Sources close to the investigation of the Democratic National Committee hack and related intrusions into the US political party's networks say the FBI has "high confidence" that the Russian government is behind the incidents. The investigation has been going on for longer than the DNC's been aware it was hacked. Reuters reports that US intelligence officials told the Congressional "Gang of Eight" about the espionage last year. (They said back then it was a spearphishing attack.)
Forbes reports that the (allegedly) Russian cybergang who hit Oracle's MICROS point-of-sale system has also compromised five other cash register vendors: Cin7, ECRS, Navy Zebra, PAR Technology and Uniwell.
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University continue their interest in air-gapped systems, demonstrating a proof-of-concept they call "DiskFiltration" that can extract and transmit data to nearby devices even when the victim machine isn't connected to the Internet.
Several developments in the criminal economy are worth noting. Bleeping Computer and Malwarbytes are tracking an evolution of the tech support scam that emulates a Windows activation screen, then persistently nags you to call and pay for your "activation key." Rebooting usually gets rid of them (so far). Heimdal Security reports on a crook-to-crook vendor going by "Others" who's selling the "Scylex" financial crime kit for $7500. "Others" say (says?) it will be bigger than Gamover Zeus. And Kaspersky describes a new version of Shade ransomware that comes bundled with a RAT—the RAT's there to help the criminals identify solvent businesses to extort. There's no margin in blackmailing bankrupts.