LONDON (Reuters): December 10, 2020 – U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said on Wednesday that documents related to development of their COVID-19 vaccine had been “unlawfully accessed” in a cyberattack on Europe’s medicines regulator. Source: Reuters
December 7, 2020 — Human resources giant Randstad last week revealed that its IT systems were targeted in a recent cyberattack involving a relatively new piece of ransomware named Egregor.
Netherlands-based Randstad is one of the world’s largest HR services providers, with more than 38,000 employees and operations in nearly 40 countries. The company claims it helped over 2 million people find a job last year and it reported a revenue of €23.7 billion ($28.7 billion).
Randstad said the incident impacted a limited number of servers and its operations have not been disrupted. However, it has confirmed that the attackers have accessed some data. Source: Security Week
December 4, 2020 — Kaspersky researchers have spotted new malware activity in the wild from DeathStalker, the advanced persistent threat (APT) actor known for offering hacking-for-hire services targeting companies in the financial and legal sectors. The group was found using a new malware implant and delivery tactics involving a backdoor Kaspersky has dubbed PowerPepper.
The backdoor is used to remotely take control of victim devices. It leverages DNS over HTTPS as a communication channel, in order to hide communications with the control server behind legitimate-looking traffic. PowerPepper also uses several evasion techniques, including steganography, a method for disguising data. Source: Kaspersky
November 26, 2020 — UK-based cyber-security vendor Sophos is currently notifying customers via email about a security breach the company suffered earlier this week.
“On November 24, 2020, Sophos was advised of an access permission issue in a tool used to store information on customers who have contacted Sophos Support,” the company said in an email sent to customers and obtained by ZDNet.
November 2, 2020 — CyberEdge conducted a web-based survey of 600 enterprise IT security professionals from seven countries and 19 industries in August 2020 in an effort to understand how the pandemic has affected IT security budgets, personnel, cyber risks, and priorities for acquiring new security technologies. Source: HelpNetSecurity
October 23, 2020 — Based on over 100 comprehensive interviews with business and cybersecurity leaders from large enterprises, together with vendors, assessment organizations, government agencies, industry associations and regulators, the research shines a light on why technology vendors are not incentivized to deliver products that are more effective at reducing cyber risk. Source: HelpNetSecurity
United Kingdom: October 23, 2020 — Executives consider cybersecurity the technology most important for survive Covid-19. But many of the industries that need to integrate it most are also the most cyber-naïve.
Companies will be vulnerable if their cybersecurity capabilities fail to keep pace with the accelerated digital transformation and increased remote working that coronavirus has necessitated. Source: VERDICT
Barcelona: October 7, 2020 — John McAfee, an anti-virus software creator indicted for fraud in the United States, is in jail pending extradition procedures after being arrested in Barcelona airport at the weekend, sources say.
The McAfee software founder was detained on Saturday when he was about to board a flight to Istanbul with a British passport, a Spanish police source said. Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
October 6, 2020 — The IOCTA is Europol’s flagship strategic product highlighting the dynamic and evolving threats from cybercrime. It provides a unique law enforcement focused assessment of emerging challenges and key developments in the area of cybercrime. We are grateful for the many contributions from our colleagues within European law enforcement community and to our partners in the private industry for their input to the report. Combining law enforcement and private sector insights allows us to present this comprehensive overview of the threat landscape. Source: EUROPOL
By Mathieu Rosemain
PARIS (Reuters) October 1, 2020 – France’s data privacy watchdog CNIL recommended on Thursday that websites operating in the country should keep a register of internet users’ refusal to accept online trackers known as cookies for at least six months. Source: Yahoo News
September 22, 2020 — A coalition of law enforcement agencies across the world announced the results of a coordinated operation known as DisrupTor which targeted vendors and buyers of illicit goods on the dark web.
This operation follows the takedown in May of last year of Wall Street Market, the world’s then second largest illegal online market in the dark web. Source: Europol
July 28, 2020 – In March 2020, Redscan sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to 134 universities across the UK. The aim was to understand more about the frequency of data breaches in the sector and some of the steps institutions are taking to prevent them.
The focus on universities was due to the integral role these organisations play in conducting world-changing research and shaping the skills and knowledge of the workforce.
The results of the FOI request are available to download in a short Redscan report.
July 27, 2020 — While the world is in the grip of a coronavirus outbreak, another virus is quietly wreaking havoc. Although this virus has been around for years, its cases have been rising alarmingly in the past few months and has brought critical activities such as hospitals and governments to a standstill. This virus is ransomware, but a free scheme called No More Ransom is helping victims fight back without paying the hackers. Source: Europol
Brussels: July 13, 2020 – Europe’s top court will on Thursday rule on the legality of tools companies use to transfer Europeans’ data around the world, in the latest clash between Facebook and Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems. Source: Reuters
July 12, 2020 – The government must be alert to potential cyber attacks from countries such as China, ministers have said as tensions increase between London and Beijing. Source: Metro
July 11, 2020 – Fraudsters could steal billions of pounds by targeting the government’s Covid-19 financial rescue schemes, a report has warned. The Policy Exchange think tank said measures were rushed through to save people and businesses from economic ruin but were vulnerable to scams. Source: BBC News
July 10, 2020 – Common devices from Netgear, Linksys, D-Link and others contain serious security vulnerabilities that even updates don’t fix. Source: threatpost
July 8, 2020 – The Italy and Romania take down cyber fraud ring generating 20 million euro per year in criminal profits. Read. Source: ESPC Editor
July 3, 2020 – By posing as recruiters on LinkedIn, a new tactic has emerged by which advanced persistent threat (APT) hackers have been able to commit cyber espionage. Source: CPO Magazine
EUROPOL: July 3, 2020 – At a joint press conference, French and Dutch law enforcement and judicial authorities, Europol and Eurojust have presented the impresive results of a joint investigation team to dismantle EncroChat, an encrypted phone network widely used by criminal networks. Read. Source: EUROPOL