Profile of Jai Vijayan

Freelance writer News & Commentary Posts: 604

Jai Vijayan is a seasoned technology reporter with over 20 years of experience in IT trade journalism. He was most recently a Senior Editor at Computerworld, where he covered information security and data privacy issues for the publication. Over the course of his 20-year career at Computerworld, Jai also covered a variety of other technology topics including Big Data, Hadoop, Internet of Things, E-voting and data analytics. Prior to Computerworld, Jai covered technology issues for The Economic Times in Bangalore, India. Jai has a Master's degree in Statistics and lives in Naperville, IL.

Chinese Intelligence Officer Under Arrest for Trade Secret Theft

10/11/2018
Yanjun Xu attempted to steal data on advanced aviation technology that GE Aviation, among others, had spent billions developing.
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New Threat Group Conducts Malwareless Cyber Espionage

10/10/2018
Gallmaker group is relying exclusively on legitimate tools and living-off-the-land tactics to make detection very difficult.
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Lesser Skilled Cybercriminals Adopt Nation-State Hacking Methods

10/9/2018
The trend underscores the need for organizations of all sizes to be prepared to detect and respond to threats faster, CrowdStrike says.
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US Indicts 7 Russian Intel Officers for Hacking Anti-Doping Organizations

10/4/2018
Netherlands expels four of the suspects trying to break into an organization investigating a chemical used in the recent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain.
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Malware Outbreak Causes Disruptions, Closures at Canadian Restaurant Chain

10/3/2018
But Recipe Unlimited denies it was the victim of a ransomware attack, as some have reported.
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100,000-Plus Home Routers Hijacked in Campaign to Steal Banking Credentials

10/3/2018
The GhostDNS campaign, which has been mainly targeting consumers in Brazil, has exploded in scope since August.
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Financial Sector Data Breaches Soar Despite Heavy Security Spending

10/2/2018
Banks and other financial firms have disclosed three times as many breaches so far this year than they did in 2016, Bitglass says.
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'Torii' Breaks New Ground For IoT Malware

9/28/2018
Stealth, persistence mechanism and ability to infect a wide swath of devices make malware dangerous and very different from the usual Mirai knockoffs, Avast says.
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Russia's Sednit Deploys First Firmware-Level Rootkit in the Wild

9/27/2018
The advanced persistent threat group's LoJax can install malware capable of surviving both OS reinstallation and hard disk replacement.
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Google to Let Users Disable Automatic Login to Chrome

9/27/2018
The decision comes days after security researcher had blasted company for jeopardizing user privacy with browser update.
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Critical Linux Kernel Flaw Gives Root Access to Attackers

9/26/2018
All versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS vulnerable to 'Mutagen Astronomy' flaw, according to Qualys.
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Mirai Authors Escape Jail Time – But Here Are 7 Other Criminal Hackers Who Didn't

9/26/2018
Courts are getting tougher on the cybercrooks than some might realize.
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In Quiet Change, Google Now Automatically Logging Users Into Chrome

9/24/2018
The change is a complete departure from Google's previous practice of keeping sign-in for Chrome separate from sign-ins to any Google service.
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Retail Sector Second-Worst Performer on Application Security

9/20/2018
A "point-in-time" approach to PCI compliance could be one reason why so many retailers appear to be having a hard time.
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Internet-Connected CCTV Cameras Vulnerable to 'Peekaboo' Hack

9/18/2018
Zero-day flaw in China-based NUUO's video recorder technology still unfixed three months after vendor was alerted.
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New Xbash Malware a Cocktail of Malicious Functions

9/17/2018
The new malware tool targeting Windows and Linux systems combines cryptomining, ransomware, botnet, and self-propagation capabilities.
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2 Billion Bluetooth Devices Remain Exposed to Airborne Attack Vulnerabilities

9/13/2018
One year after Armis disclosed 'BlueBorne,' a large number of Android, Linux, and iOS devices remain unpatched.
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Creators of Tools for Building Malicious Office Docs Ditch Old Exploits

