Government

July 30, 2018

Despite a looming deadline, over a quarter of federal agencies are still not using basic email security tools. ` As phishing ploys continue to take their toll on businesses, federal agencies have yet to fully protect themselves against such attacks with basic defenses like DMARC. With only months to go before the federal Binding Operational Directive ...

July 25, 2018

Active attack group is eager to make use of available tools, research, and the work of other threat actors. Symantec has uncovered the operations of a threat actor named Leafminer that is targeting a broad list of government organizations and business verticals in various regions in the Middle East since at least early 2017. The group tends ...

June 26, 2018

The London Office for Rapid Cyber security Advancement (LORCA) has officially opened its doors today in East London. Launched by digital secretary Matt Hancock, LORCA will be run by tech innovation centre Plexal, located on the Here East digital campus inside Plexal City. The government-backed £13.5m centre will help the UK’s newest cyber security startups on their ...

June 24, 2018

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the UK is under investigation by that country’s regulator over the collection of more than 5 million biometric voice IDs. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is investigating the tax agency’s practice, which may violate the recently implemented General Data Protection Regulation, following an official complaint from watchdog group Big ...

February 15, 2018

The United Kingdon’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office has formally “attributed the NotPetya cyber-attack to the Russian Government”, specifically the nation’s military. “The decision to publicly attribute this incident underlines the fact that the UK and its allies will not tolerate malicious cyber activity,” said a February-15th-dated statement from Foreign Office Minister for Cyber Security Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of ...

February 11, 2018

More than 5,000 websites have been hacked to force visitors’ computers to run software that mines a cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin. Users loading the websites of the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Student Loans Company, as well as the council websites for Manchester City, Camden, and Croydon – and even the homepage of the United States Courts ...

January 30, 2018

Yet another defeat in the courts for the UK government’s use of mass surveillance as an indiscriminate and, as it frequently turns out, unlawful investigatory tool. Today the UK’s Court of Appeal handed down its ruling in a long running challenge to the 2014 Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA) — judging that the regime’s bulk collection ...

December 3, 2017

The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre has effectively banned the use of Russian anti-virus products from government departments and revealed it is trying to “prevent the transfer of UK data to the Russian state” from Kaspersky Labs software. A guidance note published last Friday and distributed to permanent secretaries of government departments, addressed “The issue of supply ...

September 28, 2017

A Turkish hacker group has claimed responsibility for a cyber attack that has rendered the Danish Ministry of Immigration website inaccessible. The Ministry of Immigration, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, were hit Wednesday by a cyber attack thought to have come from a Turkish hacker group, reports broadcaster DR. The former ministry’s website ...

September 5, 2017

The Estonian government has discovered a security risk in its ID card system, potentially affecting almost 750,000 residents. “When notified, Estonian authorities immediately took precautionary measures, including closing the public key database, in order to minimise the risk while the situation can be fully assessed and a solution developed,” according to an email by Kaspar Korjus, ...

August 7, 2017

As vehicles get smarter, cyber security in the automotive industry is becoming an increasing concern. As a result, the UK government has issued new, relevant cyber security guidelines for connected and driverless cars. Cars are now becoming connected Wi-Fi hotspots, and are well on their way to autonomy. But, this leaves them vulnerable to hacking and ...

July 27, 2017

Sweden’s Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, says his minority government will not resign despite a security crisis over the handling of sensitive public data. He said two ministers would leave their posts, rejecting calls for a snap election. Citing Brexit and security he said “I won’t put Sweden in political crisis.” Meanwhile, the main opposition bloc said a vote ...

July 25, 2017

Security researchers have discovered a new, massive cyber espionage campaign that mainly targets people working in government, defence and academic organisations in various countries. The campaign is being conducted by an Iran-linked threat group, whose activities, attack methods, and targets have been released in a joint, detailed report published by researchers at Trend Micro and Israeli ...

July 1, 2017

Ho Chi Minh City requires Europe’s experience and solutions to create smart cities, a conference heard on June 30. Speaking at the “Cyber security, Internet of Things and Connected Services towards a smart city” conference, organised by the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham), Vo Quang Hue, vice chairman of EuroCham, said: “The Smart Cities ...

June 25, 2017

A cyberattack on MPs and Peers’ emails has prompted Parliament’s security team to shut down external access to its systems. An email sent to parliamentarians on Friday and shown to Sky News said: “Earlier this morning we discovered unusual activity and evidence of an attempted cyberattack on our computer network.” It claimed that “hackers were carrying out ...

June 21, 2017

The operation behind the UK government’s Cyber Essentials scheme has suffered a breach exposing the email addresses of registered consultancies, it told them today. The scheme’s badges are required by all suppliers bidding for “certain sensitive and personal information-handling contracts”. Companies were notified of the problem, which leaves them at greater risk of phishing attack, through ...

June 16, 2017

Agencies in the federal government are working to develop tools and software that would automate cybersecurity – essentially, an effort to remove human error from the equation. A new report out by NextGovdetails the automation effort, and why these tools aren’t yet ready for government-wide deployment. Much of the cybersecurity efforts in government currently, revolve around ...

June 2, 2017

A parliamentary committee has heard the Australian Taxation Office is still months away from having a core set of cyber security checks in place. The tax office won’t have mandated security checks in place against external cyber threats until November, a committee has heard. An audit of the Australian Taxation Office, which also looked at other departments, ...

May 18, 2017

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday kicked off a fortuitously-timed public workshop on medical device cybersecurity, the agency’s third on the subject to date. At the workshop, FDA officials, representatives from industry and researchers are trying to determine the current gaps in regulatory science as it relates to cybersecurity with the aim of ...

May 13, 2017

The UK government were repeatedly warned that NHS IT isystems were running on outdated operating systems that were vulnerable to attack, yet failed to ensure they were protected. Freedom of Information requests last sumer revealed that trusts across the country were still using Windows XP, despite a government contract with Microsoft to update protections for the system having ...