Cyber Weekly for Scotland - UK government funded, supported by Scottish Government, in partnership - Scottish Business Resilience Centre
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Cyber Weekly for Scotland
For the week commencing 12th November 2018
UK government funded, supported by Scottish Government, in partnership
with the National Cyber Resilience Leaders’ Board.
NAPIER MERIDIAN CYBER WEEKLY FOR SCOTLAND
WEEK COMMENCING 12 NOVEMBER 2018
Please use the following links to skip to the different areas of the Cyber Weekly for Scotland:
Article of the Week
UK News
Scottish Parliament
UK Parliament
UK Government
Scottish Government
Agencies and Responders
International Bodies
Industry and Technology
International News
Article of the Week
UK News
Cyber attacks are the biggest risk, companies say. Cyber-attacks are the biggest concern
for businesses in Europe, Asia and North America, according to a new survey of executives
by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The report, which included responses from more than
12,000 business leaders from 140 countries, found companies fear the action of hackers will
threaten their businesses over the next ten years. (Telegraph)
Scottish businesses urged to apply for £1,000 cybersecurity vouchers. The Scottish
Government has launched a voucher scheme to help small businesses and third sector
organisations combat cybercrime by securing ‘Cyber Essentials’ accreditation. Cyber
Essentials, endorsed by the NCSC, is the baseline standard in cyber security, helping to
prevent the most common attacks by implementing five basic network controls and practicing
good cyber hygiene. (DIGIT)
Bank of England stages day of war games to combat cyber-attacks. The Bank of
England (BoE) is staging a day-long war gaming exercise on Friday designed to test the
resilience of the financial system in the event of a major cyber-attack. Up to 40 firms are
taking part in the voluntary exercise, alongside the BoE, the Treasury, City regulator
the Financial Conduct Authority and UK Finance, the industry trade body. (Guardian)
Associate feature: Preparing for Scotland’s digital future. In Scotland, we are facing a
range of new technologies that combine the physical, digital and biological worlds. These new
technologies will impact all disciplines, economies and industries, and even challenge our
ideas about what it means to be human. It’s important that Scotland continues to respond and
adapt to this new economic dynamic. BT can play a key part in enabling Scotland to stay at
the forefront of this, particularly when it comes to digital innovation. (Holyrood)
MSPs probe data privacy concerns over Police Scotland’s cyber kiosks. Concerns have
been raised by members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) about the data privacy
implications of the police ‘cyber kiosks’ deployed across the country. MSPs on the Justice
Sub-Committee on Policing expressed their worries about the personal data that can be
accessed via the kiosks, as well as the legal basis for accessing it, the right to privacy, and
arrangements for data security. (Public Technology)
Grants to improve cyber security on offer to charities in Scotland. The Scottish
government has provide £500,000 for Cyber Essentials, which is managed by the SCVO.
Charities in Scotland are being offered grants of up to £1,000 to help strengthen their cyber
security. The Scottish government has provided £500,000 in funding for the Cyber Essentials
scheme, which is being managed by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. (Third
Sector)
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WEEK COMMENCING 12 NOVEMBER 2018
First 5G cities in UK named by EE. EE has announced which six UK cities will be the first to
get faster 5G mobile networks. Building on existing trials, EE will turn on 5G in London,
Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester by mid-2019. By the end of 2019,
another 10 cities will get EE networks which could transmit data at speeds faster than 10
gigabits per second. Other UK networks are now trialling 5G to accelerate their rollout next
year. (BBC)
Man jailed in first ICO Computer Misuse Act prosecution. A motor industry employee has
been sentenced to six months in prison in the first prosecution to be brought by the
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). A car repair worker has been sentenced to prison
for stealing customers’ personal data from his former place of work. Mustafa Kasim stole
personal information, including names, phone numbers and vehicle details of people involved
in road accidents. (DIGIT)
'UK will be hit by category one cyber-attack,' says government director. The UK has not
yet faced what would be considered a ‘category one’ cyber-attack, but there is little doubt that
