Data Breaches

Phishing attacks increase by over 31% in third quarter: Report

Email security and threat detection company Vade has found that phishing emails in the third quarter this year increased by more than 31% quarter on quarter, with the number of emails containing malware in the first three quarters surpassing the 2021 level by 55.8 million. Malware emails in the third quarter of 2022 alone increased by 217% compared to same period in 2021. Malware email volume peaked in July, reaching 19.2 million, before month-over-month declines…

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Hacker steals US$1mn worth of crypto and NFTs 24 hours

A hacker known as Monkey Drainer has stolen US$1mn worth of Ethereum and NFTs in a hacking spree across just 24 hours. The hack was reported by Twitter user ZackXBT who describes themselves as a “crypto sleuth” and a “rug pull survivor turned 2D detective”. A rug pull is a scam which sees malicious actors pose as a legitimate cryptocurrency project to attract investors, only to ‘pull out’ of the project before it is completed,…

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Top cybersecurity M&A deals for 2022

The number of cybersecurity mergers and acquisitions deals in 2021 set a record pace. The first three quarters of the year saw 151 transactions in the industry, according to 451 Research. That’s up from 94 for the same period in 2020. That trend is likely to continue in 2022. Many of the 2021 transactions CSO reported were in the identity and cloud security markets, especially toward the end of the year. This trend is likely…

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How Cisco’s Cloud Control Framework helps it comply with multiple security standards

An XKCD comic strip shows two tech workers frustrated that there are 14 competing standards for a variety of use cases. “We need to develop one unified standard that covers everyone’s use cases,” they say. The next frame shows that there are now 15 standards instead of one. Brad Arkin, the chief security and trust officer at Cisco, will tell you that this illustration of how standards proliferate hits uncomfortably close to the truth. “Everybody…

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How to update your Windows driver blocklist to keep malicious drivers away

For many years, attackers have used and abused various ways to get on our systems. From phishing to tricking us to click on websites, if an attacker can get their code on our systems they are no longer our systems. Attackers will even invest the time, energy, and expense to get their malicious drivers approved and co-designed through the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program in order to gain access to our machines. Ensuring that these malicious…

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Microsoft Event Log vulnerabilities threaten some Windows operating systems

A pair of newly discovered vulnerabilities have highlighted the ongoing risks posed by Internet Explorer’s (IE) deep integration into the Windows ecosystem, despite Microsoft ending support for IE in June 2022. Discovered by the Varonis Threat Labs team, the exploits affect an IE-specific Event Log that is present on all current Windows operating systems up to, but not including, Windows 11. The vulnerabilities, dubbed LogCrusher and OverLog by the researchers, have been reported to Microsoft,…

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Akamai to boost network-layer DDoS protection with new scrubbing centers

Content delivery network (CDN) provider Akamai said Tuesday that its Prolexic DDoS protection service will become able to handle DDoS attacks of up to 20Tbps, thanks to a new wave of construction of so-called scrubbing centers. The company’s announcement said that this will effectively double its current capacity to handle network-level DDoS attacks, with rollouts planned for “all major regions,” which includes US East and West, Canada, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, India, Japan, Hong Kong and…

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8 hallmarks of a proactive security strategy

CISOs have long been tasked with building response and recovery capabilities, the objective being to have teams that can react to a security incident as quickly as possible and can restore business functions with as little damage as possible. The need for those activities is certainly not going to go away, but many security chiefs are seeking to take more proactive steps to balance out reactive ones. “On the proactive side, you’re trying to predict…

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Blockchain security companies tackle cryptocurrency theft, ransom tracing

According to data from the Rekt leaderboard, cybercriminals have stolen as much as $3 billion of investor funds through 141 various cryptocurrency exploits since January, putting 2022 on track to top 2021 levels of digital currency malfeasance. Comparitech’s cryptocurrency heists tracker indicates that since 2011, hackers have stolen $7.9 billion in cryptocurrency worth about $45.5 billion in today’s value. Along with the increased dollar amounts of cryptocurrency thefts, the scams, hacks, and exploits of cryptocurrency,…

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Security by design vital to protecting IoT, smart cities around the world, says CEO of UK NCSC

A secure by design approach is vital to protecting the internet of things (IoT) and smart cities, according to Lindy Cameron, CEO of the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Cameron spoke during Singapore International Cyber Week, calling for swift ongoing action to ensure connected devices are designed, built, deployed, and managed securely to prevent malicious actors, improve national resilience, and reap the benefits of emerging technologies. Growth of IoT giving rise to increased security…

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