This financial sector’s reliance on computer systems and network has made it an attractive target for cyber attacks, now the biggest risk to the UK financial system. In its latest Financial Stability Report, the Bank of England (BoE) agrees that cyber threats may be prevalent in 2023. The BoE said that it is working to strengthen defenses against cyber attacks. The report identified three...

There is a sharp rise in cyber attacks targeting businesses and organizations across Australia. The nature of these attacks ranges from ransomware and phishing scams to distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, with some estimates suggesting that the number of cyber incidents could be as high as one million per year. The financial cost of these cyber attacks is immense, with businesses and...

On November 1st, 2022, Dropbox became the victim of a cyber attack where source code repositories, as well as names and emails of their employees, were unauthorizedly accessed. It is not yet clear how the unauthorized access took place, but Dropbox has said that they are investigating the matter. The company is urging all users to change their passwords as a precautionary measure. This breach...

On September 15, the Hive ransomware group claimed to have launched an attack against Bell Technology Solutions on August 20, 2022. The compromised information contained approximately 1.9 million active email addresses, 1,700 names, and active phone numbers. Bell Technology Solutions is a subsidiary of Bell Canada, a leading communications company and communications provider for over 140 years....

In early July, IT solutions provider and remote management solution provider Kaseya announced that it had fallen victim to a supply chain ransomware attack. During the attack, hackers leveraged a vulnerability in Kaseya’s VSA platform to encrypt the data of hundreds of downstream MSPs and their clients. The Kaseya ransomware outbreak is one of the latest high-profile ransomware attacks targeting...

At the start of April, hackers leaked the data of 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries in an online hacking forum. The leaked data included the private information of Facebook users like full names, phone numbers, email addresses, locations, Facebook IDs, and biographical data. While hackers obtained the information in 2019, there are serious concerns over how cyber criminals could use...

The disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic saw enterprises across the globe rapidly adopt remote working to support social distancing and comply with quarantine restrictions implemented by national governments. Amid this chaos, many cyber criminals created new phishing scams and other online threats, leading to many high profile data breaches. One of the most alarming trends that emerged this...

How to Protect Against Ryuk Ransomware As countries worldwide struggle to come to grips with the Covid-19 pandemic, attackers have attempted to capitalize by launching a wave of ransomware attacks on hospitals across the U.S. and Canada. These attacks have taken place in locations ranging from New York, Nebraska, Ohio, Missouri, and Michigan, to Montreal, by using Ryuk ransomware. But what is...

In mid-August, cybercriminals targeted the Canada Revenue Agency with two credential stuffing attacks, obtaining the usernames and passwords of 9,041 GCKey accounts, and 5,500 CRA accounts. The fraudsters then used the stolen login credentials to apply for the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). In response to the attack, a statement released by the Office of the Chief Information Officer...

Leveraging a spirit of competition to drive engagement and create a security culture Gamification is a popular concept these days, and for good reason. With gamification, you can develop a game for learning more about a serious topic while also getting the learner to approach winning that game with the same fervor they would when playing for entertainment. So what happens when you integrate...

Social networking overlaps corporate and personal lives, and so should the mission to create a culture of security awareness. It’s true. There was little – if nothing – any Facebook user could have done to prevent their passwords from getting exposed earlier this spring. Just look at the facts of the case, said Theo Zafirakos, Chief Information Security Officer and Security Awareness Coach at...

You can have the most powerful, cutting-edge security technology in the world, but if a user clicks on the link in a malicious email, lets a stranger tailgate into your building or uses 1234 as their login password, they unwittingly open your organization up to a cyber security breach. The fact is that the human risk factor remains your greatest point of vulnerability when it comes to cyber...