NTA Monitor

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60% of UK website tests revealed Internet encryption and cross-site scripting vulnerabilities

10th April 2008 60% of web application tests performed for UK organisations showed that their websites contain weak encryption or cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities Read More

Demilitarised Zone most secure option for BlackBerry device

28th February 2008 Recent BlackBerry testing by IT security consultancy, NTA Monitor, has revealed that organisations are still not configuring these mobile devices correctly Read More

Retailers should put security top of their Christmas list

13th November 2007 With British consumers spending more than £6.6 billion online in the last two months of last year, the 2007 festive season is set to be one of great cheer for online retailers Read More

Businesses warned not to have skeletons in cupboards

13th November 2007 For many organisations, the festive season is an opportunity to heave a corporate sigh of relief and enjoy the brief respite in frenetic business activity as countless people all over the world, go home to celebrate Christmas Read More
Date: 1st September 2006
Risk: Low

Although the first known ransomware attack happened only months ago, it appears that it's an emerging malware method that is getting harder to break.

Ransomware packages use malicious code to gain control of user files, encrypt them and threaten users that they won't see these files again unless they hand over a cash "ransom" to hackers. The first instance of ransomware was quickly cracked but experts are warning that the encryption used by hackers will become more complex, making them more difficult to crack.

It is recommended that people frequently back up files and emails in order to render any ransomware attack useless.

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