Cyber Law Watch – Page 24 – Insight on how cyber risk is being mitigated and managed across the globe

Australia identified as the link in a major Chinese hack!

Nov 01 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Jessica McIntosh

According to the US, China is trying to advance its aviation manufacturing capability using stolen information – and the latest is…. the information is being stolen out of Australia!

An Australian IT company dubbed “Company L” has been placed smack bang in the middle of a major hacking case in the US where US authorities have very publically and powerfully accused China of using compromised domain names to steal important aviation technology, alarmingly this has been happening for the large part of the last five years.

Ransomware, get your ransomware here, and you too can share in the profits!

Nov 01 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Colette Légeret

The expansion of the “service industry” into malware-as-as-service (MaaS), is not the only cyber-attack available online, Bleeping Computer found ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS), that not only uses FilesLocker malware and targets Chinese and American victims, it also offers users a sliding commission pay-scale that rises the more ransomware victims infected.

Bleeping Computer was put on the trail of this RaaS by security researcher, Neutral8✗9eR, who saw it being marketed through a Chinese malware forum on TOR.

Step right up and get your malware – no skill required, prices start at $20!

Oct 31 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Colette Légeret

It seems that the “service industry” has expanded into cyber-crime without us knowing about it as the Fortinet research team recently discovered. They came across malware-as-a-service schemes available on several Dark Web forums, with one designed as an easy-to-use point of entry for beginner Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attackers.

The DDoS kit disguises itself as a legitimate “booter” or “stresser” service and as it is relatively easy to set-up, almost anyone can go into the “DDoS a website for a fee” business. Some of the offerings are incredibly customisable. The research team found one such service that went operational on 17 October 2018 called “Ox-booter” which uses the Bushido botnet for its attacks. Bushido itself is relatively new, having only been identified in September 2018.

Apple calls for comprehensive US privacy laws

Oct 25 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Jessica McIntosh

It’s uncomfortable to think one of the world’s biggest business leaders has this week stood up and told us all ”our own information from the everyday to the deeply personal is being weaponized against us with military efficiency” what’s more uncomfortable, these powerful words are only a small snippet of a seriously forceful and passionate speech Tim Cook delivered in Brussels on Wednesday.

Sony Smart TV’s ….clearly not smart enough, or secure!

Oct 14 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Jessica McIntosh

Security researchers at Fortinet have found flaws in eight Sony Bravia Smart TV models and consequently have got us all thinking…… just how vulnerable does having a smart TV make us?

According to Fortinet the flaws found can facilitate complete ‘remote code execution with root privilege’, in other words – those with a Sony Smart TV are left totally exposed to an attack!

Move over Mirai – Torii is tipped to be the new botnet boss

Oct 05 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Jessica McIntosh

It’s been hailed a true example of the evolution of IoT malware with researchers from security vendor Avast last week explaining in detail just how persistent and powerful this “new” strain of botnet can be. According to Avast, Torii is a “level of sophistication above anything they have seen before”.

For us, it’s newly found cutting-edge techniques and features mean it is a threat to EVERY type of computer and device… it’s a threat to all of us.

Tesco Bank fined £16.4 million for failing to protect account holders against an avoidable cyber-attack in 2016

Oct 04 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Colette Légeret

The UK’s banking watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has fined Tesco Bank, the banking arm of UK supermarket chain Tesco, £16.4 million (approximately AU$29.5 million) for failing to exercise due skill, care and diligence in protecting its personal current account holders against a cyber-attack that occurred in 2016.

This cyber-attack affected thousands of account holders and netted the cyber-criminals £2.26 million (approximately AU$4.07 million) in 48 hours. It was described, at the time, as an unprecedented assault against a UK regulated bank.

2018 Trends in Cyber-crimes so far…

Sep 23 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Colette Légeret

The first half of 2018 has been busy for cyber-criminals and cyber-security alike. According to Trend Micro, cryptocurrency mining detections have jumped 96% in this six month period compared to the total number detected in 2017.

In that same time, over 20 billion threats were blocked by Trend Micro’s Infrastructure, a few billion threats less than in the first half of 2017. Of these threats, less were “spray and pay” ransomware attacks and breaches, as cyber-criminals are flying under the radar with crypto-jacking, along with fileless, macro and small file malware techniques.

Cyber-attack on Bristol Airport – Ransomware leaving travellers in the dark about their flights!

Sep 20 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Colette Légeret

In response to a cyber-attack on the administrative systems of Bristol airport, believed to be ransomware, the airport took a number of applications down as a precautionary measure, including the application that provides flight data for flight information screens.

Cyber-criminals outspend organisations more than 10 times in bid to find cybersecurity weaknesses – who says cyber-crime doesn’t pay?

Sep 17 2018

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham and Colette Légeret

Cyber attackers are able to search for that one weak link in corporations defences whereas corporates have to create a completely strong chain of defence against every possible scenario. This asymmetrical fight would you think mean organisations would have to outspend attackers by many multiples.

However, according to software company, Carbon Black, the situation is worse than that because it appears that cyber criminals are outspending corporation! Cyber-crime is big business, and as such, cyber-criminals are spending an estimated $1 trillion each year on finding weaknesses in the cyber defences of organisations and developing new ways of attacking them, in comparison to the $96 billion spent by organisations in an attempt to secure themselves from these cyber-attacks.