Cyber Bites

A surge in ransomware and trojans in the first three months of the year led to a massive 235% year-on-year increase in detected cyber-threats to businesses in Q1 2019, according to Malwarebytes. The security vendor’s Cybercrime tactics and techniques report for the first quarter revealed a definite shift from consumers to businesses, which is apparently hitting SMBs with fewer IT resources particularly hard. Source: Infosecurity Magazine

The U.K.’s cybersecurity agency said it won’t automatically share information about data breaches with the country’s data privacy regulator. The decision, which the National Cyber Security Centre and the Information Commissioner’s Office jointly announced Thursday, is designed to prevent new data privacy laws from having a chilling effect on businesses’ willingness to share information about cyber-attacks with the government. Source: Bloomberg

The cyber security skills shortage is hampering Internet of Things development, according to new research from Experis. Cyber security and IoT — the two should go hand in hand. But, UK businesses are struggling to find the right blend of security skills to harness the power of the Internet of Things (IoT). This is according to the latest Experis Industry Insiders report, which examines how the growth of IoT is impacting the cyber security jobs market. Source: Information...

Two weeks and no sign of a proper solution, Avast and McAfee affected, too. Updated Unlucky Sophos antivirus users face a dilemma: either uninstall the software, or install April's Windows security fixes. That's because having both in place at the same time will bork their machines. Source: The Register

According to the latest cybercrime tactics and techniques report,  published by Malwarebytes this morning, threat actors are refocusing their attack efforts on businesses rather than the consumer. Source: SC Magazine UK

Government ministers are calling for a "full and proper" investigation after high-level discussions about the UK using Huawei technology were leaked. The government has approved the supply of equipment by the Chinese telecoms firm for the UK's new 5G data network - despite warnings of a security risk. It is believed the decision was taken at a meeting of the government's National Security Council on Tuesday. Source: BBC news

The hacking group behind the DNSpionage campaign have become more choosy in their targets and have released a new form of malware to further their goals. DNSpionage, first discovered in late 2018 by Cisco Talos, utilizes fake websites and specializes in DNS tampering to redirect traffic from legitimate domains to malicious ones. The threat actors also make use of free Let's Encrypt security certificates for redirected domains. Source: ZDNet

UK employees have a worryingly casual attitude to workplace communications, underling the need for employers to take steps to counter related cyber-attack vulnerabilities. One-third of nearly 800 UK employees polled admit sending customer information using collaboration tools, a survey investigating the growth of collaboration tools in the workplace has revealed. Source: Computer Weekly

Aebi Schmidt, a European manufacturing giant with operations in the U.S., has been hit by a ransomware attack, TechCrunch has learned. The Switzerland-based maker of airport maintenance and road cleaning vehicles had operations disrupted Tuesday following the malware infection, according to a source with knowledge of the incident. Source: TechCrunch

The government has given Chinese telecoms giant Huawei the go-ahead to supply equipment for the UK 5G data network despite senior ministers warning it poses a security risk. The Daily Telegraph reports the company will help build some "non-core" parts. The plan was said to have worried the home, defence and foreign secretaries. The US also wants its allies in the "Five Eyes" intelligence grouping - the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - to exclude Huawei....