Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but remember that I am only the messenger. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 23 Insight Report (published in collaboration with Accenture), although business leaders are more aware of the risk of cyber issues to their organizations, there remain challenges on how organizations are
cyberattacks
Social Media Enables Social Engineering Scams
The more one uses and shares on social media, the more information is publicly available for cyber attackers to use to exploit users’ personal and professional information.
It is hard for people to realize that every single thing shared on any social media platform is available for friends and foes alike to access and use.
Hackers Target Russia in Support Of Ukraine
The world has rallied around Ukraine since Russian forces invaded this past week, including, it seems, hackers. The hacktivist collective Anonymous, which gained prominence between 2008 and 2014 with a series of high-profile politically motivated cyber-attacks against such disparate groups as the Church of Scientology and PayPal, has come out of the woodwork once again…
Update on Apache log4j and Kronos Security Incidents
It was a crazy weekend for cyber-attacks. People seem surprised, but those of us in the industry aren’t surprised one bit. It is very logical and foreseeable that hackers are leveraging attacks that have maximum disruption on multiple victims, including third-party vendors and their customers. It is a “one-stop shop” strategy that is used every…
Virginia State Legislature IT Provider Hit with Ransomware
The Division of Legislative Automated Systems, which provides IT services to the Virginia General Assembly (the Assembly), detected a ransomware attack on December 10, 2021, that included “extremely sophisticated malware” that affected all of its servers.
The attack comes right before the Assembly commences its session in January.
Governor Ralph Northam was briefed on the…
Companies Still Struggling with Implementing Backup Plans
Backup plans continue to be one of the most important ways to respond to a ransomware attack. If you have a backup plan, have tested it, and can migrate to it, you are better equipped to be able to respond when your system is locked by ransomware. If you do not have backups of your…
Privacy Tip #127 – Emails Continue to Pose High Risk to Companies
According to a Proofpoint study that analyzed 160 billion emails delivered to 2,400 global companies at the end of 2017, 88.8 percent of organizations were targeted by at least one email phishing attack over the past year. This is an increase over its 2016 report conclusion of 75 percent.
In addition, more identities were spoofed…
Another Hitch in the Crypto Boom? North Korean Malware Hijacks Computers to Mine Monero Cryptocurrency
Researchers at cybersecurity firm AlienVault have discovered a computer virus of North Korean origin which infects and hijacks computers in order to mine Monero, a private digital currency which styles itself as “secure, private and untraceable.” Cryptocurrency mining is the resource-intensive process by which computers or “miners” running specific software verify cryptocurrency transactions. In exchange for their computing power, miners are given small amounts of cryptocurrency. In the case of North Korean’s Monero malware, the virus installs mining software on infected computers unbeknownst to their owners or users. The software then secretly mines Monero and sends mining rewards back to a server located at Kim II Sung University in Pyongyang. Researchers are unsure how many computers may be affected.
Continue Reading Another Hitch in the Crypto Boom? North Korean Malware Hijacks Computers to Mine Monero Cryptocurrency
Cybersecurity Risks to the Manufacturing Sector
The 2016 Manufacturing Report by Sikich finds that there has been a progressive growth in cyber-attacks in the manufacturing sector. This is consistent with the most recent IBM/X-Force Research 2016 Cyber Security Intelligence Index, which notes that the manufacturing industry represents the second most attacked industry, just behind health care.
Manufacturing companies often don’t believe…
Sanction rules adopted for cyber-attackers
The federal government issued The Cyber-Related Sanctions Regulation on December 31, 2015, which allows the freezing of assets of suspects who aid in cyberattacks. The Regulation follows an Executive Order from April, 2015, which allows officials to determine that money transfers by individuals suspected of playing a role in a cyberattack targeting national security, foreign…