Dateline
Prep and staging during a diplomatic pause in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. (The CyberWire) The opposing sides in the Russia-Ukraine crisis are now talking for the most part with actual and potential allies. General purpose forces are being staged into the theater, and NATO remains alert for Russian cyber operations.
Zelensky enacts NSDC’s decision on implementing cyber security strategy (Ukrinform) President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has enacted the National Security and Defense Council’s decision of December 30, 2021, “On the Plan for implementing the Cyber Security Strategy of Ukraine". — Ukrinform.
Ukraine pushes EU to make draft Russia sanctions public (TheHill) Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday that it is time for the European Union to publicly share what sanctions it plans to impose on Russia in the event of an invasion into Ukraine.
On a potential invasion path, Ukrainians watch, worry, plan — and some dance (Washington Post) As Russian troops mass around Ukraine like an iron crescent, Kateryna Ponomarenko keeps an emergency bag near her front door, worried the war will again follow her.
Opinion | Why the Donbass is the Key to Putin’s Gambit in Ukraine (POLITICO) The disputed border regions are important to Putin only as a means to get what he really wants.
U.S., European Allies Plan How to Protect Ukraine From Russian Hacks (Wall Street Journal) U.S. officials are coordinating with European allies to determine the most effective ways to help Ukraine fend off potential Russian cyberattacks while seeking to protect digital systems in their own countries.
White House cybersecurity official in Europe warning of Russian hacks (Reuters) Russia could use cyberattacks as part of its efforts to destabilise and further invade Ukraine, a White House cyber official visiting her European counterparts said on Wednesday.
US official warns NATO, Baltics about possible Russian cyberattacks (LRT) This week, Anne Neuberger, US Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber, is visiting NATO headquarters to help the alli...
With Russian hackers in mind, NATO takes hard look at cyber strategy (The Christian Science Monitor) NATO strategists are rethinking its reliance on mutual defense among members when it comes to the cyber battlefield and fending off hackers.
Ukraine-Russia: the first shots have already been fired – in cyberspace (The Conversation) Russia has been developing sophisticated hybrid warfare tactics for some years now.
Ukraine-Russia crisis: What to know about rising fear of war (AP NEWS) The United States is bolstering its military presence is central and eastern Europe, the Pentagon announced Wednesday, in response to fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Poland to send air-defense weapons, ammo, drones to Ukraine (Defense News) Poland has joined a growing group of countries declaring they will supply weapons to Ukraine amid the country’s tensions with Russia.
Response to Moscow’s Ukraine Demands Shows Gulf Between Russia and West (Wall Street Journal) The U.S. and NATO rejected the Kremlin’s demands about the alliance's expansion and instead blamed the tension on Russian President Vladimir Putin, details of two bluntly worded responses delivered to Moscow last week show.
NATO says Russia to have 30,000 troops on drills in Belarus, north of Ukraine (Reuters) NATO said Russia had stepped up deployments to Ukraine's northern neighbour Belarus in recent days and was expected to have 30,000 troops there for joint military exercises this month.
While the world watches Ukraine, Putin is quietly occupying Belarus (Atlantic Council) As the world watches for a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is quietly occupying neighboring Belarus and dramatically altering the Eastern European security balance in Moscow's favor.
US Says that Bolstering Ukraine’s Cyber Defenses Will Take Time (KyivPost) The United States is working with Ukraine to bolster its cybersecurity defenses, having sent teams of… - Feb. 02, 2022. By Roman Woronowycz
As Ukraine prepares for cyberattacks, officials warn of ransomware in disguise (mint) Russia, other countries might use software to destroy data, mask government involvement, cyber experts say
'The Russians have advanced their trade since NotPetya': Why UK business needs to reassess state-backed threats (Computing) Jonathan Wood, an ex- government military professional and the CEO and Founder of C2 Cyber, explains why the combination of the pandemic and the escalating conflict in the Ukraine could spell disaster for some UK organisations
Netherlands ready to provide cyber assistance to Ukraine (Ukrinform) The Netherlands is ready to provide technical cyber assistance to Ukraine and is interested in cybersecurity cooperation. — Ukrinform.
