Cyber Bites

CyberSafeIreland, an internet safety charity is launching a campaign called 'Cyber Break' in the effort the encourage people to take a break from their screens. The Cyber Break will take place from 5pm Friday 16th October for 24 hours till 5pm Saturday 17th October. The aim is for families to interact and engage in other activities, encouraging people to find a balance on and offline relationship. CyberSafeIreland has created a guide on what activities you...

A phishing scam aiming to push network-compromising backdoor claims to have inside information on President Trump's health after he recently was confirmed of having COVID-19. Due to the up-and-coming polarising US election, President Trump's health has become a key interest for people from either end of the political spectrum. The subject of the emails included phrases such as 'Recent materials pertaining to the president's illness' and 'Newest information about the president's condition'. They also required...

Chowbus, the Asian food delivery service owned by Fantuan Group Inc., has experienced a data breach which has resulted in thousands of customers records being stolen. It is unknown how the breach happened, but Chowbus has stated that customers data has been stolen, including names, phone numbers, physical addresses and email addresses. Chowbus have claimed that they are addressing the issue, and have confirmed that “some of our user data has been illegally accessed”. Customers...

ManageEngine has conducted a study of nearly 1,500 employees working remotely during the pandemic, looking at the impact of their increased online usage. The report indicates that 63% of employees were provided with a work device to use at home. What's more, 37% said there were no security restrictions on their devices, exposing their device and its data to attacks. Worryingly, 54% said they would still visit insecure website after warnings were given. This percentage...

A recent report by Verizon on payment security outlines how many organisations fail to protect customers credit/debit card information. This links back to not enough companies hiring or hold CISO or security specialist positions impacting continued compliance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. With cybercriminals targeting 9 out of 10 attacks on payment information, it is important that these issues are rectified to protect customer data. In Verizon's Data Breach Investigation Report, they found...

Shopping online has become one of the most popular forms of shopping, as the internet becomes the new high street. This is especially so as more people have been stuck inside, with the only option for buying clothes being online since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, shopping online can be a risky business as with every online purchase you risk the exposure of all of your financial information due to data breaches or scams. Fortunately, there...

Five French cafe and bar owners have been arrested for breaking a 2006 law which states that those who proved internet access must maintain access logs for those using the WiFi for at least a year. The arrests took place in the city of Grenoble, with the owners taken into custody last week after they have been discovered to be running open WiFi networks in their cafes and not maintaining a log of past users....

A cybercriminal managed to infiltrate a commercial transaction, hiding long enough to get the final amount of $15 million. The fraudster carefully executed an email compromise that lasted for 2 months. When they gained access to the email chain they placed themselves in the transaction to diverted the money. Investigators have linked the hack to a single person but they have also found a long list of other companies on their hit list, including those...

Darktrace has potentially been experienced the dumbest hack of all time, where the criminal purposely left their fingerprints at the crime scene. The AI company had installed fingerprint scanners at their warehouse to reduce the risk of attacks like these. The hacker began to delete fingerprints on the system in order to add theirs in so they could gain access. However, when the scanners began to act up, the security team became aware of the...

eResearch Technology, a company that sells software that is widely used in clinical trials, was hit by ransomware. This attack has resulted in the slowing of some clinical trials testing COVID-19 vaccines. Two of the main companies hit were IQVIA, who is helping manage AstraZeneca's vaccine trial as well as Bristol Myers Squibb which is heading a group of companies in developing a quick test for the virus. It is still unclear as to who...