cybercriminals
iPhone 14: Users Fall For Scams Ahead of the Release of Apple’s New Smartphone
Apple has confirmed the long-awaited new iPhone 14 will be announced to the public on the 7th of September during its global Apple Event in September. Cybersecurity experts at Kaspersky have already found numerous examples of phishing pages, offering to buy the 14 iPhone, but actually designed to empty victims’ bank accounts and steal their Apple ID accounts. Overall, from 10 to 25 August, Kaspersky security solutions detected more than 8,700 new iPhone-related phishing sites. As the iPhone 14 announcement date gets closer, the number of phishing pages has been also increasing. For example, on August 25, Kaspersky experts detected a total of 1,023 iPhone-related phishing pages, which is almost twice the average number of such malicious site detections per day for the period. The number of ...
How a Data Breach Can Impact a Business Even Years After
Image sourced from Forbes. Modern enterprises face an onslaught of cyberattacks from many quarters and must not only be prepared to contend with the direct costs of potential breaches but also with spiralling indirect costs, such as compliance fines and reputational damage. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, so do the frequency and sophistication of attacks, with companies facing anything from denial of service attacks and phishing attempts to payment card skimming, identity theft, and account takeover threats. At the same time, ransomware attacks have gained prominence over the last few years, forcing companies to continually test their data protection plans to understand the risks associated with having sensitive data released to the public. In its State of Ransomware 2021 repo...
How Robots Can Take Up the Cybersecurity Fight
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Implementing Security Best Practices to Maintain Integrity at the Edge
Industry 4.0, IIoT, and smart manufacturing are all buzzwords that we’ve been talking about for years. Many of us have had visions of factory floors run by futuristic robots and drones reminiscent of SciFi movies like iRobot. Well, it seems that life is indeed starting to imitate art; a 2021 McKinsey & Company survey concluded that many global manufacturing companies were able to keep their operations running during the pandemic, thanks to Industry 4.0. Furthermore, more than half of the respondents indicated that technology played a fundamental role in staying operational. Moreover, according to recent studies, the COVID-19 pandemic has vaulted us five years forward in digital business adoption. More and more manufacturers are considering actively adopting “lights out” factories and s...
Update Your Security Strategy Based on Key Information Learned About Threat Actors, Advises Netskope
The reality of the cyber threats posed today is that many threat actors are not rogue operators acting on their own but are, instead, working as part of sophisticated and organised groups, collaborating with other groups within a wider ecosystem of specialists. These groups build significant financial resources over time, derived from the proceeds of commercially-driven attacks, or gathered as payment from states sponsoring or directly commissioning their activities. This is according to Yaroslav Rosomakho, Field CTO of Netskope, a global cybersecurity leader which is redefining cloud, data, and network security to help organisations apply Zero Trust principles to protect data. He explains: “Threat actors use these resources to improve their subsequent attacks, paying for infrastructure or...
How to Stop the Costliest Internet Scams
Image sourced from isnews.stir.ac.uk According to Steve Flynn, Sales and Marketing Director at ESET Southern Africa, it’s long past time organisations get a handle on business email compromise scams which generated more losses for victims in 2021 than any other type of cybercrime. While ransomware, hacking, API hacks, and all the other cybersecurity threats make headlines, it’s worth remembering that the costliest internet scam is still business email compromises, according to the latest FBI Internet Crime Report. Among the complaints received by the FBI in 2021, ransomware, business e-mail compromise (BEC) schemes, and the criminal use of cryptocurrency are among the top incidents reported. Technology-based systems are under attack, and they cost organisations around the world billions in...
Lacking Visibility: today’s biggest cybersecurity threat (and how to fix it)
Do you know the condition of your cybersecurity estate right now? Most companies have a tenuous grasp on whether their cybersecurity products and services are working as expected. What is the status of your patching? Are the security services delivering what you pay for? Do you know what the gaps and blind spots are in your security coverage? Above all, how long does it take for you to learn those answers? Days? Weeks? Creating accurate security reports takes time because you rely on numerous independent and uncoordinated vendor products with individual agents and data standards. Information often has to be manually compiled and harmonised into a single report. Time and insight are precious commodities for cybersecurity. Information from last week is not very useful to your current threats...
China-linked Cyber Attackers Target SA Job Seekers, Trellix Confirms
Sourced from International IDEA Trellix, a cybersecurity company, has confirmed a China-based threat actor known as Mustang Panda has been allegedly targeting South African telecommunications, banks, and job seekers through fake recruitment sites. According to Business Insider SA, data gathered by the cybersecurity company Trellix shows a consistent surge in threats during the first quarter of 2022, which it says is not unusual around the time, considering the fact that it’s right around holidays. The nature of these cybercrimes has, however, been very alarming, according to the cybersecurity company. Trellix revealed during its cyber intelligence briefing for South Africa on Wednesday that cybercriminals have been especially active during 2022. Among these cybercriminals, the most dominat...
How to Secure Your Remote Work Environment from Cybersecurity Threats
Sourced from International IDEA Cybersecurity threats are at an all-time high. With organizations increasingly employing hybrid work models, it has become more vital than ever to educate employees on the various cybersecurity risks that come with a distributed work environment. In a hybrid work environment, employees working from home pose a greater security risk compared to those working at the office. Home networks are less secured than corporate networks, unprotected by in-office firewalls and advanced fraud detection systems. In the comfort of one’s home, a small mistake by an employee could potentially risk the company’s confidential data being leaked. However, risks like data leaks and device compromise can be managed by following certain best practices. Here are some of the practice...
Global Russian Hack Attack Targeted SA Energy Sector, US Claims
Sourced from International IDEA South Africa came out as one of 135 countries that the US claims Russian government employees targeted between 2012 and 2017 as part of two massive hack campaigns allegedly aimed at disrupting energy companies and critical infrastructure. According to Daily Maverick, the aim was to undertake a sophisticated campaign to target, compromise, and maintain continued access to the networks of critical infrastructure and energy companies worldwide. When asked if Eskom was targeted by Russia, the South African energy utility said that it, like many organisations, combats many cyber-attacks. Eskom, however, did not specify if it was targeted by Russian actors, specifically, or not. “We are aware that, daily, cybercriminals are actively targeting various sectors, incl...
How to Protect Yourself from Gift Card Scams This Holiday Season
Image sourced from NorthJersey.com This holiday season checking off that gift list will look a little different than in past years. Many shoppers are planning to rely on e-commerce for a significant amount of their holiday shopping. Digital gift card sales are also likely to increase. However, given the spike in digital activity predicted over the holidays, cybercriminals, too, will be making their lists and checking them twice. It’s a particularly risky time of the year as shoppers of all ages (including some with less experience recognising digital threats) flock to search engines and online channels to place orders before holiday delivery date cutoffs. And opportunistic hackers know just how to create enticing, seasonally-appropriate lures—and even some of the simplest scams c...