it will happen in the years ahead, according to Peter Yapp, the deputy director at the National
Cyber Security Centre, which is a core part of the UK government intelligence agency,
GCHQ. (Forbes)
Drones and UAVs feature at Moray Business Week. As part of Moray Business Week 5-9
November, hosted by HIE and ARPAS-UK, drones and UAVs will be on display in Forres
tomorrow. The event at Horizon Scotland is being run to support businesses and will give
them an insight into the use of drones and UAVs. It will take a closer look at the safe, legal
use of drones across various industries such as tourism, agriculture, forestry, surveying, and
search and rescue. (Highlands and Islands Enterprise)
Blockchain Technology: A Work in Progress. DIGIT attended the third annual ScotChain
conference yesterday at RBS Gogarburn. The event brought together industry experts and
academics to discuss and explore some of the ground breaking developments in this
revolutionary emerging technology. During his opening remarks at ScotChain 2018, MBN
Solutions Chairman Paul Forrest said blockchain can bring ‘transformational opportunities’ to
a broad spectrum of industries and throughout society. (DIGIT)
Accenture launches global ‘application security hub’ in Edinburgh. Accenture has
launched a global ‘application security hub’ in Edinburgh to fight against the rising threat of
cyber attacks on business. The management consulting company unveiled its hub today as
part of ongoing efforts to face down a growing number of targeted attacks experienced by its
clients. According to its 2018 State of Cyber Resilience report, targeted attacks have “more
than doubled in the space of a year”. (Future Scot)
NCA cybercrime unit looks to deepen ties with Russia’s neighbours. The National Crime
Agency’s cybercrime division is looking to deepen ties with Russia’s neighbours and put more
officers on the ground across Europe. The NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU)
currently has a total of five officers located outside the UK: one at based at Europol in The
Hague; one with Interpol in Singapore; and three with various US intelligence and law-
enforcement entities. (Public Technology)
Edinburgh tech start-up Cyan Forensics raises £900,000 funding. The digital forensic
tech specialist now has the financial backing of international investors. Scottish startup Cyan
Forensics, which develops digital forensic technology to help law enforcement catch criminals
faster, has closed a £900,000 investment round led by Mercia Fund Managers. The cash
injection brings its total funding to nearly £1.5 million since it was founded in 2016. (DIGIT)
GCHQ offers help to embryonic Irish cyber security organisation. Ciaran Martin head of
the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, builds bridges with the Republic of
Ireland's intelligence community during an official visit to Dublin. The head of the
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WEEK COMMENCING 12 NOVEMBER 2018
UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Ciaran Martin, spent much of last week in a
very public barnstorming of Ireland’s nascent cyber security institutions. (Computer Weekly)
The Children's Commissioner for England has issued a new report calling for a
statutory duty of care towards online users. Who Knows What About Me says that vast
amounts of personal data are being collected about children from or even pre-birth, potentially
impacting their future. The data is being collected via their parents’ and their own social media
activity, public services and, increasingly, internet-connected toys. Personal information is
even needed for many apps to help with schoolwork. (Get Safe Online)
Privacy International files GDPR complaints against Oracle and Equifax. The privacy
rights group filed complaints against seven companies for “wide-scale and systematic
infringements” of data protection law. Activist group Privacy International has filed complaints
against data brokers, Acxiom and Oracle; ad-tech companies, Criteo, Quantcast and Tapad;
and credit referencing agencies, Equifax, and Experian. (DIGIT)
Scottish Parliament
(No significant news this week)
UK Parliament
Government Departments: Data Protection
Asked by Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many data breaches were
reported by each Government department to the Government Security Group in each of the
last four years. (Hansard)
Bank Services: Hacking
Asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many
hacking offences pertaining to customers’ bank accounts have been resolved in each of the
past three financial years; in how many cases hackers were convicted; and what proportion
they estimate the sum attributed to those offences resulting in conviction is of the total
estimated to have been stolen through such hacking offences in the last three financial years.
