September 2019 will see the launch of a new ecommerce authentication law as set out by the EU. Strong customer authentication, otherwise known as PSD2, will require all customers buying and banking online to use two-factor authentication to identify themselves, for example password and fingerprint. Enterprises around the EU are now trying to identify the banks that recognise the new law so that they can transition effectively without fines.

A London-based university has announced the launch of a new cybersecurity centre which will unite the UK, US and Japan. During a launch meeting in Tokyo, proponents of the new centre said it would bring together experts in the field to tackle emerging challenges in cybersecurity. Issues that the centre will tackle involve security for large-scale events, such as the forthcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The centre has five founding institutions, including the University of Maryland, Keio University and Royal Holloway.

Cybersecurity experts have warned shoppers and companies to be careful when shopping on Amazon Prime Day this July. A prominent antivirus company has released information on a new phishing technique that hackers may be using to steal thousands of customers’ data. The phishing tool invites customers to click on a link to a website through an email, and then encourages them to enter personal data. Amazon has offered its shoppers tips to stay safe.

2018 saw a record investment in cybersecurity, according to FinTech Global. Following three large transactions in Hong Kong, 2018 saw the biggest investment in cybersecurity in history, valued at £6.9 billion. Now however, experts are saying that the same investment is not to be expected in 2019, having hit just $3.1 billion in H1. However, this is due to much smaller companies making smaller investments, rather than a downward trend in cybersecurity. 2018’s record was linked to a $500m investment from AI company SenseTime.

Hundreds of enterprises faced website downtime in July as it was reported that Cloudflare had experienced a major outage. Notable companies affected included Dropbox, Shopify and Zendesk, which in turn affected many businesses using their services. Content delivery network provider Cloudflare suffered two outages within the same week, and was subject to rumours that the outages were caused by a DDoS attack in China. However, the company claimed that the outages were down to a bad software deployment that was promptly rolled back. The company categorically denied an attack in their blog.

A hacking group based in Russia has managed to breach internal networks and steal source code for three antivirus companies. Hackers Fxmsp have gained access to 30TB of data and have now published the source code on the black market for $300,000. The team posted screenshots of the files, and claim to have broken in using credential stuffing techniques.

Politicians in Baltimore have expressed doubts over the integrity of the National Security Agency following a plot to blackmail the local government. Hackers exploited a security vulnerability known as EternalBlue, which enables malicious code to run on older Microsoft operating systems. Now, the local government and the New York Times are both making claims that the NSA knew about the vulnerability and denied it for many years. The NSA have declined to comment.

In the wake of the Binance security breach, it has now been revealed that hackers own more Bitcoin than the Bitcoin founder himself. Earlier on in May, the cryptocurrency’s exchange came under attack from hackers, who used viruses and phishing techniques to syphon off 7,000 Bitcoins, equating to $40 million. The centralised cryptocurrency system has been subject to many attacks since 2011, so much so that it is estimated that hackers now own more Bitcoins than Satoshi Nakamoto.

Whatsapp’s collaboration with Facebook has proven to be its undoing once again with news of adverts soon coming to the app. Prior to being bought out by Facebook in 2014, Whatsapp’s lack of ads was one of its unique selling points.

Now, users could see full-screen adverts appearing in the app, using targeted advertising in a manner similar to Facebook and Instagram.

The decision comes as a second blow to Whatsapp after a vulnerability enabled hackers to install spyware via voice calls. Users have since been advised to update the app to prevent attacks.

With highly publicised business cases such FIFA’s data breach in 2018, when 3.4 terabytes of data were leaked to a German magazine, there has never been a stronger case for cyber security in business. The MyCena Business platform has been designed for organisations storing highly sensitive information, using a fully distributed risk model to turn mobile devices into an electronic password vault, accessible by three levels of security.
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