A selection of this week’s more interesting vulnerability disclosures and cyber security news. I don’t often play games, and until this issue below appeared on my feed due to the self inflicted data breach I was blissfully unaware. Apart from the horrific appearing customer service, the breach is deeply unfortunate. What can we learn from it? Perhaps when under a lot of stress make sure you configure (was it a thread configuration issue or bug?) anything customer facing correctly.

Phishing is the bad act of luring users to visit the malicious websites that apparently seems legitimate. The purpose of phishing is to trick users into revealing sensitive and personal information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, and so forth. More often, threat actors carry out phishing attacks by sending suspicious links or attachments through Emails and social media websites.

On Thursday 6th December, 2018, I realized how dependent I was on my mobile phone having an internet connection. That particular day, I was out and about away from Wi-Fi networks. The first time I noticed I had no connectivity was when I used my phone to check if my train was on time. As I got close to London, I realized I was not the only person who did not have data services on their devices, as I overheard a few people commenting on no connectivity.

For many organizations, the transition to paperless systems is fraught with operational challenges. The difficulty is not so much with the deployment and adoption of digital tools, but rather with converting piles of paper into usable data. The first step in this process is high-volume document scanning; turning the physical stuff digital. Next, it’s time to make sense of the image captures.

You’ve made the big decision to migrate to Microsoft Office 365. Its array of cloud collaboration makes this a great decision. Yet at the same time, Microsoft is also pitching Office 365 as a way to consolidate your security, compliance, and e-discovery platforms. It is promising advanced threat protection, data protection, and an online archive that’s all about privacy and meeting robust data-retention requirements. And it’s all included. How can you turn down that offer?

Who else had as much fun as we did at re:Invent 2018? I hope everyone is now home, rested, and going through everything they’ve learned while at the show – I know I learned a ton! The best part of being at a conference like re:Invent is hearing firsthand from practitioners how they are using technology to solve their business challenges.

Businesses rely on technology more today than they ever have in the past. In fact, many business models are built entirely around a technology which, if disrupted, could spell ruin. A traditional business with a brick and mortar presence is probably better-placed to withstand an extensive online disruption or outage.

Any developer would probably agree Content Management Systems (CMS) make it easier for web development teams and marketing to work together. However CMS assets like blog.company.com are also web application based and could be targets of hacker attacks. Why’s that? Simply because they are based on commonly used technologies, communicate with end users, bring in organic or paid reader traffic and build brand awareness.

As ransomware attacks become more sophisticated, they pose an ever-increasing threat to data-driven systems. Much like an infectious disease, malware wreaks the most havoc once it spreads; so the best way for hackers to get the most bang for their buck is by targeting vulnerable businesses. When an encrypted file from one account syncs to the cloud and to other devices, productivity grinds to a halt.

Sotheby’s, the popular British auction house, revealed on Friday that its website had been infected with digital skimming code. The company claims that its New York based e-commerce marketplace Sotheby’s Home, formerly known as Viyet, was affected. On October 10, 2018, the firm discovered and “promptly removed” malicious code placed onto the site by a malicious third party.