Author: ESET Ireland

BlackEnergy trojan strikes again: Attacks Ukrainian electric power industry

January 5, 2016

On December 23rd, 2015, around half of the homes in the Ivano-Frankivsk region in Ukraine (population around 1.4 million) were left without electricity for a few hours. According to the Ukrainian news media outlet TSN, the cause of the power outage was a “hacker attack” utilizing a “virus”. Looking at ESET’s own telemetry, we have … More BlackEnergy trojan strikes again: Attacks Ukrainian electric power industry

5 things you need to know about social engineering

January 4, 2016

Social engineering plays an important part in a significant number of cyberattacks, however big, small or sophisticated the crime is. In fact, as ESET’s senior researcher David Harley has previously observed, it has “been a constant all through the life of internet security”. But what is it exactly? In its broadest sense, social engineering is … More 5 things you need to know about social engineering

ESET predictions and trends for cybercrime in 2016

December 23, 2015

It’s that time of the year when the information security industry takes part in its annual tradition: coming up with cybercrime predictions and trends for the next 12 months. These lists usually range from the mundane to the bizarre, the lighthearted to the dire (perhaps depending on the predictors’ consumption of eggnog and/or dystopian sci-fi media). Many … More ESET predictions and trends for cybercrime in 2016

Star Wars: A New Hope – 5 information security lessons

December 21, 2015

Unless you have literally been living on a remote, desert-like planet in a galaxy, far far away, spending your days looking out over the horizon as two suns start to set, then you might have missed a ridiculous level of buzz about a certain new Star Wars movie. Indeed, the world has gone positively potty over The … More Star Wars: A New Hope – 5 information security lessons