FBI sees a surge in Cyber Attacks

Federal Bureau of Investigation widely known as FBI has made it official that it is witnessing a spike in cyberattacks, especially on remote workers who are struggling to keep their critical office functions alive during the COVID 19 pandemic. Speaking at the virtual Aspen Institute event, Tonya Ugoretz, the Deputy Assistant Director shared some insights on what the Internet Crime Compliant Center of FBI was witnessing currently. Tonya added that the center was receiving complaints related to cyber fraud between 3000 to 4000 on a daily note which...

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Ransomware news headlines trending on Google

Canada’s Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) is believed to have become a victim of ransomware attack recently, triggering the authorities to shut down their email systems and some essential services to contain the incident and neutralize the repercussions. Noel Boykin, the President & CEO of NTPC confirmed the incident and added that government entities, financial institutes, and power utilities are becoming soft targets of those spreading ransomware NTPC is working closely with a cybersecurity agency and law enforcement to investigate...

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AT&T Cybersecurity receives Frost & Sullivan award in Managed Security Services

Recently, we learned the good news from industry analyst firm, Frost & Sullivan, that we received the 2019 Frost Radar Award for Growth, Innovation & Leadership (GIL) in the Global Managed Security Services (MSS) Market. Frost & Sullivan’s global team of analysts and consultants recognized our achievements in innovating and creating new products and solutions that...

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Hackers selling stolen data on Facebook and Twitter

Which?, the UK based consumer group has discovered in its recent survey that hackers and scammers are seen selling stolen digital personal & financial details on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp.   The data which is being sold includes credit card details, compromised credentials of Netflix, and Uber eats user accounts, Google ad-related identifies social media profile data and fake passport numbers.   The purchased data will be used by cyber crooks in cyber scams and blackmail related digital...

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Black Rose Lucy Ransomware attack on Android Devices

Security Researchers from Check Point Research have discovered that those spreading Black Rose Lucy Malware has added file-encrypting capabilities to their malicious software which was originally designed as a botnet to deliver malware-as-a-service and dropper for other malicious codes.   As per the details available to select media channels, Black Rose Lucy Malware turned ransomware encrypts files and data on an Android device and then sends a message to the victim via a web browser mimicking the FBI.   The pop message states that the...

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Rapid 7 acquires Cloud Security firm DivvyCloud for $145 million

Rapid 7, a Massachusetts based Data Security firm has made it official that it is acquiring Virginia based cloud security company DivvyCloud Corporation for $145 million to help businesses bring their DevOps Teams and Security onto a single platform.   Trade analysts suggest that the deal will do great benefit to Rapid 7 customers who have been asking the company for automated detection of misconfigurations, policy violations, external and internal threats and identity and access management challenges on multi-cloud and container environments.   Rapid...

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Have you started working from home? Secure your endpoints!

This blog was written by an independent guest blogger. Due to recent international events, there are likely millions of people in the United States and around the world who have just started working from home. There are a lot of office jobs that could move from the company’s workplace to employees’ homes– accountants, web designers, application developers, network administrators,...

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COVID 19 Vaccine development will lead to more Cyber Attacks and Data Theft

As the world is struggling to find a sure-shot vaccine to end the Corona Virus pandemic, British Defense Committee Chairperson Tobias Ellwood felt that it will lead to more cyber attacks on Pharma companies like GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Imperial College and Oxford University’s Jenner Institute as they are in a race to find a cure. “What amazes me is that nations like China are trying to establish New ‘Health Silk Road’ by showing diplomatic bonds of gratitude,” said Tobias Ellwood. A few months ago, the trade from China was...

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NHS rejects Google and Apple Coronavirus tracking app due to data security fears

Last week, Apple and Google came forward to offer a Corona Virus tracking app to NHS which will be in lines with India’s Aarogya Setu Mobile app. However, UK’s government-funded healthcare service provider had rejected the plea due to data security concerns as the tech giants said that the App developed by them on a collective note will be running on a central database which will be in full control of them- creating a blueprint for unethical mass surveillance after the Wuhan Virus spread ends in UK & Europe. Therefore, the NHS decided to build...

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Ransomware attack on Zaha Hadid Architects

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), a London based Architects syndicate recognized internationally all over the world is reported to have become a victim of a ransomware attack last week. And the highlight in this whole cyber incident is that hackers who infiltrated the database of the Architectural services rendering firm have started to threaten the firm that they will dump all the encrypted data onto the dark web if their demanded ransom gets rejected.   ZHA which was founded by world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid first reported the incident to...

