Recent data breaches at Under Armour and Panera Bread has been making headlines. But the approach taken to mitigate the threat to consumers could not have been more different. One is a lesson on best practice and the other is a cautionary tale on how not to handle malicious attacks aimed at seizing consumer data.
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.
Anyone dealing with critical information should pay attention to the data they handle, how they are accessing it, and where it originated. The idea is to maintain the integrity of the data and the chain of custody, which is a concept that involves the strict ownership and control over the item in question.
Given a shortage of skilled cyber security manpower, one of the most attractive alternatives may be cyber security automation. In a new report from McAfee, 81% of those surveyed said they would be more successful in their jobs and have more time to focus on higher value-added tasks if they had greater automation.
Almost daily, we hear about another well-known company experiencing a data breach. While no set of steps can guarantee that your company will be 100 percent safe from hacking, implementing these steps will bolster your company’s security posture and help to protect the network from cyber-attacks.
The ransomware threat landscape continues to evolve and the spreading mechanism has changed, shifting from simple phishing attacks, spam and drive-by-downloads to more sophisticated techniques. These advanced techniques in ransomware has proven successful in massive global attacks for 2017. What's coming in 2018?
As prices of cryptocurrencies continue to skyrocket, fraudulent cryptocurrency scams are on the rise. Twitter cryptocurrency scams impersonating celebrities or influencers are so popular with cryptocurrency thieves and hackers simply because they are so easy to pull off on a daily basis.
The only guarantee today is that nefarious parties will continue to find new ways to infiltrate networks at financial institutions. Therefore, we must implement best practices to protect against cybersecurity incidents, as well as to resolve all possible issues that can arise should a cyberattack occur.
Latest variant of Fakebank Android malware adds even more functional threats to banking clients – in the form of ‘vishing’ (voice phishing). It can now intercept outgoing and incoming calls which is then redirected to scammers which allows them to pose as legitimate employees of the bank.
The bubble in cyber security jobs is encouraging people to look for better opportunities at exactly the wrong time, and that may lead to the detriment of the fight against cyber crime. A new report by (ISC)2 found that a staggering 84% of cyber workers are open to new opportunities or plan to change employers in 2018.
Because of the significant damage a DDoS attack can cause, many IT teams will put protecting against the threat high on their agenda. However, what many IT teams may be completely unaware of is that there are a wide variety of different types of DDoS attack vectors in a cybercriminals’ arsenal.