Minister: Estonia may face similar cyber attacks as those made against Ukraine (Baltic Times) Estonian Minister of Entrepreneurship and IT Andres Sutt said that the cyber security situation in the region has deteriorated signifi...
Ex-GCHQ boss: How Putin will unleash hackers against UK over Ukraine (Mail Online) Britain warned Moscow that the UK will impose sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine but former cyber security boss CIARAN MARTIN warns this could lead to a spike in cyber attacks
NHS a target if Moscow launches cyber blitz on UK over Ukraine support (Mail Online) Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin told the Cabinet this week that the UK should be ready for potential cyber offensives from the Kremlin.
Satellite images show Russian troops training, more deployments around Ukraine (Military Times) Maxar Technologies has collected images over the last several months to track Russian military deployments.
These are the US troops rapidly deploying to Europe to counter Russia (Task & Purpose) "They're going to ensure the robust defense of our NATO allies."
US Military Equipment Ready in Europe For Deploying Forces (Defense One) The Army’s prepositioned gear allows troops to respond quickly in times of crisis.
U.S. aircraft carrier runs drills in Adriatic amid Russia-Ukraine tension (Reuters) The U.S. admiral leading the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier strike group wouldn't speculate on Wednesday about what comes next after exercises in the Adriatic Sea end in the coming days. Navy rules prohibit talking about future operations.
Ukraine crisis: Russia criticises US military moves as ‘destructive step’ (the Guardian) Moscow says US deployments in eastern Europe increase tensions, as Nato says Russia has moved 30,000 troops to Belarus
Putin heads to China to bolster ties amid Ukraine tensions (AP NEWS) American and European officials may be staying away from the Beijing Winter Olympics because of human rights concerns, but Russian President Vladimir Putin will be on hand even as tensions soar over his buildup of troops along his country's border with Ukraine.
Germany helps Putin with its double standard on arms exports (Defense News) Berlin should drop its double standard and join the NATO effort to support Kyiv with more than helmets.
EXPLAINER: Why Europe lacks voice, power in Ukraine crisis (AP NEWS) Scarred by losing tens of millions of lives on their soil in two world wars, many European Union nations have been wary ever since about military spending. Now, as Russian pressure builds at the Ukrainian border, they face a painful reality: Europe remains heavily reliant on U.S.
Biden dispatching additional U.S. troops to Eastern Europe (Washington Post) President Biden is dispatching additional U.S. military personnel to Eastern Europe at the recommendation of the Pentagon, and about 3,000 service members are expected to deploy in the coming days, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Biden Calls Troop Movement ‘Totally Consistent’: Ukraine Update (Bloomberg) The U.S. gave the green light to plans to move more troops to Europe and dispatch soldiers already stationed on the continent further east as it seeks to send a stronger military message alongside its diplomatic efforts with Russia over Ukraine.
NATO Is Dangerously Exposed in the Baltic (Foreign Policy) Don’t listen to Russia. NATO needs to bolster, not downsize, its flimsy defenses.
Leaked text suggests possible US-Russia missile arrangement over Ukraine (Military Times) The text closely reflects statements made to the media last week by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg as he laid out the 30-nation military organization’s position on Russia’s demands.
Don’t let Putin use Ukraine crisis to get arms control concessions (Breaking Defense) We should not mince words: Russia’s missile diplomacy is built on a lie.
Even after the crisis over Ukraine, the West won’t be able to rest (Atlantic Council) It is time for the West to take its head out of the sand and to take measure of the potential global consequences of this crisis.
Ukraine and Dollar Weaponization (Atlantic Council) America has responded to Russian aggression with an unconventional weapon: the dollar.
Biden is threatening Putin with personal sanctions over Ukraine. What to know about this pressure tactic. (Washington Post) As concerns grow that Moscow will again invade Ukraine, President Biden has threatened the use of financial sanctions and export controls that could wreak havoc on the Russian economy.
What We’ve Already Learned From the Russia-Ukraine Crisis (World Politics Review) Several months of crisis on the Russia-Ukraine border has already answered important questions that had been hovering over the trans-Atlantic alliance for much of the past 15 years. It’s worth taking stock of them now because the crisis could yet unfold in ways that serve to overshadow or obscure them.
Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
Antlion: Chinese APT Uses Custom Backdoor to Target Financial Institutions in Taiwan (Symatec Enterprise Blog) The attackers spent a significant amount of time on victim networks.
Researchers detect fresh wave of hacking attacks on Palestinian targets - CyberScoop (CyberScoop) A hacking group is targeting Palestinian people and organizations with a wave of years-old malware, according to research published Wednesday.
Arid Viper APT targets Palestine with new wave of politically themed phishing attacks, malware (Cisco Talos) A blog from the world class Intelligence Group, Talos, Cisco's Intelligence Group
Iran's national TV stream hacked for the second time in a week (The Record by Recorded Future) A hacktivist group known as Adalat Ali (Ali's Justice) has hijacked the web stream of Iran's state-owned television station, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), in order to broadcast an anti-regime message earlier this week.
Digital warfare tech at sea helping US foes evade sanctions (AP NEWS) Technology to hide a ship's location previously available only to the world's militaries is spreading fast through the global maritime industry as governments from Iran to Venezuela — and the rogue shipping companies they depend on to move their petroleum products — look for stealthier ways to circumvent U.S.
North Korea Hacked Him. So He Took Down Its Internet (Wired) Disappointed with the lack of US response to the Hermit Kingdom's attacks against US security researchers, one hacker took matters into his own hands.
Sugar Ransomware, a new RaaS (Medium) An actor recently has been starting up a RaaS solution that appears to primarily focus on individual computers instead of entire enterprises but is also reusing objects from other ransomware families. Not a lot has been discussed about this ransomware but we did find a tweet mentioning one of the samples[3] during our research.
SolarMarker malware spread through advanced SEO poisoning (SearchSecurity) SolarMarker, a backdoor and information-stealing malware, is being distributed using advanced SEO poisoning techniques, according to Sophos.
SolarMarker campaign used novel registry changes to establish persistence (Sophos News) Inserting custom file handling rules for a randomly-created file extension and a .LNK in Windows’ startup folder, malware installer created a stealthy persistence mechanism for backdoor.
Using .ppam Files to Wrap Executable Content (Avanan) PowerPoint add-on files are being used to wrap malicious content.
NPM Threat Report: Popular JavaScript Package Registry Is A Playground For Malicious Actors (WhiteSource) Learn how the most popular JavaScript package managers – npm – is being used by malicious actors to launch attacks, run botnets, and steal credentials and crypto.
TrickBot Gang Uses Template-Based Metaprogramming in Bazar Malware (Security Intelligence) Explore the in-depth analysis on how the TrickBot threat group uses template-based metaprogramming to unleash the Bazar malware.
UEFI firmware vulnerabilities affect at least 25 computer vendors (BleepingComputer) Researchers from firmware protection company Binarly have discovered critical vulnerabilities in the UEFI firmware from InsydeH2O used by multiple computer vendors such as Fujitsu, Intel, AMD, Lenovo, Dell, ASUS, HP, Siemens, Microsoft, and Acer.
MFA PSA, Oh My! (Proofpoint) As multi-factor authentication becomes a standard security practice, phish kits are evolving with the times to steal these tokens and bypass this trusted layer of security.
Popular authentication app pulled from Google Play for being financial malware (SC Magazine) Examples of cyber criminals utilizing multi-factor authentication (MFA) tokens and authenticator apps is a growing trend, according to one cybersecurity expert.
Scammers continue to spoof job listings to steal money and data, FBI warns (The Record by Recorded Future) Since at least early 2020, video game giant Riot Games has been dealing with a scam that is increasingly ensnaring companies and job seekers alike.
Kaspersky uncovers multiple vulnerabilities in wearable tracking technology (Security Brief) Kaspersky's researchers have found 33 vulnerabilities in the most commonly used protocol for transferring data from wearable devices worn by patients for remote monitoring.
Shell reroutes oil supplies after cyberattack hits two German oil companies (Teiss) After a cyberattack disrupted the operations at two German oil storage and logistics companies, energy giant Shell was forced to reroute supplies to other alternative supply depots for the time being.
BlackCat ransomware implicated in attack on German oil companies (ZDNet) German newspaper Handelsblatt said 233 gas stations across Germany have been affected by the incident.
