Top 10 Stories

It's day 3 of Security Serious Week 2015 - Eskenzi PR's campaign to get UK businesses to take security seriously and spread awareness! We're now at the half-way point of the week, with several great events still to come! Be sure to visit www.securityserious.com to get the full breakdown of what is going on. On the agenda for today is: - The Top Ten Phishing Lures of 2015 - Webinar with Mike Smart and Richard Davis, Proofpoint...

Adobe has patched a critical flaw in its software that would have allowed attackers to remotely take control of a system. Versions 12.2.0.162 and earlier were vulnerable, on both Mac and PC - so ensure you're updated! Adobe released the patch with 'priority 1' for getting it installed - meaning the update 'resolves vulnerabilities being targeted, or which have a higher risk of being targeted, by exploit(s) in the wild for a given product version and platform....

Popular instant messaging app WhatsApp has been found to be collecting several pieces of data on unaware users, such as call durations, phone numbers and more, according to new research from the University of New Haven. The paper was authored by  F. Karpisek of Brno University of Technology in the Czech Republic, Ibrahim (Abe) Baggili and Frank Breitinger, co-directors of the Cyber Forensics Research & Education Group at the University of New Haven. Through the analysis...

A fault with Marks and Spencer's website enabled customers to see each other's personal information when they logged into their M&S accounts, bringing the site down for 2 hours on Tuesday night as their teams sought to fix the problem. Personal data, including names, dates of birth, contacts and previous orders were made visible - M&S have been quick to explain the fault was internal rather than due to a hacker attack or penetration. It...

The personal laptop of the head of the German Federal Chancellery (GFC) was penetrated by Regin spyware, a form of spyware with a strong connection to the NSA's notorious WARRIORPRIDE framework. The role of the GFC cheif is to assist German Chancellor Angela Merkel in state affairs. The post is currently held by Peter Altmaier. Investigations were extended after the infection was discovered in December 2014, which has led German authorities to the conclusion that...

Researchers have found out that hackers took over around 900 CCTV cameras with weak login credentials and used them as a DDosS botnet that runs all around the world. According to the researchers from Incapsula, it was really easy for hackers to hack into these CCTV cameras by conducting a simple brute force attack. Researchers further believed the team responsible for configuring the devices was one to blame because either they didn’t change the default password or...

A group of researchers from CrySys Lab and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics has demonstrated how easily airbags system of an Audi TT can be hacked and disabled. Car hacking is not something new but disabling airbags is really something new. Though, this is not something as massive as recent hacks demonstrated by the researchers but this is something that is probable to happen in reality. The researchers showed how software used for fixing and debugging...

The deputy director of the US National Security Agency (NSA), Richard Ledgett, has warned of the increasing danger of destructive cyber attacks by states. He told the BBC: "If you are connected to the internet, you are vulnerable to determined nation-state attackers." He said nations would need to identify red lines that should not be crossed. He also said agency targets, numbered in "the high hundreds", had discussed leaks by contractor Edward Snowden, with some...

TalkTalk could be facing huge compensation costs in connection with the recently disclosed cyber attack and potential breach of the personal data of its four million customers. Less than a week after the news that Sony Pictures is to pay $8m in compensation to former employees affected by data leaks that followed a cyber attack on the company in 2014, TalkTalk is facing a similar situation.  While Sony is unlikely to be affected by the payout in the...

To mark the opening of Security Serious Week, the cream of UK cyber-security marshalled at London's St Katharine's Docks, to discuss the campaign as the opening salvo of an industry-wide effort to raise security awareness. Yvonne Eskenzi, one of the founders of the campaign, explained the drive behind it: “Security Serious is all about those that can't, learning from those that can – it's simple really. I plan to bring together our leading experts to...