Cyber Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
Google Cloud in worldwide wobble, G Suite, YouTube affected (CRN Australia) High network congestion takes down G Suite, YouTube.
'Network congestion' blamed for Google Cloud outage that affected YouTube, Snapchat and G Suite (Computing) Google Cloud outage lasted more than four hours on Sunday and affected Snapchat, Discord, Shopify, Vimeo and Pokemon Go as well as Google's own services
Google’s Cloud outage is resolved, but it reveals the holes in cloud computing’s atmosphere (TechCrunch) Five hours after Google publicly announced that it was working to resolve an outage in its Cloud computing network that had taken out a large chunk of Google services as well as Shopify, Snap, Discord and other popular apps, the problem seems to be resolved. The outage hit everything from the abili…
BlackSquid Slithers Into Servers and Drives With 8 Notorious Exploits to Drop XMRig Miner (TrendLabs Security Intelligence Blog) We found a new wormable malware we've named BlackSquid targeting web servers, network and removable drives using evasion, anti-virtualization, anti-debugging, and anti-sandboxing techniques to drop a Monero miner.
TA505 Suspected in Chilean Financial Institutions Malware Attacks (Infosecurity Magazine) CyberInt Research has identified further activities by cyber-gang TA505.
The shady world of Russian data theft (BBC News) Sales of hacked personal data are booming in Russia as the penalties are rarely heavy.
DDoS Botnets are Back and Poised to Do Damage (Infosecurity Magazine) To lessen the threat of botnets, it's critical for users to be more conscious of their own security
‘I was a Macedonian fake news writer’ (BBC) In North Macedonia, there’s a small industry of websites publishing misleading and inflammatory political articles targeted at US readers. Simon Oxenham meets a woman who worked there.
US Companies Help Censor the Internet in China, Too (WIRED) The 30th anniversary of the end of the Tiananmen uprising highlights how Chinese, and Western, companies filter what Chinese internet users can see.
GandCrab ransomware operation says it's shutting down (ZDNet) GandCrab crew says it made enough money and plans to retire within a month.
GandCrab Ransomware Shutting Down After Claiming to Earn $2.5 Billion (BleepingComputer) After almost a year and a half, the operators behind the GandCrab Ransomware are shutting down their operation and affiliates are being told to stop distributing the ransomware.
GandCrab ransomware group announces 'well-deserved retirement' (Computing) So long and thanks for all the cash.
Another MacOS Bug Lets Hackers Invisibly Click Security Prompts (WIRED) Yet again, a bug in Apple's safeguards against "synthetic clicks" allows hackers to slip past Mojave's security restrictions on apps.
Apple macOS security protections can easily bypassed with ‘synthetic’ clicks, researcher finds (TechCrunch) A security researcher has disclosed a new flaw that undermines a core macOS security feature designed to prevent apps — or malware — from accessing a user’s private data, webcam or microphone without their explicit permission. The privacy protections, recently expanded in macOS Mojave, were m…
Wave of SIM swapping attacks hit US cryptocurrency users (ZDNet) Something strange happened last week, with tens of US-based cryptocurrency users seeing SIM swapping attacks.
Public SAP exploits could enable attacks against thousands of companies (CSO Online) A recently released exploit takes advantage of a known configuration vulnerability that persists among many on-premise and cloud SAP instances. Here's what companies using SAP should do.
Realtek SDK Exploits on the Rise from Egypt (NETSCOUT) Executive Summary
ASERT’s IoT honeypot network continuously monitors known exploit vectors and we recently detected a spike in exploit attempts targeting the Realtek SDK miniigd SOAP vulnerability in consumer-based routers from the end of April 2019 until the first half of May 2019.
Microsoft Azure Being Used to Host Malware and C2 Servers (BleepingComputer) Microsoft's Azure cloud services have become an attractive option for cybercriminals to store malicious content. From phishing templates to malware and command and control services, it seems that crooks found a new place for them.
Microsoft users at the mercy of hackers after flaw revealed (Cybersec Innovation Partners) Microsoft users worldwide are at risk of fraud, identity theft, malicious surveillance and remote access as a result of a significant flaw embedded in its operating system.
Hacking WhatsApp – has a line been crossed? (IT Pro Portal) The commercialisation of cyber weapons - private companies are developing and selling to governments is alarming.
iPhone Privacy Is Broken…and Apps Are to Blame (Wall Street Journal) Don’t be too confident in those privacy controls. Our test of 80 apps in Apple’s App Store reveals most apps are tracking you in ways you cannot avoid
People Inc. reports data security breach involving clients' personal info (The Buffalo News) People Inc. said it was the target of a data security breach that involved protected health information of some of its current and former...