(Hansard)
Government Departments: ICT
Asked by Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the (a) timetable, (b) cost
and (c) estimated savings are for the Foxhound IT programme. (Hansard)
Ukraine: Cybercrime
Asked by Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth
Affairs, what support on cyber-threats the Government is providing to the government of
Ukraine in advance of that countries elections in 2019. (Hansard)
Scottish Government
(No significant news this week)
UK Government
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WEEK COMMENCING 12 NOVEMBER 2018
Children’s Commissioner’s report calls on internet giants and toy manufacturers to be
transparent about collection of children’s data. The Office of the Children’s Commissioner
for England is today publishing a new report looking how vast amounts of children’s data is
collected. This is information about children growing up which often the child and parents are
unaware of, and the ways in which it might shape their lives both now and in the future as
adults. ‘Who knows what about me?’ reveals how more information is collected and shared
about children than ever before – in the screens they watch, the websites and apps they use
and the information that is captured by public services. (Children's Commissioner)
Growth in cryptocurrency scams. Numerous cryptocurrency scams have emerged since
the rising price of some currencies, notably Bitcoin and Ethereum, made them highly
lucrative. These scams have become increasingly common over recent months, but the
methods behind them are not new. Some scammers pretend to be holding large sums of
money that they will ‘giveaway’ once the victim has sent them a smaller amount of currency.
Others offer large amounts of a new cryptocurrency in exchange for a small amount of an
established one. (NCSC)
Third-party JavaScript abused to steal money from Cryptocurrency exchange users.
Researchers at cyber security company ESET discovered that a website analytics.
platform was compromised in early November. Attackers were able to modify a JavaScript
plugin used by websites to track visitor statistics. Although this allowed a malicious script to
be injected into all websites that use the plugin, the attackers only targeted a specific
Cryptocurrency exchange. The plugin was modified to include a component that checked for
a specific identifier for the exchange’s withdrawal page. If detected, a second script
replaced the victim’s intended destination Bitcoin addresses with one used by the
attackers. (NCSC)
Agencies & Responders
Firearms seized in national operation targeting online customers. At least 61 firearms
have been seized and ten people arrested in a national operation targeting customers who
had purchased prohibited blank-firing weapons online. The operation, which focused around a
day of action on Wednesday 7 November, was coordinated by the National Crime Agency
and involved 25 police forces and ROCUs throughout the UK. The ten people arrested were
previously identified by NCA investigators as having bought Flobert or blank-firing weapons
online from sellers in eastern Europe. (NCA)
Challenges of Altcoins for investigations, prosecutions focus of INTERPOL meeting.
The impacts of Altcoins, an alternative to Bitcoins, on law enforcement investigations and
prosecutions was the focus of the second meeting of the INTERPOL Working Group on
Darknet and Cryptocurrencies. With more than 2,000 different cryptocurrencies in existence,
the Working Group had previously identified Altcoins as an emerging challenge for police
investigations worldwide. Co-hosted by INTERPOL and the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice
(Germany), the meeting brought together 52 participants from law enforcement, academia,
private industry and international organizations in 25 countries. (INTERPOL)
Sirius Conference 2018. Europol and Eurojust strive to improve access to cross-border
electronic evidence. The SIRIUS conference 2018 took place on 6 and 7 November at
Europol’s headquarters in The Hague. This two-day event, organised in collaboration with
Eurojust, gathered over 200 judicial and law enforcement authorities from 40 countries, as
well as representatives from Airbnb, Apple, Facebook, Google and PayPal, to address issues
and challenges encountered when conducting Internet-based investigations. The objectives of
this event were to take stock of the progress made within the framework of the SIRIUS project
in building capacity both at EU and US levels in cross-border access to electronic evidence,
and to devise novel solutions to emerging and future challenges in the field, capitalising on
the input from participants from different backgrounds. Europol)
International Bodies
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WEEK COMMENCING 12 NOVEMBER 2018
Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller in Beijing: “We need to defend ourselves
in the digital age, and in the age of artificial intelligence”. The NATO Deputy Secretary
General Rose Gottemoeller visited Beijing on 24-26 October 2018 and participated in 8th
Xiangshan Forum. Speaking at a special session on Artificial Intelligence, Gottemoeller
highlighted how technological advances provide challenges as well as opportunities and
discussed how NATO is working to ensure it stays ahead of the curve. “We do this by working
together, among our 29 members and with our partners and international organisations. And
of course, we work with the private sector to take full advantage of the latest innovations and
to maintain our technological edge”. (NATO)
EU cybersecurity organisations agree on 2019 roadmap. On 6 November 2018, following
a meeting at working level, the four Principals of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
between Europol, the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security
(ENISA), the European Defence Agency (EDA), and the Computer Emergency Response
Team for the EU Institutions, Agencies and Bodies (CERT-EU), met at CERT-EU's premises.
