UK government loses hundreds of IT devices
UK government departments are losing hundreds of devices each year according to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests submitted by encrypted drive manufacturer Apricorn.
The Home Office declared 469 lost and stolen devices between September 2021 and September 2022, with the Ministry of Defence not far behind with 467 mobiles, tablets and USB devices unaccounted for.
Lockbit ransomware victims more than double in February
The Lockbit ransomware group claimed 129 victims in February, more than double the 50 that was reported in January.
The latest ransomware report from GuidePoint Security shows that another RaaS group, AlphV, also significantly increased its reported monthly victim count from 20 to 31.
Humans write better phishing emails than AI
There's been a fair bit of hype recently surrounding the potential for ChatGPT and similar tools to be used for creating phishing campaigns, eliminating the typos and other errors that are the giveaways of a scam.
However, new research from Hoxhunt suggests that AI might not be quite so good at going phishing after all.
Mid-sized businesses lack cybersecurity expertise
A new study reveals that 61 percent of mid-sized businesses don't have dedicated cybersecurity experts in their organization.
The research from managed security platform Huntress also shows 24 percent of mid-sized businesses have suffered a cyber attack or are unsure if they have suffered a cyber attack in the past year.
Zero Trust Authentication aims to boost security
Growing numbers of cyberattacks have highlighted the shortcomings of passwords and legacy multi-factor authentication systems.
Beyond Identity today launches Zero Trust Authentication, which has been developed in response to the failure of traditional authentication methods. It includes components such as Beyond Identity's risk scoring and continuous authentication capabilities to significantly enhance the level of protection offered.
The challenge of securing APIs [Q&A]
Technology continues to advance at an unprecedented rate. The development and use of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) being a particularly notable example.
The latest Salt Labs State of API Security report found that overall API traffic increased 168 percent over 12 months, with API attack traffic increasing by 117 percent in the same time period. Perhaps understandably, many CISOs are struggling to keep up.
Google Workspace gains generative AI
Generative AI is very much flavor of the month at the moment thanks to tools like ChatGPT. Now business tool Google Workspace is getting in on the act with new features to help users create drafts, proofread, generate images and more.
Initially the new AI features will be in Docs and Gmail. The company is keen to stress that users will remain in control, AI will make suggestions that you're able to accept, edit, and change.
New platform helps uncover vulnerable secrets
Complex software today includes components that rely on digital authentication credentials commonly referred to as secrets, which include tools such as login credentials, API tokens, and encryption keys. While critical for the software to function, managing secrets across every component of code is a challenge that can result in secrets being left vulnerable.
Supply chain security company ReversingLabs is launching a new secrets detection feature within its Software Supply Chain Security (SSCS) platform.
95 percent of business leaders expect AI/ML investments to boost revenue
A new survey of 100 chief data officers (CDOs) and chief data analytics officers (CDAOs) at companies with $1B+ in revenue shows that 95 percent say their company leadership expects investments in AI and ML applications will result in a revenue increase.
The study for Domino Data Lab, carried out by Wakefield Research, shows 67 percent are adopting a more offensive data policy seeking to drive new business value with analytics, ML and AI applications.
Consumers turn to biometrics as they struggle to remember passwords
People are struggling to recall an ever-growing number of passwords, with 51 percent of respondents to a new study by Entrust saying they reset a password at least once a month because they can't remember it.
Even more alarming, 15 percent of users who responded reset passwords at least once a week. It's no surprise then that given the option between biometrics or a password, 74 percent of respondents will choose biometrics half the time or more and a third will always choose biometrics when available.
Want cheap broadband? Head for Sudan
Analysis of data on over 3,700 broadband packages from 219 countries around the world shows that if you want the cheapest deal you should consider moving to Sudan.
The study by Cable.co.uk shows Sudan offers the world's cheapest broadband, with an average cost of $2.30 per month. By contrast another African nation, Burundi, is the most expensive place in the world to get fixed-line broadband, with an average package price of $383.79 per month.
Over 700 million credentials exposed and 22 million devices infected in 2022
The latest Identity Exposure Report from SpyCloud shows that last year its researchers recaptured 721.5 million exposed credentials from the criminal underground, and found over 22 million unique devices infected by malware.
Of the exposed credentials recovered by SpyCloud, roughly 50 percent came from botnets, tools commonly used to deploy highly accurate information-stealing malware. These infostealers enable cybercriminals to work at scale, stealing valid credentials, cookies, auto-fill data, and other valuable information to use in targeted attacks or sell on the darknet.
How software pricing strategy is evolving [Q&A]
Buying software used to be relatively simple. You either paid a one-off fee, or an ongoing license, or sometimes a combination of both.
With the advent of cloud and SaaS, however, things have become rather more complicated. Usage based pricing is more common, plus in a difficult economic climate there's a spotlight on software costs.
The rise of hardware-based security and why it matters [Q&A]
Cybersecurity is usually viewed as something to be addressed via software. In recent years though we've seen a hardware element start to creep in -- Windows 11's requirement for TPM capability for example.
Can we expect to see more hardware-based security measures? And what benefits do these offer? We spoke to Ed Maste, senior director of technology at the FreeBSD Foundation (the non-profit organization supporting the open source FreeBSD operating system) to find out.
21 percent of government workers don't care if their organization is hacked
With 70 percent of government workers reporting that they work virtually at least some of the time, a new survey shows some worrying trends.
The report from Ivanti finds five percent of government workers have fallen victim to a phishing attempt. However, 34 percent don't believe their actions impact their organization's ability to stay safe.
Ian's Bio
Ian spent almost 20 years working with computers before he discovered that writing about them was easier than fixing them. Since then he's written for a number of computer magazines and is a former editor of PC Utilities. Follow him on Mastodon
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