In 2019, the United Nations (UN) will address the issue of state-sponsored cyber attacks by enacting a multinational Cyber Security Treaty. There are many examples of alleged and confirmed cyber attacks launched by nation-states. The U.S. and Israel allegedly launched the Stuxnet attack. The Russian government has been accused of everything from DDoS attacks against … [Read more...]
2019 Security Predictions – Utilities and Industrial Control Systems Targeted with Ransomware
Next year, targeted ransomware campaigns will focus on utilities and industrial control systems (ICSs). The average payment demand will increase by 6500 percent, from an average of $300 to $20,000 per payment. These attacks will result in real-world consequences like blackouts and loss of access to public utilities. Ransomware has plagued the internet over the past … [Read more...]
2019 Security Predictions – AI-Driven Chatbots Go Rogue
In 2019, cyber criminals and black hat hackers will create malicious chatbots that try to socially engineer victims into clicking links, downloading files or sharing private information. A hijacked chatbot could misdirect victims to nefarious links rather than legitimate ones. Attackers could also leverage web application flaws in legitimate websites to insert a malicious … [Read more...]
Introducing WatchGuard’s 2019 Security Predictions
As we move into 2019, once again, it’s time to offer our annual security predictions. What threats could have the biggest impact on businesses? How will malware continue to evolve? Will we see a continued escalation of state-sponsored attacks? Our predictions this year take a dystopian theme, and it’s no surprise following a year full of big security headlines. From the Panera … [Read more...]
Indicators of RDP Brute Force Attacks
I have been investigating an incident involving two EC2 instances on AWS that were infected with ransomware, cryptocurrency miners, and other types of malware. Sounds scary, right?! Well actually, the approaches that the attackers took to get onto the hosts do not appear to be that sophisticated, and this type of attack could occur in any environment, not just in the cloud. … [Read more...]