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Working from home? Use the spare time for professional development

This blog was written by an independent guest blogger. It’s 2020 and our world is rapidly evolving.  Many conferences and training programs have been cancelled, most of us are working from home, and it may seem like learning opportunities are scarce.  If you are locked in your house due to COVID-19, what could you be doing to improve your cybersecurity & information...

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Microsoft and Google security update their respective Virtual Machines

Microsoft and Google have made it official that their Virtual Machine instances on a respective note can now process highly sensitive information making it difficult for cloud admins to access or tamper information while in process. Also, the latest update will make it extremely difficult for hackers to induce malware into Trusted Executed Environments(TEE). So, from now on government organizations and financial institutions can use Microsoft Azure and Google Compute Engines without any apprehension that their data might be snooped by hackers or...

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Ransomware attack on US Pharma Company ExecuPharm

ExecuPharm, a US-based pharmaceutical company is reported to have become a victim of a Ransomware attack on March 13th of 2020. And as per a letter sent by the company to the Attorney General, Vermont details such as social security numbers, financial info, driving license details, passport numbers, and other sensitive data might have been accessed and stolen by hackers.   News is out that the hackers belonging to the CLOP ransomware group have posted a vast cache of data including email records, financial data, and accounting records along...

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UK DASA further offers £1m to develop Cyber Attack prediction technology

United Kingdom’s Department of Security Accelerator (DASA) is offering a £1 million funding to three teams who have been assigned the task of developing a technology that predicts and thwarts Cyber Attacks. Therefore, with the latest financial input, DASA has succeeded in putting the UK’s Defense Sector in top position ahead of its adversaries and boosting the UK’s prosperity.   DASA’s latest £1m phase 2 funding which brings the overall figure to £2m has been assigned to three organizations in the following way-   1.) Vauxhall based DecisionLab...

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Stories from the SOC – Web Server Attack

Executive Summary Stories from the SOC is a blog series that describes recent real-world security incident investigations conducted and reported by the AT&T SOC analyst team for AT&T Managed Threat Detection and Response customers. During the Investigation of a Web Server Attack alarm for a large multinational enterprise Customer, we conducted an Investigation that...

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Using Video Conferencing Tools Securely During COVID-19

By: Tony Howlett, CISO, SecureLink Since the world-wide spread of the COVID-19 virus over the last two to three months, many challenges have been thrown at organizations of all kinds and sizes. With much of the country and world under “shelter-in-place” or similar orders from governments, many workforces, especially white-collar ones, have gone to near 100% work from home. This has necessitated the rapid deployment or increase of video-conferencing and other collaboration tools practically overnight with little thought given to security. In a pre-coronavirus...

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Microsoft Teams fixes GIF Viewing Cyber Attack Vulnerability

Microsoft, the American Tech Giant has issued a fix to the security vulnerability which exposed the users of its Microsoft Teams to GIF based Cyber Attacks which could have otherwise allowed hackers to take over data related to targeted systems.   Going deep into the matter, on March 23, 2020, a team of researchers from CyberArk has issued a warning to Microsoft about a security issue that allows the threat actors to take over an account or steal data of those who viewed GIFs on the Teams account.   The Redmond giant took note of the...

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Canada Govt to offer Cybersecurity for Teleworkers during COVID 19 Pandemic

To all those public and private employees in Canada who are working from home, due to Corona Virus spread crisis, here some good news. A Canada spy agency is all set to use its huge database of cyber threats to protect employees who are working from home to keep their critical office IT operations free from cyber attacks of any range during the COVID 19 shutdown. In the past few weeks, it’s a fact that multiple instances of fraudulent activity have been witnessed around the globe. For instance, scammers are seen targeting Canadian individuals with...

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Israel Water Supply Authority hit by Cyber Attack

Israel’s Water Supply was reportedly hit by a coordinated cyberattack on Friday and Saturday (April 24th-25th 2020) of last week. However, reports are in that no noted damage to ‘Programmable Logic Controllers’ or compromise of systems was witnessed in the cyber incident.   And as a precautionary measure, the water supplying company authorities changed their passwords of control systems related to water supply, pumping, and sewage on the advice of Israel’s National Cyber Directorate.   A statement issued early today by Israel’s National...

