Uber is back in the hot water again after it has revealed that over 57 million records were exposed in a 2016 data breach, which it subsequently covered up. This news comes not long after Uber ousted founder and CEO Travis Kalanick, who was suceeded in August by Dara Khosrowshahi. Kalanick was forced out of his own company due to a litany of scandals, and now Khosrowshahi is keen to do things the right way – hence the fresh statement declaring the breach. However, this has put Uber into a very troubling situation as not only do they face legal action for covering up a data breach, but it has also revealed an incredibly poor security culture within the company.
New Survey Estimates 75% of Irish Businesses Not Ready for GDPR
A new survey has been conducted by Mazars and McCann Fitzgerald on Irish businesses around their levels of GDPR readiness, and the results are not pretty. An astounding three quarters of businesses surveyed say that they’re not ready for the GDPR, which comes into effect in six months time. This latest insight into how the new EU data protection regulation will affect Irish businesses has revealed that they are facing serious levels of difficulty in complying with the new rules.
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has stated that there will be “no leeway” for non-compliance come May
Credential Stuffing
Credential Stuffing is a common practice in cyber crime where a hacker or cyber criminal gains access to a user’s email addresses and password, and proceeds to try that password against other accounts/services belonging to that individual. This is performed based on the knowledge that users often reuse the same passwords between different accounts/services, albeit sometimes with slight variations.
This is a highly effective means of attack, as users may change passwords for services that they are aware have been breached, but may not think to change that password where it is in use on other accounts. Credential stuffing is also commonly used when attempting to commit identity theft against a user.
It is highly recommended that all users do not reuse passwords between services, and to use a password manager if required to help them remember distinct, secure passwords.
Businesses Confused by “State of the Art” GDPR Tech Requirement
GDPR is coming. Rapidly, as it so happens, and at the time of writing there is just over 6 months to go until the 25th May 2018 deadline for compliance. Since the GDPR was adopted by the EU in 2016, businesses have been trying their best to understand the impending data protection regulation and, ultimately, ensure they are compliant. The GDPR is no straight-forward matter, though, as much of the phrasing is purposely vague to allow for possible technological advances, and to ensure that the regulation itself does not become obsolete in the near future. The idea is that if the GDPR specified which technologies were to be employed by a business in order to safeguard its data, it may be superseded by new technologies – thus reducing the effectiveness of the regulation. A key GDPR requirement, under Article 32, states that data controllers and processors are required to “implement appropriate technical and organizational measures” taking into account “the state of the art and the costs of implementation” and “the nature, scope, context, and purposes of the processing”. But what exactly does state of the art mean?
The EU has specifically worded some GDPR requirements in a vague manner, to ‘future-proof’ them from technological advances
Cyber Security Is Not Just for IT – It’s for Everyone
Traditionally, cyber security has been seen as an IT department’s problem. They make sure everyone has antivirus on their PCs and take care of the firewall – and as long as they’re doing it right, then everyone else is safe… right? This has lulled users and business owners into a false sense of security of late, believing that cyber security simply isn’t their area or that it’s not in their job description. However, this attitude is now being taken advantage of in a big way by cyber criminals, who have discovered that individual users are much easier to target and deceive. As a result, users often takes actions which inadvertently allows the hackers to bypass the IT security systems. Traditional antivirus is dead, and even more advanced next-generation antivirus simply can’t stop the most deadly attacks. Now, everyone in an organisation has a part to play in keeping it secure, from the bottom all the way up to the CEO.
