Online frauds increased by 70% because of Corona Virus

Online Frauds such as shopping, dating and finance related have increased by 70% in 2020 says a research carried out by Action fraud. The intelligence unit of UK that analysis frauds related to cyber-crime claims that there has been a 50% growth in frauds when compared to 2019.

The rise in cyber attacks is because of the increase in people working and shopping from home due to the spread of corona virus.

Majorly, vehicle scams have increased in the 3Q of 2020 claims the research as fraudsters are seen posting images of cars online to steal money.

UK’s cyber crime unit says that scams related to second hand purchase have increased through eBay or cars for u as cyber crooks are seen trading cars that do not exist and are seen stealing money from innocent victims’ bank accounts.

Some traders who are signing the code of conduct on eBay are also seen duping customers by posting fake advertisements on various social media platforms.

Coming to banking scams, the research claims that the Spin the wheel scams have increased by 17% in the past 3 months of 2020, where scamsters are seen duping victims by asking them to disclose their bank credentials to transfer the winning amount. And one out of 100 are seen falling prey to the scams, eventually losing millions of pounds to the fraudsters.

Being vigilant, staying away from suspicious apps and websites, and keeping a tab on bank statement once or twice a week makes complete sense in eradicating such online frauds say experts.

Also, using an anti malware solution on the device or laptop you are often using for online shopping makes sense in keeping away from scams and hackers.

The post Online frauds increased by 70% because of Corona Virus appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

January 01, 2021 at 10:11AM

Read More

Cyber threats looming on UK Hospital networks

As the spread of a new mutation of COVID-19 virus has induced fear among the Britons living in Tier 1 and 2 cities, security experts warn that cyber threats might immensely pressure the healthcare systems across UK and Europe.

Although the vaccination roll out to curb the spread of Corona Virus has began, most medics suggest that the efficiency of the drug will only be visible after a 45 day time frame, i.e. only after the jab is injected into a recipient.

Therefore, under these circumstances, if digital threats start hitting the digital infrastructure of the healthcare systems, then it can spell doom in the distribution and administration of the government funded vaccination program.

The National Health Service (NHS) has already played its part to strengthen the defense line of govt aided hospitals against cyber attacks. And it is urging private entities to bolster their defenses against cyber attacks, so that the entire nation can be vaccinated through proper coordination within no time.

Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) a cyber arm of GCHQ says that it is aware of the threats lurking in the cyber landscape and has already propagated different strategies to several healthcare units to help them easily mitigate the risks.

Healthcare organizations are being urged to secure their computer networks with threat monitoring software and anti-malware solutions, as they can help thwart the risks before any untoward incident takes place. Also, taking data back at regular intervals and educating the employees about the risks lurking in the cyber landscape can help hospitals in keeping the public safe from Corona spread and other health care issues.

The post Cyber threats looming on UK Hospital networks appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

January 01, 2021 at 10:09AM

Read More

Ticketmaster to pay $10 million for fraudulently hacking competitor server

Ticketmaster, an online platform to sell tickets related to entertainment and media is in news for hacking its competitor’s server to gain intelligence. The victim company is another ticket seller named CrowdSurge and is said to receive an amount of $10 million from the Ticketmaster for breaking into the network unlawfully.

As per the sources reporting to Cybersecurity Insiders, Ticketmaster stole credentials from a former employee of CrowdSurge and accessed the latter’s database between 2013 to 2015 by snooping.

After gathering evidence, CrowdSurge filed a lawsuit that came to a file hearing on Wednesday before Attorney Seth DuCharme at the Eastern District court of New York.

The court charged five counts criminal indictment against Ticketmaster for conspiring Computer Intrusion and other cyber fraudulent offenses. The criminal financial penalty is said to act as a warning to Ticketmaster against indulging in similar digital abuses like computer frauds and abuse act in near future.

Live Nation Entertainment, the owner of Ticketmaster has agreed to pay the fine to the US Department of Treasury within a fortnight or 10 working days, whatever comes earlier.

Highly placed sources say that Live Nation’s subsidiary hired an employee of the victim company who worked from May 2010 to August 2012. They then used the knowledge and the credentials of the former employee to conduct espionage/ snooping on the business being done by the CrowdSurge- a clear-cut breach of confidentiality contract signed by the employee while leaving the firm.

Note- Crowdsurge has merged with Songkick in 2015 and both are now a part of Warner Music Group since 2018. So, the lawsuit against Live Nation Ticketmaster was filed by Songkick in Dec’16 as CrowdSurge employees joined Songkick making it a sole proprietary.

The post Ticketmaster to pay $10 million for fraudulently hacking competitor server appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 31, 2020 at 08:41PM

Read More

Ransomware attack leaks Pharmacy data of more than 137,000 patients

A ransomware attack that took place in Arizona based pharmacy GenRx on Sept 28th, 2020 is said to have put the data of over 137,000 patients to risk says a report. Since the victim denied paying the ransom; the hackers leaked some stolen data from the Scottsdale located healthcare organization onto the dark web.

GenRx reportedly hired a third party security firm to investigate the attack and its impact and concluded that the threat actors stole a portion of data from the pharmacy systems. The information that has been siphoned includes weekly/monthly quota of medicines that are shipped to patients as per the needs.

The hack seems to be sophisticated as the cyber criminals accessed and wiped out certain healthcare information that includes addresses, phone numbers, date of births, patient gender, allergic reactions of some patients to certain drugs, medical prescription, health plan information and insurance details.

As the pharmacy stores data regarding HIPAA compliance policies planned by US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights, it has uploaded the breach details onto the HIPAA Breach Portal.

The company claims that hackers accessed the information of only 5% of its patient database and were blocked on time before they could take the entire database to encryption driven custody.

Details such as the ransomware variant and the ransom amount has not been disclosed by Genrx yet.

The post Ransomware attack leaks Pharmacy data of more than 137,000 patients appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 31, 2020 at 10:05AM

Read More

TikTok dragged to court by 12-year-old girl for data misuse

Chinese app TikTok is back in news for misusing data of it’s under aged users to gain advertising revenue from corporate clients. A 12-year-old girl from London has sued in the court that TikTok and its predecessor Musical.ly were processing information related to children just to gain ad revenues that was against the EU and UK data protection laws- set further even after Brexit.

Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner from England, will monitor the lawsuit remotely in court and will then intend to take action against the video sharing platform on behalf of all the under -16s being represented by barrister Charles Ciumei.

TikTok that has been downloaded over 1.8 billion times from Google and Apple’s App Store is yet to react to the lawsuit.

As per the legal suit, TikTok is using the collected personal data of its users to feed to machine learning tools that then target the user with relevant ads and content to capture their attention forever.

The 12-year-old claims that no one in the world are following the rules specified in the app’s terms of service that only users above 13 years to the use the app. The app is found collecting extensive information about its users like device information, IP address, photographs and videos being uploaded and date of births and user names that might pose as a great cyber threat if fallen into wrong hands into the future.

