Alert fatigue can allow cyber threats to slip through the net
Businesses are increasingly turning to software to allow them to spot cyber threats. But this can lead to a problem in the form of alert fatigue, where there are just too many warnings to allow them to be properly investigated.
Network threat detection specialist Bricata has put together an infographic to highlight the problem of alert fatigue.
McAfee launches protection against identity theft
Given the high number of data breaches in the past year and the number of records involved, many consumers now rank identity theft as one of their top concerns with 66 percent of Americans saying it's the crime they most worry about.
Security company McAfee is using this week's CES to move beyond its traditional antivirus products and launch its own Identity Theft Protection.
Malicious flashlight apps found on Google Play store
Whether you need to put your key in the lock on a dark night, or explore the depths of the cupboard under the stairs, having a flashlight app on your phone can prove useful.
But researchers at Check Point have discovered more than 22 different flashlight and utility apps harboring adware called, appropriately, 'LightsOut'.
Targeted attacks on industry are on the increase
Cyber attacks on industrial organizations are a growing problem, with 28 percent admitting they faced an attack in 2017, compared to only 20 percent in 2016.
This is among the findings of a new survey by Kaspersky Lab which also shows that many attacks are going unnoticed with organizations taking an average of several days (34 percent) to several weeks (20 percent) detecting a cyber attack.
Dashlane's Project Mirror aims to kill off the password in 2018
Most digital services still rely on passwords for security, but recent breaches have shown that they are far from a perfect solution.
Password management specialist Dashlane has set an ambitious goal to kill off the password in 2018 with the launch of its Project Mirror.
McAfee grabs Skyhigh to boost cloud security
With more and more businesses storing data in the cloud, protecting and controlling it as it travels back and forth has become a major concern.
To address this McAfee is acquiring Skyhigh Networks, one of the pioneers of the cloud access security broker (CASB) model of protection.
'Alexa, nick him!' -- Amazon Echo joins the fight against crime
We're used to digital assistants controlling more and more aspects of our daily lives, but a UK police force is looking at how Amazon Echo could help in fighting crime.
Police in Lancashire, north west England, are looking at how Alexa could relay information about missing persons or updates on local crime to citizens. It could also be used in the reporting of minor offenses, freeing up police call centers to deal with more serious issues.
2017: Year of the data breach
Barely a week seemed to go by in 2017 without news of a new data breach exposing customer or commercial data.
But just how bad was it? File transfer specialist Ipswitch has put together an infographic looking at the year in breaches.
John McAfee and the strange Twitter hack
In a cautionary tale for the festive season, unorthodox security guru John McAfee claims to have had his Twitter account hacked.
The account sent out a number of 'coin of the day' Tweets on December 27th encouraging followers to buy some lesser known crypto currencies. Nothing especially strange in that as McAfee has himself sent this type of message in the past.
Security concerns and a move to edge computing, 2018 predictions for the IoT
In 2017 we've see Internet of Things devices enter many more areas of our lives. We've also seen them exploited to launch cyber attacks.
So, how do industry experts think the IoT will develop in 2018?
Greater transparency and digital transformation, what 2018 holds for artificial intelligence
One of the most interesting trends we've seen in 2017 is the spread of artificial intelligence into areas like marketing and security.
Is this set to continue into next year, and are there new fields where AI is set to make a significant impact? Here are the views of some industry experts.
Challenging costs and greater portability -- 2018 cloud predictions
The shift of systems towards the cloud has showed no signs of slowing down this year, and industry experts still see a bright future for the technology in 2018, although not without challenges along the way.
Hybrid systems could see the fastest growth. "I expect hybrid to experience the largest growth spurt, because most companies have a legacy IT department and they can’t just change the business and systems to operate only on public cloud services. On the other hand, I believe net new companies will operation mostly in the public domain with only private/hybrid systems based on security and compliance," says Paul Stephenson, field evangelist and principal systems engineer at OVH US.
Amazon pulls the plug on uploading your own music to its cloud
As well as being a handy way of storing items you've bought from the site, Amazon Music also allowed you to upload your own tracks and stream them from its cloud.
Now though the company is quietly pulling the plug on this aspect of its service. Previously you could store 250 tracks for free, or 250,000 if you paid an annual subscription. But the ability to upload new songs is now being withdrawn.
An AI arms race and attacks on cryptocurrency among cyber security predictions for 2018
It's the time of year when industry experts like to dust off their crystal balls, examine the pattern of tea leaves in the bottom of their cups and try to predict what the coming year is going to hold.
As far as security is concerned most commentators think we can expect the increase in numbers and sophistication of attacks we've seen in 2017 to continue, but there are some new things to worry about too.
Ransomware dominates the 2017 threat landscape
Cyber attacks have been on the rise throughout 2017. According to endpoint security specialist Carbon Black, from January to December there has been a 328 percent jump in attacks against endpoints.
This means a business with 10,000 employees seeing about 1,000 attacks every single day. It's ransomware that continues to be a main attack vector for criminals though. Not only is it proliferating in underground markets on the dark web, it also cost global businesses an estimated $5 billion in 2017 - according to Cybersecurity Ventures.
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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