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The article focuses on the increasing incidents of ransomware or demanding ransom for data, a crime that leaves businesses and consumers at risk of losing data. Topics discussed include the experience of a small retailer in New England that had been infected with the threat known as CryptoWall and the advantages of having a good backup process to recover much of the data encrypted by the attackers. Also noted is the benefit of online backups in preventing attacks.

The article explores computer network security and defense strategies from attackers. Special attention is paid to raising the cost of the attack for attackers, implementation of different approach to the attackers when detected, and the use of antivirus protection from phishing attacks. The impact of public revelation of the attack on the attacker is also discussed.

The article presents information on the ways by which the U.S. government can help private businesses fight cyber-attacks from hostile nations on the U.S. industries and infrastructure. Suggestions given here include imposing sanctions against hostile nations, reconsidering the constituents of critical infrastructure, and making more informations available to the U.S. firms.

The article discusses FireEye and ClearSky has warned that Iranian hackers are having a great deal of success in their operations, and the U.S. needs to track them. It mentions about cyber-attacks in November 2017 which attributed to Iranian agents which exploited an Microsoft (MS) Office vulnerability after it was patched by Microsoft. It also mentions that hacking group APT34 has conducted a variety of operations in Middle East targeting industries like energy, chemical and telecommunication.

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 two U.S. representatives have introduced legislation that aims to give companies the legal protection needed to pursue and identify hackers over the Internet. It mentions the Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act (ACDC) is the brainchild of representative Thomas Graves. It also mentions that representative Kyrsten Sinema have cited the Equifax breach as an indication of how bad the problem of cyber-attacks has become for average U.S. citizens.

The article discusses hackers are using Secure Sockets Layer encryption to conceal device infections and shroud data exfiltration according to cloud security firm Zscaler. It mentions an increase in SSL encryption need to prompt firms to focus on inspecting SSL traffic. It also mentions security firm Kaspersky Lab published an analysis of current trends in steganography on August 2017 and devices connected to Internet of Things are vulnerable to cyberattack.

The article reports on managed security provider SecureWorks Inc.'s recommendation that the dupe is regularly played by some companies to hackers which make their crimes less lucrative and causes them more pain. It is noted that the company has called the approach offense-in-depth, which increases the attackers' risk and their effort.

The article reports that according to security company Flashpoint, popular Dridex banking trojan has been changed by attackers to bypass a basic protection on Windows which allows users to block the installation of potentially malicious programs. Dridex is among the leading five programs used by online criminals for accessing victims' financial accounts.

The article describes the task of guarding votes for presidential election as daunting. Topics discussed include the leaked Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) memo regarding Russian hackers, voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT), and direct recording electronic (DRE). It notes that as of August 31, 2016, New Mexico is the only state with excellent process for auditing votes.

The article focuses on an announcement made by a group Shadow Brokers regarding auction off cyber-espionage tools taken from the server of the Equation Group, and was operated by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). It mentions that the tools have significant collection of vulnerabilities that can be used by hackers. It also presents the views of James Clapper, director of national intelligence, regarding the same.

The article discusses the lack of encryption feature in wireless keyboards as a threat to the confidentiality of communication exchanged via the keyboard. The article further mentions that hackers can identify keystrokes of the keyboards from a distance of about 250 feet. According to a report released by the computer security company Bastille Networks, the hackers can gain access to passwords and credit card details transmitted through wireless keyboards.

The article focuses on the U.S. Department of Defense's "Hack the Pentagon" program, wherein 1,400 computer hackers signed up to find security flaws in the agency's computer systems. Topics discussed include remarks from Defense Secretary Ash Carter about the pilot program, managed by bug-bounty program management firm HackerOne, and statement from Marten Mickos, chief executive officer of HackerOne, on the success of the program.

The article informs that security services provider Hold Security has reported a Russian hacker has hacker company's unique credentials through a flaw in the their system which allow anyone to retrieve compromised data from the database. It informs that vulnerability in the code of the website has led to the hack, and Byron Rashed, a spokesman for security service firm InfoArmor, on the same.

The article reports that bug bounty program of the Pentagon which is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, attracting a large number of security researchers and hackers to search for security flaws. It mentions that "Hack the Pentagon" pilot program is the first federal government program which is using a private-sector crowdsourcing service for searching bugs. It presents the views of Alex Rice, co-founder of vulnerability program management service HackerOne, on the same.

