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Downing Street is working with social-media companies to counter fake news and misinformation on coronavirus, as well as take down fraud and phishing campaigns looking to exploit the outbreak. The misinformation 'rapid-response unit' – based across the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Cabinet Office and Number 10 – looks to take down false narratives around coronavirus cures, as well as online scams looking to take advantage of people looking for information on...

An unidentified party has reportedly placed the source code for Dharma ransomware up for sale on at least two Russian hacker forums, adding a formidable new competitor to an already crowded underground market. And while cybercriminals have met the offer with some healthy skepticism, the bargain-basement selling price of $2,000 may be alluring enough for prospective buyers to take their chances, said Allan Liska, Recorded Future intelligence analyst, in an interview SC Media on Monday....

  Google has registered a significant drop in government-backed cyberattacks against its properties and the people who use its products. Google sends out warnings if it detects that an account is a target of government-backed phishing or malware attempts. For 2019, the internet giant sent almost 40,000 warnings – which, while a large number, is still a nearly 25 percent drop from the year before. Source: Threatpost

The use of remote access technologies like RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and VPN (Virtual Private Network) has skyrocketed 41% and 33%, respectively, since the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The move comes as a large number of companies have asked staff to work from home, which usually entails connecting to internal intranets via remote access technologies like the two named above. Source: ZD Net

  Voter information for more than 4.9 million Georgians, including deceased citizens, has been published on a hacking forum over the weekend, on Saturday. Personal information such as full names, home addresses, dates of birth, ID numbers, and mobile phone numbers were shared online in a 1.04 GB MDB (Microsoft Access database) file. The leaked data was spotted by the Under the Breach, a data breach monitoring and prevention service, and shared with ZDNet over...

Scammers have sent out a text message claiming all Westpac accounts have been frozen unless customers click on a link and provide their account details. They tried using the coronavirus chaos to fool unsuspecting Australians with the SMS caps lock title: 'Important message from Westpac'. 'For the safety of our customers due to the recent COVID-19 virus, all customers are required to review and update their personal details,' it said. Source: Daily Mail

  More than 180 fraudulent coronavirus websites targeting vulnerable people have been taken down in the UK since the start of the outbreak. Nominet, the national domain name registry, said it had seen a surge in fraudsters spoofing government websites in an attempt to trick Britons into handing over their bank details and private data. Source: Telegraph

Video conferencing app Zoom is enjoying a huge spike in users as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as massive swathes of the world's workforce work from home at the same time. You would likely expect that such a rise to popularity might bring some road-bumps along the way, though, and Zoom has announced that one such issue has been cleared. A report from Motherboard last week revealed that its iOS app was sending data...

If these uncertain times have proved anything it is that now, more than ever, maintaining cybersecurity is critical to ensuring business as usual; especially as the workforce is moving towards a remote working environment. This means that even the slightest disruption to daily operations can cause catastrophic damage to businesses, many of whom are already struggling with these precarious times. With this in mind, we are fortunate that there are enterprises that put public wellbeing...

Chubb,  a major cybersecurity insurance provider for businesses hit by data breaches, has itself become a target of a data breach. The insurance giant told TechCrunch it was investigating a “security incident” involving the unauthorized access to data belonging to an unnamed third-party. Chubb spokesperson Jeffrey Zack said the company had “no evidence” the incident affected Chubb’s own network and that its network “remains fully operational.” Source: TechCrunch