Cyber Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
Report: Android Banking Botnet Targeted Russians (BankInfo Security) A large-scale banking botnet has targeted approximately 800,000 Android devices belonging to Russian citizens since at least 2016, according to a new research
Iranian attacks expose vulnerability of campaign email accounts (TheHill) A recent hacking attempt by Iran targeting a U.S. presidential campaign highlighted the vulnerability of email accounts heading into the 2020 elections.
Presidential campaign websites fail at privacy, new study shows (CSO Online) A non-partisan analysis of 23 presidential campaign websites reveals glaring privacy issues.
OTA’s Trust Audit Scores U.S. Presidential Candidates’ Campaigns, Find (PRWeb) The Internet Society’s Online Trust Alliance (OTA), which identifies and promotes security and privacy best practices that build consumer confidence in the In
Advanced scraping attacks can avoid detection (PerimeterX) Scraping attacks require security research for effective mitigation
Anomali Threat Research Team Discovers Cyber Campaign Conducted by Mustang Panda, a Known China Backed APT (West) Attacks Appear to be Targeting Minority Groups, Public and Private Sector Organizations
APT groups are exploiting outdated VPNs to spy on international targets, U.K. and U.S. warn - CyberScoop (CyberScoop) International hacking groups are exploiting vulnerabilities in virtual private network technologies to steal user credentials and monitor sensitive traffic, the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre said, amid recent warnings that the Chinese government has used similar tactics to collect intelligence.
Hack attack puts health details of one million New Zealanders at risk (New Zealand Herald) A hacker may have accessed personal health information of one million people.
A year after patch, Drupalgeddon2 is still being employed in cybercriminal attacks (ZDNet) The remote code execution bug is being used in attacks against high-profile websites.
Most Deepfakes Are Porn, and They're Multiplying Fast (Wired) Researchers worry that doctored videos may disrupt the 2020 election, but a new report finds that 96 percent of deepfakes are pornographic.
How stolen credentials led to hackers spewing hate on McAfee's social media (CRN Australia) CMO Allison Cerra was about to sit down dinner when disaster struck.
Smaller Medical Providers Get Burned by Ransomware (Wall Street Journal) Cyberattacks are pummeling doctors, dentists and community hospitals around the U.S., causing some to turn away patients and others to shut down.
DCH Hospital Pays Ryuk Ransomware for Decryption Key (BleepingComputer) DCH hospitals in Alabama have decided to the pay ransom for the Ryuk Ransomware in order to receive a decryptor and get their computer systems back up and running.
RobbinHood Ransomware Using Street Cred to Make Victims Pay (BleepingComputer) The operators behind the RobbinHood ransomware have changed their language in the ransom note, at least in one variant of the malware, to take from victims all hope of decrypting the files for free and to make them pay for the recovery.
FBI Issues Surprise New Cyber Attack Warning: Multi-Factor Authentication Is Being Defeated (Forbes) As organizations struggle to secure their systems and data, this latest FBI warning will give further cause for alarm.
[Heads up] FBI Warns About Attacks That Bypass Your Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) (KnowBe4) Last month, the FBI sent a special alert called a Private Industry Notification (PIN) to industry partners about the rising threat of attacks that bypass their multi-factor authentication (MFA) solutions.
Zero-day published for old Joomla CMS versions (ZDNet) Proof-of-concept code available online; trivial to exploit.
1 Million People Had Their Medical Data Exposed in Tū Ora Breach (BleepingComputer) Primary health organization (PHO) Tū Ora Compass Health from New Zealand disclosed a security breach that led to the exposure of medical and personally identifiable information (PII) of roughly 1 million people.
Alleged voting app hack linked to U. Michigan: report (StateScoop) West Virginia officials said IP addresses linked to the University of Michigan attempted to access the Voatz app in 2018, CNN reported.
Vulnerability Summary for the Week of September 30, 2019 (CISA) The CISA Weekly Vulnerability Summary Bulletin is created using information from the NIST NVD. In some cases, the vulnerabilities in the Bulletin may not yet have assigned CVSS scores. Please visit NVD for updated vulnerability entries, which include CVSS scores once they are available.
