Security News
Google says Russian, Belarusian, and Chinese threat actors targeted Ukrainian and European government and military organizations, as well as individuals, in sweeping phishing campaigns and DDoS attacks. The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine and Facebook previously warned of other phishing campaigns against Ukrainian officials and military personnel, also attributed Ghostwriter hackers.
The Roaming Mantis Android malware campaign has buzzed into Europe, quickly infesting France in particular, where there have been 66,789 downloads of the group's specific remote access trojan as of January. The campaign pushes the Android RAT known as Wroba onto victim devices.
The Roaming Mantis SMS phishing campaign has finally reached Europe, as researchers detect campaigns targeting Android and iPhone users in Germany and France with malicious apps and phishing pages. Roaming Mantis is a credential theft and malware distribution campaign that uses SMS phishing to distribute malicious Android apps as standalone APK files outside the Google Play Store.
The widely distributed FluBot malware continues to evolve, with new campaigns distributing the malware as Flash Player and the developers adding new features. Once in the device, FluBot can steal online banking credentials, send or intercept SMS messages, and capture screenshots.
A critical part of that defense is establishing a secure communication infrastructure, using the principles of quantum computing. Europe's foray into quantum communication is extremely promising.
Two Belarusian nationals were arrested earlier this month in Poland on the suspicion they engaged in multiple ATM jackpotting attacks. The two are believed to have committed dozens of ATM jackpotting attacks in several European countries, stealing an estimated €230,000 in cash.
As the 4th Industrial Revolution continues to accelerate business demand for high-speed broadband and presence in the cloud, Lumen Technologies has expanded its fiber network infrastructure in Europe, strengthening its service capabilities in France, Switzerland and Spain. The infrastructure extends fiber reach in and between major hubs of business and finance, bringing connectivity to new cities and providing dense coverage in key areas to connect multiple enterprise buildings and third-party data centers to the robust Lumen network.
Growing adoption of cloud-based services is propelling the expansion of the European IT and business services market, with the region setting a new record for as-a-service spending in the second quarter, according to the latest state-of-the-industry report from ISG. The EMEA ISG Index, which measures commercial outsourcing contracts with annual contract value of $5 million or more, shows ACV for the combined market, which includes both as-a-service and managed services, reached $6.3 billion, up 31 percent against a soft quarter last year during the onset of the pandemic, and up 4 percent against the first quarter of 2021. "Europe has traditionally lagged behind other regions in its adoption of cloud-based services but now growth is accelerating," said Steven Hall, president of ISG EMEA. "COVID-related digital transformation has advanced cloud adoption by three to five years, and as-a-service ACV will soon surpass 50 percent of the market. We are near a tipping point."
Little will happen until and unless the European Data Protection Authorities begin to enforce Schrems II. One year after the so-called Schrems II decision was made by the European Court of Justice, little has changed. Participants should note that privacy activist Max Schrems is watching; and he is not known for giving up where he has the law on his side.
The Luxembourg's Quantum Communications Infrastructure project, coordinated by the Department of Media, Telecommunications and Digital Policy of the Luxembourg Ministry of State, and supported by the European Space Agency and the Luxembourg Space Agency under the Luxembourg National LuxIMPULSE programme, will create a secure communications shield against cyber threats based on quantum technology. To design the LuxQCI, Luxembourg has put in place a consortium comprising InCert, itrust consulting, LuxConnect, LuxTrust and the University of Luxembourg, that is led by SES's fully-owned affiliate SES Techcom.