The article reports on the decision of Allen Stefanek, president of the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, to pay the ransom demand of hackers for the release of its hospital records. Topics discussed include an overview of the online attack conducted by the hackers on the hospital, the opinion of cyber security expert Adam Kujawa regarding the president's decision, and an overview of the 2014 online security report conducted by the research firm BitSight.

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 report by security-consultancy iSIGHT Partner according to which attackers have targeted retailers with a sophisticated malware framework that infects point-of-sale systems and uses high-level encryption to hide its functionality and make analysis difficult. Topics include the malware framework ModPOS, being very hard to detect and likely infected multiple retailers, however Verizon Communication Inc.'s Cyber Intelligence Center (VCIC) called the report "hyperbole."

The article discusses the alert on sophisticated hackers issued on September 2, 2015 by the managed security services firm Dell Secureworks. Topics include attackers using little or no malware to steal data from their targets and hackers using compromised credentials to gain entry into the network. Also mentioned are this attack method dodging the defenses of firms whose focus on detecting attacks is by recognizing malware as well as a suggestion that firms use two-factor authentication.

The article reports on hackers threatening employees of consumer electronics company Sony and their families in an email message. It mentions that hackers also breached Sony Pictures Entertainment's network and leaked huge volumes of employee and business data. It further presents Bloomberg's report which revelas that hackers used the network of Bangkok, Thailand, in hotel St. Regis Bangkok, as a jumping-off point.

The article offers information on efforts making by attackers for taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the Bourne Again Shell or Bash, an sh-compatible shell, before it got patched by companies and software developers. Topics discussed includes data released by web security firm CloudFlare for total attacks on the shell, computer manufacturer Apple issued a patch for Mac OS X computer operating system, and attack incorporated into malware droppers and distributed denial-of-service tools.

The article reports that the computer hacker with insider access to a Canadian Internet service provider's network stole more than 80,000 dollars worth of Bitcoin, Dogecoin and other digital currencies from at least 51 cryptocurrency mining groups. Topics covered include Dell Secureworks' analysis of the attach which reveals redirection of computers conducting mining to the hacker's mining pools and sending out of updates to the Internet infrastructure using the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

The article discusses the highlights of the Pwn2Own hacking competition where contestants discovered 35 vulnerabilities in major Internet browsers and plug-ins. The tournament highlighted that security remains a work in progress despite improvements in software development. It notes that the annual contest pits vulnerability researchers against operating systems running different browsers and plug-ins including Mozilla's Firefox, with security firm VUPEN winning over 400 million U.S. dollars.

The article reports on the breach of the crowd-funding site of micro-investing site Kickstarter Inc. The company acknowledge on February 15, 2014 that hackers have compromised the company's systems and accessed users' personal data, including names, addresses, phone numbers and encrypted passwords. Kickstarter chief executive officer (CEO) Yancey Strickler stresses that no credit card information has been accessed by the attackers.

The article reports that cyber-attackers compromised the network of retailing company Target Corp. by stealing the credentials of its heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning vendor. It is said to have highlighted the importance of limiting third-party access to corporate networks. Target said the investigation identified a stolen username and password to access its network. Jody Brazil, Chief Executive Officer of security-policy firm FireMon, issued a statement about the issue.

The article discusses the study by networking equipment corporation Cisco Systems and another by information technology (IT) security and compliance services provider Solutionary, that found increasing use of popular U.S. cloud services by cyber-attackers as a launching point for malware. The fourth-quarter 2013 Threat Intelligence Report of Solutionary, released on January 15, 2014, found that 44 percent of all malware operations was hosted by the U.S.

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 focuses on the continued vulnerability of embedded devices and consumer devices from cyber-attackers in 2014. According to several information technology (IT) security experts, the trend will only accelerate in the coming year due to the rapid adoption of network-connected devices by consumers and businesses. The vulnerability of embedded devices is blamed on the lack of collaboration among engineering teams.

The article reveals that a hacker penetrated the database service MongoHQ and used an impersonate support feature to access a limited number of users' data. According to the author, the hacker used the compromised username and password of an administrator, the hacker breached the network of MongoHQ and accessed the data of a limited number of users on October 29, 2013.

