Rob Waugh

Filecoder, an unpleasant and virulent strain of ransomware is now spreading globally, with experts estimating that the gang behind it must be earning “millions”. The surging value of Bitcoin may be helping the criminals, experts say.

The survey found that just 14% of top firms even took cyber risks into account at board level, according to a survey from the UK's Department for Business, Innovation & Skills. Only a quarter see cybersecurity as a top priority.

The European Parliament has switched off its public Wi-Fi system after an anonymous hacker broke into the personal emails of several Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from outside the building, using only a laptop.

A large-scale “heist” targeting Bitcoin site BIPS led to the theft of $1 million in Bitcoin - the second such major attack this month. BIPS was blasted with a massive DDoS attack two days before the theft on November 15.

Human heartbeats are near-unique - each person’s rhythm forms a mathematical pattern which can be used to identify people. A bracelet which aims to use this for secure ID took a big step towards PCs and phones in the home this week, as 6,000 developers began work on apps for it.

A major British horse racing website has been hit by an “aggressive” and “malicious” cyber attack - and user details have leaked, including some passwords which the owners warn “could be deciphered.”

Twitter has unveiled a serious security upgrade to protect its users’ data from cyber-snooping - and has said that this approach should be “the new normal for web service owners.”

A ‘high impact' security bug affecting Gmail’s password recovery system was discovered by a researcher - and quickly patched. The vulnerability allowed attackers to reset user passwords remotely.

Some LG ‘Smart TVs’ watch their owners - logging their viewing habits without their permission - and transmitting the information back to the company, LG has admitted. The TVs do this even if the user has specifically selected an option not to share data.