Dateline: Russia's hybrid war against Ukraine.
Ukraine at D+596: Russian hacktivists disagree over Hamas and Israel. (CyberWire) Some Russian hacktivists see Hamas as a distraction.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 597 (Al Jazeera) As the war enters its 597th day, these are the main developments.
Russia attacks Ukraine’s Danube ports with drones (POLITICO) Kyiv keeps searching for more routes for its vital exports as Moscow’s forces continue to target Ukraine grain.
NATO member Romania finds more drone fragments on its soil after Russia again hits southern Ukraine (AP News) Authorities in Romania found a crater on their territory near the border with Ukraine that they say was likely caused by a crashed drone that exploded on impact.
Russia mounts major attack on key city in eastern Ukraine (Washington Post) Intense fighting raged around the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka for a third day, local officials said Thursday, after Russian forces launched a major attack on the city, mobilizing thousands of troops and columns of armored vehicles.
Russian Regular Ground Forces Order of Battle (Institute for the Study of War) This report contains two sections: an introductory essay on the regular Russian ground forces; and a fully sourced order of battle (ORBAT) of Russia’s regular ground forces down to the brigade and regiment echelon (with select independent battalions), i
Russia and Kyrgyzstan to Create Shared Air Defense System (The Defense Post) Kyrgyzstan's parliament ratified an agreement for a common air defense system with Russia, a day before a planned visit by Russian President Putin.
Finnish intelligence agency warns Russia treating Finland as a ‘hostile country’ (Record) The statement was published in the wake of a possible act of sabotage that damaged both a subsea telecommunications cable and gas pipeline that ran adjacently between Finland and Estonia.
Russia’s Ukraine invasion highlights the need for fundamental UN reform (Atlantic Council) The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the ineffectiveness of the current international security architecture and underlined the need for fundamental reform of the United Nations, writes Paul Niland.
Putin’s fingerprints are all over the Hamas attack (The Hill) The evidence for Russian involvement in this atrocity is circumstantial, but present.
Russians Divide Over Terrorist Attack on Israel (CEPA) Russian state media coverage is now starting to reflect a growing split about Russian society how to respond to the terror attacks on Israel.
The West must learn hard lessons from years of failed Russia policies (Atlantic Council) If Russia is able to achieve even a partial victory in Ukraine, the consequences for global security would be catastrophic. Western leaders must escalate their support for Ukraine to prevent this outcome and make sure Putin’s invasion ends in decisive defeat, writes Kira Rudik.
Czechs, Denmark Team Up to Send Tanks, Firearms to Ukraine (The Defense Post) The Czech Republic and Denmark will send armored vehicles and tanks and thousands of firearms to Ukraine as part of a joint project.
Bulgaria will help Ukrainian F-16 pilots learn English (Yahoo News) Rustem Umierov and Todor Tagarev, the defence ministers of Ukraine and Bulgaria, have signed a memorandum of cooperation that includes assistance in English courses for Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilots. Source: Umierov on Twitter (X), as European Pravda reports Quote: "Moreover, Bulgaria will help with English courses for future Ukrainian F-16 pilots.
Tensions Escalate: Russian Hacker Groups Clash, Israel-Palestine War Continues (The Cyber Express) In a high-stakes cyber conflict, two formidable Russian hacker groups, namely Killnet and the Cyber Army of Russia, are locked
PACE Recognizes Holodomor Famine In Ukraine As Genocide (RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty) The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on October 12 recognized the Holodomor -- the starvation of millions in Ukraine in the 1930s under Soviet leader Josef Stalin -- as genocide.
U.S. Sanctions Two Tankers Accused of Violating Russian Oil-Price Cap (Wall Street Journal) The move is the first time the Biden administration has punished market participants for violating the rules.
Now is the perfect time for Biden to transfer Russia’s frozen assets to Ukraine (The Hill) Putin has noted the stall in military aid, crowing that Ukraine would fall in a week without replenishment of ammunition.
IOC suspends Russian Olympic Committee and cuts off its funding (Washington Post) The International Olympic Committee took the unusual step of suspending the Russian Olympic Committee on Thursday as punishment for Russia’s recent attempt to claim athletes from regions in Ukraine as their own.
Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
Israeli Cyber Companies Rally as Digital, Physical Assaults Continue (Wall Street Journal) Disruptive cyberattacks in Israel are growing, hitting business and government websites as Israeli soldiers mass at the Gaza border. Cybersecurity companies in Israel, concerned about more digital attacks in the coming days, are finding ways to keep products and services available.
