The number of successful cyber attacks against UK law firms rose by 77% in the past year to 954, up from 538 the year before, according to a new study of the threat. Chartered accountants Lubbock Fine said that the wave is driven by criminals seeing law firms as prime targets for ransomware attacks or blackmail.
This is due to the sensitive personal and financial information they hold, which hackers can sell on the dark web or threaten to publish on the internet. Earlier this month, a global survey revealed that ransomware attackers have been paid off at least eight times in recent years.
Read more…
Source: The Law Society Gazette
Related:
- Five Eyes nations fear wave of Russian attacks against critical infrastructure
April 20, 2022
The Five Eyes nations’ cybersecurity agencies this week urged critical infrastructure to be ready for attacks by crews backed by or sympathetic to the Kremlin amid strong Western opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The joint alert, issued by cybersecurity authorities in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, provides technical details on more than ...
- UK Prime Minister, Catalan groups ‘targeted by NSO Pegasus spyware’
April 18, 2022
Citizen Lab has reported finding suspected surveillance software on devices associated with both the UK Prime Minister’s Office and what was formerly called the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Canadian research outfit also said it had identified at least 65 individuals linked with Catalan civil society groups in Spain who were targeted by, or infected ...
- UK: Police anti-terror IT system was ‘not fit for purpose’ – former officer
April 13, 2022
A key intelligence database used by police to investigate extremists was “not fit for purpose” when introduced in 2014, a former counter-terrorism officer has told the BBC. The officer, who retired in 2018, says the National Common Intelligence Application (NCIA) had serious flaws. Counter Terrorism Policing says “substantial improvements” were made following a significant review after terror ...
- Mystery of alleged Chinese hack on eve of Ukraine invasion
April 7, 2022
Allegations of Chinese cyber activity as the recent conflict broke out in Ukraine have been emerging. The details appear unusually murky but one Western intelligence official believes the aim was espionage – and the cyber-attack may have been broader than previously reported. The Times first reported that hackers, alleged to be based in China, began targeting Ukrainian ...
- UK spy agencies sharing bulk personal data with foreign allies was legal, says court
April 6, 2022
A privacy rights org this week lost an appeal in a case about the sharing of Bulk Personal Datasets (BPDs) by MI5, MI6, and GCHQ with foreign intelligence agencies. The British agencies have never stated, in public, whether any of them have shared BPDs with foreign intelligence agencies – they have a so-called “neither confirm nor ...
- More charged in UK Lapsus$ investigation
April 1, 2022
British police have charged two teenagers as part of an international investigation into the Lapsus$ cyber extortion gang. The boys, aged 16 and 17, are set to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Friday, according to the City of London Police, the force responsible for the capital’s financial district. Detective Inspector Michael O’Sullivan said the pair ...