Optus disclosed a cyber attack that compromised the personal data of up to 10 million Australians with a threat actor initially demanding $1 million and several sources suggesting human error as the cause.
Cyber Security
Cyber criminals, state-sponsored hackers and even the occasional disgruntled employee are constantly looking to gain unauthorized access for a variety of purposes: theft of money, cyber espionage, personal information for sale or for use in scams, and damage to critical infrastructure for just a few of the most common.
So how does an organization mitigate an entire world full of continual cyber attacks? Just as buildings have a number of necessary elements of physical security: access control, cameras, alarms and so on; there are similar key elements of cyber security that are absolutely vital for just about any modern business.
It starts with identifying and closing the most common doors that attackers use. For example, phishing attacks on employees are far and away the most common initial point of entry. The breach of even a low-level employee account can quickly turn into an escalation in access privileges and the ability to reach sensitive information. This is also true of smart devices, which are generally more poorly secured than computers and phones.
As merchants weigh the risks and rewards of expanding into the Metaverse, it’s important to understand the fraud and customer experience implications. Before making the leap, retailers should ensure their existing digital commerce platforms are secure.
DevSecOps Overwhelmed by Backlogs, Significant Time and Money Being Lost to Vulnerability Management
The State of Vulnerability Management in DevSecOps" study included over 16,500 IT leaders and experts. 66% of these firms say they have a backlog of more than 100,000 vulnerabilities.
Through robust communication and targeted employee education, leaders can achieve a balance between introducing new security controls and ensuring employees understand the need for them in the first place.
At least one major credit card fraud gang has switched focus to building out fake dating and customer support websites since 2019, tricking payment processors into granting them access, and running charges against stolen credit cards.
Hackers gained access to sensitive personal information of American Airlines’ customers and employees in a data breach linked to a phishing campaign that led to the unauthorized access of employee mailboxes.
LockBit ransomware will undoubtedly be copied and used by other threat actors in the near term, putting the group's business at risk. But the leak of the ransomware builder also gives security researchers valuable insights.
2K Games accounts used for online games may have received unexpected messages from the helpdesk system claiming to be a response to a request. The messages look authentic, but conclude with a link to RedLine malware.
Given that compromised credentials are a leading cause of cyber attacks, many cyber insurance underwriters are looking for robust privileged access management (PAM) and multifactor authentication (MFA) controls before pricing out their policies.
Long the weakest link in networks, smart devices and similar connected devices could soon be forced to bolster their defenses by the EU Cyber Resilience Act, requiring design-level security and ongoing patching.










