Weekly News Roundup April 6-10, 2020


Posted on by Kacy Zurkus

Automation World author Brandon Bohle wrote, “In times of crisis, some parts of your organization may be deemed more critical than cybersecurity, but that thinking can leave your systems unprotected. Be aware of your vulnerabilities to keep your system strong.” Many news outlets are reporting that now—more than ever—organizations should not be scaling back on their cybersecurity teams.

Indeed, there has never been a good time to cut back on cybersecurity spend, particularly when cybersecurity officials in both the US and UK are reportedly warning that state-backed hackers and cybercriminals are “taking advantage of the coronavirus outbreak to further their operations, echoing concerns from digital safety experts.” Concerns that cybercriminals are gearing up to “con consumers into paying fees to receive a check from the federal stimulus package,” are mounting, according to a report from Insurance Business America. And, according to Politico’s Morning Cybersecurity, the increased threats stemming from employees working remotely has “driven up demand for cybersecurity products and services.”

Good will prevail. Across all sectors, security defenders are bracing for increased attacks. Security researchers are looking to find vulnerabilities before bad actors can exploit them, and law enforcement agencies are dismantling networks of cybercriminal rings. Here’s a look at some top industry headlines from this week.

Apr. 10: Security Week reported that the top government agencies in the United States recommended that the Federal Communications Commission block China Telecom from providing services to and from the United States.

Apr. 10: Travelex has paid out $2.3 million in Bitcoin to hackers to regain access to its global network after a malware attack at the new year knocked the global currency exchange offline and crippled its business during the month of January,” Threatpost reported.

Apr. 9: Accenture has been actively acquiring cybersecurity providers this year, including Context Information Security in March. This week, Accenture announced its acquisition of Revolutionary Security, the third professional services firm this year.

Apr. 9: Alex Stamos has taken on the role of outside advisor, part of the newly formed CISO Council and Advisory Board created by Zoom to review the security of its video conferencing platform.

Apr. 8: Security researchers at Cisco Talos released a report detailing the testing they did on using fake fingerprints.

Apr. 8: Researchers at Trend Micro discovered a critical vulnerability that exposed more than 350,000 exchange servers to a remote code execution bug.

Apr. 7: The Cybersecurity 202 warned that political campaigns are “bracing for increased cyberattacks, disinformation and pranks designed to undermine the 2020 election.”

Apr. 7:Business Email Compromise (BEC) was the largest reported source of attempted or actual payments fraud attacks last year, according to the 2020 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey,” Yahoo! Finance reported.

Apr.7: Europol law enforcement agents dismantled a large criminal network of fraudsters whose call centers were in both Bulgaria and Serbia. The leaders of the criminal network, who were using social engineering in order to launder money in online trading platforms, were arrested in Sofia.

Apr. 6: Experts warn that cybersecurity must be a top priority for school districts as students pivot to remote learning.


Contributors
Kacy Zurkus

Senior Content Manager, RSA Conference

RSAC Insights Hackers & Threats

anti-malware

Blogs posted to the RSAConference.com website are intended for educational purposes only and do not replace independent professional judgment. Statements of fact and opinions expressed are those of the blog author individually and, unless expressly stated to the contrary, are not the opinion or position of RSA Conference™, or any other co-sponsors. RSA Conference does not endorse or approve, and assumes no responsibility for, the content, accuracy or completeness of the information presented in this blog.


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