Cybercrime Trends
What Happens When Cybercriminals Impersonate CEOs?
Image sourced from Feed Navigator. Traditional payment fraud has been rife for some time, where the cybercriminal impersonates the CEO, or other senior members of staff, to convince the finance department to make an urgent payment to either a new supplier or update their bank details. Now over the past month, there has been an increase in an evolved method of change of bank details or payment fraud cyber-attack. This new trend involves an internal change of bank details, mostly for the CEO. The change of bank details fraud uses fake banking confirmation letters and the trust of finance people to update an existing supplier’s details. The growing number of successful attacks have proven to be very costly to businesses of all sizes. Owing to this, many businesses have now implemented stronge...
Targeted Malware is Raging Across South Africa, Kenya & Nigeria
According to the latest research of internet security firm Kaspersky on threat landscape trends, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria are facing dramatic changes in the landscape. While regular, self-propagating malware is decreasing dramatically, as it is no longer effective and cannot fly under security radars, the region will see the growth of new cybercrime models in the upcoming year. While comparing the overall number of mass cyberattacks in 2021, security researchers at Kaspersky noticed a 7,5% decrease in Nigeria, a 12% decrease in South Africa and an unprecedented 28,6% decrease in Kenya. The reason for such a change was the introduction and popularisation of new cybercrime models in the region, with cybercrime tools becoming more targeted along with a long-running trend where malware ...
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...
Vodacom Partners With Trend Micro Expanding its Cybersecurity Offerings
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5.8-Million Attacks Detected in Malware Disguised as PC Games
Image sourced from Wccftech. Over 5.8 million attacks by malware and unwanted software disguised as popular PC games were detected and prevented by Kaspersky and its cybersecurity solutions globally from Q3 2020 to Q2 2021. This increased volume may be connected to the rapid growth of gaming activities during the pandemic. The data comes from the latest game-related cyberthreats report by Kaspersky, in which researchers assessed the changes of gaming-related threats during the pandemic. The gaming industry witnessed unprecedented growth over the past 18-months, in part, thanks to users being forced to find alternative means of entertainment as they stayed at home. Even though the world has become safer this year, the demand for games persists, and the industry is predicted to grow even fur...
Top 5 Tips for Women to Build a Career in Cybersecurity
Image sourced from Texas News Today Representation of women in the cybersecurity industry has grown over the past years and, while this is positive, there is still room for improvement. Growth and success in this area require that everyone work together to amplify each other, but this is easier said than done. How can those interested in cybersecurity further develop their careers? What can those who would like to be an ally do? To answer this, women on the Cisco cybersecurity team across Africa share their journey and experiences and a few common themes stood out. Interestingly, not everyone in cybersecurity started with a technical background. Some of the women currently in cybersecurity started in non-stem-related courses. Cybersecurity was also seen as a growing industry with a choice ...
The Average Data Breach Costs Over $4-Million in 2021
According to data presented by Atlas VPN, the average financial damages caused by a data breach increased by nearly 10% year over year to $4.24 million in 2021. This is the highest spike since 2015. A data breach can have a number of negative implications for a business, including lost sales, a tarnished reputation, data recovery fees, and possibly employee layoffs. “The record-high average losses can be directly linked to the rapid onset of remote work, as it created many new loopholes for cybercriminals to exploit,” Edward Garb, a cybersecurity researcher at Atlas VPN, comments on the findings. The numbers are provided by IBM, where between May 2020 and March 2021, researchers conducted roughly 3,500 separate interviews with individuals from 17 countries and 537 firms that had experience...
Using AI to Beat Cybercriminals at their Own Game
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is a powerful technology, and because of this, it holds great potential for exploitation by cybercriminals. Considering this, the only way that security leaders can stay ahead of bad actors is by gaining a true understanding of how this technology can be weaponised. Then, they can begin to develop effective strategies for confronting AI threats head-on. Malicious Uses of AI Technology As AI grows in adoption and sophistication, cybercriminals are looking for ways to seize upon its potential. The Electronic Frontier Foundation was already warning about potential malicious uses of AI back in 2018, including threats to digital, physical, and political security. And now, AI precursors combined with swarm technology can be used to infiltrate a networ...
Cryptocurrency and Cybercrime: 3 Insights You Need to Know
Image sourced from Shutterstock. Criminals have kept pace with changing technologies by no longer wanting their crimes to generate hard cash – bitcoin has become the currency of choice. That’s particularly true for cybercrime, where ransomware is booming as criminals infiltrate organisations’ IT systems and threaten to publish or destroy crucial data unless a ransom is paid in Bitcoin. Here are 3 insights you need to know about the links between cybercrime and cryptocurrency: 1. Cryptocurrency is Fuelling Cybercrime Ransomware payments have become so huge that attacks are mounting daily. A recent high-profile case was an attack on the US Colonial Pipeline, causing the system that carries 2.5 million barrels of oil a day to be shut off. It’s become such a lucrative business that some syndic...
33% of Companies Undergo Cyberattacks Twice a Month on Average, per Report
Sourced from International IDEA The Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2021 provided some concerning statistics and facts about the impact of cyber-crime. It is a game, and it is one that Hiscox fundamentally believes no business should leave to chance. Multiple threat vectors and variable threat actors, and, perhaps most worrying – repeated attacks on companies by cyber-crime pose a serious risk to organisations small and large alike. One-in-six of all firms attacked this year (17%) said the impact was serious enough to ‘materially threaten the solvency or viability of the company’. According to Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy & Evangelist at KnowBe4 AFRICA, the report underscores the immense challenge that organisations face when it comes to securing the business and the people within ...