The article reports that a group of hackers is believed to be responsible for stealing source code from Adobe hit press-release distributor PR Newswire on October 13, 2013. It notes that hackers had stolen the user names and passwords belonging to the accounts of thousand corporate clients. The credentials were found on the same Internet server as the stolen source code for a number of Adobe products, pointing the hacking group to that attack.

The article informs that a report released by Symantec on September 18, 2013 states that by using sophisticated tactics and tools, a group of Chinese hackers, dubbed "Hidden Lynx," infiltrated government agencies, multinational companies and even security firms worldwide. According to the report, hacking group has two teams, out of which the first uses a customized version of the Ghost RAT Trojan, and the second team uses a custom attack program.

The article offers information on the results of a research report by security firm Bit9 Inc. about security threat in Java. The report suggests that only one percent of all enterprise systems have the latest version of Java installed. Also discussed is the vulnerabilities of Jave to cyber attacks and the factors that drives the attacks.

The article discuses the results of a study by mobile security startup Bluebox Security on application (app) security on Android operating systems. Company chief technology officer Jeff Forristal mentions their findings which suggests that the weakness in Android can allow hackers to modify apps to Trojan horses virus. Webroot security intelligence director Grayson Milbourne thinks that codes identification is difficult in infected devices.

The article reports that researchers can better detect computer attacks through adding a large number of fake entries. It says that when online attackers pass through a company's network, their first aim is the target file. It mentions that through stealing the password file, and with the use of brute-force decryption techniques to search common or weak passwords, the computer attackers can develop a collection of ligitimate credentials to make it easier to compromise the corporate network.

The article reports on the failure of the hacker group N4m3le55 cr3w to disrupt websites from the U.S. government and financial institutions during their first day of the so-called OpUSA attack on May 7, 2013. The network security firm Radware Ltd. reveals that none from the hackers' list of targets have been disrupted. It is noted that the Department of Homeland Security has warned businesses of the attack threat and circulated a list of tools intended by the group to be used in the attacks.

The article reports that QinetiQ, a defense technology and security firm in Great Britain, was breached by hackers that was linked to China to steal sensitive and property defense information for more than three years. It states that the incident results in a number of visits from federal investigators from December 2007-2010. It adds that the attack which compromises at critical-infrastructure and defense companies was linked to a Chinese group known as the "Comment Crew."

The article reports on the increase of cyber-activity in North Korea in its move towards the controversial nuclear program, according to security experts. Security firm Solutionary director of strategic security Jon Heimerl wrote that cyber attackers from the country's Internet addresses examined servers in the U.S. It notes that the Internet became the medium for nation-state activity, from cyber-espionage of China to the U.S. and alleged attack of Israel on nuclear program of Iran.

The article focuses on the disclosure of anonymous-linked hackers on September 3, 2012 regarding their allegedly stolen information on more than 12 million Apple devices from a laptop issued by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). It says that the stolen information includes the unique device identifier (UDID), the Apple Push Notification Service token, and the device name and type. Meanwhile, the agency has denied the claim.

The article focuses on a report by Prolexic, an Internet security firm, regarding online criminals who choose to protect their botnets by flooding users with basic Internet data. It says that the total number of distributed denial-of-service (DdoS) attacks have doubled in 2012's second quarter, increasing infrastructure attacks by 81%. Paul Sop, company's technology evangelist, mentions that attackers increase their botnets at risk by law enforcement.

The article reports on the sophisticated android malware developed by online criminals to improve their online stealing tactics. It states that the android malware aims to steal secret validation codes sent by banks to their customers during financial transactions. It mentions that online thieves are targeting financial institutions in various European countries including Germany, Portugal, and Spain. Moreover, online hackers use popular crime toolkit applications such as SpyEye and Zeus.

The article focuses on the report of security firms McAfee and Guardian Analytics which shows that online thieves have stolen at least 60 million euros from European and South American banks using Zeus and SpyEye crime toolkits. It says that the thieves use the servers to automate their transactions among high net-worth individuals and companies. Meanwhile, Trend Micro has identified that the automated transaction system (ATS) is a threat to financial institutions.

The article focuses on a report by Trend Micro which reveals that hackers can make automatic stealing from banks that uses two-factor authentication. It says that cyber-criminals uses the toolkits Zeus and SpyEye to steal money from the bank accounts of victims whose computers are infected with malware. It states that the evolution of hardware Trojans which are being used by cyber-criminals are the main challenges for financial sectors.