iOS 10.3 , released Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability to the public on Monday , patches Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability a bug that allowed bad actors to use a JavaScript pop-up in Safari in an attempt to extort money Attack.Ransom from iOS users . Security firm Lookout ( via Ars Technica ) said the scammers would target Safari users who viewed pornography by placing malicious scripts on various pornographic website that would create an endless pop-up loop that basically locked the browser , if an uninformed user didn ’ t know how to get around the flaw . The scammers abused the handling of pop-ups in Mobile Safari in such a way that a person would be “ locked ” out from using Safari unless they paid a fee Attack.Ransom — or knew they could simply clear Safari ’ s cache ( see next section ) . The attack was contained within the app sandbox of the Safari browser ; no exploit code was used in this campaign , unlike an advanced attack like Pegasus that breaks out of the app sandbox to install malware on the device . The scammers registered domains and launched the attack from the domains they owned , such as police-pay [ . ] com , which the attackers apparently named with the intent of scaring users looking for certain types of material on the Internet into paying money . The pop-ups claimed to be Attack.Phishing from law-enforcement personnel , and claimed the only way to get control of the browser back was to pay a fine Attack.Ransom in the form of an iTunes gift card code delivered via text message . Users actually could have gotten out of the pop-up loop by manually clearing the Safari browser cache . However , a new or otherwise uninformed user might believe they actually needed to pay the ransom Attack.Ransom before regaining control of their browser . “ The attackers effectively used fear as a factor to get what they wanted before the victim realized that there was little actual risk , ” Lookout researchers Andrew Blaich and Jeremy Richards said . iOS 10.3 changes the way pop-up dialogs work in Safari . Previously , a pop-up dialog took over the entire Safari app . Now , pop-ups are only per tab . iOS users who are hit by the scam before updating to iOS 10.3 can clear their browsing cache by going to “ Settings ” - > “ Safari ” and tapping : “ Clear History and Website Data . ”

iOS 10.3 , released Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability to the public this morning , fixes Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability a bug that allowed scammers to attempt to extort money Attack.Ransom from iOS users through a JavaScript pop-up in Safari . As explained by mobile security firm Lookout ( via Ars Technica ) , the scammers targeted iOS users viewing pornographic material and abused JavaScript pop-ups to create an endless pop-up loop that essentially locked the browser if the user did n't know how to bypass it . Using `` scareware '' messages and posing as Attack.Phishing law enforcement , the scammers used the pop-ups to extort money Attack.Ransom in the form of iTunes gift cards from the victim , promising to unlock the browser for a sum of money . The scammers abused the handling of pop-ups in Mobile Safari in such a way that a person would be `` locked '' out from using Safari unless they paid a fee Attack.Ransom or knew they could simply clear Safari 's cache ( see next section ) . The attack was contained within the app sandbox of the Safari browser ; no exploit code was used in this campaign , unlike an advanced attack like Pegasus that breaks out of the app sandbox to install malware on the device . The scammers registered domains and launched the attack from the domains they owned , such as police-pay [ . ] com , which the attackers apparently named with the intent of scaring users looking for certain types of material on the Internet into paying money . The endless pop-up issue could be fixed by clearing the Safari cache , but many users likely did not know they did n't need to shell out money to regain access to their browsers . Pop-up scams are no longer possible with iOS 10.3 , as Apple has changed the way pop-up dialogs work . Pop-ups are now per-tab and no longer take over the entire Safari app .

iOS 10.3 , released Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability to the public this morning , fixes Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability a bug that allowed scammers to attempt to extort money Attack.Ransom from iOS users through a JavaScript pop-up in Safari . As explained by mobile security firm Lookout ( via Ars Technica ) , the scammers targeted iOS users viewing pornographic material and abused JavaScript pop-ups to create an endless pop-up loop that essentially locked the browser if the user did n't know how to bypass it . Using `` scareware '' messages and posing as Attack.Phishing law enforcement , the scammers used the pop-ups to extort money Attack.Ransom in the form of iTunes gift cards from the victim , promising to unlock the browser for a sum of money . The scammers abused the handling of pop-ups in Mobile Safari in such a way that a person would be `` locked '' out from using Safari unless they paid a fee Attack.Ransom or knew they could simply clear Safari 's cache ( see next section ) . The attack was contained within the app sandbox of the Safari browser ; no exploit code was used in this campaign , unlike an advanced attack like Pegasus that breaks out of the app sandbox to install malware on the device . The scammers registered domains and launched the attack from the domains they owned , such as police-pay [ . ] com , which the attackers apparently named with the intent of scaring users looking for certain types of material on the Internet into paying money . The endless pop-up issue could be fixed by clearing the Safari cache , but many users likely did not know they did n't need to shell out money to regain access to their browsers . Pop-up scams are no longer possible with iOS 10.3 , as Apple has changed the way pop-up dialogs work . Pop-ups are now per-tab and no longer take over the entire Safari app .

