Cyber Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
China-Linked Hackers Used UEFI Malware in North Korea-Themed Attacks (SecurityWeek) A group of China-linked hackers used a UEFI bootkit based on code from Hacking Team in attacks on organizations interested in North Korea
Kaspersky uncovers second-ever UEFI-based malware attacks (Computing) Because UEFI lives within a flash memory chip, any malware injected into it can survive reboots, formats and OS reinstalls
Technical Deep Dive: Vulnerabilities Bypass Multi-Factor Authentication for Microsoft 365 (Proofpoint) A few weeks ago, I gave a presentation at Proofpoint Protect Global on the common methods of bypassing multi-factor authentication (MFA) and summarized my findings in this recent blog post.
Foreign spies use front companies to disguise their hacking, borrowing an old camouflage tactic (CyberScoop) Professional hackers who already try to hide their activity through an array of technical means now seem to be trying on more corporate disguises, by creating front companies or working as government contractors to boost their legitimacy.
Crowdstrike CEO discusses potential election risks and cyber hacks in 2020 (CNBC) Cybersecurity technology company Crowdstrike recently published a report that shows there have already been more cyber hack attempts this year than there were in all of 2019. Some vulnerable sectors include technology, manufacturing, telecom and financial. Crowdstrike CEO George Kurtz joins 'Closing Bell' to discuss.
Ahead Of U.S. Election, Email Attack Mimics Democratic Pitches For Volunteers - Expert Reaction (Information Security Buzz) Cybercriminals sent tens of thousands of malicious email attacks yesterday asking recipients to volunteer for the Democratic Party ahead of the November U.S. election, according to cybersecurity researchers at Proofpoint. The emails borrow language from the website of the Democratic National Committee and seek to leverage interest in the U.S. presidential election following the first televised …
Apple's T2 chip has an unfixable vulnerability that could allow root access (AppleInsider) Apple macOS devices with Intel processors and a T2 chip are vulnerable to an unfixable exploit that could give attackers root access, a cybersecurity researcher claims.
Let’s get ready to tumble! Bitcoin vs Monero (Digital Shadows) Over the past ten years, cryptocurrencies have become the go-to form of payment for the less law-abiding citizens of the world due to their secure and anonymous nature. The now-defunct dark web
Boom! Mobile falls prey to Magecart card-skimming attack (ZDNet) Researchers say the website is still compromised, placing consumers at risk.
Mobile network operator falls into the hands of Fullz House criminal group (Malwarebytes Labs) The Fullz House threat group has struck again, this time inserting a credit card skimmer into a mobile phone operator and seller.
Tenda Router Zero-Days Emerge in Spyware Botnet Campaign (Threatpost) A variant of the Mirai botnet, called Ttint, has added espionage capabilities to complement its denial-of-service functions.
Ttint Botnet Targets Zero-Day Vulnerabilities in Tenda Routers (SecurityWeek) A new Mirai-based botnet is targeting zero-day vulnerabilities in Tenda routers, according to researchers at Chinese cybersecurity company Qihoo 360
Joker Malware is no Joke (Panda Security Mediacenter) Google has been removing apps infected with Joker malware from the Play Store again.
Delete these 17 malware-infected apps from your Android phone (DNA India) Delete these 17 malware-infected apps from your Android phone - This malware uses a technique called ‘Dropper’ to breach Google’s security scan and sneak into the user’s device.
With Trump in Hospital With Covid-19, Twitter Suddenly Decides That Wishing for Someone's Death Is a No-No (Gizmodo) Wishing someone else ill will or death is a disgusting act that makes the world worse. This lesson of common decency seems like it would be obvious to everyone, especially a social media network with hundreds of millions of users. Twitter, for its part, recently responded swiftly to the news of President Donald Trump’s covid-19 diagnosis and said that users are not allowed to wish for the president’s death on the platform.
