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The article reports that remote desktop protocol (RDP) servers have been compromised by hackers who use them as a way of anonymizing cyber-attacks. It mentions the views of Olivia Rowley, intelligence analyst at Flashpoint, on data stolen via compromised RDPs. It states that the compromised remote desktop protocol (RDP) servers allow the dark-web group to offer anonymization services and access to any information on the servers.

The article discusses the attack of the popular system-cleaning program CCleaner of security firm Avast. It states that the system cleaning program has been compromised during development of computer software that affects the users' systems with malicious code. It adds that developers and insecure development processes are the most vulnerable on the latest targets of the attackers. The need to boost security checkpoints on the development process is also emphasized.

The article discusses the findings of a report by European companies and government agencies concerning the widespread attack by Petya ransomware program affecting information systems of companies and end-users in European countries. The report mentions that the ransomware program attack arrives in an email and uses a leaked exploit to infect its users system. Affected companies include the advertising and public relations firm WPP PLC, power company Ukrenergo and oil producer Rosneft.

The article explores the vulnerability of web applications to cyber-attacks. According to data collected by application-security firm tCell, developers are leaving behind unused code and working with vulnerable third-party libraries. The firm also revealed the amount of risk posed by legacy and third-party code to web applications.

The article reports on the arrest of 34 people by law enforcement agencies such as the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Europol and the British National Crime Agency as part of a crackdown on distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Topics covered include the increased use of DDoS-for-hire services, the involvement of many information technology (IT) enthusiasts in cyber-crime activities, and the need for collaboration to fight cyber-crime.

The article reports the researchers of cyber security company Check Point Technologies has found ransomware on social media sites which social media site Facebook has denied. The company has warned social media users regarding the crafted image files which online criminals are spreading to weaken the services of social media sites.

The article reports that computer security experts have warned that the relative lack of security of the Internet of Things (IoT) will make it a soft target of attackers looking to create botnets from which to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The actual impact of DDoS can be significant because controls consumer and industrial systems.

The article reports on advancements in cybercrimes such as business email compromise (BEC) in Nigeria by referring to an incident leading to stealing of payments according to the researchers at security service provider SecureWorks. Topics include hijacking of a deal between the U.S. customer and an Indian chemical company through email hacking by cyber-criminals, fraud scheme called as wire-wire and views of Joe Stewart, director at SecureWorks, on increasing social engineering.

The article discusses the findings of an investigation conducted by security firm F-Secure to determine if cyber-criminals provide good support to their targets. Topics covered include how F-Secure's team used a non-technical employee to act as the victim and contact ransomware groups, how F-Secure assessed the ransomware criminal groups, and the importance of offering good customer service for ransomware operators.

The article reports that according to an analysis conducted by Kaspersky Lab, for the fourth year in a row researchers found more than 150 vulnerabilities in industrial control system (ICSes), in 2016. In 2015, around 189 vulnerabilities were found, which is a slight increase from the 181 vulnerabilities found in 2014.

The article reports that after an undisclosed number of computers were infected with ransomware, administrative systems are being cleaned up by Lansing Board of Water & Light (BWL), a public utility serving Lansing, Michigan. It is stated that with cyber-criminals aiming to extort money from these organizations, reports of hospitals, utilities and other providers of critical services are on the rise.

The article reports on the findings of the Cornell University's Cornell Tech department researchers mentioning that the use of short Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) make the file sharing system over the Internet more vulnerable to cyber attacks. The article further mentions that short URLs can be easily detected and used for hacking into systems to gain access to sensitive information.

The article provides information on hacking of client data secured by Verizon Communications Inc. on enterprise-customer portal by the cybercrime attackers. Topics discussed include views of Brian Krebs, security industry researcher on the same; restricted accessibility to proprietary network information (CPNI), and Social Security numbers (SSNs).

The article reports that according to a survey by Cloudmark Inc., phishing attacks continue to be a problem for most companies. This is despite the fact that these attacks have a reputation of being poorly written and fairly obvious in their attempts to con users.The survey conducted on 300 U.S. and British firms, says that ninety-one percent of companies encountered phishing attacks in 2015, and 84 percent-of companies claimed that attacks successfully went past their security defenses.

The article reports that according to a study published by security firm Trend Micro there is an increase in cybercrimes in Brazil. Topics discussed include focus of Brazilian cyber-criminals on financial institutions, views of Tom Kellermann, chief cyber-security officer at Trend Micro, on complex relationship between Chinese and Russian criminals with their governments; and Brazilian criminals following tactics used by Russian hackers.

The article focuses on a survey conducted on importance of analysis of device data security for protection of networks. Topics discussed include need of deployment of products for automated security analysis solutions, increase in cyber threats, usage of anti-malware systems, blacklisting tools and authentication management systems to detect threats and benefits of security analytics include quick implementation and cost effective.

The article discusses shortcomings of the cyber security agreement and economic espionage between China and the U.S. Topics discussed include failure of agreement in the context of economy and national espionage, the views of Xi Jinping, president of China, on the promotion of domestic industries, and the impact of cyber crime on the economy of both countries.

The article focuses on a study conducted by telecommunications firm Level 3 Communications revealing that cyber-criminals use the portmap common network service for Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDOS) attacks. It presents the views of Dale Drew, chief security officer (CSO) at Level 3 Communications, on the attacks. It states that attackers used network time protocol (NTP) servers for attacks in 2013 and 2014. It highlights the use of simple service discovery protocol (SSDP) for attacks.

