Internet of Things security market to growing at 55.01% CAGR until 2020

Internet of Things security market to growing at 55.01% CAGR until 2020

research   19:59:00

The global Internet of Things security market is forecast to increase at a 55% CAGR over the next four years, according to a new study by India-based Sandler Research.

Its 2016-2020 'Global IoT Security Market' report found that end users preferred integrated IoT security services which offer overall security for devices and networks. "This is because different stand-alone security offerings may lead to integration issues," it said. "In addition, stand-alone IoT security solutions may prove to be costly to end-users and may increase network complexity."

According to the report, integrated IoT security services supplied by vendors enabled the delivery of i improved support and functionality to customers. It added key retail sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare and the automotive industry used IoT to ensure efficient data transmission of confidential information between devices and individuals through networks. 

The research firm predicted that particularly the utilities sector would see the largest take-up of IoT security services during the forecast period. "Much of this growth can be attributed to the extensive implementation of smart meters and IoT for utility management systems like water, oil, gas, and energy," it noted. "Since the transmission of data through wireless networks in such utilities are prone to cyber-attacks, the need for IoT security solutions in this sector will increase."

Australian government unveils A$230m cyber security push

Australian government unveils A$230m cyber security push

Turnbull   19:58:00

The Australian federal government has announced it will spend about A$230 million in boosting the nation's defences against cyber attacks, and is putting together an aggressive taskforce comprising some 100 newly recruited IT experts.

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said the four-year initiative would see the establishment of a key capacity to launch pre-emptive strikes on cyber raiders, classing the move as a first for Australia.

He added that a range of strategies will be drawn up to collaborate with allies to close down overseas so-called safe havens for cyber criminals before they are able to attack the country's computer systems.

While individual Australians will be encouraged to step up their own precautions against malware and other cyber threats, small businesses will be apply to receive financial support in order to have their cybersecurity posture tested.

In addition, federal cyber security agencies will be moved out of Canberra, taking up offices closer to organisations in city centres. The idea being to facilitate easier consultation with business and to enable enterprises to provide timelier cyber incursion alerts.

US Global Cyber Alliance stages inaugural strategic committee

US Global Cyber Alliance stages inaugural strategic committee

international   20:59:00

The Global Cyber Alliance has held its first Strategic Advisory Committee meeting on 18 March at New York's Federal Reserve Bank. The SAC - which comprises senior execs from the public and private sectors - is chaired by GCA's three founding partners: New York County district attorney Cyrus R. Vance, London police commissioner Ian Dyson, and chair of the Center for Internet Security John Gilligan. 

The GCA said its mission is to identify systemic cyber risks where significant progress can be made on risk mitigation, and then to bring together the people and resources to source and enact a solution and to gauge the effect. "The outcome of this effort is not a report with recommendations but actual risk reduction moving forward on a path to eradicate a systemic cyber risk," it added.

The Alliance will regularly assess the main cyber risks deemed by the collective community to be significant threats to the global online community and for which "GCA can have a measurable, positive impact on the eradication of the risk."

During the Strategic Advisory Committee meeting, it presented several key systemic risks to consider combatting - using dedicated task groups focused on implementation. These included phishing,

risks arising from weak identity and authentication mechanisms, risks arising from vulnerable and compromised websites, and Distributed Denial of Service attacks.

Japan moves to increase cyber security posture ahead of 2020 Olympics

Japan moves to increase cyber security posture ahead of 2020 Olympics

international   15:56:00

Japan's Parliament has enacted legislation to boost the number of specialists with skills to combat cyber attacks in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

Under the revised cyber security legislation, a new national qualification for those who “support work to ensure security in information processing” will be set up, with the government announcing plans for a qualification exam to come on stream by 2017.  The government said it hoped that more than 30,000 specialists will have passed the exam by 2020.

The move comes amid rapidly growing cyber attacks in Japan. A record 54.51 billion such attacks were detected in the country in 2015, double the number from the previous year, according to a survey by a government-backed institute.

The legislation will also widen the scope of entities subject to vulnerability checks, following a massive leak of personal data from the Japan Pension Service in 2015.

Citadel Trojan comes back as Atmos to continue ZeuS legacy

Citadel Trojan comes back as Atmos to continue ZeuS legacy

threats   10:59:00

Some six months after its creator copped a prison sentence, the notorious Citadel malware has re-emerged in a modified format, dubbed Atmos. According to Heimdal Security, the new strain is currently targeting several French banks and has also been detected while being delivered with Teslacrypt.

Citadel first surfaced in 2011, as cyber criminals used the leaked ZeuS code to come up with new and advanced malware strains which were able to inflict more damage and remain undetected for longer. 

It didn't take long for the banking Trojan to become a type of malware distributed at a massive scale, with its creator Dimitry Belorossov facing conviction. "Citadel was not only capable of stealing money, but also personal data," said Heimdal security specialist Andra Zaharia. "The huge botnet behind it gave it the power to execute code on the enslaved computers, infecting them with malware from scareware to ransomware."

"The malicious actors behind Citadel then started to target public and private organizations, especially located in Europe, harvesting credentials to access internal applications and information management systems," added Zaharia, noting that as Citadel was classed as being in the top 10 most dangerous financial malware threats it was safe to assume that Atmos is a similarly powerful threat.

"Banking Trojans haven’t been as active as ransomware strains in the past half a year, but there’s nothing stopping them from making a comeback," said Zaharia. "And this is especially the case since users and companies tends to expose themselves to cyber attacks for lack of adequate patching."

Gemalto bags ANSSI CSPN certification for mobile security service

Gemalto bags ANSSI CSPN certification for mobile security service

mobility   22:17:00

Amsterdam-based digital security specialist Gemalto has announced that its Ezio Mobile Software Development Kit has achieved security certification from Paris-headquartered government agency ANSSI (Agence Nationale de la Securite des Systemes d'Information), the French body overseeing network and information security.

The firm said its Ezio Mobile SDK mobile security service acted as an extra layer of security, tipping the service as a comprehensive, cost-effective mobile authentication tool to boost the security of mobile financial applications. In addition, the product allows banks to protect and secure their mobile banking and mobile payment services against malware and cyber-attacks through multi-factor authentication and a suite of dedicated protection mechanisms.

Gemalto added that through black-box testing, the CSPN certification helped to ensure that Ezio Mobile SDK conformed to the testing standard. "CSPN is a high security level for software applications required by experienced financial institutions to operate mobile wallet payments," it said.

"With the number of mobile banking users in 2018 expected to reach 1.8 billion, the shift to mobile banking is no longer a trend, it's a reality," added Gemalto e-banking and e-commerce SVP Hakan Nordfjell. 

Seceon launches new open threat management cyber-security platform

Seceon launches new open threat management cyber-security platform

threat detection   15:43:00

Seceon, the only threat detection and management company to visualize, detect, and eliminate cyber threats in real-time, has announced the availability of its Open Threat Management platform. 

Comprised of a team of seasoned executives with expertise in security, big/fast data, machine learning and networking, Seceon claimed to have delivered a breakthrough offering, effective at detecting and stopping the most dangerous and costly threats as soon as they happen, while dramatically lowering IT costs.

In addition, Seceon announced that the service has been successfully rolled out at SeaChange International, a multiscreen innovator enabling video service providers to deliver personalized video services that combine television with the Internet, and Plexxi, a pioneer in converged network infrastructure for public and private cloud deployments. 

Seceon has also struck a key distribution agreement with immixGroup, an Arrow company and the largest value-added distributor of enterprise IT products for the US public sector. The firm swaid the collaboration would significantly boost Seceon’s ability to deliver security services to a wide range of  government groups.