Cybercrime News
Forbes Cloud 100 Leader Rubrik Protects Your Data from Ransomware Attacks with Zero Trust Approach
Sourced from Kaspersky With data being increasingly valuable to a company’s organisations, ransomware attacks are surging around the world, including in South Africa. It is becoming incredibly lucrative for attackers to target businesses for their data, and at the same time, the ransomware being used is becoming more sophisticated. This means that more enterprises will feel the need to pay the ransom in the case of a breach. So says Risna Steenkamp, General Manager: ESM Division at Networks Unlimited, which distributes Rubrik solutions throughout Africa. “It is unfortunate,” she explains, “that in the event of a breach, paying the ransom is no guarantee that the threat actors will actually honour the agreement and release the data. This potentially leaves a breached organisation in the une...
NETSCOUT: The Long Tail of Adversary Innovation
Image sourced from Shutterstock. NETSCOUT’s ATLAS Security Engineering and Response Team (ASERT) observed a record-setting 5.4 million attacks in the first half of 2021, further confirmation that their “up and to the right” mantra would continue to hold true. As the findings from the 1H 2021 NETSCOUT Threat Intelligence Report show, the ongoing surge in DDoS activity is just one aspect of the dramatic global impact cyberattacks continue to have on private and public entities. “Cybercriminals are making front-page news launching an unprecedented number of DDoS attacks to take advantage of the pandemic’s remote work shift by undermining vital components of the connectivity supply chain,” stated Richard Hummel, threat intelligence lead, NETSCOUT. “Ransomware gangs added triple-extortion ...
Protect Yourself: Top 10 Most Common Phishing Email Subject Lines
KnowBe4, the provider of one of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, has announced the results of its Q3 top-clicked phishing report. “Social engineering attacks continue to be one of the top ways malicious hackers breach organizations and/or cause damage,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4. “We are seeing a continued increase in phishing, including more use of common HR types of communications and less reliance on obvious social media phishing campaigns. By equipping security professionals with more data on likely tactics and templates used by cybercriminals executing phishing attacks, infosec professionals can strengthen their human firewall. Now more than ever, end-users need to remain vigilant and remember to stop and think before they click....
Is South Africa a Playground for Cybercriminals?
The Attacks From All Angles 2021 Mid-year Cybersecurity Report by Trend Micro highlighted a 47% year-on-year increase in email threats as well as malicious files and URLs in the first quarter of 2021 globally. South Africa’s technology landscape is almost identical to that of other countries, which has seen black hat hackers using it as a testing ground for cybersecurity attacks before these are launched on their intended end-users. Ransomware Remains the Prime Threat Globally, ransomware remained the standout threat in the first half of the year. The pandemic has highlighted how easy it is to buy ransomware as a service (Raas) on the dark web. Africa accounted for 1.7% of these attacks, with 1.05% being targeted at South Africa. Our findings show that locally, South Africa was in the top ...
When It Comes to Cybercrime Beware of Social Engineers
You would be forgiven for thinking that terms like phishing, vishing, whaling, and pharming all had something to do with either a water sport or a pharmaceutical company, but every one of these is a cybercrime attack. These attacks leverage social engineering techniques to hack personal accounts, infect devices with ransomware, gain access to organisations or steal information to be sold on to the highest underground bidders. As Anna Collard, SVP of content and evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa points out, it has become absolutely essential for people to be mindful of what they post on social media. Anna Collard, SVP of content and evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa. “The risk of identity theft has never been greater and according to a report by SAFPS, has increased by 337% in 2020,” she says. “When ...
4 Network Security Challenges to Watch Out For
Sourced from Travellers The growing reliance on hybrid IT infrastructures that support cloud-based applications and a largely remote workforce is creating network security and performance challenges for many enterprises. According to research from a recent white paper by The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), 85 percent of organizations believe network security is more difficult today than it was two years ago. Entitled “Network Security Without Borders: A Common Technology Stack for Network Security and Operations,” the study cites several factors that contribute to the growing challenge of network security. Namely, here are 4 Network Security Challenges to Watch Out For: Increasingly Sophisticated Cyberthreat Tools Monitoring cyberthreats; correlating cyber threat intelligence with interna...