The purpose of the meeting was to update each other on relevant developments and assess
the progress made under the MoU, which provides a cooperation framework aiming at
leveraging synergies between the four organisations to achieve a safe and open cyberspace.
The four partners also agreed on a roadmap prepared by the MoU working group with
concrete activities and deliverables throughout 2019. (ENISA)
UN agency ramps up effort to counter growing nuclear threat from cyberspace. As part
of its efforts to strengthen nuclear security worldwide, the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), announced on Wednesday that it has developed a training programme designed to
protect facilities from the growing threat of cyber-attacks. The programme kicked off in
October with a course entitled “Protecting Computer-Based Systems in Nuclear Security
Regimes,” which brought together 37 participants from 13 countries for two weeks of
immersive training on best practices in computer security. The IAEA is the world's central
intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the nuclear field. (UN)
ASEAN publishes MSMEs digitalisation success stories. ASEAN Coordinating Committee
on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (ACCMSME) launched the Future of ASEAN: 50
Success Stories of Digitalisation of ASEAN MSMEs publication at the sidelines of the ASEAN
Business and Investment Summit (ABIS) 2018 in Singapore. The ASEAN-Business Advisory
Council (ASEAN-BAC) congratulated the ACCMSME on the release of the publication. “It is a
real source of inspiration for all and we look forward to more success stories from MSMEs
who venture and thrive in the digital era being replicated many times over in the following
publications,” said Dr. Robert Yap, Chair of ASEAN-BAC. The publication profiles 50 inspiring
stories of MSMEs in the ASEAN region that have leveraged digital technology in starting,
sustaining and growing their businesses from sectors such as agriculture and fisheries to
beauty and fashion, information technology, manufacturing and services. The publication also
provides good references to the various government support programmes available in
ASEAN to promote digital technology adoption among MSMEs. (ASEAN)
Industry & Technology
'Ugly' mistake sends Google data to China. Google data for search and cloud services
went astray for more than an hour on Monday thanks to an "ugly" mistake by an African ISP.
The data was sent the wrong way when MainOne Cable, in Nigeria, updated address books
for key network hardware. The update saw it claim to be the best way to reach millions of
Google net addresses. The mistake spread to other networks and led to Google traffic
travelling via China and Russia. In a tweet, MainOne said the mistake had been made during
a "planned network upgrade". It added: "The error was corrected within 74 minutes and
processes put in place to avoid reoccurrence." (BBC)
This banking malware just added password and browser history stealing to its
playbook. Latest version of the malware uses Excel to install information stealing campaign.
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The Trickbot banking malware has added yet another tool to its arsenal, allowing crooks to
steal passwords as well as steal browser data including web history and usernames. The
malware first appeared in 2016, initially focused on stealing banking credentials -- but Trickbot
is highly customisable and has undergone a series of updates since then. The latest trick --
picked up by researchers at both Trend Micro and Fortinet -- is the addition of a new module
designed to steal passwords. (ZDNet)
Hyundai Heavy receives U.S. cyber security certificate for tanker. Hyundai Heavy
Industries Co., the world's largest shipbuilder by sales, said Monday that it has received a
cyber security certificate from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) for an oil carrier. It
marked the first time in the world that Hyundai Heavy received the Cyber Security Ready
(CSR) for a very large crude carrier. Paul R. Walters, director of the Global ABS CyberSafety
program, said this Cyber Security Ready (CSR) model is a powerful tool for protecting marine
assets from various threats. (Yonhap)
Stealthy crypto-mining malware evades detection. Cryptocurrency mining has become a
fairly easy way to manufacture currency, and according to Trend Micro, a
new cryptocurrency-mining malware uses evasion techniques, including Windows Installer, as
part of its routine. In the cryptocurrency miner identified as Coinminer. Win32. MALXMR.
