Cybersecurity

EXPLAINER: Why the Colonial Pipeline hack matters

A cyberattack on a critical U.S. pipeline is sending ripple effects across the economy, highlighting cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the nation’s aging energy infrastructure. The Colonial Pipeline, which delivers about 45% of the fuel used along the Eastern Seaboard, shut down Friday after a ransomware attack by gang of criminal hackers that calls itself DarkSide. Depending […]

Amazon blocked 10 billion listings in counterfeit crackdown

Amazon, which has been under pressure from shoppers, brands and lawmakers to crack down on counterfeits on its site, said Monday that it blocked more than 10 billion suspected phony listings last year before any of their offerings could be sold. The numbers were released in Amazon’s first report on its anti-counterfeiting efforts since it […]

eCommerce payment fraud losses to reach $20 billion in 2021

As our lives become more and more integrated within the digital realm, cyber gangs behind economic crimes have been quick to capitalize on this shift by tailoring scams to fit our changing lifestyles. These cyber criminals have also adapted to the continuously rising trend of online shopping and remote working by impersonating parcel delivery companies, […]

Facebook says it halts hackers tied to Palestinian security

Facebook said Wednesday it has broken up a hacker network used by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ intelligence service in an attempt to keep tabs on journalists, human rights activists and government critics. The report by the social networking giant threatened to deal another embarrassing blow to Abbas’ Fatah party weeks ahead of parliamentary elections. Fatah, […]

US takes new aim at ransomware after costly year for attacks

The Justice Department is taking new aim at ransomware after a year that officials say was the costliest on record for the crippling cyberattacks. Formation of a task force of FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors is an acknowledgment of the growing threat posed by ransomware attacks, in which hackers lock up computer data and […]

Suspected Chinese hackers spied on US, European targets

Suspected state-backed Chinese hackers exploited widely used networking devices to spy for months on dozens of high-value government, defense industry and financial sector targets in the U.S. and Europe, according to FireEye, a prominent cybersecurity firm. FireEye said Tuesday that it believes two hacking groups linked to China broke into several targets through Pulse Connect […]

SolarWinds hacking campaign puts Microsoft in the hot seat

The sprawling hacking campaign deemed a grave threat to U.S. national security came to be known as SolarWinds, for the company whose software update was seeded by Russian intelligence agents with malware to penetrate sensitive government and private networks. Yet it was Microsoft whose code the cyber spies persistently abused in the campaign’s second stage, […]