Cybercriminals look to cash in on the vaccine rollout, including by falsely offering to help people jump the line
The post New warning issued over COVID‑19 vaccine fraud, cyberattacks appeared first on WeLiveSecurity
Cybercriminals look to cash in on the vaccine rollout, including by falsely offering to help people jump the line
The post New warning issued over COVID‑19 vaccine fraud, cyberattacks appeared first on WeLiveSecurity
2020 will be remembered for a lot of sweeping changes and online classes are definitely on top of...
The post Don’t let your kids’ online classes be disrupted by cyberattacks! appeared first on Quick Heal Blog | Latest computer security news, tips, and advice.
![]() |
CVSS is an open industry standard for assessing the severity of computer system insecurities |
A roundup of UK focused Cyber and Information Security News, Blog Posts, Reports and general Threat Intelligence from the previous calendar month, November 2020.
Manchester United FC remains impacted by a seemly major cyber-attack, which I covered in a blog post titled The Multi-Million Pound Manchester United Hack. At this point, United have provided few details about their cyber-attack which has been impacting club's IT systems for well over a week. However, the UK media are widely reporting United's leaky IT defences was unable to prevent a ransomware attack and data theft. London's Hackney Borough Council have also been tight-lipped about what they describe as "a serious cyber-attack" which has impacted its service delivery to Londoners. Like United, this attack has all the hallmarks of a mass ransomware outbreak. Both Manchester United and Hacknet Council said they are working UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
![]() |
Man.Utd hit by ransomware, who's next? |
Street Fighter games maker Capcom also reported to be compromised by a ransomware attack, with up to 350,000 people said to be affected, along some of Capcom's financial information stolen. The Ragnar locker hacker group were said to be behind the attack, although indications are that Capcom hasn't given in to their ransom demands after an ominous message appeared on the Ragnar group's website, which said Capcom didn't "make a right decision and save data from leakage".
The ransomware attacks will be going from bad to worse in 2021 according to Sophos. In its annual threat report, Sophos anticipates ransomware tactics, techniques and procedures are to become more evasive, with criminal threat actor operating more like nation-state attackers. Sophos also expects an increase in the number of entry-level, apprentice-type attackers looking for menu-driven, ransomware-for-rent, meaning the technical barrier preventing general nefarious folk orchestrating ransomware attacks is getting lower.
Its likely COVID-19 has saved Ticketmaster from a more substantial DPA/GDPR fine after the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) announced it had fined the gig ticket selling company a mere £1.25 million for failing to keep 9 million of its customer's personal data and payment cards secure. The ICO investigation concluded a vulnerability in a third-party chatbot installed on Ticketmaster's online payments page was exploited and used to access its customer card payment details. Following the breach, 60,000 Barclays bank customers were victims of fraud, while online bank Monzo had to replace 6,000 payment cards due to fraud. Ticketmaster said it would appeal against the ICO ruling.
An interesting new UK law is in the offing which proposes fines of 10% of turnover or more than £100,000 a day for telecoms operators that use of Huawei network equipment within their 5G networks. The bill provides the UK government new powers to force out Huawei usage with the UK telecoms giants, the threatened sum of £100,000 a day would only be used in the case of "continuing contravention" according to number 10.
Consumer group Which warned security flaws in popular smart doorbells are placing UK consumers at risk. The watchdog tested 11 smart doorbell (IoT) devices purchased from popular online marketplaces like Amazon, the dodgy products were said to have been made by Qihoo, Ctronics and Victure. The most common security flaws found by Which were weak password policies and a lack of data encryption. Two of the devices could be manipulated to steal network WiFi passwords, providing the opportunity for an attacker to then hack other smart devices within the home.
The NCSC released its annual review, confirming what we already know about the commonality of ransomware attacks on UK organisations. The NCSC also accused Russia of trying to steal vaccine-related information through cyber-espionage, advising an "ongoing threat" of nation-states targeting the UK vaccine research-and-delivery programmes. The NCSC were not alone in pointing the finger at nation-state threat actors going after COVID-19 vaccines, Microsoft also reported state-backed hackers from Russian and North Korea were targeting organisations working on a coronavirus vaccine. The Russian group "Fancy Bear" and North Korean groups "Zinc" and "Cerium" were fingered by Microsoft as the culprits behind a spate recent cyber-attacks. Microsoft said Fancy Bear were brute-forcing accounts with millions of different passwords combinations, while North Korean groups sent spear-phishing emails posing as World Health Organisation officials, in an attempt to trick researchers into handing over their login credentials and research data.
