IT and Security

Using phishing simulations is an essential part of determining the effectiveness of your email security training.

Small firms are increasingly vulnerable to threats arriving via email - make sure you've just the right protections in place to avoid falling victim.

Find out how artificial intelligence solutions are helping keep business email inboxes safe from scammers and hackers.

Do you know what type of email attacks to be aware of in order to keep your business safe?

Using Direct Routing to connect Teams to your external phone system offers many benefits - but how should you go about doing this?

Join James Field from Smartdesc as he explains in our recent webinar how to ensure your home working operations are as secure as possible.

With home working now the norm for many firms, how can you be sure these activities are as safe as possible?

People are often the most vulnerable part of a firm's security defences. What can you do to address this issue?

If you're not taking the lead in your firm's fight against cyber threats, you're putting your business' future at risk.

A comprehensive cyber security plan includes many elements. Here are five factors no strategy should be without.

Do you know where the biggest vulnerabilities in your network security are? Here are a few key areas you need to pay especially close attention to.

What has nearly two years of GDPR enforcement meant for businesses' attitudes to data protection and security?

A ransomware attack at the start of this year caused major disruption for currency provider Travelex. What lessons can be learned from this for other businesses?

Greater demand for flexible and mobile working means more risk of data breaches. So how can you ensure your precious information is kept secure at all times?

This year is set to be the worst on record for data breaches, a new study warns, with 4.1 billion data records exposed in the first six months alone.

Around 106 million people have had personal details stolen as the result of a data breach at Capital One, the firm admits.

Two in three SMEs are not giving cyber security the attention it deserves as they do not believe they are at risk.

Big tech firms are to participate in a government initiative to promote security by design in new products.

New research has revealed the number of whistleblowers reporting data breaches to the ICO has nearly tripled in the last year.

Large fines announced this week for BA and Marriott highlight the risks of failing to adequately secure personal data in the GDPR environment.

Only one in four people trust AI over humans when it comes to security - but this will have to change as the technology becomes more commonplace.

UK firms are falling behind in the fight against cyber threats, despite it being a top priority for businesses.

Ransomware has been one of the fastest-growing cyber threats faced by many businesses over the last couple of years, and the news that one city in the US has caved to the demands of hackers should highlight the risks that any organisation could face. It was reported last week that [...]

Overworking and stress among millennial's are causing them to make basic security errors at work.

Customers are now considering the cyber security reputation of businesses as well as product quality before signing up to new services, a report has found.

Users of Windows 7 and earlier operating systems have been urged to update their machines as soon as possible by both Microsoft and the US National Security Agency (NSA) after new vulnerabilities were disclosed in these systems.

The UK is in serious need of a better long-term strategy for cyber security, as it is particularly vulnerable to such risks at present, a group of MPs have warned.

A new report warns the number of IoT breaches caused by unsecured devices or applications is on the rise.

New figures from McAfee reveal 61 per cent of IT professionals have experienced a serious data breach at their current employer.

The government has outlined proposals that will require manufacturers of IoT products to do more to improve the security of their devices.

The NCSC and ICO have unveiled a new framework that should give firms greater clarity on the roles of each body in the event of a data breach.

Seven out of ten malware exploits at the end of 2018 were aimed at vulnerabilities within Microsoft Office and related files, Kaspersky says.

A zero-day vulnerability discovered in Internet Explorer could leave users' files exposed, even if they never use the application.

Many organisations do not do enough to ensure they have adequate response plans in place to deal with a cyber security incident, IBM says.

IoT Day 2019 has offered the chance to capture a snapshot of the current state of development of this game-changing technology for many organisations.

The European Commission has published a new set of guidelines designed to ensure the ethical future use of AI by organisations.

Penetration tests on some of the UK's biggest universities have revealed that no institution was able to resist hacking attacks for more than two hours.

A new report has revealed that the majority of IoT threats are still looking to take advantage of familiar issues, such as poor passwords and unpatched devices.

Nearly three-quarters of British businesses are not following their own best practice guidelines for security, a new study claims.

Up to 600 million Facebook passwords have been stored in readable format that could allow anyone with access to view them.

Almost a third of small firms in the UK have no strategy for protecting their systems from cyber attacks, a new study finds.

More than nine out of ten firms that were victims of a data breach before GDPR came into force failed to include important information when they reported it to the ICO.

Citrix has confirmed it was the victim of a data breach that used password spraying to access its network.

