Day: November 24, 2020

Online scams are taking their toll on Australian computer users, with a cybercrime being reported to authorities every 10 minutes.

That’s according to a story by Information Age that points to the findings of the latest Annual Cyber Threat Report conducted by the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

ACSC says that of the 60,000 cyber crimes reported in the past year, slightly more than one third were categorised as fraud related, with fake romances, dodgy investments and shopping scams the leading causes.

“Cyber crime is one of the most pervasive threats facing Australia, and the most significant threat in terms of overall volume and impact to individuals and businesses,” the ACSC report says.

“Cyber criminals follow the money. Australia’s relative wealth, high levels of online connectivity and increasing delivery of services through online channels make it very attractive and profitable for cyber crime adversaries.”

Read the full story in Information Age.

Security firm Crowdstrike has reported there were more cyber attacks in the first half of 2020 than in the whole of 2019, according to Information Age.

It seems the huge transition to remote work caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has left workers and companies exposed as the opportunities for attacks rose.

The company said in a report released by its Overwatch analysis team that “the pandemic created opportunities for adversaries to exploit public fear through the use of COVID-19-themed social engineering strategies”.

Read the full story in Information Age.

Imagine if making your morning brew had the ability to torment you while also demanding a ransom in exchange for a swig of the bean juice that keeps us all going each day?

As reported in Information Age, a security firm researcher did just that.

Martin Hron – who works for antivirus software maker Avast – picked apart a security weakness in an automatic coffee machine by reverse engineering it – and at the same time found a weakness in most IoT-connected devices. Watch the video to see his handy work in action.

Hron told Information Age it took him a week to turn the coffee machine into a ransomware machine.

They reported that:

When the user tried to connect the coffee machine to their home network, the machine would immediately turn on the burner, let loose hot water, continually spin the bean grinder and display a ransom message while beeping. The only way to make this whole mess stop would be to unplug the device, rendering it unusable. 

Read the full story in Information Age here.