A team of cybersecurity researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) has demonstrated that valuable user information can be exfiltrated by tracking smartphone touch movements to impersonate a user on compromised, third party touchscreens while sending emails, conducting financial transactions or even playing games.
The 2018 IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index has found the number of records breached dropped nearly 25 percent in 2017, as cybercriminals shifted their focus on launching ransomware and destructive attacks that lock or destruct data unless the victim pays a ransom.
Last year, cybercriminals attacked the California-based Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, encrypting files crucial in running the hospital’s operating systems and demanding a ransom to restore them to working order.
At a time when ransomware and other attack techniques that exploit insider negligence become rampant, only 39 percent of end users believe they take all appropriate steps to protect company data accessed and used in the course of their jobs.
Employees need to get their work done without oppressive security protocols, but they need to do so safely. If the team erects too many barriers, employees will find workarounds that jeopardize security.
Senator Charles Schumer said that billboard companies that track people's movements through smartphone apps in order to optimize advertising locations pose a threat to privacy.
