Security News

According to a recent Kaspersky report, 41% of parents said their child's school had experienced multiple cyberattacks and 55% said the school had suffered a single incident. "Threat actors have many motivations but the biggest reason to attack school systems is greed or the desire to profit from the attack by extorting schools via ransomware or the threat of attack," said Bryan K. Fite, global account chief information security officer at BT Global.

A survey from SecZetta revealed 83% of respondents agree that because organizations increasingly rely on contractors, freelancers, and other third party workers, their data systems have become more vulnerable to cyberattacks. According to recent data from the Ponemon Institute, 51% of breaches are caused by a third party,​​ and more than half of respondents admit their organizations are not evaluating the security and privacy practices of these third party non-employees before granting them access to sensitive and confidential information and systems.

Even with plenty of old problems to contend with, an expert suggests security pros need to get ready for new and more powerful automated ransomware tools. New problems specific to SMBs. Little next takes on what he calls "New problems:" Challenges facing SMBs that are somewhat obscure, not mainstream, and seldom considered by those responsible for cybersecurity in smaller businesses.

Cyberattacks against enterprise infrastructure are on the rise in the U.K. as digital transformation expands the digital footprints-and the potential attack surfaces-of many organizations, according to a report published by Information Services Group. The report for the U.K. finds the increasing sophistication of cyberattacks against different points in the enterprise IT ecosystem has made organizations more aware of cybersecurity and more interested in a broad range of defensive technologies.

Enterprises in the U.S. are turning to cybersecurity providers offering best-of-breed technologies that can help them fend off cyberattacks from sophisticated criminals, according to a report published by Information Services Group. Cybersecurity services providers forming partnerships.

A "Highly sophisticated group" known for cyberattacks against governmental and other entities is believed to be behind the attack this spring that targeted the Alaska health department, a spokesperson for the department said. Clinton Bennett, a department spokesperson, said a cybersecurity firm the department is working with had identified as responsible for the incident "a highly sophisticated group known to conduct complex cyberattacks against organizations that include state governments and health care entities." But Bennett, in an email, said the department will not comment on the group's identity, citing an ongoing investigation.

The technology-independent offering enables clients to take rapid and decisive action against today's most critical cyberattacks and strengthen their security posture. "Optiv MXDR brings simplicity, transparency and automation to clients' environments, enhancing existing defenses to counter known and emerging threats with confidence and speed," said David Martin, chief services officer for Optiv.

Several serious vulnerabilities discovered in a widely used pneumatic tube system made by Swisslog Healthcare can be highly useful for ransomware attacks aimed at hospitals, according to enterprise IoT security firm Armis. Armis researchers discovered 8 types of vulnerabilities in the TransLogic pneumatic tube system made by Swisslog Healthcare, which specializes in automation and transport solutions for hospitals and pharmacies.

A cyber attack that derailed websites of Iran's transport ministry and its national railway system earlier this month, causing widespread disruptions in train services, was the result of a never-before-seen reusable wiper malware called "Meteor." The campaign - dubbed "MeteorExpress" - has not been linked to any previously identified threat group or to additional attacks, making it the first incident involving the deployment of this malware, according to researchers from Iranian antivirus firm Amn Pardaz and SentinelOne.

Following cryptic reports of a malware attack that paralyzed the Iranian train system on July 9, SentinelOne threat hunters reconstructed the attack chain and discovered a destructive wiper component that could be used to scrub data from infected systems. In a research paper, SentinelOne threat hunter Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade said the never-before-seen wiper was developed in the past three years and appears designed for reuse in multiple campaigns.