Google Threat Intelligence Group is now reporting "multiple intrusions" at US-based insurance firms by Scattered Spider, which in some cases has caused outages and business disruptions.
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.
Companies are facing a new “shadow IT” pandemic during COVID-19 as employees are finding their own solutions to information technology problems that often violate existing security policy.
Some threat actors are still willing to take whatever opportunities they can find. A recent ransomware attack on the developing and mostly-rural Papua New Guinea illustrates this.
Google says it will start distrusting digital certificates issued by two certificate authorities due to, Chunghwa Telecom and Netlock, compliance issues and failure to address public incidents.
A Microsoft whistleblower says that the Active Directory security flaw that led to the SolarWinds breach was ignored because, at the time, the company was preparing a major bid for the government's cloud computing business.
Japanese watchmaker Seiko has suffered a data breach that leaked sensitive information, with the Russian ransomware gang BlackCat/AlphaV claiming responsibility for the attack.
With the rising tensions between Iran and the U.S., many are concerned about the possible launch of a cyber war as there’s no international rules or norms for digital warfare to protect innocent civilians.
Generally speaking, the more SaaS applications an organization has in its tech stack, the greater the risk of suffering a cyberattack. Many organizations take a hands-off approach to SaaS security, making these applications a prime target for hackers.
A breach of a third party vendor used by some airlines to process pilot job applications has exposed at least 8,700 records, according to data breach disclosures made by American and Southwest Airlines. The impacted airlines have said that they have cut ties with the third party vendor.
Popular lending platform Prosper Marketplace has disclosed a significant data breach that leaked the sensitive personal and financial information of more than 17.6 million people.