The First 72 Hours of the Israel-Hamas War: Hamas and PIJ Activity on Telegram (Flashpoint) Analyzing Telegram's role in facilitating communication and strategy for Hamas and PIJ during the initial days of the Israel-Hamas War
Israel Sees Cyber Incursions Across Digital Systems (Wall Street Journal) Hackers target government and consumer websites, industrial systems, smart billboards.
Hackers infiltrated Israeli smart billboards to post pro-Hamas messages, reports say (Business Insider) Two billboards near Tel Aviv were hijacked for a brief period on Thursday, the boss of a cybersecurity firm told CNBC.
THE HAMAS ISRAEL : CONFLICT EXPLAINER - CYFIRMA (CYFIRMA) INTRODUCTION On October 7, the Palestinian terrorist movement Hamas launched a massive surprise attack through the “Iron Wall” separating the...
Cyber Aggression Rises Following the October 2023 Israel-Hamas Conflict (Radware) The 2023 Israel-Hamas war is an ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas.
The IDF are going into Gaza again – but this time they have a new trick (The Telegraph) Not just mowing the grass but killing it
Will Israel’s agony and retribution end in chaos or stability? (The Economist) Much depends on its offensive in Gaza—and its politicians and neighbours
Hamas’s atrocities and Israel’s retaliation will change both sides for ever (The Economist) The miscalculations of Israel’s and Gaza’s leaders are being laid bare
They brought us here to smell the death (The Telegraph) Terror attack has laid waste to a once well-to-do commune now a scene of burnt corpses and destroyed family homes
Israel publishes picture of baby murdered by Hamas (The Telegraph) The official Twitter account of the Israeli government has posted a distressing image that appears to show a baby murdered by Hamas terrorists.
Hamas has failed to rally the Middle East to its cause (The Economist) But it has managed to demolish America’s plans for the region
An interview with a senior political leader of Hamas (The Economist) Our editor-in-chief sits down with the deputy chairman of the militant group’s political bureau
EU opens probe into X over Israel-Hamas war misinformation (Financial Times) Investigation is first under bloc’s Digital Services Act and comes after letter to Musk raising concerns about platform
EU opens formal investigation into illegal content on X (Computing) The European Commission issued a formal request for information to X on Thursday, a day after EU Commissioner, Thierry Breton, warned Elon Musk about misinformation on the site formerly known as Twitter related to the Israel—Hamas war.
X removes hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts since attack, CEO says (Reuters) The X social media platform has removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts and taken action to remove or label tens of thousands of pieces of content since the militant group's attack on Israel, its chief executive Linda Yaccarino said on Thursday.
US cyber agencies in 'very close contact' with Israel after unprecedented Hamas attacks (Nextgov.com) The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is “working in partnership” with Israeli cyber forces to thwart cyberattacks, a top official said on Thursday.
Five threats security pros everywhere need to focus on as the Middle East war escalates (SC Media) Here’s a primer on the top five threats security pros need to monitor and prepare for as the crisis unfolds.
HTTP/Who? CVE-2023-44487 (Censys) Censys researchers examine the new "Rapid Reset" denial of service vulnerability.
FBI shares AvosLocker ransomware technical details, defense tips (BleepingComputer) The U.S. government has updated the list of tools AvosLocker ransomware affiliates use in attacks to include open-source utilities along with custom PowerShell, and batch scripts.
FBI, CISA Update Cybersecurity Advisory Against AvosLocker Ransomware (Executive Gov) Looking for the latest Government Contracting News? Read about FBI, CISA Update Cybersecurity Advisory Against AvosLocker Ransomware.
#StopRansomware: AvosLocker Ransomware (Update) (FBI and CISA) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are releasing this joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) to disseminate known IOCs, TTPs, and detection methods associated with the AvosLocker variant identified through FBI investigations as recently as May 2023.
Data Thieves Test-Drive Unique Certificate Abuse Tactic (Dark Reading) An SEO poisoning campaign is spreading the RecordBreaker/Raccoon Stealer and LummaC2 infostealers by attempting to confound software certificate checks.
