CSC Cyber Warning, Oman Strengthens Cybersecurity, Founder Suffers Phishing
Hola people!
It’s already week 4 of October, and it seems like time is almost flying, literally! But are you prepared enough to combat the fast and sophisticated cyberattacks? With every passing day, the threat actors are honing up their skills- thanks to easy accessibility to AI. Meanwhile, cybersecurity experts are also leveraging AI to boost their cybersecurity systems.
As a layman, your responsibility is to stay updated and alert about the cyber incidents taking place around the globe. This will help you avert potential cyber scams in the future.
This week, we will talk about the spike in cyber mishaps in the UP and the subsequent steps being taken by the NCSC. Next, we will focus on Oman’s initiative to bolster its cybersecurity systems. Lastly, we will delve deeper into the phishing attack on Zerodha.
Let’s jump straight into the details!
NCSC states that cybersecurity can no longer be taken lightly in the UK
With a 50% year-on-year spike in cyber incidents, the NCSC has warned organizations to take cybersecurity very seriously. As per Dr. Richard, the NCSC chief executive, cybersecurity is a “matter of business survival and national resilience.” He suggests that the only way to combat these cyberattacks is to take stringent steps as early as possible. He further stated that there’s no room for hesitation and that every business leader must act with urgency.
The most common type of threat attack is ransomware attacks, and cybercrooks are heavily targeting supply chains, cloud systems, and other connected infrastructure. The key is to impart maximum damage.
The Principal Product Manager at Wireless Logic, Toby Gasston, believes that the expansion of IoT and connectivity is further fueling the fire of cyberattacks in the UK. The increasing dependence of business enterprises on digitization is adding to the risk of cyber scams. The more the organizations are reliant on technology, the greater the degree of vulnerability.
Industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and energy are critically prone to cyberattacks because of the seamless integration between IT systems and operational technology.
Cyber experts have stated that cybersecurity mechanisms cannot just consist of remedial measures once the attack has taken place. Rather, every organization must design its cybersecurity systems in a way to anticipate and prevent any potential cyber scam. This is possible only when an organization blends cybersecurity with different operational aspects and infrastructural setups.
Oman takes significant steps to bolster national cybersecurity
The Hadatha Center for Cybersecurity Manufacturing has finally been launched by Oman, under the leadership of the Ministry of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology. The goal of the Hadatha Center is to bolster the cybersecurity research and development landscape while enhancing entrepreneurship and innovation in relevant sectors. The ultimate plan is to create a seamless framework that connects investors, the private sector, innovators, academia, and the government in order to attract income-generating opportunities as well as become technologically self-dependent.
The center will work closely with private enterprises, government agencies, and academic institutions so that researchers and innovators can come up with high-end cybersecurity mechanisms.
One of the operational plans of the Hadatha Center includes workshops and training programs under the strict supervision of the National Information Security Center. In the future, there will be Hadatha Hackathon, as well as accelerator and incubator programs to extend support to deserving startups.
Oman strengthens national cybersecurity by implementing key email security measures like DMARC, SPF, and DKIM to prevent phishing and spoofing attacks.
Founder of an India-based financial services company became a victim of a phishing attack
The CEO and co-founder of Zerodha, Nitin Kamath, recently became a victim of a phishing attack. Threat actors managed to compromise his X account by using a phishing email. Nitin took to X to share the details this Thursday.
Zerodha is an India-based brokerage and financial services company, quite popular among its users.
The breach happened in the early morning of Wednesday while Nitin was at his home. Nitin shared that it was his carelessness and “in a momentary lapse in attention,” he lost his X account to cyber scammers. He was not mindful enough and clicked on a malicious link that said “change your password” without giving it much thought. He further proceeded to share his login credentials.
Cybercrooks got access to Nitin’s X account and started sharing scammy cryptocurrency links. It is because of the two-factor authentication system that the scammers could not gain complete access to his X account.
Kamath further said the phishing attack was AI-driven. He mentioned that 2FA is important, but not enough to prevent cyberattacks. He believes that governments and organizations should work together to come up with holistic cyber solutions and not just focus on any particular technical solutions.
Nitin warned people of the cyber dangers and urged users to maintain digital hygiene. In order to prevent instances of cyber fraud, it is important to be vigilant at all times.