A new government report has revealed less than a fifth of FTSE 350 boards have a full understanding of their firm's cyber security risk.

The majority of companies have experienced at least one accidental data breach, with careless email practices the most common cause.

Thousands of third-party apps and websites that use Facebook tokens could also be at risk as a result of the social network's recent data breach, researchers claim.

A new government report reveals British businesses have benefited by £9 billion from the rollout of superfast broadband.

Google has introduced new IoT-focused software and hardware at its recent Cloud Next conference.

Organisations are not as worried about ransomware as they were a year ago, despite naming it as one of the most expensive forms of cyber attacks.

Some 84 per cent of businesses tested have a cyber security vulnerability that can be exploited by hackers, according to a report by Rapid 7.

Crime reporting centre Action Fraud has urged businesses to be on the lookout for cyber crime involving spoofed university website domains.

A parliamentary joint committee has called on the government to publish a cyber security skills strategy to help ensure the systems businesses use are secure.

Spending on Internet of Things cyber security solutions will likely reach more than $6 billion by 2023, with both consumer and industrial markets driving this increase.

Business and IT leaders should pay attention to current trends in risk management in order to drive forward organisational success, says Gartner.

The hidden costs of data breaches - from lost business to drops in productivity as employees work on recovery - are expensive and difficult for organisations to manage.

UK organisations are overconfident when it comes to cyber security, with 75 per cent reporting they are better prepared for data breaches than others.

The government’s Innovate UK programme has handed out £8 million to businesses working on the Internet of Things, which should boost innovation in the country.

The UK government has issued a minimum cyber security standard for all its departments, which will help them meet Security Policy Framework obligations.

Most small businesses in the UK are not prepared for disruptions from internal and external threats, including cyber attacks, says a report by the FSB.

Information security professionals largely think businesses will be more vulnerable to nation-state cyber attacks in the coming year, a new survey has revealed.

Almost half of small businesses have suffered a cyber attack in the past year, but most of them did not take any action following the incident, says Hiscox.

Email is a significant threat to businesses because it allows attackers to target employees, widely considered an organisational security weak link.

Despite boards increasing investment in data security, just 22 per cent of chief information officers are well prepared for a cyber attack, says a new report.

Some 21 per cent of UK businesses would prefer to pay a ransom to hackers than proactively protect the firm by paying for cyber security measures.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has announced that the government will invest new funding for small businesses to adopt digital technology in an attempt to boost productivity.

In the first quarter of 2018, Europe has seen a rise of almost a third in the number of cyber attacks targeting digital transactions, according to a new report.

The most common cyber security remediation strategies are as effective as random chance, despite the volume of vulnerabilities rising, says a new report.

The exploit that enabled last year’s global WannaCry attack is still present and a threat to businesses with unpatched systems, says a new report.

The number of cyber security breaches disclosed in the first quarter of 2018 fell, as did the number of days taken to disclose breaches, says a new report.

A new chipset has been produced by Arm that is designed to deal with physical attacks on IoT devices.

Microsoft has previewed its Azure Sphere range of products designed to secure the microcontrollers in devices connected to the Internet of Things.

Cyber attackers can target organisations in just 15 hours, while it can take up to 300 hours for businesses to discover they have been breached, according to a new report.

The National Cyber Security Centre has introduced a new framework for reporting cyber attacks in an attempt to make the process more streamlined.

The National Cyber Security Centre and National Crime Agency have revealed the scale of the cyber threat to UK businesses in a new report.

Ransomware is still a top cyber security threat for businesses around the world, found in 39 per cent of malware-related breaches in the last year.

Almost one in four businesses believe they need to increase their IT staff by a quarter in order to manage the cyber security threat, a new survey has found.

Many businesses are failing to ask their CISO for key cyber security information as they are embarrassed about revealing their lack of knowledge of the issue.

More than half (57 per cent) of European firms believe they are unprepared to deal with phishing attacks, according to a new report by Cofense.

Some 97 per cent of organisations believe an attack due to unsecured Internet of Things devices will be ‘catastrophic’, says a new report.

The C-suite is the most information security averse group in organisations, according to security professionals surveyed by Bitdefender in a new report.

Fileless malware and ransomware were two of the most significant cyber security threats in 2017, according to McAfee Labs’ latest Threats Report.

A ‘perception gap’ between what the public thinks about cyber crime and the reality is putting businesses and the economy at risk, says a new government report.