Twitter banished the worst QAnon accounts. But more than 93,000 remain on the site, research shows (Washington Post) July takedown was “a scalpel not a chain saw" in targeting the far-right conspiracy theory
Had your face stolen lately? (WeLiveSecurity) It’s easy to reset your password or PIN. Your face? Not so much. Here’s what to be aware of if your biometric data is compromised in a breach.
How Did ‘Ransomware’ Get So Bad? (New York Times) Hackers are freezing information and demanding ransom. Who is behind this, and what can be done?
Statement from Universal Health Services (UHS) Updated Monday, October 5, 2020, 12:30 PM ET — Universal Health Services (UHS) is pleased to confirm substantial progress toward restoration of online
An Excel error may have led England to under-report COVID-19 cases (Engadget) A day after the UK government announced its highest number of new coronavirus cases in England, the reason behind the drastic rise has reportedly been revealed.
Boris Johnson admits he doesn't know how many Covid contacts have been missed (Independent) PM blames spreadsheet blunder for fiasco, saying ‘some of the data got truncated and it was lost’
Test fiasco grows as missed Covid cases blamed on Excel glitch (Evening Standard) People may have caught Covid-19 because an Excel spreadsheet failure stopped nearly 16,000 cases being transferred swiftly to the test-and-trace system, a Cabinet minister admitted today. Health officials were understood to be racing to trace tens of thousands who had come into close contact with individuals who tested positive for coronavirus but whose details were not properly reported.
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Slack Fixes Partial Outage Disrupting Office Workers’ Chats (Bloomberg) Slack Technologies Inc. experienced outages and degraded performance for more than six hours Monday, disrupting work for thousands of customers who have grown more dependent on the office-chatroom service during the work-from-home period.
Security flaw left ‘smart’ chastity sex toy users at risk of permanent lock-in (TechCrunch) The bug allowed anyone to permanently lock in the chastity device user's penis.
Chowbus delivery service breached, hacker emails data to users (BleepingComputer) A threat actor has hacked into the Chowbus food delivery service and emailed links to the stolen data to all customers.
Major data breach at Limerick hospital under investigation (Irish Examiner) More than 600 patients are being contacted after the hospital became aware of the alleged breach on May 29.
Vulnerability Summary for the Week of September 28, 2020 (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.
Security Patches, Mitigations, and Software Updates
Google Announces Android Partner Vulnerability Initiative (SecurityWeek) Google on Friday announced the Android Partner Vulnerability Initiative (APVI), an effort aimed at improving patching of security issues specific to Android OEMs
Instagram starts labeling ‘state-controlled media’ accounts and posts (Engadget) Over the last week, Instagram has started labeling state-backed media, following through on a policy the company’s parent Facebook announced last October and started implementing on its own social media network this past June.
Cyber Trends
Global Digital Trust Insights 2021 (PwC) Our findings from the Global Digital Trust Insights 2021 ( Global DTI 2021 ) survey of 3,249 business and technology executives around the world tell us what’s changing and what’s next in cybersecurity.
Only 1 in 4 Global Organizations Keep Cardholder Payment Data Secure (GlobeNewswire) Verizon Business 2020 Payment Security Report (PSR) cites lack of long term security strategies by business leaders behind 3rd year decline in payment security compliance
The Critical Convergence of IT and OT Security in a Global Crisis (Claroty) Weathering a Perfect Storm and Preparing for a Post-Pandemic Future
MobileIron Research Reveals the Future of Work is Everywhere: More Than 80% of Global Workforce Does Not Want to Return to the Office Full-Time (Mobileiron.com) Securing mobile devices, apps, and users should be every CIO’s top priority as employees work from anywhere in the new Everywhere Enterprise
Kroll Ransomware Attack Trends – 2020 YTD | Cyber Risk (Duff & Phelps) Analysis of Kroll's intake of cyber incident response cases from January to August 2020 identifies key trends in ransomware attacks and its precursors. Read more
Five New Jobs to Safeguard Our Ever-More Connected Lives (Wall Street Journal) Cyber threats have moved off the computer and into just about every facet of day-to-day life. Here are some professions that could emerge to help in the future.
