A third of mid-market firms were whacked by hacker outages in 2021 March 7, 2022 New research has revealed that one in three mid-market firms suffered from a hacker induced outage in 2021. According to a report by cyber firm Censornet, one in five companies were forced to pay hackers to deactivate ransomware, with the average pay-out hitting £144,000, and seven per cent handing out more than £500,000. “For the [...]
UK fraudsters extend their reach after taking advantage of two-thirds more victims during Covid February 24, 2022 The number of UK fraud cases worth more than £100,000 jumped by two-thirds (66 per cent) between 2020 and 2021, according to new figures from KPMG’s UK Fraud Barometer. The figures show fraudsters took a splatter-gun approach to financial crime last year, in defrauding a larger number of victims for smaller sums of money than [...]
Darktrace snaps up Dutch Cybersprint to drive preventative cyber attack approach February 23, 2022 Tech darling Darktrace announced that it has snapped up Cybersprint, an attack surface management company that provides continuous, real-time insights from an outside-in perspective to eliminate blind spots and detect risks, for €47.5m (£39.6m), valuing the transaction 12.5 times Cybersprint’s annual recurring revenue.
Weekend chat: Traditional methods to tackle £750m fraud tsunami is like taking a knife into a gunfight February 19, 2022 From scam phone calls, text messages and emails, fake websites, falsified documents and fake insurance claims, fraud has become big business – and a big problem. In the first half of 2021, criminals stole a total more than £753m million through fraud, an increase of 30 percent compared to the first half of 2020, according [...]
‘Tech success story’: UK cyber security sector hits record £10bn in revenue February 17, 2022 Britain’s tech sector continues to break records as new government data shows more than 1,800 cyber security firms generated a total of £10.1bn in revenue in the most recent financial year, a 14 per cent increase from the previous financial year.
Cybersecurity: ‘To cripple UK, Putin does not need nuclear weapons’ February 4, 2022 The UK’s public sector needs to be “agile” in employing the government’s new cybersecurity strategy, according to analysts, amid fears of a Russian devised cyberattack. While the strategy, published last week, “looks good on paper” – there are significant areas of improvement, say experts. “To cripple the UK, Putin does not need nuclear weapons,” explained cybersecurity expert [...]
Why the Winter Olympics is an opportunity for cybercriminals February 1, 2022 Only domestic spectators will be able to attend the Winter Olympics when it begins this week, meaning there is likely to be significant global interest in the streamed productions – and therefore opportunity for cybercriminals. These cybercriminals look to take advantage by harvesting credentials from illegitimate websites, attempting to compromise devices via email campaigns, or [...]
UK is losing fight against fraud as anti-corruption watchdogs are “under-resourced” January 24, 2022 An anti-corruption think-tank has warned the UK is losing the fight against financial crime, as a lack of funding has left the country’s law enforcement agencies “over-stretched” and “under-resourced.” In a report, the think-tank called on the government to reinvest money recuperated from criminals into the government agencies fighting corruption and financial crime, as it [...]
Cyberattacks on the rise as skills shortage sees law firms made easy target January 20, 2022 Law firms, accountants, and consultancies are becoming an easy target for cyberattacks, as they lack the IT skills to protect themselves. Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of IT experts working in professional services companies said they believe their firms are facing a shortage of cybersecurity skills, according to a report from cybersecurity company Keeper. In [...]
UK loses £2.5bn in fraud and cyber-crime cases during 2021 January 20, 2022 UK residents and businesses have seen financial losses of £2.5bn from fraud and cyber-crime over the course of the past year, a new study reveals.