Hackers Hit Italian Soil

Data hacks so far this year have been rife, and it seems that hackers are not tiring, as attention moves towards Italian shores. 

Hackers have started to release the 8Gbs worth of secret files stolen from an Italian cybercrime unit.  The documents were allegedly taken from the network of the Italian CNAIPIC which oversees the country's critical IT infrastructure.  The attack is thought to be in retaliation for arrests of Italian members of Anonymous.

Among the documents taken, there is information about a number of Government offices from Australia and the US.  Preview images also shared by Anonymous reveal the management structure of CNAIPIC, pictures of staff, and a long list of all the documents that have been taken.  CNAIPIC are yet to comment on the matter.

The importance of rigid data security is becoming a pressing issue for all sorts of business, and rightly so.  If you have any questions regarding your data network, contact the experts for a free evaluation.

If you use your smartphone in the same way that you use your laptop or PC, ensure that you have sufficient security on it.  A common misconception is that it comes with the phone.  This is not the case.  Take advantage of our free trial to see what your missing.

Malvertising - Is No April Fool

On Monday, the government launched StartUp Britain with a website designed to champion the UK's start-up businesses, unfortunately it has also inadvertently linked users to malware.

The government-backed website has been linked to a page hosting fake anti-virus programs according to security firm Sophos.  Whilst it has caused some embarrassment to the widely promoted government scheme, the link was removed shortly after launch, according to StartUp Britain.

However, the glitch has highlighted a growing problem for businesses called “malvertising”. 

In this case users were taken to a third party website, redirected to a fake anti-virus page and were given a prompt saying their computer had been infected and thus encouraged them to download a fix.  The fix, in fact contained malware.

Last month, the London Stock Exchange hosted booby-trapped adverts that asked visitors to download similar fake security software.   This week, music streaming service Spotify was forced to apologise after 'malverts' were served to some of its users.