Baltimore's Ransomware Mess Is Its Own Fault—Cyber Saturday (Fortune) But NSA isn't blame-free.
Analysis | The Cybersecurity 202: Why the NSA is pushing back against Baltimore ransomware link (Washington Post) The optics of a government tool forcing offline a major American city are especially bad.
Ransomware isn’t just a big city problem (Malwarebytes Labs) The city of Baltimore has experienced a very public ransomware attack. But in a season of increasing ransomware detections among organizations, they're not alone. See which cites have been most impacted by ransomware and what organizations can do to develop resilience against attacks.
Ex with benefits: A third of employees still have access to files from former workplace (Manila Standard) Manila Standard | Defining The News
A Small Business With No Working Website, Felled by a Cyberattack (Wall Street Journal) Small businesses are increasingly battling costly cyberattacks. Jessie Daniels and Polly Thistlethwaite found that sometimes the pain is enough to put a company out of business.
Security Patches, Mitigations, and Software Updates
Apple Just Patched a Modem Bug That's Been in Macs Since 1999 (WIRED) A researcher found the 20-year-old flaw by drawing on tricks from a childhood spent tinkering with his parents’ Mac Performa.
Chrome Extensions Policy Hits Deceptive Installation Tactics (SecurityWeek) Google announced a new policy that aims at eliminating the use of deceptive installation tactics among Chrome browser extensions.
Apple will reportedly limit third-party tracking in kids apps (Engadget) Beginning next week, Apple will reportedly limit third-party tracking on apps in the kids category.
Nvidia Fixes High-Severity Flaws in GeForce Experience for Gamers (Threatpost) Nvidia is urging gamers to update its GeForce Experience software after patching two high-severity vulnerabilities.
Cyber Trends
Tripwire 2019 Vulnerability Management Survey (Tripwire) Unpatched vulnerabilities remain the root cause of today’s most serious data breaches. To understand how organizations are addressing vulnerabilities today, in May 2019, Tripwire partnered with Dimensional Research to survey 340 infosecurity professionals on vulnerability management trends.
5G Security Challenges: A Vendor’s POV (Threatpost) How will 5G vendors deal with the issues of security? Nokia's head of end-to-end security solutions discusses during the GSMA Mobile 360 conference.
IoT Cyber Attacks Percentages are Insanely High (Digital Overload) A new piece of research has revealed that cyber attacks are happening more often and are more numerous than ever before. As the endorsement of Internet of Things (IoT) devices...
Decoding the global economy of cybercrime (Economist) Conservative estimates show cyber-criminal revenue worldwide of at least US$1.5trn to date— equal to the entire GDP of Russia.
Third party failures: a problem for the majority of organisations (Information Age) Third party failures are causing major financial and reputational damage to organisations. Can anything be done to secure the supply chain?
Confusion Reigns as C-Suite Bemoan Lack of Security Resources (Infosecurity Magazine) Nominet research finds 90% of organizations are missing something
Much @Stake: The Band of Hackers That Defined an Era (WIRED) Today's cybersecurity superstars share a common thread—one that leads back to early hacking group Cult of the Dead Cow.
Vendors Need to Stop Fear Selling, it’s Damaging the Whole Industry (Infosecurity Magazine) FUD selling is frustrating, unhelpful and damaging
Marketplace
Huawei: China's State Hackers 'Rigging 5G Tests' Against Nokia And Ericsson (Forbes) A Sunday newspaper has alleged that China's state hackers are secretly testing security vulnerabilities in Nokia and Ericsson equipment and feeding the information to "independent" testers to cheat the results in favor of Huawei.
American Threat to Huawei’s Chip Maker Shows Chinese Tech Isn’t Self-Sufficient (Wall Street Journal) Huawei has spent 15 years and billions of dollars building an advanced semiconductor maker, with the goal of making the Chinese telecom giant self-sufficient. A U.S. blacklisting stands to set it back years in that goal.
Science publisher IEEE lifts ban on Huawei reviewers (TechCrunch) After a temporary ban, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, commonly known as the IEEE, announced on Monday it has lifted curbs on editors and peer-reviewers that work for Huawei and the Chinese firm’s affiliates. The reversal is yet another example of the regulatory murkine…
Another Ripple From the Huawei Ban: Scientific Peer Review (WIRED) IEEE, an engineering organization that publishes several scientific journals, bans Huawei employees from prepublication peer reviews.
How Zuckerberg’s Billionaires Club Can Atone for Facebook (The Hive) The Facebook co-founder has made enemies—very rich enemies—of many of his former partners, who are now speaking out. Chris Hughes and the others should put their money where their mouth is.