One Year After ‘The Big Hack’ (PixelEnvy) Today marks the one-year anniversary of Bloomberg’s publication of a story about Chinese intelligence intercepting the supply chain of Supermicro, a company which has built and sold servers to Amazon, Apple, the U.S. Department of Defense, and dozens of other companies. Apparently, they developed a chip that looked identical to a rice-sized standard component placed […]
Toms Shoes' Mailing List Hacked to Tell Users to Log Off (Vice) "hey you, don't look at a digital screen all day, theres a world out there that you're missing out on."
Security Patches, Mitigations, and Software Updates
Cisco closes high-impact vulnerabilities in its security offerings (Help Net Security) Cisco has fixed 18 high-impact vulnerabilities affecting several of its security offerings, advises admins to implement the offered security updates ASAP.
New Tool Introduced on Instagram to Prevent Phishing Attacks - IT Security Guru (IT Security Guru) Instagram has added a new feature to its app to help users work out if an email was sent by the Facebook company or if it’s an attempted phishing scam. Now, if you receive an email claiming to be from Instagram, you can check if it’s genuine by heading over to the “Emails from Instagram” …
Cyber Trends
Survey Results: The Real Status of Incident Management (OTRS Group) In the early part of September 2019, OTRS Group conducted a survey of people who are currently working in the IT industry to determine the status of incident management within their businesses.
The State of Cybersecurity Hiring (Burning Glass Technologies) The number of cybersecurity job postings has grown 94% since 2013, three times faster than IT jobs overall. But a talent gap persists.
2019 State of SMB Cybersecurity (Keeper) Our exclusive research conducted in partnership with the Ponemon Institute shows that cyberattacks are more sophisticated, more highly targeted, and happening more often than ever before.
Ponemon: Cyberattacks on SMBs Rising Globally, Becoming More Targeted and Sophisticated (PR Newswire) For the third consecutive year, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have reported a significant increase in targeted...
Mikko Hyppönen: Smart devices are “IT asbestos” (Verdict) The proliferation of “stupid” internet-connected devices will be the “IT asbestos of the future”, cybersecurity expert Mikko Hyppönen has warned.
Digital Transformation Puts Software Security Strategies in Limbo, Finds ZeroNorth Research (BusinessWire) Organizations agree, building security into digital transformation initiatives is a priority—yet the recommended path to progress is unclear.
Attacks on MSPs to surge, say experts (CRN Australia) Security experts warn that attackers have figured out MSPs are a gateway to more targets.
New Report Finds Staggering Increase in Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attacks (West) New Mimecast ESRA Report Finds Millions of Spam, Tens of Thousands of BEC or Impersonation Attacks, Dangerous File Types and Malware Attachments being Delivered to Users’ Inboxes
Insider threats are security's new reality: Prevention solutions aren't working (Help Net Security) Insider threats – caused by current and departing employees – expose companies to breaches and put corporate data at risk.
Consumers have concerns about cybersecurity, value education on best practices (Help Net Security) 74% of consumers would be likely to participate in a cybersecurity awareness or education program from their financial institution if they offered it.
Troubling Intellectual Property Theft and Cyber Threats Persist (SIGNAL Magazine) Nation-state actors continue to mount glaring yet effective attacks on the United States.
Shifting allegiances of hackers causing confusion for defense efforts (TechRepublic) According to cybersecurity company Optiv, hackers are now impersonating each other to hide their true goals.
Small advisers struggle with cybersecurity demands of regulators (Investment News) Many state-registered investment advisers think they are too small to be on criminals' radar.
Over three quarters of UK workforce lack basic cyber training (Commentator) Centrify polling reveals that over two thirds of UK workers have never been provided with cyber security training from their employers
Marketplace
Cybersecurity giants join forces to combat cyberthreats under OASIS umbrella (ZDNet) IBM and McAfee aim to tie cybersecurity products and data together through open source code and standards.
FireEye strengthens alliance with Singapore cyber agency (Channel Asia) FireEye has expanded its partnership with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, leveraging Mandiant services to enhance protection capabilities.