Businesses are being warned to be vigilant after a malware - present since 2012 and designed for cyber espionage - was discovered on a number of routers.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has allocated funds for full-fibre broadband investment and the country’s first 5G testbeds in his Spring Statement.

The number of companies affected by cyber attacks has fallen since 2016, but concerns remain about the lack of skilled security professionals within organisations, says a new report.

The Metropolitan and City of London Police have thrown their weight behind a new national scheme to help businesses improve their cyber security.

The government has announced it will be working with industry to develop a new code of practice to improve security measures in Internet of Things devices.

The UK is hoping to maintain a close relationship with the EU in regards to data protection post-Brexit.

Many businesses do not react quickly to cyber security threats due to uncertainty, according to the latest Global Advanced Threat Landscape Report by CyberArk.

Email could be the new "weakest link" in data security.

Financial sector chief information security officers are still largely focused on cyber security, with most wanting to educate employees on the issue, says new research.

The National Cyber Security Centre blocked 4.5 million spoofed government emails from reaching end users on average each month in its first year.

Ransomware attacks on businesses rose by 90 per cent in 2017, while incidents of cryptocurrency mining also rose, according to Malwarebytes research.

Businesses have experienced 63 per cent more cyber crime in the year to September 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The government has published its Digital Charter, which will set out the standards for businesses and individuals online, with a focus on security.

The Home Office has published a report into the costs of cyber crime, providing a framework that will be used for estimating these expenses in future.

The chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre has suggested the UK could experience a significant cyber attack within the next two years.

IT leaders are embracing new service-orientated IT solutions and will be using data as a differentiator in 2018, according to a new study by 451 Research.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has told businesses they should patch their systems to protect data from the security flaws found in Intel, AMD and ARM processors.

2018 will likely see more cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, including water and transport, according to a new survey of industry experts.

Non-malware cyber attacks were the biggest threat to businesses last year, making up 52 per cent of attacks, according to research by Carbon Black.

Industrial enterprises are not moving quickly to adopt cyber security measures, while just a third monitor for suspicious behaviour, a new survey has revealed.

Ransomware attacks have increased by 2,000 per cent since 2015, rising to hundreds of thousands of detections in September 2017, according to a Malwarebytes report.

US researchers have developed a new system incorporating quantum computing to fight against hackers by creating a new form of encryption.

A new report has found that although most businesses reported confidence in their cyber security measures, but many are not prepared to protect sensitive information.

A new report has found that businesses are not equipped to deal with threats to cyber security that the Internet of Things presents.

The Confederation of British Industry has linked slow technology adoption to low business productivity, encouraging companies to take up the cloud, cyber security and mobile technologies.

The FT Cyber Security Summit Europe has taken place in London, featuring keynote speeches from the former director of GCHQ and the European commissioner for the security union.

The 2017 Resilience Report by RedSeal has found that the cyber threat landscape is evolving faster than security teams can respond to, leaving them exposed.

The National Audit Office has released a report into the WannaCry attack, revealing that the Department of Health was warned about the threat of cyber attacks a year prior.

Semiconductor firm Arm has announced it will be introducing a common industry-wide framework for building more secure Internet of Things devices.

A researcher at McAfee has said that the focus of data breach investigations should be on the impact on a business, rather than the hacker and their motivations.

New research commissioned by BlackBerry has found that cyber security is the top concern for corporate Internet of Things deployments.

Device manufacturers are beginning to introduce updates to patch the potentially devastating Krack WiFi vulnerability, which could see sensitive data intercepted.

The director of GCHQ has said cyber attacks are now as big a threat to the UK as terrorism.

Research firm Gartner has revealed that global IT spend is expected to reach $3.7 trillion (£2.8 trillion) in 2018, rising by 4.3 per cent from this year.

This year’s IoT Solutions World Congress has launched in Barcelona, with Intel taking the chance to announce its Secure Device Onboard to bring devices online.

The National Cyber security Centre has issued a report into its first year of existence, revealing that it received a total of 1,131 incident reports.

A new report from Accenture has revealed that the cost of cyber crime is rising, with it now costing businesses 23 per cent more than it did a year ago.

According to National Cyber Security Centre technical director Ian Levy, a ‘category one’ cyber attack is likely going to take place in the coming years.

More than three quarters of UK local councils have been the target of a cyber attack, while 50 per cent have been the victims of ransomware.