Shortage of KP Nuts and Hula Hoops looms after cyber-attack | Food & drink industry (Verve times) A cyber-attack targeting KP Snacks could lead to a shortage of some of the nation’s most popular snacks including Hula Hoops, McCoy’s and Tyrrells crisps, Butterkist, Skips, Nik Naks and KP Nuts. The company has sent a letter to partner stores saying the ransomware attack, which has crippled its IT and communications systems, could lead […]
KP Snacks giant hit by Conti ransomware, deliveries disrupted (BleepingComputer) KP Snacks, a major producer of popular British snacks has been hit by the Conti ransomware group affecting distribution to leading supermarkets.
UPDATE: KP Snacks ‘compromised’ by Ransomware attack and “cannot safely process orders” (Better Retailing) Stores face more disruption to crisp supply as KP Snacks puts a ban on orders due to cyber attack.
Cryptocurrency platform Wormhole hacked for an estimated $322 million (The Record by Recorded Future) A threat actor has abused a vulnerability in the Wormhole cryptocurrency platform to steal an estimated $322 million worth of Ether currency.
Emsisoft releases DeadBolt ransomware decryption tool (SearchSecurity) Emsisoft released a decryption tool for DeadBolt ransomware victims who paid the ransom but can't utilize the key they were given.
RRD mystery buyer withdraws offer, group suffers cyber attack (Printweek) The unnamed "strategic buyer" that made an unsolicited non-binding bid to acquire RR Donnelley for $11.50 (£8.48) per share in cash has withdrawn its offer.
Cyber attack on Red Cross data stings family reunification push, feds say (Newsweek) The State Department added that the hack "had real consequences" and "harmed the global humanitarian network."
State Department Says It’s ‘Concerned’ About Red Cross Hack (Bloomberg) Sensitive data on vulnerable people breached in November. Red Cross has pleaded with hackers not to release information.
Security Patches, Mitigations, and Software Updates
Google Releases Security Updates for Chrome (CISA) Google has released Chrome versions 98.0.4758.80/81/82 for Windows and 98.0.4758.80 for Mac and Linux. These versions address vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit to take control of an affected system. CISA encourages users and administrators to review the Chrome Release Note and apply the necessary updates.
Elementor WordPress plugin has a gaping security hole – update now (Naked Security) We shouldn’t need to say, “Check your inputs!” these days, but we’re saying it anyway.
Critical Samba Remote Code Execution Flaw Fixed (Decipher) A Samba bug could allow remote attackers without authentication to execute arbitrary code as root on impacted systems.
Trend Micro Patches Vulnerabilities in Hybrid Cloud Security Products (SecurityWeek) Trend Micro has patched two high-severity vulnerabilities in hybrid cloud security products. Details and PoC exploits are public.
ESET antivirus bug let attackers gain Windows SYSTEM privileges (BleepingComputer) Slovak internet security firm ESET released security fixes to address a high severity local privilege escalation vulnerability affecting multiple products on systems running Windows 10 and later or Windows Server 2016 and above.
Microsoft adds ‘critical’ feature for GitHub security (VentureBeat) Win for application security: Microsoft aims to help protect software supply chains by integrating its Sentinel SIEM and GitHub repositories.
Trends
NSA Releases 2021 Cybersecurity Year in Review (National Security Agency/Central Security Service) The National Security Agency released the 2021 NSA Cybersecurity Year in Review today to highlight how its cybersecurity mission continues to prevent and eradicate threats to the
Menlo Security Finds Cloud Migration and Remote Work Gives Rise to New Era of Malware, Highly Evasive Adaptive Threats (HEAT) (Business Wire) Menlo identifies surge in cyberthreats termed HEAT. Company has seen a 224% increase in HEAT attacks in last 6 months fueling ransomware surge.
Too hot to handle: Why modern work has given rise to HEAT attacks (Menlo Security) A deep dive into how modern work has given rise to Highly Evasive Adaptive Threats (HEAT).
OT/IoT Security Report Trends and Countermeasures for Critical Infrastructure Attacks (Nozomi Networks) Nozomi Networks Labs continues to aggregate industry trends and its own research in this semi-annual report covering the second half of 2021. Cybercrime continued to increase in the last six months of the year—ransomware and supply chain attacks dominated the headlines with the most impact and operational disruption.
