Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
North Koreans and Russians. How did hackers target Slovakia? (Slovak Spectator) The security authority reported hundreds of attacks over the past year.
US cybersecurity firm confirms Poland as subject of 'Ghostwriter' op (First News) US-based cybersecurity firm Mandiant has told PAP that they have uncovered numerous activities against Poland within the framework of the 'Ghostwriter' operation, confirming earlier findings of the Polish services.
How “HackMachine” Enables Fraud and Cyber Intrusionz (Gemini Advisory) 06 / 16 / 2021 Key Findings The cybercriminal software “HackMachine” provides attackers with a simple-to-use and automated method of gaining access to web applications. Attackers can load target victim domains into the software, whereupon the software scans the sites for known vulnerabilities, collects administrator and user login credentials through multiple types of brute-force attacks, […]
Ursnif Leverages Cerberus Android Malware to Automate Fraudulent Bank Transfers in Italy (Security Intelligence) IBM Trusteer researchers monitor the evolution and tactics of attacks in the banking sector. One banking Trojan variant targets online banking users in Italy.
PYSA Loves ChaChi: a New GoLang RAT (BlackBerry) The BlackBerry Threat Research and Intelligence SPEAR Team have been tracking a previously unnamed Golang RAT targeting Windows® systems. We’ve dubbed this RAT ChaChi, due to its two key components, Chashell and Chisel.
PYSA ransomware backdoors education orgs using ChaChi malware (BleepingComputer) The PYSA ransomware gang has been using a remote access Trojan (RAT) dubbed ChaChi to backdoor the systems of healthcare and education organizations and steal data that later gets leveraged in double extortion ransom schemes.
Researcher Finds Vulnerability Impacting Multiple Linux Marketplaces (SecurityWeek) The native PlingStore application is affected by an RCE, while marketplaces based on the Pling platform are exposed to potential supply chain attacks.
Zyxel says a threat actor is targeting its enterprise firewall and VPN devices (The Record by Recorded Future) Networking equipment vendor Zyxel has emailed customers this week to alert them about a series of attacks that have been targeting some of the company's high-end enterprise-focused firewall and VPN server products.
Microsoft warns: Now attackers are using a call centre to trick you into downloading ransomware (ZDNet) Beware of phishing emails claiming your free trial subscription is over and that urge you to call a number to cancel it before you get slugged with monthly fees.
Security Flaws in Atlassian’s Platform Led to Account Takeover in One Click - Check Point Software (Check Point Software) Check Point Research (CPR) finds security flaws in Atlassian, a platform used by 180,000 customers worldwide to engineer software and manage projects.
One of the Biggest Website Hosting Providers, DreamHost, Leaked 814 Million Records Online Including Customer Data (Website Planet) A database owned by DreamHost, DreamPress managed WordPress hosting, was publically accessible online. 3 Years of DreamPress Customer and User
129 Dell models, including Secured-core PCs, vulnerable to new firmware flaws (The Record by Recorded Future) Around 129 Dell consumer and business laptops, desktops, and tablets, including devices protected by Secure Boot and Dell Secured-core PCs, have been found to be vulnerable to a series of vulnerabilities that can allow threat actors to pass as the official dell.com domain and trigger malicious BIOS/UEFI firmware updates.
New REvil-Based Ransomware Emerges (SecurityWeek) A threat actor appears to have repurposed the REvil ransomware to create their own ransomware family and possibly launch a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) offering.
Over 60% of fraudsters request gift cards in business emails scams; eBay, Google Play cards most popular (Atlas VPN) According to data presented by the Atlas VPN team, gift cards were the preferred payment method for 64% of fraudsters who used attacks to compromise business emails in the second half of 2020.
Myanmar: Facebook promotes content urging violence against coup protesters – study (the Guardian) Posts ranging from wanted posters to death threats remain online for months, breaching platform’s own standards
Geek Squad Vishing Attack Bypasses Email Security to Hit 25K Mailboxes (Threatpost) An email campaign asking victims to call a bogus number to suspend supposedly fraudulent subscriptions got right past Microsoft's native email controls.