After hearing to the total proceeding, Mr. Justice Warby allowed the barrister to keep the name of the client under wraps as it could pose as a significant risk for the claimant and her family and could hinder their daily lives.

The post TikTok dragged to court by 12-year-old girl for data misuse appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 31, 2020 at 10:04AM

Read More

McAfee MVISION Unified Cloud Edge Named a Global Leader in Cloud Computing

SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–McAfee Corp. (NASDAQ: MCFE) today announced that The Business Intelligence Group has awarded the company a 2020 Stratus Award for McAfee MVISION Unified Cloud Edge (UCE) in their annual business award program under the “Best Cloud Security Service” category. The organization sought to identify the companies, products and people that are offering unique solutions that take advantage of cloud technologies, recognizing McAfee for simplifying the adoption of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture with MVISION UCE.

McAfee MVISION UCE converges industry best cloud access security broker (CASB), Cloud Secure Web Gateway (SWG) and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) with unified cloud management to deliver a direct-to-web-and-cloud architecture via the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) framework. MVISION UCE enables a work-from-anywhere workforce with maximum business agility while dramatically reducing the costs and complexity. Built with a cloud-first mindset, MVISION UCE includes an industry first – the integration of remote-browser isolation (RBI) technology – offering enterprises the ability to protect themselves against increasing and costly ransomware and phishing threats.

“We have seen the diffusion of data rise dramatically in 2020 with no sign of slowing down as workforces are highly dispersed and data is accessed across countless devices – a harmful reality undermining cybersecurity for many unprepared enterprises around the globe,” said Shishir Singh, chief product officer, McAfee, McAfee. “We are honored to see MVISION UCE recognized and our commitment to tackling the ever-evolving threat landscape validated with this award.”

“McAfee is at the forefront of the cloud helping to drive practical innovations in the cloud,” said Maria Jimenez, Chief Nominations Officer of Business Intelligence Group. “The cloud is now part of the fabric of our personal and professional lives and we are thrilled that our volunteer judges were able to help promote all of these innovative services, organizations and executives.”

McAfee MVISION Cloud was also recently positioned as a Leader in the 2020 Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Cloud Access Security Brokers”¹ (CASB) for every one of the four years the quadrant has been published². The report, which evaluates vendors based on their ability to execute and on their completeness of vision, positioned McAfee highest and furthest, respectively, for these attributes in the entire Magic Quadrant.

For more information, visit:

Gartner disclaimer:

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

^[2]Skyhigh Networks as a Leader in Magic Quadrant for Cloud Access Security Brokers 201
^[2]McAfee as a Leader in Magic Quadrant for Cloud Access Security Brokers 2018-2020
^[2]McAfee acquired Skyhigh in 2017

About McAfee

McAfee is the device-to-cloud cybersecurity company. Inspired by the power of working together, McAfee creates consumer and business solutions that make the world a safer place. www.mcafee.com.

About Business Intelligence Group

The Business Intelligence Group was founded with the mission of recognizing true talent and superior performance in the business world. Unlike other industry and business award programs, business executives—those with experience and knowledge—judge the programs. The organization’s proprietary and unique scoring system selectively measures performance across multiple business domains and then rewards those companies whose achievements stand above those of their peers.

McAfee technologies’ features and benefits depend on system configuration and may require enabled hardware, software, or service activation. No computer system can be absolutely secure. McAfee® and the McAfee logo are trademarks of McAfee, LLC or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Other marks and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

The post McAfee MVISION Unified Cloud Edge Named a Global Leader in Cloud Computing appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 31, 2020 at 09:09AM

Read More

Simplify Asset Management to Announce Four New Exchange-Traded Funds: Fintech, Pop Culture, RoboCar and Cloud/Cybersecurity

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Paul Kim and David M. Berns, Ph.D, co-founders of Simplify Asset Management (“Simplify”) have announced the launch of four new bleeding-edge ETFs in the following areas: financial technology, pop culture and media, robotic cars and clean energy along with cloud and cybersecurity.

Details for the ETFs are now live at simplify.us/etfs.

The pace of technological disruption is faster than ever. Nimbler, tech-savvy companies are pulling ahead of slower peers in an increasingly winner-take-all market. The best firms are not just disrupting existing industries but creating brand-new ones. Firms able to deliver growth in a slow-growth world command premium valuation.

“Increased globalization, the ubiquity of broadband, greater access to capital, and the unprecedented pace of technological disruption create ‘winner take all’ dynamics in industries,” explained Kim, chief executive officer. “Winning firms are growing faster and being rewarded with rich valuations. Thematic ETFs have benefited from investor demand for greater exposure to the technology-driven winners and industries.”

Dr. Berns, chief investment officer, added, “At Simplify we are focused on first principles investing. Thematic portfolios are essentially trying to concentrate in likely winners. We try to identify firms that have important technological or cultural edges and provide meaningful concentration to their stock price. We combine concentrated stock exposure with call options to add ‘convexity.’ But because of the inherent volatility of growth stocks we also incorporate risk management, diversification and downside hedges as a way to smooth out the experience of concentrated portfolios.”

“Our thematic ETFs are designed to be an attractive alternative to watered down thematic ETFs that try to buy every company in a particular theme. We believe in concentration for upside potential,” added Kim. “We also believe concentrated, professionally managed ETFs are an attractive alternative to single stock or options for many investors.”

Prior to co-founding Simplify in September 2020, Kim was a portfolio manager and managing director at Principal Global Investors from 2015 to 2020, where he founded and led Principal’s ETF business segment. Kim has a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth and a master’s degree in business from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to Simplify, Dr. Berns founded Portfolio Designer, LLC, a company that specializes in portfolio design and from 2018 to 2019 he was a managing director at Nasdaq Dorsey Wright. Prior to Nasdaq Dorsey Wright, he founded and developed a company that specializes in proprietary trading. Dr. Berns is the author of Modern Asset Allocation for Wealth Management, published by Wiley Finance, and holds a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the field of quantum computation.

About the Simplify Asset Management Inc.

Simplify Asset Management Inc. is a Registered Investment Adviser founded in 2020 to help advisors tackle the most pressing portfolio challenges with an innovative set of options-based strategies. By accounting for real-world investor needs and market behavior, along with the non-linear power of options, our strategies allow for the tailored portfolio outcomes for which clients are looking. For more information, visit www.simplify.us.

Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) before investing. To obtain an ETF’s prospectus containing this and other important information, please call (855) 772-8488, or visit SimplifyETFs.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest. An investment in the fund involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

An investment in the fund involves risk, including possible loss of principal.

Simplify ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC.

The post Simplify Asset Management to Announce Four New Exchange-Traded Funds: Fintech, Pop Culture, RoboCar and Cloud/Cybersecurity appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 31, 2020 at 09:09AM

Read More

ERI Featured in CNBC Story on Conquering the Challenges of Electronic Waste

FRESNO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ERI, the nation’s largest fully integrated IT and electronics asset disposition provider and cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction company, is spotlighted in a feature story produced by CNBC about the mounting glut of electronic waste and the need for responsible recycling practices.