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DDoS attack on Whiskey Auctioning Firm

A UK based whiskey auctioning firm named ‘Whisky Auctioneer’ had to shut down the auctioning of beverages on Monday this week which includes a rare whiskey named Macallan sale. And the decision was taken due to a Distributed denial of attack(DDoS) on its auctioning website and database.   Highly placed sources say that the officials were in thought to sell over 4000 bottles of rare whisky which could have fetched them around 10 million pounds. But due to the DDoS attack auctioning of only 1900 bottles took place forcing the Perth based firm...

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Malware being distributed through NHS Fake website says Kaspersky

Cybersecurity researchers from Kaspersky have discovered that a fake NHS website is being used by hackers to distribute malware. And the news is out that already the fake website has been accessed by thousands of online users seeking online help and advice related to Corona Virus.   Going deep into the details, Kaspersky researchers say that the website is acting as a Trojan distributing hub where it lures the online users in clicking malicious links thereafter stealing a password, credit card details, and other such sensitive info from the...

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Zoom App now takes Cybersecurity seriously

Zoom App which is nowadays hitting news headlines for offering poor encryption in its video streaming services seems to have taken Cybersecurity seriously. It has made it official that in a few days’ time, the company will be rolling out a new version with utmost encryption to provide security and privacy to users using its services. In March 2020, as the world was pushed into a lockdown due to COVID 19 spread, computer users around the world chose to use the Zoom web conferencing app in order to stay in touch with their colleagues to keep their...

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Why cybersecurity needs a seat at the table

Introduction A shift has occurred in the bastion of corporate hierarchy in the last few decades that has fundamentally changed how organizations operate. This shift started about sixteen years ago in 1994 with Citibank/Citigroup. After suffering a cybersecurity incident, they created the role of Chief Information Security Officer (CISO); a role which has only grown in prominence...

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California City of Torrance hit by Ransomware demanding 100 BTC

City of Torrance, based in the metropolitan area of California was reported to have been hit by a ransomware attack launched by DopplePaymer gang on March 1st,2020. And reports are now in that since the authorities failed to pay the demanded ransom of 100 Bitcoins($698,000) the hackers have revealed around 200 GB of data online in retaliation.   Readers of Cybersecurity Insiders have to notify a fact over here that almost 50 days ago, the DopplePaymer Ransomware gangs managed to infiltrate the computer network of the City of Torrance and managed...

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Cynet offers a $5000 reward for cyber attack incident response challenge

Cynet, an Israeli based Cybersecurity company having offices in UK and US has announced a “Cyber Attack Incident Response (IR)” challenge where the contest winner will be awarded a $5000 vacation on offer. Officially dubbed as Cynet IR Challenge which begins on May 15th, 2020, the participants need to respond to real-world environments such as cyber-attacks and data breaches. On an overall note, those participating will be tested in damage mitigation, data breach response management, improvement in recovery times, and cut down in costs arising...

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How to protect your iPhone from Hackers

First and foremost advice is never ‘jailbreak’ your device to access apps and software not available on the Apple store. As it not only defers you from the company warranty but also blocks help from Apple if something unfortunate takes place to your device.   Secure your iCloud account- Never use the same password twice or on any other websites as it allows hackers to target your device for the valuable info. So, for securing the information on iCloud better to use an iCloud Keychain as it helps generate unique passwords...

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Enforcing Secure Access with Global Login Policies

With more and more employees working from home, it’s now more important than ever to ensure the security of your SaaS applications. With so many remote workers, the context and security of their access is more ambiguous and it is important to validate the user’s identity and apply controls when the security of their device or the location they are accessing applications from...

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Securing Remote Work Part 1: Your Data Is on the Move

Over the last several years, the IT landscape and the business world have undergone extensive changes. Data, applications, and even infrastructure have all been moving off premises at an ever-increasing rate, while remote and personal devices are being granted unprecedented access to corporate IT systems both in the cloud and on premises. Bitglass research has shown that 86%...

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Donating while you sleep

This blog was written by an independent guest blogger. By now, you have probably come to the stark realization that we are indeed living in the most interesting times.  Even the most hard-core introverts have noticed the value of human interaction.  It is how our species has survived.  One of the biggest challenges of our new, isolated existence is our sense...

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