The article reports on the acts of espionage on the security firms including Kaspersky by the national intelligence agencies. Topics discussed include infiltration of network and theft of research data by Duqu espionage platform reported by Kaspersky, data breaches at security giant RSA and views of Eugene Kaspersky, chief executive officer (CEO) of Kaspersky Lab. It also mentions data hacking of security firm Bit9.

The article focuses on a report of the Internet security software provider Trend Micro which reveals that groups in Middle East and North Africa region are becoming skilled at launching cyber-attacks, stealing sensitive data and adopting cyber-crime tactics. It mentions that group behind operation Arid Viper sent email with malware. Adrian Nish, a researcher at the defense firm BAE Systems, reported that a Great Britain-based engineering firm had been attacked by a group with links to Iran.

The article discusses a report on cyber crimes released by security firm Kaspersky Lab as of February 2016. Topics discussed include use of spear phishing attacks to steal 100 million U.S dollars from banks in Russia, the U.S and China; use of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication network to transfer money ut of the organization and into criminals' accounts; and remarks of software maker Fox-IT's executive Ronald Prins.

The article discusses a report released by the data intelligence firm Recorded Future, which revealed signs of the espionage organizations involved in the attacks as per the analysis of three cyber-operations allegedly conducted by Russian-sponsored groups. It discusses meta analysis of the three espionage campaigns including Energetic Bear coined by security services firm Crowdstrike and APT28 by incident-response firm Mandiant, and views of Future's chief Christopher Ahlberg.

The article offers information on shutting down of many alleged criminal services operated on the Tor network by the U.S. international law enforcement agencies. Topics discussed include determent on sailing of the weapons and drugs at anonymizing network aimed by law enforcement agencies, view of Troels Oerting, head of the European Cybercrime Center, on removal of vital crime infrastructures and views of U.S. attorney Preet Bharara on noxious online crimes.

The article offers information on the Backoff, a malicious program, and internet data security concerns raised by its spread. It adds that the Backoff infects the point-of-sale computer terminals used by cashiers to process payments, allowing cyber-criminals to collect and steal shoppers' payment card data. It further mentions that cyber-criminals have widely targeted retailers with phishing campaigns and other large-scale specialized attacks for spreading the virus.

The article reports on the impact of cyber-espionage on the global economy, as indicated in a policy paper that was released by the U.S. Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in June 2014. Topics discussed include the indictment by the U.S. of Chinese men for cyber-espionage and the companies victimized by the Chinese men such as Allegheny Technologies, U.S. Steel, and Westinghouse Electric. Also mentioned is the conflict between national security and domestic industries.

The article reports on the announcement by both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Union's (EU) Europol that more than 90 people were arrested in 19 countries in a broad crackdown of cyber criminal ring who are creators and users of a remote access tool (RAT) known as Blackshades. Topics covered include how the Blackshades RAT is installed in a victim's computer, its capabilities and use in cybercrime.

The article reports that computer security software company Websense has analyzed crash patterns by combining Windows error reports with application data to find an unknown cyber-crime campaign targeting retailers. Details relating to the technique used to unveil the cyber-crime campaign are presented. It also discusses security technology and consulting company Leviathan Security which is another company that collects crash data to detect potential attacks on computer systems.

The article reports on the analysis published by security firm RSA, that point-of-sale (POS) terminals at over 45 retailers were infected with a custom-built malicious software named ChewBacca by a cyber-criminal group, grabbing credit- and debit-card data from the stores. ChewBacca, also known as a random access memory (RAM), once installed, monitors memory of running processes, checking for data matching the format of credit and debit cards.

The article reports on an analysis by anti-cyber-crime group Malware Must Die, that an underground programmer's initiative to build better ransomware shows that some security professionals worried that the popularity of the software among cyber-criminals will continue to rise in 2014. Topics include the threat posed by malicious software and the view of Harry Sverdlove, chief technology officer for security firm Bit9 on the efforts of underground developers to create better ransomware.

The article reports on the failure of the ZeroAccess cyber-crime group of software firm Microsoft to resume control of compromised computers in 2013. The criminal group has signaled its intention to move one following an effort to resurrect the ZeroAccess botnet. Topics discussed include the message detected by the firm to the remaining computers' infected ZeroAccss malware, seizure of fraud-control servers and attempt to update computers on the peer-to-peer network.

The article reports on an attack perpetrated by a group of cyber criminals from Russia and the Ukraine who used a bot program known as Mevade to compromise computers of companies in transportation, business services, government and manufacturing industries in the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, and India. It mentions hijacking search traffic and conducting click fraud to turn compromised systems into cash. Concern over targeted companies is expressed in relation to data-stealing espionage.

The article reports on the computer crime charges against the five citizens of Russia and Ukraine on July 25, 2013. It notes that the U.S. authorities have investigated the Internet fraud schemes of these men. It mentions that there were 160 million credit cards which were stolen and being sold to the underground market.

The article focuses on the statement of security firm Symantec Corp. about the development of ransonware by cybercriminals for smartphone users. The programs are viewed as antivirus applications that lock up the smartphone until the victim pays a ransom. The firm also revealed the program Android Defender as one of those that infect the victim's device by using a fake installer.

The article reports on the disruption of a collection of nearly 1,500 botnet operations running on the Citadel Trojan virus by software company Microsoft Corp. It states that Microsoft's operation against Citadel botnets resulted in liberation of more than 1.2 million computers from cyber-criminals' control. Richard Boscovich of Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit, says that over 1.2 million Internet protocol (IP) addresses were sinkholed to company-controlled infrastructure.