A flaw in the mobile Safari browser has been exploited Vulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability by cybercriminals and used to extort money Attack.Ransom from individuals who have previously used their mobile device to view pornography or other illegal content . The Safari scareware prevents the user from accessing the Internet on their device by loading a series of pop-up messages . A popup is displayed advising the user that Safari can not open the requested page . Clicking on OK to close the message triggers another popup warning . Safari is then locked in an endless loop of popup messages that can not be closed . A message is displayed in the background claiming the device has been locked because the user has been discovered to have viewed illegal web content . Some users have reported messages containing Interpol banners , which are intended to make the user think the lock has been put on their phone by law enforcement . The only way of unlocking the device , according to the messages , is to pay a fine . One of the domains used by the attackers is police-pay.com ; however , few users would likely be fooled Attack.Phishing into thinking the browser lock was implemented by a police department as the fine had to be paid Attack.Ransom in the form of an iTunes gift card . Other messages threaten the user with police action if payment is not made Attack.Ransom . The attackers claim they will send the user ’ s browsing history and downloaded files to the Metropolitan Police if the ransom is not paid Attack.Ransom .

E-Sports Entertainment Association ( ESEA ) , one of the largest competitive video gaming communities on the planet , was hacked last December . As a result , a database containing 1.5 million player profiles was compromised . On Sunday , ESEA posted a message to Twitter , reminding players of the warning issued on December 30 , 2016 , three days after they were informed of the hack . Sunday ’ s message said the leak of player information Attack.Databreach was expected , but they ’ ve not confirmed if the leaked records Attack.Databreach came from their systems . Late Saturday evening , breach notification service LeakedSource announced the addition of 1,503,707 ESEA records to their database . When asked for additional information by Salted Hash , a LeakedSource spokesperson shared the database schema , as well as sample records pulled at random from the database . Learn about top security certifications : Who they 're for , what they cost , and which you need . However , in all , there are more than 90 fields associated with a given player record in the ESEA database . While the passwords are safe , the other data points in the leaked records could be used to construct a number of socially-based attacks , including Phishing Attack.Phishing . Players on Reddit have confirmed their information was discovered in the leaked data . A similar confirmation was made Twitch ’ s Jimmy Whisenhunt on Twitter . The LeakedSource spokesperson said that the ESEA hack was part of a ransom scheme Attack.Ransom , as the hacker responsible demanded Attack.Ransom $ 50,000 in payment Attack.Ransom . In exchange for meeting their demands , the hacker would keep silent about the ESEA hack and help the organization address the security flaw that made it possible . In their previous notification , ESEA said they learned about the incident Attack.Databreach on December 27 , but make no mention of any related extortion attempts Attack.Ransom . The organization reset passwords , multi-factor authentication tokens , and security questions as part of their recovery efforts . We ’ ve reached out to confirm the extortion attempt Attack.Ransom claims made by the hacker , as well as the total count for players affected by the data breach Attack.Databreach . In an emailed statement , a spokesperson for ESL Gaming ( parent company to Turtle Entertainment ) confirmed that the hacker did in fact attempt to extort money Attack.Ransom , but the sum demanded Attack.Ransom was `` substantially higher '' than the $ 50,000 previously mentioned . The company refused to give into the extortion demands Attack.Ransom , and went public with details before the hacker could publish anything . The statement also confirms the affected user count of 1.5 million , and stressed the point that ESEA passwords were hashed with bcrypt . When it comes to the profile fields , where more than 90 data points are listed , ESL Gaming says those are optional data points for profile settings . `` We take the security and integrity of customer details very seriously and we are doing everything in our power to investigate this incident , establish precisely what has been taken , and make changes to our systems to mitigate any further breaches . The authorities ( FBI ) were also informed and we will do everything possible to facilitate the investigation of this attack , '' the message from ESL Gaming concluded . `` Based on the proof provided to us by the threat actor of possession Attack.Databreach of the stolen data , we were able to identify the scope of the data that was accessed Attack.Databreach . While the primary concern and focus was on personal data , some of ESEA ’ s internal infrastructure including configuration settings of game server hardware specifications , as well as game server IPs was also accessible Attack.Databreach . Due to the ongoing investigation , we prioritized customer user data first , '' the statement explains . In the days that followed that initial contact , ESEA worked to secure their systems , and the hacker kept making demands . On January 7 , ESEA learned the hacker also exfiltrated Attack.Databreach intellectual property from the compromised servers