TIAOODAM, researchers noted the use of multiple obfuscation and packing routines. The
malware leverages the Windows platform, and though it has an overall low risk rating, the
damage potential scored in the medium range. (Infosecurity Magazine)
Engie and Tata in utility cybersecurity partnership. ENGIE Laborelec, the utilities
research division of ENGIE Group, is working with India’s Tata Consultancy Services to
develop cybersecurity products and services for utilities. The partnership is also intended to
help prepare the energy industry for the European Union’s recently-implemented National
Infrastructure Security Directive, the first EU-wide legislation on cybersecurity which has
special provisions for organizations providing critical services such as energy. (Power
Engineering)
Cybersecurity Partnership Established to Protect Shippers. ClassNK, a Japan-based
classification society which ensures the safety of vessels, has signed a partnership
agreement with TÜV Rheinland, a specialist in testing, inspection and certification services.
According to a statement, the two companies will collaborate to provide digital services for
safety, cybersecurity and privacy to the maritime sector. As part of the partnership agreement,
both parties will jointly develop and deliver a cybersecurity certification scheme, utilizing
expertise gained from each company’s range of available services. (Port Technology)
WannaCry still alive, reaches almost 75,000 victims. WannaCry ransomware is still the
most widespread cryptor family and has hit almost 75,000 users as of Q3 2018, according to
new research from Kaspersky Lab. The firm discovered that since the WannaCry outbreak in
May 2017 that cost the NHS £92m, the ransomware has affected 74,621 users across the
globe and is still active one and half years on, accounted for 28% of all cryptor attacks in Q3
2018, a growth of more than two-thirds compared to Q3 2017. (Infosecurity Magazine)
US over takes China in top supercomputer list. China has been pushed into third place on
a list of the world's most powerful supercomputers. The latest list by Top 500, published twice
a year, puts two US machines - Summit and Sierra - in the top two places. The US has five
entries in the top 10, with other entries from Switzerland, Germany and Japan. However,
overall China has 227 machines in the top 500, while the US has 109. Summit can process
200,000 trillion calculations per second. Both Summit and Sierra were built by the tech giant
IBM. China's Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer, which this time last year was the world's
most powerful machine, is now ranked at number three, while the country also has the fourth
spot in the list. (BBC)
Sextortion and phishing attacks surge in Q3 2018. Kaspersky Lab said it blocked 137
million phishing attacks in Q3 – an increase of 28% from the year previous. Phishing attempts
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have increased by 30 million in Q3 of 2018 compared with the same period in 2017,
according to Kaspersky Lab. The antivirus vendor’s latest phishing and spam report revealed
that its products had blocked 137 million redirects to phishing sites in the period, a 28%
increase on the previous quarter. Global internet portals (32%) and banks (18%) were the
most targeted businesses business. Hackers are often taking advantage of pop-up
notifications that some browsers employ, Kaspersky Labs noted. (DIGIT)
Facebook bug let websites access private user data. A security researcher at Imperva
recently identified a vulnerability within Facebook that could have allowed other websites to
extract private information about users and their contacts. Discovered by Imperva security
researcher Ron Masas, the vulnerability reportedly preyed on the unique cross-origin
behavior of iframes, which embeds another HTML page into the current page. By
manipulating Facebook’s graph search, it was possible to craft search queries that reflected
personal information about the user. (Infosecurity Magazine)
International News
EUROPE
NIS directive gets real after OES deadline. The implementation of major EU-wide security
legislation took a major leap forward on Friday as the government officially identified the
organizations that will be required to comply with the NIS Directive. Known in full as the
directive on the security of network and information systems, the law will be applied slightly
differently by each member state. (Infosecurity Magazine)
Cybersecurity: Paris call of 12 november 2018 for trust and security in cyberspace. On
12 November at the UNESCO Internet Governance Forum (IGF), President Macron launched
the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace. This high-level declaration on developing
common principles for securing cyberspace has already received the backing of many States,
as well as private companies and civil society organizations. (French Government)
Countries back the Paris Call to secure cyberspace. In an attempt to develop a set of
shared principles for securing cyberspace, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, launched
the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace at yesterday’s UNESCO Internet
Governance Forum (IGF). The Paris Call has the backing of more than 50 countries. Notably
missing from the list are Russia, China and the United States. (Infosecurity Magazine)
Swedish man jailed over crypto firm bomb attempt. While cryptocurrency investors take
their investments seriously, one man may have taken things too far. Last week, a 43-year-
old man was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for attempted murder after he sent an
explosive device to a UK-based digital currency service provider. Jermu Michael Salonen, a
Swedish national, sent the device to Cryptopay when the firm failed to reset his account
password. (DIGIT)
AMERICAS
The US military just publicly dumped Russian government malware online. Usually it’s
the Russians that dump its enemies’ files. This week CYBERCOM a part of the military tasked
with hacking and cybersecurity focused missions, started publicly releasing unclassified
samples of adversaries’ malware it has discovered. CYBERCOM says the move is to improve
information sharing among the cybersecurity community, but in some ways it could be seen
as a signal to those who hack US systems: we may release your tools to the wider world.
