .com extension, compared to only 34 samples analyzed in the nine months before. Four different malware families were utilized.

By Ian Barker -
Risk dial

New software capability helps manage third-party cyber risks

With digital transformation enabling supply chains to become ever more integrated, businesses no longer have to worry just about the risks posed by their own systems, they must consider those they are connected to as well.

Vendor monitoring solution RiskRecon is launching a new tool that enables enterprises to automatically produce assessments and action plans based on their unique risk requirements, allowing risk professionals to easily understand and act on their third-party risk.

By Ian Barker -
cloud containers

Misconfiguration and runtime security are top container worries

Container and Kubernetes security company StackRox has released a new report looking to understand how adoption of these technologies affects security concerns.

The State of Container Security report finds that more than a third of organizations worry that their strategies don't adequately address container security.

By Ian Barker -
Spectre and Meltdown logos

Security researchers discover seven more speculative execution attacks like Spectre and Meltdown

One of the biggest security stories of 2018 has been the discovery of the Meltdown and Spectre chip flaws. Known as speculative execution exploits, the flaws make it possible to steal potentially sensitive information and there has been an on-going battle to issue patches wherever possible.

Just as things were starting to die down a little, security researchers have revealed details of no fewer than seven more speculative execution attacks. While some of these attack vectors have already been mitigated against, this is not the case for all of them.

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
Phishing

New tool helps identify and block phishing attacks

People are often the weakest link in the IT security chain and hackers are keen to exploit this with ever more sophisticated attacks.

Predictive email defense specialist Vade Secure is launching a new anti-phishing solution that helps security operations centers identify and block targeted phishing attacks.

By Ian Barker -
password reminders

Poor security habits made worse by the speed of digital transformation

According to a new study, 75 percent of people admit to reusing passwords across accounts, including work and personal, compared to 56 percent who admitted to doing so in 2014.

The Market Pulse Survey by identity management specialist SailPoint shows that digital transformation efforts are leading to increasingly complex IT environments for businesses and employees to manage securely.

By Ian Barker -
Cloudflare 1.1.1.1

Privacy: Cloudflare brings its DNS switching tool 1.1.1.1 to iOS and Android

Cloudflare has just made it a whole lot easier to hide your mobile browsing from your ISP -- and access content that might otherwise be unavailable. The company has launched a 1.1.1.1 app for smartphone users, making it incredibly easy to switch between DNS services with a couple of taps; what amounts to a free VPN tool.

Earlier in the year, Cloudflare launched its 1.1.1.1 DNS service to bring privacy and speed, but it was a little off-putting to users unfamiliar with tinkering with such settings. With the launch of 1.1.1.1 for iOS and Android, the process is much, much simpler -- and the app and the service itself are free.

By Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson -
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