“The first reports about the breach of TikTok appeared a few days ago. On the Breach Forums message board, an unknown user posted what was claimed to be screenshots from database tables with TikTok breach. As the user claims, they have stolen 2 billion database records, which could potentially affect an enormous amount of TikTok users. Some…
According to Russian internet security company Kaspersky, more Microsoft Office vulnerabilities are being exploited globally than in Q1 2022. These attacks represented 82 percent of all platform-specific exploits in Q2 2022. The most recent Kaspersky quarterly malware report supports this. The company claims that a rise in assaults using MS Office vulnerabilities was also observed…
More than 33 million users use the password manager LastPass, however, it was recently compromised after an unauthorized person gained access to the developer environment and took the company’s source code and confidential data. According to LastPass, no passwords are believed to have been stolen as a result of the incident, therefore users won’t need…
Since its inception in 2019, the concept of Zero Trust has become a guiding principle for many cybersecurity practitioners. In an Executive Order on 12 May 2021, the United States government specifically called on federal agencies and their suppliers “to modernise [their] approach to cybersecurity” by accelerating the move to secure cloud services and implementing…
OXFORD, U.K. – Aug. 18, 2022 – Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, today announced in the Sophos X-Ops report, “Cookie stealing: the new perimeter bypass,” that active adversaries are increasingly exploiting stolen session cookies to bypass Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and gain access to corporate resources. In some cases, the cookie theft itself is a highly targeted attack,…
According to recent data from the Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky, social engineering and phishing scams were far more common in Africa in Q2 2022 than they were in Q1 2022. 10,722,886 phishing assaults were discovered in Africa in Q2 by the company’s security solutions, a 234 percent increase over the first quarter. The fastest surge…
Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, has announced Sophos X-Ops, a new cross-operational unit linking SophosLabs, Sophos SecOps and Sophos AI, three established teams of cybersecurity experts at Sophos, to help organizations better defend against constantly changing and increasingly complex cyberattacks. Sophos X-Ops leverages the predictive, real-time, real-world, and deeply researched threat intelligence from each…
Today, July 20, 2022, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Liquid Cyber Security, a Cassava Technologies subsidiary, opened the first of their matrix of Cyber Security Fusion Centres. Africa faces an expanding range of cyberthreats, from espionage to critical infrastructure sabotage, combat innovation, and organized crime. The majority of African nations, however, have not yet created a…
Cassava Technologies, an African integrated tech company, said today that C5 Capital (C5), a specialized venture capital firm that invests in cyber security, space security, and energy security, has made a $50 million investment in the company. The investment is a part of a larger funding round intended to hasten Cassava’s expansion. The money provided…
Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, has published a new sectoral survey report, The State of Ransomware in Education 2022. The findings reveal that education institutions – both higher and lower education – are increasingly being hit with ransomware, with 60% suffering attacks in 2021 compared to 44% in 2020. Education institutions faced the highest…
Apple has unveiled a new security mechanism designed to protect high-risk customers from cyberattacks such as malware. Lockdown Mode will soon be available on all iPhones, iPads, and Macs produced by the company with the next operating system. The option limits call from unknown users and disable certain functions. It comes after spyware was discovered…
A poorly identified backdoor application called “SessionManager” was set up as a malicious module within the Internet Information Services (IIS), a well-known web server created by Microsoft, according to experts at the Russian antivirus firm Kaspersky. Once it has spread, SessionManager makes a variety of harmful operations possible, from email collection to total command over…
Cape Town, South Africa, 30 June 2022 – More than half of cybersecurity professionals agree that people don’t need a university degree to have a successful career in cybersecurity, despite 85% of those professionals holding degrees related to IT, computer science technology. Forty-five percent of those surveyed reported working in careers and professions other than cybersecurity in…
Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, has published a new sectoral survey report, “The State of Ransomware in Healthcare 2022.” The findings reveal a 94% increase in ransomware attacks on the organizations surveyed in this sector. In 2021, 66% of healthcare organizations were hit; 34% were hit the previous year. The silver lining, however, is…
OXFORD June 8, 2022 – Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, today released the “Active Adversary Playbook 2022,” detailing attacker behaviors that Sophos’ Rapid Response team saw in the wild in 2021. The findings show a 36% increase in dwell time, with a median intruder dwell time of 15 days in 2021 versus 11 days…
