Cyber Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
US officials link Iran to emails meant to intimidate voters (AP NEWS) U.S. officials accused Iran on Wednesday of being behind a flurry of emails sent to Democratic voters in multiple battleground states that appeared to be aimed at intimidating...
Iran and Russia obtained U.S. voter registration data in effort to influence election, national security officials say (CNBC) The warnings about Iran and Russia came less than two weeks before the election between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
US Intelligence Leaders Say Russia, Iran Stole Voter Info (Defense One) They said Wednesday that voting systems remain secure, but to be on the lookout for emailed disinformation.
FBI says Iran behind threatening emails sent to Florida Democrats (NBC News) Iran and Russia had obtained some Americans' voter registration information, said John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence.
Iran Seeking to Intimidate U.S. Voters With Spoofed Emails, Intelligence Official Says (Wall Street Journal) Iran and Russia have both obtained some U.S. voter registration information and have taken specific actions in an attempt to influence public opinion in the upcoming presidential election, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said.
Iran and Russia Seek to Influence Election in Final Days, U.S. Officials Warn (New York Times) Iran is behind threatening, spoofed emails sent to voters, the officials said, but there was no indication that any votes themselves had been altered.
US blames Iran for spoofed Proud Boys emails threatening Democrat voters (ZDNet) US claims Iran is behind a wave of emails purporting to be from right-wing Proud Boys group that threatened registered Democrat voters with repercussions if they didn't vote for Trump.
Election officials in at least two states contact law enforcement after threatening emails sent to voters (CNN) Elections officials in Florida and Alaska contacted law enforcement Tuesday after registered voters reported receiving threatening emails that said, "Vote for Trump or else!"
'We will come after you': Voters report personalized emails pressuring them to vote for Donald Trump (USA TODAY) The Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of violent confrontations, denied responsibility and condemned the emails: "It wasn't us."
Threatening Election Emails Land in Florida Inboxes (KnowBe4) If you checked the news this morning, you probably noticed a story getting plenty of play on mainstream news sites: threatening election-themed emails sent to recipients in three states, including the perennial swing state of Florida.
Media Coverage Doesn’t Deter Actor From Threatening Democratic Voters (Proofpoint) On October 20, 2020, WUFT reported that Democratic-registered voters in Florida were receiving threatening emails purporting to be from the violent, right-wing hate group the Proud Boys. The reported emails direct recipients to “Vote for Trump or else!” in the subject lines and indicate that the senders will “know which candidate” the recipients vote for, in addition to claiming to have “gained access into the entire voting infrastructure.”
The Cybersecurity 202: Iran’s alleged voter intimidation scheme shows what 2020 election interference looks like (Washington Post) An alleged Iranian voter intimidation scheme revealed last night by U.S. government officials reflects just the sort of election interference experts have warned about since 2016 — an operation targeting voter confidence rather than ballots and run on the cheap, probably with publicly available data.
Spammers and scammers using U.S. election to turn profit online, Facebook says (Reuters) Fraudsters from Albania to Vietnam are posting about U.S. politics and the upcoming presidential election to build fake audiences, maximise clicks and make money online, Facebook Inc said on Wednesday.
'MuddyWater' spies suspected in attacks against Middle East governments, telecoms (CyberScoop) One of the most prolific cyber-espionage groups linked to Iran has used old tricks — and perhaps a new hacking tool — in dozens of attempts to breach government and telecommunications operators in the Middle East in recent months, security researchers said Wednesday.
Iranian Cyberattack Group Deploys New PowGoop Downloader Against Mideast Targets (Dark Reading) Seedworm Group, aka MuddyWater, is also deploying commodity ransomware as part of espionage attacks on companies and government agencies in the Middle East region.
Seedworm: Iran-Linked Group Continues to Target Organizations in the Middle East (Symantec) Group continues to be highly active in 2020, while tentative links to recently discovered PowGoop tool suggest possible retooling.
XSS to TSS: tech support scam campaign abuses cross-site scripting vulnerability (Malwarebytes Labs) This tech support scam is being spread via Facebook links and uses several redirection mechanisms to avoid detection.
Sopra Steria hit by cyber attack. IT services group suspected of falling victim to ransomware (Graham Cluley) European IT services group Sopra Steria has been hit by a cyber attack. Which would be unfortunate for any business at the best of times, but is possibly even more galling for a firm like Sopra Steria…
Pharma Giant Pfizer Leaks Customer Prescription Info, Call Transcripts (Threatpost) Hundreds of medical patients taking cancer drugs, Premarin, Lyrica and more are now vulnerable to phishing, malware and identity fraud.
Pfizer suffers huge data breach on unsecured cloud storage (Pharmafield) Global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. has suffered a data breach, with patient information found exposed on unsecured cloud storage.
