Patch the weakest link or WannaCry : Option is ours

The eve of 12th May left the security gurus perplexed once again as the massive ransomware attack shook the world across the globe. The LinkedIn feed started with the news of NHS being impacted in England and over the next few hours ultimately all forums were flooded with news of “WannaCry” leaving the organizations cry for their critical data across the globe.  According to BBC, ransomware encrypted data on at least 75,000 computers in 99 countries on Friday. Continue reading Patch the weakest link or WannaCry : Option is ours

Ingredients for Designing a Successful Security Awareness Campaign

Security Awareness across the enterprise has always been a debatable issue. There would hardly be any CISO/CIO who would deny the role of security awareness, yet awareness gets the least eyes and attention of the security executives. Some blame the lack of resources, others say it is the responsibility of HR department, a few claim it has no benefit and that they simply have no time for it while majority is too busy in procuring and installing technology solutions. Continue reading Ingredients for Designing a Successful Security Awareness Campaign

Panama papers; Why data leaks will continue to happen?

The release of sensitive information to the public by individuals who are sometimes called whistleblowers and dubbed traitor or hero, is termed to be a data leak.

The most notable data leaks in the world include those facilitated by Wikileaks that showed the inner workings of US diplomacy, while the NSA files leak revealed that the NSA extensively tapped into the communication systems of American citizens and made use of court orders to coarse network providers to turn in the call, messaging and browsing data of its users.

Now, the Panama Papers is another notable leak in world history. A collection of 11.5 million files leaked from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The Panama Papers reveals the task evading practices of the rich, who create offshore companies in tax havens around the world.

Continue reading Panama papers; Why data leaks will continue to happen?

$100 Million Bank Heist Brought To Light By “Fandation” – A Typo

$100 Million Bank Heist Brought To Light By “Fandation” – A Typo

Financial institutions in the Middle East are deeply concerned about their cyber-presence, as cyber-attacks have escalated over a period of very short time.

The hackers/ cybercriminals are launching highly sophisticated/ undetectable Trojans and ransomware. One of the most prevalent ransomware is ‘locky’, which encrypts user data, and threatens to delete everything if the victim does not pay compensation. Of course anti-virus companies are working on a solution against ‘locky’, but without much luck.

With almost all banks in the region now using the latest technology and network controls to guard their boundaries, such attacks have reached a new level.

In what might be considered one of the most ridiculous bank raids to date, the central Bank of Bangladesh experienced a higher level of theft as undetected attackers conducted a thorough and careful study of the bank’s operations and security systems and disguised as bank officials, requested a series of large money transfers orders for the New York Federal reserve. They successfully made away with a large amount of money, believed to be approximately $100mn.

The attackers carefully transferred this money to independent areas and regions but in a bid to operate discreetly, the money was separated and independently transferred across areas. $80mn dollars is believed to have successfully ended up in the Philippines, whereas the remaining $20mn was being transferred to an NGO in Sri Lanka.

Continue reading $100 Million Bank Heist Brought To Light By “Fandation” – A Typo

INFOGISTIC Appoints Hamed Diab (Ex McAfee Regional Director) as Board Member for PhishRod in Middle East, Turkey & Africa

INFOGISTIC, a leading information security company and provider of PhishRod, a security behavior management & phishing simulation service has appointed information security veteran Hamed Diab as the senior board member in the META region (Middle East, Turkey & Africa).

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Hamed brings in over 20+ years of experience in cyber security, strategy, leadership and business planning with leading IT companies in the world. Besides being on the board of PhishRod, Hamed is currently serving as a Regional Director for Middle East Turkey & CIS countries (Common Wealth of Independent States ) with ForeScout. Prior to this, Hamed has served with Intel Security (McAfee) as Regional Director for Middle East & North Africa and was instrumental in McAfee’s business growth in the region. He also held key positions with 3COM, Hewllet-Packard and COMPAQ during his career.

As organizations prepare to take on the battle against Phishing, PhishRod will certainly benefit from Hamed’s vast experience of the cyber security industry in the region.

For further details on PhishRod, please visit www.phishrod.co