18/03/2021: Cybersecurity & Tech News Roundup

Welcome to Thursday’s news overview, here’s where we keep you up to date on the latest technology updates, cybersecurity news, and more. Here’s what’s going on in the tech world today:

The NCSC has issued a warning to nurseries and childminders to take security seriously

As we’ve said many times: no one is off-limits to threat actors – something that the NCSC has recognised in a recent official warning to the childcare sector. The cybersecurity agency issued a warning to nurseries, childminders, and other pre-school providers to use strong password protection when sending any information to a child’s parents.

Research has shown that nurseries have become appealing targets to hackers, as their operations become increasingly reliant on technology. Nefarious individuals see nothing wrong with seizing a child’s personal info, injecting malware into a nursery’s network, or extracting payment details from parents. The NCSC had this to say: “We know that incidents affecting the education sector are increasingly common. It is vital that all providers know how to secure their devices and sensitive data. Many people in Early Years work on their own, without dedicated IT support. This guidance sets out the practical first steps they can take to protect themselves from cyber-incidents.” Read more here.

A Florida mother has been charged with hacking an election, but not the one you’d expect

When you read about election rigging, often the finger is being pointed at nation-state hackers in China, Russia, or Iran. This time though, the threat is homegrown. A mother and her daughter were recently charged with hacking an election; no, not the 2020 presidential election, not even a local council election – this dastardly duo used their technical know-how to rig the J.M. Tate High School’s voting system so that the daughter would be elected homecoming queen.

American mums really are pulling out all the stops this month to ensure their daughters’ success. First we had the Pennsylvanian mum who used deepfake tech to frame her daughter’s cheerleading rivals, now we have this Floridian mum who gained access to hundreds of student accounts and lodged countless fake votes in her daughters favour. Eventually, the mum (and her daughter, who was apparently in on the whole thing) were caught when officials notices that so many votes were cast via a computing device with one single internet address. Read more here.

The NCSC has issued a red alert to Milton Keynes’ fire service after finding something worrying buried in an employee’s email

The NCSC has had a busy week so far, issuing warnings left right and centre and fighting to keep cybercriminals at bay. Milton Keynes’ fire and rescue service was the latest to be sent a red alert after InfoSec experts spotted a Qakbot virus buried within an employee’s email.

Qakbot viruses are often the precursor to a ransomware attack, so it was important that the fire department acted quickly. Milton Keynes fire and rescue service had this to say:  “We took this notification very seriously not least because this is the first such notification that we have received from the National Cyber Security Centre and the ramifications for the authority of a ransomware infection is very serious.” Read more here.

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