Data breach at Dr Reddy’s forces lab to temporarily shot operations across globe (Hindustan Times) The Hyderabad-based lab is authorised to test and distribute the Russian Covid-19 vaccine in India
Data breach prompts India's Dr Reddy's to shut key plants (Reuters) A data breach at Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd prompted the Indian drugmaker to shut its key plants globally, television channel ET Now reported on Thursday, citing sources.
Dr Reddy’s suffers cyber-attack, isolates all its data center services (CNBC TV 18) Pharma major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has isolated all its data center services across the world after it detected a cyber-attack.Get latest Healthcare online at cnbctv18.com
Report: Financial CRM Leaks Private Financial Data from Banks and Credit Unions Across the USA (vpnMentor) Led by Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, vpnMentor’s research team recently discovered an exposed database belonging to financial services CRM platform BankSight. BankSight’s
Phishing Emails Target Coinbase Exchange Users (BankInfo Security) Fraudsters are sending phishing emails with messages about the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange to Microsoft Office 365 users in an attempt to take over their
Akamai Security Research: Loyalty Programs Continue to be Targeted by Criminals as Account Data is Easily Sold or Traded (PR Newswire) Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) the intelligent edge platform for security and delivering digital experiences, today published the State of the Internet...
Akamai Reveals State of Internet: Threats to Retailers (Solutions Review) Akamai recently released its latest security research “State of the Internet / Security Report: Loyalty for Sale – Retail and Hospitality Fraud.” This report, conducted over the course of about two…
Fort Bragg says its Twitter account was ‘hacked' (Army Times) Fort Bragg garrison officials say their verified Twitter account was hacked after posts weighing in on the issue of female pubic hair and lustful comments about a nude woman’s picture appeared on the social media website.
Dark pathways into cybercrime: Minding the threat actor talent gap (Digital Shadows) Digital Shadows recently published two blogs looking at how threat actors express their personality on cybercriminal forums -- either inadvertently or on purpose. In the first piece, we examined the
The Network: How a Secretive Phone Company Helped the Crime World Go Dark (Vice) Vince Ramos wanted Phantom Secure to be the Uber of privacy-focused, luxury-branded phones—flood the market with devices, and sort out the law later. Then the FBI investigated him.
Malware of the Day - Orangeworm (Active Countermeasures) What is Malware of the Day? Malware of the Day: ORANGEWORM Lab Setup Malware: Orangeworm AKA: Using the Kwampirs Trojan family […]
Security Patches, Mitigations, and Software Updates
WordPress deploys forced security update for dangerous bug in popular plugin (ZDNet) More than one million WordPress sites were running a vulnerable version of the Loginizer plugin.
Chrome zero-day in the wild – patch now! (Naked Security) Do you browse with Google Chrome or a related product such as Chromium?
Oracle Releases Another Mammoth Security Patch Update (Dark Reading) October's CPU contains 402 patches for vulnerabilities across 29 product sets, many of which are remotely executable without the need for authentication.
Cyber Trends
Global State of the Internet Security & DDoS Attack Reports (Akamai) Akamai State of the Internet Security Reports cover the origins, tactics, types and targets of cyber-attacks, and emerging threats and trends based on analysis of recent DDoS and web application attacks by cybersecurity and DDoS mitigation experts.
Survey Results Are In: The Three Myths Of Digital Risk (ZeroFOX) ZeroFOX conducted a consumer survey to identify public perception of digital risk. Read the results and the three myths of digital risk.
New Trustwave Report Reveals How Organizations Protect Data Globally (Trustwave) Trustwave released the 2020 Trustwave Data Security Index report which depicts how technology trends, compromise risks and regulations are shaping how organizations’ data is stored and protected.
Financial Crimes Survey Finds Banks Exposed to Losses Due to Ineffective Investigations (BusinessWire) Survey quantifies how financial corps are exposed to losses battling hackers and online adversaries; 90% of analysts need better OSINT research tools
State of Password Use Report 2020 (Balbix) More than 99% of users reuse passwords, either across work accounts or between work and personal accounts. And that’s not all. On average, every single password is shared across 2.7 accounts.
Federal Executives Expect the Significant Changes to Their Work Operations Due to COVID-19 to Continue Post-Pandemic, According to SAIC Survey (SAIC) Independent research finds federal decision makers predict an increased need for digital transformation in the future compared to pre-pandemic levels
CoreView Releases New Microsoft 365 Security Report - CoreView (CoreView) New research from CoreView reveals that 50% of enterprise M365 users are not managed by default security policies within the platform. Learn more.
Security Experts Alarmed by ‘Broken’ Cyber Market (Wall Street Journal) Vendor bombast, overwhelmed buyers, murky lines of responsibility and the speed of change raise doubts on the strength of cyber defenses.
Marketplace
McAfee raises $740M in IPO that hits lower end of target range (Silicon Valley Business Journal) The San Jose-based cybersecurity firm, which was founded by John McAfee in 1987, is set to begin trading on the the Nasdaq market with the ticker symbol of “MCFE" and an initial market cap of about $8.6 billion.