Security experts say they are skeptical that a group of hackers called Turkish Crime Family actually possess a cache of hundreds of millions of Apple iCloud account credentials . A more plausible explanation , they say , is that crooks used credential stuffing attacks to amass a limited number of valid Apple usernames and passwords in attempt to extort money Attack.Ransom from Apple . Earlier this week , the group identifying itself as the Turkish Crime Family claimed to have a database of 750 million iCloud.com , me.com and mac.com email addresses and credentials . “ There have not been any breaches Attack.Databreach in any of Apple ’ s systems including iCloud and Apple ID , ” Apple said in a statement . “ The alleged list of email addresses and passwords appears to have been obtained Attack.Databreach from previously compromised Attack.Databreach third-party services ” . Hackers behind the claim are demanding Attack.Ransom Apple pay Attack.Ransom them $ 75,000 in cryptocurrency or give Attack.Ransom them $ 100,000 in iTunes vouchers , according to reports . If demands are not met by April 7 , the group said it will begin deleting data stored on iCloud accounts en masse . An independent analysis of 54 samples of the breached account data provided to ZDNet by the hackers were valid . However , security experts such as Troy Hunt , who runs the data breach repository HaveIBeenPwned.com , still isn ’ t convinced . Hunt told Threatpost he suspects the hack is a hoax , admitting he has not seen the any samples of the breached data . “ It ’ s entirely possible whoever is behind this could have username and password pairs that work on a limited number of Apple accounts in just the same way as re-used credentials will work across all sorts of other accounts , ” Hunt said . He said the Turkish Crime Family likely has a far smaller pool of valid Apple credentials than it claims . Shuman Ghosemajumder , CTO of the firm Shape Security told Threatpost he suspects the hackers may have used credential stuffing attacks , using data from previous breaches , to gain access to an undetermined number of iCloud accounts . Shape Security estimates that last year alone 3.3 billion credentials were exposed Attack.Databreach via breaches . Despite credential stuffing ’ s low success rate of 1 percent to 2 percent , Ghosemajumder said , when applied to a large enough cache of data ( purchased on the dark web by the database ) the hackers may have enough information to successfully crack thousands of Apple accounts . “ There are certainly enough credentials spilled onto the internet to think someone could use credential stuffing techniques to pull together a convincing number of valid accounts in attempt to extort Attack.Ransom Apple for ransom money Attack.Ransom , ” Ghosemajumder said . Patrick Wardle , director of research at Synack , echoed the same credential theory suggesting that breaches Attack.Databreach over the past year have given hackers ample opportunity to pull together some valid iCloud account credentials . Since approaching Apple earlier this month with its demands , the Turkish Crime Family has been inconsistent about how many account credentials it allegedly possesses . Speaking to various different media outlets , the group has said it had 200 million credentials to as many as 750 million . The hacking group said that its repository isn ’ t the result of one breach , rather multiple . On Thursday , the group claimed to have a database of 750 million credentials , 250 million of which are “ checked and working , ” according to the group . Meanwhile , Apple says it ’ s actively monitoring to prevent unauthorized access to user accounts and is working with law enforcement to identify the criminals behind the Turkish Crime Family extortion scheme Attack.Ransom .

