Reflare Research Team

Posts by Reflare Research Team

A Rare Glimpse Into the Mechanics of a Major Breach

It’s almost inconceivable that Yahoo! suffered a breach of over 500 million user accounts, and it wasn’t even detected by Yahoo’s management team until years later. Yet here we are. First Published 2nd March 2017 "Database backups have been leaked"... yeah, um, that should be fine, ri …

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Banning a Smart Doll

Banning a Smart Doll

Cayla is a child's doll which is equipped with speech recognition software and is connected to the internet via Bluetooth. German authorities have taken a strong disliking to Cayla. Poor Cayla. First Published 23rd February 2017 I am... doll parts. 4 min read | Reflare Research Team I …

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Further Anomalies in Russian Cybersecurity

The original allegations that Russia had hacked Ukraine and its electrical grid haven't been borne out, but they did spur more instances of alleged Russian cyber attacks. The most recent cases involve the Czech government and experts in the cyber security field. First Published 2nd Fe …

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Hacking, Rationality, and the Fear of the Unknown

Rationality in the face of threats, from germs to crime, has been studied before in many different settings. There is, however, a category of threats that haven’t been covered as extensively, and that is cyber security. First Published 19th January 2017 Just cause you feel it doesn't …

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Suspected North Korean Involvement in South Korea Hacks

Suspected North Korean Involvement in South Korea Hacks

The recent cyber attacks in South Korea have some of the ‘North Korea fingerprints’ on them. A look at the chronology of North Korean cyber retaliation over the past years shows a history of targeting South Korean critical infrastructure, not just the government. First Published 7th D …

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Attacks on San Francisco Muni and Deutsche Telekom

Attacks on San Francisco Muni and Deutsche Telekom

The Mirai botnet has been directly linked with a number of massive DDoS attacks, and it can now add Germany’s largest telecom company Deutsche Telekom to its list. First Published 30th November 2016 "Guten tag! Hallo... Hallo?" 3 min read | Reflare Research Team This week saw two high …

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US Election Hacking Allegations

Several news outlets reported earlier this week that a “team of prominent computer scientists” had uncovered “persuasive evidence” that the recent US federal election had been hacked. Hmmm. First Published 24th November 2016 Be cautious of those who use 'cybersecurity hearsay' to chal …

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Tesco Bank Attack

The financial strain from large-scale cyber attacks can be huge, which is why banks are investing heavily in cyber security. The UK financial institution Tesco Bank was hit by a large coordinated cyber attack just days after one of its main rivals, Barclays experienced a similar attac …

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Perceptions of Security

It goes without saying that breaches in security are a problem. What is interesting is how the severity of cyber attacks perceived by the general public, media and government differs from reality. First Published 2nd November 2016 "Hello hacker. Please go away. Thank you." - Phew... t …

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Three Kinds of Governmental Hacking

For one, private email accounts provide global government agencies with a means to conduct surveillance without leaving behind an official paper trail. Ask Hillary. First Published 12th October 2016 Rage against the machine, three ways. 4 min read | Reflare Research Team In this brief …

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