Scams and Ransomware Cost Kiwis $6.5m in 3 Months
6th September 2019 | Target: Goverment | Reported Here
New Zealand has reported the country’s highest ever recorded quarterly financial losses to cybercrime.
A report published yesterday by the government’s national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT NZ) revealed that $6.5 million in direct financial losses was reported nationwide in the second quarter of 2019.
CERT NZ’s findings show a marked increase in the number of cybersecurity attacks inflicted on businesses and individuals across the country between quarters one and two of this year.
New Bedford Hit With $5.3m Ransomware Demand
5th September 2019 | Target: Massachusetts City | Reported Here
After being hit by a ransomware attack, Massachusetts city New Bedford faced a payout demand of more than $5 million – one of the latest known ransoms ever.
After a ransomware attack slapped a hefty payout demand of $5.3 million on New Bedford, Mass., the city announced that it is instead opting to pick up the pieces and restore what it can from backups itself.
If the city had opted to pay, the payout would have been the largest known ransom payout for an attack yet.
Global Breach Costs Set to Top $5 Trillion By 2024
29th August 2019 | Target: Global | Reported Here
A new report from Juniper Research found that the cost of data breaches will rise from $3 trillion each year to over $5 trillion in 2024, an average annual growth of 11%.
This will primarily be driven by increasing fines for data breaches as regulation tightens, as well as a greater proportion of business lost as enterprises become more dependent on the digital realm.
The research noted that while the cost per breach will steadily rise in the future, the levels of data disclosed will make headlines but not impact breach costs directly, as most fines and lost business are not directly related to breach sizes.
City of London Hit by One Million Cyber-Attacks Per Month
23rd August 2019 | Target: London City | Reported Here
Cyber criminals have their sights set on bigger and bigger targets, hitting the European Central Bank (ECB) twice in the past five years, and now launching a relentless attack on the City of London Corporation.
According to findings released under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation, the municipal governing body of the City of London was hit with nearly three million attacks in just the first three months of 2019. This war of attrition has put 10,000 residents of the City of London in the line of fire, as well as 10 million annual tourists and 400,000 daily commuters entering the city.
Alaska is the Most Scammed State in America
21st August 2019 | Target: Alaska | Reported Here
An annual report on cybercrime by the Federal Bureau of Investigation has revealed Alaska to be the most scammed state in America for the second year running.
With more than $450 million stolen, sunny California lost more money than any other state, but at 21.67 victims per 10,000 residents, Alaska had the highest per capita victim count.
Although more people were scammed in The Last Frontier State than in any other US state, Alaskans lost the least amount of money per person, with each victim being conned out of $2,256.30 on average.
Ransomware Attack Hits 22 Texas Town
20th August 2019 | Target: local Goverment| Reported Here
HOUSTON — Computer systems in 22 small Texas towns have been hacked, seized and held for ransom in a widespread, coordinated cyberattack that has sent state emergency-management officials scrambling and prompted a federal investigation, the authorities said.
The Texas Department of Information Resources said Monday that it was racing to bring systems back online after the “ransomware attack,” in which hackers remotely block access to important data until a ransom is paid. Such attacks are a growing problem for city, county and state governments, court systems and school districts nationwide.
Hackers Leave Ransom Note For 700K Records
15th August 2019 | Target: Hotels | Reported Here
Hackers claim to have stolen 700,000 customer records from Choice Hotels thanks to an exposed MongoDB instance, it has emerged.
The US-based chain, which runs franchised outlets in over 40 countries worldwide, is now being held to ransom after the hackers left a note demanding 0.4 Bitcoin (around $3800) in payment for the data, which they claimed to have copied.
Security researcher Bob Diachenko worked with security firm Comparitech to discover the database, which was left completely exposed online. However, hackers had already got there. It was only left online for four days without password protection before attackers found the account.
North Korean Hackers Amass $2bn Via Cyber-Attacks
8th August 2019 | Target: Banks | Reported Here
North Korea has turned to cybercrime to steal money and fund its nuclear program following global sanctions, a new report from the UN has claimed.
It seems as the punishments imposed by the UN Security Council on North Korea (DPRK) in 2006 to choke funding for the country’s nuclear program did little good, as a confidential UN report, states that North Korean state-sponsored hackers generated more than $2 billion through a myriad of illegal activities, with the proceedings going to the weapons of mass destruction fund.
Cybercrime Costs Global Economy $2.9m Per Minute
24th July 2019 | Target: World Economy | Reported Here
The report is based on an analysis of malicious activity on the internet using proprietary global intelligence and third-party research.
The analysis also reveals that every minute, top companies pay £20 because of security breaches, hacks on cryptocurrency exchanges cost £1,550, and phishing attacks cost £14,200.
Every minute, 2.4 phishing sites went live and seven malicious redirectors, 0.32 blacklisted apps, and 0.21 Magecart attacks were detected.
Looking ahead, the report predicts that ransomware will cost the global economy £17,817 a minute in 2019.
Lancaster University students’ data stolen in cyber-attack
23rd July 2019 | University: Lancaster | Reported Here
Lancaster University has confirmed that it was “subject to a sophisticated and malicious phishing attack” which resulted in breaches of student and applicant data.
This has led to undergraduate student applicant data records for 2019 and 2020 being accessed, including names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. Lancaster confirmed in its statement that it was “aware that fraudulent invoices” were being sent to some undergraduate applicants and has warned applicants to be aware of any suspicious approaches.
Also breached was Lancaster’s student records system. “At the present time we know of a very small number of students who have had their record and ID documents accessed,” it confirmed.