9/12/2018
In their place is a collection of new exploits for more recently disclosed — and therefore not likely widely patched — vulnerabilities.
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Apple (Finally) Removes MacOS App Caught Stealing User Browser Histories

9/7/2018
The fact that the app likely has been exfiltrating data for years is "rather f#@&'d" up, says the security researcher who reported the issue to Apple one month ago.
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The Best Way To Secure US Elections? Paper Ballots

9/6/2018
Voting machines that do not provide a paper trail or cannot be independently audited should immediately be removed, concludes a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
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Silence Group Quietly Emerges as New Threat to Banks

9/5/2018
Though only two members strong, hackers pose a credible threat to banks in Russia and multiple countries.
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Attackers Employ Social Engineering to Distribute New Banking Trojan

9/4/2018
CamuBot malware, which disguises itself as a required security module, is targeting business customers of major Brazilian banks.
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Botnets Serving Up More Multipurpose Malware

8/30/2018
Attackers increasingly are distributing malware that can be used for a variety of different tasks, Kaspersky Lab says.
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North Korean Hacking Group Steals $13.5 Million From Indian Bank

8/27/2018
Tactics that Lazarus Group used to siphon money from India's Cosmos Bank were highly sophisticated, Securonix says.
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Modular Downloaders Could Pose New Threat for Enterprises

8/24/2018
Proofpoint says it has recently discovered two downloaders that let attackers modify malware after it has been installed on a system.
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Turla Threat Group Uses Email PDF Attachments to Control Stealthy Backdoor

8/23/2018
The Russian-speaking group's latest tactic is the only known case of malware that's completely controllable via email, researchers at ESET say.
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Wickr Adds New Censorship Circumvention Feature to its Encrypted App

8/23/2018
Secure Open Access addresses void created by Google, Amazon decision to disallow domain fronting, company says.
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Attackers Using 'Legitimate' Remote Admin Tool in Multiple Threat Campaigns

8/22/2018
Researchers from Cisco Talos say Breaking Security's Remcos software allows attackers to fully control and monitor any Windows system from XP onward.
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Oracle: Apply Out-of-Band Patch for Database Flaw ASAP

8/14/2018
Flaw in the Java VM component of Oracle's Database Server is easily exploitable, security experts warn.
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Vulnerability Disclosures in 2018 So Far Outpacing Previous Years'

8/13/2018
Nearly 17% of 10,644 vulnerabilities disclosed so far this year have been critical, according to new report from Risk Based Security.
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Vulnerable Smart City Devices Can Be Exploited To Cause Panic, Chaos

8/10/2018
False alerts about floods, radiation levels are just some of the ways attackers can abuse weakly protected IoT devices, researchers warn.
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Weakness in WhatsApp Enables Large-Scale Social Engineering

8/9/2018
Problem lies in WhatsApp's validation of message parameters and cannot be currently mitigated, Check Point researchers say.
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Even 'Regular Cybercriminals' Are After ICS Networks

8/7/2018
A Cybereason honeypot project shows that ordinary cybercriminals are also targeting weakly secured environments.
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Industrial Sector Targeted in Highly Personalized Spear-Phishing Campaign

8/2/2018
At least 400 companies in Russia have been in the bullseye of new, sophisticated spear-phishing attacks, Kaspersky Lab says.
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Feds Indict Three Ukrainians For Cyberattacks on 100+ Companies

8/1/2018
Dmytro Fedorov, Fedir Hladyr, and Andrii Kolpakov are senior members of the notorious FIN7 cybercrime group, aka the Carbanak Group.
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DHS Establishes Center For Defense of Critical Infrastructure

7/31/2018
Center foundational to new government-led 'collective defense' strategy for sharing and responding to cyberthreats, DHS secretary says.
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Russian National Sentenced to 70 Months For $4 Million Debit Card Fraud

7/30/2018
Mikhail Malykhin's actions drove one company out business.
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Kronos Banking Trojan Resurfaces

