Cyber Security News & Trends

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This week, SonicWall releases new threat intelligence data, one cybergang poses as a tougher cybergang, and jackpotting ATMs are spreading in the wild.


SonicWall Spotlight

SonicWall: Encrypted Attacks, IoT Malware Surge as Global Malware Volume Dips – SonicWall Blog

  • SonicWall releases new threat intelligence data from SonicWall Capture Labs revealing 7.2 billion malware attacks were launched in the first three quarters of 2019 as well as 151.9 million ransomware attacks, marking 15% and 5% year-over-year declines, respectively. Despite the drop in attacks overall, the figures also show a rise in encrypted and IoT attacks suggesting a larger attempt by cybercriminals to target specific individuals and companies rather than launching very broad attacks.

Spooky Cyber Threats – Ping: A Firewalls.com Podcast Episode 5 – Firewalls.com Podcast

  • SonicWall returns to the Ping podcast, this time Sales Engineer Daniel Kremers appears to discuss cyberthreats with the Firewalls.com team.

Cybersecurity Roundup: Splunk, SonicWall, Bugcrowd, Exabeam – Channel Futures

  • SonicWall CEO Bill Conner is quoted by Channel Futures, explaining the new threat intelligence data. The news is also covered in MSSPAlert and ComputerWeekly.

Cybersecurity News

Ransomware and Data Breaches Linked to Uptick in Fatal Heart Attacks – PBS

  • A disturbing new study has looked at the available data from hospitals that suffered from ransomware attacks and has found a correlation with deaths from heart attacks at the same institutions. The study has found that the time it took for a patient to receive an electrocardiogram increased by as much as 2.7 minutes after a data breach, and this lag remained as high as 2 minutes even after three to four years.

What Is Wrong With Cybersecurity and Why Is It Messing With My Operations? – Forbes Technology Council

  • In the latest Forbes Technology Council post, it is argued that cybersecurity should be seen as a form of warfare. To win the war constant movement, change and adaptation is needed in order to keep up with the cyber arms race.

The NCSC Annual Review 2019 – The National Cyber Security Centre (UK)

  • The NCSC Annual Review 2019 sheds a light on some of the work the GCHQ has done over the past year, revealing that it handled 658 cyber incidents in the last 12 months and provided support to almost 900 victims of cyberattacks. The report lists Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as hostile states actively targeting the UK with cyberattacks

A DDoS Gang Is Extorting Businesses Posing as Russian Government Hackers – ZDNet

  • A DDoS gang is trading on the Russian-government linked ransomware group Fancy Bear’s name by launching DDoS attacks and ransom demands, threatening further attacks if the ransom is not paid. The group is in reality not related to the Fancy Bear group.

‘Sensitive US Army Data ‘Exposed by Online Leak’ – BBC News

  • 179 GB of data was made accessible on an unsecured cloud server run by a travel services company Autoclerk. Data exposed includes full names, birth dates, addresses, phone numbers and travel itinerary details of a range of people, including US government and military personnel.

Avast Says Hackers Breached Internal Network Through Compromised VPN Profile – ZDNet

  • Avast has confirmed it suffered from a successful cyberattack after disclosing that a hacker attempted to insert malware into their CCleaner software. This is the second time CCleaner has suffered from supply-chain attack after hackers breached previous CCleaner owner, Piriform, in 2017.

And Finally:

Malware That Spits Cash out of ATMs Has Spread Across the World – Vice

  • “Jackpotting” malware attacks on ATM are spreading around the world with 10 incidents in Germany between February and November 2017 letting hackers to walk off with 1.4 million euro. Experts say that 2019 figures suggest that the attacks are only increasing.

In Case You Missed It

SonicWall Staff