Cybersecurity Expert

Article by  Beau Peters It is no secret that medical professionals of all levels need to maintain a vast amount of knowledge in their brains at all times. After all, having experience and education is crucial to saving lives and helping patients. But should an understanding of cybersecurity be added to their repertoire? If they want to give the best overall care inside and outside of the clinic, then the answer is yes. As technology has evolved and we have moved to a more remote work environment, it is essential that cybersecurity becomes part of training for everyone in a medical organization, from human resources to the doctors themselves. By knowing the threats and understanding the solutions, doctors can protect their patients and provide advice to keep them safe even after they leave the office. Below are some of the many reasons why doctors should receive a cybersecurity education. Following Privacy Guidelines These days, technology is being used in the medical community mor...

Article by Beau Peters The movie industry is infamous for its loose depictions of hacking and cybersecurity. Hollywood often gets a lot wrong about hacking and digital protections, but what does it get right? The power of film in influencing the future of technology and the experts that create it is immense. Because of this, it is important to assess what the facts are versus movie fiction.  Here, we’ll explore the film industry’s portrayal of cybersecurity. Cybersecurity in Movies From WarGames to Blackhat, hacking and cybersecurity movies have glamorized the world of digital safety and the compromising of said safety. However, each Hollywood outing does so with varying levels of realism, typically embracing excitement over reality.  In the 1983 WarGames movie, a young hacker almost triggers World War 3 These portrayals have led to common tropes and views of the cybersecurity industry in their attempts to prevent and combat hacking attempts. Among these tropes are some of th...

Article by Paul German, CEO, Certes Networks A cyber threat could be lurking in any corner of an organisation’s infrastructure. The complex networks encompassing numerous smart and interconnected technologies make it easy for cybercriminals to hide, but much harder for them to be found. Yet, waiting for a cyber threat to make an appearance is far too dangerous; if left undetected, a cybercriminal could stay in an organisation’s network for years - and just think of the damage that could be caused. To combat this, threat hunting is now an essential component of any cybersecurity strategy. Rather than waiting for a hacker to make themselves known, threat hunting involves constantly and proactively searching for the threats hiding within a system, working on the assumption that a cyber hacker is ever-present and looking for signs of unusual activity before it even occurs. But how does threat hunting work in practice, and how can the approach ensure an organisation’s data is kept safe? Why...

A roundup of UK focused Cyber and Information Security News, Blog Posts, Reports and general Threat Intelligence from the previous calendar month, August 2020. Taking security training courses and passing certification exams are common ingredients in the makeup of the vast majority of accomplished cybersecurity and information security professionals. As such, two security incidents last month raised more than just a surprising eyebrow or two within the UK security industry.  The first involved the renown and well respected United States security training company, The SANS Institue , announcing that a successful email phishing attack against one of its employees resulted in 28,000 personal records being stolen .  SANS classified this compromise as "consent phishing", namely where an employee is tricked into providing malicious Microsoft Office 365 OAuth applications access to their O365 accounts. In June 2020,  Microsoft warned 'consent phishing' scams were targetin...

What Happened? Twitter confirmed 130 celebrity Twitter accounts were targeted in the cyberattack  on Wednesday 15th July, with 45 successfully compromised. The hacked Twitter accounts included high profile individuals such as  Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Kanye West, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Kim Kardashian, and Joe Biden. Their accounts were used to send a tweet to scam Bitcoin out of their millions of followers. Scam Social Engineering Tweet sent from Bill Gates' Twitter Account Twitter quickly reacted to the hack by taking an unprecedented step of temporarily preventing all verified users from tweeting, including yours truly;  I was trying to warn people about the attack but my tweets were repeatedly prevented from posting. Before the scam tweets were taken down m ore than £80,000 ($100,000) was sent to the scam Tweet's advertised Bitcoin address. T he FBI is investigating the incident. How the Twitter Accounts were Compromised Twitter said ha...

