Editor's News

Palo Alto Networks’ threat intelligence team, Unit 42, has just uncovered “Gunpoder” – a new family of Android malware that evades all antivirus products on the VirusTotal web service. Until recently, Gunpoder has been classified by antivirus engines as “benign” or “adware”, demonstrating the fine line when distinguishing between malware and adware. It named this malware family “Gunpoder” based on the main malicious component name, and the Unit 42 team observed 49 unique samples across three...

More than three quarters of IT security professionals (81%) believe the government should be sharing more threat intelligence information with the private sector, according to research conducted by Unified Security Management™ leader AlienVault™. In a survey of more than 300 UK-based IT security professionals, when asked how they viewed the government in protecting their business from hostile nations and major threats, a quarter of respondents (23.5%) perceived the government as consuming threat intelligence but not...

Despite an increased sense of awareness and frequent headlines of data breaches amongst well-known brands, small businesses in the UK still do not seem to understand that they are as much at risk of cyber attacks as large enterprises. New research by CSID, a leading provider of identity protection and fraud detection solutions, shows that 52 percent of small businesses in the UK are not taking any preventative measures to protect themselves against cyber crime....

Phishing is an efficient method for an attacker to deliver malware or harvest credentials from unsuspecting victims. By sending out a mass or targeted email designed to look like it came from a bank or other legitimate source, an attacker can acquire a fair number of user credentials or deliver malware. Credentials can be used for identity theft, additional compromise or to send more seemingly legitimate phishing emails and convincing a user to install malware...

The security industry is under-going a once-in-a-generation reset. But which startups and which technologies will make it to the next power on? Something extraordinary and probably unparalleled is unfolding in the world of security startups that has the potential to reshape not only the security industry but perhaps also our understanding what a startup is. If that sounds a bit over-blown, consider the sums of money investors have recently been throwing at almost anything with...

How to run a security awareness programme By Ron Condon, managing editor, IT Security Guru If anything is guaranteed to strike doom and gloom into the hearts of security people, it’s the prospect of starting a new security awareness programme. Admit it, we all love choosing and installing new (often expensive) bits of kit, and getting excited about new technology. But when it comes to explaining the dangers of phishing attacks to Mavis in accounts….well,...

New research published by CREST, the not-for-profit accreditation body that represents the technical information security industry, warns that organisations need to focus more effort and resources on monitoring and logging to help detect potential cyber security attacks, respond to incidents and meet compliance requirements. The free report points to the exponential growth in users and devices connected to the Internet combined with the increasing volume of log files generated by disparate IT systems as major...

Universities now have access to the UK’s first higher education cybersecurity learning guidelines for undergraduate degrees to be referenced within BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, accreditation criteria for computing and IT-related degrees. Published by (ISC)2, the largest not-for-profit membership body of certified information and software security professionals with nearly 110,000 members worldwide, and the Council of Professors and Head of Computing (CPHC), the guidelines reflect broad consultation with more than 30 universities and industry...

Leaving software unpatched amounts to gambling your business away, warns the first of three new videos released by the Technology Forum, a cybersecurity partnership between government agencies and some of the world’s leading technology companies. The videos represent a joint push from government and industry to raise awareness of the dangers businesses run when they put off installing patches for existing software. With members including IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Oracle and Dell Secureworks, the Technology Forum...

Bromium®, Inc., the pioneer of threat isolation to prevent data breaches, conducted a survey at this year's Infosecurity Europe, where more than 125 information security professionals were asked about the greatest risks facing organisations today and the effectiveness of different solutions and architectures. The results show that while concern for end-user risk persists, confidence is waning in traditional detection-based security solutions, such as antivirus and firewalls. Instead, interest is shifting toward prevention-based security solutions, such as...