Clop ransomware gang doxes two new victims days after police raids (TechCrunch) New victims have emerged a week after police raids.
Grupo Fleury suffers cyber attack with same ransomware as JBS a few weeks ago (The Rio Times) Grupo Fleury's systems remain offline Wednesday after the clinical analytics and healthcare company fell victim to a ransomware attack the afternoon of the previous day, in which malicious code blocks access to systems or encrypts the victim's data.
Tulsa ransomware hackers leak 18,000 files on dark web (IT PRO) The authorities are advising residents to take precautions as the files contain personal identifiable information
Hackers have penetrated multiple Alaska agencies this year. Here's what we know. (Alaska Public Media) State officials have revealed few details about the attacks -- particularly the one that targeted the health department. While there are still many unanswered questions, here’s what we know — and what we don’t.
Security Patches, Mitigations, and Software Updates
VMware Patches Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in Tools for Windows (SecurityWeek) A high-severity vulnerability that VMware patched this week in VMware Tools for Windows could be exploited to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.
Google Delays Cookie Removal to Late 2023 (Wall Street Journal) The Alphabet unit said its Chrome internet browser will stop supporting a user-tracking technology called third-party cookies by late 2023, nearly two years later than its initial time frame of early 2022.
Trends
Latest Industry Data Risk Report from Concentric Shows 450 Percent Increase in Oversharing of Sensitive Documents Over the Past Year (BusinessWire) Concentric Inc., a leading vendor of intelligent AI-based solutions for protecting business-critical data, today announced the availability of its Q1
Gaming Industry Experiences 340% Spike in Web App Attacks (Infosecurity Magazine) Web app attacks surged by 340% in 2020 compared to 2019, according to a new study from Akamai
Quarter of the working week wasted dealing with false positives (ITProPortal) IT teams spend 10 hours every week tackling false positive alerts from cybersecurity tools.
New WatchGuard Research Reveals Traditional Anti-Malware Solutions Miss Nearly 75% of Threats (GlobeNewswire News Room) Report highlights record-setting zero day malware volumes, rising network attack rates, the quarter’s top malware attacks, and more...
Inside the mind of a cyber criminal (Africanews) Cyber criminals come in many different flavours, but the majority of them are in it for one thing: financial pay-off. They want the money that
Marketplace
Want in on the next $100B in cybersecurity? (TechCrunch) There are massive opportunities for business value creation in cybersecurity. Many unicorns will be built in these spaces, and there are a few specific areas worth betting on.
Illumio secures $225 Million at $2.75 Billion Valuation to Stop Cyber Disasters with Zero Trust Segmentation (Illumio) New funding will expand investment in customer success, product innovation, and global partner strategy
Pondurance Acquires Bearing Cybersecurity to Help Customers Better Assess and Remediate Security Gaps with the MyCyberScorecard Platform (BusinessWire) Pondurance Acquires Bearing Cybersecurity to Help Customers Better Assess and Remediate Security Gaps with the MyCyberScorecard Platform
Accenture Invests in Cloud Data Security Provider Symmetry Systems (Accenture) Accenture Invests in Cloud Data Security Provider Symmetry Systems
Drata raises $25M Series A to expand its security compliance platform (TechCrunch) The company is expanding its compliance offering to also include ISO 27001.
Symmetry Systems Pushes Data Security After $15M Series A (Crunchbase News) San Francisco-based Symmetry Systems closed a $15 million Series A as it looks to push companies to move beyond network and application security and into protecting its most valuable asset — its data
Next-generation Cloud Security Platform Lightspin raises $16M A Round (PR Newswire) Lightspin, the next-generation cloud security platform, announced today that it has raised $16 million Series A funding in a round led by Dell...
