InfoSec / Cyber

Cyber security breaches 2024 in gold letters businesses and charities in blue in an orange and blue circle with Harry the Hacker in an orange hoodie in the background phishing for a laptop

A summary of the government Cyber Security Breaches 2024.  It is an official set of statistics produced by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in partnership with the Home Office. The findings of this survey provide a comprehensive description of cyber security for a representative sample of UK organisations, which provides a snapshot of UK cyber resilience at this point in time.

A computer screen with computer code. The word cyber attack in red in amongst the code

During February there have been a number of attacks reported on Universities in the UK.  There were reports of hackers attacking the universities of Cambridge, Manchester and Wolverhampton.  Systems were affected at all sites.  The disruption is the latest reported attack by Anonymous Sudan.  It is thought the attacks are related to the UK's support of Israel in the Gaza conflict.

Data breach in orange text on a computer screen with computer text in blue

The ICO has confirmed a data breach from Kent councils.  The breach was reported by three Kent councils who share the same IT support provider.  Canterbury, Dover and Thanet councils continue to be hampered by the disruptions of onlines services following a cyber incident.

Phishing in blue text on a computer screen background which is black

The City of London Police is warning schools across the UK to be vigilant against phishing attacks targeting school networks. Multiple schools have reported receiving suspicious emails containing malicious attachments that have infected their networks with malware.

Once infected, the school's email systems are used to send malicious attachments to other schools.

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Help and Advice against Phi

Hooded person over a computer. Text Cyber Aware. Blue padlock over a username and password.  Data Protection Education DPO badge

We have previously reported how the Rhysida Ransomware has focused on attacking the education sector.  Recently the CISA, FBI and MS-ISAC have released a new joint Cyber Security Advisory to disseminate known Rhysida ransomware indicators of compromise, detection methods, tactics, techniques and procedures identified through recent investigations.

Cartoon of a criminal dressed in black with black hat, cyber criminal in orange on their chest, climbing out of a computer carrying a yellow computer folder on their shoulder

As a data protection officer we are seeing a rise in the number of cyber attacks on organisations.  We often find that the fact an actual crime has been committed is sometimes overlooked in the panic and need to recover data and get operations back up and running.  According to the National Crime Agency (NCA) cyber crime continues to rise in scale and complexity, affecting essential services, businesses and private individuals.  Cyber crime costs the UK billions of pounds, causes

data breach in orange computer text on a computer screen with computer code

The British Computer Society (BCS) has recently published the biggest data leaks of 2023.  The leaks cover worldwide cyber attacks, but the lessons learned apply to organisations of all types all around the world.  The data breaches include The Guardian Newspaper, LastPass password manager, Royal Mail, MOVEit, Microsoft, The UK Electoral Commission.

Dark hooded person working on a laptop with a beam of a padlock and a password field.  Be Cyber Aware in white cyber text and the Data Protection Education DPO services badge in the bottom right

Several countries have pledged never to pay cyber criminal ransoms and to collectively work toward disrupting their financial systems.  The members affirmed their joint commitment to building their collective resilience to ransomware.  They will share data on ransomware perpetrators and techniques and establish a blacklist of information about digital wallets used to facilitate rasomware payments.

  1. Resistant Cloud Backups
  2. Top Ten Cyber Security Misconfigurations
  3. ICO Reprimand: company suffered a ransomware attack
  4. The UK Online Safety Bill becomes an Act (Law)
  5. The importance of software updates (PaperCut vulnerability and Rhysida ransomware)
  6. Ransomware, extortion and the cyber crime ecosystem
  7. Schools under Cyber Attack: September 2023
  8. Cyber Resource: The Cyber Resilience Centre Group
  9. Email and Security: ICO recent guidance
  10. What to do in the event of a Cyber Attack
  11. Cyber Crime: AI Generated Phishing Attacks
  12. Cyber Attack: Exam Boards
  13. VICE SOCIETY - Ransomware attacks on schools
  14. Be Cyber Aware: USB Sticks
  15. Cyber Insurance in the Public Sector
  16. Types of Cyber Attacks: DDos Attack (Microsoft DDoS Attack in June)
  17. Cyber Attack: Manchester University
  18. Cyber Attack: Leytonstone School
  19. Be Cyber Aware: Firewalls
  20. Be Cyber Aware: Cyber attacks and transparency. A no blame culture
  21. Cyber Attack: Dorchester School
  22. Types of Cyber Attacks: Password Attacks
  23. Be Cyber Aware: Why regular software updates are important
  24. Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2023
  25. Cyber Attack: Wiltshire School
  26. Keeping your IT systems safe and secure
  27. Why we recommend using PIN codes on printers
  28. Types of Cyber Attacks: DDoS Attacks
  29. Types of Cyber Attacks: Phishing
  30. Types of Cyber Attacks: The Insider Threat
  31. Why your data is profitable to cyber criminals
  32. Types of malware and how they are linked to data protection
  33. A guide to multi-factor authentication
  34. How a school fought back after a cyberattack
  35. Types of Cyber Attacks - Credential Stuffing
  36. January Cyber update - How Can Schools Help Prevent Cyber Attacks?
  37. End of Windows 8.1 Support
  38. The Education sector now at highest risk of cyber attacks
  39. Cyber Attacks
  40. Emails – good practice and minimising the risk of a data breach

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