[From the desk of Paul Davis – his opinions and no-one else’s]
Apart from the reporter’s opinions 😉
So onto the news:
TeslaCrypt ransomware attacks are increasing
Over the past two weeks security researchers have seen a surge in attacks using a file-encrypting ransomware program called TeslaCrypt, known for targeting gamers in the past.
TeslaCrypt first appeared in March and stood out because over 50 of the 185 file types it targeted were associated with computer games and related software, including game saves, custom maps, profiles, replays and mods — content that users might have a hard time replacing.
In April researchers from Cisco found a weakness in TeslaCrypt’s encryption routine and created a tool that could decrypt files affected by some versions of the program.
Over the past two weeks the number of TeslaCrypt infection attempts detected by Symantec went up from around 200 a day to 1,800, suggesting that one cybercriminal group is ramping up its use of this malicious program.
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12 ways to protect your laptop from hackers when you’re traveling
Since 2009, travelers in many high-end hotels have been attacked by malware called “Darkhotel,” with most of the attacks happening in Russia and other Asian countries, according to Kaspersky, which sees this as a continuing threat.
Earlier this year, security expert Shaun Murphy discovered that while using an in-flight Wi-Fi service, information from his computer was being hacked, compromising passwords and other information on his laptop.
This year, while staying in a major chain’s U.S. hotel, I encountered a rogue MiFi (portable cellular based router) network attempting to spoof my hotel’s Wi-Fi network.
The MiFi network users were clearly trying to redirect hotel guests to its network to steal passwords, bank and credit card account logins, etc., and use them for their profit.
The millions of travelers who use laptops, tablets and smartphones while away from home need to be vigilant and proactive to safeguard their privacy, businesses, families and identities.
Here are a dozen commonsense, comprehensive measures travelers can employ to protect their privacy, identity and data.
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Hackers are Evolving
Increasing use of data.
This should make businesses think carefully; there are increased opportunities to compromise data through attacking the security of any one of these connected companies.
As a result, one of the most critical aspects of cyber resilience is maintaining effective oversight of supply chains and ensuring any third parties that hold data have rigorous security standards.
Another emerging trend is that non-financial industries are becoming increasingly popular targets for cyber-attacks.
Last year, the proportion of attacks launched on the financial sector fell from 12% to 7%.
This is in stark contrast to the retail sector, which saw a rise from 5% to 13%.
One possible reason for this shift is that the banking sector has worked hard to tighten its security controls, taking inspiration from the approaches used for military cyber-defence.
Firms should not only think about security when there is a suspected breach but should instead ensure it plays a part in all decision making.
If businesses are considering mergers or collaborating with other companies, they should conduct due diligence to assess if the resulting data can be securely integrated.
It is critical that businesses plan ahead to combat the ‘worst case scenario’; the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills has been encouraging firms to look into the possibility of cyber liability insurance to cover major breaches.
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Information Warfare: Mighty Microsoft And Its Sidekick FBI
The U.S.
FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and Microsoft recently announced another successful operation against hackers that severely damaged the Dorknet botnet and the software that sustains it.
The Dorknet organization infects over 100,000 PCs a month and uses them for large scale extortion and larceny via the Internet.
Dorknet usually controls a million or more PCs at any one time.
The hackers behind Dorknet also sell other hackers software (mainly NgrBot) to build their own botnets.
What makes Dorknet so dangerous is that it uses worm malware.
Worms automatically seek out vulnerable PCs, inflects them and then keeps going.
Microsoft is the major threat to Dorknet.
But Microsoft is not alone as it works with a growing network of computer security firms that share information on malware and jointly adjust their security software to block and track malware like Dorknet.
The FBI, and similar organizations worldwide, assist in this by conducting criminal investigations based on evidence collected by Microsoft and its consortium of security firms.
Microsoft took the lead in helping the FBI overcome a shortage of technical knowledge about PCs and the Internet.
This was, and is, a common problem throughout government.
But it is particularly serious when the organization responsible for dealing with Internet criminals is not trained or equipped to do so.
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Only Half of Firms Have Data Security Incident Response Teams
A huge majority of large businesses (90%) say they’ve experienced major IT incidents throughout the year, yet only about half have a team dedicated to handling such occurrences, according to a new global survey of 400 IT professionals conducted by Dimensional Research and sponsored by xMatters Inc.
The report, “Major Incident Management Trends 2016,” also shows that nearly two-thirds of IT departments have target resolution times when an outage occurs, but three-quarters of them routinely exceed their target times.
IT departments lack benchmarks and best practices to help drive improvements.