Former Pivotal Software colleagues raise $4.7M for Seattle code remediation startup Moderne (GeekWire) New funding: Moderne landed $4.7 million for its software that helps developers save time by automating code migration and fixes. The Seattle-based company was founded by Olga Kundzich and Jonathan…
Data Security Company Symmetry Systems Raises $15 Million (SecurityWeek) Data security company Symmetry Systems has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Prefix Capital and ForgePoint Capital
Daniel Loeb's Third Point Leads $27M Investment in Crypto Compliance Startup CipherTrace (CoinDesk) Crypto intelligence company CipherTrace has closed a $27.1 million Series B led by Third Point Ventures, CoinDesk has learned.
Mitiga raises $25M Series A to help organizations respond to cyberattacks (TechCrunch) The funding comes less than a year after its $7M seed round.
Craig Newmark Philanthropies donated $450k to boost anti-ransomware coalition (CyberScoop) The Institute for Security and Technology received a $450,000 donation from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to continue its work combatting ransomware, the organization shared first with CyberScoop. The money will go towards continuing the work started by the Ransomware Task Force, a public-private collaboration launched earlier this year by the Institute.
IronNet Wins Major Amazon Web Services (AWS) Global Award (BusinessWire) IronNet announced today that it was named Best Cybersecurity Solution for Public Sector Organizations by Amazon Web Services as part of the 2021 Globa
Microsoft joins Space ISAC to support cybersecurity (SpaceNews) Microsoft announced plans June 23 to join the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC), an organization focused on collecting, analyzing and disseminating information on vulnerabilities, incidents and threats.
Apple defends its App Store 'walled garden' ahead of antitrust debate in US Congress (Computing) Allowing users to sideload would open the doors for scammers and malware, it argues
CISO Jason Lee on Zoom's response to its pandemic security challenges (CSO Online) A year into his role, Lee discusses how he and Zoom's security team addressed security and privacy issues amid rapid growth and public scrutiny.
Red Sift Adds Mike Hedger and Michel van der Bel to Board (BusinessWire) Red Sift adds Mike Hedger and Michel van der Bel to board
Forescout Taps Ellen Sundra as Chief Customer Officer (GlobeNewswire News Room) Promoting Sundra to unite customer-facing technical teams across the company, enhancing customer experience...
Illusive Announces New Additions to Leadership Team (PR Newswire) Illusive, the leader in active cyber defense, today announced it has expanded its leadership team with three key new hires, Brendan O'Connell...
Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Safety Veteran Hemanshu Nigam Joins Venable’s Los Angeles Office (Venable) Venable LLP is pleased to announce that Hemanshu (Hemu) Nigam has joined the firm as a partner in the eCommerce, Privacy, and Cybersecurity Practice in the Los Angeles office. Mr. Nigam has nearly 25 years of experience in solving online security, privacy, and safety challenges facing corporations, start-ups, celebrities, and pro athletes, as well as government and law enforcement.
KnowBe4 Adds Michael Williams as New Chief Marketing Officer (PR Newswire) KnowBe4 (NASDAQ: KNBE), the provider of the world's largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, today announced it has...
Generali Global Assistance Appoints Chief Information Officer (PR Newswire) Generali Global Assistance ("GGA") today announced that it has appointed Michael Gussow as their U.S. Chief Information Officer. In this role,...
Shift5 Announces André Browne as the New Director of Engineering (PR Newswire) Shift5, the rapidly-growing cybersecurity and data company based out of Rosslyn, VA, has announced its most recent addition to the engineering...
Products, Services, and Solutions
PerimeterX Code Defender Named Best Security Solution by the 2021 SIIA CODiE Awards (PerimeterX) Client-side solution recognized for its protection against digital skimming, formjacking and Magecart attacks, preventing data breaches and reducing risk of non-compliance
MariaDB Announces New Innovation for the Community (MariaDB) MariaDB Corporation announced the GA of MariaDB Community Server 10.6, a major new release that brings significant advancements to open source.
Smart Engines Introduces in-Browser Document Scanning to Bring Security for Web Applications and IoT (AiThority) Smart Engines introduced in-browser document recognition technologies, which do not require sending data from the client device.
What is Tutanota Secure Email and What Does It Cost? (groovyPost) When it comes to security, not all email services are created equally. But Tutanota is an encrypted email service based in Germany. Here's a look at free or premium accounts.
