
Emma Woollacott
Emma Woollacott is a freelance journalist writing for publications including the BBC, Private Eye, Forbes, Raconteur and specialist technology titles.
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Security researchers have just identified what could be the first ‘AI-powered’ ransomware strain
News Using OpenAI's gpt-oss:20b model, ‘PromptLock’ generates malicious Lua scripts via the Ollama API.
By Emma Woollacott Published
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AI means cyber teams are rethinking their approach to insider threats
News Nearly two-thirds of European cybersecurity professionals see insider threats as their biggest security risk – and AI is making things worse.
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Data I/O shuts down systems in wake of ransomware attack
News Regulatory filings by Data I/O suggest the costs of dealing with the attack could be significant
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Google strikes big win with $10 billion Meta cloud deal
News As Meta continues its AI drive, the company is looking outside for the necessary infrastructure
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Employee distraction is now your biggest cybersecurity risk
News Workplace distraction is the top reason organizations fall victim to cyber attacks, according to new research.
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Apple just released an emergency patch for a zero-day exploited in the wild
News Apple is warning millions of users of iPhones, iPads and Macs to update their software to protect against an out-of-bounds write vulnerability
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Russian hackers are using an old Cisco flaw to target network devices – here’s how you can stay safe
News With the aim of carrying out espionage, Russia's Center 16 is targeting infrastructure organizations around the world
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Cyber teams are struggling to keep up with a torrent of security alerts
News Fragmented identity security processes are creating blind spots, and the proliferation of tools doesn't help
By Emma Woollacott Published
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The Allianz Life data breach just took a huge turn for the worse
News Around 1.1 million Allianz Life customers are believed to have been impacted in a recent data breach, making up the vast majority of the insurer's North American customers.
By Emma Woollacott Published
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US authorities take down prolific 'Rapper Bot' botnet
News The Rapper Bot botnet was responsible for a series of large-scale DDoS attacks on government agencies and tech companies. Now it's gone.
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Flaw in Lenovo’s customer service AI chatbot could let hackers run malicious code, breach networks
News Hackers abusing the Lenovo flaw could inject malicious code with just a single prompt
By Emma Woollacott Published
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UK telecoms firm takes systems offline after cyber attack
News The Warlock ransomware group said it was selling a million stolen documents
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Malicious URLs overtake email attachments as the biggest malware threat
News With malware threats surging, research from Proofpoint highlights the increasing use of off-the-shelf 'phish kits' like CoGUI and Darcula
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Warning issued as new Pakistan-based malware group hits millions globally
News Tempting people in with offers of pirated software, the network installs commodity infostealers, according to CloudSEK
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Everything we know so far about the Canadian House of Commons data breach
News Speculation is mounting over the source of the breach
By Emma Woollacott Published
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These are the UK industries facing the biggest digital skills gaps in 2025
News Analysis of job vacancies shows that the digital economy is accelerating too quickly for the workforce to keep up with
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Identity security is more important than ever – here’s why
News 78% of enterprises told Okta that controlling access and permissions for non-human identities is now their main identity security concern.
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Average ransom payment doubles in a single quarter
News Targeted social engineering and data exfiltration have become the biggest tactics as three major ransomware groups dominate
By Emma Woollacott Published
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AI tools are a game changer for enterprise productivity, but reliability issues are causing major headaches
News Enterprises are flocking to AI tools, but very few lack the appropriate infrastructure to drive adoption at scale
By Emma Woollacott Published
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BlackSuit ransomware gang taken down in latest law enforcement sting
News The notorious gang has seen its servers taken down and bitcoin seized, but may have morphed into a new group called Chaos
By Emma Woollacott Published
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MSPs beware – these two ransomware groups are ramping up attacks and have claimed hundreds of victims
News The Akira and Lynx ransomware groups are focusing on small businesses and MSPs using stolen or purchased admin credentials
By Emma Woollacott Published
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Credential theft has surged 160% in 2025
News AI-powered phishing and the growth of Malware as a Service means hackers are compromising more accounts than ever
By Emma Woollacott Published
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M&S finally gets click-and-collect up and running again
News Four months after suffering a disastrous cyber attack, the service is back to normal
By Emma Woollacott Published
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US federal judiciary agency hit by 'escalated cyber attacks' which exposed highly sensitive data
News The agency says it plans to step up cybersecurity capabilities in the wake of the incident
By Emma Woollacott Published
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