Report: Hundreds of engineers laid off at Oracle amid cloud infighting (Silicon Valley Business Journal) Oracle Corp. has spent months quietly cutting jobs across the U.S., with some employees worrying that as much as 10 percent of the company’s 138,000 employees could be out of a job by the time the cuts are complete, according to a new report.
Cybersecurity sector continues to heat up (Washington Post) Two D.C.-area companies announced deals recently.
Baltimore software startup TrackOFF purchased by global cybersecurity firm (Baltimore Sun) Trackoff, a Baltimore software startup that protects consumers' privacy online, was acquired by multi-national cybersecurity firm Avast.
Fluree grabs $4.7M seed round to build blockchain-based database (TechCrunch) Fluree, a North Carolina startup that wants to bring the immutability of blockchain to the database, announced a $4.7 million seed round today led by 4490 Ventures with participation from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund. As CEO and co-founder Brian Platz explains, the database combines b…
CrowdStrike may top these 6 biggest-ever U.S. security IPOs next month (Silicon Valley Business Journal) The Suynnyvale could be valued as high as $4.5 billion and would be only the seventh venture-backed U.S. cybersecurity business to be valued at more than $1 billion in its Wall Street debut.
Kaspersky Lab North American Leader Maxim Frolov Leaves Firm (CRN) Maxim Frolov has departed Kaspersky Lab just five months after assuming responsibility for the company's North American sales, marketing and business development functions.
Dashlane Hires Joy Howard as Chief Marketing Officer (MarTech Advisor) In her new role, she will oversee the global marketing function as well as all policy-related initiatives
Products, Services, and Solutions
FIME disrupts payments testing with industry’s first digital platform (FIME) FIME continues innovation and adapts testing in line with the rapid digital transformation of the global payments industry.
BlackBerry Cylance, NordVPN, and LastPass team up to offer security bundle! (CrackBerry.com) For a limited time, you can get BlackBerry Cyalnce, NordVPN, and LastPass for up to six devices in one subscription package.
Three major Irish banks pilot Deloitte blockchain solution (FinTech) Three major banks in Ireland are using blockchain to verify staff credentials in a drive for security and compliance.
The Bank of Ireland, AIB and Ulster Bank are using Deloitte’s blockchain solution for a pilot initiative, is has been revealed. The solution, which uses Ethereum and was built by Deloitte’s Blockchain Lab in Dublin, verifies and tracks staff credentials and qualifications data.
IBM And Thomson Reuters Announce AI Collaboration (e3zine) IBM and Thomson Reuters announced a joint collaboration to help banks through the powerful combination of AI and real-time regulatory insights.
Siemens LOGO!, a PLC for small automation projects, open to attack (Help Net Security) Siemens LOGO, a PLC manufactured by Siemens, sports vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to reconfigure the device, access project files, etc.
SailPoint launches 'Predictive Identity' (Security Document News) SailPoint Technologies, a developer of enterprise identity governance, today unveiled the SailPoint Predictive Identity platform.
Squirrel Compliancy Solutions Releases Version 2 of their Automated Network Compliance for DISA STIGs (ANCDS) (Yahoo) Squirrel Compliancy Solutions, a provider of network infrastructure security management, has announced the availability of their Automated Network Compliance ...
New infosec products of the week: May 31, 2019 (Help Net Security) New infosec products of the week include releases from the following vendors: AccessData, Bittium, Moogsoft, SailPoint, StorageCraft and Zyxel.
Technologies, Techniques, and Standards
What’s in the ‘black box’ of AI? NIST invites industry to brainstorm standards (Federal News Network) The National Institute of Standards and Technology has just over two months to submit a plan for artificial intelligence technical standards.
Cyber Militia Innovation Meets Mission Needs (SIGNAL Magazine) National Guard members conducting cyber ops found themselves poorly equipped, so they banded together and built the system they needed on a shoestring budget.
Disruptive by Design: Intelligence Fusion Inoculates Against Cyber Threats (SIGNAL Magazine) In the cyber realm, organizations need the means to rapidly identify emerging threats, immediately respond to mitigate risk, and systematically learn from these encounters—just as the immune system responds to a virus.
Design and Innovation
CYBERSECURITY: DOE, utilities seek the ultimate shield against hackers (E&E News) A $33 million, five-year research project that teamed Energy Department laboratories with private cybersecurity firms and California's largest utilities wants to revolutionize how utilities defend themselves.
Even your bot needs to have a manageable identity (ITWeb) Identity governance platforms will need to evolve to identify and manage not only humans, but the non-human elements in our systems.
