Security Roundup: British Android users ‘prime target’ for cybercrime

We take at look at why cyber criminals are targeting Starbucks, Adobe Flash and British Android users, and why hackers are ‘the new open sea pirates’.

Over 99 per cent of new mobile threats discovered by F-Secure Labs in the first quarter of 2014 targeted Android users. Great Britain experienced the highest level of mobile malware, with 15-20 malware files blocked per 10,000 users.

Starbucks has also been targeted by cybercriminals. Kaspersky Labs has found that bogus Starbucks emails have been sent to people containing malicious attachments.

The email claims that the recipient’s friend made an order for them to celebrate a special occasion in a Starbucks coffee shop. That mysterious friend wishes to remain anonymous but is ‘sending out invitations with details of a special menu’, which is available in the attachment.

Kaspersky also recently discovered and blocked a zero-day vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player. Researchers discovered a loophole, which was targeted by exploits distributed via a legitimate government website created to collect public complaints about breaches of the law in a Middle Eastern country.

In other news:
KPMG’s Wil Rockall has dubbed hackers as the ‘new open sea pirates’.

“Most ports and terminals are managed by industrial control systems which have, until very recently, been left out of the CIO’s scope. Historically, this security has not been managed by company CISOs and maritime control systems are very similar,” said Rockall.

“As a consequence, the improvements that many companies have made to their corporate cyber security to address the change in the threat landscape over the past 3-5 years have not been replicated in these environments. Instead engineers have often been left to implement and manage these systems – people who focus normally on optimising processes efficiency and safety, not cyber and security risks.

“It has meant that many companies and their clients are sailing into uncharted waters when they come to try and manage these risks.”