Security researchers at Palo Alto Networks have discovered a new malware threat that targets Macs in what appears to be a sophisticated attempt to raid cryptocurrency wallets. The malware, which researchers have dubbed CookieMiner, has a variety of weapons in its armory that could make it particularly worrisome for cryptocurrency investors.
In July 2019, Capital One made news headlines not for achieving another milestone but because it had been breached. Capital One was using AWS cloud services, as many businesses are doing nowadays. The problem stemmed (in part) because Capital One had a misconfigured open-source Web Application Firewall (WAF) hosted in the cloud with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Given a surge in digital threats like ransomware, it is no surprise that the field of information security is booming. Cybersecurity Ventures estimates that there will be 3.5 million job openings across the industry by 2021. Around that same time, the digital economy research firm forecasted that global digital security spending would exceed one trillion dollars.
In June of this year, my colleague Tom Taylor wrote about the DoD’s announcement to instate the Cyber Security Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and elaborated on the fact that, with the CMMC, the DoD appears to be addressing our customers’ core compliance pain points: Since its announcement in May, the DoD kicked-off a “listening tour” to solicit feedback from the Defense Industrial Base sector, according to the CMMC website.
GDPR is a landmark in privacy jurisdiction. Through its 99 articles, it sets a framework for both businesses and individuals on their rights and responsibilities when it comes to protecting privacy. The most important element in my opinion is that privacy functions a fundamental human right and needs to be protected.
The cost of a breach is on the rise. A recent report from IBM revealed that the average cost of a data breach had risen 12 percent over the past five years to $3.92 million per incident on average. Additionally, this publication uncovered that data breaches originating from malicious digital attacks were both the most common and the most expensive types of security incidents.
Toyota Boshoku, a seating and interiors supplier for Toyota cars, has revealed that it was tricked into moving a large amount of money into a bank account controlled by scammers. In a statement published on its global website, Toyota Boshoku Corporation said that its European subsidiary was duped into transferring approximately four billion yen (over US $37 million) out of the business and into a bank account controlled by criminals on 14 August.
For years, ransomware actors have developed new families and attack campaigns in increasing frequency and numbers. Such activity peaked in 2017 but then fell in tandem with cryptocurrency miners’ rise. This development was short-lived, however. Between Q4 2018 and Q1 2019, Malwarebytes observed a 195 percent increase in ransomware detections involving business targets. The rate was even greater compared to Q1 2018 at 500 percent.
Changing consumer demands posed a serious challenge to the IT industry; it pushed firms to brainstorm about quick product delivery. This demand eventually gave rise to the demand for collaboration between Development (Dev) and Operations (Ops) teams, welcoming the DevOps trend. As a result, everything started progressing well with increased development, enhanced collaboration, advanced testing, high productivity and minimized time to market.
I recently volunteered as an AV tech at a science communication conference in Portland, OR. There, I handled the computers of a large number of presenters, all scientists and communicators who were passionate about their topic and occasionally laissez-faire about their system security. As exacting as they were with the science, I found many didn’t actually see a point to the security policies their institutions had, or they had actively circumvented them. A short survey heard reasoning like.