Palo Alto Networks expands India R&D to secure Cloud customers (India Post) As more and more Indian enterprises, small and medium businesses (SMBs) and start-ups begin their Cloud journey, securing the data is paramount
Here's how Arizona is emerging as a cybersecurity powerhouse | AZ Big Media (AZ Big Media) As more and more of the world does business on the Internet, it becomes even more critical for companies to take cybersecurity seriously.
Former RSA Chairman Art Coviello Joins CloudKnox Strategic Advisory Board (Dark Reading) Highly-Recognized Security Strategist Will Help Guide CloudKnox's Accelerating Growth and Expansion
RedSeal Appoints Greg Straughn as Chief Financial Officer (West) Experienced CFO brings both IPO and public-company experience to cyber risk modeling leader
Products, Services, and Solutions
BigID Announces Global Reseller Agreement with SAP (Yahoo) SAP to Resell BigID data discovery and privacy products as solution extensions
Forcepoint Strengthens Global Partner Program To Dynamically Accelerate Adoption Of Behavior-Centric Cybersecurity (PR Newswire) Global cybersecurity leader, Forcepoint, today announced the strategic expansion of its global partner program...
Sophos Cloud Optix Now Available on AWS Marketplace (West) Intelligent Cloud Visibility and Security for AWS Customers Earns Sophos “Technology Partner of the Year” from AWS Partner Network
CUJO AI Platform Surpasses Half a Billion Monitored, Protected Devices Globally (PR Newswire) Ahead of the Broadband World Forum 2019, CUJO AI, the global leader in the development and application of...
SolarWinds Launches Identity Monitor to Empower IT and Security Pros with Automated Account Takeover Prevention (BusinessWire) SolarWinds (NYSE:SWI), a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, today announced the launch of SolarWinds® Identity Monito
Xacta.io Leverages Security Data at Scale to Actively Manage Cyber Risk (West) Telos Corporation delivers next generation cyber risk management platform for complex on-premises, hybrid and cloud-based environments
OPSWAT Joins the VMware TAP Program and Showcases Joint MetaAccess-UAG-Horizon Solution (PR Newswire) OPSWAT, a leading critical infrastructure protection company, today announced it has joined the VMware® Technology...
Breach and Attack Simulation Leader, Cymulate, Launches Industry's First Agentless APT Simulation to Validate Security Posture (PR Newswire) Cymulate, a comprehensive, on-demand SaaS-based Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) platform, today reveals...
SyncDog Announces Partnership with KoolSpan to Deliver Complete Mobile Office to the Workforce (BusinessWire) SyncDog Inc., the leading Independent Software Vendor (ISV) for next generation mobile security and data loss prevention, today announced their partne
Technologies, Techniques, and Standards
Cyber Security Nordic: Have data? Use it, delete it (SC Magazine) Data hoarded without any immediate use also could turn toxic for organisations, warn cyber-security experts
DevOps causes majority of IT companies to live on the edge of cyber-risk (SC Magazine) Research into DevOps reveals siloed thinking, lack of expertise and correct tools contributing to nearly half of firms not having completed developing their DevOps strategies, leaving companies vulnerable.
Industrial Security Podcast: Joe Weiss (Waterfall Security) Industrial security pioneer Joe Weiss explains how there are 3 networks, not 2 - IT, OT and Engineering, with examples from the 2007 aurora test.
Choosing a Router/Gateway with Strong Security Software is Most Popular Action to Prevent Unauthorized Access to Devices (PR Newswire) Research from Parks Associates shows that as households adopt more smart home devices, owners rely more and more on a...
Unmask cybercriminals through identity attribution (Help Net Security) Organized crime has grown more complex since the turn of the century—coinciding with the rise of the digital world, cybercriminals have leveraged the
Integrate cyber maintenance into the US Army’s battle rhythm (Fifth Domain) The war fighter preparing for the future fight must be able to trust the cyber equipment’s readiness, and the absence of ordered cyber maintenance is an ongoing vulnerability.
Design and Innovation
That was some of the best flying I've seen to date, right up to the part where you got hacked (Register) Raytheon has a punt at aviation security with bus software suite
Cloud-native applications need a unified continuous security approach (Help Net Security) The complexity and distributed nature of cloud-native technologies requires companies to rethink their approach not only to Dev and Ops, but also, security.
