Week of November 3rd, 2023

Welcome to Your Cybersecurity Recap: a bite-sized weekly newsletter by cybersecurity enthusiasts for cybersecurity enthusiasts.

Here are this week’s top takeaways:

Celebrating 12 Years of Innovating Cybersecurity as One of Toronto’s Most Reviewed IT Services Providers?

This Wednesday marked our 12th year in business!?

In 2008, our founder, Richard Rogerson, ran a DDoS-protected service for IRC (Internet Relay Chat) users. This service provided a way to mask IP addresses due to the frequent DDoS attacks on IRC servers. IRC was a popular platform for the hacking community to discuss vulnerabilities, tools, shellcodes, and exploits. However, these chatrooms were often plagued with black hats operating massive botnets, and it was commonplace to have entire ISPs DDoS’d, simply for saying the wrong thing.

From there, the passion and relentless pursuit of learning led Richard to incorporate Packetlabs to offer comprehensive Penetration Testing Services across North America. Today, this passion is very much a part of our team of over 50 associates and has enabled the compromise of countless organizations worldwide. Each tester is thoroughly interviewed to ensure they align with our strong culture of learning, and moreover, every tester must complete a mandatory rigorous 24-hour OSCP exam.

We were created out of a passion for learning and a goal of leaving our client's digital space safer than we found it. As a part of our commitment to sharing and educating the world about cybersecurity, we’re excited to invite all those who share our passion to our upcoming webinar on the “Top 5 Vulnerabilities Post-Initial Access”, hosted by our ethical hackers Ian Lin and Ahmad A.

Register today for the chance to win a $50 Starbucks card.

Cyberattack Averages Are Continuing to Rise Across North America?

A survey published by EY this week has showcased that the average Canadian company experienced at least 25 cybersecurity incidents over the past year, compared to 73% of respondents globally.?

This reflects general upticks in successful cyberattacks across North America, with casino giant MGM and biotechnology company 23andMe two notable examples from recent months.?

The EY 2023 Global Cybersecurity Leadership Insights study also shows the global median cost of a breach jumped 12% to US $2.5 million this year.

In addition, despite higher spending by companies, detection and response times are continuing to decrease–with over 50% of survey respondents stating that their organization took an average of six months to detect a breach.

Hackers Are Targeting Plastic Surgery Offices. Here’s What They’re Using to Extort Victims

Recently, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons sent out a warning to its members that hackers are sending phishing emails to surgery centers posing as ASPS staff members, and then deploying sophisticated malware to harvest patient records.??

And what are they using to demand ransom? Patient photos–some of which show patients in various states of undress.?

The FBI has weighed in, stating that the threat actors are then cross-referencing stolen photos to patients' social media pages to learn more personal details, then threatening to expose the images and accompanying medical information to their family, friends, or peers.

With healthcare being one of the industries that are hardest-hit by cyberattacks, this further reiterates how patients should be asking their providers how their information will be protected. This is backed by a variety of 2023 healthcare cybersecurity statistics:

• In over 39% of healthcare organizations, awareness of a breach only occurred months after the initial incident
• Doctors are ranked as high-risk when it comes to phishing scams, with 50% deemed likely to click on suspicious emails
• Unauthorized access in hospitals is up 162% since 2019
• 47% of healthcare breaches originate from third-party insiders
• 95% of general identify theft is made up of stolen hospital records
• Healthcare data breaches have had the highest security breach costs for over twelve consecutive years
• 88% of polled healthcare employees have opened phishing emails
• Healthcare security breaches cost, on average, $408 per record

The FBI is advising to use unique passwords (or a password manager) and two-factor authentication to protect your online accounts. In today’s online landscape, there is no such thing as not being at risk.?