(VICE)
Amazon asked to share Echo data in US murder case. A judge in the US has asked
Amazon to hand over audio recordings from an Amazon Echo which was in a house where
two women died. Their bodies were found under the porch of a home in New Hampshire with
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multiple stab wounds. The man accused of their murder has pleaded not guilty and is due to
stand trial next year. (BBC)
IBM's Watson to rank threat severity for NIST. To more accurately assess the threats of
cyber vulnerabilities, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has partnered
with IBM to use Watson’s artificial intelligence (AI) with scoring bugs. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system assigns publicly known security vulnerabilities a
score based on the severity of the flaw. (Infosecurity Magazine)
MIDDLE EAST
Iran's mullahs turn to cyberwar, misinformation to avert looming overthrow. With the
introduction of the final phase of tough, new U.S. sanctions on Iran, targeting oil exports,
shipping and financial transactions, the clerical regime is in blind panic. Iran Human Rights
Monitor has reported an increase in executions, repression and human rights abuse during
the past month, as the mullahs try desperately to contain the growing unrest that has seen
nationwide protests continue for almost a year. (UPI)
Israeli Women among Cyber Soldiers. As of August 2018, only the tenth part of workplaces
involved with cybersecurity falls to the share of women in Israel. To grade the gender gap in
the sphere of cybersecurity, Tali Ben-Aroya has found an educational program referred to as
CyberGirlz. Even since Israeli girls are at school, this program prepares them to work in the
sphere of cybersecurity. (Times of Israel)
Iranian hackers suspected in cyber breach and extortion attempt on Navy shipbuilder
Austal. Iranian hackers are believed to be responsible for a cyber security breach and
extortion attempt on Australia's biggest defence exporter. Perth-based shipbuilder Austal
earlier this month revealed an "unknown offender" had hacked into its computer systems,
accessing staff email addresses and phone numbers as well as ship drawings and designs.
(ABC)
AFRICA
Regionally-oriented national school for cyber security opens in Dakar, Senegal. On 6
November 2018, the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian,
opened a new school in Dakar, Senegal, to train African officials on cyber security issues.
This school, the only one of its kind in Africa, is intended to be a reference in the field. It will
start offering training in 2019. (French Government)
ASIA
Highlighting cybercrime capacity building at Georgian Cyber Security Forum. The
Georgian Cyber Security Forum is an established security professional dialogue platform
since 2012, held once or twice a year and organized by the Data Exchange Agency of the
Ministry of Justice of Georgia. The Forum brings together both public and private agencies
that are identified as critical infrastructure subjects, and offers discussion platform and
working groups for solving various topics relevant to cybersecurity through cooperation.
