Secure BIFS: A bi-weekly pulse

Last week of November, and plans for Christmas decorating over the weekend and present buying over Black Friday are in full effect. Here are the latest news headlines from the last two weeks.

Locally, a team of Maltese researchers will be participating in a study on astronaut blood in a bid to better understand the phenomenon of space anemia and how that knowledge can be used to better treat anemia patients here on earth. In other news, Fitch Ratings has affirmed Malta’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating at ‘A+’ with a Stable Outlook.

Moving internationally, data shows that Britain's stock market has lost its position as Europe's most-valued, with France taking the top spot. Still focusing on Europe, ECB's De Guindos warned that Euro zone growth will likely be negative in Q4, as high inflation continues to ravage markets.

Another big tech company was in the news announcing layoffs, with Amazon preparing to lay off roughly 10,000 employees. Yet another company continuing to struggle amid a slowing economy, rising interest rates, and stubborn inflation. Elsewhere, Internet giant Google has agreed to pay a record $391.5 million to settle with 40 states in the U.S. over charges the company misled users about the collection of personal location data.

In more global news, the World Cup in Qatar has gotten underway, and we have already had some interesting and unexpected results! On a separate note, last week the human population surpassed 8 billion.

Below are a couple of links related to the latest in cyber threat news. The more you know, the better you can prepare!

The European Parliament adopts new law to strengthen EU-wide resilience, focusing on essential sectors such as energy, transport, banking, health. The new legislation sets tighter requirements for businesses, administrations, infrastructure.

Elsewhere, Medibank is back in the news, still dealing with their ongoing cyber-attack. More information is being released from the Australian Health Insurer, with abortions and drug use data now being made public.

Credential stuffers stole $300,000 from Draft Kings customers, where threat actors buy up username/password combos from underground breach sites, feed them into automated tools and try them en masse across the internet, to see where they’ve been reused by individuals.

Security researchers have warned of a password-theft epidemic after revealing that Russian groups are using off-the-shelf info-stealing malware to devastating effect.

In the meantime, and keeping cyber security in mind, ICT Solutions launched its latest managed service, Cyber Security Awareness Training, where we manage quarterly training, and monthly phishing tests, ensuring your users think before they click! Get in touch if you are interested in scheduling a demo.