In 2014, the FBI warned that healthcare systems, including medical devices, were at an increased risk of cyber-attacks due to the unfortunate coupling of poor cybersecurity practices in the healthcare industry with patient health information (PHI) that commands high value on the dark web. This warning has largely been realized. The cost and frequency...

A new, “highly prevalent” strain of Android malware was found infecting several Minecraft-related apps on the Google Play store, adding compromised devices into a botnet. According to security researchers at Symantec, at least eight mobile apps – with an install base ranging from 600,000 to 2.6 million devices – were infected with Sockbot. “The...

Microsoft’s Office 365 suite of cloud applications is now the most popular cloud service in the world by user count. While this has fast-tracked Microsoft’s path to becoming a cloud-first enterprise software company, it has also put a bulls-eye on Office 365, making it a target of choice for hackers. Given the fact that enterprises store a...

Continuing the discussion around the skills gap our industry is facing, I’m excited to share our final set of results from the Tripwire skills gap survey. My previous post highlighted the need for technical skills. But as this next set of findings indicates, soft skills in cybersecurity are not be overlooked. Every single participant in our survey...

In my last interview, I spoke with Tarah Wheeler, who is a technology and cybersecurity executive, entrepreneur, hacker, keynote speaker, scientist, and author. She's also the author of Women in Tech: Take Your Career to the Next Level with Practical Advice and Inspiring Stories. This time, I spoke to Katherine Teitler. She's the director of content...

On 16 October, news first emerged of what's known as "KRACKs." These malicious techniques exploit vulnerabilities that affect a protocol used for securing Wi-Fi networks. Bad actors could therefore leverage KRAcks to potentially expose encrypted information exchanged over otherwise secure wireless connections. As of this writing, the computer...

Tech support scams are no laughing matter. They're capable of infecting unsuspecting users' computers with malware and robbing innocent people of their hard-earned money. It's therefore not surprising that we've witnessed the emergence of numerous initiatives designed to counter tech support scammers over the past few years. Many of these offensives...

Last week, a hacking gang abused the SWIFT banking network to steal $60 million after planting malware on a Taiwanese bank's servers. The Far Eastern International Bank has confirmed that malware had been found on it computer systems, affecting PCs and servers, as well as its SWIFT terminal. SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial...

Do you go fishing? You may or may not, but we see far too much phishing going on in the Internet ocean, and it scares us. The risk of over-phishing is not necessarily our concern. Our concern rests in that phishing is so easy, and big fat phish of this Internet ocean are getting gobbled up. And that’s not good for us because many of us don't really...

According to the figures from the FBI, through December 2016 cyber thieves stole over $2 billion from 24,000 businesses using a scam that starts when business executives’ or employees’ email accounts are compromised or spoofed (BEC scam). Criminals are able to steal money with the help of an unwitting accomplice: an employee who is fooled into...

As new technologies like the cloud, IoT, Big Data and more emerge, organizations are playing catch up to upskill their employees to handle challenges that come with them. According to ESG’s 2018 annual global survey of the state of IT, more than half (51 percent) of respondents said their organization had a problematic shortage of cybersecurity...

One of the most dangerous threats to your business in 2018 is a data leak. Hackers can sell your information on the black market or simply destroy it. This could ruin your business overnight if you are not careful. So, you should use the best practices below to ensure you avoid leaks in 2018. Phishing If you haven't trained your people on phishing...

Some Chili's restaurant locations suffered a data security incident that might have compromised customers' payment card details. Brinker International, a Dallas-based multinational hospitality industry company which operates 1,600 Chili's restaurants, said it learned of the incident on 11 May. It provided additional details about the event in a...

Romania has extradited two of its citizens to the United States for a phishing scheme they allegedly used to rob Americans of over $18 million. Byung J. “BJay” Pak (Source: U.S. Department of Justice) On 4 May, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced the extradition...

The FBI's 10 most-wanted black-hat hackers countdown continues this week with No. 7 and No. 6: the co-conspirators Bjorn Daniel Sundin and Shaileshkumar “Sam” P. Jain. On 26 May 2010, the U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois indicted Sundin, Jain and a third suspect for one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud, one count of computer fraud...

If there is one thing that executives and managers never want to disrupt it would be productivity. As most managers know, productivity is the ability to make use of resources while producing profitable goods and services. Put another way that means, are you producing enough profitable outputs given your resource inputs? The measure of productivity...

A school district located in Massachusetts paid attackers $10,000 after they infected its computer network with crypto-ransomware. Officials at Leominster Public Schools decided to meet the demand after the district suffered a ransomware attack on 14 April. It's unclear what types of files the...

Last time, I got to speak with Leanne Williams. As a pen testing professional, she knows there’s a lot more to penetration testing than pointing a network vulnerability scanner at an IP address. This time I had the pleasure of chatting with Jen Fox. She’s all about cybersecurity in the very challenging compliance space. Kim Crawley: Tell me a bit...

Cyber security is a field both deep and broad with a large number of complicated facets. As no one can be an expert in all things, it can sometimes be difficult even for experienced security professionals to know where vulnerabilities are in the system. That’s where risk assessments come in; they can help you identify problems that need to be...

The government of Canada has unveiled new regulations that specify how organizations must report and respond to a data breach. The Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, Canada. (Source: Wikipedia) On 18 April, the Governor General of Canada released the Breach of Security Safeguards Regulations (SOR/2018-64...