The cost of cybercrime on Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to be $4.1 billion by 2021, according to Kenyan cybersecurity startup Serianu. Throughout the Covid-19 issue, the region has been badly struck, with threat actors taking advantage of weak networks and insufficient cybersecurity policies in several countries. “We are noticing a rise in…
When a small business owner is juggling production economics, financial reporting, and marketing, cybersecurity might seem complicated and, at times, pointless. Cybercriminals, on the other hand, are taking advantage of this lack of concern for IT security. Researchers from Kaspersky compared the dynamics of assaults on small and medium-sized firms between January and April 2022…
Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, today announced it has been named a leader in the 2022 KuppingerCole Leadership Compass for Endpoint Protection, Detection and Response. It is commended as an Overall Leader, sweeping all product, innovation and market leadership ratings. “An increasing number of organizations are being hit with ransomware, and the average ransom payment…
Cybersecurity has become a requirement in the digital age, when everything is digital. Data breaches and cyberattacks have occurred in both small and large firms on occasion, raising awareness regarding cybersecurity for businesses. If you use the internet to manage your organization, cybersecurity is an absolute essential. There is no need to invest a lot…
Cape Town, South Africa, 4 May 2022 – The reality of today’s world is that employees are more mobile than ever, which means that their data is spread across more environments than ever before. Hybrid work is now cemented as the forever work style for many South African businesses, but with that flexibility comes a new…
Android and privacy haven’t always gone hand in hand. The majority of Google’s revenues still come from its data-driven advertising business, which is primarily reliant on user data, much of it acquired directly from Android users. By incorporating a variety of security safeguards and privacy protections into the software, Google now provides its users more…
In light of recent developments and the resulting circumstance posed by the pandemic in 2020, many schools and institutions are planning to switch, and some have already switched, to online learning, teaching, conferencing, and meetings, resulting in an increase in users of conference platforms such as Zoom, and Google meet. More concerns should be raised…
The FBI has issued a warning about the BlackCat ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS), which it claims has victimized at least 60 entities worldwide as of March 2022, since its discovery last November. The ransomware, also known as ALPHV and Noberus, is notable for being the first malware written in the Rust programming language, which is known to…
In the daily rush for digital gold, more people are attempting to make money from cryptocurrencies. As a result of the insatiable demand for cryptocurrency, the number of criminals and con artists has also increased. The world appears to have gone ‘crypto-crazy.’ The popularity of digital currencies such as bitcoin, Monero, Ethereum, and even Dogecoin…
Threats to cybersecurity are at an all-time high. With more companies adopting hybrid work models, it’s more important than ever to educate employees on the many cybersecurity dangers that come with working remotely. Employees who work from home offer a bigger security risk than those who operate in an office in a hybrid work environment….
OXFORD, U.K. – March 31, 2022 – Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, has released findings on how attackers are using the Log4Shell vulnerability to deliver backdoors and profiling scripts to unpatched VMware Horizon servers, paving the way for persistent access and future ransomware attacks. A new technical paper, “Horde of Miner Bots and Backdoors Leveraged Log4J to…
A cyber training project has been launched by USIU-Africa, Kenya Bankers Association, and Serianu. The program will train 2,000 people, bolstering Kenya’s cyber security capabilities. The training program, dubbed Cyber Shujaa, is unique in that it develops and implements a standardized cybersecurity employment framework. It acts as a link between industry and educational institutions. It…
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – The launch of Skyhigh Security has been announced this week in South Africa. This is the second new company formed from the splitting of McAfee Enterprise into two separate entities – Trellix and Skyhigh Security – to better focus on the very distinct markets of Extended Detection and Response and the…
Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, has released new insight into an international cryptocurrency trading scam called CryptoRom that targets iPhone and Android users through popular dating apps, such as Bumble and Tinder. The new research, “CryptoRom Swindlers Continue to Target Vulnerable iPhone/Android Users,” is based on first hand stories and content shared with Sophos…
Ransomware is becoming more dangerous and expensive all the time, and it has affected nearly every industry and geography. Nobody is safe from the threat. According to Fortinet’s global ransomware survey, 67 percent of organizations have experienced a ransomware attack. Worse, nearly half of those polled said they had been targeted more than once, and…