By Cameron Abbott and Olivia Coburn
“Big four” accounting and consulting firm Deloitte revealed on Monday that it was targeted by a hack that exposed its email system and client records.
Although Deloitte has not yet provided details on the full extent of the breach, it confirmed that the information accessed includes confidential emails and plans of some of its blue-chip clients. It also said that “very few” clients were affected.
By Cameron Abbott and Olivia Coburn
Equifax has joined Yahoo on the podium for the award no one wants: suffering one of the largest data breaches in history.
Equifax, one of the three largest US credit reporting agencies, announced last week that it suffered a cybersecurity incident potentially impacting 143 million US consumers – a figure comprising of roughly 55 per cent of Americans aged 18 years or older. Some UK and Canadian residents are also affected.
By Cameron Abbott and Olivia Coburn
RiskIQ, a US-based cyber security company, has reported that 40% of businesses surveyed in the US and the UK have experienced 5 or more significant security incidents in the past 12 months. Significant incidents include malware, targeted attacks, mobile exposures, rogue mobile apps, website or brand abuse, phishing and social impersonation.
RiskIQ, through IDG Connect, also surveyed the confidence of corporate decision-makers in their ability to handle and mitigate cyber threats. Their report, 2017 State of Enterprise Digital Defense Report, reveals that nearly two-thirds of respondents had no to modest confidence in their ability to manage digital threats.
By Cameron Abbott and Olivia Coburn
Global spending on information security products and services will reach $86.4 billion this year, according to US-based technology research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc.
This figure is an increase of 7 per cent over 2016, and is expected to grow to $93 billion in 2018.
By Cameron Abbott and Allison Wallace
A freshly inked Memorandum of Understanding between Australia and Singapore will see the two countries strengthen their cybersecurity through a joint effort to build a secure and resilient cyber space.
The two-year partnership which was signed last week, will see Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency work with the Australian government to conduct regular information exchanges on cyber threats, share best practices to promote innovation in cyber security, and build cyber security capabilities. Read More
By Cameron Abbott and Allison Wallace
There was a 50% growth in the adoption of cybersecurity-related insurance in the UK between 2015 and 2016.
CFC Underwriting discovered the trend after polling industry representatives at the 2016 Cyber Symposium late last year.
The underwriter, which provides cyber insurance to more than 20000 clients globally, found the factors driving clients to purchase these kinds of policies included the “fear factor” of a cyber attack (23%) and the impending introduction of the European General Data Protection Regulation in 2018 (26%).
More than half of the respondents to the poll (53%) indicated they believed electronic computer crime will lead to an increase in insurance claims. Earlier figures released by CFC Underwriting revealed it handled over 400 claims on cyber policies in 2016, a 78% increase on 2015.
By Cameron Abbott and Meg Aitken
Never mind your credit card details, let’s worry about cybercriminals stealing your identity.
The latest Breach Level Index released by Gemalto has revealed that identity theft was the primary target of hackers in 2015, with stolen personal information accounting for 53% of all data breaches.
It’s a worry, you see, because while your credit card has inbuilt security defences and merchant protection mechanisms, your valuable personal information is probably stored in multiple locations, across a number of interfaces, in a variety of forms, exposing it to substantial risk of theft.
Not only is the massive volume of personal information that is available to be stolen a cause for alarm, but what cybercriminals can potentially do with that information is the major concern.
So who is to blame? Well, malicious outsiders were the leading source of data breaches in 2015, accounting for 58%, accidental loss of data was next and then came malicious insiders, who accounted for 14% of all data breaches.
Clearly, companies need to recognise that today’s cyber environment demands robust security strategies that not only protect networks from external attacks and accidental data loss, but also keep an eye on insiders too.
To secure against a data breach, Gemalto recommends that organisations commit to the encryption of all sensitive information, secure storage and management of data and encryption keys, and controlled access and authentication of users.
Access the Gemalto 2015 Breach Level Index Report here.
By Cameron Abbott and Meg Aitken
A US District Court has ordered Apple to assist US law enforcement agents to bypass the security features, disable the auto-erase function and ultimately access the data contained within an iPhone 5C that was used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook responded to the order with an open letter to customers discussing the privacy and security implications of the order and calling for public discussion on the issue.
Read Apple’s Customer Letter here.
Access the Court Order here.
By Cameron Abbott and Melanie Long
According to recent research conducted on behalf of cybersecurity firm Clearswift, finance and HR departments represent the biggest cybersecurity threat to organisations. The study polled more than 4500 information technology decision makers, security professionals and employees in the US, UK, Germany and Australia and found that 46% of respondents believed that finance departments posed a security threat to their organisation. In addition, 42% of respondents believed the same of an organisation’s HR departments.
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