Malicious Solana, Kucoin packages infect NuGet devs with SeroXen RAT (BleepingComputer) Malicious NuGet packages appearing to have over 2 million downloads impersonate crypto wallets, crypto exchange, and Discord libraries to infect developers with the SeroXen remote access trojan.
Over 17,000 WordPress Sites Compromised by Balada Injector in September 2023 (The Hacker News) Over 17,000 WordPress sites hit by Balada Injector malware in Sept 2023, double the August numbers
New Clues Suggest Stolen FTX Funds Went to Russia-Linked Money Launderers (WIRED) Whoever looted FTX on the day of its bankruptcy has now moved the stolen money through a long string of intermediaries—and eventually some that look Russian in origin.
Cloud gaming firm Shadow says hackers stole customers' personal data (Yahoo) French technology company Shadow has confirmed a data breach involving customers' personal information. The Paris-headquartered startup, which offers gaming through its cloud-based PC service, said in an email to customers this week that hackers had accessed their personal information after a successful social engineering attack targeted the company. "At the end of September, we were the victim of a social engineering attack targeting one of our employees," Shadow CEO Eric Sèle said in the email, seen by TechCrunch.
Manufacturing giant dealing with ‘disruptive’ cyberattack (Record) A major U.S. manufacturer of building materials said on Tuesday that it is dealing with a cyberattack disrupting its business operations – becoming the latest manufacturing firm in recent weeks to face operational issues due to a cyber incident.
Social security numbers, MSU IDs accessed during third-party MSU data breach (The State News) On Aug. 17, a handful of MSU students were notified that either their social security numbers or MSU IDs had been stolen due to a large cybersecurity attack in June.
Hackers steal data and demand ransom from Metro Transit in St. Louis (STLtoday.com) A hacking group stole confidential data from the St. Louis area's transportation agency in a cyberattack earlier this month and is threatening to publish it if not paid a ransom.
Marriott Hotel Scam: Guest Warns of Phishing, 'Bad Actor' (Entrepreneur) A Reddit user claims they were a victim of a scam at a Marriott partner hotel in Playa del Carmen. Read more about the email phishing and prepayment scam here.
Casino giant Caesars sends breach notifications to thousands (Register) House always wins, er, wait ...
Security Patches, Mitigations, and Software Updates
CISA Releases Nineteen Industrial Control Systems Advisories (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)) CISA released nineteen Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisories on October 12, 2023. These advisories provide timely information about current security issues, vulnerabilities, and exploits surrounding ICS.
Fortinet Releases Security Updates for Multiple Products (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA) Fortinet has released security advisories addressing vulnerabilities in multiple products. These vulnerabilities may allow cyber threat actors to take control of the affected systems.
Google enhances security with dark web monitoring, iOS password filler (ZDNET) In honor of Cybersecurity Month, Google is introducing new features to keep both iOS and Android users safer online.
Trends
Billions lost: Middle Tennessee case highlights growing trend of elder cyber crime (Tennessean) Be wary of who's calling.
Cyber Insecurity in Healthcare: The Cost and Impact on Patient Safety and Care 2023 (Proofpoint) A strong cybersecurity posture in healthcare organizations is important to not only safeguard sensitive patient information but to deliver the best possible medical care. This second annual report was conducted to determine if the healthcare industry is making progress in achieving these two objectives.
Marketplace
Former Palo Alto Networks employees launch security startup, raise $51 million (SDxCentral) Former Palo Alto Networks staffers start their own company aiming to use process mining to help improve security outcomes.
Vera Raises $2.7M in Pre-Seed Funding (FinSMEs) Vera, a New York- and San Francisco, CA-based startup that develops a conversational assistant to enforce and automate privacy, security, and fairness policies, raised $2.7m in pre-seed funding
Cybersecurity engineers are among the highest paid in the growing cyber industry. (Fortune) With over 600,000 open jobs in cybersecurity, studying cybersecurity engineering is one way to stick out in a crowded and growing field
Demand to Become a Cyber Warrior Remains 'Very' High (AFCEA International) Army Schoolhouse chief sees Cyber and Signal officers needing to evolve for a complex operating environment.