NHS hospital trusts in England reported 55 cyber attacks in 2016 , according to data obtained by the BBC . The figures come from NHS Digital , which oversees cyber security , and show an increase on 16 attacks in 2015 . NHS Digital said the figures showed a `` rise in reporting , not necessarily a rise in cyber attacks '' . But Oliver Farnan , from the Oxford Cyber Security Centre , said ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom had become more common . 'The risk is going to increase ' Ransomware is software that locks computer systems and then demands a ransom Attack.Ransom to unlock the data . Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust ( OUH ) repelled five ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom in 2016 . `` That is something a number of hospitals have seen and is potentially quite worrying , '' said Dr Chris Bunch from OUH . He added : `` Across the health service we are still to a very large extent paper-based ... and as we move increasingly towards digital records the risk is going to increase . '' Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust reported four ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom in 2016 , and University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust sustained three ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom each last year . No patient data was lost in any of the attacks on the trusts and a spokesperson for Kings College Hospitals Trust said it had a cyber security response plan that it continually reviewed and monitored . Oliver Farnan from the Oxford Cyber Security Centre , said it was hard to know if enough money was being spent on security in the NHS . `` Money is only really spent on security once everything else is up and running and in place ... it always comes second , '' he said . But David Emm , principal security researcher at internet security firm Kaspersky Lab , said basic steps such as backing up data could make a difference . `` Ransomware is a very blunt instrument , if you have a back-up of data then you are not in a position where people can extort money Attack.Ransom in that way , '' he said . However , Mr Emm said public bodies faced specific challenges , and added that money was an issue . `` They have lots of people accessing the systems , there is lots of data moving in and out of the organisation , that does actually make it harder to secure that information , '' he said . NHS Digital said it had established CareCERT which issues notices about the national threat level and publishes advice on good practice . It said its launch in October 2015 has contributed to the increase in the reporting of cyber attacks , and that more than 100 organisations had received on-site assessments to improve security .

Disney boss Bob Iger has said the mass media giant is being targeted by hackers who are trying to extort money Attack.Ransom from the firm by threatening to release a film they claim to have stolen Attack.Databreach . The CEO of the entertainment behemoth told ABC employees of the stand-off at a town hall meeting in New York , multiple sources told The Hollywood Reporter . The hackers are said to have demanded Attack.Ransom a substantial payment Attack.Ransom in Bitcoin , and threatened to release five minutes of the unnamed film and then subsequent 20-minute chunks if their demands Attack.Ransom aren ’ t met . There are rumors circulating that the film in question could be upcoming blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Men Tell No Tales , although the hackers are running out of time if so as it ’ s due to open next Friday . The news calls to mind a similar incident last month when a hacker uploaded the upcoming series of Netflix prison drama Orange is the New Black to The Pirate Bay after the streaming giant refused to pay up Attack.Ransom . In that instance , Netflix claimed that “ a production vendor used by several major TV studios had its security compromised ” , highlighting the need for organizations in the entertainment sector to revisit their cyber-defenses and those of their partners . Mark James , security specialist at Eset , argued that anything of high value will be a target for thieves , be it digital or physical . “ Disney has refused to pay the ransom Attack.Ransom and rightly so . If you ’ re going to download the film from an unofficial or dodgy source anyway then a month before or a month after is not going to make much of a difference , ” he added . `` The film industry has been plagued with piracy issues as early as the 1960s and this is n't going to change anytime soon . Paying the ransom Attack.Ransom or indeed any ransom Attack.Ransom is generally frowned upon for many reasons . Funding other criminal activity , rewarding the bad guys or funding future attacks are all good reasons to not pay as the chances are it ’ s going to get released anyway . ”

