Top 10 Stories

Smartphone provider BlackBerry has admitted that the majority of its software and devices are affected by the FREAK vulnerability.   The Canadian firm said in an advisory late last week that the much-hyped flaw has impacted all versions of the BlackBerry 10 OS, all versions of BlackBerry 7.1 and earlier, all versions of BES10 and BES12 and various versions of BBM on Android and iOS.   BlackBerry said it was “diligently working to determine the full impact...

Aerohive has developed a new iOS App for guest and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) management and enhanced security services to further protect wireless networks across organisations, including those with IoT initiatives.   As the Internet of Things continues to explode, internet-connected devices – such as surveillance systems, building sensors and temperature monitors – will require high-speed, high capacity network connectivity as well as external connectivity.   Introduced to the ID Manager is an automated...

The discovery of the Heartbleed and Shellshock "designer bugs" combined with insecure development practices let hackers compromise at least one billion records containing personally identifiable information (PII) in 2014.   According to IBM’s X-Force 2015 research report, data loss was highlighted as one of the fastest growing threats facing businesses. The UK was the second most breach-ridden nation in the world, accounting for 3.4 per cent of recorded security incidents. However, that figure pales in...

Advantage Dental has notified more than 150,000 patients that a computer was infected with malware, and an intruder gained access to a database containing their personal information.   Names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and Social Security numbers were potentially breached during the unauthorised access between February 23rd-26th.  The company said that access was terminated upon discovery.   Advantage Dental has been reviewing and improving its safeguards, has taken steps to prevent further access, and is...

The Evolution Market, an online black market that sells everything from drugs to stolen identities and malicious hacking services appears to have vanished in the last 24 hours with little warning.   According to journalist Brian Krebs, the curators of the project have left with the community’s Bitcoins, believed to be worth more than $12 million.   The Evolution Market quickly emerged as the go-to online bazaar for buyers and sellers of illicit goods following...

The Chinese Government has hacked into the computers at every major American company, according to the nation's former spy director.   Mike McConnell, who served as director of national intelligence under President George W. Bush, said in a speech at the University of Missouri that “the Chinese have penetrated every major corporation of any consequence in the United States and taken information”.   He said the undetected malware lets Chinese spies extract information whenever they...

An Uber contract driver from Portland, Oregon, has filed a class action lawsuit against the company for $5 million dollars.   Sasha Antman alleges that the company failed to protect personal information of its employees and took too long to disclose a data breach that exposed sensitive information of tens-of-thousands of drivers.   The lawsuit read: “Plaintiff bring this class action against Defendant for its failure to secure and safeguard its drivers’ personally identifiable information...

MIT has launched a 200-person cyber security research initiative that will tackle tech security problems both big and small.   With three parts to the initiative, the first is Cybersecurity@CSAIL which will build technical tools by engineering more secure hardware, or developing cryptographic protocols that are easy to use but also secure.   The second, MIT’s Cybersecurity and Internet Policy Initiative, will corral policy analysts, economists and computer scientists to inform researchers about pressing problems,...

The UK public sector’s information management capabilities are seriously challenged by the pace of change   Research from Iron Mountain shows that records and information management in the public sector is contributing significantly to Government cost-saving and efficiency targets. However, the pace and scope of change across the sector presents a serious challenge, as 72 per cent of the public sector information leaders surveyed in the study say their approach to information management is fit-for-purpose,...

SAP has denied reports that it is working with the NSA to support the agency's mass surveillance capabilities within its own big data technologies.   The company over the weekend responded to recent reports in German media about a partnership with the NSA relating to its HANA in-memory database platform and other technologies, saying the reports were "misleading and flawed".   The reports highlighted the role that SAP subsidiaries - such as SAP National Security...