How Twitter Sees Itself (Vice) Multiple current and former Twitter employees, including executives, explain how Twitter really positions itself and its responsibilities around moderating speech.
Research and Development
Intel Proposes New Type of Memory to Fix Speculative Execution Flaws (ExtremeTech) Intel has a proposal for a new type of memory that could solve many of the speculative execution issues that have bedeviled the semiconductor industry in general (and itself in particular) since January 2018.
Academia
New center aims to ensure connected devices are secure (CBS2) A new national research center it looking into how to ensure that electronic devices and systems of connected devices are designed to protect the interests of consumers and the communities that rely on them.
OCTC program named top cybersecurity program by DHS and NSA (Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer) Owensboro Community & Technical College's computer and information technology program has been named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education by the National Security Agency and the
Valley City State University student wins full cybersecurity scholarship from SANS Technology Institute (AM 1100 The Flag WZFG) Shane Hitch, a sophomore at Valley City State University majoring in software engineering, has been awarded a $22,000 scholarship to the Applied Cybersecurity certificate program operated by SANS Technology Institute. Hitch, one of only 100 students nationwide to receive the scholarship, was a finalist in the SANS Cyber FastTrack challenge, a free online cybersecurity program for college students and graduates designed to help improve the quality and preparation of cybersecurity professionals in this growing, global career field.
Legislation, Policy, and Regulation
Huawei omitted from Czech Republic hardware tender over security fears (Computing) Last year, Czech cyber watchdog had warned network operators against using products supplied by Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE
U.S. Blacklists Eight Chinese Tech Companies on Rights Violations (Bloomberg) Move comes as U.S.-China high-level trade talks set to resume. Action targets Chinese surveillance companies, public entities.
U.S. Adds Chinese Firms to Blacklist, Citing Repression of Muslim Minorities (Wall Street Journal) The U.S. added 28 Chinese entities to an export blacklist, citing their role in Beijing’s repression of Muslim minorities in northwest China, just days before high-level trade talks are set to resume in Washington.
China and Taiwan clash over Wikipedia edits (BBC News) Taiwanese editors suspect the Chinese government is behind edits made to the online encyclopedia.
[Letter to Microsoft President Brad Smith from US Senators Cotton, Rubio, Scott, Hawley, and Braun] (United States Senate) Dear Mr. Smith: We're writing in response to a recent article in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which includes your remarks about the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei.
U.S., allies ask Facebook not to expand encryption on its services (Washington Post) In a letter, top law enforcement officials say encryption hampers criminal investigations.
Analysis | The Cybersecurity 202: Experts slam Justice's move to make child exploitation the face of antiencryption push (Washington Post) They say it's misleading -- and dangerous for all consumers.
California laws seek to crack down on deepfakes in politics and porn (CNET) The laws go after malicious video forgeries.
Litigation, Investigation, and Law Enforcement
Thai activist accused of cybercrimes for posting about foreign monarchies: lawyer (Coconuts) A pro-democracy activist was arrested and charged Monday with violating the Computer Crime Act for posts he made online about monarchies in other nations, according to his lawyer Student-activist Karn Pongprapapan was arrested by police at about...
Egypt Curbs Online Dissent With Street Searches: ‘He Asked to See My Phone’ (Wall Street Journal) Egyptian authorities are combining cyberattacks with random searches of phones and laptops on the street, as part of a campaign to thwart online dissent fueling rare protests against President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.
EXCLUSIVE: Inside New York City’s Partnership With Israeli iPhone Hacking Company Cellebrite (Medium) Documents reveal the Manhattan DA subscribes to a program that lets authorities break into iPhones in-house
Baltimore CIO during ransomware attack is out (StateScoop) Frank Johnson, who had been on unpaid leave since September, was let go permanently about five months after a costly ransomware attack.
Del. Tawanna Gaines, longtime Md. lawmaker, charged with federal wire fraud (Washington Post) The Prince George’s County delegate is accused of using $22,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses.
Ronan Farrow reveals how he ‘turned’ Black Cube investigator shadowing him during Weinstein probe (haaretz.com) In excerpt from new book, New Yorker writer says Israeli private intelligence agency was misled by the Hollywood producer when he hired the firm.
