Cyber Bites

Cyber security professionals in the UK are struggling to hold back the ever-increasing wave of threats with limited resources, leading many to consider quitting their jobs. Source: ITPro

Nearly 90 per cent of hacking prosecutions in the UK last year resulted in convictions, though the odds of dodging prison remain high, an analysis by The Register has revealed. Source: The Register

Malicious URL links in emails are now one of the key threats spreading malware into computer systems, outnumbering email attachments five to one in prevalence. Source: CBR

Turla, an infamous advanced persistent threat (APT) group, is using new PowerShell-based tools that provide direct, in-memory loading and execution of malware, executables and libraries. Source: Infosecurity Magazine

A fresh wave of attacks against MS-SQL and PHPMyAdmin servers has been detected across the globe, launched in the quest for cryptocurrency. Source: ZD Net

A staggering number of the UK's most popular websites are failing to comply with GDPR, according to a report. A research team from ImmuniWeb selected the 100 most visited websites for each of the 28 European member states, finding that the majority were using non-compliant processes or insecure systems to host and manage user data. Source: ITPRO

UNESCO produced in collaboration with EQUALS Skills Coalition listed a set of recommendations designed to promote gender equality and eliminate stereotypes in AI applications.The new publication advises companies and governments to end the practice of making digital assistants female by default, explore the feasibility of developing a gender neutral “machine gender” voice assistants and program digital assistants to discourage gender-based insults and abusive language, according to the “I’d Blush if I Could” report. Source: SC...

Hackers accessed President Trump’s U.S. Golf Association account and added four fake golf scores for games allegedly played at two courses.After being alerted to media reports, “as we dug into the data it appears someone has erroneously posted a number of scores on behalf of the GHIN user,” Golfweek cited Craig Annis, the managing director of communications for the USGA, as saying. Source: SC Magazine

The developers of the work collaboration app Slack have issued a security update for its desktop client following the discovery of a medium-severity download hijack vulnerability that could let attackers modify the location where downloaded files are stored.Malicious actors could exploit the flaw to steal and spy on users’ documents by uploading them to a server they control. From there, the attackers could also manipulate the documents’ contents, perhaps damaging data integrity by altering account...

NEC Australia has announced the deployment of its NeoFace facial recognition software, which is aimed at identifying people committing examination fraud in educational institutions.Melbourne firm Genix Ventures has already trialled NEC's NeoFace technology at an unnamed tertiary institution in Melbourne, and has built it into a solution for Melbourne-based Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessments (CBLA), a subsidiary of Cambridge Assessments. Source: ZDNet