Top 5 Week of Dec. 7
UAE Bank Hack
In the last week, a major financial institution in the United Arab Emirates was hacked, with customer information being ransomed for a sum of nearly $3 million USD. The bank’s refusal to pay the significant ransom lead to the hacker releasing account information of nearly 500 customers, via Twitter. Although the Twitter accounts were shut down, the hacker continued on, contacting customers and demanding they pay a ransom for their information.
Anonymous Targets UN
In response to the arrests of protesters outside the Climate Change Summit in Paris, the hacker group, Anonymous, released sensitive information for nearly 1,500 UN officials. The protest, which started off peacefully, ended with nearly 100 protesters being arrested after clashing with local police.
Malvertising on the Rise
With internet users constantly being bombarded by ads, it’s no surprise that malware authors are joining the game. Using malicious Javascript, the ads can infect computers without the need for any user input, other than navigating to the website originally. Upon arrival on the landing page, the browser is scanned to find any exploitable plugins and, if successful, the malware is downloaded to the computer.
DDoS Attack on UK College Network
Recently, a major academic computer network in the UK fell victim to a targeted DDoS attack that slowed it down significantly and made certain functions unavailable. The attacks began on Monday and have continued throughout the week, causing severe disruption to many universities across the country. Jisc, the company that operates and provides the network services has claimed that they are working diligently to restore functionality as quickly as possible.
Microsoft Warns of Security Issues after IE EOL
Coming as no surprise to many, Microsoft has confirmed that its flagship browser, Internet Explorer, will be reaching the end of the road. After the launch of Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge, it was only a matter of time before the highly exploited browser had the plug pulled on it. The offical end date for support on older versions will be January 12, 2016, though IE 11 will continue to receive security updates on currently supported Windows operating systems.