CYREBRO Analysis: Vulnerability Exploitation is the Top Threat to SMBs (PR Newswire) CYREBRO, the developers of the first online, technology-agnostic Security Operations Center (SOC) Platform, unveiled research revealing that...
80% of Critical Infrastructure Organizations Experienced Ransomware Attacks Last Year (Claroty) New report from Claroty highlights the cybersecurity challenges facing critical infrastructure organizations the past year, how they dealt with them, and their new priorities
India ranks third globally for consuming pirated content in 2021: Akamai Report (The Indian Express) Atleast 132 billion visits to piracy websites were logged in 2021. The report notes that 61.5 per cent of consumers who visited piracy sites accessed them directly, while 28.6 per cent actively searched for them.
Marketplace
NRC issues cybersecurity sources sought (Intelligence Community News) On February 2, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a sources sought notice for Characterizing Nuclear Cyber Security Using Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning. Responses are due by 4:00 p.m. Eastern on February 17.
Keeper Security Acquires Glyptodon to Provide Zero-Trust Remote Access for IT Admins, SREs and DevOps Teams (PR Newswire) Keeper Security, the leading provider of zero-trust and zero-knowledge cybersecurity software covering password management, dark web...
Cybereason confidentially files for U.S. IPO, report says (Boston Business Journal) Cybereason Inc., which last year outlined IPO plans following a $275 million fundraise, may be one of the first local tech companies to go public in 2022.
Cybereason Reportedly Files IPO, Playing 'Catch-Up' with CrowdStrike (Channel Futures) Cybereason has reportedly filed for an initial public offering (IPO) at a valuation of $5 billion. Its top competitors already are public.
Foresite Cybersecurity Adds Robust Risk Management Product by Acquiring Cyber Lantern (PR Newswire) Foresite Cybersecurity, a cyber security innovator, today announced the acquisition of Cyber Lantern into its security monitoring, management,...
EXCLUSIVE France's Thales considers move for Atos cybersecurity arm BDS -sources (Reuters) France's Thales is working on a plan to buy the cybersecurity business of IT consultancy group Atos, sources told Reuters, in a potential $3 billion tie-up likely to test the political determination for shoring up France's digital defences.
Arctic Wolf acquires Tetra Defense to expand incident readiness solutions (Help Net Security) Arctic Wolf announced that it has completed the acquisition of Tetra Defense, an incident response company.
KPN venture unit invests in integrated cloud security company (Capacity Media) The venture arm of KPN has backed UK-based Censornet, which offers what it calls autonomous integrated cloud security.
Nord Security and Surfshark take on ExpressVPN with huge VPN merger (Tom's Guide) It's the biggest joining of VPN forces we've ever seen
Intel Launches Project Circuit Breaker (Business Wire) An expansion of its Bug Bounty program, Intel’s Project Circuit Breaker gathers a community of elite hackers to reshape vulnerability management.
INDONESIA/ISRAEL/UKRAINE : Ukraine's Infozahyst to assist Cognyte on Indonesian interceptions contract (Intelligence Online) Israeli group Cognyte has called in Ukrainian interceptions specialist Infozahyst to help it fulfill a contract for the Indonesian intelligence services. Cognyte, a Verint group spin-off, needs the
Intercede secures contract with US Federal Agency (ShareCast) Software firm Intercede has successfully won a competitive bid to supply an unnamed independent US Federal Agency with access to its MyID credential management software.
Trusona appointed to FIDO Alliance Board, Toppan biometrics achieve certifications (Biometric Update) Two companies have each moved steps toward the adoption of biometric, passwordless authentication architectures designed by the FIDO Alliance.
UNITED STATES/RUSSIA : Sistema heiress providing cyber solutions to the FBI (Intelligence Online) Her breakaway from the Sistema family empire has led Russian investor Tatiana Evtushenkova to rub shoulders with a clique of US intelligence experts in London and a stake in FBI service provider
BreachQuest Welcomes Sandy Dunn as Chief Information Security Officer (PR Newswire) BreachQuest, the company revolutionizing incident response, today announced that cybersecurity veteran Sandy Dunn has joined its seasoned...