The in-depth CNBC feature segment explores the rapid production of innovative new technologies and the best solutions that have been created to solve the world’s fastest-growing waste stream: e-waste. ERI Co-Founder and Executive Chairman John Shegerian was interviewed for the story and shares insights on how ERI has become the leading brand in the electronics recycling industry.

“It was truly an honor to be interviewed for this timely and important story and to share what we know,” said Shegerian. “With innovations such as the impending conversion from 4G to 5G, the accumulation of electronic waste is poised to continue to grow at exponential rates. It is critically important at this unique juncture in environmental history that all the stakeholders participate in the process of recycling their devices responsibly. At ERI, for example, all of the commodities that come out of electronic devices go to beneficial reuse and nothing ends up in landfills. All commodities are re-entered into the circular economy as new products, which is a win-win for everyone.”

“We’re very proud to work directly with over 70 of the world’s leading electronics manufacturers (OEMs) and retailers as they take the necessary steps needed to responsibly recycle electronics and relevantly participate in the circular economy,” added Shegerian. “Through a dedication to innovation and collaboration, we have developed effective solutions to the challenges e-waste presents. Even the safe recycling of lithium ion batteries, which is one of the biggest challenges described in the CNBC story, is an issue we are currently developing and negotiating efficient solutions for.”

The CNBC segment also takes a look inside ERI’s state-of-the-art facilities as an example of how electronic waste can be completely diverted from landfills when recycled responsibly. It can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/IqxwnmlUUts.

ERI is the largest fully integrated IT and electronics asset disposition provider and cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction company in the United States. ERI is certified at the highest level by all leading environmental and data security oversight organizations to de-manufacture, recycle, and refurbish every type of electronic device in an environmentally responsible manner. ERI has the capacity to process more than a billion pounds of electronic waste annually at its eight certified locations, serving every zip code in the United States. ERI’s mission is to protect people, the planet and privacy. For more information about e-waste recycling and ERI, call 1-800-ERI-DIRECT or visit https://eridirect.com.

The post ERI Featured in CNBC Story on Conquering the Challenges of Electronic Waste appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 31, 2020 at 09:09AM

Read More

Axio Offers Free Coverage Analysis for SolarWinds Impacts

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Axio, a leading cyber risk management Software-as-a-Service company, today launched a limited time offering, through January 31, 2021, to perform a rapid analysis of insurance coverage in the wake of the SolarWinds event.

“After the 2017 NotPetya attack, certain insurers cited the ‘act of war’ exclusion to deny claims from that event because the attack originated from nation-state actors. SolarWinds could open up that can of worms again so any potentially impacted company should understand the possible pitfalls in their insurance coverages,” said Scott Kannry, CEO of Axio. “To help gain quick insight into potential problem spots, we’re happy to make the Axio360 policy analysis engine available for the next month to any company that is interested.”

Axio’s AI engine identifies exclusions and clauses that could present coverage problems for SolarWinds-related losses, such as act of war exclusions, targeted attack exclusions, and even new exclusions being introduced that specifically reference the SolarWinds event. Companies wishing to take advantage of Axio’s offer should provide a policy to be analyzed and within one business day receive an email with flagged clauses identified and suggestions as to next steps and deeper analysis.

“The SolarWinds event is unprecedented in magnitude with over 300,000 companies potentially impacted. Now is the time for these companies to understand what could be at risk and if their insurance coverages will be there when most needed,” added Kannry.

For more information on Axio’s limited time offering, please visit here before January 31, 2021 to have your policy analyzed.

In addition to this coverage analysis offering, Axio will conduct a fireside chat to further how to understand SolarWinds-related exposures and insurance considerations on January 13, 2021. More information about this event to follow.

About Axio

Axio is a leading cyber risk management SaaS company. Axio believes that all organizations should have the means to solve their unique cyber risk challenges and created the Axio360 platform to deliver on that belief. Axio360 is the only methodology and software designed to empower security leaders, senior executives, and boards of directors with the ability to confidently and continuously answer the critical questions about risk, including: Where should we invest to most effectively to minimize our cyber risk and financial exposure? Axio360 cuts through complexity to give organizations a comprehensive view of cyber risk, and links business leaders to security leaders with a unified message, in language decision makers and management teams understand well: financial impact.

The post Axio Offers Free Coverage Analysis for SolarWinds Impacts appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 31, 2020 at 09:08AM

Read More

Booz Allen Leads New Frost & Sullivan Security Report

MCLEAN, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Frost & Sullivan, a leading market research and strategy firm, ranked Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) as holding the largest single market share in Managed and Professional Security Services in the Americas in its annual report, Managed and Professional Security Services Market in the Americas, Forecast to 2024. Key contributors to Booz Allen’s ongoing leadership in a highly competitive market are its established role as a trusted partner to U.S. federal and defense agencies and its proven ability to deliver intelligence-grade cybersecurity tradecraft at scale to large enterprises. This is the third consecutive year Frost & Sullivan has recognized Booz Allen’s cybersecurity capabilities and leading market position.

According to Frost & Sullivan’s report, revenue in the Americas in the managed and professional security services market reached $10.88 billion in 2019 and is expected to surge to $18.81 billion at a compound annual growth rate of 11.6 percent by 2024. Booz Allen holds the largest single market share of the total Americas market, at 10.7 percent.

“Organizations in both the public and private sector need a trusted partner to meet today’s evolving and persistent cyber threats,” said Brad Medairy, executive vice president and leader of the firm’s cyber and engineering practice. “Our comprehensive approach that combines advanced technologies, threat-hunting capabilities, and intelligence-grade tradecraft makes us uniquely equipped to help clients prepare for and mitigate even the most daunting cyber challenges.”

As one of the largest cybersecurity providers, Booz Allen’s diverse client portfolio spans nearly every defense and federal agency, as well as Fortune 100 and Global 2000 companies across industries including financial services, health and life sciences, energy, transportation, and manufacturing.

“As we see daily in headlines from around the world, the cyber threats that companies face are becoming more frequent and having more disruptive consequences,” said Bill Phelps, executive vice president and leader of the firm’s Global Commercial business. “We have remained relentlessly focused delivering comprehensive cyber services and solutions to ensure business resiliency in the face of constantly evolving cyber threats.”

“The volume, sophistication, and diversity of cyber threats are an unrelenting problem for companies’ internal information security teams,” Frost & Sullivan wrote in the report. “Outsourcing to manage and secure IT environments has become a cost-effective option for those with outdated or otherwise inadequate cybersecurity practices.”