(COE)
India witnessing heavy cyber attacks from Russia, US, China: Report. India has been the
target of over 4.3 lakh cyber attacks from five countries including China, Russia and the US
while more than 73,000 attacks were initiated from India between January and June this year,
says a Finnish cybersecurity company. According to F-Secure's honeypot data, Russia, the
US, China, the Netherlands and Germany targeted India with 436,090 attacks. This is nearly
12 times more than which originated from India. (News Minute)
COI on SingHealth cyber attack: US expert calls for collective defence against threats.
Cyber criminals can find vulnerabilities and breach any organisation's IT system given enough
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time, and current protection measures are insufficient. To counter this, the Government and
industry players need to work together on collective systems that share information to
continually learn and prepare defences, said the former director of the NSA on Monday.
(Straits Times)
Cyberattack response site to be launched by Japan and ASEAN. Japan and the 10
members of ASEAN will create a dedicated website for sharing information on cyberattacks,
enabling the rapid dissemination of material related to techniques and effective responses.
The goal is to help Association of Southeast Asian Nations members better cope and contain
the damage. The site will be accessible via two-step verification only to officials overseeing
cybersecurity in each country. (Nikkei)
Financial losses from cyber attacks jump 680% in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is increasingly
becoming a prime target for cyber threats as financial losses related to cyber crime has risen
680% over the five-year period from 2012-2016, according to statistics from the Hong Kong
Police Force. In addition, PwC said its cyber investigations in the market have increased
fivefold between 2016 and 2017. (International Investment)
Spotlight: China increasingly important in cyber industry: Israeli experts. As the fifth
World Internet Conference was concluded on Friday in Wuzhen, eastern China's Zhejiang
Province, China's role in pushing forward the development of cyber industry and view of how
cyberspace is supposed to be managed have been highlighted. (Xinhua)
Chinese headmaster fired over secret coin mining at school. A Chinese headmaster has
been fired after a secret stack of crypto-currency mining machines was found connected to
his school's electricity supply. Teachers at the school in Hunan became suspicious of a
whirring noise that continued day and night, local media report. This led to the discovery of
the machines, which were mining the crypto-currency Ethereum. (BBC)
Scare Force: Pakistan military hit by Operation Shaheen malware. State-sponsored
attack looks to infiltrate nuclear Air Force. The Pakistan Air Force is the apparent target of a
complex new state-sponsored attack campaign. Security house Cylance said this week a
state-sponsored group – dubbed the White Company by researchers – has been looking to
get into the networks of the Pakistani military in a long-term targeted attack campaign known
as Operation Shaheen. (Register)
Pakistan banks not breached, but probably skimmed. Pakistan’s central bank has sought
to quash reports that the country’s lenders have been hacked en masse, following an
apparent coordinated skimming campaign. Mohammad Shoaib, head of the Federal
Investigation Agency’s cyber-crime unit, apparently told two TV stations that “almost all”
banks had been hacked, with a “large amount of money” stolen. (Infosecurity Magazine)
OCEANIA
Encryption laws threaten $3b cyber security industry, tech firm Senetas warns. New
powers for spy agencies to snoop on phones and electronic communications threaten to
scare off local investment in cybersecurity research and development and could force some
tech companies to shift overseas, a leading encryption software company claims. (AFR)
The Cyber Weekly for Scotland has been produced by the Napier Meridian research
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contacting us first.
Napier Meridian
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NAPIER MERIDIAN CYBER WEEKLY FOR SCOTLANDNAPIER MERIDIAN CYBER WEEKLY FOR SCOTLAND
WEEK COMMENCING 12 NOVEMBER 2018
Napier Meridian is an independent consultancy specialising in security strategy. Its
expert Staff and Associates have been contributing to the Information Assurance
agenda since the 1990s.
Napier Meridian sets out to resolve complexity in organisation and process through
provision of clear strategic advice on policy, and clarification of the mechanics of the
current cybersecurity response. This insight enables Napier Meridian’s clients to
manoeuvre within the ever-changing cyber-security domain with accuracy and
confidence, rather than be driven by anecdote or speculation, or by simple (and
inappropriate) extension of legacy information security processes.
To enquire about Napier Meridian’s full set of consultancy services in the National
Security, Resilience, Cyber and Specialist Law Enforcement fields, please contact us
at: enquiries@napiermeridian.com
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