Top 10 Stories

More than 90 million attacks have been registered against the Russian segment of the Internet since 2010.   According to the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev, Patrushev explained that websites owned by Russia’s state bodies had been the most frequent targets for hackers.   Most of those websites covered the Olympic Games in Sochi, as well as the events in Crimea and south-east Ukraine. Patrushev added that a total of 3.3 million...

The Cabinet Office now requires suppliers to conform to its “Cyber Essentials” standards.   Introduced from Wednesday, specifically all suppliers must be compliant with those controls if bidding for Government contracts which involve handling of sensitive and personal information and provision of certain technical products and services.   Early adopters of the scheme have included BAE Systems, Barclays, Hewlett-Packard, Vodafone and the Confederation of British Industry, as well as small businesses like Nexor, Tier 3 and Skyscape, says the Government....

Four hackers have been accused of stealing intellectual property of the US military and games developers, amounting to a value of more than $100 million.   The software included US Army tools used to train Apache helicopter pilots and intellectual property belonging to developers such as Epic Games, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games.   The four hackers - Nathan Leroux, Sanadodeh Nesheiwat, David Pokora and Austin Alcala - each face charges for conspiracy to commit...

Many firms will have a lot of work to do to comply with revised data protection legislation by the end of next year.   A survey by Sophos and reported by Computer Weekly found despite 84 per cent of 1,500 office workers saying Europe needs stronger data protection laws, 77 per cent were not confident their organisations comply with current rules.   This means only 23% were completely confident their organisations complied with current legislation, while almost...

Interpol has opened a Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) information centre that it hopes will become an international nerve centre in the fight against cyber crime.   The Singapore-based centre will have a specific focus on developing effective ways to combat next-generation cyber threats.   The centre will house a forensic laboratory and Cyber Fusion Centre that will coordinate the efforts of law enforcement, industry and academia when identifying and combating emerging cyber threats.  ...

Researchers have uncovered two pieces of mobile malware appearing to be used by the Chinese government to keep a close eye on pro-democracy protesters.   In the days after protests started, protesters started receiving messages on their Android phones through WhatsApp that purported to come from a group of activist coders called "Code4HK", and it contained a link that allegedly led to an app designed to help coordinate the protests.   Researchers at Lacoon Mobile...

The Internet of Things will require new forms of informed consent as a legal basis for the processing of personal data, according to the European Union's Article 29 Working Party.   According to Computing, the watchdog claims that "classical mechanisms used to obtain individuals' consent may be difficult to apply in the Internet of Things" because current mechanisms only provide a "low-quality consent".   Current consent mechanisms were devised in the 1980s when computerisation was only...

(ISC)² has reached the 100,000 member mark.   With 100,000 members in 162 countries, there are also more than 70,000 information and software security professionals with one or more (ISC)2 certifications in the Americas region, with over 12,000 confirmed to be employed by the US Government alone – either as an employee or contractor.   According to Infosecurity, there are 64,920 members in the USA, and 5,010 in the UK.    VIEW FULL STORY

Grocery chain store Supervalu has said it has discovered malware on some of its point-of-sale systems, a month after announcing its computer systems were hacked.   According to Fortune, the malware was installed by “an intruder” on point-of-sale systems at some of its Shop ‘n Save, Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, and Cub Foods franchises, along with a few associated liquor stores.   The malware breach also affects certain locations of the Albertsons’s grocery chain, which uses...

Google has increased the amount of money it offers to researchers in its bug bounty programme.   Researchers will be able to earn $15,000 at the high end of the scale for disclosed bugs in Chrome, and more cash for researchers who can submit a working exploit for their vulnerability submission.   The range for Google’s vulnerability reward program is now $500-$15,000, and the change in the reward structure is a reflection of how much more...