Cyber Security: Hackers work to turn holiday shopping boom into boon for data thieves

As Americans collapse onto their couches this week after a marathon day of shopping, they'll leave behind the telltale evidence of another Black Friday in the books: a nearly infinite number of credit machines on the verge of exhaustion from all the activity. While consumers will have spent their day gathering bargain deals and gifts for friends and families, the machines have been busy gathering data. Hackers will be busy, too, trying to get their hands on that data. Read the article here.

Cyber Security: One in six smartphone users victim of cyber attack

One in six smartphone users in the world have fallen prey to a cyber attack, reveals a new study, adding that 60 percent of smartphone users and almost half of tablet users are vulnerable to hacking as these devices have no protection against malicious software. According to the findings by global information services firm Experian, the cyber attacks range from phishing emails to session hijacking attacks where a user's web browsing is interrupted by a hacker, monitored or even hijacked. Read more here.

Cyber Security: Sony Paralyzed By Computer Hacker Attack With Ominous Message

Things have come to a standstill at Sony today, after the computers in New York and around the world were infiltrated by a hacker. As a precaution, computers in Los Angeles were shut down while the corporation deals with the breach. It has basically brought the whole global corporation to an electronic standstill. Click here to read the article.

Cyber Security: ICS-CERT Vulnerability Summary for Week of November 17

Click the link below to view the summary of cyber security vulnerabilities for the week of November 17 as collected and reported by ICS-CERT.

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/bulletins/SB14-328

Cyber Security: Next year's DDOS attacks to come from Vietnam, India and Indonesia

Vietnam, India and Indonesia might not have the most advanced Internet infrastructure, but they do have a large number of insecure smartphones coming online, making them the big botnet sources for next year's distributed denial of service attacks, according to a report released by Black Lotus Communications, a DDOS mitigation vendor. "They have a lot of young people just getting their smartphones, specifically Android smartphones," said Frank Ip, the company's vice president of business development. These new users are more susceptible to phishing, and are less aware of how to secure their devices, he added. Read more here.

Cyber Security: Online shoppers should stay vigilant against privacy hackers

More of you are expected to shop online this holiday season and that means more vigilance is needed to protect your private information, a Wheaton expert said. A National Retail Federal survey said 56 percent of responding consumers plan to shop online this holiday season, compared to 51.5 percent last year, and the most in the survey's 13-year-history. Read the article here.

 

 

Cyber Security: 10 ways to protect your Devices and Data

Gee, it used to be just your desk computer that needed protection from cyber thugs. Now, your connected thermostat, egg tray monitor, teen’s smartphone, garage door opener, even baby monitor, are all game for cyber creeps. Click here to read about 10 ways to help protect your devices and data from hackers.

Cyber Security: ICS-CERT Vulnerability Summary for Week of November 10

Click the link below to view the summary of cyber security vulnerabilities for the week of November 10 as collected and reported by ICS-CERT.

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/bulletins/SB14-322

Cyber Security: Hackers targeting businesses, consumers

Several people will visit stores in the next few weeks. And already this year, hundreds of thousands of people have fallen victim to security breaches at major retailers. Experts said there are ways to make sure your debit and credit cards are safe. Read the article and watch the video here.

Cyber Security: State Department shuts down email system after suspected hacker attack

The State Department has shut down its entire unclassified email system after a suspected hacker attack, the latest in a string of federal agencies to suffer a security breach. Read the full story here.

Cyber Security: What CIOs Can Learn From the Biggest Data Breaches

A postmortem analysis of some of the biggest recent data breaches offers IT leaders several pieces of advice for staying a step ahead of hackers. We keep hearing about them in the news. The tallies are astounding: 145 million user accounts compromised here, 40 million credit cards stolen there. What isn't always as clear with the most high-profile data breaches is how they occurred in the first place and what you can do to prevent seeing your organization in a similar headline. Click here to read more.

Cyber Security: US weather system hacked, affecting satellites

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, said that four of its websites were hacked in recent weeks. To block the attackers, government officials were forced to shut down some of its services. Read more here.

Cyber Security: China hackers target rights groups, say Canadian researchers

Chinese hackers are attacking activists, journalists and human rights groups using many of the same techniques they apply to steal state secrets and spy on corporations, a Canadian technology research group said on Tuesday. The difference is that those groups lack resources to defend themselves against sophisticated intrusions and face greater risk from exposure, according to Citizen Lab, which researches the use of political power in cyberspace. Read the fully story here.

Cyber Security: The Need for Cyber Security Awareness by Michael Gasparovic, Consultant for Invensys Critical Infrastructure & Security Practice

Michael Gasparovic, Consultant for Invensys Critical Infrastructure & Security Practice, discusses the need for cyber security awareness.


