Month: March 2021

The Bureau received over 28,000 reports of COVID-19-themed scams last year The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received a record-breaking 791,790 cybercrime complaints in 2020 that were responsible for over US$4.2 billion in losses, according to the Bureau’s 2020 Internet Crime Report (ICR). Compared to 2019, the number of complaints made by victims…

When a breach captures a part of us that is unchangeable, does it mean that we have allowed technology to pry too deeply into our lives? We have read about the recently released footage, complete with facial recognition and deep looks into private spaces that were never supposed to be public, and wondered if it’s safe…

Follow these easy steps to prevent your Twitter account from being hacked and to remain safe while tweeting Twitter, the popular social networking service, will celebrate its 15th anniversary this Sunday. Perhaps it’s not a stretch to say that it has been a monumental force in the lives of some of us. It’s also during…

Why do many organizations have a hard time keeping up with the evolving threat landscape and effectively managing their cyber-risks? Financial services companies have been a popular target for cybercriminals for a long time. Not without good reason, since beyond working with money, financial companies handle a slew of sensitive client data that criminals utilize…

How do you balance the right to repair with the requirement to remain secure? Images of jackbooted, militarized cops descending into dimly-lit basements where appliance techs slap grimy, roughshod parts of doubtful lineage together come to mind in the still-simmering fight – yes, it’s a fight – to allow people to work on the tech…

Nearly half of reported cybercrime losses in 2020 were the result of BEC fraud, according to an FBI report Losses emanating from Business Email Compromise (BEC) and Email Account Compromise (EAC) scams surpassed US$1.86 billion last year, which is more than the combined losses stemming from the next six costliest types of cybercrime in the 2020…

From overpayment to shipping scams, what are some of the most common threats that merchants using PayPal should watch out for? With a total payment volume of US$247 billion, PayPal remains one of the more popular online payment providers among major brands and a variety of smaller businesses and vendors. Indeed, the payment giant boasts…

The latest update patches a total of five vulnerabilities affecting the browser’s desktop versions Google has rolled out an update for its Chrome web browser that fixes five security flaws, including a zero-day vulnerability that is known to be actively exploited by malicious actors. The bugs affect the Windows, macOS, and Linux versions of the…

The malware can grab login credentials for more than 450 apps and bypass SMS-based two-factor authentication Cybercriminals are attempting to take advantage of the popularity of Clubhouse to deliver malware that aims to steal users’ login information for a variety of online services, ESET malware researcher Lukas Stefanko has found. Disguised as the (as yet…

The number of women joining the ranks of cybersecurity practitioners is steadily increasing, but a lot still needs to be done to close the gap The race to even-up the gender disparity in many industries is steadily gathering steam – and for all the right reasons. A diverse workforce offers a more level playing field…