13 Sep Cybercrime Bytes: Security+ for Newbies, Cyberattacks Spike, Windows 10 Warning
Weekly news that keeps you on the cutting edge of cybersecurity
– The editors at Cybercrime Magazine
Sausalito, Calif. – Sep. 14, 2020
This week’s rundown is sponsored by Absolute — New enterprise security trends, threats & opportunities revealed in 2020: The State of Endpoint Resilience™ Report, our annual study of 8.5 million devices.
— Obtaining a cybersecurity certification is one of the best things you can do to get your start in the career field. One of the best, high-value certs today is the Security+ degree offered by CompTIA. Security+ covers the basics of cybersecurity to include physical security, encryption, social engineering, and more. ClearanceJobs
— Cyberattacks have increased in frequency since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they’re reaching unprecedented levels. Over 41 percent of cyber insurance claims in 2020 came from ransomware attacks. It’s estimated by Cybersecurity Ventures that a ransomware attack occurs every 11 seconds, with projected damages totaling $20 billion by the end of 2020. TECHSPOT
— There is a 41 percent increase in sensitive data on endpoints since pre-COVID-19 — and 90 percent of enterprise Windows 10 devices are missing critical security updates, according to a recent report from Absolute. This is due to inconsistent patching, conflicting apps, and a surge in remote workers. Cybercrime Magazine
— Red Rocks Community College, which has two campuses in Colorado, has been designated as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The school is the only community college with a cybersecurity team that competed at the national level. Community College Daily
— Cybersecurity Ventures estimates there will be 3.5 million unfilled global cybersecurity jobs by 2021. The competition for filling those slots in the private sector among companies is fierce. It is even more of an issue for the public sector who cannot match the compensation packages paid by companies for top talent. GovCon Wire
Cybercrime Radio: Christy Wyatt, CEO at Absolute
The 2020 State of Endpoint Resilience Report
— Kyla Guru, 18-year-old founder and CEO of Bits N’ Bytes Cybersecurity Education and a freshman at Stanford University, says it’s important for parents to talk to their kids about being cyber safe, especially now with the proliferation of remote learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cybercrime Radio
— Blockchain’s decentralization makes it more difficult for attackers to exploit a single vulnerability point. This can help prevent instances of DNS attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, and other such threats that involve significant data manipulation. The next challenge in blockchain for cybersecurity is to make it commercially viable. Infosecurity Magazine
— Amid a global COVID-19 pandemic and political unrest, cyberattacks have still managed to grab headlines. The frequency with which these attacks are reported is also rightfully concerning: Google reported a 350 percent increase in malicious websites since the pandemic took hold. Security Boulevard
— Cybersecurity Ventures predicted that 100 percent of large corporations (Fortune 500, Global 2000) globally will have a CISO or equivalent position by 2021. But to whom this executive should report to and what influence they should have is a point of contention. TechHQ
— More than 1,000 people attended Living Security’s “Breaking Security Awareness” virtual conference which featured sessions on threat intelligence, gamification, human targeting, and behavioral design. The recorded sessions can still be seen at breakingsecurityawareness.com. Cybercrime Magazine
Cybercrime TV: 2020 Security Culture Report
Kai Roer, Security Culture Advocate at KnowBe4
— NGRAVE, a digital asset security company that claims it has developed the world’s most secure cryptocurrency hardware wallet, reveals that hackers regularly use automated scripts (malicious computer code) that allow them to attack computer systems every 39 seconds (on average 2,244 times per day). Crowdfund Insider
— The healthcare industry endured two to three times more cyberattacks in 2019 compared to other industries, and healthcare data breaches affected more than 41 million patient records last year, which equals a 196 percent increase from 2018. Inside NJ
— As per a report by Cybersecurity Ventures in 2019, women formed only 20 percent of the global cybersecurity workforce, up from approximately 11 percent in 2013. On a positive note, last year’s RSA Conference — the largest event in our industry — had 740 speakers, of which 46 percent of all keynote speakers were women. Toolbox HR
— 43 percent of cyberattacks target small businesses (other sources put that figure at more than 50 percent). The motivation behind these attacks can include stealing sensitive information like customer data or confidential business material. Sometimes, hackers also target SMBs to possibly target larger firms linked to them. Just Total Tech
— The Motherlist Glossary Of Cybersecurity And Cybercrime Definitions, updated for 2020, provides hacking lingo for newbies, students, teachers, IT pros and the media. These definitions that keep you on the cutting edge of cybersecurity, cybercrime, and cyberwarfare. Cybercrime Magazine
More next week.
– From the editors at Cybercrime Magazine
Sponsored by Absolute
Absolute adds resilience to your endpoint.
We help organizations recover and resume normal operations in the face of security breaches.
Absolute envisions a world where security and IT professionals always retain control over their devices and data. We’re the first and only company to offer uncompromised visibility and near real-time remediation of security breaches at the source.
Absolute Persistence™ returns devices to their desired state of safety and efficacy after malicious attacks or user error, thanks to our unique location in the firmware of more than 500 million devices built by most of the world’s top device manufacturers.