![]() |
Firms could be inadvertently putting employees at risk of security, mental health/wellbeing and medical risk |
![]() |
Empty offices are targets for robberies, lone office workers need support on dealing with such threats |
The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) recently announced the nomination period for the next PCI SSC Board of Advisors. The Board of Advisors represents PCI SSC Participating Organizations worldwide to ensure global industry involvement in the development of PCI Security Standards. As strategic partners, they bring industry, geographical and technical insight to PCI Council plans and projects. In this post, we talk with 2018 - 2020 PCI SSC Board of Advisor Member Stacy Hughes, Chief Information Security Officer, at Global Payments about the role of the PCI SSC Board of Advisors in shaping payment security globally.
Guest article by Andrea Babbs, UK General Manager, VIPRE
2020 has forced businesses to revise many of their operations. One significant transition being the shift to a remote working model, for which many were unprepared in terms of equipment, infrastructure and security. As the government now urges people to return to work, we’re already seeing a shift towards a hybrid workforce, with many employees splitting their time between the office and working from home.
As organisations are now reassessing their long-term office strategies, front and centre to that shift needs to be their IT security underpinned by a dependable and flexible cloud infrastructure. Andrea Babbs, UK General Manager, VIPRE, discusses what this new way of working means long-term for an organisation’s IT security infrastructure and how businesses can successfully move from remote working to a secure and agile workforce.
COVID-19 accelerated the shift towards Cloud-based services, with more data than ever before now being stored in the Cloud. For those organisations working on Cloud-based applications and drives, the challenges of the daily commute, relocations for jobs and not being able to ‘access the drive’ are in the past for many. Cloud services are moving with the user – every employee can benefit from the same level of security no matter where they are working or which device they are using. However, it’s important to ensure businesses are taking advantage of all the features included in their Cloud subscriptions, and that they’re configured securely for hybrid working.
With increased pressure placed on users to perform their roles faster and achieve greater results than ever before, employees will do what it takes to power through and access the information they need in the easiest and quickest way possible. This is where the cloud has an essential role to play in making this happen, not just for convenience and agility but also to allow users to stay secure – enabling secure access to applications for all devices from any location and the detection and deletion of viruses – before they reach the network.
Email remains the most-used communication tool, even more so when remote working, but it also remains the weakest link in IT security, with 91%of cybercrimes beginning with an email. By implementing innovative tools that prompt employees to double-check emails before they send them, it can help reduce the risk of sharing the wrong information with the wrong individual.
Additional layers of defence such as email checking tools, are removing the barriers which slow the transition to agile working and are helping to secure our new hybrid workforce, regardless of the location they’re working in, or what their job entails.
For organisations wanting to evolve into a hybrid work environment, their IT security policies need to reflect the new reality. By re-educating employees about existing products and how to leverage any additional functionality to support their decision making, users can be updated on these cyber risks and understand their responsibilities.
Security awareness training programmes teach users to be alert and more security conscious as part of the overall IT security strategy. In order to fully mitigate IT security risks and for the business to benefit from an educated workforce, both in the short and long term, employees need to change their outdated mindset.
Changing the Approach
The evolution of IT and security over the past 20 years means that working from home is now easily achievable with cloud-based setups, whereas in the not too distant past, it would have been impossible. But the key to a successful and safe agile workforce is to shift the approach of full reliance on IT, to a mindset where everyone is alert, responsible, empowered and educated with regular training, backed up by tools that reinforce a ‘security first’ approach.
IT departments cannot be expected to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals and adapt to new threats on their own. They need their colleagues to work mindfully and responsibly on the front lines of cyber defence, comfortable in the knowledge that everything they do is underpinned by a robust and secure IT security infrastructure, but that the final decision to click the link, send the sensitive information or download the file, lies with them.
By focusing on getting the basics right and powered by the capabilities of the Cloud, highlighting the importance of layered security and challenging existing mindsets, businesses will be able to shift away from remote workers being the ‘exception,’ to a secure and agile workforce as a whole.
![]() |
Attackers are taking advantage of heightened anxiety and homeworking |