533,000,000 Facebook User Account Details Stolen.
I bet you didn’t hear about this in the mainstream media! And it’s extremely troubling as to why there has been little to no mention of it in the press and why Facebook has ignored requests to comment on the situation, especially after the Cambridge Analytica debacle just 3 years ago.
So just in case you were not made aware, more than half a billion of the 2.8 billion Facebook user accounts containing information of individuals from 106 different countries has been stolen! Every single piece of information from your date of birth, home address, email address, telephone numbers… and any other data you stored and that was stored on you has been taken. I recommend that if you aren’t rushing to change your passwords before finishing this sentence, I suggest you do so now and ensure to spread the word as far and wide as possible.
It was initially reported by Business Insider who were tipped off in early April that Facebook suffered a data leak, however the following day Facebook reported back saying that this was old news and there was nothing to be concerned about. Experts on the other hand believe the attack to have been quite recent, but either way have said due to the nature of the breach it wouldn’t matter if it took place yesterday or a year ago as due to the sheer scale of the data breach the implications will be far, wide and last many years.
Firmware, The Least Protected Software, But Why?
In recent reports carried out by Tanium and Microsoft found that an alarming number of companies haven’t taken the right action to protect their computers, servers and other network devices from firmware attacks.
The survey that asked 1,000 heads of department from an array of businesses across the UK, US, China, Germany and Japan revealed that more than 80% of the companies had experienced at least one attack. They also found that though 90% of staff had prior cybersecurity training, 69% failed to make the necessary changes, updates or scans. Yet an average of 29% of the company’s budgets were spent on protecting firmware and training up staff.
Now if we are to take anything away from this I would say let the staff do what they are best at and get the experts in to deal with your cybersecurity. You don’t visit a car mechanic to get your teeth cleaned and checked…
Victims Of Cyber Attacks Spot New Attacks Far Quicker
According to research carried out by FireEye Mandiant which analysed hundreds of cyber breaches globally, discovered that the time between a security breach to identification of a breach (the dwell time) had reduced significantly from a month to just 24 days for the very first time.
However when having delved deeper into their findings they discovered that in part the reason why the dwell time had reduced so significantly was actually due to Ransomware attacks. Once Ransomware got into the system it instantly encrypted all the files and demanded ransom payments in return for restoring that network or PC, therefore instantly making the individuals aware of the attack.
FireEye Mandiant expects us to see an increase in these forms of attacks from here-onin as they are favoured by cybercriminals due to the ease, speed and financial gains achieved while going undetected.
How Safe Is Your Bank and Bank Account?
A study by Deloitte at the end of last year showed that financial institutes spent approximately 11% of their budgets on cybersecurity, however with rise in attacks the average cost last year to protect against these breaches rose to almost $9 million each, and the budgets are rising in order to protect the onslaught in attacks.
However as we have seen cybersecurity and the many different types of attacks have evolved rapidly in the last 10 years, so, are banks still doing the right things to protect themselves?
Banks are understandably one of the most targeted and usually by some of the most advanced forms of attacks, where they were able to protect themselves before by making updates and closing off the pathway in, cybercriminals can now simply alter there TTPs (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures) and bypass the new line of defence within hours, so more really does need to be done by the banking system to better protect itself and your money.
Though a solution to the problem of being proactive as opposed to being reactive to the situation has yet to be discovered, security experts are looking at ways that AI could keep a constant eye on any unusual activity or to help discover doorways into the site and to block them off before any damage can occur.
