The UK's National Health Service (NHS) has warned the public about a spate of fake messages, sent out as SMS text messages, fraudulently telling recipients that they have been exposed to the Omicron variant of COVID-19. In a tweet, the NHS said that it had seen reports of text messages that claimed to come from the NHS, telling recipients that they...

In Part 1 of this series, we reviewed the first four sections of the new PCI standards. As we continue our examination of PCI DSS version 4.0, we will consider what organizations will need to do in order to successfully transition and satisfy this update. Requirements 5 through 9 are organized under two categories: Maintain a Vulnerability...

Modern goods and services rely on a supply chain ecosystem, which are interconnected networks of manufacturers, software developers, and other service providers. This ecosystem provides cost savings, interoperability, quick innovation, product feature diversity, and the freedom to pick between rival providers. However, due to the many sources of...

According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach report In 2021, data breach costs rose from $3.86 million to $4.24 million, exhibiting the highest average total cost in the 17-year history of their report. A new report from the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) has revealed that data breaches have become more costly for medium and large...

In 2022, phishing attacks have not only increased substantially, but they have also taken a new turn of events. According to the Agari and PhishLabs Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence report, phishing attacks are gradually being delivered through a wide range of online platforms. The classic email phishing attack technique has increased...

Nearly a year ago, journalist Martin Banks codified “Five Laws of Cybersecurity”. Cybersecurity is a complicated field, and any way to simplify its many facets into short, easy-to-remember maxims is always welcome. The five laws are a very good start towards developing a robust security program. The laws are: Treat everything like it’s vulnerable...

Each year, CyberEdge publishes the Cyberthreat Defense Report (CDR). Aimed at IT security leaders, this comprehensive report outlines the threats, security issues, and industry concerns that are most pressing. Information summarized in the CDR is gathered through surveys conducted in 17 countries and 19 industries. Respondents are IT decision...

Law enforcement agencies around the world appear to have scored a major victory in the fight against fraudsters, in an operation that seized tens of millions of dollars and seen more than 2000 people arrested. Operation "First Light 2022", running for two months from March 8 2002 until May 8 2022, saw 76 countries clamp down on organised crime...

Grooming techniques used in various frauds are getting more common and more elaborate. Fraudsters are coming up with narratives that involve complicated lies and may have different stages, depending on the type of fraud. Often, different actors are brought into the story. These actors also lie to the victim, in order to support the narrative. The...

Today’s VERT Alert addresses Microsoft’s June 2022 Security Updates. VERT is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expects to ship ASPL-1007 on Wednesday, June 15th. In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEs None of the vulnerabilities patched this month have been exploited in-the-wild or publicly disclosed according to Microsoft. However,...

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council has released its first update to their Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) since 2018. The new standard, version 4.0, is set to generally go into effect by 2024, but there are suggested updates that are not going to be required until a year after that. This, of course, creates a couple of problems...

All of us at Tripwire’s Vulnerability Exposure and Research Team (VERT) are constantly looking out for interesting stories and developments in the infosec world. Here’s what cybersecurity news stood out to us during the week of June 06, 2022. I’ve also included some comments on these stories. Another nation-state actor exploits Microsoft Follina to...

Following a two-year suspension of its live conference, Europe’s largest information security event Infosecurity Europe returns, welcoming in-person attendees at London’s ExCel Centre between June 21st and 23rd. Reed Exhibitions announced in December that the theme of this year's conference would be Stronger Together, a continuation of 2021’s...

Sophos Labs recently released its annual global study, State of Ransomware 2022, which covers real-world ransomware experiences in 2021, their financial and operational impact on organizations, as well as the role of cyber insurance in cyber defense. The report, which surveyed 5,600 IT professionals in mid-sized organizations across 31 countries,...

Working in the Electric Utility sector of critical infrastructure gives a person a very unique perspective on how many of the pieces of the puzzle fit together to provide uninterrupted services to a broad population. My personal experience as a software engineer in the electrical industry introduced me to the nuances that the average person doesn’t...

More than a third of organizations suffered a serious cloud security incident in 2021. According to a survey of 300 cloud professionals covered by BetaNews, 36% of those respondents said that their organizations had suffered a severe cloud security data leak or breach in the past 12 months. Looking forward, eight in 10 survey participants said they...

Cybersecurity has, since its inception, been a corporate-based problem. Whether it is a public, or private corporation, these entities were the primary targets of most cybercrime. In recent years, the industrial sector has increasingly become the target of attack for malicious actors. The reasons include newly internet-connected devices that were...

My time at NERC had me involved with quite a few projects over my seven-year career there. I was involved with CIP compliance audits, investigations, auditor training, and many advisory sessions. Typically, I was advising entities across North America on different tactics, techniques, and insight from best practices I have seen. I wanted to share a...

Apple says that it protected many millions of users from being defrauded to the tune of nearly $1.5 billion dollars in the last year, by policing its official App Store. According to a newly published report by Apple, over 1.6 million risky and untrustworthy apps and app updates were stopped in their tracks due to the company's fraud prevention...

All of us at Tripwire’s Vulnerability Exposure and Research Team (VERT) are constantly looking out for interesting stories and developments in the infosec world. Here’s what cybersecurity news stood out to us during the week of May 30, 2022. I’ve also included some comments on these stories. Vendor Refuses to Remove Backdoor Account That Can...