7/26/2018
Re-emergence of malware consistent with overall surge in banking malware activity this year, Proofpoint says.
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Iranian Hacker Group Waging Widespread Espionage Campaign in Middle East

7/25/2018
Unlike other threat actors that have a narrow set of targets, Leafminer has over 800 organizations in its sights, Symantec says.
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Trend Micro Launches Targeted Server-Side Bug Bounty Program

7/24/2018
Targeted Incentive Program will pay anywhere from $25,000 to $200,000 to researchers who are first to demonstrate exploitable vulnerabilities.
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Singapore Health Services Data Breach Exposes Info on 1.5 Million People

7/20/2018
Attackers, repeatedly and specifically, targeted Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's medication data.
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Cyberattacks in Finland Surge During Trump-Putin Summit

7/19/2018
Attackers targeted IoT devices like they did during Trump's June meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong-un, but this time China was the top-attacking nation.
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6 Ways to Tell an Insider Has Gone Rogue

7/19/2018
Malicious activity by trusted users can be very hard to catch, so look for these red flags.
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Russian National Vulnerability Database Operation Raises Suspicions

7/16/2018
Recorded Future says Russia's Federal Service for Technical and Export Control has ability to find, weaponize vulnerabilities under cover of doing technology inspections.
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GandCrab Ransomware Continues to Evolve But Can't Spread Via SMB Shares Yet

7/13/2018
Recent fears that this year's most prolific ransomware threat has acquired new WannaCry-like propagation capabilities appear unfounded at the moment.
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WordPress Sites Targeted in World Cup-Themed Spam Scam

7/12/2018
Spammers using a 'spray & pray' approach to post comments on WordPress powered blogs, forums, says Imperva.
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Hacker Exploits 2-Year Old Router Issue To Steal Sensitive US Military Data

7/11/2018
A moderately skilled hacker managed to steal export-restricted data pertaining to the Reaper drone and Abrams tank from computers belonging to two US Army officials.
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Ticketmaster Breach Part of Massive Payment Card Hacking Campaign

7/10/2018
Threat actor Magecart has infiltrated over 800 e-commerce sites with card skimming software installed on third-party software components, RiskIQ says.
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Data Breaches at Timehop, Macy's Highlight Need for Multi-Factor Authentication

7/9/2018
Names, email addresses, and some phone numbers belonging to 21 million people exposed in Timehop intrusion; Macy's incident impacts 'small number' of customers.
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Weak Admin Password Enabled Gentoo GitHub Breach

7/5/2018
Had the attacker been quieter, breach may not have been discovered immediately maintainers of popular Linux distribution said.
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California's New Privacy Law Gives GDPR-Compliant Orgs Little to Fear

7/3/2018
Others should boost their security controls to get in sync with AB 375... or get ready to be sued hundreds of dollars for each personal record exposed in a breach.
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Destructive Nation-State Cyberattacks Will Rise

6/21/2018
More than 90 percent of respondents in a Tripwire survey in Europe expect attacks by state-sponsored threat actors to increase in the next 12 months.
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China-Based Cyber Espionage Campaign Targets Satellite, Telecom, Defense Firms

6/20/2018
Threat group Thrip is using three computers based in China to steal data from targeted companies in Southeast Asia and the US, Symantec says.
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Tesla Employee Steals, Sabotages Company Data

6/19/2018
The electric carmaker is the victim of an "extensive and damaging" insider attack, says CEO Elon Musk.
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Exposed Container Orchestration Systems Putting Many Orgs at Risk

6/18/2018
More than 22,600 open container orchestration and API management systems discovered on the Internet.
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Trump-Kim Meeting Was a Magnet For Russian Cyberattacks

6/15/2018
Attacks directed at targets in Singapore went through the roof earlier this week.
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Intel Discloses Yet Another Side Channel Vulnerability

6/14/2018
Moderate severity Lazy FP restore flaw affects Intel Core-based microprocessors.
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Containerized Apps: An 8-Point Security Checklist

6/14/2018
Here are eight measures to take to ensure the security of your containerized application environment.
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US Slaps Sanctions on Five Russian Entities, Three Individuals for Cyberattacks