To learn more about Booz Allen’s cybersecurity expertise, visit: www.BoozAllen.com/Cyber

About Booz Allen

For more than 100 years, business, government, and military leaders have turned to Booz Allen Hamilton to solve their most complex problems. As a consulting firm with experts in analytics, digital, engineering and cyber, we help organizations transform. We are a key partner on some of the most innovative programs for governments worldwide and trusted by the most sensitive agencies. We work shoulder to shoulder with clients, using a mission-first approach to choose the right strategy and technology to help them realize their vision. With global headquarters in McLean, Virginia, our firm employs about 27,200 people globally, and had revenue of $7.5 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2020. To learn more, visit www.boozallen.com. (NYSE: BAH)

BAHPR-CO

The post Booz Allen Leads New Frost & Sullivan Security Report appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 31, 2020 at 09:08AM

Read More

Apple looses mobile security battle against Corellium

Corellium, a Florida based company that offers virtual software to tap into iPhones and iPads, has won the battle against the American tech giant Apple Incs that wanted to ban its technology software on a permanent note through a lawsuit.

Technically, Corellium offers to customers a software that helps find bugs and vulnerabilities on iOS that were indirectly helping hackers and black hat developers. And the highlight of this 2017 startup is that it allows users to run a virtual iPhone on a desktop without the need of tampering the physical device.

So, Apple Inc decided to file a legal case against Corellium as its software could create troubles if it reaches the wrong hands like hackers. However, the iPhone maker reportedly lost the legal battle as the Florida court dismissed the claim that Corellium was violating copyrights law of iOS software.

The judge said that filed was in-fact helping the iPhone maker to strengthen its mobile security feature and was not helping others build a competing product to consumers.

Note 1- In the year 2018, Apple wanted to acquire Corellium for peanuts. But when its plan failed, it hit the company with a lawsuit alleging that the company has developed a software that could help hackers circumvent Apple device’s mobile security.

Note 2- In the past few months, Facebook and Google have faced a backlash from the congress for bullying small companies. Now, with the latest decision from the Florida court, it’s clear that even the US law condemns the issue to the core to support fresh tech and SMBs.

The post Apple looses mobile security battle against Corellium appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 30, 2020 at 08:48PM

Read More

Ransomware Attack on Whirlpool and the Funke Media Group of Germany

Whirlpool Corporation has reportedly become a victim to Nefilim Ransomware, thus putting an end to the year 2020 rather unpleasantly. Highly placed sources say that the attack might have been launched in the first week of November and it came to light on the Boxing Day after Christmas 2020.

Why the Michigan based electronics giant made it public in December is yet to be known. But sources reporting from the company say that the malware has been contained and the data recovery process is already underway.

As per the Prima facie, no consumer data was compromised in the incident and there was zero operational impact on the production, distribution and sales units.

Some corporate data pertaining to the staff like background checks, medical information details of employees and benefits related data was reportedly accessed by the hackers spreading Nefilim ransomware who later posted it online after their ransom demands were put down by the IT Staff of Whirlpool Corporation.

In other news related to ransomware, the Funke Media Group, a German firm that offers multiple newspapers across the German-speaking territories is said to have become a victim of a cyber attack- apparently of ransomware genre.

On Monday this week, the firm released a press statement admitting that 6000 of its servers were potentially infected by the file encrypting malware. Andreas Tyrock, the chief editor of Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, admitted that the attack was of “Colossal” making the information on the IT systems encrypted and inaccessible.

All the digital newspaper editions have been shut down and only the emergency editions are curtailed to be till early next month.

Now to those interested, here’s a news piece about a ransomware attack on the City of Cornelia. City manager Donald Dee Anderson has confirmed that the IT systems of the city were impacted by a ransomware attack that took place after Christmas 2020. Systems related to first responders and emergency services will remain unaffected, and garbage pickup will take place as usual. However, the admin level staff will have to go to pen and paper as most of the digital systems like the city hall phones and emails are down due as the city’s admin software has been badly impacted with the malware.

The post Ransomware Attack on Whirlpool and the Funke Media Group of Germany appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 30, 2020 at 10:21AM

Read More

Russian businesses lose $49 billion to Cyber Attacks

Till date we have seen news posts regarding Russian intelligence launching cyber attacks on the West. But Sberbank, a largest money lender in Russian Federation, has released a report that claims that the loss incurred by Russian companies because of cyber attacks in 2020 was 3.6 trillion rubles or $49 billion in international currency.

In the past few years, the Putin led nation has been encouraging public to go digital while making monetary payments and is also seen giving many encouraging offers to its citizens to switch to bank payment cards to limit cash use on a physical note. This not only curbs financial frauds but also helps in putting a block to the shadow economy.

However, like every tech implementation has its own pros and cons, the digital payment trend is also witnessing a drawback.  As per the state funded Sberbank report, the crime rate involving bank frauds has gone up by 500% this year.

Stanislav Kuznetsov, the chairperson of Sberbank of Russia, confirmed the report and stated that most of the targets in Russian banks were private entities and the public ones are being secured and well protected by the government.

“Most private companies are vulnerable to cyber threats of modern age, and it includes client accounts to financial data and other sensitive documents”, stated Stanislav.

He also stated that they are around 2.3 million dark accounts in Russia that offer a privilege to access stolen data.

Bi.Zone, a Cybersecurity unit funded by Sberbank stated that Russia is facing cyber crime from regions such as Ukraine, Venezuela, and Germany apart from the threats from its own soil. Now, to the uninitiated, the said cyber unit has been protecting Sberbank from many threats from the past few years.

Phone Frauds are reported to have increased by 80% in this year, as estimates are in that Russians have lost over 10 billion rubles because of the said fraud- as per the data compiled in between Dec’19 to Dec’2020.

Note- As per the data analyzed by the Russian Central bank, over half a million bank transactions were tagged to be unauthorized in the past 14 months, leading to a loss of 6.4 billion rubles stolen from private banks.

The post Russian businesses lose $49 billion to Cyber Attacks appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 30, 2020 at 10:18AM

Read More

CafePress to pay $2 million settlement for 2019 Data Breach

CafePress, an online retailer that sells customized T-shirts, mugs, wall clocks, calendars and other products was in news last year for failing to protect sensitive details of its customers in a data breach that occurred in Feb 2019 and that includes 23 million unique email addresses, physical addresses, contact numbers, passwords, credit card details and social security & tax numbers stored in an unencrypted form on the database.

As the company completely failed to protect the information of its customers, the Attorney General William Tong announced that the online retailer will pay a $2 million as settlement out of which $750,000 will be divided amongst the states, of which those living in Kentucky is said to receive $64,168

The announced amount is the penalty amount to be paid by CafePress to different states as it failed to secure information related to millions of its customers, including many in Kentucky.

The company will also revamp its Cybersecurity measures to create incident response plan, data breach notifications, containment and recovery provisions along with threat monitoring solutions.

CafePress will also implement certain data protection standards like encryption and 2FA and will involve penetration testing, logging and monitoring risks, password management and data minimization measures to protect its customers’ information from hackers. A free 2 year credit monitoring service was offered by the retailer to those whose social security numbers were compromised in the incident that was disclosed in Sept’19.

