Companies are in a cybersecurity arms race. Attackers have easy access to more tools as the lines between state actors and criminal gangs fade. Malware and identity theft kits are easy to find and inexpensive to buy on dark web exchanges. AI-enabled attack kits are on the way, and we can expect that they will be readily available at commodity prices in the next few years.
Open Source software is always trustworthy, right? Last year, Bertus broke a story about a malicious Python package called “Colourama”. When used, it secretly installs a VBscript that watches the system clipboard for a Bitcoin address and replaces that address with a hardcoded one. Essentially this plugin attempts to redirects Bitcoin payments to whoever wrote the “colourama” library.
It’s no surprise that spending on security technology continues to soar. Nevertheless, data breaches and cyber attacks make headlines at an incredible rate, with no relief in sight. The Online Trust Alliance reported that attacks in 2017 came from a myriad of vectors, such as phishing and ransomware, and that the number of attacks doubled to nearly 160,000 incidents per year over 2016. What’s worse, estimates for the number of unreported attacks exceed 350,000 annually.
Insider threats are becoming ever-increasing and money-consuming, so it’s essential for companies to be as informed about which employees are prone to such excesses and why, as well as what kind of data they target and how. To that effect, paying attention to unusual behavior is of the utmost importance for keeping your company and all the sensitive data safe. Take a look at the warning signs that an insider might become a threat.
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