McAfee and UC Berkeley Center for Long-term Cybersecurity Study Finds MITRE ATT&CK® Improves Cloud Security, Yet Many Enterprises Struggle to Implement It (BusinessWire) McAfee® and the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC) today released a new research study, MITRE ATT&CK a
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UK's tax agency HRMC has seen steady increase of cyberattacks amid COVID-19 (Security Magazine) Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the U.K. has been hit with 521,582 malicious email attacks over the last three months, according to official figures. The HRMC oversees tax affairs for millions of people in the U.K.
Anna Kendrick Is McAfee’s Most Dangerous Celebrity 2020 (McAfee Blogs) Anna Kendrick Is McAfee’s Most Dangerous Celebrity 2020 During COVID-19, people stuck inside have scoured the internet for content to consume – often To conduct our Most Dangerous Celebrities 2020 study, McAfee researched famous individuals to reveal which celebrities generate the most “dangerous” results – meaning those whose search results bring potentially malicious content to expose fans personal information.
Marketplace
ZeroFOX Acquires Cyveillance, Strengthening Global Leadership in Digital Risk Protection (BusinessWire) ZeroFOX is proud to announce the acquisition of the Cyveillance business from LookingGlass Cyber Solutions.
Onapsis Raises $55M Growth Round, Led by CDPQ and NightDragon, Fueling Expansion to Protect Mission-Critical SaaS Applications (BusinessWire) Onapsis, the leader in mission-critical application cybersecurity and compliance, today announced it raised $55 million in Series D financing led by C
New Research Shows Companies With Strong Cybersecurity Outperform the Market By Up To 7% (PR Newswire) BitSight, the Standard in Security Ratings, and Solactive, a German index engineering firm, today released new research demonstrating that a...
NormShield Secures $7.5 Million in Series A Funding (PR Newswire) NormShield, the cyber risk rating company, announced today the closing of $7.5 million in Series A funding led by Moore Strategic Ventures, LLC...
Cyvatar Launches All-in-One Cybersecurity-as-a-Service to Disrupt the Industry with $3 Million Seed Round (NewsDirect) Bold New Market Entrant Targets Waste and Inefficiency across the Industry with Backing from Bill Wood Ventures
Imperva pitches positives of jSonar deal to partners (MicroscopeUK) Security firm believes it now has more for its channel to offer as a result of its latest acquisition.
DMI Wins $11M NIH Cyber Modernization Contract (PR Newswire) DMI, a global leader in digital transformation, has been awarded a one-year $11 million contract to support the National Institutes of Health...
Israel's OurCrowd and UAE's Al Naboodah create $100m fund for Gulf tech investors (The National) The venture is the first of its kind since the two countries normalised relations last month
Draper Goren Holm Announces First Close of $25 Million Blockchain Fund (Finyear) The Los Angeles-based blockchain fintech venture studio announces the launch of Fund 1 At their seventh annual conference, LA Blockchain Summit, Draper Goren Holm today announced the launch and principal close of Fund 1, the studio’s first traditional venture fund of $25 million where Seed and...
Facebook Keeps Data Secret, Letting Conservative Bias Claims Persist (NPR) Conservatives accuse Facebook of being biased against right-wing views, but engagement data tells a different story. The most popular content on Facebook, though, remains a secret.
Akamai Named to India's Best Workplaces for Women (Akamai) Akamai recently received the honor of being named one of the Top 50 Workplaces for Women in India by Great Place to Work. They evaluated over 850 organizations from across India to select this years' winners. Akamai was chosen due to our inclusive practices and positive feedback from our women employees, with over 70% of the women from Akamai India surveyed rating us favorably.