Note –In September 2020, Snapfish owned CafePress has been acquired by PlanetArt.

The post CafePress to pay $2 million settlement for 2019 Data Breach appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 29, 2020 at 08:50PM

Read More

Top Ransomware attacks of 2020

The first ransomware attack that hit the headlines and grabbed the attention of most in the world is the incident that took place on the servers of ISS World in Feb this year. The Denmark-based Facilities Management Company incurred a loss of $106 million in the file encrypting malware attack and recovered from it on a complete note after a time frame of 45 days. No ransom was paid by the victim.

Second, is the ransomware incident that took place on the servers of Cognizant and estimates are in that the tech giant might have spent anywhere between $60 million to $73 million as recovery and mitigation costs. Highly placed sources say that the costs might increase as the company needs to spend more on the legal and consulting costs.

Travelex ransomware attack that took place on the New Year’s of last year is reported to have incurred $2.3 million loss to the company. And the money exchange shop paid a ransom of 286 bitcoins that helped the company recover its data assets.

A file encrypting malware attack was launched on the servers of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and the school of medicine responded that it paid $1.14 million to the hackers to unlock the data. However, an update posted on the twitter account of UCSF confirmed that no data related to patients or the vaccine development for COVID-19 was impacted in the attack.

Noted Entertainment Company Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks was also in the news headlines for becoming a victim of cyber attack. And news was out that the law firm was hit by REvil Ransomware, where hackers stole nearly 800 GB of data and published it online as the victim failed to pay the ransom. As the firm could not recover data from backups, it paid $365,000 as ransom to the hackers to return the decryption key. Lady Gaga, Donald Trump, Christina Aguilera, Ella Mai, Mariah Carrey, Nicky Minaj, Madonna are some celebrity personalities whose data was reportedly accessed by the hackers.

The post Top Ransomware attacks of 2020 appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 29, 2020 at 10:11AM

Read More

Cyber Attack on Email Accounts of Finland Politicians

In a statement released on December 28th, 2020, Finland’s Crime Commissioner Tero Muurman stated that the email accounts of most of the Finland MPs were targeted in the cyber attack. However, information is out that the attack that was conducted for espionage has failed to reach the objectives of the threat actors because of effective Cybersecurity measures.

Such cyber attacks usually take place to either benefit a foreign state or induce economic, administrative, or political predicament in Finland.

A preliminary investigation is under way and Muurman assured that more details will be provided after the inquiry gets completed on an official note.

“Such attacks act as grave threats to democracy and to the Finnish Society”, said Anu Vehvilainen, the speaker of Finland’s Parliament. She added that her country will try to curb such attacks on the critical infrastructure in near future.

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) the Crime Monitoring headquarters of Finland stated that the digital invasion might be the work of an Asian country. However, it did not want to make it official until it gains concrete evidence.

Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) has also started a parallel investigation into the incident and has confirmed that it will share information with the international bodies.

Note- In the year 2018, the website related to Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment data was closed because of a cyber attack. Although the authorities cleared the air that no data was compromised in the hack, some information related to labor exchange reports and employment ministry’s survey were revealed online.

 

The post Cyber Attack on Email Accounts of Finland Politicians appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 29, 2020 at 10:09AM

Read More

TrueFort Named One of the Top 25 Cybersecurity Companies of 2020

WEEHAWKEN, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–TrueFort, the cloud and application workload protection company, today announced that it has been named one of the Top 25 Cybersecurity Companies of 2020 by The Software Report and is profiled here. This prestigious annual ranking includes some of the most innovative and technically advanced organizations based on the strength of their technology, management team and ability to stay ahead of the latest cybersecurity threats.

“We are honored to be selected by The Software Report for its influential Top 25 Cybersecurity Companies of Year list,” said Sameer Malhotra, CEO of TrueFort. “The TrueFort Fortress platform stands apart in the crowded security sector with its application-centric approach and zero trust protection for critical enterprise applications.”

TrueFort was selected from hundreds of nominees for its ability to implement proactive and comprehensive controls that ensure customers are protected against a wide range of cyberattacks. According to The Software Report, with a large number of businesses allocating considerable operational focus to digital transformation, offerings like TrueFort Fortress are crucial for maintaining the security of valuable data and infrastructure.

Being named to The Software Report list is the latest industry recognition TrueFort has received in 2020, including Enterprise Threat Detection Product of the Year in the 2020 Computing Security Excellence Awards, Red Herring 100 award, TAG Cyber Distinguished Vendor award and the TiE50 Award.

About TrueFort

TrueFort powers zero trust application environments. We’re a leader in application and cloud workload protection and the innovator of TrueFort Fortress, a real-time enterprise security platform that defends high-value cloud, hybrid, and legacy environments from hidden risks using a unique application-centric approach. TrueFort was founded by former IT executives from JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. For more information visit https://truefort.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

The post TrueFort Named One of the Top 25 Cybersecurity Companies of 2020 appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 29, 2020 at 09:12AM

Read More

SentinelOne Recognized for Outstanding Workplace and Leadership

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SentinelOne, the autonomous cybersecurity platform company, today announced a series of awards and commendations for leadership and workplace culture to close out 2020. While navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and transition to remote work, SentinelOne was repeatedly recognized for exhibiting outstanding organizational culture – all during a period of unprecedented company growth. After securing a Series E funding round in February, SentinelOne tripled its valuation over the course of 2020, achieving a valuation of over $3 billion in its November Series F funding round.

In addition to overall company recognition, CEO and Co-Founder Tomer Weingarten has been repeatedly recognized for his leadership, positioning SentinelOne as one of today’s leading cybersecurity companies. Deloitte identified SentinelOne as one of the fastest growing companies in North America in its 2020 edition of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, growing 658% from 2016 to 2019, and data platform Comparably named Weingarten one of the Top 50 CEOs of 2020. Comparably also included SentinelOne in its list of 50 best workplaces for company culture and ranked it the seventh best large company for diversity – the only cybersecurity company to make either list. SentinelOne employees cite the company’s inclusiveness, diversity, and focus on “the big picture” in their responses.

“While we are proud of – and humbled by – the success we’ve had over the past year, SentinelOne’s top priority is our people,” said Weingarten. “We are only able to maintain the trajectory we are on through the dedication and commitment of our team. Our commitment to company culture will remain paramount as we move into 2021.”

“Building an inclusive culture that embraces diverse perspectives and always remains a core business priority is important to our leadership team,” said Divya Ghatak, Chief People Officer, SentinelOne. “It has been truly heartwarming to see the way our team members have rallied together to not only create a strong sense of community within, but also participate in programs to strengthen communities around us. Our people, culture, and mission have helped us navigate one of the most challenging workplace transitions in recent history.”

Other recent company culture and growth awards for SentinelOne include:

For more information about SentinelOne’s workplace and career opportunities, visit www.sentinelone.com/careers.