6/11/2018
Executives from two of the cybersecurity firms on the list say action is unwarranted; another says it's even a Russian entity.
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FBI Slaps New Charges Against Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry

6/7/2018
Federal authorities charged Marcus Hutchins with lying to the government and authoring a second piece of malware in addition to the Kronos banking Trojan.
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VPNFilter Poses Broader Threat Than First Thought; Endpoints At Risk Too

6/6/2018
New research shows the router and NAS system malware affects more vendor devices as well, Cisco Talos says.
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Financial Services Organizations Face More Sophisticated Threats Than Others

6/5/2018
With companies in the financial sector getting better at blocking ordinary threats, attackers have begun going after them with more sophisticated malware, Lastline says.
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US-North Korea Summit News Used as Lure In New Malware Campaign

6/4/2018
Previously known threat actor Group 123 likely behind NavRAT malware, security vendor says.
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Open Bug Bounty Offers Free Program For Websites

6/1/2018
Non-profit says it will triage and verify certain kinds of Web vulnerability submissions at no cost for those who sign up.
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Banking Botnet Operators Strike Profit-Sharing Partnership

5/31/2018
Instead of ripping each other's malware out of victim systems, the groups behind Trickbot and IcedID are playing nice with each other, says Flashpoint.
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Dozens of Vulnerabilities Discovered in DoD's Enterprise Travel System

5/30/2018
In less than one month, security researchers participating in the Pentagon's Hack the Defense Travel System program found 65 vulnerabilities.
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6 Ways Third Parties Can Trip Up Your Security

5/29/2018
Poor access control, inadequate patch management, and non-existent DR practices are just some of the ways a third party can cause problems
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Growing Job Pressures Increase Risk of Burnout for Cybersecurity Professionals

5/23/2018
A new Trustwave survey shows information security executives and practitioners are under increasing pressure from trying to keep up with threats and compliance mandates.
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Las Vegas Most Insecure Cyber City in US; St. Louis Least Vulnerable

5/22/2018
Forty-three percent chance of users connecting to high or medium-risk networks in Las Vegas - compared to less than 1% risk in least vulnerable areas, Coronet says.
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Federal Jury Convicts Operator of Massive Counter-Antivirus Service

5/17/2018
Scan4You helped thousands of criminals check if AV products could detect and block their malware tools.
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Frequency & Costs of DNS-Based Attacks Soar

5/16/2018
The average cost of a DNS attack in the US has climbed 57% over the last year to $654,000 in 2018, a survey from EfficientIP shows.
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Kaspersky Lab to Move Some Core Operations to Switzerland

5/15/2018
Most customer data storage and processing, software assembly, and threat detection updates will be based in Zurich.
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Shadow IoT Devices Pose a Growing Problem for Organizations

5/14/2018
An Infoblox survey shows many companies have thousands of non-business Internet of Things devices connecting to their network daily.
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Proofpoint Sounds Warning on Vega Stealer Targeted Data Theft Campaign

5/11/2018
Marketing, PR, and advertising firms are among those being targeted.
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Author of TreasureHunter PoS Malware Releases Its Source Code

5/10/2018
Leak gives threat actors a way to build newer, nastier versions of the point-of-sale malware, Flashpoint says.
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SynAck Ransomware Gets Dangerous 'Doppleganging' Feature

5/7/2018
New Process Doppelganging, obfuscation features makes the malware much harder to spot and stop.
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Report: China's Intelligence Apparatus Linked to Previously Unconnected Threat Groups

5/4/2018
Multiple groups operating under the China state-sponsored Winnti umbrella have been targeting organizations in the US, Japan, and elsewhere, says ProtectWise.
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No Computing Device Too Small For Cryptojacking

5/3/2018
Research by Trend Micro shows IoT and almost all connected devices are targets for illegal cryptocurrency mining.
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Password Reuse Abounds, New Survey Shows