ThreatConnect 6.2 enhances collaboration between security team members (Help Net Security) ThreatConnect released ThreatConnect 6.2 to further unify the actions of the security team around the most critical risks.
Go automate: Splunk treats US customers to new security cloud (DEVCLASS) Following an observability cloud announced in May, Spark Security Cloud looks to speed up incident detection and response through automation.
Cloudflare integrates with top data analytics platforms (Security Brief) Cloudflare’s new integrations include Microsoft Azure Sentinel, Splunk, Datadog, and Sumo Logic, and focus on making it easier for businesses to connect and analyse key insights across their infrastructure.
Embeddable IDPS for IoT: Meet wolfSentry at MWC '21 (PRWeb) EDMONDS, Wash. (PRWEB) June 23, 2021
wolfSSL has released a new product, wolfSentry, an embedded IDPS (intrusion detection and prevention system). At its core, it features an embedded, dynamic fi
Merlin Cyber Launches Cybersecurity Executive Order Resource Center (BusinessWire) Merlin Cyber, a premier cybersecurity solutions provider, today announced the availability of an Executive Order (EO) Resource Center developed to hel
Dragos, Inc. Partners with Garland Technology to Provide Comprehensive ICS/OT Cybersecurity Solution (PR Newswire) Garland Technology, a leading provider of Network TAP, Network Packet Broker, and Inline Bypass solutions, and Dragos, Inc., the global leader...
RangeForce Launches Community Challenge Series for Security Pros (BusinessWire) 93% of the 802 SOC challenge participants said they learned new skills for using Yara rules and Splunk, and 100% will compete in future events.
Technologies, Techniques, and Standards
Openness can protect Dutch companies against ransomware (ComputerWeekly) Dutch businesses that suffer ransomware attacks need to be more open about it, if this growing problem is to be brought under control.
CISA: No organization in the public or private sector could’ve prevented SolarWinds breach (Federal News Network) In today’s Federal Newscast, when it came to the SolarWinds cyber attack, the private sector was in no better shape than the government to stop or block the attack.
Cyber Flag 21-2 Showcases New CYBERCOM Training Environment (Breaking Defense) "We can design any scenario we want to create," says Col. Ally Smith, CYBERCOM division chief of exercise design and planning. "That puts us out in front of what our adversaries may want to do."
US Cyber Command exercise will help shape new tactics for changing threats (Marine Corps Times) For the first time this year, Cyber Command is using it's premier annual exercise to reevaluate some of its cyber teams.
The National Guard Just Simulated A Cyberattack That Brought Down Utilities Nationwide (The Drive) This year's Cyber Yankee exercises simulated the increasingly likely scenario of cyberattacks crippling massive sections of the nation's utilities.
Guardsmen train for real-world cyber disruptions (Defense News) National Guard members from across the New England states worked to build important relationships in the event of a real-world cyber crisis during a recent exercise.
Design and Innovation
How Twitter hired tech's biggest critics to build ethical AI (Protocol) Twitter's META team is made up of some of tech's most notorious critics, and two more will soon be joining them: Sarah Roberts and Kristian Lum.
Academia
FoxPointe donation supporting cybersecurity scholarships at RIT (Monroe County Post) FoxPointe Solutions donated $25,000 to fund scholarships and a graduate student study space in RIT's Global Cybersecurity Institute.
$1.2 NSF grant will help multidisciplinary team create resource for privacy documentation (University of Michigan News) A $1.2 million grant in NSF’s Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program, funded in part to a University of Michigan School of Information research team, will go toward building a search engine and other tools to help collect and classify billions of privacy documents on the web.
Legislation, Policy, and Regulation
Taming the cyber wild west (The Strategist) During the Cold War, summit meetings between the United States and the Soviet Union were often dominated by agreements to set limits on nuclear weapons and the systems built to deliver them. The US and ...
Biden blew a chance for a win in his meeting with Putin (The Washington Times) Time and again, we fail to understand Russia and its rulers. Back in 1939, Churchill acknowledged that, famously describing Russia as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”
Parties unite to deliver greater internet censorship powers to government-appointed official (Crikey) The controversial Online Safety Bill will give broad censorship powers to the eSafety commissioner, and experts warn that it could harm those it purports to save.
