Category: Scammers

We need to talk about drone hacking

Posted by Matthew on December 21, 2018 in the following categories: Cybersecurity Hacking News Latest Scammers Security Technology and tagged with cyber attack | cyber crime | cybersecurity | smart technology

As Gatwick Airport has been brought to a standstill over drones accessing the airfield, now is the time we need to talk about drone hacking.

We’ve highlighted this before, but given the news this week, it’s time to bring it up again. If cars can be hacked, so can drones. If smart tech in the home can be hacked, so can drones. If these things can be used to harm people – physically or financially – so can drones. They’re remote-controlled which means a huge door is there to be opened. There also incredibly easy to buy, and hackers have already demonstrated how easy it is to take control of another drone by hacking.

If there’s technology good enough to bring one of the UK’s biggest airports to a standstill, drone hacking is a serious concern.

Victims of Amazon data breach should take precautions

An Amazon data breach incident took place in the lead up to the big Black Friday sales a few weeks ago.

The incident reportedly stemmed from a technical problem.

In the data protection breach, customer names and email addresses were inadvertently posted on the company’s website. They were removed upon discovery of the error, and customers affected by the data breach have been informed.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is said to be looking into the situation.

Equifax data breach fraud trends

It’s understood there have been cases of Equifax data breach fraud committed, perhaps, as a direct result of the breach itself.

Tech company, Forte, produced some stats that indicate some alarming figures in the wake of the Equifax data breach. The data can be interpreted as a possible spike in some fraud incidents after the Equifax data breach took place, which wouldn’t surprise us given the scale and nature of this monumental attack.

It’s another sign that we ought to be far more concerned with regards to data breaches than many people are.

Ticketmaster cyber attack may just be the beginning

The recent Ticketmaster cyber attack we’ve launched an action for may just be the beginning as hackers are reportedly ready to attack again.

The Ticketmaster cyber attack was successful because the hackers were able to install malicious code into third-party software that Ticketmaster were using as part of their payment process. Inbenta, the authors of the code, say they didn’t know Ticketmaster were using their code for this purpose, and had they have known, they say they would have recommended against it on the grounds of security issues.

The growing trend of hackers looking to attack third-party code means the huge Ticketmaster cyber attack may well be just the beginning.

Ransomware attacks still on the rise

Ransomware attacks are still on the rise, and we all have every reason to be very worried about the increasing trends we’re seeing.

According to at least one piece of recent research, 2018 has already seen double the rate of ransomware attacks so far, but what’s equally as concerning is that the attacks are changing tact to go for bigger targets to demand higher ransoms, and the hackers are enjoying success.

It’s a sign of the times, and we all need to be very careful to make sure we protect ourselves from the growing risks of ransomware attacks.

European regulators order change after Yahoo data breach

Posted by Matthew on July 27, 2018 in the following categories: Cybersecurity Hacking News Scammers Security and tagged with yahoo email hack

European regulators have rightly ordered big changes after the monumental Yahoo data breach that was revealed in 2016, having taken place two years earlier.

Some 500 million Yahoo user accounts were hacked, including around 39m European users; the largest ever single data breach to affect Europe. Information hacked in the Yahoo data breach included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates and passwords.

European regulators have demanded big changes be made to prevent a future incident of this size and nature ever happening again.

Research shows cybersecurity is not a priority for most businesses

Posted by Matthew on July 25, 2018 in the following categories: Cybersecurity GDPR Scammers and tagged with cyber attack | cyber crime | cybersecurity | data controllers | database security

Cybersecurity is not a priority for most businesses in the UK, results from recent research has indicated.

Despite us being in a time where the importance of cybersecurity has never been more prevalent, businesses are still not showing the respect to cybersecurity that it deserves. In fact, recent research suggested that just 10pc of UK businesses see cybersecurity as their biggest challenge to economic success, despite 2018 being the big year of the GDPR changes.

With the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) now having the power to fine data breach offenders up to £17m, how cybersecurity is not a priority is incredibly baffling.

Booking.com WhatsApp and text fraud a criminal show of force

Posted by Matthew on July 24, 2018 in the following categories: Malware Scammers Security Smartphones Technology and tagged with apps | cyber crime | cybersecurity | personal data

The recent Booking.com WhatsApp and text fraud operation showed precisely what criminals can do with enough data at their disposal.

According to the media reports in the aftermath of the Booking.com WhatsApp and text issue, criminals were looking to reap hundreds of thousands of pounds in ill-gotten gains by duping people into thinking they were Booking.com by using personalised messages that were said to have looked genuine, and included personal data.

Some people reportedly fell for the scam and lost money as a result, and we understand that Booking.com has committed to compensating victims.

Drone jacking could be the next big data breach risk

Posted by Matthew on July 21, 2018 in the following categories: Data Hacking News Scammers Security and tagged with cyber attack | cyber crime | cybersecurity | drones | smart technology

As the technology and use of unmanned aerial vehicles continues to grow, drone jacking could be the next big data breach risk.

Drones are already used in a number of industries: engineers use them for surveillance; insurance companies reportedly use them for monitoring; and Amazon want to use them to deliver packages to the doorsteps of homes around the world.

Our concerns are simple: if organisations can’t even get data protection right on a systems and software level, how are they going to get it right when it comes to potentially dangerous drones?

Almost half of UK manufacturing industry report cyber-attacks

Posted by Matthew on June 18, 2018 in the following categories: Hacking News Scammers and tagged with cyber attack | cyber crime | manufacturing data breaches

Almost half of businesses in the UK manufacturing industry have reported cyber-attacks, with the UK manufacturing industry described as somewhat of an easy target.

We don’t often see manufacturers in the news for data breaches and cyber-attacks, but this date from a recent study shows that there is a worrying trend of it being a common problem in the industry.

The UK manufacturing industry is reportedly among the least-protected sector in the UK.