Security breaches

A new mobile malware campaign targeted at Android and iOS users has been identified by experts of the National Cyber Security Incident Response Team (CERT-RO) and the Romanian Intelligence Service (Cyberint National Center).

Turkey's Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK) on April 5 launched a direct investigation into Facebook over a recent user data leak.

According to information received by Anadolu Agency, the body took the decision to initiate an ex officio investigation after discussing the issue at a meeting on reports that the data of 533 million Facebook users were shared on a hacker platform.

"The low rate of solved cyber-crime cases is another indicator of the low level of readiness to solve cyber-attacks, even in cases of relatively 'less sophisticated' and 'domestic' cyber threats."

A Sarajevo municipality has temporarily stopped issuing birth certificates due to a computer virus that locks documents in its database for the second time in some two weeks.  

A branch known as the "white hat hackers," set up within the Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), has been tracing abusive social media accounts following reports that there were videos on YouTube with child abuse content.

Cyber police forces also have taken action to identify social media accounts sharing content that could tantamount to abuse.

States rarely addressed the abuses arising from these violations, and in 45 cases, the perpetrators were not identified, while 139 of the total of 163 cases were not resolved.

Eight cases were the result of pressure related to the publication of information, 12 were linked to insults and unfounded accusations and 11 were hate speech and discrimination.

This is when attackers secretly alter communications between two sides and steal key information, such as passwords, messages or credit card numbers.

As tens of millions of people turn to videoconferencing to stay connected during the coronavirus pandemic, some applications pose security risks and create legal loopholes, the Turkish data privacy authority has warned.

Romanian cybersecurity giant Bitdefender said on Friday that online attacks linked to Covid-19 "have risen by 475 per cent in March as compared to the previous month", and the numbers are expected to keep increasing until the end of the month.

"Almost one third of the Covid-19-related attacks target public authorities and healthcare institutions," Bitdefender said in a statement.

Yesterday, the European Commission released its latest survey on Europeans' attitudes towards cybercrime.