American Cyber Awards Names Safeguard Cyber Innovative Cloud-Based Product Of The Year | newkerala.com Business World (New Kerala) SafeGuard Cyber, the leading SaaS platform offering digital risk protection for modern communications, today announced that it has been recognized as a winner of the 2020 American Cyber Awards, named Innovative Cloud-Based Product of the Year....
Hive Pro strengthens its Middle East presence with a new office in Dubai (EIN) New bigger facility equipped with world class infrastructure to enable the company to expand its business and consolidate its growth in the region
Kemp to visit Augusta for a ribbon-cutting at Cyber Center (WRDW) Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is visiting the Garden City to welcome Perspecta Inc. as it brings 178 jobs to Richmond County.
COPT's board adds former NGA director (Washington Technology) COPT, which rents real estate to agencies and contractors, sees a former intelligence community leader join the company's board of trustees.
Products, Services, and Solutions
Information Security Forum launches Aligned Tools Suite 2020 to help ensure compliance standards (Security Magazine) The Information Security Forum (ISF) announced the launch of ISF Aligned Tools Suite 2020, bringing together 14 ISF tools and cross reference aids, including a rebuilt Benchmark platform and the new IRAM2 WebApp.
Light Rider Unveils Quantum LiFi Technology to Create Next-Generation Network Security (BusinessWire) Light Rider Inc., a quantum LiFi company, today debuted its first two quantum encryption products poised to revolutionize network security for busines
Venafi Debuts Venafi Zero Touch PKI (Venafi) Market leader delivers new modern solution that automates and simplifies public key infrastructure
Anchore Unveils New Open Source Tools For Automated DevSecOps Pipeline Security (PR Newswire) Anchore, Inc., the leading experts in policy-based workflow and compliance, is launching a collection of new open source tools for automating...
Doppler Unveils First-of-its-Kind Universal Secrets Manager, Transforming the Developer Experience (PR Newswire) Today, Doppler launched the industry's first Universal Secrets Manager, a modern secrets manager offering built to win the hearts and minds of...
Gravyty Launches Gravyty Guard the First Data Security Solution Built to Protect Donor Data at Nonprofit Organizations (PR Newswire) Gravyty, the market-defining leader of artificial intelligence (AI) for Social Good, today announced Gravyty Guard, the first data security...
Wire Launches Next Generation Video Conferencing Platform to Challenge Zoom and Microsoft Teams (PR Newswire) Today Wire, the secure collaboration platform that was founded and built by former Skype technologists and the creators of globally used web...
1Kosmos BlockID Becomes the First Contact-Free Identity Based Authentication System Powered by Biometrics & Blockchain to Be FIDO2 Certified (PR Newswire) 1Kosmos, the next-generation contact-free authentication solution, today announced it has been certified by the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online)...
Socialgist Announces Partnership with Tumblr, Allows Fully Compliant Data Access (PR Newswire) Integration platform Socialgist announced a strategic partnership with Tumblr and allows, for the first time, deep data access to the blog...
F5 Introduces AI-Powered Solution That Blocks Fraud Missed by Existing Technologies and Improves Online Experiences for Users (BusinessWire) F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) today introduced Shape AI Fraud Engine (SAFE), a new SaaS solution that eliminates fraudulent online transactions that get past exis
Comodo Announces Westcoast as Distributor in UK Cybersecurity Marketplace (Yahoo!) Westcoast Limited, the number one UK distributor with nearly $4 billion in annual revenue has chosen a partnership with Comodo, the world’s leader of next-generation cybersecurity. Together Comod...
ZorroSign Partners with Trusona to Secure Online e-Voting (AiThority) ZorroSign, Inc., a global leader in blockchain-based digital signatures, announced a new partnership with Trusona
Atomicorp Announces Availability of Atomic Enterprise OSSEC on Red Hat Marketplace (AiThority) Atomicorp announced that Atomic Enterprise OSSEC is now available through Red Hat Marketplace.
