Telegram CEO arrested in France. Port of Seattle and Sea-Tac airport disrupted by cyberattack.

Summary

By the CyberWire staff

At a glance.

Telegram CEO arrested in France.
Port of Seattle and Sea-Tac airport disrupted by cyberattack.
SonicWall patches a critical vulnerability.

Telegram CEO arrested in France.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has been arrested at a French airport on a warrant related to alleged failures to properly moderate the popular messaging app, the BBC reports. Durov was born in Russia but moved to Dubai after refusing to comply with censorship demands from the Russian government. He now holds dual citizenship in France and the UAE. France 24 cites a source as saying Durov was arrested as part of a preliminary investigation by France's OFMIN agency into "fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime, and promotion of terrorism" on Telegram, with Durov accused of failing to take action against these activities.

Telegram said in a statement on X, "Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act — its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform."

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Port of Seattle and Sea-Tac airport disrupted by cyberattack.

The Port of Seattle, which includes the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, sustained a cyberattack over the weekend that disrupted websites, email, and phone services, TechCrunch reports. The airport encouraged passengers to arrive early and check in online, noting that "terminal screens are experiencing technical issues showing flight information."

The TSA says the incident hasn't affected security operations, according to the Seattle Times. The Times adds that Alaska Airlines is manually sorting more than 7,000 checked bags that missed their flights due to the incident.

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SonicWall patches a critical vulnerability.

SonicWall has issued a patch for a critical improper access control vulnerability affecting SonicOS, SecurityWeek reports. The company says the flaw can lead "to unauthorized resource access and in specific conditions, causing the firewall to crash. This issue affects SonicWall Firewall Gen 5 and Gen 6 devices, as well as Gen 7 devices running SonicOS 7.0.1-5035 and older versions."

The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS score of 9.3.

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Notes.

Today's issue includes events affecting France, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

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Selected Reading

Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities

Nearly 32 Million Documents, Invoices, Contracts, and Agreements Exposed Online by Global Field Service Management Provider (Website Planet) A non-password-protected database that contained 31.5 million records belonging to ServiceBridge exposing contracts, work orders, invoices, proposals, and more from companies worldwide was discovered an reported to WebsitePlanet by Cybersecurity Researcher Jeremiah Fowler

The Port of Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport say they’ve been hit by ‘possible cyberattack’ (TechCrunch) The Port of Seattle, which also operates the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, said it was hit with a “possible cyberattack” that appeared to affect

Legislation, Policy, and Regulation

Audit finds notable security gaps in FBI's storage media management (BleepingComputer) An audit from the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) identified "significant weaknesses" in FBI's inventory management and disposal of electronic storage media containing sensitive and classified information.

Litigation, Investigation, and Law Enforcement

Uber fined €290 million for sending drivers’ data outside Europe (Politico) Ride-hailing tech giant protests against what it called a “flawed decision.”

Cryptocurrency ‘pig butchering’ scam wrecks Kansas bank, sends ex-CEO to prison for 24 years (CNBC) The former CEO of a small Kansas bank was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for looting the bank of $47 million — which he sent to cryptocurrency wallets controlled by scammers who had duped him in a “pig butchering” scheme that appealed to his greed, federal prosecutors said.

Industry Events

For a complete running list of events, please visit the Event Tracker.

Events

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Daily Briefing for 08.26.24