As we mentioned in a previous news story, from October 1st Cyber Essentials will be a requirement of all suppliers bidding for certain personal and sensitive information-handling on behalf of the Government. Cyber Essentials certification is awarded to businesses that can demonstrate they have implemented measures to reduce the cyber risk. QG Management Standards, based

Ministry of Justice have been issued a £180,000 fine for losing a hard disk containing details of just under 3000 prisoners at HMP Erlestoke prison in May 2013. The hard drive contained confidential information relating to organised crime, health information, history of drug misuse and material about victims and visitors of each inmate.  The hard

Investigations of hundreds of police officers have been launched over the potential misuse of social media guidelines over a 5 year period, highlighting the rising importance of staff training and awareness around information security policies. Research shows that out of 828 cases reported from 2009 to February this year, 14% of investigations led to no

Two Israeli companies, both owned by the government, have reported that several military documents have been stolen.  The companies were responsible for the development of the Iron Dome missile defence system, and lost documents relating to ballistic rockets and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, otherwise known as drones). The intelligence report, seen by the BBC, states

A recently discovered flaw within USB (Universal Serial Bus) devices could be used to infect a computer and perform malicious activity without the user’s knowledge, even USB devices which appear to be empty. The researchers Karsten Nohl and Jakob Lell say there is no practical way to defend against such vulnerability. The body responsible for

In the most recent Risk Outlook report by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority, cybercrime was recognised as a new priority threat: “Breach of confidentiality: information security and cybercrime Keeping the affairs of clients confidential and secure is a key professional duty. Law firms need to be prepared for the increased risk to this duty that is

The data that was stolen included 20,000 email addresses, telephone numbers and addresses. Although most of the data was encrypted, the data that was stolen involved details for people who had registered to attend an event at the ECB. The bank have stated that no market sensitive data or their banking system were affected, as

CNET, a news and technology product reviews website, has suffered a security breach in which data from one million users was stolen.  CNET was informed of the breach via a Twitter direct message conversation by a Russian hacker group who were responsible for the attack. Details such as names, usernames, encrypted passwords and email addresses

After over 5,700 complaints, 5 people have been arrested in relation to hoax websites which trick users into believing the site is a legitimate government website. The websites, which claim to offer services such as ordering driving licenses and passports, charge user’s money for such services which are normally free.  This scam can trick unsuspecting

ISPs from the UK, US, Netherlands, Zimbabwe, Germany and South Korea have collaborated with the campaigners Privacy International to challenge GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence agency. Involved in the lawsuit are GreenNet from the UK; Riseup and May First/People Link from the US; Greehost from the Netherlands; Mango from Zimbabwe; Jinbonet from South Korea and Chaos