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.
Employees conducting attacks on their own employees – known as insider threats – are becoming increasingly common and costly. According to a CA report, over 50% of organizations suffered an insider threat-based attack in the previous 12 months, while 25% say they are suffering attacks more frequently than in the previous year. 90% of those organizations claimed to feel vulnerable to insider threats.
It seems that the numerous benefits of cloud computing make the disruption of digital transformation worthwhile. However, a recent torrent of automated attacks on cloud infrastructure’s vulnerabilities has precipitated a somewhat gloomy outlook.
Every year, cybercrime gets worse. And it totally makes sense, because it is a lucrative line of work, so to speak. It’s estimated to be a $1.5 trillion industry, with some countries now basing their economy around cybercrime. As a result, cybercriminals’ activities are now facilitated by new technology that makes data breach attacks easier and more accessible. Therefore, the chances of your business suffering a cyber attack are getting bigger by the minute. Here is what you can expect in 2019.
Mobile devices aren’t immune to malware – just to let you know in case you had any doubts about that. In the past year, business professionals saw a 75% increase in banking Trojans, which allow cybercriminals to obtain financial credentials off mobile devices. Since employees increasingly use their mobile devices to complete work tasks, it’s easy to jeopardize their organizations that way. Here are the 5 ways to avoid mobile malware threats.
The concept of the Internet of Things – and its main advantage – is at the same time the biggest potential security risk for all those who have accepted it and have joined the circus, so to speak. Yes, people like having all the information all the time on all of their devices – neatly segmented and contextualized to fit their needs and situation. And yes, most of them haven’t given a second thought to providing access to their personal data to all kinds of services and systems in order to have everything they could ever want at the tips of their fingers – from comprehensive weather reports and traffic warnings to their own houses recognizing them as owners and turning the lights on upon entering. It is an interesting world we live in, with technology constantly at our beck and call, but are we also slowly starting to realize just how much we are allowing it to rule our lives? One could argue that every time the tech misbehaves or someone else takes advantage of it – and by proxy, us – it has failed us on some level. In that sense, let’s see the 4 times it did just that in 2018.
Cyber security risks have become a constant for big and small businesses, individuals and companies, the private and government sector alike. And let’s face it – the risks are high. The more you are involved in the scary world on online connecting and doing business, the more exposed you are to the threats that reside within the dark world that can sometimes be the World Wide Web. Moreover, we are often not even aware of the danger and how close we came to be a victim of all kinds of malware, let alone the damage malware can cause and how to defend from it. In that sense, we have prepared a short list of security risks that pack quite a punch, but were overlooked in 2018.
Mobile security is – or at least should be – at the top of every company’s worry list these days – and for good reason: Nearly all employees now routinely access corporate data from smartphones and that means keeping sensitive info out of the wrong hands is an increasingly complicated business. Therefore, the stakes are higher than ever with the average cost of a corporate data breach being at nearly $4 million, according to a 2018 report by the Ponemon Institute. That’s 6.4% more than the estimated cost just one year earlier. However, while it’s easy to focus on the sensational subject of malware, the truth is that mobile malware infections are incredibly uncommon in the real world. And yet, we can expect mobile security threats to become more serious in 2019. Here is what we can expect.
The tech industry has had a big year in 2018 with several new technologies arising and claiming their spots on the stage – blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and neural networks. These technologies have infiltrated every sector, from public services to business creating new opportunities for innovation and disruption, but aren’t without risks. New technologies are always slightly ahead of the security designed to protect them. For example, blockchain has created thousands of new ideas and businesses, but it has come with a bevy of high-profile cyber attacks and vulnerabilities. Nevertheless, cyber security has continued its steady pace of innovation and new solutions emerge daily. Here are 6 trends you should adopt in 2019.
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