The Need for Cyber Security Awareness

In today’s environment, where nearly everyone utilizes personal computing devices—from desktop computers to smart devices—and security failures are becoming daily occurrences, it is imperative to raise the user’s cyber security awareness and adherence to security policies and procedures. 

 

In many industries, there are many satellite locations that sit outside the focus of the corporate center.  Many of these locations are understaffed, and employees feel that cyber security is an additional burden that they do not have time for.  These locations present easy targets for today's skilled hacker.  Firewalls and other security controls provide baseline protection; however, they can be rendered useless if a user misuses their access or fails to protect resources, such as user IDs or passwords. 

 

To raise awareness, companies should provide regular training that is consistent company-wide and reinforces the security policies and procedures that are in place.  This training should not focus on the details of regulations, but rather focus on the general requirements and good practices users should take away and make part of their daily routine. 

 

Cyber security awareness provides a foundation for addressing the fundamental principles of cyber security—protecting the confidentiality of information, ensuring the integrity of information, and ensuring the availability of information and resources.  By raising cyber security awareness, a company can minimize the cost of security incidents and assure the consistent implementation of security controls throughout the organization.

 

Cyber Security: Simulated terrorist cyber-attack on London

A cyber-detonated terrorist attack on the UK's critical infrastructure targeting key landmarks in London will be at the heart of the 2015 Cyber Security Challenge UK Masterclass, with some 42 of the country's most talented amateur cyber-defenders seeking to thwart the attack in real time. Click here to read the article.

Cyber Security: USPS Hit By Cyber Attack

The U.S. Postal Service said today it has been the victim of “a cyber-security intrusion” that exposed the personal information of some 800,000 employees. The FBI is investigating the source of the attack, but a source briefed on the incident told ABC News it appears to have originated in China and has been going on for the last two months. Read the article here.

Cyber Security: ICS-CERT Vulnerability Summary for Week of November 3

Click the link below to view the summary of cyber security vulnerabilities for the week of November 3 as collected and reported by ICS-CERT.

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/bulletins/SB14-314

Cyber Security: 12 percent of businesses have no cyber attack defenses

Twelve percent of financial executives surveyed said their companies have no cyber attack defense plans. Other findings from the Association for Financial Professionals survey:

• 62 percent of businesses have been subject to a cyber attack or an attempted attack during the last year.
• 71 percent of companies have increased spending to combat attacks, with 25 percent increasing it by at least 50 percent.
• 15 percent have increased their cyber insurance.
• 31 percent carry no cyber insurance.

Click here for a link to the full survey results.

Cyber Security: Badly secured routers leave 79 percent of US home networks at risk of attack

As many as four out of five internet-connected households in the US could be at risk of attack through their wireless router. This is among the findings of a study by security specialist Avast which found that more than half of all home routers are poorly protected using default or easily hacked password combinations such as admin/admin or admin/password. Read the article here.

Cyber Security: 6 things we learned from this year's security breaches

According to the Open Security Foundation, three out of 10 of the all-time worst security breaches happened this year. That includes 173 million records from the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, 145 million records at Ebay, and 104 million records from the Korea Credit Bureau. And that's not counting the 1.2 billion user names and passwords reportedly stolen by Russian hackers, or the 220 million records recently discovered stolen from gaming sites in South Korea. 2014 is well on its way to replace 2013 as the highest year on record for exposed records, according to the Open Security Foundation and Richmond, Vir.-based Risk Based Security Inc. Click here to read the article.

Cyber Security: Add data breaches to holiday shopping stress

With the holiday shopping season on the horizon, many retailers soon will be dishing out deals and special promotions to get shoppers in the spending spirit. But what consumers seem to really want for Christmas this year is to keep their personal financial information out of the hands of hackers. CreditCards.com, a credit-card comparison website, recently conducted a survey of 865 credit and debit card holders, and 45 percent said they would not shop this holiday season at retail chains that had been affected by major data breaches. Read more here.

Cyber Security: ICS-CERT Vulnerability Summary for Week of October 27

Click the link below to view the summary of cyber security vulnerabilities for the week of October 27 as collected and reported by ICS-CERT.

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/bulletins/SB14-307

Cyber Security: Small firms also face cyber attack

It’s not just big businesses such as JPMorgan Chase, Target, Neiman Marcus and Home Depot that are hacked. Small companies suffer from intrusions into their computer systems, too. The costs associated with computer and website attacks can run well into the thousands – and even millions – of dollars for a small company. Many small businesses have been attacked – 44 percent, according to a 2013 survey by the National Small Business Association, an advocacy group. Those companies had costs averaging $8,700. Click here to read the full story.