December 2021’s Most Wanted Malware: Trickbot, Emotet and the Log4j plague

December 2021’s Most Wanted Malware: Trickbot, Emotet and the Log4j plague

In Check Point Research of January 12, 2022, the Threat Intelligence arm of Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a leading provider of cyber security solutions globally, has published its latest Global Threat Index for December 2021. In a month that saw the Apache Log4j vulnerability sweep the internet, researchers reported that Trickbot is still the most prevalent malware, albeit at a slightly…

Mozilla Launches Facebook Pixel Hunt  to Reveal How You’re Tracked Online

Mozilla Launches Facebook Pixel Hunt to Reveal How You’re Tracked Online

Mozilla researchers announced the commencement of their “Facebook Pixel Hunt” investigation this week, which aims to follow the company’s massive web-wide tracking network and scrutinize the data it collects on users. This study, as the name implies, focuses on a piece of tracking technology known as the “Facebook pixel.” You’ve probably visited a site that…

Cybersecurity: 4 Fiber Predictions That Will Shape South Africa in 2022

Cybersecurity: 4 Fiber Predictions That Will Shape South Africa in 2022

If there’s one thing that the year 2021 has taught us, it’s that nothing can be taken for granted. The local fibre landscape is rapidly changing: as a result of the pandemic, changes in home and workplace behavior are driving up demand for high-quality, dependable connectivity, while recent consolidation among Fibre Network Operators (FNOs) and…

LastPass users report accounts were likely compromised

LastPass users report accounts were likely compromised

Some LastPass password manager users revealed this week that they received emails from LastPass stating that logins to their accounts using the master password had been blocked. The first of these reports appeared on Hacker News. LastPass emails indicate that a login attempt was unsuccessful. The login attempt came from Brazil in the case of…

Cybercriminals can invade a smart home. Here’s how

Cybercriminals can invade a smart home. Here’s how

People adore smart devices but are unconcerned about their security What if “Home Alone” had been released in theaters today? Instead of peering through the doorway, Kevin would most likely use his smartphone to monitor the house via smart cameras. In addition, instead of glass marbles, he could use a robot vacuum to attack the…

Over 500,000 Android Users Downloaded a New Joker Malware App from Play Store

Over 500,000 Android Users Downloaded a New Joker Malware App from Play Store

A malicious Android app with over 500,000 downloads from the Google Play app store has been discovered to be hosting malware that stealthily exfiltrates users’ contact lists to an attacker-controlled server and unknowingly signs users up for unwanted paid premium subscriptions. The latest Joker malware was discovered in Color Message (“com.guo.smscolor.amessage”), a messaging-focused app that…

UK Lawmakers: Facebook, Google Responsible for Online Scam Advertisements, Cyberflashing

UK Lawmakers: Facebook, Google Responsible for Online Scam Advertisements, Cyberflashing

A cross-party group of British lawmakers has said that Google, Facebook, and other online services should be held legally accountable for advertisements on their platforms in order to prevent fraudsters from duping millions of consumers. Britain has proposed a landmark online safety law to punish abuses such as child pornography, racism, and violence against women,…

Volvo Cars Suffers Cyberattack, Confirms R&D Data Stolen

Volvo Cars Suffers Cyberattack, Confirms R&D Data Stolen

Volvo, the Swedish automaker, announced on Friday that hackers had stolen research and development data from its systems in a cyberattack. The company, which is owned by China’s Geely, stated that it “has become aware that one of its file repositories has been illegally accessed by a third party.” “So far, investigations confirm that a…

A New Minecraft Bug is Threatening Brands Around the World

A New Minecraft Bug is Threatening Brands Around the World

A critical vulnerability in a widely used software tool — one that was quickly exploited in the online game Minecraft — is quickly emerging as a major threat to organizations worldwide. “Right now, the internet is on fire, “Crowdstrike’s senior vice president of intelligence, Adam Meyers, concurred. “People are scrambling to patch, and all kinds…

Kenyan businesses face around 1400 cyberattacks each week

Kenyan businesses face around 1400 cyberattacks each week

Cyberattacks on businesses around the world have increased by 29% this year. This growing threat in Africa is being driven by an increase in internet users, which creates a larger pool of targets for criminals, as we’ve seen in Kenya. In January, the country’s connected population nearly reached 22 million, a figure that is likely…

Cyberattacks against organizations has increased by 13%

Cyberattacks against organizations has increased by 13%

According to Orange Cyberdefense, Europe’s largest managed security services provider, there has been a 13% increase in cyberattacks on enterprises over the last year, with a rise in ransomware incidents and, for the first time, a noticeable wave of attacks against mobile devices. The Security Navigator 2022 provides a detailed analysis of more than 50…

