This Week in Security News: Phishing Attacks and Ransomware

Welcome to our weekly roundup, where we share what you need to know about the cybersecurity news and events that happened over the past few days. This week, learn about schemes used in phishing and other email-based attacks. Also, learn how ransomware continues to make a significant impact in the threat landscape.

Read on:

New Report Finds 25% of Phishing Attacks Circumvent Office 365 Security

As email remains to be a common infection vector because of how easily it can be abused, attackers continue to take advantage of it by crafting threats that are persistent in nature and massive in number. 

New Twist in the Stuxnet Story

What a newly discovered missing link to Stuxnet and the now-revived Flame cyber espionage malware add to the narrative of the epic cyber-physical attack.

Cybersecurity Proposal Pits Cyber Pros Against Campaign Finance Hawks

A Federal Election Commission proposal aims to help presidential and congressional campaigns steer clear of hacking operations by allowing nonprofits to provide cybersecurity free of charge.

New Sextortion Scheme Demands Payment in Bitcoin Cash

Trend Micro researchers uncovered a sextortion scheme targeting Italian-speaking users. Based on IP lookups of the spam emails’ senders, they appear to have been sent via the Gamut spam botnet.  

This Free Tool Lets You Test Your Hacker Defenses

Organizations will be able to test their ability to deter hackers and cyberattacks with a free new tool designed by experts at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre to prepare them against online threats including malware, phishing and other malicious activities.

Ransomware Hits County Offices, Knocks The Weather Channel Offline

On April 18, the systems of The Weather Channel in Atlanta, Georgia, were infected by ransomware, disrupting the channel’s live broadcast for 90 minutes. 

Hacker Finds He Can Remotely Kill Car Engines After Breaking Into GPS Tracking Apps

A hacker broke into thousands of accounts belonging to users of two GPS tracker apps, giving him the ability to monitor the locations of tens of thousands of vehicles and even turn off the engines for some of them while they were in motion.

Uncovering CVE-2019-0232: A Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Apache Tomcat

Trend Micro delves deeper into this vulnerability by expounding on what it is, how it can be exploited, and how it can be addressed. 

Hacker Dumps Thousands of Sensitive Mexican Embassy Documents Online

A hacker stole thousands of documents related to the inner workings of the Mexican embassy in Guatemala and posted them online.

Cybersecurity: UK Could Build an Automatic National Defense System, Says GCHQ Chief

The UK could one day create a national cyber-defense system built on sharing real-time cybersecurity information between intelligence agencies and business, the head of the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters said at CYBERUK 19.

Do you think the new hacker defenses tool will decrease the number of cyber-attacks targeted at organizations and public sectors? Share your thoughts in the comments below or follow me on Twitter to continue the conversation: @JonLClay.

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