Credit:cowardlion/Shutterstock.com12 18 Sept - 1 Oct 2019 Email us your security questions [email protected]
QAre schools
doingenoughto
educatechildren
about cybersecurity?
Miriam Simmons,
FacebookAWhile younger
children are
becoming more
tech-s avvy, they are by
nature less risk-averse and
lack the unders tanding toHackerssteal e-tickets
from transport apps
Mobile phone appsfor public
transport can be manipulated to
crea te free tickets, it has emerged,
after an activist group hacked two
Manchester-based services.The
hackerswere able to generate digital
ticketsby exploiting a security flaw in
the transport apps, which create QR
codes that function as e-tickets, but
store thekeys usedto generate these
codes in the apps themselves.
The group, who call themselves
The PublicTransport Pirate
Association of the United Kingdom,
released its findings onReddit andfully appreciate th
of being online. Wi
reports of toys that
can spy on children,
and kids asyoung
as thre e owning
social-media
accounts, it’s
clear the dangers
are real – for
homes and schools,
as well as children.
Although the government
and schools are incr easingl y
teaching children how to
spot potential dangers
online, there’s still a lack of
awaren ess aroundbasic
device protection. This
means parents needto take
more responsibility to ensure
their children are cyber-secure.
Recent
research by
Kasp ersky
revealed that whil e
younger generations
are often asked to provide
tech assistance to older
relatives, people over 50 are
likely to be more worldly, and
adopt a grea ter sense of
cautio n. This means they are
generally more selective
about their reasons for going
online, whereas younger
people have grown upimmersed in tech
and are happy to use the
internet in nearly every
aspect of th eir lives.
For this reason, a young
person ’s potential ‘attack
surface’ is a lot wider than
it is for someoneolder.
That said, it’s important to
note that people of all ages
are vulnerable to scams
and other thre ats. It is
crucial to adopt th e same
sense of cautio n when we
are online as we do in the
real world.News about the latest threats and advice from security experts
Stay Safe OnlineSECURITY ALERT! |What’s been bothering us this fortnight
Security Helpdesk|Your questions answered by security specialistscalled the apps’ security “laughableat
best”. The hackers believe that public
transport should be freeto all, which is
why they’ve gone public with their
findings.The initial hackfocused on the
Grea ter Manchester area, but the group
said it can be easily adaptedto other
transport networks that use the same
softwarefor their electronic tickets.
A spokespersonfor Transportfor
Grea ter Manchester said: “Wewant to
assure customers that the security of
customer data is paramount andwe’ve
been informedby our suppliers that no
personal data has beencompromised”.
bit.ly/eticketsFraudsters use AIvoice tech
to steal money
Cybercriminals have used artificial
intelligence (AI) andvoice technology
to impersonate a UK businessowner,
resulting in the fraudulent transfer of
$243,000 (£201,000).
In March thisyear, an unknown hackergroup is saidto have
exploited AI-powered
softwareto mimic the
prominent business
leader’s voice to fool
the CEO ofa
subsidiary into transferring fundsto a
Hungarian supplier.The moneywas
then moved to other locations.
This social-engineeringattack could
be a sign of thingsto co me, according
to ESETcybersecurity specialist Jake
Moore, who expectsto see a huge rise
in machine-learnedcybercrimes.
“We have already seen deepfakes
imitate ce lebrities and public figures in
videoformat, but these have taken
around 17 hours offootageto crea te
convincingly,” he said. “Being ableto
fake voices takesfewer recordings to
produce. As computing power
increases,we are startingto see these
becomeeven easierto crea te, which
paints a scary picture ahead.”
bit.ly/voiceA young person’s potential
‘attack surface’ is a lot wider
than someone olderTHIS ISSUE’S EXPERT:
David Emm, Principal
SecurityResearcher
at Kaspersky Lab
(www.kaspersky.co.uk)th