Author Archives: Jeff Peters

Hacktivists Use Automated Tools, Growing Reach to Target Government Organizations

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Despite recent media attention surrounding nation-state hackers infiltrating government organizations and attempting to influence elections, the bulk of government-related cybercrime tends to be driven by less sophisticated and more ideologically-motivated campaigns carried out by hacktivist actors, according to a new report from SurfWatch Labs. Government is the third most active sector when it comes to cybercrime, behind only information… Read More Continue reading Hacktivists Use Automated Tools, Growing Reach to Target Government Organizations→

Learning from Cybercriminals: Using Public Tools for Threat Intelligence

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Effective cyber threat intelligence is largely about gaining proper context around the risks facing your organization. As SurfWatch Labs chief security strategist Adam Meyer recently wrote, there are three pillars when it comes to evaluating those cyber threats: capability, intent and opportunity. The first two, the capability and intent of threat actors, are mostly external aspects that you… Read More Continue reading Learning from Cybercriminals: Using Public Tools for Threat Intelligence→

Weekly Cyber Risk Roundup: Yahoo One of Many New Data Breaches

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The past week has been full of various data breach announcements that have flown mostly under the radar. One exception is the breach at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). New batches of information on Olympic athletes continue to be leaked, and the Entertainment sector’s cyber risk score has steadily risen to reflect those leaks. Another… Read More Continue reading Weekly Cyber Risk Roundup: Yahoo One of Many New Data Breaches→

Closing the C-Suite Knowledge Gap with Cyber Threat Intelligence

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I spend my work days digging through SurfWatch Labs’ cybercrime data and writing blogs and reports on the latest cyber threat intelligence trends, so it should come as no surprise that among my friends and family, I’ve become the “cybersecurity guy.” In fact, many of those same people in my personal life would be happy to shove… Read More Continue reading Closing the C-Suite Knowledge Gap with Cyber Threat Intelligence→

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Weekly Cyber Risk Roundup: Ransomware Ups the Ante and Other Headlines

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Three of this week’s top four trending industry targets centered around DDoS attacks. Linode, which made last week’s roundup over reported DDoS attacks, was targeted once again. The cloud hosting company has seen DDoS attacks throughout the month, with the latest attack coming on September 13, according to company logs. Additionally, Brian Krebs’ website was hit… Read More Continue reading Weekly Cyber Risk Roundup: Ransomware Ups the Ante and Other Headlines→

Short Selling Vulnerabilities Latest in String of Stock Market Manipulation

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Medical device company St. Jude filed a lawsuit yesterday against Muddy Waters and MedSec Holdings over a “false” report about cybersecurity issues in St. Jude’s cardiac devices. The August report caused the company’s stock to drop more than ten percent on the heels of those allegations and raised questions around a pending $25 billion deal to be acquired by Abbott Laboratories.… Read More Continue reading Short Selling Vulnerabilities Latest in String of Stock Market Manipulation→

POS Breaches: Bankrupting Small Businesses and Impacting the Supply Chain

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There’s a popular cybercrime statistic that has been vexing me for years, and if you read cybersecurity news regularly, I’m sure you’ve seen it cited a few dozen times as well: 60% of small businesses close their doors within six months of a cyber-attack. I’ve always been skeptical of that bold statistic. As Mark Twain wrote in his autobiography,… Read More Continue reading POS Breaches: Bankrupting Small Businesses and Impacting the Supply Chain→

Banner Health Data Breach Leads to Series of Class Action Lawsuits

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Earlier this month, Banner Health announced a data breach affecting approximately 3.7 million people. Since then, a series of class action lawsuits have been filed against the healthcare provider. The breach involved two separate attacks, Banner Health said. The first targeted payment cards used at food and beverage outlets across some Banner Health locations. The second targeted patient, insurance, and provider information. The… Read More Continue reading Banner Health Data Breach Leads to Series of Class Action Lawsuits→

Does Your Cyber Threat Intelligence Tell a Story?

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I began at SurfWatch Labs several years ago with one primary directive: be a story teller. Cybercrime impacts everyone, I was told, yet many business owners, executives and employees know next to nothing about cybersecurity.  For the most part those people were either unaware, assumed their business would never be a targeted by hackers, or… Read More Continue reading Does Your Cyber Threat Intelligence Tell a Story?→

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IcyEagle: A Look at the Arrest of an Alleged Dark Web Vendor

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Last month Aaron James Glende, 35, was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Atlanta on charges related to selling stolen bank account information on the Dark Web market AlphaBay. According to the indictment, Glende operated under the alias “IcyEagle” and began advertising his criminal services in late 2015. Although the exact picture of how law… Read More Continue reading IcyEagle: A Look at the Arrest of an Alleged Dark Web Vendor→

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