Google Shuts Down Cybercrime Network Infecting 1 Million Devices Worldwide

Google Shuts Down Cybercrime Network Infecting 1 Million Devices Worldwide

Google announced Tuesday that it is shutting down a network of approximately one million hijacked electronic devices used worldwide to commit online crimes, as well as suing Russia-based hackers the tech giant claims are to blame. The so-called botnet of infected devices, which was also used to stealthily mine Bitcoin, has been cut off from…

South Africa’s Cyber Extortion Crime Situation

South Africa’s Cyber Extortion Crime Situation

The KnowBe4 and ITWeb Ransomware Survey investigated the South African organization and discovered that ransomware and cybercrime are increasingly affecting organizations on the continent. While many businesses (32%) will be attacked in 2021, some multiple times (12%), 64 percent believe they are prepared, and 67 percent will not pay the ransom. According to Anna Collard,…

Security is still a major issue for women in Africa’s gig economy

Security is still a major issue for women in Africa’s gig economy

Women in Africa are using online platforms as a critical source of income now more than ever. Jumia, Africa’s largest e-commerce platform, recently announced that women make up 51% of its vendors and account for 33% of total merchandise sales between 2019 and 2020. The African ecommerce sector was valued at $20 billion (pdf) in…

Pegasus Scandal: Israel Releases Stricter Requirements for Use of Its Cyber Tech Exports

Pegasus Scandal: Israel Releases Stricter Requirements for Use of Its Cyber Tech Exports

On Monday, Israel stated that countries interested in purchasing its cyber technologies would be required to commit to using them only to prevent a limited number of terrorist acts and serious crimes. The announcement by Israel’s Defense Ministry was the latest step in strengthening its oversight following concerns about possible abuses of a hacking tool…

Firefox Monitor is planning to remove personal information from the Internet

Firefox Monitor is planning to remove personal information from the Internet

Firefox Monitor, Mozilla’s password breach detection service, could be used to remove personal information from the Internet in the near future. Firefox Monitor users who want to use the service can sign up for a waitlist. Sign in to your Firefox Monitor account, or create a new one, and then click the join waitlist button…

The Ultimate Guide to Protecting Yourself from Gift Card Scams This Festive Season

The Ultimate Guide to Protecting Yourself from Gift Card Scams This Festive Season

Checking off that gift list this holiday season will look a little different than in previous years. Many shoppers intend to do a significant portion of their holiday shopping online. Digital gift card sales are also expected to rise. However, given the expected increase in digital activity over the holidays, cybercriminals will be making their…

Cybersecurity: NSO Group Spyware hacks the iPhones of At Least 9 US State Officials

Cybersecurity: NSO Group Spyware hacks the iPhones of At Least 9 US State Officials

According to four people familiar with the situation, at least nine US State Department employees’ Apple iPhones were hacked by an unknown assailant using sophisticated spyware developed by Israel-based NSO Group. The hacks, which occurred in the last few months, targeted US officials who were either based in Uganda or focused on issues concerning the…

DeFi protocol BadgerDAO suffers $120M loss

DeFi protocol BadgerDAO suffers $120M loss

BadgerDAO, a DeFi protocol, has been the victim of a large hack. The protocol’s users were robbed of $120.3 million, according to security researchers PeckShield. BadgerDAO is a DeFi protocol aimed at increasing bitcoin yield. The idea is to wrap your bitcoin and transfer it to a smart contract platform like Ethereum, which you can…

Cybersecurity: Compromised Google Cloud Platform Instances Are Being Used To Mine Crypto

Cybersecurity: Compromised Google Cloud Platform Instances Are Being Used To Mine Crypto

Google has released a new cybersecurity report warning about how compromised Google Cloud instances are being leveraged by cryptocurrency miners for cryptocurrency mining. Threat intelligence observations from the Threat Analysis Group (TAG), Google Cloud Threat Intelligence for Chronicle, Trust and Safety, and other internal teams were used to create the “Threat Horizons” report. According to…

Online payment fraud  to increase by 208% amid the Black Friday season

Online payment fraud to increase by 208% amid the Black Friday season

In the run-up to Black Friday, there was an increase in phishing assaults that looked like e-payment pages. From September (627,560) to October 2021 (1,935,905), the overall number of financial phishing attacks disguised as e-payment systems more than doubled, representing a 208 percent rise. This and other discoveries are included in Kaspersky’s paper, ‘Black Friday…

Targeted Malware is Proliferating in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria

Targeted Malware is Proliferating in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria

According to the newest danger landscape trends data from internet security firm Kaspersky, South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria are experiencing tremendous shifts in the landscape. While traditional, self-propagating malware is declining due to its ineffectiveness and inability to fly under security radars, the region will experience an increase in new cybercrime models in the following…