News

  Security researchers have uncovered a new phishing scam which lures users into opening a malicious Excel document by pretending to offer their HIV test results. Phishing campaigns have seen a huge increase over the past year as the scammers behind them have begun employing new tactics to trick users into falling for their schemes. Source: TechRadar

I’ve already reported on the dangers online, as hackers hide behind our coronavirus obsession to target us with malicious malware. Well, here’s another variation on that theme, with a warning that tempting “Coronavirus Maps” are now being used to plant malware on victims’ computers. Reason Labs delved into this particular threat, albeit warnings about the map’s website had been issued before, cautioning users that such downloads will “steal credentials such as user names, passwords, credit...

Private details of around 900 million people have been exposed after an online database containing information of Whisper app users was left online without password protection. Whisper's core focus is to allow users to anonymously share secrets and has around 30 million monthly active users. Since it was launched in 2012, people have used it to post confessions and discuss private matters like sexuality, unwanted pregnancies and domestic abuse. Source: Independent

By Elad Shapira, Head of Research at Panorays In the wake of coronavirus, companies are shifting their workforce to remote locations to keep businesses underway. This is an attempt to keep workers healthy and semi-quarantined to protect against the spread of a world pandemic that is not only a threat to health, but also to the world’s economies. The list of global organizations mandating work-from-home policies includes Microsoft, Apple, Google and Amazon, and that list...

 WASHINGTON — A yearlong congressional study of American cyberspace strategy concludes that the United States remains ill-prepared to deter attacks, including from Russia, North Korea and Iran. It calls for an overhaul of how the United States manages its offensive and defensive cyberoperations. The report, mandated by Congress and led by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, says the military needs far more personnel trained for cyberoperations. It also says Congress needs to dedicate committees to...

US radio giant Entercom reported a data breach that took place in August 2019 after an unauthorized party was able to access database backup files stored third-party cloud hosting services and containing Radio.com user credentials. Entercom's national network is comprised of more than 235 radio stations broadcasting news, sports, and music across the country and live the Radio.com online live streaming service to over 170 million people each month. Source: Bleeping Computer

Intel patched six high-severity flaws in its graphics drivers, as well as other vulnerabilities in its NUC firmware, and a load value injection vulnerability that could allow attackers to steal sensitive data. Intel has issued security patches for six high-severity vulnerabilities in its Windows graphics drivers which, if exploited, could enable escalation of privilege, denial of service (DoS) and information disclosure. Source: Threatpost

It’s March 2020 Patch Tuesday and Microsoft has dropped fixes for 115 CVE-numbered flaws: 26 are critical, 88 important, and one of moderate severity. The good news is that none of them under active attack. For the time being, Adobe seems to be skipping this Patch Tuesday and there’s no indication whether the customary security updates are just delayed or there won’t be any at all in the coming days. Source: Help Net Security

The University of Hertfordshire has avoided an investigation by the ICO into its data-sharing practices after exposing student information. The security incident took place in November 2019, in which a bulk email promoting an art lecture also included an attachment containing the names and email addresses of approximately 2,000 students. Source: ZD Net

Jan Karremans, Director of Sales Engineering at EnterpriseDB Disruption has come to the role of the database administrator (DBA). Automation is eating up tasks typically completed by a DBA – and the technology is evolving to become ever smarter, ever more capable. This automation has sparked concern that humans will inevitably become redundant in running databases.  Already, cloud services have threatened to render the role obsolete. Now, with automation infiltrating more and more areas of...