Links in “Cybersecurity/Data Breaches”

Banks are three of the top five spenders when it comes to IT. But the top spot is held by Walmart, which spent more than $10 billion on IT last year. The top 10 companies spent $45 billion. [4/8/15]

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) released two statements warning of cyber risks. The releases address the rising risk of destructive malware, which can destroy sensitive data and compromise personal information. The FFIEC also offers direction on how to deal with possible cyber security threats. [4/7/15]

A security vendor planted phony "stolen" data in the "Dark Web," then tracked it to see where it goes. In less than two weeks, the data made its way to 22 countries and was viewed nearly 1,100 time. Most frequent activity came from Nigeria and Russia. [4/7/15]

News reports about Hillary Clinton's use of private emails for official business and an U.S. ambassador who ran his office through his private Gmail account may have shocked the public, but didn't surprise many technologists. [4/6/15]

NAFCU CEO Dan Berger says that the request by the Food Marketing Institute to delay the October date for the EMV liability switch is a “smoke and mirrors” ploy designed to distract Congress from important data security issues.  The Institute claims that the requested delay is due to concerns about the costs for new technology and concern for longer lines for retail customers. [4/3/15]

The White House has now authorized the Treasury, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State to institute sanctions against entities behind cybercrime, cyber espionage, and cyber attacks. [4/2/15]

Study reveals that 30% of responding organizations would negotiate with cybercriminals for the safe recovery of stolen or encrypted data. And if the organizations had been victims of cyber-extortionists before, that number jumped to 55%. [4/1/15]

The FFIEC has issued two statements with guidance on how financial institutions can identify cyber attacks that compromise credentials and employ malware.  The statements  provide specific steps that can be taken to update IT systems in order to enhance internal cyber security. [3/31/15]

Given the significant cost to credit unions for last year’s major data breaches, it is shocking to see that the costs to three of the major retailers was less than 1.0% of their gross annual sales.  In fact, the cost to Home Depot for its breach was only .01% of its total annual sales. [3/30/15]

Though the vulnerability is now patched, a critical security hole in some routers from a Singapore-based company that supplies network equipment to hotels around the world gave attackers the ability to intercept or modify traffic flowing through the routers. Takeaways? Use VPN when accessing the corporate network, keep malware protections up to date, and avoid tasks that can wait until a trusted access point is available. [3/30/15]