Crypto.com: Ex-Hacker Who Worked for Controversial Spying Firm Won’t Join Company (Vice) The cryptocurrency exchange hired a hacker who used to work for DarkMatter, a controversial company that spied on U.S. citizens.
Products, Services, and Solutions
Orca Security Launches Industry’s First Cloud Risk Encyclopedia to Provide Ongoing Education for Cloud Security Best Practices (Yahoo Finance) Orca Security, the cloud security innovation leader, today launched the Orca Cloud Risk Encyclopedia to serve as a global resource for practitioners and researchers throughout the InfoSec community. Rapid cloud adoption, increased multi-cloud complexity, and a shortage of cloud security professionals have contributed to a widening cloud security knowledge gap. Orca Security believes in education and transparency and is sharing the same collection of public cloud
Pluribus Delivers Unprecedented Network Visibility for Cloud-Native Applications; Unveils Support for 400GbE Networking (Pluribus Networks) Rapid growth of distributed cloud native applications drives demand for increased bandwidth and pervasive network visibility; Industry-firsts FlowTracker and KubeTracker™ provide visibility for all network flows, including those inside Kubernetes clusters.
Pluribus Netvisor ONE R7 Feature Spotlight: Kubernetes-aware Fabric with the KubeTracker™ Fabric Service (Pluribus Networks) One of the most innovative features of Netvisor 7 is a new suite of monitoring and visibility tools, including FlowTracker and KubeTracker™ fabric services.
Mandiant Bolsters SaaS Platform with Integration of New Attack Surface Management Module (Business Wire) Mandiant announces general availability of new Attack Surface Management module in Mandiant Advantage.
Sophos extends adaptive cybersecurity ecosystem with Zero Trust Network Access (Back End News) Cybersecurity solutions company Sophos announced Sophos ZTNA, the only zero trust network access (ZTNA) service that fully integrates its endpoint solution (Sophos Intercept X) providing advanced e…
MAHLE Selects Omada Identity for Improved Identity Governance (PR Newswire) Omada A/S ("Omada"), a global leader of Identity Governance and Administration (IGA), has been selected by MAHLE to replace its legacy IGA...
Aqua Security CNAPP is first to combine frictionless cloud workload visibility with active protection across the application lifecycle (Aqua) Security teams can choose from out-of-the-box workload visibility and real-time response according to risk tolerance and maturity.
BlackFog Launches Virtual CISO Offering | BlackFog (BlackFog) BlackFog Launches Virtual CISO Offering and continues expansion with new service offering fully managed fractional CISO expertise.
Confluera Announces Enhancements to Cloud eXtended Detection and Response Solution (PR Newswire) Confluera, the leading provider of next-generation cloud cyber attack detection and response, today announced significant updates to its...
Technologies, Techniques, and Standards
Hackers love Cobalt Strike: Here’s how to spot its use (The Stack) Cobalt Strike was the single most widely seen offensive tool used by Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actors in the last quarters of 2021, according to analysis by security firm Trellix.
The world needs a cybersecurity ecosystem for a resilient electric future (Hitachi Energy) The energy industry is one of the world’s top three target sectors for cyber attacks. Not least recent events such as the ransomware strike on the Colonial Pipeline which disrupted fuel supplies to the US Southeast, a data breach at Danish wind turbine maker Vestas, and a cyber attack on the nuclear unit of Brazil’s Eletrobras have reminded us how vulnerable to cyber crime the energy sector still is.
Why Security Pros Are Frustrated With Cloud Security (Dark Reading) As companies shift more operations to the cloud, a shortfall in security talent and too much security data wastes more than half of the time spent on security issues, a survey finds.
Managing Detections is Not the Same as Stopping Breaches (Dark Reading) Enterprises interested in managed detection and response (MDR) services to monitor endpoints and workloads should make sure the providers have rock-solid expertise in detecting and responding to threats.
Design and Innovation
This Bot Hunts Software Bugs for the Pentagon (Wired) Mayhem emerged from a 2016 government-sponsored contest at a Las Vegas casino hotel. Now it's used by the military.