About SentinelOne

SentinelOne is the only cybersecurity solution encompassing AI-powered prevention, detection, response and hunting across endpoints, containers, cloud workloads, and IoT devices in a single autonomous platform. With SentinelOne, organizations gain full transparency into everything happening across the network at machine speed – to defeat every attack, at every stage of the threat lifecycle. To learn more visit www.sentinelone.com or follow us at @SentinelOne, on LinkedIn or Facebook.

The post SentinelOne Recognized for Outstanding Workplace and Leadership appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 29, 2020 at 09:12AM

Read More

White Ops Announces Acquisition by Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking, ClearSky Security, and NightDragon

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–White Ops (“White Ops” or the “Company”), a global leader in protecting enterprises and internet platforms from digital fraud and abuse, today announced its acquisition by Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division, in partnership with ClearSky Security and NightDragon (together, the “Sponsors”). The Sponsors are acquiring the business from previous investors Paladin Capital Group, Grotech Ventures, and other shareholders, and the acquisition follows Goldman Sachs’ and ClearSky’s initial investment in the Company earlier this year. The acquisition has formally closed and terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition will support White Ops in its next phase of growth and further accelerate its expansion into new markets. The Company’s core focus is to protect enterprises from sophisticated bot attacks and fraud across the domains of cybersecurity, digital advertising, and marketing, serving some of the largest enterprises and internet platforms. This year, as more companies moved to digital, White Ops was called upon on behalf of its customers to verify the humanity of more than 10 trillion interactions per week and growing, providing an incredibly broad and deep platform to stop nefarious activity across the internet. The company grew the number of customers it serves by 40% and employees of the company grew by 25% to 170.

“Goldman Sachs, ClearSky, and NightDragon are ideal partners to support the next phase of the Company’s evolution and growth across multiple markets, use cases and geographies,” said Tamer Hassan, CEO and co-founder of White Ops. “Their continued support of our mission to disrupt the economics of cybercrime, global network of relationships, and market expertise provides a very strong foundation to execute on our vision to enable collective protection for the internet.”

“We have been very pleased with the Company’s performance since our initial investment and we’re delighted to build on our current partnership, especially as White Ops continues to benefit from consumers’ shift to digital and clients increasingly require protection,” said Anthony Arnold, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs. “We look forward to supporting management in their next phase of growth.”

“White Ops’ highly differentiated technology platform and scaled signal collection footprint helps its clients protect against a wide range of sophisticated fraud types,” said Matthew Popper, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs. “We look forward to working with management and our partners at ClearSky and NightDragon to accelerate the Company’s expansion into new markets.”

“As fraud and abuse become increasingly prevalent across the digital ecosystem, enterprises and internet platforms require sophisticated threat protection now more than ever. White Ops has proven that it can stop fraud and abuse at tremendous scale,” said Jay Leek, Managing Partner of ClearSky. “We have spent a lot of time with their leadership team over the past year and have been impressed with the strength and quality of their platform. We look forward to partnering to continue to build on the Company’s leadership position in the industry.”

“Through our experience in engaging with hundreds of enterprises and their cybersecurity teams, we know that automated attacks on applications creating fraud and abuse is a critical point of risk to every security and marketing team,” said Dave DeWalt, Founder and Managing Director at NightDragon. “We look forward to partnering with the team at White Ops to help clients across a range of industries.”

In addition to representatives from Goldman Sachs, Jay Leek will join the Board of Directors representing ClearSky and Dave DeWalt will join the Board of Directors representing NightDragon and serve as Vice Chairman of the Company.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as financial advisor to White Ops. Legal counsel was provided to White Ops by Cooley LLP.

The Sponsors were advised by Momentum Cyber. Legal counsel was provided to the Sponsors by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

Bad actors with millions of sophisticated bots at their disposal cause fraud at the rate of tens of billions of dollars a year against companies across the globe. These sophisticated bots live on consumer and enterprise devices, sharing browsing history and habits with real humans, which makes them especially difficult to detect. White Ops’ multilayered detection methodology, advanced algorithms, Satori Threat Intelligence and Research Team, and massive scale can detect and prevent these automated attacks at every level of sophistication, protecting customers’ sensitive data, reputation, compliance, bottom line and customer experience as they grow their digital business. These capabilities enabled White Ops to play a leading role in taking down 3ve, one of the largest fraud botnets to date, through collective protection and bringing together the largest private sector collaboration in history, including the FBI, Google, Facebook and many others in the industry. White Ops also recently uncovered ICEBUCKET, the largest and widest Connected TV (CTV) related fraud operation. In addition, White Ops recently announced availability of its products in the AWS Cloud Marketplace and the Snowflake Data Marketplace to provide customers even more ways to access the Company’s platform.

White Ops’ Fraud Mitigation Platform solves top cybersecurity pain points through its product offerings:

• Application Integrity – Protects sites and applications from digital fraud and abuse including account takeover attacks, new account fraud, fraudulent transactions and sensitive content scraping, preventing costly fraud losses while preserving user privacy and frictionless digital experiences.
• Marketing Integrity – Protects digital marketing investments from fraud and abuse including paid media, lead generation, and retargeting, preventing fraudulent traffic from entering marketing platforms to ensure efficiency and boost ROI.
• Advertising Integrity – Protects digital media and advertising from fraud and abuse within desktop, mobile, and CTV environments for trusted inventory and human-only impressions for more effective advertising.

To learn more about White Ops’ perspective on how this investment further advances their mission, read this blog post from CEO and co-founder Tamer Hassan: https://www.whiteops.com/blog/our-next-chapter

About White Ops

White Ops is a cybersecurity company that collectively protects global enterprises and internet platforms from digital fraud and abuse. We verify the humanity of more than 10 trillion interactions per week protecting our customers sensitive data, reputation, compliance, bottom line and customer experience as they grow their digital business. To learn more visit www.whiteops.com

About Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division

Founded in 1869, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division (MBD) is the primary center for the firm’s long-term principal investing activity. MBD is one of the leading private capital investors in the world with investments across private equity, infrastructure, private debt, growth equity and real estate.

About ClearSky

ClearSky is a venture capital/growth equity firm that has been operating since 2012 with offices across the United States. ClearSky invests in companies that offer transformative security solutions with a specific focus on cybersecurity, critical infrastructure security, privacy, data governance and compliance. The firm’s world-class dedicated security team has a proven track record with over 60 years of security investing and practitioner experience. ClearSky also has a highly distinguished advisory board consisting of diverse business leaders and a Fortune 500 CISO Board of Advisors that is unmatched in the industry. For more information, visit http://clear-sky.com/

About NightDragon

NightDragon is an investment firm focused on investing in growth and late-stage companies within the cybersecurity industry. Its flexible model allows it to lead or co-invest alongside leading venture capital and private equity firms in the pursuit of driving growth and increasing shareholder value. NightDragon is unique in providing deep operational expertise in cybersecurity gained by its founders Dave DeWalt and Ken Gonzalez from years serving as senior executives leading technology companies such as Documentum, EMC, Siebel Systems (Oracle), McAfee, Mandiant, Avast, and FireEye. For more information, visit www.NightDragon.com.

