Cyber crime activity on the rise this year\, warn experts

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Cyber crime activity on the rise this year, warn experts

Hemani Shet Mumbai | Updated on September 16, 2020 Published on September 16, 2020

Besides ransomware attacks, hands-on keyboard intrusions have also increased in the first half of 2020

A team of cyber security specialists at CrowdStrike have warned against increasing instances of e-crime.

According to the insights by CrowdStrike’s OverWatch team, detailed in the Falcon OverWatchTM 2020 Threat Hunting report, e-crime continues to increase in volume and reach.

“Sophisticated e-crime activity continues to outpace state-sponsored activity, an upward trend that OverWatch has witnessed over the past three years, “ the report read.

According to the report, e-crime accounted for over 80 per cent of all interactive intrusions. The can be attributed to successful targeted attacks by threat actors using ransomware and ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) models.

Apart from such ransomware attacks, hands-on keyboard intrusions have also increased in the first half of 2020.

Two-thirds of businessmen say cyber crime could occur more during Covid-19 than before: Survey

Covid impact

“This significant increase is driven primarily by the continued acceleration of e-crime activity but has also been impacted by the effects of the pandemic, which presented an expanded attack surface as organisations rapidly adopted remote workforces and created opportunities for adversaries to exploit public fear through Covid-19 themed social engineering strategies,” the report said.

Millennials think they’re too ‘boring’ to be victims of cybercrime: Kaspersky Study

Sectors targeted

Though accounting for fewer cyber attacks than e-crime activities, state-backed attacks have also been consistent with a large number of attacks targeting the telecommunications industry.

“The telecommunications industry continues to be a popular target for the nation-states, specifically China. OverWatch observed six different China-based actors, whose motivations are likely associated with espionage and data theft objectives, conducting campaigns against telecommunications companies in the first half of the year,” the report said.

Overall, the manufacturing sector has been the most targeted industry in terms of cyber attacks.

As per the report, “there was a sharp escalation of activity in the manufacturing sector in the first half of 2020 in terms of both the quantity and sophistication of intrusions from both e-criminals and nation states.”

This was followed by healthcare and food and beverage.

Jennifer Ayers, vice-president of OverWatch and Security Response, said, “OverWatch threat hunting data demonstrates how adversaries are keenly attuned to their victim’s environment and ready to pivot to meet changing objectives or emerging opportunities. For this reason, organisations must implement a layered defence system that incorporates basic security hygiene, endpoint detection and response (EDR), expert threat hunting, strong passwords and employee education to properly defend their environments.”

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Published on September 16, 2020
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Cyber crime activity on the rise this year\, warn experts

Life on Venus? Scientists might have discovered biggest signs of alien life on the planet
International Business Times UK

Life on Venus? Scientists might have discovered biggest signs of alien life on the planet

Scientists have discovered signs of the chemical compound phosphine which is believed to have originated from something alive on the planet.

Scientists have been looking for signs of alien life all over our universe. Venus remains one of the unlikely candidates due to its toxic atmosphere. However, the scientists' latest discovery of phosphine gas in the planet's atmosphere might be a sign of life.

Phosphine is a chemical compound that is found on Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn. It comprises one atom of phosphorous and three atoms of hydrogen.

According to the New York Times, scientists insist that "something now alive is the only explanation for the chemical's source" on the planet that has long been neglected in search of extraterrestrial life. For decades, scientists have only looked towards Mars in search of alien life.

"This is an astonishing and 'out of the blue' finding," said Sara Seager, a planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the authors of the paper. "It will definitely fuel more research into the possibilities for life in Venus's atmosphere."

Another author of the paper Clara Sousa-Silva, who is also a molecular astrophysicist at Harvard University, describes it as an "extraordinary discovery."

Meanwhile, the report notes that several researchers question the hypothesis. They believe that the presence of the gas in the cloud decks hovering on the Venusian surface could be a result of "unexplained atmospheric or geologic processes."

"There's been a lot of buzz about phosphine as a biosignature gas for exoplanets recently," said Sarah Stewart Johnson, a planetary scientist and head of the Johnson Biosignatures Lab at Georgetown University. "How cool to find it on Venus? Venus has been ignored by NASA for so long. It's really a shame."

Many researchers who have not participated in the research but advocate of the possibility of life on Venus are excited with the finding and are encouraging further investigation.

Meanwhile, the discovery has also prompted a response from NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.

He took to Twitter to express his excitement and said: "It's time to prioritise Venus."

Venus
NASA scientists have developed a computer chip that is tough enough to withstand extreme temperatures and crushing atmospheric pressure on Venus NASA

The findings of the study were reported in a pair of papers published in Nature Astronomy and Astrobiology.

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