Hackers that tried to extort money Attack.Ransom from Disney by threatening to make public an upcoming movie ahead of its release date appear to have been bluffing , the firm ’ s boss has revealed . Chairman and CEO Bob Iger said the media giant had , to its knowledge , not been hacked . “ We had a threat of a hack Attack.Databreach of a movie being stolen Attack.Databreach . We decided to take it seriously but not react in the manner in which the person who was threatening us had required , ” he told Yahoo Finance . “ We don ’ t believe that it was real and nothing has happened. ” The hackers apparently demanded Attack.Ransom a large payment Attack.Ransom in Bitcoin , and threatened to release five minutes of the stolen film followed by subsequent 20-minute instalments if their demands Attack.Ransom weren ’ t met . Disney likely took the threat seriously given that a similar incident occurred last month when a hacker uploaded the upcoming series of Netflix prison drama Orange is the New Black to The Pirate Bay after the streaming giant refused to pay a ransom Attack.Ransom . In that case , a third-party production vendor used by the studios was to blame , after its security was compromised by the hacker . Iger acknowledged the elevation of cybersecurity to a “ front burner issue. ” “ Technology is an enabler to run our businesses more securely , whether that ’ s protecting our intellectual property or protecting our guests or employees around the world , ” he argued . Unfortunately , many boardrooms don ’ t share Iger ’ s enthusiasm for cybersecurity-related issues . Just 5 % of FTSE 100 companies claim to have a technology expert on the board , despite most of them ( 87 % ) identifying cybersecurity as a major risk to the firm , according to a recent Deloitte report . Yet cybersecurity is something the C-level need to get urgently up to speed with , as increasing numbers are targeted by whalers . Just this month , Barclays CEO Jes Staley was tricked Attack.Phishing into emailing someone pretending to be Attack.Phishing the bank ’ s chairman , John McFarlane .

However , modern ransomware certainly merits a classification as one of the most evolving sectors of cybercrime in 2017 . Though it is quite difficult to calculate the overall damage caused by ransomware in 2016 , some researchers state that cybercriminals received over $ 1 billion in ransom payments Attack.Ransom last year . Others mention a 3,500 % increase in the criminal use of infrastructure that helps run ransomware campaigns . Carbon Black says that ransomware is the fastest growing malware across industries , up 50 % in 2016 . Technology ( 218 % ) , utilities and energy ( 112 % ) and banking ( 93 % ) saw the highest year-on-year ransomware growth last year . Due to an important lack of qualified technical personnel and other resources , law enforcement agencies are globally unprepared to detect , prevent and prosecute this type of digital crime . Moreover , more and more cases of ransom payment Attack.Ransom by the police have become public , while those police officers who dare to resist take a substantive risk . There is the Texas police who lost eight years of their investigative work and all of the evidence by refusing to pay Attack.Ransom cybercriminals . This sad statistic explains why the majority of despaired victims of cybercrime fail to report it to the law enforcement agencies . Attackers can easily rent a Ransomware-as-a-Service ( RaaS ) infrastructure for as low as $ 39.99 per month , making up to $ 195,000 of monthly profit without much effort in comparison to other niches of digital fraud and crime . The business of ransomware has become so attractive that some cybercriminals don ’ t even bother to actually encrypt the data , but just extort money Attack.Ransom from their victims with fake malware . The victims are so scared by media stories about ransomware , combined with law enforcement agencies ’ inability to protect them or at least to punish the offenders , that they usually pay . The new generation of ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom IoT and smart devices , locking not only mobiles and smart TVs , but also doors in hotels and air conditioning systems in luxury smart houses . Criminals switch from file encryption to database encryption and web applications , demonstrating a great scalability of ransomware tactics . To increase their profits , hacking teams behind the ransomware campaigns now threaten to send the victim ’ s sensitive data to all of their contacts instead of just deleting it . Cryptocurrencies allow attackers to receive online payments almost without any risk of being traced and prosecuted . Despite the media hype around blockchain ’ s ability to reinvent and improve the world , so far only the cybercriminals have entirely leveraged the full potential of this emerging technology . A simple business model , high profits , accessibility and affordability of resources to deploy large-scale attacking campaigns , and low risks in comparison to other sectors of ( cyber ) crime , assure the flourishing future of ransomware . All of this without mentioning the problem of global inequality actually causing the cybercrime , which I briefly described in Forbes recently . Nonetheless , it does not mean that organizations should give up . The FBI confirms the skyrocketing problem of ransomware , but suggests relying on prevention rather than paying ransom Attack.Ransom to the criminals . PwC also suggests to plan and prepare the organization to this kind of incident in order to have internal capabilities to recover without suffering important financial losses . Some cybersecurity vendors , like SentinelOne , contractually guarantee protection and provide a financial insurance for their clients .