Welcome to our latest round-up of news from the technology and hosting world. Here’s what we’ve discovered this month.
Financial account takeovers rise 200%
The number of bank and other financial accounts being taken over by cybercriminals rose 200% between 2019 and 2021, according to the anti-fraud firm, Sift. Underpinning the rise has been the increasing use of automation: with attackers deploying bots and using stolen login credentials to carry out brute force attacks. Most of the attacks have been targeted at cryptocurrency accounts.
Sift discovered that 45% of accounts had money stolen, 42% were used for unauthorised credit card purchases and 25% were robbed of loyalty points. Cybercriminals will often use the same credentials to attempt to log into other accounts and services and will harvest any other information they can access, such as personal data, password hints, credit card information and so forth. As a result, victims often find themselves at the receiving end of multiple attacks.
West Midlands tech boom
According to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the West Midlands now boasts the fastest-growing tech hub in the UK. This local boom is predicted to generate almost £3 billion for the regional economy over the next four years and create over 50,000 new digital posts during the same period.
Over the last year, venture capital funding within the West Midlands has helped local tech firms raise over £450 million, while job vacancies have doubled from five to almost ten thousand. The bulk of the tech sector growth is in Birmingham, the UK’s 3rd most populous urban region behind London and Manchester. Here, tech salaries average over £50,000, while those with high-demand, specialist skills, like data architects, can expect to earn in the region of £75,000.
Firms not prepared for ransomware
Despite over 20% of companies suffering a ransomware attack and ransom payment demands rising over 80%, most businesses are not fully prepared for them. A recent survey of companies in the US and Europe discovered that almost 90% of companies did not have an effective backup solution in place to recover data and that 64% had not taken out insurance that covered a ransomware attack.
Other findings about the lack of preparedness showed that around a quarter of companies did not have anti-ransomware end-point detection, threat analysis or adequate email filters, while over half lacked offline, remote storage. Awareness training was an issue too, with almost a third of businesses not educating users on how to spot and deal with phishing and other ransomware attack vectors.
Footballers’ GDPR Claim
According to a legal team representing 850 professional soccer players, the use of their data by entertainment and betting companies contravenes GDPR and they should be compensated for the data’s unlicensed use.
The basis of the legal argument is that Article 4 of the regulations defines personal data as including identifiable information. The legal team believe a player’s physical information and performance data, e.g., pass accuracy, minutes per goal, injury history, etc., constitute identifiable personal data and that the unlicensed trading and use of them violates GDPR.
Although legal action has only been threatened, this could potentially have a significant impact on the companies that use this data. If the case succeeds, not only will the footballers receive compensation going back six years; it means that in the future the use of such data will need to be licensed. This will result in sportspeople across all sports being paid for the use of their data and have increased control over who can use it and what for.
Only in America
The LA police department has adopted a futuristic strategy towards local policing by introducing a police robot that patrols areas looking for antisocial behaviour. Officially known as the RoboCop, though it looks more like a 5 ft. swing bin than its Hollywood namesake, it can look for misdemeanours with its five cameras, one of which live-streams 360-degree, high-definition video back to the police command centre. Its use of AI, meanwhile, enables it to detect anti-social behaviour and read up to 20 different car licence plates per second. In addition, it can track nearby mobile phone use and has a two-way intercom that locals can use for getting in direct contact with a real police officer.
Costing $75,000 a year to run, the RoboCop certainly isn’t cheap. However, many locals find the unarmed robot approachable and its presence reassuring. From a crime prevention perspective, the areas it patrols have seen a 50% decrease in crimes being reported and a 30% increase in arrests since its introduction.
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