According to security researchers at Flashpoint, reported data breach incidents rose by 34.5% in 2023, with over 17 billion personal records compromised throughout the year.  The researchers recorded 6077 publicly reported data breaches last year, which included sensitive information such as names, social security numbers, and financial data.  Over 70% of these incidents resulted from unauthorized access that stemmed from outside the affected organization.

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory developed a new technology to improve data security in various areas. The Secure, Automatic, Failsafe Eraser (SAFE) technology can erase the memory of devices and prevent data disclosures. According to Bertrand Dushime, a member of the Lab's Space Electronics and Signal Processing group and a SAFE project collaborator, the goal is to modernize dismantlement verification instruments and improve the information barrier. This technology will enable better analysis, more specific parameter verification, higher-quality treaty verification, and more.

A team of IBM researchers reported in a study that combining Hybrid Quantum-Classical Computing (HQCC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies could bring us closer to the day quantum computing undermines current encryption methods. The team emphasizes the importance of making a quantum-proof shift as Q-Day approaches when quantum computers become powerful and stable enough to crack today's encryption schemes. This article continues to discuss the study "Advancements in Quantum Computing and AI May Impact PQC Migration Timelines."

A now-patched security flaw in the Microsoft Edge web browser could have been exploited to install arbitrary extensions on users' systems and perform malicious activities. According to Guardio Labs security researcher Oleg Zaytsev, this flaw could have enabled an attacker to use a private Application Programming Interface (API) originally intended for marketing purposes to covertly install additional browser extensions with broad permissions without the user knowing.

NVIDIA, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) computing giant, has patched two software flaws in its ChatRTX for Windows app, warning that users are vulnerable to code execution and data tampering attacks. According to NVIDIA, the flaws have a 'high-risk' rating and could be used to launch malicious code through Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. The security flaws, tracked as CVE-2024-0082 and CVE-2024-0083, impact ChatRTX for Windows 0.2 and earlier versions.

The INC Ransom extortion gang has threatened that it is going to publish three terabytes of data allegedly stolen after breaching the National Health Service (NHS) of Scotland.  In a post yesterday, the cybercriminals shared multiple images containing medical details and said that they would leak data "soon" unless the NHS pays a ransom.  Scotland's NHS is the country's public health system, providing services ranging from primary care, hospital care, dental care, pharmaceutical, and long-term care.

Cybercriminals have been selling custom Raspberry Pi software called "GEOBOX" on Telegram that allows inexperienced hackers to turn the mini-computers into anonymous cyberattack tools. Researchers at Resecurity discovered the tool while investigating a high-profile banking theft incident involving a Fortune 100 company. Malicious individuals used several GEOBOX devices, with each connected to the Internet and strategically placed in different remote locations. These devices functioned as proxies, increasing their anonymity.

Cisco's 2024 Cybersecurity Readiness Index reveals that only 3 percent of organizations are resilient against cybersecurity threats, representing a significant drop in the proportion of global organizations with a mature level of readiness. Nearly 71 percent of organizations fell into the bottom two categories: 'formative' (60 percent) and 'beginner' (11 percent).

Security researchers at Human Security discovered that dozens of VPN applications that turn Android devices into residential proxies were being offered on the Google Play store.  The researchers noted that all the identified malicious applications contained a Golang library responsible for enrolling the device as a proxy node and appeared linked to Asocks, a residential proxy seller.  At least 28 VPN applications containing the malicious library were submitted to Google Play.  After being notified, all apps have been removed from the store.

According to researchers at Netcraft, the Chinese-language Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) platform "Darcula" created 19,000 phishing domains in cyberattacks against over 100 countries. The platform provides cybercriminals with easy access to branded phishing campaigns for a monthly subscription fee of around $250. Darcula is said to be more sophisticated than other PhaaS platforms. It supports many of the same tools used by application developers, such as JavaScript, React, Docker, and Harbor.