Suzette Kent Joins stackArmor AI Risk Management Center of Excellence (CoE) (stackArmor) By: Gaurav “GP” Pal, Founder and CEO, stackArmor Last month at stackArmor, we announced the establishment of our AI Risk Management Center of Excellence (CoE), comprised of executives with strong operational backgrounds and experience driving large-scale modernization efforts in Federal agencies. We’re pleased to share that Suzette Kent, former Federal Chief Information Officer for the […]
Products, Services, and Solutions
NetWitness Announces Strategic Global Partnership with SDG Corporation for Cutting-Edge Approach to Cybersecurity (Yahoo Finance) NetWitness, a leader in cyber threat detection and response, has today announced a partnership with SDG, a global provider of cybersecurity, identity, risk, compliance, and cloud security technology, consulting, and managed services. The partnership aims to create a unique, comprehensive cybersecurity solution offering unparalleled protection against evolving threats.
DigiCert Announces Comprehensive Discovery of Cryptographic Assets to Support Increasing Corporate Need for Cryptoagility (PR Newswire) DigiCert, a leading global provider of digital trust, today announced its next generation Discovery, a set of key capabilities in DigiCert®...
Technologies, Techniques, and Standards
CISA Releases New Resources Identifying Known Exploited Vulnerabilities and Misconfigurations Linked to Ransomware | CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA) Today, as part of the Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot (RVWP), CISA launched two new resources for combating ransomware campaigns
State’s cyber overhaul bets big on zero trust to tackle emerging threats (Nextgov.com) The State Department started at the “bottom of the barrel” when the White House’s 2021 cybersecurity executive order was released, according to the agency’s chief information security officer.
Bit-Wizards Stresses Importance of IT Security in Light of Cybersecurity Awareness Month (GlobeNewswire News Room) Fort Walton Beach, Oct. 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Managed IT Services provider Bit-Wizards is urging businesses of all sizes to prioritize security in...
Grandkids urged to help teach seniors their cyber ABCs (The Senior) Grandchildren have been urged to teach seniors their "ABCs" in a bid to avoid online scams. The Australian...
Design and Innovation
Quantum risk is real now: How to navigate the evolving data harvesting threat (Help Net Security) To secure data today from the risk of tomorrow, an organization needs to take proactive measures in securing data against quantum risk.
AI-enabled bots can solve CAPTCHAs faster than humans (Help Net Security) Despite spending millions of dollars on traditional bot management solutions, companies are still financially impacted by bot attacks.
Legislation, Policy, and Regulation
The Cyberwar Between the East and the West Goes Through Africa (Dark Reading) By working cooperatively, the West and Africa can mobilize to tackle nation-state-backed cyber threats.
CISA’s Wales: US Needs Better Cyber Resilience Facing China (Meritalk) The Executive Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said today that the threat posed by China within the cyber realm is evolving and much more serious today than it was a decade ago – particularly when it comes to potentially targeting the United States’ critical infrastructure.
U.S., Qatar agree to stop Iran from tapping $6 billion fund after Hamas attack (Washington Post) U.S. officials and the Qatari government have agreed to stop Iran from accessing a $6 billion account for humanitarian assistance in light of Hamas’s attack on Israel, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told House Democrats on Thursday, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private remarks.
Litigation, Investigation, and Law Enforcement
Briefing: European Commission Opens Probe Into X over Content Moderation (The Information) The European Commission is opening an investigation into X over the company’s handling of illegal content, disinformation and violent content, the commission announced on Thursday. The commission is investigating X’s compliance with Europe’s Digital Services Act, “including with regard to its policies and practices regarding notices on illegal content, complaint handling, risk assessment and
PSA assures security of PhilSys, Civil Registration System (Philstar.com) The PSA made the statement on Wednesday in light of a data breach on October 7, reportedly involving a P42 billion data leak, which is said to be larger than a recent breach at Philippine Health Insurance Corp.
DICT says local hacker behind PSA data breach (Business World) THE DEPARTMENT of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) confirmed on Thursday that a local hacker is behind the recent data breach of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) systems.
UK watchdog fines Equifax $13.4 million for role in cyber breach (AML Intelligence) Britain's financial watchdog said on Friday it had fined consumer credit rater Equifax Ltd 11 million pounds ($13.4 million).
SBF’s Magic Hair and Other Big Moments From the FTX Trial (WIRED) The prosecution used star witness Caroline Ellison to drive home just how much power Sam Bankman-Fried allegedly had in orchestrating financial decisions at FTX and Alameda.
Sam Bankman-Fried accused of scoffing and laughing as ex-girlfriend testified (the Guardian) Judge asks Bankman-Fried’s lawyer to ‘have a word with him’ after prosecutors complain of possible intimidation