5/1/2018
Despite heightened awareness of the security implications many users still continue to reuse passwords and rarely if ever change them, a LogMeIn survey shows.
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Speed at Which New Drupal Flaw Was Exploited Highlights Patching Challenges

4/30/2018
In the rush to patch, organizations can create fresh problems for themselves.
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US Healthcare Firms Among Dozens Hit in 'Orangeworm' Cyberattack Campaign

4/26/2018
Attackers target healthcare organizations in apparent data theft mission, but could do far more damage, according to Symantec researchers.
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Low-Cost Crimeware Kit Gaining Popularity in Underground Markets

4/25/2018
At $150 for a three-month subscription, Rubella Malware Builder presents a threat to enterprises, Flashpoint says.
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Threat Actors Turn to Blockchain Infrastructure to Host & Hide Malicious Activity

4/23/2018
.bit domains are increasingly being used to hide payloads, stolen data, and command and control servers, FireEye says.
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Majority of Men Think Women Have Equal Opportunity to Advance in Cybersecurity Career

4/17/2018
Not so fast, say women.
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Cisco, ISARA to Test Hybrid Classic, Quantum-Safe Digital Certificates

4/13/2018
Goal is to make it easier for organizations to handle the migration to quantum computing when it becomes available.
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Attackers Exploit Cisco Switch Issue as Vendor Warns of Yet Another Critical Flaw

4/9/2018
Cisco says companies fixing previously known protocol issue should also patch against critical remote-code execution issue.
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Sears & Delta Airlines Are Latest Victims of Third-Party Security Breach

4/5/2018
An insecure ecosystem of third parties connected to an enterprise network poses a growing risk, security analysts say.
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Four Gas Pipeline Firms Hit in Attack on Their EDI Service Provider

4/5/2018
Attack a warning on vulnerabilities in energy networks, security analysts say.
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Criminals Targeting Magento Sites with Brute-Force Password Attacks

4/3/2018
Flashpoint says it is aware of at least 1,000 sites using Magento's e-commerce platform that have been recently compromised.
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Microsoft Rushes Out Fix for Major Hole Caused by Previous Meltdown Patch

3/30/2018
Issue affects Windows 7 x64 and Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 systems.
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University Networks Become Fertile Ground for Cryptomining

3/29/2018
Sixty percent of cryptomining detections in a Vectra study occurred on higher-education networks.
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Attackers Shift From Adobe Flaws to Microsoft Products

3/27/2018
Seven of the Top 10 most commonly exploited vulnerabilities in 2017 were Microsoft-related - not Adobe Flash as in years past, Recorded Future found.
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Leader of Cybercrime APT Behind $1.2 Billion in Bank Heists Arrested

3/26/2018
The Carbanak group has caused more financial losses to financial institutions than any other cybercrime group since it surfaced in 2013.
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AMD Will Release Fixes for New Processor Flaws in a Few Weeks

3/23/2018
Security firm that disclosed flaws accuses chipmaker of downplaying flaws; says timeline is overly optimistic.
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Criminals Using Web Injects to Steal Cryptocurrency

3/22/2018
Man-in-the-browser attacks targeting Blockchain.info and Coinbase websites, SecurityScorecard says.
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7 Ways to Protect Against Cryptomining Attacks

3/22/2018
Implementing basic security hygiene can go a long way in ensuring your systems and website don't get hijacked.
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Gartner Expects 2018 IoT Security Spending to Reach $1.5 Billion

3/21/2018
Regulations, breach concerns will push spending to over $3 billion by 2021, analyst firm says.
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New Method Proposed for Secure Government Access to Encrypted Data

3/19/2018
'Crumple Zones' in crypto mechanisms can make it possible — but astronomically expensive — to access encrypted data, say researchers from Boston University and Portland State University.
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Are DDoS Attacks Increasing or Decreasing? Depends on Whom You Ask

3/15/2018
Details on DDoS trends can vary, depending on the reporting source.
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New Hosted Service Lowers Barriers to Malware Distribution

3/14/2018
BlackTDS is a traffic distribution service for directing users to malware and exploit kits based on specific parameters.
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