Small-time cybercrime is about to explode — We aren't ready

By Nick Biasini. The cybersecurity industry tends to focus on extremely large-scale or sophisticated, state-sponsored attacks. Rightfully so, as it can be the most interesting, technically speaking. When most people think of cybercrime they think of large-scale breaches because that's what...

The Most Popular Period-Tracking Apps, Ranked by Data Privacy

Under increased scrutiny, certain period-tracking apps are seeing a surge of new users. Which are as safe as they claim to be?...

The Inevitable Need for Advanced Vulnerability Management

We have read enough and more news in recent times on the surge in cyberattacks. It is crystal clear that attackers are not leaving out even the tiniest of security loopholes and are coming up with smarter ways to invade our IT network. Vulnerability management is the most crucial cyber defense...

BathPair.sol#rebalancePair() can be front run to steal the pending rebalancing amount

Lines of code Vulnerability details function underlyingBalance public view returns uint256 uint256 pool = IERC20underlyingToken.balanceOfaddressthis; return pool.addoutstandingAmount; function removeFilledTradeAmountuint256 amt external onlyPair outstandingAmount = outstandingAmount.subamt; emit...

How COVID-19 fuelled a surge in malware

2021 saw a massive surge in detections of malware, adware, and Potentially Unwanted Programs PUPs. It didnt matter what the computers were used for or what operating system they ran—across business and home computers, on Windows and on Mac, detections went up, enormously. Detections of malware on...

In China and Japan, Malicious Botnets Surge Amidst Holiday Ecommerce Traffic

Akamai data shows that in the days leading up to and including Lunar New Year, the activity of malicious bots increased 15% in China over the previous month. While a similar surge occurs during the high-traffic seen at the end-of-year holidays in EMEA and the U.S. — China and Japan present a...

Understanding and Mitigating Russian State-Sponsored Cyber Threats to U.S. Critical Infrastructure

Summary Actions Critical Infrastructure Organizations Should Implement to Immediately Strengthen Their Cyber Posture. • Patch all systems. Prioritize patching known exploited vulnerabilities. • Implement multi-factor authentication. • Use antivirus software. • Develop internal contact lists and...

Friday Squid Blogging: South American Squid Stocks Threatened by Chinese Fishing

Theres a lot of fishing going on: The number of Chinese-flagged vessels in the south Pacific has surged 13-fold from 54 active vessels in 2009 to 707 in 2020, according to the SPRFMO. Meanwhile, the size of Chinas squid catch has grown from 70,000 tons in 2009 to 358,000. As usual, you can also u...

CVE-2022-23023

On BIG-IP version 16.1.x before 16.1.2.1, 15.1.x before 15.1.5, 14.1.x before 14.1.4.5, and all versions of 13.1.x and 12.1.x, and BIG-IQ all versions of 8.x and 7.x, undisclosed requests by an authenticated iControl REST user can cause an increase in memory resource utilization. Note: Software...

DEBIAN-CVE-2021-41039

In versions 1.6 to 2.0.11 of Eclipse Mosquitto, an MQTT v5 client connecting with a large number of user-property properties could cause excessive CPU usage, leading to a loss of performance and possible denial of service...

Native Tribal Casinos Taking Millions in Ransomware Losses

Ransomware groups have made millions off attacks on native tribal casinos in the U.S., just over the past few months. A notification issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI cybercrime unit, according to a new report from Bleeping Computer, said that ransomware attacks on tribal casinos...

Ransomware Volumes Hit Record Highs as 2021 Wears On

Ransomware has seen a significant uptick so far in 2021, with global attack volume increasing by 151 percent for the first six months of the year as compared with the year-ago half. Meanwhile, the FBI has warned that there are now 100 different strains circulating around the world. From a...

Crypto Threats Surge by 500%, and It's All About the Money

Previously reserved for early adopters and tech-savvy consumers, cryptocurrencies have gone mainstream -- with tech entrepreneurs and prominent financial institutions leading the charge...

Takeaways from the Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack

If you feel like you’ve read a lot about ransomware in recent months, it’s because these attacks have indeed intensified. In 2020, ransomware attacks surged by 150 percent, with the average payment size increasing by more than 170 percent. Some of the notable victims include United Health Service...

A Spike in BazarCall and IcedID Activity Detected in March

We discuss the cases of BazarCall and IcedID we observed in March. Both are known for the use of spam to deliver their payloads...

Why do companies fail to stop breaches despite soaring IT security investment?

Let's first take a look back at 2020! Adding to the list of difficulties that surfaced last year, 2020 was also grim for personal data protection, as it has marked a new record number of leaked credentials and PI data. A whopping 20 billion records were stolen in a single year, increasing 66% fro...

Government Demands for Amazon User Data Exploded in 2020

Plus: Smartmatic lawsuits, a fake WhatsApp, and more of the week’s top security news...

Preparing for Holiday Traffic During COVID-19

We are headed into an unprecedented holiday season as COVID-19 continues to impact the world. For many, this means changing traditions and celebrating without family nearby. For Akamai, it means preparing to support our customers in a holiday commerce season of opportunities and challenges like...

IoT Device Takeovers Surge 100 Percent in 2020

Connected cameras, refrigerators and other seemingly-mundane internet-of-things IoT devices are a cybercriminal favorite this year, with new research showing a sharp increase 100 percent in IoT infections observed on wireless networks. IoT devices are now responsible for 32.72 percent of all...

Stuck Inside, the World Turns to Online Gaming

In my line of work, we talk a lot about traffic trends. They're usually predictable and based around certain events: a major trailer launch, Black Friday in the U.S, the Olympics. But the COVID-19 pandemic has derailed all expectations for 2020, and has itself become a noteworthy event, driving i...