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Hits All-Time High – So Is Price Next? (Bitcoinist.com) Bitcoin mining difficulty has surged by more than 11 percent to reach a new all-time (ATH) for the network.
What You Should Know About The Origins Of Bitcoin (Crypto Daily) You probably think you know a lot about Bitcoin, you know what it is, you sort of know how it works and you certainly know what it’s worth, or at least, you know what your Bitcoin
A laptop infected with the worst malware sold for $1.3 million, all for art (National Post) Chinese internet artist Guo O Dong, who became famous for riding a Segway while walking a hipster on a leash, made the piece
Research and Development
Researchers spot manipulated photos and video using AI-driven imaging system (Help Net Security) To thwart sophisticated methods of altering photos and video, researchers have a technique to authenticate images throughout the entire pipeline.
Researchers fight ransomware attacks by leveraging properties of flash-based storage (Help Net Security) Ransomware continues to pose a serious threat to organizations of all sizes. In a new paper, "Project Almanac: A Time-Traveling Solid State Drive,"
Academia
UWF showcases cybersecurity initiatives on international stage at NATO cyber defence conference (University of West Florida Newsroom) Breaking barriers as the first U.S. academic institution to participate in the NATO Cyber Defence project, the University of West Florida showcased its cybersecurity initiatives this month on the international stage at the 5th NATO Cyber Defence Smart Defence Projects Conference. Dr. Eman El-Sheikh, UWF Center for Cybersecurity director, presented both at the conference and the …
Researchers want less restrictive policies on accepting money from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, but that appears unlikely (Inside Higher Education) Researchers want less restrictive policies on accepting money from the Chinese telecom giant -- but that appears unlikely, given recent federal policy moves and legal action against the company. Professors also question why they aren't involved in making decisions on bans.
Legislation, Policy, and Regulation
In a Blow to Maduro, Russia Withdraws Key Defense Support to Venezuela (Wall Street Jounal) Russia has withdrawn key defense advisers from Venezuela, an embarrassment for President Nicolás Maduro as Moscow weighs the leader’s political and economic resilience against growing U.S. pressure.
Combating cyber attacks requires mindset change: CSA chief (The Straits Times) As malicious cyber attacks increasingly target civilian arenas like finance or healthcare, preparing for them requires a mindset change on the part of cyber-security agencies.. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Tech Companies & Security Experts Pan Encryption Backdoor Proposal (Digital Trends) Tech companies, civil rights groups, and security experts have released an open letter condemning the U.K. security agency GCHQ's proposal to circumvent encryption on private messages. The proposal suggested that encrypted messages should be copied and sent to law enforcement agencies.
Slack, WhatsApp, Snapchat And Ghost Protocol All Security Risks, Says Wickr CTO (Forbes) Wickr is known as one of the most secure messaging apps available, even trusted by government agencies against state-level hacking. Now the company's co-founder and CTO gives his views on the security risks with WhatsApp, Slack and Snapchat, as well as the issues with the "ghost protocol."
Tory leadership contenders side with US over Huawei security threat (Times) Tory leadership candidates backed US calls to block Huawei from Britain’s communications network yesterday as President Trump prepared to raise the issue during his state visit. Hours before he...
Pompeo Tells Germany to Tackle China or Lose Data Sharing (Bloomberg) U.S. won’t allow data to flow across ‘untrustworthy’ networks. U.S. Secretary of State has talks with Merkel, Maas in Berlin.
Shanahan: Chinese relationship with Huawei, companies is a security risk for DoD (Defense News) Speaking at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, Shanahan stressed that “no one nation can – or should - dominate the Indo-Pacific.”
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US doesn’t have any evidence on Huawei chips: Chinese official (The Economic Times) Degui said, “I don't know where they got the information that our chips are not secure.” Nudging US, he emphasized, “they (US) dont have the evidence at all.”
China Threatens To Blacklist U.S. Firms Refusing To Supply Huawei (Forbes) China has announced its own "non-reliable entity list" in retaliation for U.S. sanctions against Huawei which have hit the Chinese manufacturing giant hard. The move is intended to even the playing field ahead of trade talks and makes Huawei concessions more likely.
America must secure its supply chains against a vulnerability of its own making (Defense News) If China’s rare earth leverage over the U.S. is one part strategic foresight, it is two parts American strategic miscalculation and shortsightedness.
Should private companies be drafted in the cyber war? (TheHill) Historically, the defense, intelligence and law enforcement communities were primarily responsible for handling nation-state attackers.
DHS Needs to Set Guardrails for Its Expanded Insider Threat Program (Nextgov.com) As the department starts monitoring activity on unclassified networks, officials need to update policies and procedures to keep the program effective and constitutional.