The survey found that nearly 60% of large organizations experience a major IT outage at least monthly.
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The vulnerability and threat landscape in 2016
As software vulnerabilities are the root cause of many security issues (because vulnerable software is an open door for hackers attempting to access an IT infrastructure), understanding how to deal with them is a critical component for protecting any organisation from security breaches.
For as long as Secunia Research at Flexera Software has been monitoring the vulnerability landscape, the trend has been increasing.
The total number of vulnerabilities increased by 55 per cent from 2009 to 2014 and we are expecting the trend to continue.
This presents IT teams with the huge challenge of how to retain control over increasingly complex infrastructures and user device autonomy.
Here’s what security and IT operations teams need to understand about Software Vulnerability Management:
1) Bundling jeopardises security: IT pros need to get better visibility
2) IoT – Everything connected to the Internet can and will be hacked!
3) APT attacks targeting and used by governments will increase in 2016
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Company Offers ‘Troll Insurance’ Policy Against Cyberbullying
Chubb Insurance is offering Internet troll coverage, which will accept claims up to £50,000 coverage.
The insurance policy that is aimed at wealthy policy holders seems extensive.
Chubb introduced the new policy following a survey conducted among its target audience and brokers.
Tara Parchment, private clients manager for the UK and Ireland, explained that the troll insurance would aim to help customers re-establish their lives after suffering a cyber incident that has caused physical harm to their home or person.
While the new insurance policy is targeted at parents who are worried about their children’s online activities, adults who suffer harassment online will also be covered.
For example, if an internet bullying campaign leads to the victim losing their job or their wrongful arrest.
Chubb said that the money offered by the policy could be used to hire a reputation management team to clean up any online smears, or pay for a digital forensic specialist to trace the abuse.
The company has also rejigged its personal insurance policies to cover losses from mugging, and will also reimburse tuition fees if a student in the household withdraws from a course because of injury or death.
Recently a study by Vodafone/YouGov indicated that one in five teenagers had been a victim of cyberbullying.
While one fifth of those affected missed school, an equal number experienced suicidal thoughts.
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Top 6 influential security thinkers
– Jacob Appelbaum, the Tor Project
– Alec Muffett, Facebook software engineer and internet security evangelist
– Joshua Drake, senior director of platform research and exploitation, Zimperium Enterprise Mobile Security
– Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California)
– Katie Moussouris, chief policy officer, HackerOne
– Jay Vijayan, CIO, Tesla Motors
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Microsoft extends SmartScreen browsing protection to foil malvertising and exploit kits
Microsoft SmartScreen, the phishing and malware filtering technology built into Internet Explorer, Edge and Windows, has been updated to block Web-based attacks that silently exploit software vulnerabilities to infect computers.
According to Microsoft, this year exploit kit authors have integrated exploits for four new vulnerabilities within 30 days after they were patched, for six flaws within 10 days, and for five before they even had a fix available.
With the latest update for Windows 10, Microsoft has extended SmartScreen to block drive-by attacks in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11, the Microsoft Edge Team said Wednesday in a blog post.
The new capability is based on the security intelligence that Microsoft receives from multiple products such as Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Bing, Windows Defender and the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET).
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G DATA Releases Mobile Malware Report for the Third Quarter of 2015
Today, global security firm, G DATA, released its Q3 2015 Mobile Malware report which found that of the more than two-thirds of people worldwide who use Androids operating system, over 80 percent of them are using an outdated version.
This is particularly worrisome, as researchers also discovered 6,400 new instances of malware targeting Android devices every day in Q3.
In researching new malware hitting Android devices each quarter, our researchers found that a huge amount of people havent been using the updated version of the operating system, said Andy Hayter, security evangelist, G DATA.
There are a number of reasons for this, but this opens up a huge attack surface of users with holes and vulnerabilities in their operating system, just waiting to be hit.
With the continued growth in malware instances that the researchers also found, this is certainly a cause for concern and something consumers should really take seriously.
Android as a gateway for the Internet of Things: From fitness apps to vehicles, more and more devices are being networked together and can be linked to a smartphone or tablet.
Such applications and the Android operating system are becoming more and more popular among cyber criminals, as they can offer a route for attack.
More smartphones with pre-installed malware: More and more smartphones and tablets come pre-loaded with manipulated firmware.
New research results in this area are expected in the coming months.
Complex malware for online banking fraud: G DATA security experts expect to see an increase in complex malware that combines Windows and Android attack campaigns on online banking customers.
The criminals’ aim is to manipulate banking transactions on the Internet.
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