Cyber bytes - Issue 17

Welcome to Cyber_Bytes, our bi-weekly roundup of key developments in cyber, tech and evolving risks.

Small growth in cyber security spending anticipated in 2020

Gartner, a leading research and advisory company, estimates worldwide spending on information security and risk management technology and services will grow 2.4% this year. This is substantially below the 8.7% growth it had estimated before the Covid-19 pandemic. The cause is a disruption in supply chains and production across the world, which has forced organisations to limit their spending to survive. Security teams will be expected to do more with less and develop creative new ways to prevent opportunity-driven cyber attacks.

To read more, please click here.

New national certification scheme designed to boost cyber security resilience

Pen Underwriting has partnered with the Police Digital Security Centre on a new national certification scheme, which recognises and rewards small businesses in the UK who can demonstrate they are ‘Digitally Aware’. The certification scheme can be completed via a simple online assessment tool which analyses a firm's commitment to taking cyber security seriously by testing how resilient they are to the most common types of cybercrime.

To read more, please click here.

The Cyber (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

The Cyber (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, which implement in UK law some 2019 EU Regulations that will disappear at the end of the Brexit transition period, have been laid before parliament.  The regulations enable the government to designate cyber criminals and attach asset freezing orders to them, or to exclude them from the UK.

To read the full legislation please click here.

Australian government and institutions targeted by state-based cyber attack

Scott Morrison, Australia's Prime Minister, recently confirmed that the nation's government and institutions are being targeted by ongoing “sophisticated” state-based cyber hacks. However, he has declined to identify a specific state actor or provide further information which reduces the confidence of such statements. Industry experts have argued the government must collaborate with the industry to provide the best response.

To read the full article, please click here.

Tech giant Amazon hit by record DDoS attack

Amazon was hit by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack earlier on this year which lasted over three days and is the largest DDoS attack ever recorded. Amazon successfully defended against the attack with its AWS Shield, but experts are warning the industry not to ignore its effect.

To read the full article, please click here.

Woman's 6-month battle to re-claim her stolen identity

The BBC tells the story of how a data subject realised she was a victim of ID fraud after she was refused a mortgage over a payday loan that she was not aware of. As a result, the fraud has cost the data subject roughly £10,000 in solicitor fees and continued rent payments.

For the full article, please click here.