Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or networks. These crimes involve the use of technology to commit fraud,identity theft,data breaches,computer viruses,scams,and expanded upon in other malicious acts. Cybercriminals exploit vulnerabilities in computer systems and networks to gain unauthorized access,steal sensitive information,disrupt services,and cause financial or reputational harm to individuals,organizations,and governments.
Fortinet,Inc. is a cybersecurity company with headquarters in Sunnyvale,California. The company develops and sells security solutions like firewalls,endpoint security and intrusion detection systems. Fortinet has offices located all over the world.
A blended threat is a software exploit that involves a combination of attacks against different vulnerabilities. Blended threats can be any software that exploits techniques to attack and propagate threats,for example worms,trojan horses,and computer viruses.
Bitdefender is a Romanian cybersecurity technology company headquartered in Bucharest,Romania,with offices in the United States,Europe,Australia and the Middle East.
A supply chain attack is a cyber-attack that seeks to damage an organization by targeting less secure elements in the supply chain. A supply chain attack can occur in any industry,from the financial sector,oil industry,to a government sector. A supply chain attack can happen in software or hardware. Cybercriminals typically tamper with the manufacturing or distribution of a product by installing malware or hardware-based spying components. Symantec's 2019 Internet Security Threat Report states that supply chain attacks increased by 78 percent in 2018.
William Johnston BuchananOBE FRSE FBCS CEng PFHEA is a Scottish computer scientist. Buchanan is a professor in the School of Computing,Engineering and the Built Environment. He currently leads the Blockpass ID Lab and the Centre for Cybersecurity,IoT and Cyberphysical at Edinburgh Napier University. In 2017,he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to cyber security.
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team is an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Government of India. It is the nodal agency to deal with cyber security incidents. It strengthens security-related defence of the Indian Internet domain.
Cyber Essentials is a United Kingdom certification scheme designed to show an organisation has a minimum level of protection in cyber security through annual assessments to maintain certification.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is a government computer security organisation in Ireland,an operational arm of the Department of the Environment,Climate and Communications. The NCSC was developed in 2013 and formally established by the Irish government in July 2015. It is responsible for Ireland's cyber security,with a primary focus on securing government networks,protecting critical national infrastructure,and assisting businesses and citizens in protecting their own systems. The NCSC incorporates the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT-IE).
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is an organisation of the United Kingdom Government that provides advice and support for the public and private sector in how to avoid computer security threats. It is the UK's National technical authority for cyber threats and Information Assurance Based in London,it became operational in October 2016,and its parent organisation is GCHQ.
Cozy Bear,classified by the United States federal government as advanced persistent threat APT29,is a Russian hacker group believed to be associated with one or more intelligence agencies of Russia. The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) deduced from security camera footage that it is led by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR),a view shared by the United States. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike also previously suggested that it may be associated with either the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) or SVR. The group has been given various nicknames by other cybersecurity firms,including CozyCar,CozyDuke,Dark Halo,The Dukes,Midnight Blizzard,NOBELIUM,Office Monkeys,StellarParticle,UNC2452,and YTTRIUM.
CrowdStrike Holdings,Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin,Texas. It provides cloud workload and endpoint security,threat intelligence,and cyberattack response services. The company has been involved in investigations of several high-profile cyberattacks,including the 2014 Sony Pictures hack,the 2015–16 cyber attacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC),and the 2016 email leak involving the DNC.
Sir Jeremy Ian Fleming was the Director of the Government Communications Headquarters,the UK's intelligence,cyber and security agency. He was appointed in 2017 and was the 16th person to hold the role. He left the post in May 2023.
The WannaCry ransomware attack was a worldwide cyberattack in May 2017 by the WannaCry ransomware cryptoworm,which targeted computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system by encrypting data and demanding ransom payments in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. It propagated by using EternalBlue,an exploit developed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) for Windows systems. EternalBlue was stolen and leaked by a group called The Shadow Brokers a month prior to the attack. While Microsoft had released patches previously to close the exploit,much of WannaCry's spread was from organizations that had not applied these,or were using older Windows systems that were past their end-of-life. These patches were imperative to cyber security,but many organizations did not apply them,citing a need for 24/7 operation,the risk of formerly working applications breaking because of the changes,lack of personnel or time to install them,or other reasons.
Ciaran Liam Martin,,was the first CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). In September 2020 he was appointed Professor of Practice in the Management of Public Organisations at the Blavatnik School of Government,University of Oxford.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responsible for cybersecurity and infrastructure protection across all levels of government,coordinating cybersecurity programs with U.S. states,and improving the government's cybersecurity protections against private and nation-state hackers.
Trickbot is a trojan for Microsoft Windows and other operating systems. Its major function was originally the theft of banking details and other credentials,but its operators have extended its capabilities to create a complete modular malware ecosystem.
Ryuk is a type of ransomware known for targeting large,public-entity Microsoft Windows cybersystems. It typically encrypts data on an infected system,rendering the data inaccessible until a ransom is paid in untraceable bitcoin. Ryuk is believed to be used by two or more criminal groups,most likely Russian,who target organizations rather than individual consumers.
On 14 May 2021,the Health Service Executive (HSE) of Ireland suffered a major ransomware cyberattack which caused all of its IT systems nationwide to be shut down.
Log4Shell (CVE-2021-44228) is a zero-day vulnerability in Log4j,a popular Java logging framework,involving arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability had existed unnoticed since 2013 and was privately disclosed to the Apache Software Foundation,of which Log4j is a project,by Chen Zhaojun of Alibaba Cloud's security team on 24 November 2021. Before an official CVE identifier was made available on 10 December 2021,the vulnerability circulated with the name "Log4Shell",given by Free Wortley of the LunaSec team,which was initially used to track the issue online. Apache gave Log4Shell a CVSS severity rating of 10,the highest available score. The exploit was simple to execute and is estimated to have had the potential to affect hundreds of millions of devices.