YesWeHack, a European bug bounty platform, is providing universities and schools with free access to its educational platform YesWeHackEDU . This offer aims to allow educational institutions to hold a practice-oriented cybersecurity training. As of 1st April 2020, all universities and schools can benefit from free licenses of YesWeHackEDU, which are valid until 31st May 2020. Preparation for IT Security Professions YesWeHackEDU is aimed at educational institutions that, in the current situation, want to integrate IT topics and cybersecurity into their curricula via distance learning. The educational platform is a simulation of the real bug bounty platform of YesWeHack. The attack scenarios, which are available as practice projects, are simulations of real-world situations. Universities and schools also can kickstart a real bug bounty program on YesWeHackEDU to have their IT infrastructure security-proofed by their students. YesWeHackEDU teaches the identification and eliminat...

Its December and the Christmas lights are going up, so it can't be too early for cyber predictions for 2020.   With this in mind,  Richard Starnes, Chief Security Strategist at Capgemini , sets out what the priorities will be for businesses in 2020 and beyond. Richard Starnes, Chief Security Strategist, Capgemini Accelerated digital innovation is a double-edged sword that will continue to hang over the cybersecurity threat landscape in 2020.  As businesses rapidly chase digital transformation and pursue the latest advancements in 5G, cloud and IoT, they do so at the risk of exposing more of their operations to cyber-attacks. These technologies have caused an explosion in the number of end-user devices, user interfaces, networks and data; the sheer scale of which is a headache for any cybersecurity professional.  In order to aggressively turn the tide next year, cyber analysts can no longer avoid AI adoption or ignore the impact of 5G.  AI ...

Guest Article by  Andy Pearch, Head of IA Services at  CORVID Cyber attacks are inevitable, but it’s how an organisation deals with them that can make or break their business. Have they got all the answers, and do they fully understand the implications? Can they be sure the attack won’t happen again? Swift and comprehensive incident response is a critical step to ensuring the future security of a business and protecting its reputation. It’s not enough to be aware that an attack is taking (or has taken) place. There are four key questions organisations need to be able to answer following a cyber security breach – if a single answer is missing, the security team won’t have the full picture, leaving the business vulnerable to impending attacks. Not having this level of insight can also damage an organisation’s relationships with suppliers and affect customer confidence, as it means the business itself is not in control of the situation. Andy Pearch, Head of IA Services at COR...

RSA Security latest search reveals over half (57%) of consumers blame companies ahead of hackers if their data is stolen. Consumer backlash in response to the numerous high-profile data breaches in recent years has exposed one of the hidden risks of digital transformation: loss of customer trust. The RSA Data Privacy & Security Survey 2019 identified that companies have lost the trust of customers as a disconnect has formed between how companies are using customer data and how consumers expect their data to be used. Despite the fact that consumers harbour heightened concerns about their privacy, they continue to exhibit poor cyber hygiene, with 83% of users admitting  that they reuse the same passwords across many sites , leaving them more vulnerable. Key takeaways from the RSA Data Privacy study, include: Context matters: Individuals across all demographics are concerned about their financial/banking data, as well as sensitive information such as passwords, but other area...

The first month of 2019 was a relatively slow month for cyber security in comparison with the steady stream of cyber attacks and breaches throughout 2018.  On Saturday 26th January, car services and repair outfit Kwik Fit told customers its IT systems had been taken offline due to malware, which disputed its ability to book in car repairs. Kwik Fit didn't provide any details about the malware, but it is fair to speculate that the malware outbreak was likely caused by a general lack of security patching and anti-virus protection as opposed to anything sophisticated. B&Q said it had taken action after a security researcher found and disclosed details of B&Q suspected store thieves online. According to Ctrlbox Information Security, the exposed records included 70,000 offender and incident logs, which included: the first and last names of individuals caught or suspected of stealing goods from stores descriptions of the people involved, their vehicles and other incident-re...