A vast network of millions of compromised computers, being used to facilitate a wide range of cybercrime, has been disrupted by a multinational law enforcement operation. The 911 S5 botnet, described as "likely the world's largest botnet ever" by FBI Director Christopher Wray, has had its infrastructure and assets seized and its alleged mastermind arrested and charged. 35-year-old YunHe Wang, a dual citizen of China and St.

Data is the lifeblood of modern organizations, and while watertight data protection policies are undeniably crucial, the need for robust data destruction methods has never been more pressing. Ultimately, all parties and vendors in your supply chain trust you to maintain the integrity of their data. Once that data is no longer needed, transparency about its whereabouts is vital.

The energy sector is having a tumultuous decade. During the COVID pandemic, the price of oil plummeted. In 2021, a ransomware attack forced one of the US’s most significant oil pipelines to cease operations for five days, causing a state of emergency in seventeen states. Putin’s war in Ukraine has disrupted natural gas supplies across Europe. And now, it seems, it is the electricity providers’ turn to suffer a blow.

Cloud computing offers indisputable benefits, but with the caveat that it can quickly become a disorganized jumble unless adequately managed. It’s common for the average organization to use dozens of cloud instances, solutions, and resources scattered across multiple platforms. Such off-premises services quickly accumulate to accommodate the company’s ever-growing needs. This uncurbed growth, known as cloud sprawl, creates significant economic and security challenges.

A security incident can be the result of a single unauthorised change. A few may say, 'one change is inconsequential, don't sweat the small stuff.' But when it comes to infrastructure security, the detail is of paramount importance! Just a single edit to a single line item can have a negative effect on an entire file or operating system. It's essential to be made aware of any unauthorised file change and to be made aware with haste.

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Bard are some of the most exciting technologies in the world. They have already begun to revolutionize productivity, supercharge creativity, and make the world a better place. But as with any new technology, generative AI has brought about new risks—or, rather, made old risks worse.

Cyberattacks on the automotive industry are becoming more sophisticated. In its 2024 Automotive Cybersecurity Report, Upstream found that 50% of all automotive cyber incidents in 2023 had a high or massive impact. Similarly, 95% of all attacks in 2023 were executed remotely, and 37% of attacker activities in the deep and dark web target multiple original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) simultaneously.

Much has been made of cyber resilience in recent years. And with good reason: failing to bounce back quickly from a security event can have dramatic financial consequences. In early 2023, Royal Mail took several days to recover from a Lockbit cyberattack, losing upwards of £10 million in the process. However, for all the talk about resilience, the industry seems to be overlooking one of its fundamental tenets: risk management. It is, perhaps, understandable that we overlook risk management.

How can an organization prepare to be cyber-resilient in 2024? The major trends to look out for seem to focus mainly on AI. While the rise of generative AI indeed poses challenges, executives should be cautious not to miss other critical trends that will shape the cybersecurity landscape this year.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has a long and storied history. Ancient Greeks, for example, told stories of Talos, an enormous automaton that stood guard over Crete’s shores. In the 17th century, Gottfried Leibniz, Thomas Hobbes, and René Descartes explored the possibility that all rational thought could be as systematic as algebra or geometry.

In early April this year, the UK's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) released its Cybersecurity Breaches Survey 2024. It provides a comprehensive overview of the UK's cybersecurity landscape, exploring the different cyberattacks and cybercrimes businesses, charities, and private sector educational instructions face, the impacts on these organizations, and how they respond. The report is a valuable resource for the cybersecurity community.

When you think of the cybersecurity "CIA" triad of Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability, which one of those is most important to your organization? While the answer may vary by season for your organization, there is no argument that they are all equally vital sides of that CIA triangle, and each deserves the correct level of care and attention.

Cybersecurity is more important than ever. With a skyrocketing number of cyber threats and data breaches, organizations are always on the lookout for ways to strengthen their online defenses. However, one major obstacle the cybersecurity sector faces is a lack of diversity and representation of women. According to Cybersecurity Ventures research, only a quarter (25%) of global cybersecurity jobs were held by women in 2022.

Law enforcement agencies worldwide have coordinated to take down one of the world’s largest hacker forums, scoring a victory against cybercrime. BreachForums, a notorious marketplace for stolen data, was seized by the authorities on Wednesday, according to a message on its website.

File integrity monitoring (FIM) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) are two cybersecurity solutions that are often foundational aspects of organizations’ security strategies. EDR is implemented in order to stop known and unknown threats at endpoints, often with advanced functions such as behavioral monitoring and analysis, antivirus protection, and threat response capabilities.

“When the cat’s away, the mouse will play,” the old adage goes. Filings to anti-fraud non-profit Cifas would support that claim, as Insider Threat Database (ITD) reports rose by 14% this past year and are largely attributable to hard-to-monitor work-from-home employees mixed with “increasing financial pressures.” The report details further incidents of dishonest behavior as recorded this year by the UK’s National Fraud Database (NFD).

Cybercriminals are notoriously tricky to pin down. They are experts in obfuscation and misdirection, masters of avoiding consequences. Not since the early days of the Wild West have criminals managed to evade capture and maintain anonymity as effectively as modern cybercriminals do. Part of the reason for these staggeringly low conviction rates is that we usually have little idea of what country an attacker is in.

The FBI has issued a warning to US retailers about a financially-motivated malicious hacking ring that has been targeting employees with phishing attacks in an attempt to create fraudulent gift cards. Staff at the corporate offices of US retail companies have been the target of highly-sophisticated email phishing and SMS phishing ("smishing") attacks. These attacks attempt to gain access to employee accounts, IT systems, and cloud services used by the company.

The Rolling Stones wanted to protect their space; we, as security practitioners, need to protect ours. Data 'castles' in the cloud are out there, and they're constantly under siege. By drawing inspiration from a band that embodied personal freedom, we can draw some – okay, very stretched - parallels to modern cloud security. Nonetheless, they work. And we all knew this blog was coming. And if you read the blog backward you can hear the name of the latest malware family... Maybe.

In 2022, the Security team at Microsoft published a cybersecurity awareness campaign named “#BeCyberSmart”. Even though that was two years ago, the same best practices still apply. Cybersecurity is an important part of our daily lives and can enable us to accomplish more while keeping our data and identity protected.

In the first installment of our series on cyber resilience, we discussed what being a resilient organization means. In this installment, we'll explore why organizations need to consider how to become resilient, who's responsible for achieving this, and the processes organizations must have to prioritize actions and effectively spend their budgets.

With the widespread use of AI technology, numerous AI models gather and process vast amounts of data, much of which comprises personal information utilized to offer personalized experiences. However, this abundance of data poses inherent risks, particularly in terms of privacy and security.

From more broad laws like GDPR to industry-specific regulations like HIPAA, most organizations today must comply with some kind of data protection guideline. Some businesses may even have to comply with numerous data protection regulations. As such, compliance with data protection regulations has become increasingly complicated.

With cybersecurity, the digital battlegrounds stretch across the vast expanse of the internet. On the one side, we have increasingly sophisticated and cunning adversaries. On the other, skilled cybersecurity practitioners who are desperate to protect their companies’ assets at all costs. One fundamental truth rings clear: it’s an ongoing and relentless battle of wits.