At GitGuardian we see things that no one should ever see. We detect and collect leaked secrets that are so hideous we could lose our sanity. Let us introduce you to some of the most terrifying leaks we saw this year. If you dare.

With governments across the globe gearing up for major elections, experts have been predicting an increase in distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks from nation-states and, so far, those predictions have paid off. According to Forbes, a recently thwarted DDoS attack found hackers sending traffic at 3.8 terabytes per second to a target server, peaking at 2.14 billion packets per second, making it the largest DDoS attack ever recorded.

AI isn’t some far-off sci-fi concept anymore. It’s here, and it’s coming to a bank near you! Listen to the latest from Tigran Safari and Chris Clements on this month’s Banking Podcast from The Kafafian Group.

When it comes to data loss, the biggest yet common dangers these days come from within the organization, and social engineering and insider threats are one of the main reasons. This shows that human mistakes are just as risky as external attacks. In this piece, you’ll see how social engineering and insider threats result in data loss. In addition to that, you’ll look at real examples to understand the seriousness of such threats and talk about steps companies can take to protect themselves.

Sophos describes a QR code phishing (quishing) campaign that targeted its employees in an attempt to steal information. The attackers sent phishing emails that appeared to be related to employee benefits and retirement plans. The emails contained PDF attachments which, when opened, displayed a QR code. If an employee scanned the code, they would be taken to a phishing page that spoofed a Microsoft 365 login form. The page was designed to steal login credentials and multi-factor authentication codes.

Insider risk management is more critical than ever as human error and insider threats drive escalating security breaches. While many organizations have adopted User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) to monitor potential risks, relying solely on UEBA may fall short of the depth needed to stay ahead of these increasingly complex threats.