Articles about Security

Telecoms industry sees a higher percentage of advanced attacks

web threats

Threat intelligence specialist Lastline produces regular reports on the global cyberthreat landscape.

Its latest study looks at the telecoms industry and how the threats it faces differ from those in the wider world. Among the findings are that the industry sees a higher percentage of attacks (one in 10) exhibiting advanced threat capabilities, which is greater than the global standard of one in 12.

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Money, power and ego, the factors that drive people to cybercrime

Cybercriminal with cash

We reported last week on a report highlighting how many security professionals are turning to a life of cybercrime.

In a follow up research piece, Wendy Zamora at Malwarebytes, has been looking at the psychology, motivations and other underlying factors that drive people to take part in cybercrime.

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Trojans increase as cryptomining declines

Trojan horse

The second quarter of 2018 has seen a significant increase in Trojan activity, seeing them become the leading type of malware, according to the latest report from Comodo Cybersecurity.

At the same time there has been a slight decrease in cryptomining software. However, this has gone hand-in-hand with a sharp increase in their harmful capabilities, including better concealment and stronger persistence.

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Organizations still struggle with basic firewall management

firewall

Firewalls remain an important element of security architecture, but many organizations are still struggling with the basics, according to a new study.

Security policy management company FireMon has released its 2018 State of the Firewall report which reveals that 94 percent of respondents believe firewalls are as or more critical than ever.

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Finance remains top target for phishing attacks as scammers exploit GDPR

credit card phishing

New figures from Kaspersky Lab show that more than a third (35.7 percent) of phishing attempts in the second quarter of 2018 attempts were related to financial services via fraudulent banking or payment pages.

The IT sector was second hardest hit, with 13.83 percent of attacks targeting technology companies, a 12.28 percent increase compared to Q1.

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New application helps developers avoid vulnerable GitHub code

code

We reported last week on a new tool to help spot vulnerabilities present in active open source systems.

To prevent problems from being introduced into new systems, open source governance specialist Sonatype is launching a tool to enable developers to identify and avoid using open source components that have known vulnerabilities.

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How you can be hacked via your fax machine

Fax machine

Unless you are in regular touch with the 1980s it's probably a while since you gave much thought to using fax machines.

Even then you might think your biggest worry would be a paper jam. But new research from Check Point released at Def Con in Las Vegas reveals organizations and individuals could be hacked via their fax machines, using newly discovered vulnerabilities in the communication protocols used in tens of millions of fax devices globally.

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Over 10,000 vulnerabilities disclosed this year so far

data threat

2018 looks like it's on track to be another record year for vulnerabilities, with over 10,000 disclosed in the half year to June.

The newly released 2018 mid-year VulnDB QuickView report from Risk Based Security shows that 16.6 percent of the reported vulnerabilities received CVSSv2 (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) scores of between 9.0 and 10.0, which is a drop from previous years. However, the severity of the vulnerabilities disclosed still remains significant.

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Hijack attack aims to grab bank details via routers

Web redirect

Researchers at DDoS protection specialist Radware have uncovered an attack aimed at Brazilian bank customers that seeks to steal credentials via a compromised router.

It employs malware that targets DLink DSL modem routers using exploits dating back to 2015. A malicious agent attempts to modify the DNS server settings in the routers of Brazilian residents, redirecting all their DNS requests through a malicious server.

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The most malware infected cities in the US

malware-infection-rates-first-half-2018

A new report from EnigmaSoft -- makers of the SpyHunter anti-malware product -- reveals the US cities with the highest rates of malware infection.

Systems in Atlanta, Orlando, and Denver are most likely to be infected, with Louisville, Wichita, and Anchorage having the lowest infection rates.

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Free tool checks for critical open source vulnerabilities

Close inspection

Every month details emerge of dozens of new security vulnerabilities, and open source software is not immune from these.

In order to help companies stay up to date and ensure vulnerabilities are patched quickly, open source security specialist WhiteSource is launching a free tool that provides companies with immediate, real-time alerts on the 50 most critical vulnerabilities published in the open source community.

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Organizations struggle with 'cyber hygiene’ basics

cyber hygiene

Almost two-thirds of organizations are failing to use established benchmarks to set security baselines and are struggling to maintain visibility into their networks, according to a new report.

The study, carried out for security and compliance specialist Tripwire by Dimensional Research, looks at how organizations are implementing security controls that the Center for Internet Security (CIS) refers to as 'cyber hygiene.'

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Manufacturing industry at greater risk of cyberattacks

Industrial internet of things

Manufacturing businesses are seeing higher-than-normal rates of cyberattack-related reconnaissance and lateral movement activity.

This is due to the convergence of IT with IoT devices and Industry 4.0 initiatives, according to a new report from AI-powered attack detection specialists Vectra.

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Facial recognition tool helps penetration testing

Facial recognition of mask

Using fake social media profiles is a common technique among hackers in order to gain the confidence of targets and direct them to credential stealing sites.

For security and penetration testing teams to replicate this is time consuming as often people have profiles across multiple sites. Ethical hacking specialist Trustwave is using a new tool called Social Mapper that can correlate profiles across multiple sites and make analyzing a person's online presence easier.

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Lure of cybercrime leads security professionals to become 'gray hats'

Cybercrime cash

The attractions and profitability of the digital underworld are leading some security practitioners to become 'gray hats' and get involved in cybercrime according to a new report from Malwarebytes.

The study carried out by Osterman Research finds that in the UK as many as one in 13 security professionals are perceived to be gray hats. Globally, mid-sized organizations (those with 500 to 999 employees) are getting squeezed the hardest, and this is where the skills shortage, and the allure of becoming a gray hat, may be greatest.

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