Editor's News

Accumuli Security has completed the acquisition of RandomStorm for £8.9 million.   Accumuli, a specialist in IT security and risk management has acquired the west Yorkshire-based integrated information security specialist, to compliment and strengthen Accumuli’s solutions and services framework.   Gavin Lyons, CEO of Accumuli, said: “RandomStorm is a business which has excelled in providing market leading integrated information security solutions and services to help its customers manage IT risk and implement security best practice. Their expertise...

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has admitted that a spear phishing attack hit its centralised zone data system (CZDS).   In an update, ICANN said that the attacker obtained administrative access to all files in the CZDS, including copies of the zone files in the system, information entered by users such as name, postal address, email address, fax and telephone numbers, usernames and password.   “Although the passwords were stored as...

Sony Pictures has said that there will be no theatrical release for The Interview, as the US has claimed that North Korea was “centrally involved” in the hacking of Sony Pictures computers.   According to a statement issued to Variety, Sony Pictures said that it has decided not to move forward with the planned December 25th theatrical release of the film, after a number of cinemas decided not to show the film The Interview on safety...

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel has said that he is “definitely angry” and “definitely devastated” after details of a business deal between the mobile app and Sony were revealed.   Leaked emails revealed that Snapchat had acquired a company focused on wearable tech similar to Google Glass and a QR code-scanning company, and there was some insight into Snapchat's rejection of Facebook’s reported $3 billion failed acquisition.   In an open letter, Siegel said: “Keeping secrets means coming home...

Airline tickets for Delta can be altered with a simple URL change   According to research, you can simply change the URL of your boarding pass and get someone else’s boarding pass, even if they’re on a different airline. As well as a potential data privacy angle, this would allow any passenger to change to a different flight.   Tod Beardsley, engineering manager at Rapid7, said that this is a “classic information leak in web design”....

Only 570 of 40,000 European victims of ransomware paid the Bitcoin fee.   Infecting more than 40,000 systems in Europe, TorrentLocker started spreading in early 2014 and encrypted documents, pictures and other files on user’s device, with a demand of up to 4.081 Bitcoins to unlock it, around £950.   ESET's research found that 2.329 UK systems had been infected, and around ten per cent (up to 210) had paid the ransom. Commonly, the ransom...

A new bug in Linux has been detected which bypasses the “Wheel” group of advanced permissions. According to detection by Alert Logic, the bug is seasonally called “grinch” and impacts all Linux platforms, including mobile devices. Stephen Coty, chief security evangelist at Alert Logic, said that grinch exists in the new authorisation system that allows privilege escalation through Wheel; a user group that is used on Linux systems to control access to su (superuser) commands....

Two-thirds of former employees were able to access corporate data on cloud storage applications after leaving their last job, while one in four admitted that they would take corporate data with them when they left.   Research by Sailpoint of 1,000 office workers at large companies found these results, despite 60 per cent working under a rule that their former employer forbade ex-employees from taking IP after leaving the company.   Kevin Cunningham, president and...

Malware which targets more than 100,000 websites running the WordPress CMS has been detected.   Detected on Sunday morning when Google blacklisted over 11,000 which were redirecting to the domain SoakSoak.ru, therefore dubbed “SoakSoak” malware. Researchers at Sucuri said that the infections are not targeted only at WordPress websites, but it appears that the impact seems to be affecting most hosts across the WordPress hosting spectrum, reported The Hacker News.   As well as experiencing unexpected...

A global online resource to help coordinate international efforts in cyber security through sharing of information and best practice has been launched.   Helping to support decisions and investments that can significantly enhance safety and security in cyber space, the Cybersecurity Capacity Portal has been created by the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre, part of Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford.   The concept is to give policy-makers, Governments, agencies, international and regional...