A new report has detailed how cybercrime affects businesses and individuals, pointing to business email compromise and mobile malware as particular threats.

A new report has found that banking trojans were a major threat to businesses in August, with three found in the list of top ten most common malware programs.

Nokia has announced it is boosting its ultra-broadband solutions to meet consumer demand in order to make the transition towards 5G smoother.

A new report has found that the cloud security market will reach $12 billion by 2024, largely because of a rise in cloud data storage services and cyber attacks.

A Freedom of Information request by Corero Network Security has found that the UK’s critical infrastructure is not carrying out necessary cyber security checks.

A government survey has found that UK businesses are struggling to provide their boards with enough information about cyber security threats.

The country’s technology association, techUK, has made a number of recommendations for the UK to ensure it is a global leader in the digital economy.

New research has found that SMEs are better prepared to protect themselves from threats presented by the Internet of Things (IoT) than larger enterprises.

Vodafone has highlighted the issue of security for the Internet of Things, pointing out how important it is data is kept protected on its way to data centres.

Kaspersky Labs has issued a new report that suggests that ransomware aimed at causing disruption will be a trend into the third quarter of 2017.

The government has announced that UK businesses could face huge fines for not protecting themselves against cyber attacks, as part of an EU directive on cybersecurity.

Almost half of British SMEs plan to spend less than £1,000 on cyber security, despite 16 per cent of these businesses falling victim to a cyber attack in the last year.

Awareness of the security risks associated with the Internet of Things is rising, but more work needs to be done to tackle the dangers of cyber crime.

A cyberattack has targeted the UK Parliament, resulting in up to 90 MPs’ email accounts being hacked, with reports of passwords being sold online.

A new survey has revealed that the Internet of Things is the top priority for almost all businesses pushing forward with digital transformations.

A new report has revealed that the levels of Internet of Things malware activity is more than double that seen in 2016, with compromised devices posing huge threats.

Analysts have revealed that hackers are attacking businesses through malicious PowerPoint presentations, which deliver malware when users hover over a link.

Password manager service OneLogin has been affected by a data breach, which could result in businesses and consumers seeing their sensitive information compromised.

Following the global ransomware attack, users should be cautious when using fingerprint authorisation on their phones, a cyber security expert has warned.

Ericsson and Microsoft are collaborating to speed up the Internet of Things for businesses around the world, making it faster for them to launch IoT services.

TechUK has launched a manifesto calling for better productivity and a trade deal that will allow the technology sector to flourish outside of the EU.

After the WannaCry ransomware attack hit organisations around the world, Microsoft has said it should serve as a wake up call for executives to prioritise security.

New funding, totaling £38 million, has been announced for a new facility to create compound semiconductors for use in developing 5G and robotics.

A phishing scam has successfully targeted Google and Facebook, resulting in the need for all businesses to ensure their security systems are robust.

Data breaches in the healthcare sector saw a large increase in March, putting patient data at risk

IBM is to partner with automation firm ABB Group to provide artificial intelligence Internet of Things solutions for industrial customers.

Microsoft has launched IoT Central, which is intended to help businesses take advantage of the Internet of Things without needing cloud expertise.

A new survey has found that security still tops the list of concerns around the Internet of Things (IoT), while separate research revealed that just seven per cent of organisations have a clear Industrial IoT strategy.

Almost seven in ten large enterprises have reported being the target of a cyber breach or attack in the last year, according to new government statistics.

A data breach has left thousands of Wonga customers concerned about their personal data

The latest Breach Level Index by Gemalto has revealed that almost 1.4 billion data records were compromised in 2016 in a total of 1,792 data breaches.

Ofcom to hand down heavy fine to BT over breached contracts, which left businesses without the high-speed broadband services they relied on.

Dutch researchers have developed a new wireless network based on infrared rays, which will help reduce congestion on wifi networks and provide every connected device its own ray of light.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has used his first Budget to announce extra funding for technological research, including 5G, robotic systems and driverless cars.

Intel has revealed that ‘misaligned incentives’ are benefitting cyber criminals, but that enterprises can learn from them in order to correct the misalignments.

Supply chains present risks for businesses. You can ensure that yours is protected by implementing the right IT security measures, like WatchGuard.

Google has detailed how it scans apps for malware in a blog post, explaining that the company relies on a number of metrics to establish if the app is malicious.

Research has revealed that 71 per cent of businesses are gathering data for IoT initiatives but that security is still a concern.