How to Successfully Recover from a Ransomware Attack
Sourced from Kaspersky South Africa is an attractive target for cybercriminals for a number of reasons, and the last few years have seen a sharp rise in high-profile ransomware attacks. One of the key motivations driving this volume of attacks is the fact that data is a de facto currency and an extremely valuable commodity on the black market. While backup is a critical component of data protection, when this backup is also encrypted by malicious software, companies are often left with few options other than to pay the ransom. Therefore, an effective Cyber Recovery strategy, which enables businesses to get back up and running without having to give in to criminal demands, is the key. Ransomware on the Rise The rapid adoption of digital transformation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the I...
Microsoft Phasing Out the Need for Passwords
Image sourced from NS Energy. Microsoft has said that from today its users can begin removing the password associated with their Microsoft accounts and begin using a new suite of methods to sign in instead. The tech empire says that going passwordless is “the next generation of account security” and that once a user removes the password from their account, they will need to sign in using one of several passwordless methods, including the Microsoft Authenticator app, Windows Hello, a physical/biometric key like a thumbprint scanner or Microsoft SMS codes. According to a blog post published by Microsoft, ridding your account of a traditional password and using any of the above methods is actually safer. Passwords have become a cybersecurity risk as of late. Hackers use programs to “brute for...
With IoT in Healthcare on the Rise, Security Must Be A Priority says Fortinet
Image sourced from Alpine Security. South Africa is poised to start benefiting from a plethora of healthcare technologies that could dramatically improve patient care at a lower cost, boost preventative healthcare, and take the best medical practitioners virtually to the most underserved regions of the country. However, exciting new developments in healthcare technology could also put patients at risk in both the cyber and real world. This is according to Fortinet South Africa security experts Doros Hadjizenonos and Matthew Taljaard, who warn that the promise of emerging healthcare technologies could be derailed by security risks. Hadjizenonos, Regional Sales Director SADC at Fortinet, says Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices are increasingly being adopte...
3 Most Common Cyberscams that Compromise Business Emails
Image sourced from Forbes. Online security firm Kaspersky reports that its cybersecurity experts are increasingly observing BEC (Business Email Compromise) attacks online. Between May and July 2021, Kaspersky says that its security products prevented more than 9,500 BEC attacks globally, including those against businesses in air transportation, industry, retail, IT, and delivery. Such attacks demand significant time and resources, and preparation for them may last from a few weeks to several months. One successful attack may lead to damage worth many millions for a company. During a BEC attack, fraudsters usually initiate an email exchange with a company employee in order to gain their trust and encourage actions that are detrimental to the interest of the company or its clients. To do thi...
Today’s New Business Normal Creates Threat Opportunities
Image sourced from Feed Navigator. The COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses of all shapes and sizes to make rapid changes in how they operated, with employees predominantly working remotely and sensitive data and systems being accessed from outside the office. For many, this triggered an increased reliance on remote-access infrastructure and cloud-delivered services. IT departments rushed to install, expand, or upgrade remote desktop access (RDA) servers, virtual private network (VPN) concentrators, and remote access routers to meet surging workforce demand for remote access to data centres. Moreover, widespread reliance on video conferencing apps forced many businesses to upgrade enterprise wide-area network and local-area network capacity, as well as to re-evaluate routing and DNS re...
Over 1,500 Malicious Resources Are Targeting Potential Crypto Investors in Africa
Image sourced from Shutterstock. Globally, cryptocurrency mining malware wreaked havoc in 2018, infecting more than five million people in the first three quarters of that year. Recent Kaspersky’s research shows that in some African countries, the threat of malicious crypto miners remains prevalent. Currently, in South Africa, the share of all users targeted by malicious crypto miners in H1 2021 was 0.60%. In Kenya, the share of all users targeted was 0.85% and in Nigeria, 0.71%. “Although these percentages may be interpreted as low and may not seem significant to users, crypto-miner malware has been identified as one of the top 3 malware families rife in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria at present,” says Bethwel Opil, Enterprise Sales Manager at Kaspersky in Africa. Kaspersky believes thes...
