News – September 2023


  • UK: Electoral Commission failed basic security test before hack

    September 5, 2023

    The Electoral Commission has confirmed it failed a basic cyber-security test around the same time hackers gained entry to the organisation. A whistleblower told the BBC that the Commission was given an automatic fail during a Cyber Essentials audit. Last month the Commission revealed that “hostile actors” accessed its emails and potentially the data of 40 ...

  • German Banking Regulator BaFin’s Website Hit by Cyber Attack

    September 4, 2023

    German banking regulator BaFin said its website has only been partially accessible since Friday after a so-called distributed denial of service attack. BaFin took security and defensive measures after the attack which also restrict access to the website, according to a spokeswoman. All of BaFin’s other systems are working without disruption, she said. Read more… Source: Yahoo! News  

  • Summary of South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA)

    September 4, 2023

    South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA), also known as the PoPI Act, is a comprehensive data protection legislation designed to safeguard the privacy and information of South African citizens. While Jacob Zuma assented to PoPIA in November 2013, the act took effect in July 2020. Parliament granted all South African entities a one-year ...

  • Sweden: Significant increase in cyberattacks and they’re more advanced

    September 4, 2023

    Cyberattacks against Swedish authorities have increased in number and are more protracted and advanced, according to an investigation by Swedish Radio News. The Social Insurance Agency, Försäkringskassan, has seen such attacks double over three years, it says. Read more… Source: Radio Sweden  

  • Half of large Swiss firms have faced cyberattacks

    September 4, 2023

    A full 45 percent of companies in Switzerland counting 250 employees or more have already been hit by at least one cyberattack, according to the report. Based on a survey of 400 board members from both larger, listed companies and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the study found that only 18 percent of firms with under ...

  • PSNI data breach: Two men released after Terrorism Act arrests

    September 3, 2023

    Two men have been released after being arrested by detectives investigating a major data breach by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The data was accidentally shared in August and included the surname and initials of 10,000 PSNI employees. The men, aged 21 and 22, were arrested under the Terrorism Act after a search in ...

  • Russia linked hackers hit UK Ministry of Defence as security secrets leaked

    September 2, 2023

    Top secret security information on British military and intelligence sites has been leaked online by hackers linked to Russia. They released thousands of pages of data which could help criminals get into the HMNB Clyde nuclear submarine base, the Porton Down chemical weapon lab and a GCHQ listening post. Information about high-security prisons and a military ...

  • Rockwell Automation Integer Overflow Vulnerability

    September 1, 2023

    Rockwell Automation’s ThinManager is designed for managing thin clients, mobile devices, cameras, and industrial devices. Comprising both client and server components, the client facilitates device configuration while the server handles data transfer and client requests. To maintain data consistency across the system, ThinManager servers synchronize using messages sent via port TCP/2031. These messages, based on a ...