Cybersecurity – Page 10 – Cyber Law Watch

The co-existence of open data and privacy in a digital world

Dec 22 2017

By Cameron Abbott, Keely O’Dowd and Giles Whittaker

Earlier this week researchers from the University of Melbourne released a report on the successful re-identification of Australian patient medical data that formed part of a de-identified open dataset.

In September 2016, the researchers were able to re-identify the longitudinal medical billing records of 10% of Australians, which equates to about 2.9 million people. The report outlines the techniques the researches used to re-identify the data and the ease at which this can be done with the right know-how and skill set (ie someone with an undergraduate computing degree could re-identify the data).

At first glance, the report exposes the poor handling of the dataset by the Department of Health. Which brings into focus the need for adequate contractual obligations regarding use and handling of personal information, and the need to ensure adequate liability protections are addressed even where the party’s intentions are for all personal information to be de-identified. The commercial risk with de-identified data has shown to be the equivalent of a dormant volcano.

Malware with your coffee? Starbucks customers sent to the virtual mines… to find bitcoins

Dec 20 2017

By Cameron Abbott and Harry Crawford

“Free” Wi-Fi isn’t necessarily so. The Wi-Fi provided in a Starbucks store in Buenos Aires was recently discovered to be planting malware onto customer’s laptops. This is another lesson in how cybersecurity can affect even the most innocuous corner-store businesses.

Is nothing safe? New malware targets industrial control systems

Dec 19 2017

By Cameron Abbott and Harry Crawford

I’m sure I saw this in Die Hard 4 but “life imitates art”. A new type of malware has been discovered in a very rare field of operation for hackers: attacking industrial control systems. Cybersecurity firm FireEye has been tight-lipped in detailing the attack, but has indicated that it was against “a critical infrastructure organization” which inadvertently caused operations to shut down. The attack is also reminiscent of the infamous “Stuxnet” virus that was used against Iranian nuclear power plants in 2010. Read More

Cybersecurity in the age of the Internet of Things

Dec 06 2017

By Cameron Abbott, Keely O’Dowd and Harry Crawford

The Internet of Things (IoT) allows unprecedented interconnectivity for consumers, and unfortunately for those consumers, hackers as well.

The European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) recently released a report to provide insight into the security requirements of IoT and good practices recommendations on preventing and mitigating cyber-attacks against IoT systems. The report even includes examples of IoT cyber security attack scenarios.

Amazon Web Services announces Internet of Things (IoT) security service

Dec 04 2017

By Cameron Abbott and Giles Whittaker

Amazon Web Services rolled out an IoT service called IoT Device Defender to limit risks from unsecured IoT devices. The service will monitor an entire fleet of devices for compliance policies and best practices. As such, an organization can set the normal operational parameters and policies for a given fleet of devices and then Device Defender will make sure those policies are enforced.

A New Type of Cyberattack: AI-Powered Cyberattacks

Nov 17 2017

By Cameron Abbott and Harry Crawford

Researchers are warning that AI threatens to increase the sophistication and effectiveness of cyberattacks, according to a recent blog post by the Wall Street Journal.

The Essential Eight: Strategies for Security for Commonwealth Government Agencies

Nov 16 2017

By Cameron Abbott, Keely O’Dowd and Olivia Coburn

The Federal Parliament’s Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, tasked with inquiring into the cyber resilience of certain Commonwealth entities has recommended that all such entities adopt a cyber security mitigation strategy called the Essential Eight. The Committee made this recommendation in its Report 467: Cybersecurity Compliance Inquiry based on Auditor-General’s report 42 (2016-17) (Report). Tarantino’s Hateful Eight is perhaps a little more convoluted than these simple touchstones of good practice. The Essential Eight are good reading for all enterprises, not just government agencies.

Impact of Cyberattack on Merck was $135 million

Nov 03 2017

By Cameron Abbott and Olivia Coburn

Drug and vaccine manufacturer Merck & Co Inc has quantified the impact of a cyberattack on its revenue at US$135 million. The company disclosed the figure in its third quarter earnings report.

The cyberattack occurred in June and forced Merck to halt production of its drugs.

Australian Government Contractor Data Breach

Nov 02 2017

By Cameron Abbott, Allison Wallace and Olivia Coburn

The personal details of almost 50,000 Australians have been published online by a third party government contractor, who is yet to be identified. And I guess you would feel a little shy about owning up to this one!

Update everything: Discovery of Wi-Fi flaw in connected devices

Oct 19 2017

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham and Olivia Coburn

A Belgian researcher has discovered a weakness in WPA-2, the security protocol used in the majority of routers and devices including computers, mobile phones and connected household appliances, to secure internet and wireless network connections.

The researcher, Mathy Vanhoef, has named the flaw KRACK, for Key Reinstallation Attack.

Any device that supports Wi-Fi is likely to be affected by KRACK, albeit devices will have different levels of vulnerability depending on their operating systems. Linux and Android are believed to be more susceptible than Windows and iOS, and devices running Android 6.0 are reportedly particularly vulnerable.

Tag:Cybersecurity