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A Washington, D.C. think tank whose mission is critical infrastructure security has joined the call for lawmakers to consider regulating the security of connected devices. In a report published this week, the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology pinned the blame for a rash of Mirai malware-inspired IOT botnet DDoS attacks on manufacturer negligence. The report points out the lack of security by design in devices such as DVRs and IP-enabled closed circuit TV cameras that...

The Russian government has introduced a draft bill that proposes prison sentences as punishment for hackers and cyber criminals creating malicious software used in targeting critical Russian infrastructure, even if they have no part in actual cyber attacks. The bill, published on the Russian government’s website on Wednesday, proposes amendments to the Russian Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code with a new article titled, "Illegal influence upon the critical informational infrastructure of the Russian Federation."...

Patients are being put at risk because most NHS trusts are using an obsolete IT operating system that no longer receives security updates, researchers have warned. The trusts’ use of the old Windows XP system could enable hackers to steal patient data or take control of hospital infrastructure. Criminals have already used cyberattacks to hold hospitals to ransom and an NHS trust in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire said this week that an attack in October...

President-elect Donald Trump has once again expressed doubt over US intelligence agencies' conclusion that Russian state-sponsored hackers were responsible for the recent hacks targeting the Democratic National Committee and other political organisations. In an interview with Time, which named him Person of the Year, Trump said the intelligence community's determination was likely politically motivated. "I don't believe they interfered," Trump said. "That became a laughing point, not a laughing point. Any time I do something,...

The Mirai botnet has spread like wildfire and now infects 2,398 home routers across the UK, with 99 percent of them being Talk Talk routers. The Mirai botnet has spread like wildfire and now infects 2,398 home routers across the UK, with 99 percent of them being TalkTalk routers. According to research by cyber security firm Imperva, the Mirai botnet was used to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and has been responsible for taking...

The United States Air Force has awarded an $18.8 million contract for digital defense software to Endgame, the cybersecurity firm told Fortune. Multiple analysts with whom Fortune spoke described the deal as potentially the largest of the year within the “endpoint detection and response” market, a segment of the $74 billion cybersecurity industry that involves finding and remediating security breaches on people’s computers. This niche portion of the fast-growing enterprise security market had a run...

Technical trade secrets were stolen from ThyssenKrupp AG (TKAG.DE) in a cyber attack earlier this year, the steelmaker said on Thursday. "ThyssenKrupp has become the target of a massive cyber attack," the German company said in a statement. In attacks discovered in April and traced back to February, hackers stole project data from ThyssenKrupp's plant engineering division and from other areas yet to be determined, the company said. View full story ORIGINAL SOURCE: Reuters

84 percent of phishing sites observed in 2016 existed for less than 24 hours, with an average life cycle of under 15 hours. The data collected by Webroot shows that today’s phishing attacks have become increasingly sophisticated and carefully crafted in order to obtain sensitive information from specific organizations and people. “Our data shows that a phishing site can last for as little as 15 minutes,” said Hal Lonas, CTO for Webroot. “In years past,...

The makers of the i-Que and Cayla smart toys have been accused of subjecting children to "ongoing surveillance" and posing an "imminent and immediate threat" to their safety and security. The accusations come via a formal complaint in the US by consumer groups. They, along with several EU bodies, are calling for investigations into the manufacturers. Genesis Toys, which makes the products, has not responded to a request for comment. Nuance Communications, the firm that provides speech...

The video website Dailymotion has been hit by a massive hack attack which has leaked the passwords and private information of up to 85 million people. Experts from the security firm LeakedSource claimed 85.2 million usernames and email addresses were stolen on October 20 as well as 18 million passwords. Luckily, these passwords were scrambled so hackers will find it very difficult to use them to access accounts. View full story ORIGINAL SOURCE: The Sun