Introducing Mandiant Advantage: Threat Intelligence (FireEye) Timely, Relevant, and Unprecedented Access to Mandiant Insights and Expertise
BlackBerry Launches New AI-Powered Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) Solution to Protect Against Mobile Malware and Phishing Attacks (PR Newswire) BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) today unveiled BlackBerry® Protect Mobile, a new mobile threat defense (MTD) solution that extends the...
Technologies, Techniques, and Standards
Cybersecurity Awareness Month: If You Connect IT, Protect IT. (NIST) The first blog highlighting NIST resources for Cybersecurity Awareness Month is from NIST’s Danielle Santos, a program manager for the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, or NICE.
EHNAC Releases New 2021 Accreditation Criteria Versions for Public Review through Dec. 3 (Accesswire) Significant updates include new program criteria designed to help payers and providers meet CMS Interoperability and Patient Access final rule requirements
Council Post: Five Practical Ways To Instill A Healthy Security Culture (Forbes) Building a strong security culture is not a discrete task; it’s an ongoing challenge that requires real commitment.
Cultivating Online Data Transparency: Why is Access to Information about IP Holders a Crucial Necessity (Heficed) Press release from Heficed: Cultivating Online Data Transparency: Why is Access to Information about IP Holders a Crucial Necessity.
Research and Development
Denim Group Awarded AFWERX SBIR Phase II Contract to Further Accelerate Distributed Software Delivery to Air Force Operators (BusinessWire) Denim Group today announced that AFWERX has awarded them a Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract.
Battery-Free, Energy-Harvesting Perpetual Machines: The Weird Future of Computing (Wall Street Journal) A new breed of computers could run forever—or at least until long after we’re gone.
Academia
UC Riverside receives $7.5 million to improve large-scale networked systems (UC Riverside News) New Department of Defense Center of Excellence will help develop secure, fully networked command, control, and communications infrastructures
Legislation, Policy, and Regulation
Will We Have Cyberwar or Cyber Peace? (Wall Street Journal) Richard A. Clarke, a former White House counterterrorism and cybersecurity chief, offers two competing visions of 2030.
Japan is bolstering its electronic warfare capabilities (C4ISRNET) The Japan Air Self-Defense Force has inducted the first of a new intelligence-gathering aircraft into service, following a two-year flight test program.
Secrets and spies: Behind the doors of the UK's most enigmatic government agency (National Geographic) Over a century GCHQ has evolved from a codebreaker into a critical defence against the most advanced technological threats to national security. And while...
Chinese military media told to steer clear of US election stories (South China Morning Post) Armed forces outlets avoid coverage that could lead to accusations of taking sides.
Why is the United States losing the information war? (C4ISRNET) The United States must take a much more strategic approach to the information environment than was required during the more tactical counterterrorism fight, according to top former officials.
The War for the Future of Syria and Iraq Will Be Fought on Smartphones (Foreign Policy) As the number of U.S. forces on the ground dwindles and Russian and Iranian propaganda efforts increase, Col. Myles Caggins prepared the soldiers who remain…
EU Seeks Authority to Cut Off Banks’ Tech Suppliers if Found Wanting on Cybersecurity (Wall Street Journal) Proposed legislation would stop banks and financial firms from using IT services that present risks, and would standardize cyber regulation across Europe.
How Schrems II will impact data sharing between the UK and the US (ComputerWeekly.) At the end of this year, the UK will no longer be subject to the EU’s treaties, opening the way for it and the US to finalise a new trade relationship. Could the UK leave EU data protection standards behind?
This Regulator Wants to Help Banks Embrace Cryptocurrency (Wall Street Journal) The Treasury Department unit, which supervises national banks and federal savings associations, has issued interpretive letters in recent months to spell out its view of how traditional financial institutions can do business involving digital currencies.
Space Force and cyber (FCW) Lt. Gen. John Thompson, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center under the U.S. Space Force, said cybersecurity was increasingly integral to space missions and changes had to be made to infrastructure contracts.