The post White Ops Announces Acquisition by Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking, ClearSky Security, and NightDragon appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 29, 2020 at 09:11AM

Read More

CyberArk Announces Free Breach Assessment for SolarWinds Customers

NEWTON, Mass. & PETACH TIKVA, Israel–(BUSINESS WIRE)–CyberArk (NASDAQ: CYBR), the global leader in privileged access management, today launched a free assessment offer to help SolarWinds Orion customers identify privileged access-related risk and implement steps to mitigate future exposure to a potential cyberattack.

To date, the supply chain attack involving SolarWinds Orion business software is believed to have impacted more than 18,000 organizations. The attackers were reportedly successful in infiltrating many high-profile public and private organizations using extremely sophisticated attack techniques, including the use of compromised privileged credentials to move laterally and vertically across the IT environment. With dramatic cloud migrations underway, and the adoption of transformative digital technologies, privileged accounts and credentials represent one of the largest attack surfaces for organizations today, which makes identifying and managing privileged access critical to disrupting the attack chain and maximizing risk mitigation.

A comprehensive Identity Security program that has privileged access management at its core is critical to helping address the gaps and vulnerabilities that the attackers in the SolarWinds breach exploited, including by gaining administrative access through compromised credentials and the escalation of privileges that allowed for both lateral and vertical movement.

To help organizations that have been affected by the SolarWinds Orion attack, CyberArk is offering the following:

• Privileged Access Management (PAM) Rapid Risk Assessment: A no cost assessment for organizations that were running the compromised Orion software in their environment. This assessment includes the CyberArk Discovery and Audit (DNA) tool run against a representative sample of their Windows IT infrastructure. Based on the scan, customers will receive curated remediation recommendations with several ‘sprint’ tactics for short-term success.
• Privileged Access Management (PAM) Rapid Risk Remediation: CyberArk and our certified partners can assist customers to prioritize PAM controls including credential management, multi-factor authentication, session isolation, and least privilege on endpoints and servers for rapid risk reduction. Such measures will be based on findings from the organization’s incident response team and in alignment with the CyberArk Blueprint for PAM Success.

Only CyberArk combines deep Identity Security controls, privileged access remediation services and the expertise of the CyberArk Labs and CyberArk Red Team, to help organizations gain invaluable time by enabling them to detect attacks earlier and prevent attackers from reaching their end goal.

“With adoption of modern infrastructure and digital transformation, privilege is everywhere – from critical applications and IoT devices, to robotic process automation and DevOps tools. Attackers know this, which is why nearly all advanced attacks today rely on the exploitation of privileged credentials,” said Udi Mokady, founder and CEO, CyberArk. “The SolarWinds breach is yet another example of how attacks are becoming hyper-targeted with widespread impact. It is critical that organizations always ‘assume breach’ and that access to their sensitive data and systems is secured. These offerings are designed to not only improve their current security posture, but also help establish a strong foundation that can prevent against future compromise.”

There are immediate steps organizations can take to help minimize their exposure to this SolarWinds breach, while laying the foundation for longer-term, proactive strategies to help prevent the compromise of privileged credentials that could further disrupt the business. Those longer-term steps include: Deploying “least privilege” measures to servers and applications; Securing application credentials and continuous integration/development (CI/CD) pipelines; and Configuring Active Directory based on credential boundaries.

Additional Resources:

• CyberArk Blueprint for Privileged Access Management Success – The CyberArk Blueprint is a risk-based framework designed to secure privileged access by preventing credential theft, stopping lateral and vertical movement, and limiting privilege escalation and abuse.
• CyberArk Red Team Services – CyberArk Red Team services are designed to provide a safe way for security operations teams to simulate adversary operations and test their ability to effectively defend against cyber-attacks on their environments.
• CyberArk Labs – CyberArk Labs produces innovative research that examines emerging attack techniques that drives greater awareness and industry collaboration while helping to improve the overall security posture of companies everywhere.

About CyberArk
CyberArk (NASDAQ: CYBR) is the global leader in privileged access management, a critical layer of IT security to protect data, infrastructure and assets across cloud and hybrid environments and throughout the DevOps pipeline. CyberArk delivers the industry’s most complete solution to reduce risk created by privileged credentials and secrets. The company is trusted by the world’s leading organizations, including more than 50 percent of the Fortune 500, to protect against external attackers and malicious insiders. A global company, CyberArk is headquartered in Petach Tikva, Israel, with U.S. headquarters located in Newton, Mass. The company also has offices throughout the Americas, EMEA, Asia Pacific and Japan. To learn more about CyberArk, visit https://www.cyberark.com/, read the CyberArk blogs or follow on Twitter via @CyberArk, LinkedIn or Facebook.

Copyright © 2020 CyberArk Software. All Rights Reserved. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

The post CyberArk Announces Free Breach Assessment for SolarWinds Customers appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 29, 2020 at 09:11AM

Read More

Hackers steal Defense Information from servers of Kawasaki Heavy

Japanese multinational auto-manufacturer Kawasaki Heavy has made it official that some of its data was accessed by hackers on June 11th this year. Although the company states that no critical information was leaked to the threat actors in the incident.

However, a source on the condition of anonymity states that data related to aircraft and submarines pertaining to the Defense Ministry was leaked to the hackers.

Information is out that the data was accessed by hackers from a server operating in the headquarters of Japan and news is out that the hacker infiltrated the database by stole admin IDs and passwords of the company’s domestic systems and then accessed the servers of the company in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and United States.

Kawasaki has assured that no information was breached after August this year and it has bolstered all its Cybersecurity measures across its branches so that no such incident occurs in near future.

Note- Before second world war, Kawasaki Heavy Industries was a part of Kobe Kawasaki Zaibatsu and included Kawasaki Steel and Kawasaki Kisen in its business. After the war it became a part of DKB Group and has now emerged into 3 major heavy industrial manufactures alongside Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries(IHI) Co LTD. Currently, the company produces ships, motor bikes, aircraft engines, space vehicles, marine engines running on diesel, gas turbines, automotives, railway engines, industrial machinery, power station boilers, and suspension bridges.

The post Hackers steal Defense Information from servers of Kawasaki Heavy appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 28, 2020 at 08:30PM

Read More

Most tragic Cyber Attacks of 2020

FireEye data breach- One of the biggest cyber attacks that came into light was the one that was revealed at the end of 2020 i.e. December 2020 where an official conformation from Cybersecurity firm FireEye was made stating that it is has become a victim of cyber attack where hackers stole its network penetration tools that are used to test the security framework of computer networks.

Initially, everyone thought that it was just a data breach at one company. But a detailed probe launched by FBI revealed that Russia hackers installed a backdoor malware in the Orion software sold by SolarWinds that led to the leak of classified information in several federal agencies including a hospital, university and 24 private companies.

