Tag Archive for: citizens

Digital Citizens had a 30% Chance of Encountering a Threat in 2021

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Avast’s 2021 Global PC Risk Report reveals threats like Trojans, file infectors, and adware put people’s digital freedom at risk

PRAGUE, April 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Avast (LSE:AVST), a global leader in digital security and privacy, today released its latest Global PC Risk Report. The 2021 report provides insights into the digital threats home and business Windows users faced throughout the year 2021. On average, home users around the world had a 29.25% chance of encountering a threat, and in the US, home users had a 24.61% chance of encountering a threat.

“The threats we protect our customers from are designed to go after their personal information and money, putting them at risk. The risks they encounter threaten their right to use the internet safely and confidently,” said Jakub Kroustek, Avast Malware Research Director at Avast.

The countries in which home users are most at risk of encountering threats are:

  1. Kosovo (53.71%)
  2. China (48.11%)
  3. Afghanistan (46.43%)
  4. Yemen (46.21%)
  5. Angola (44.65%)
  6. Rwanda (44.61%)
  7. Egypt (44.39%)
  8. Madagascar (44.13%)
  9. Algeria (44.05%)
  10. Macao (44.01%)

The ten countries with the lowest risk of encountering threats are:

  1. Puerto Rico (21.64 %)
  2. South Korea (22.81%)
  3. United Kingdom (23.55%)
  4. Martinique (23.80%)
  5. Guadeloupe (23.83%)
  6. Ireland (24.11%)
  7. Finland (24.21%)
  8. Switzerland (24.23%)
  9. Netherlands (24.27%)
  10. Denmark (24.39%)

For the most part, the countries with the highest risk ratio are those with more unstable socio-political situations (Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe). The reason for this heightened risk ratio could be explained by these users having limited access to content, therefore forcing them to resort to accessing blocked content via unsafe channels. The digital infrastructure in these countries tend to have lower levels of security, for example, ISP or local webmail providers might not effectively detect and block threats before they reach endpoints, and thus the risk ratio is higher. Finally, a lower level of education in terms of cybersecurity best practices among computer users in these regions could explain the higher risk ratios.

The top ten types of malware consumers faced, globally, in 2021 were:

  • Trojans (30.73%)
  • File infectors…

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Toronto feared 35,000 citizens’ data would be made public after cyberattack: documents

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The City of Toronto expected metadata concerning some 35,000 citizens to be posted on an online forum run by Eastern European cybercriminals after a data breach earlier this year — but ended up escaping the worst, new documents obtained by CTV News Toronto show.

Some six months after an internal city agency sounded the alarm in confidential documents, the information has yet to be shared publicly and the city says it never received a ransom request, leading some cybersecurity experts to wonder if the city escaped what has been described as a massive spree of cyberattacks. 

“It looks like they failed. The silence is somewhat deafening,” said cybersecurity expert Claudiu Popa. “Maybe the attacker failed to get what they wanted and didn’t have the leverage to extort this particular victim.”

The attack on Toronto was one among thousands of remote, sometimes automated attacks seeking to get data, and then threaten to expose it or destroy it unless handsome sums are paid, often in digital currency.

Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner says cybercriminals are increasingly targeting public agencies, warning breaches are up 151 per cent in 2021 — with 39 public institutions attacked this year in Ontario.

“Hackers are taking advantage of the current public health crisis, and cybersecurity incidents are on the rise,” a spokesperson for the agency said.

The City of Toronto threat assessment, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, describes the attack in January of 2021 as happening through a “zero day” weakness in the city’s Accellion file transfer system.

Hackers known as “CLOP” discovered the weakness in the file transfer system at that time and used it to exploit a large number of organizations, including the Region of Durham.

CTV News Toronto has already shown that those attackers gained and then posted health and schooling data of tens of thousands of individuals, as well as a video of the arrest of a young man by Toronto police on a Durham Region transit bus.

The document appears to link the Toronto attack for the first time publicly to CLOP, which is believed to be a network operating out of…

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Thebestvpn.in Sets Out To Educate and Inform Indian Citizens of Cyber Security Risks – Press Release

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Thebestvpn.in Sets Out To Educate and Inform Indian Citizens of Cyber Security Risks

Thebestvpn.in, a leading online security firm in India has revealed plans to increase awareness regarding the cybersecurity risks

December 7, 2020 – Thebestvpn.in, a leading online security firm in India has revealed plans to increase awareness regarding the cybersecurity risks that Indian citizens face on a daily basis. There has been a significant increase in cybercrime in the country over the last year with hackers obviously aware that more people are connecting to the internet due to the current COVID pandemic. The bestvpn.in has made it a mission to notify as many people about the current risks when navigating the internet.

A senior spokesman for thebestvpn.in said “Obviously, as a nation, we are now online more often and for longer than ever before. Hackers know this all too well and have upped their game. They are using the latest technology and techniques in an attempt to hack the personal and financial information of as many unsuspecting suspects as possible” he went on “We just want to make people in the country far more aware about cybercrime and what they can do to stay protected.”

Thebestvpn.in has spent years providing authoritative content that educates readers about online security and privacy via their website. They specialize in reviewing effective security software such as VPNs (virtual private networks) which are designed to increase the security and privacy a user has when surfing the internet. 

Using high tech sniffing devices, hackers are able to discover who is using home wi-fi and sniff out data packets sent across the network. That data may contain personal information, browsing history and more.  All of this is valuable to cybercriminals who can use it to sell to agencies, take identities, or steal from financial accounts. 

A VPN helps to prevent this from happening as these private networks utilize encryption technology. VPNs protect the data sent across the local network while also masking online activity altogether. Essentially, using a VPN allows the user to operate safely while online and prevents hackers from ever being able to get hold of valuable data.

“We are tired of reading stories of people losing their savings, their…

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Luzerne County hires computer security firm to deal with cyber attack – Citizens Voice

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Luzerne County hires computer security firm to deal with cyber attack  Citizens Voice

WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County has hired an outside computer security firm to help recover from a cyber attack that crippled the county courthouse computer …

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