Pentagon seeks to move quickly on EMSO strategy implementation (Janes) The US Department of Defense hopes to move quickly on an implementation plan for the Pentagon’s soon-to-be released strategy for electromagnetic spectrum operations...
US Army, Air Force sign agreement to develop joint all-domain concept (C4ISRNET) The signed agreement came during a meeting between the Air Force and Army chiefs of staff.
CISA’s still overcoming challenges 5 years after Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act became law (Federal News Network) The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will offer its Automated Information Sharing (AIS) program and new vulnerability disclosure platform as shared services to help improve the sharing…
Litigation, Investigation, and Law Enforcement
Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) 2020 (Europol) The IOCTA is Europol’s flagship strategic product highlighting the dynamic and evolving threats from cybercrime. It provides a unique law enforcement focused assessment of emerging challenges and key developments in the area of cybercrime.
China says U.S. TikTok, WeChat bans break WTO rules (Reuters) China said at a World Trade Organization meeting that restrictions by the United States on Chinese mobile applications TikTok and WeChat are in violation of the body's rules, a trade official said.
Second Largest GDPR Fine Issued in Germany (cyber/data/privacy insights) On October 1, 2020, the Data Protection Authority of Hamburg (the Hamburg DPA) announced that it had fined a German subsidiary of the clothing retailer H&M (H&M Germany) €35.2 million (appr…
H&M fined for breaking GDPR over employee surveillance (BBC News) Records were kept on several hundred employees, including on family issues and religion.
Cisco hit with $1.9B judgment for 'willful and egregious' patent infringement (Silicon Valley Business Journal) Cisco Systems Inc. was hit Monday with a $1.9 billion judgment in a 2018 patent infringement suit filed by Centripetal Networks, a small cybersecurity firm in Virginia.
Cisco Told to Pay $1.9 Billion in Security-Patent Trial Loss (Bloomberg) Cisco Systems Inc. was told to pay $1.9 billion after losing a trial brought by a Virginia company that claimed the networking giant copied patented cybersecurity features and shut the smaller company out of government contracts.
Centripetal Networks Awarded $2.6 to $3.2 Billion in Patent Damages for Cisco’s Willful Patent Infringement (BusinessWire) Judgment in favor of Centripetal Networks after conclusion of 22-day bench trial Centripetal Networks, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc. Case 2:18-cv-94
U.S. indicts anti-virus software creator John McAfee for tax evasion (ETCIO.com) The indictment, filed under seal in June, was unsealed following his arrest in Spain where the United States is seeking to extradite him.
John McAfee arrested in Spain, charged with tax evasion (CyberScoop) The Justice Department unsealed an indictment Monday against cybersecurity pioneer John McAfee following his arrest in Spain.
Software company founder McAfee charged with tax evasion (Washington Post) Antivirus software entrepreneur John McAfee has been charged with evading taxes after failing to report income made from promoting cryptocurrencies while he did consulting work, made speaking engagements and sold the rights to his life story for a documentary, prosecutors in Tennessee said Monday.
John McAfee Arrested in Spain on US Criminal Charges (CoinDesk) John McAfee allegedly received $11.6 million in bitcoin and ether for pumping ICOs in 2017 and 2018.
FBI seized ‘legally privileged’ material from Ecuador Embassy, claims Julian Assange’s lawyer (ComputerWeekly) The US struck a secret deal to seize computers and documents, including legally privileged files, belonging to Julian Assange days before he was evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy. Three days before Assange’s arrest on 11 April 2019 the Office of International Affairs asked Ecuador to seize all evidence from the Embassy and hand it over to a UK-based FBI officer to transfer to the US.
EXCLUSIVE: Gardai investigate major data breach at Limerick hospital (Limerick Leader) UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick has launched an investigation into a major data breach in which a rogue non-HSE employee leaked personal details belonging to more than 600 patients, including 95 children, to the internet, the Limerick Leader can exclusively reveal. According to a letter received ...