Later, it was revealed many of the tech companies like Intel, Cisco, VMware, and Nvidia were breached by a malware installed through software update pushed by SolarWinds.

Twitter Bitcoin hack- On July 15th, 2020 social networking giant Twitter had to lock down the twitter accounts of some of its elite customers as their accounts became a victim of a Cryptocurrency cyber attack. Going by the details, hackers somehow took hold of high-profile accounts of globally noted public figures such as Elon musk, Barack Obama, bill gates, Apple and Uber to post tweets claiming to support charity work by sending bitcoins to a cryptocurrency wallet. The tweet further claimed that sent amount will get doubled within no time. This made many of the followers of the elite group deposit the amount- thus earning them $106,000 within no time. Investigation launched later revealed that the threat actors launched social engineering attacks on the servers of Twitter and stole the administration tools to launch a digital scam campaign on over 130 accounts.

Data Breach at Marriot– Hotel Giant Marriot made an official announcement on March 31st this year it became a victim of a cyber attack that stole sensitive information of over 5.2 million of its guests. Investigations launched later revealed that the attack was launched after stealing login credentials from two of the company’s employees at a franchise property- Starwood Hotels.

Easy Jet Cyber Attack– EasyJet, a low-cost airliner from UK, made an official announcement in June 2020 that it became a victim of a sophisticated cyber attack where hackers accessed information pertaining to over 9 million customers. The highlight of the attack was that the threat actors also accessed credit and debit card details of over 2,208 customers. The airliner immediately issued a warning to all its customers and urged them to keep an eye of their bank statement for new few months.

Cyber Attack on New Zealand Stock Exchange- A digital disruption knocked the New Zealand (NZ) stock exchange two times in August and September of this year, disrupting the trade operations for hours. Later it was found in the probe that the attack was of Distributed denial of service (DDoS) genre and caused a major impact on many of the company earnings that fetch profits by selling their stocks. The Government of NZ had to monitor the situation after the country’s Government Communications Security Bureau issued an alert that more such attacks will be launched by the end of this year.

The post Most tragic Cyber Attacks of 2020 appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 28, 2020 at 10:31AM

Read More

Hackers now indulge in donations to Charity

HackerOne’s ‘Hack for Good’ initiative is making participant hackers to donate their earnings to charitable causes. In fact, a few of the hackers who took part in the hacking competition donated $5k amount to the COVID-19 Solidarity fund of World Health Organization (WHO).

Technically, HackerOne’s is an event organized in Singapore where good hackers are invited to discover bugs on the products and services offered by tech companies. And when they do so, they earn a reputable amount- depending on the discovered severity on various products.

In this year, nearly 50 hackers hailing from over 13 countries took part in the event and among them 8 of them donated their bug bounty earnings to charitable trysts such as WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Fund

Coming to the vulnerabilities discovered at HackerOne’s, it was revealed that over 250 security loopholes were sniffed out by the hackers in the virtual event organized because of the ongoing pandemic in Singapore. And it is estimated that over $702,000 were distributed as rewards for the hackers.

Note- Founded: in 2012, HackerOne platform is now seen official serving the US Department of Defense through the initiative “Hack the Pentagon” program. The company that is headquartered in San Francisco maintains a development office in Netherlands, UK and Germany. As per the company sources, the platform has so far paid $100 million in bug bounties till date.

The post Hackers now indulge in donations to Charity appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 28, 2020 at 10:29AM

Read More

CYBERSECURITY CONSULTANT: ARE MORE CISSPS EMBRACING THE GIG ECONOMY?

This post was originally published by (ISC)² Management.

The gig economy has grown rapidly in recent years and now includes more than one third of U.S. workers who describe themselves as consultants, freelancers or self-employed. It isn’t surprising then that 31% of organizations say that consultants and contractors are the top source they tap into for cybersecurity talent, according to the (ISC)² 2020 Cybersecurity Workforce Study. In fact, this group is the second-most popular talent source overall, just after new university graduates.

The largest number of consultants (40%) work with small and mid-sized businesses (SMB), which could include small sole-proprietary businesses (think a self-employed CISSP starting his or her own business), as well as those advising multiple clients while working for a small solution provider organization. 23% work as independent contractors or freelancers. Another 23% work for large advisory firms. In addition, 10% say they work for large technology vendors or service providers, and 2% for defense contractors.

The term “consultant” carries some ambiguity since just about anybody can work as a consultant of some sort. Adding to the mystery, a consultant can be employed full time by one company while providing services to another organization, in which case the person might not qualify as a gig economy participant.

Whatever the case may be, working as a consultant typically implies a minimum level of expertise and experience in a particular field. In fact, nearly half (45%) of all consultants who responded to the (ISC)² study hold a CISSP certification, and 20% hold a CISSP with a concentration in architecture, engineering or management. In cybersecurity, according to the workforce study, consultants deliver a range of services, including risk management, forensics and software development.

Many CISSPs Fit the Consultant Mold

The most prevalent role for cybersecurity consultants, the research shows, is risk management (59%), followed by compliance (54%) and security operations (49%). Other roles include security administration (37%), operational technology security (28%) and working with industry-focused solutions (23%).

Knowing how cybersecurity consultants define their roles helps to get a clearer picture of the cybersecurity workforce’s composition, although not entirely. For instance, knowing someone works with “industry-focused solutions” is helpful but still leaves room for interpretation as to what the role actually entails.

Regional Differences

Another finding regarding consultants relates to recruiting and hiring. From a total market perspective, the largest source of cybersecurity talent consists of educational institutions, at 32%, followed closely by consultants and contractors (31%). 

There are some regional differences, according to the study. “Organizations in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region are more likely than others to recruit from educational institutions and security or hardware vendors, while organizations in North America and Europe are more likely than others to recruit consultants.”

Interestingly, compared to Latin America and Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America currently have smaller skills gaps. The widest gap, of about 2 million, is in Asia-Pacific, and Latin America follows with 527,000 needed cybersecurity professionals. Those compare to 376,000 in North America and 168,000 in in Europe.

It’s possible that a wider availability of consultants and contractors makes it easier to fill gaps, even if temporarily, in Europe and North America. Whatever the case, it’s clear that consultants make up a significant portion of the cybersecurity workforce. The flexibility it provides to both the organization and the individual cannot be overlooked. Businesses save on typical employee costs like profit sharing and healthcare, while leveraging hard-to-find talent to augment their in-house cybersecurity staffs. The consultant has the freedom to take work from their choice of client, or from multiple clients, and can sell their services on the open market.

If the gig economy continues to expand, as it is projected to, we may see in the near future an even larger number of consultants, including freelancers and independent contractors, serving the field.

Read more here: blog.isc2.org

The post CYBERSECURITY CONSULTANT: ARE MORE CISSPS EMBRACING THE GIG ECONOMY? appeared first on Cybersecurity Insiders.

December 27, 2020 at 11:29AM

Read More