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In March 2015, the business messaging service and enterprise communications hub, Slack, was breached and a database of usernames and passwords compromised. The attackers were able to insert code to log passwords in plain text as they were typed. Unsurprisingly, Slack was quick to reset passwords of users that were confirmed to have been impacted by the ensuing investigation. A little more surprising, however, is the confirmation that Slack is now resetting passwords for another...

These enhancements and integrations across Symantec’s network security portfolio further position Symantec as the only security provider to offer an integrated cloud-delivered solution that lessens operational costs and complexity, while lowering operational risk. In today’s business environment, there is a tremendous volume of enterprise network traffic directed to the cloud and internet. Regardless of the location or the device, users need direct, always-on access to cloud resources in order to be productive. And IT organizations...

  Load balancing of application traffic has been around for a long time. But, as more organisations move to the private and public cloud, it’s undergoing significant changes. Let’s look at some of the important considerations of this evolving technology. Three major requirements underline IT operations and DevOps today: agile, efficiency and, multi-cloud operations. Agile: The movement toward public cloud is arguably driven by an organisation’s desire to deliver more functionality faster. Public clouds like...

Another clinical lab ensnared in the AMCA data breach has come forward. Clinical Pathology Laboratories (CPL) says 2.2 million patients may have had their names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, dates of service, balance information and treatment provider information stolen in the previously reported breach. Another 34,500 patients had their credit card or banking information compromised. The breach was limited to U.S. residents, the company said. Source: TechCrunch

Tampa-based community radio station WMNF 88.5-FM is stepping up cybersecurity after its computer systems were hobbled by ransom-seeking hackers last month. Interim general manager Cindy Reichard said the ordeal began June 18 when a programmer noticed a computer in one of the studios was acting strangely. The station then received a digital message: Your files have been encrypted. Pay us, and you can have them back. Source: Tampa Bay

FaceApp, the latest viral challenge, is keeping the selfies of its users, according to its privacy policy. The app, which encourages users to age themselves after uploading pictures, was developed by a group in St Petersburg, Russia. The trend has since amassed millions of users across the world. But following security concerns, politicians have been warned not to use the app. According to USA TODAY, the app’s privacy policy states it collects the pictures uploaded...

Lenovo has confirmed that a "high severity" security vulnerability has left users of specific network-attached storage devices with data exposed to anyone who went looking for it. How much data? How does at least 36TB grab you? That's the number that the security researchers who uncovered the vulnerability in the Lenovo-EMC storage products put on the data leak at the time of the discovery. According to the Vertical Structure report, security researchers found "about 13,000 spreadsheet...

An overwhelming majority of cyber security professionals (93%) say they are moderately to highly concerned about public cloud security, a survey reveals. Only 3% of respondents said they were not concerned, while 4% said they were slightly concerned. While 18% said they were moderately concerned, roughly the same proportion said they were “very concerned” (37%) or “extremely concerned” (38%), according to a poll by Synopsys of 400,000 members of the Cybersecurity Insiders information security community. Source: Computer Weekly

Numerous big cities across the United States have fallen victim to ransomware attacks costing the municipalities tens of millions of dollars to recover. While some city administrators refrain from giving in to extortion demands, most end up paying in exchange for the decryption keys. Seeing how ransomware operators are showing no signs of stopping, city mayors have decided to stop giving in to extortion demands. Source: Security Boulevard

Companies and public sector organisations say they have no choice but to automate their cyber defences as hacking become increasingly sophisticated. Security professionals can no longer keep pace with the volume and sophistication of attacks on computer systems. In a study of 850 security professionals across 10 countries, more than half said their organisations are overwhelmed with data. So they are turning to machine-learning technologies that can identify cyber attacks by analysing huge quantities of network data...