Cybercrime

WannaCry: Patching Dilemma from the Other Side

WannaCry, originated firstly in state projects but spread by other actors, has touched upon myriads of infrastructure such as hospitals, telecommunication, railroads that many countries have labelled as critical. IT engineers are hastily presenting patching codes in various localized versions. The other patch needed, however, is more than technical. It is normative and legislative. The coding of that patch for a situation like this is in two layers of dilemma. more

It’s Up to Each of Us: Why I WannaCry for Collaboration

WannaCry, or WannaCrypt, is one of the many names of the piece of ransomware that impacted the Internet last week, and will likely continue to make the rounds this week. There are a number of takeaways and lessons to learn from the far-reaching attack that we witnessed. Let me tie those to voluntary cooperation and collaboration which together represent the foundation for the Internet's development. more

8 Reasons Why Cybersecurity Strategy and Business Operations are Inseparable

In modern society, there is one fact that is unquestionable: The hyper-connectivity of the digital economy is inescapable. A financial institution without an online presence or omni-channel strategy will cease to be competitive. Universities (for-profit or non-profit) must develop and continuously evolve their online learning capabilities if they are to stay relevant. Online retailers are quickly outpacing and rendering their 'brick-and-mortar' counterparts irrelevant. more

WannaCry Ransomware Cyberattack Spreading to Countries Across the World, 45K Attacks Reported So Far

Security researchers are reporting a massive attack today, dubbed "WannaCry", which has reached 45,000 attacks in 74 countries around the world so far, mostly in Russia. more

French Presidential Candidate Confirms Massive Hack, Emails Dumped Online Two Days Before Election

Leading French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron's campaign confirmed on Friday a "massive" computer hack that dumped its campaign emails online less than two days before the election. more

A Report on Cyber Espionage Activities of Pawn Storm Over the Past Two Years

Pawn Storm, also known as Sednit, Fancy Bear, APT28, Sofacy, and STRONTIUM, is a cyber espionage organization operating for over a decade which has been particularly aggressive in the past few years. more

Russia Hacker Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison by U.S. Federal District Court

A 32-year-old Russia man was sentenced on Friday to 27 years in prison for computer hacking crimes that is reported to have caused over $169 million in damages to small businesses and financial institutions. more

UK Government Reports Nearly Half of Businesses Identified Cyber Security Breaches in the Past Year

The UK government has released the results of national cybersecurity survey revealing nearly seven in ten large companies in the country have identified a breach or attack in the past 12 months. more

New In-depth Analysis Finds Thousands of Domains Used in Technical Support Scams

A study conducted by PhD candidates at the Stony Brook University resulted in identifying malvertising as a major culprit for exposing users to technical support scams which allowed them to build an automated system capable of discovering, on a weekly basis, hundreds of phone numbers and domains operated by scammers. more

IRS Reports Hackers Accessed Data of Up to 100,000 People via Financial Aid Site for Students

U.S. Internal Revenue Service Commissioner (IRS) testified before the Senate Finance Committee stating the agency has discovered fraudsters could use someone's personal data to fill out a financial aid application, and the "Data Retrieval Tool" would populate the application with tax information. more

ISPs May Be Required to Remove Content, Shutdown Websites Under New EU-Wide Rules

Under a draft legislation approved by the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee on Tuesday, national enforcement authorities would be required to have a set of powers to detect and halt online breaches of consumers' rights across the European Union. more

New Ad Fraud Schemes Utilize Alpha-Numeric Domains

The breach of the Democratic National Committee e-mail system and a massive digital advertising fraud believed to be run by alleged actors in Russia share a common thread beyond their ability to capture the news cycle. Although each event targeted a different weakness in brand/online security platforms, the common denominator is the use of fraudulent domain names. more

Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies Honors Leading Companies at ICANN

Last week the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP Global; www.BuySafeRx.pharmacy) presented its inaugural Internet Pharmacy Safety E-Commerce Leadership Award to two organizations during the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Joint Meeting of the Registries and Registrars Stakeholder Groups at ICANN58 in Copenhagen, Denmark, it was announced on Tuesday. more

Dark Web Reported to Have Shrunk by 85% Since Freedom Hosting II Downfall

In early February, free hosting provider Freedom Hosting II, known as one of the largest hosting providers for anonymous websites, was compromised along with all the websites it hosted. The takedown was estimated to have impacted 15-20% of all websites on the Dark Web, however, the actual impact is now reported to have been much larger. more

New Cybersecurity Regulations in New York Go Into Effect

Major financial firms operating in New York will face stiff cybersecurity obligations starting Wednesday under a new regulation introduced in the city. more