Displaying items by tag: cybercriminals

GUEST OPINION by Mark Lukie, APAC Sales Engineer Manager, Barracuda:  While activity within Australia’s energy companies is slowly starting to return normal following protracted lockdowns caused by COVID-19, it’s clear that things have changed.

The retail sector became a top target for ransomware and data-theft extortion attacks during the pandemic in 2020, according to global cybersecurity company Sophos.

Email mailboxes at thousands of organisations have been hit by more than 12 million spear phishing and social engineering attacks between May 2020 and June 2021, according to a new report on email security.

GUEST OPINION by Ashley Diffey, Head of APAC and Japan at Ping Identity: When information technology was first embraced by businesses, it tended to be in a very centralised form. Data centres held core applications and databases while users gained access through authorised devices and network links.

COVID-19 provided fertile ground for attackers to sow confusion and take advantage of healthcare organisations on the front lines, according to global cybersecurity company Varonis.

Palo Alto's regional chief security officer for Asia Pacific, vice-president Sean Duca, has warned that cyber-attackers are devising ways to use QR codes to steal personal information.

GUEST OPINION by Jim Cook, ANZ Regional Director, Attivo Networks: With cybercriminals always on the hunt for new ways to mount attacks, organisations are paying more attention to the weaknesses that exist within many deployments of Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD).

Claroty’s Biannual ICS Risk & Vulnerability Report identifies critical infrastructure sectors most at risk and increased attention on security of industrial networks

GUEST RESEARCH by Claroty: Throughout the second half (2H) of 2020, 71% of industrial control system (ICS) vulnerabilities disclosed were remotely exploitable through network attack vectors, according to the second Biannual ICS Risk & Vulnerability Report released today by Claroty, the industrial cybersecurity company. The report also revealed a 25% increase in ICS vulnerabilities disclosed compared to 2019, as well as a 33% increase from 1H 2020.

Security firm Avast has warned that it foresees more COVID 19 vaccination scams and attacks on healthcare and pharma organisations in 2021.

GUEST OPINION by Andrew Latham, Asia Pacific Technical Director, Ping Identity: As the number of mobile and web apps being used by businesses and consumers continues to grow, ensuring they remain as secure as possible is a constant challenge.

GUEST OPINION by Jim Cook, Attivo Networks:  Separating truth from fiction in these days of social media campaigns and so-called fake news can often be challenging. As a result, false data that appears valuable can influence people.

Cyber attacks on Internet-connected devices continue to rise at an alarming rate due to poor security protections and cybercriminals use of automated tools to exploit the vulnerabilities, according to a new report from Nokia.

GUEST OPINION by Jim Cook, Attivo Networks: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a rough and costly period for many organisations, yet for one group, it has opened up a raft of potentially lucrative new targets.

GUEST OPINION by Simon Howe, Vice President Sales – APAC, LogRhythm: With large numbers of people now sitting in home offices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, attention is turning to what this means when it comes to achieving effective IT security.

COVID-19 related threats are the single largest type of threat in the first half of this year, according to one security firm which says it blocked 8.8 million COVID-19 related threats, nearly 92% of which were spam delivered via emails.

• 20% jump in ransomware globally
• 24% drop in malware attacks worldwide
• 7% of phishing attacks capitalised on COVID-19 pandemic
• 176% increase in malicious Microsoft Office file types
• 23% of malware attacks leveraged non-standards ports
• 50% rise of IoT malware attacks
• Report analyses threat intelligence data gathered from 1.1 million sensors in over 215 countries and territories

GUEST OPINION by Joanne Wong, Vice President – International Marketing, LogRhythm:  It’s something almost every internet user has experienced. An email arrives, purporting to be from a trusted source, but in reality it’s an attempt to steal personal details or cause disruption.

VENDOR CONTRIBUTION:  Cyber threats against OT and IoT infrastructure continued to grow in number and impact in the first half of 2020, with OT-reliant organisations increasingly embracing IoT devices, and COVID-19 forcing a global shift to remote work, according to a new global report.

VENDOR CONTRIBUTION: Cyber threats against OT and IoT infrastructure continued to grow in number and impact in the first half of 2020, with OT-reliant organisations increasingly embracing IoT devices, and COVID-19 forcing a global shift to remote work, according to a new global report.

GUEST OPINION by Linden Dawson, Customer Success Management Lead, Ping Identity: Amid all the issues and challenges being faced as we battle through the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most overlooked is privacy protection.