Too busy working all week to keep up with the most interesting stories coming out of the technology and security industries? Below are our recommendations for a roundup of the top stories happening now that you need to know.
Wells Fargo said to get regulatory questions after breach
Wells Fargo, already in the regulatory spotlight because of last year’s fake-accounts scandal, is drawing renewed scrutiny after a lawyer’s unauthorized release of sensitive client details for tens of thousands of accounts belonging to wealthy customers of its brokerage unit. Read more…
Feds Indict Russian Over BTC-e Bitcoin Exchange
Police in Greece on Tuesday arrested Alexander Vinnik, 38, for allegedly running a massive money laundering operation that processed $4 billion in bitcoins, many of which may be tied to the largest bitcoin exchange heist in history. Read more…
Hack on Italy's largest bank affects 400,000 customers
Data about loan accounts belonging to 400,000 customers of Italy's largest bank has been put at risk by two security breaches. Unicredit said that personal data and account numbers could have been stolen. Read more…
GSM -based credit card skimmers hit New York gas stations
GSM-based credit card skimmers capable of sending credit card data via text messages were found at three New York gas stations. While the technology itself isn't new, this is the first time the SMS-enabled skimmers have been found inside gas pumps. Read more…
Too busy working all week to keep up with the most interesting stories coming out of the technology and security industries? Below are our recommendations for a roundup of the top stories happening now that you need to know.
Hackers steal $32 million in Ether cryptocurrency hack
Hackers have stolen $32 million worth of Ether, a popular and increasingly valuable cryptocurrency, by exploiting a critical security vulnerability in wallet software that allowed an attacker to steal over 153,000 Ether. Read more…
South Carolina hit with 150,000 Election Day hacking attempts
More information about the scale of attempted election hacks has been released and it involves a rather surprising target -- South Carolina. The state's voter-registration system was hit with nearly 150,000 hack attempts. Read more…
Global cyberattack could spur $53 billion in losses: Lloyd's of London
A major, global cyberattack could trigger an average of $53 billion of economic losses, a figure on par with a catastrophic natural disaster such as U.S. Superstorm Sandy in 2012, Lloyd's of London said in a report on Monday. Read more…
US Banks Targeted with Trickbot Trojan
Necurs botnet spreads Trickbot malware to US financial institutions, while new Emotet banking Trojan attacks discovered - signaling increasingly complex attacks on the industry. Read more…
Have you ever stopped and thought about how much you use the Internet, your phone, or other digital channels in a day, or even just an hour? It is most likely more than you think. The digital world has become entwined in our daily life, and while the online world brings convenience, we have become a bit contradictory in the way we think about the security of our information.
In our physical world, we keep a close eye on our purses, wallets and tangible possessions, so why don’t we do the same in our digital one? Far too often we sign up for different accounts and add our information, but give little thought to how this information is protected by the organizations to who we hand it over.
What we forget about our data, everything from personal to financial, is how easily it can fall into the wrong hands. As our world becomes increasingly mobile, is it time to re-evaluate the value our data holds and start viewing data privacy as a human right, rather than a just nice to have?
Over the last few years, there have been increasing reports about hacking and data breaches where groups or individuals have forced their way into an organization’s computer systems and stolen user information from these systems. Now let’s not get in to the rights or wrongs of the individuals and groups hacking the systems, as some say that they are doing it to show a lack of importance given to the security of information, and others because of monetary gains. Whatever the reasons, hacking and the stealing of private individuals’ and corporate information happens and most organizations still seem to have a laissez-faire attitude to it.
This is unsustainable. The information that is taken is often personal information: email addresses, telephone numbers physical addresses, logon details, etc. This is all information that should never be available on a web server, a web server connected database, or on any computer that has a web connection. This is all information that is highly sensitive and often can’t even have a maximum monetary value put on it; nevertheless, when a breach happens, most organizations simply downplay the impact to those affected or merely offer an apology and say they will “evaluate” their current policies and then simply move on to business as normal. This lack of respect for confidential information highlights how deeply the security industry is broken.
To be fair, there are some regulations in place like HIPAA, PCI DSS, and ISO that offer standards for organizations to understand how to conduct security, and there are also industry best practices that have become accepted as proper procedures; however, these serve more as a guideline and are often up to each individual organization to decide what procedures, products, or security strategy they want to implement.
When you think about the value of the information users are submitting to organizations that is highly sought after by hackers to capitalize on and sell to the black market, it surely is not too much to ask that organizations have a responsibility in protecting this data. After all, users are generally paying organizations for a service or product. Shouldn’t part of that payment be for the safe keeping of their information?
Cybersecurity protection efforts have largely fallen on private sector institutions, but many government officials and security experts believe not enough is being done and more standard regulations are needed. The current federal regulations don’t specify what cybersecurity measures must be implemented and require only a “reasonable” level of security, which leaves room for interpretation.
However, as the number of security breaches and threats continue to rise, it is time we start taking data protection more seriously and viewing it as a human right. It is time we take a closer look at the standards organizations are using and re-evaluate what tools are needed to keep user information protected from hackers ready to access to steal the information and use it how they wish.
Too busy working all week to keep up with the most interesting stories coming out of the technology and security industries? Below are our recommendations for a roundup of the top stories happening now that you need to know.
Breached Bitcoin Bithumb bosses blame bod's BYOD
South Korean cyber-cops are probing a hacking attack on Bithumb, one of the world's biggest Bitcoin exchanges. Miscreants were able to get hold of personal information of roughly 32,000 Bithumb users, or three per cent of the exchange's user base. Read more…
CopyCat Android malware infected 14 million devices, rooted 8 million last year
CopyCat Android mobile malware was able to infect over 14 million devices last year and root eight million of them, researchers have revealed. Read more…
'NotPetya' Hackers Demand $256,000 In Bitcoin To Cure Ransomware Victims
It looks like the hackers responsible for the massive ransomware outbreak that crippled Ukraine last week and infected some of the world's biggest industrial companies, from Maersk to Merck, are posting messages demanding more Bitcoin to unlock victims' files. They're after 100 Bitcoin, currently worth an astonishing $256,000. Read more…
Kaspersky offers to turn over source code to U.S. government
Kaspersky said the U.S. government can audit its source code, a move meant to prove Kaspersky Lab is not in bed with the Russian government. Read more…
