The Cyber Skim: Monthly Top Cyber Articles for August 2019

by Dawn Dunkerley
Contributing Editor

We Asked Def Con Attendees Why People Are Still Getting Hacked
This year’s Def Con—the world’s biggest hacking conference—was more sprawling than ever. Held annually in Las Vegas, the conference has grown over the last 27 years from a small gathering of hackers huddled into the Alexis Park hotel to a nearly 30,000-person swarm spread across multiple hotels on the Strip. 

Editor’s note: Interesting insight from leading security experts; overwhelmingly they point to human failures as the root cause of vulnerability. 
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Breached Passwords Still in Use By Hundreds of Thousands
More than 300,000 users still utilize credentials that have been compromised – with people visiting video streaming and porn sites most at fault, Google found in a new study. Hundreds of thousands of web visitors continue utilizing passwords that have previously been compromised. 

Editor’s note: Password reuse – at home or at work – leads to compromise. One account is breached, and if the password has been reused elsewhere, the hacker simply tries different sites until one works. A classic case of cyber hygiene that matters.   
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US Chamber of Commerce, FICO Report National Risk Score of 688
While the score was up for large businesses and down for small firms, the report urges all to prioritize third-party risk management. 

Editor’s note: An excellent point that, no matter your own cyber security practices, if you don’t hold your third-parties accountable for their systems and processes, you introduce vulnerability into the mix. Many of these third-parties have limited resources to prioritize cyber security.    
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What Americans Think About Ransomware
New Harris Poll survey says most will weigh candidates’ cybersecurity positions. 

Editor’s note: It seems like we hear of a new ransomware event daily, with US cities increasingly in the news as victims. With elections on the horizon, and these governments often controlling the security of the voting equipment, it’s past time to clean our acts up. 
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Cyberthreats Against Financial Services Up 56%
Financial institutions interacting with customers online must prepare fora broader, more sophisticated variety of threats. 

Editor’s note: The study found that brand abuse and manipulation was the most common threat; a loss of reputation or trust is difficult to quantify, but once gone, nearly impossible to regain.    
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