As we look forward to 2021, Wired has warned that the biggest cybersecurity threat could indeed be people rather than technology. As people rely on creating, typing and remembering their own weak passwords, they could leave their organisation susceptible to threats. Kevin Jones, Group Chief Information Security Officer at Airbus, says: “We need to put the cybersecurity pillars into practice. People, process and technology – preferably in that order.”
A Washington-based former mobile network security executive is claiming that China may have been using Caribbean mobile phone networks as part of an espionage campaign against Americans. The state is allegedly exploiting decades-old vulnerabilities in Caribbean telecoms networks to target Americans while they are travelling abroad. Security expert Gary Miller says that the US has “not gone far enough” to block hacking attempts, and advises that they may not be aware of how insecure their communications are.
As we enter our second year of the new decade, a new trend is likely to present the next biggest cybersecurity threat: quantum computing. This ‘disruptive technology’ specialises in problem solving, but with new processing power comes threats. In a report on the new dangers of information security, Ali El Kaafarani said: “With exponentially higher processing power, they will be able to smash through the public-key encryption standards widely relied on today, threatening the security of all digital information and communication.”
The worst passwords of 2020 have been revealed, supporting even further evidence that we need to move to a decentralised system rather than relying on outdated methods. Among the list of the 200 worst passwords were numerical combinations, while some old classics stayed at the top, including “password”. According to the latest data, more than 4.5 million users favour these passwords, and many of them could be cracked in less than a second. A new entry to the list was picture1, which took third place.
More than four in 10 people clicked on a phishing link via ‘LinkedIn’ during Q3, says a new report. Data presented by the Atlas VPN team says that emails impersonating LinkedIn had a 47% open rate. Misleading subject lines were the biggest cause for concern, using keywords like “LinkedIn” to dupe customers. The scammers were using language such as “you were tagged in this photo on Facebook” to target people through various social networks, but LinkedIn scams were clicked most often.
Microsoft has warned consumers that Russian and North Korean hackers have broken into the online systems of companies developing coronavirus vaccines. Microsoft protects 195 healthcare organisations at present and says that three ‘known hacking groups’ are involved. While the majority of attacks were unsuccessful, Microsoft says governments must work harder to keep personal data safe.