EXCLUSIVE Pacific island turns to Australia for undersea cable after spurning China (Reuters) The Pacific island of Nauru is negotiating for the construction of an undersea communications cable that would connect to an Australian network, two sources with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, after the earlier rejection of a Chinese proposal.
Commission plans EU cyber unit to tackle online crime (Reuters) The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to pool resources and expertise from the EU's 27 countries for a joint cyber unit to fight online criminals amid a spate of high profile hacks in Europe and worldwide.
Google, Facebook Pressure Falls Short as Antitrust Measures Advance in House Committee (Wall Street Journal) Tech companies to take the battle over the proposed new regulations and oversight to the House floor and Senate
US Considers Going After Ransomware Attackers Like it Used to Hunt Pirates at Sea: Senate Hearing (The Sociable) The US is considering going after ransomware attackers like it used to hunt pirates at sea, according to a Senate hearing on cyber with Pentagon officials.
Antitrust Crusader Lina Khan Faces a Big Obstacle: The Courts (Bloomberg) Progressives are thrilled by her elevation to FTC chair, but the judiciary may stand in the way of her agenda.
Make ransomware payments illegal, say 79% of cyber pros (ComputerWeekly.com) Report produced for MSSP Talion claims overwhelming support for the criminalisation of ransomware payments
The Cybersecurity 202: Chris Krebs sees a big future for CISA (Washington Post) Chris Krebs, the ex-director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, envisions far broader responsibilities for his former agency in the coming years.
Rep. Langevin Presses SecDef On Cyber, EW Priorities (Breaking Defense) "The Department of Defense officially recognizes five domains of warfare," Rep. Langevin said. "For four of those domains, the senior civilian is a service secretary. Cyber has a deputy assistant secretary, which is four rungs lower than the other warfighting domains. Why does this make sense?"
FBI asks Congress for $40M to help combat wave of ransomware attacks (TheHill) FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday told a Senate panel that a request for a $40 million increase in its cybersecurity budget for the upcoming fiscal year would go in part towards combating increasing and damaging ransomware attacks.
Nemeroff to Direct International Cyber Policy at White House NSC (MeriTalk) Theodore N. Nemeroff has been named director for International Cyber Policy on the White House’s National Security Council (NSC). He will be responsible for expanding the U.S. government's information and communications technology policy abroad.
Litigation, Investigation, and Law Enforcement
Larger-than-life software mogul John McAfee dies in Spain by suicide, lawyer says (Reuters) British-born U.S. technology entrepreneur John McAfee died on Wednesday by suicide in a Barcelona prison after the Spanish high court authorised his extradition to the United States on tax evasion charges, his lawyer told Reuters.
John McAfee, Software Pioneer Turned Fugitive, Dies in Spanish Prison (New York Times) Mr. McAfee, who has not been associated with the company that bears his name for more than two decades, was fighting extradition to the United States after his arrest in Spain.
John McAfee, Antivirus Software Creator, Is Found Dead in Spanish Jail (Wall Street Journal) The creator of the eponymous antivirus software died as a Spanish court ruled to extradite him to the U.S., where he faced tax-related criminal charges.
John McAfee, software entrepreneur with outlaw persona, dies in prison at 75 (Washington Post) John McAfee, the eccentric British American software entrepreneur who sold his namesake anti-virus company in the 1990s and embarked on a globe-trotting life of bizarre and often allegedly criminal pursuits while embracing the persona of a gun-toting rogue and outlaw, was found dead in his prison cell near Barcelona on June 23. He was 75.
John McAfee: Anti-virus creator found dead in prison cell (BBC News) The software mogul is found dead hours after a Spanish court allowed his extradition to the US on tax charges.
No in the US and no in Florida to Huawei’s security appeals (Capacity Media) Huawei has lost two court appeals within a few days that together set back its desire to return to supplying European and US telcos with its equipment.