In a White House Summit on Quantum Technology, Experts Map Next Steps (Wall Street Journal) Academics and government officials met on the White House grounds to discuss the urgent need to collaborate to advance the country’s prowess in quantum information science.
IG: DHS needs more election tech help, IT patching (FCW) The Department of Homeland Security needs additional IT workers to help it assist state and local election officials, as well as patch its internal systems, the agency's IG said in a semi-annual report to Congress.
Navy ramping up adoption of new pay and hiring system for cyber employees (Federal News Network) In today’s Federal Newscast, the Navy’s Fleet Cyber Command started wide-scale implementation of the Cyber Excepted Service this month.
Litigation, Investigation, and Law Enforcement
Arrest of Los Alamos scientist opens new front in crackdown on Chinese infiltration of U.S. labs (Yahoo News) The indictment of a former researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory appears to signal a new front in the government’s crackdown on China’s efforts to get access to sensitive U.S. scientific research.
NCIS witnesses refuse to take the stand in SEAL war crimes case, judge mulls dismissing all charges (Navy Times) Navy judge Capt. Aaron Rugh unexpectedly released Gallagher from custody on Thursday as a remedy to what he called interference by prosecutors.
Assange won’t face charges over role in devastating CIA leak (POLITICO) The decision surprised national security experts and some former officials, given prosecutors’ recent decision to go after the WikiLeaks founder on Espionage Act charges.
Manning renews effort to be released from Virginia jail (AP NEWS) Lawyers for former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning are renewing efforts to get her released from a northern Virginia jail. Manning's lawyers filed court...
Justice Department Is Preparing Antitrust Investigation of Google (Wall Street Journal) The Justice Department is gearing up for an antitrust investigation of Alphabet’s Google, a move that could present a major new layer of regulatory scrutiny for the search giant.
The Justice Department is preparing a potential antitrust investigation of Google (Washington Post) The Justice Department has taken early steps toward opening a federal antitrust investigation into Google, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Google facing fresh US antitrust investigation after billions in EU fines (The Telegraph) The US Department of Justice is preparing to investigate whether Google conducts anti-competitive business practices in its online searches.
Facebook Loses Appeal to Stall EU Data Transfer Battle (Bloomberg Law) Facebook Inc. lost its bid to have Irish courts rehear a challenge to its EU-to-U.S. cross-border data transfer methods, setting the stage for a battle before the European Union’s top court.
Ruppersberger: EternalBlue Not a Factor in Recent Baltimore Ransomware Attack (Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger) Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) on Friday met with senior leaders of the National Security Agency, located in his district, to discuss recent malicious cyber attacks throughout the country, including the City of Baltimore. He issued the following statement:
N.S.A. Denies Its Cyberweapon Was Used in Baltimore Attack, Congressman Says (New York Times) A stolen N.S.A. hacking tool was a component in a cyberattack on the city, people involved in the investigation have told The Times.
‘Everyone dies’: Barr says he’s unconcerned about the toll his job is taking on his reputation (Washington Post) In a CBS interview, the attorney general also defended Trump against accusations that he is “shredding institutions,” saying he’s seen no evidence of that.
Do Republicans Have The Will To Win The Russia Hoax? (Human Events) Do Republicans have the will to stop their shallow whataboutism and “it’s time to move on” long enough to seize victory?
Alleged LinkedIn hacker Yevgeniy Nikulin will stand trial in U.S. court, despite mental illness symptoms (CyberScoop) Yevgeniy Nikulin is headed back to court. The Russian accused of hacking a number of sites, including LinkedIn and Dropbox, was ruled fit to stand trial in a May 29 decision by U.S. District Judge William Alsup. Nikulin previously was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation for refusing to communicate with his attorneys about his case, despite an ability to communicate about other topics without difficulty. Government attorneys previously argued “there is no comparison to the present case, where the defendant has stated that he has no complaint regarding his representation, but chooses not to discuss the proceedings with his counsel.” The defense has argued that Nikulin suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder related to his brother’s suicide and an abusive father, and that he has exhibited irrational behavior. Now, Alsup has ruled that the case against Nikulin will move forward. In his decision, the judge said Nikulin’s refusal to participate …
Canadian sentenced for selling encrypted phones to criminals (AP NEWS) A Canadian man who sold encrypted Blackberry smartphones to criminals worldwide that enabled them to sell drugs and even plan murders while avoiding the prying eyes of law...
Tech buyer rights raised in Cisco vulnerability (SearchNetworking) The Cisco vulnerability, Thrangycat, raises the question of tech buyer protections when fixing such a serious flaw in a vendor's hardware.