Kaspersky launches mobile game to enhance cybersecurity awareness (Times of India) Kaspersky has released a new mobile cybersecurity quest titled [Dis]connected to make training more engaging and increase employees’ interests in info
Research and Development
IARPA Selects BAE Systems to Advance Machine Learning to Assure Data Security (Business Wire) BAE Systems has been awarded a $14 million contract from IARPA to develop tools to decipher radio frequency signals.
2021 Anaqua Analysis of USPTO Patenting Statistics (Anaqua) According to Anaqua’s annual analysis of USPTO patent statistics, using Anaqua’s AcclaimIP patent analytics software, after two years of US patent grants above 390,000 in 2019 and 2020, indicative figures for 2021 show a 4% decrease to 375,506 for the period December 1, 2020 – November 30, 2021. Compared with 392,616 for 2019 and 390,576 for 2020, this represents the steepest decline in US patent grants in more than a decade.
Legislation, Policy, and Regulation
New UK International Data Transfer Tools Presented to UK Parliament (cyber/data/privacy insights) Standard contractual clauses are one of the key tools relied upon by organizations that transfer personal data to recipients in ‘inadequate’ countries under the UK and/or the EU General Data Protection Regulation.
DHS Official to Chair Biden-ordered Cyber Safety Review Board (Nextgov.com) Cybersecurity professionals say the board needs subpoena authority in order to be effective.
DHS establishes review board for cyber incidents affecting the federal government (SC Magazine) Similar to the NTSB's role investigating the cause of airplane crashes, the Cyber Safety Review Board will be charged with studying the cause of and fallout from major hacks that touch the federal civilian government.
Paying for the shift to zero trust (FCW) The National Security Agency has been working with the Pentagon's CIO to understand how agencies might be able to fund their journeys to zero trust.
Government’s responses to major cyber breaches were well-coordinated, GAO says (Federal News Network) The name SolarWinds has become synonymous with a scary cybersecurity crisis. It's one of at least two widescale breaches to which the government had to respond. The other is when hackers showed they…
New DoD Chief Digital and AI Office begins work (The Record by Recorded Future) The Pentagon has christened its new office to coordinate data and artificial intelligence resources and efforts across the massive department and named an acting chief to helm the organization.
Litigation, Investigation, and Law Enforcement
FBI Director Wray says scale of Chinese spying in the U.S. 'blew me away' (NBC News) The FBI opens a new China-related counterintelligence investigation every 12 hours on average, and it now has over 2,000 such cases.
State Department offers $10M for information on Iranian election interference - CyberScoop (CyberScoop) The State Department is offering a $10 million reward for information on two Iranian hackers who allegedly participated in state-sponsored cyber operations designed to interfere with the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
FBI acknowledges it tested NSO Group’s spyware (Washington Post) The agency says it never used the spyware in an investigation
False Claims Act (Hogan Lovells) 2021 ushered in a new administration, new U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, and, of course, new DOJ policies and initiatives – many of which implicate the False Claims Act (FCA). But one thing that remained constant was DOJ’s use of the FCA as a key enforcement tool.
4th Circ. OKs Warrantless Use Of Man's Cellphone Data (Law360) Baltimore County police had the right to obtain a man's cellphone location data and call logs without a warrant because they reasonably suspected he could harm others if he were not apprehended quickly, the Fourth Circuit said in a ruling that sided with a lower court.
Trouble ahead for adtech as consent pop-ups ruled illegal (Computing) Consent pop-ups not sufficiently clear, IAB Europe fined, and adtech firms including Google, Amazon and Microsoft must delete data gathered through Transparency and Consent Framework
Top former DoD cyber official reaches settlement in bid to clear her name (Federal News Network) Katie Arrington, the former top cyber official in DoD’s office of acquisition and sustainment, gained new information as part of a lawsuit, her attorney said.
InfraGard National Members Alliance and NEC Corporation of America Join Forces in the Fight Against Human Trafficking (Security Today) InfraGard National Members Alliance, an FBI-affiliated nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting U.S. critical infrastructure and the American people, and NEC Corporation of America have joined forces in the fight against human trafficking. In honor of National Human Trafficking Prevention Month in January,