Mine raises $9.5M to help people take control of their personal data (TechCrunch) TechCrunch readers probably know that privacy regulations like Europe’s GDPR and California’s CCPA give them additional rights around personal data — like the ability to request that companies delete data. But how many of you have actually exercised that right? An Israeli startup called…
Arctic Wolf Secures $200M in Series E Funding at a Valuation of $1.3 Billion (Arctic Wolf) Arctic Wolf®, the leader in security operations, today announced it has raised $200 million in Series E funding at a valuation of $1.3 billion.
Atos to acquire leading Cyber Security consulting company SEC Consult (GlobeNewswire) Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, today announces it has reached an agreement to acquire SEC Consult Group, a leading international Cybersecurity consulting provider.
FIRST launches new code of ethics for incident response and security teams on Global Ethics Day (FIRST — Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams) Following a global consultation, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is launching new ethics guidelines for incident response and security teams today on Global Ethics Day. ethicsfIRST provides guidance for cybersecurity professionals on how to conduct themselves professionally and ethically during incidents. Inspired by Earth Day, Global Ethics Day provides an opportunity for organizations to explore the meaning of ethics in international affairs
Keyfactor and Per Scholas Announce Partnership to Drive Skills Training (PRWeb) Keyfactor, the leader in crypto-agility solutions, and Per Scholas, a national non-profit that drives positive and proven social change in communities across...
Taking Back Our Privacy (The New Yorker) Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of the end-to-end encrypted messaging service Signal, is “trying to bring normality to the Internet.”
KnowBe4 Takes on Middle East Region With New Office in Dubai (PR Newswire) KnowBe4, the provider of the world's largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, today announced it has opened a new...
Protegrity Unveils Vision for the Secure AI Era (Protegrity) Data Privacy Must Be Upheld as a Fundamental Right for Organizations to Succeed and Unlock the Value of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Protegrity Assembles New Leadership Team to Address the Next Frontier of Data Security (Protegrity) With the Appointment of Eight New Executives, Protegrity’s Expanded Leadership Team Will Accelerate the Company’s Growth and Innovation as a Global Leader in Data Security
New UK MD at Orange Cyberdefense (BusinessCloud) Cybersecurity business unit of Orange Group boosts UK executive team with three senior hires
Products, Services, and Solutions
Ubiq Launches API-Based Encryption Platform for Application Developers (AiThority) Ubiq Security, a developer-focused security startup, announced the launch of its API-based encryption platform for developers.
Ivanti Adds New Ivanti Neurons Innovations Powered by Machine Learning to Improve Security Posture a | Ivanti (Ivanti) Ivanti Neurons for Patch Intelligence and Spend Intelligence Leverages Supervised and Unsupervised Machine Learning Algorithms to Automate Vulnerability Remediation and Optimize Software Spend
Snyk Adds Developer-first SAST Solution to Cloud Native Application Security Platform (PR Newswire) Cloud native application security company Snyk announced today it has launched Snyk Code, a developer-first SAST (static application security...
CipherCloud Dominates KuppingerCole 2020 CASB Market Compass (CipherCloud) For the fourth year in a row, CipherCloud was positioned as the most advanced and all-encompassing CASB solution on the market, earning the highest possible “strong positive” ratings from global analyst firm KuppingerCole in all nine evaluation categories -- including data protection, security, interoperability, usability, deployment, discovery, access control, compliance and posture management.
Corelight Extends Open NDR Platform with New Software Sensor, Expands Security Visibility and Advanced Event Analysis Across Hybrid, Multi-Cloud Environments (PR Newswire) Corelight, provider of the industry's first open network detection and response (NDR) platform, today released new capabilities that provide...
IRONSCALES Bolsters Phishing Awareness Training Capabilities During Cy (PRWeb) IRONSCALES, the pioneer of self-learning email security, today announced a streamlined update to its Phishing Simulation & Training module...
PT Industrial Security Incident Manager detects attempts at data exfiltration and connection tunneling (PT Security) PT Industrial Security Incident Manager detects attempts at data exfiltration and connection tunneling
Hitachi ID Introduces the New Bravura Security Fabric (BusinessWire) Hitachi ID Announces the New Bravura Security Fabric as the industry's only complete Identity and Access Platform
QuintessenceLabs Introduces New Quantum Entropy Management Solution (Odessa American) Why Should I Worry About Entropy? Entropy, also known as randomness, is the anchor beneath much of the world’s security.
Fingerprint Cards AB (Fingerprints™) announces design win with top-tier global PC manufacturer (GlobeNewswire) Fingerprint Cards AB (Fingerprints™) today announced that the company has been awarded a design win* by one of the world’s top PC manufacturers, with a product launch planned for Q1 2021. Unit sales during 2021 for the models in question are expected to fall in the single-digit million range.
Protegrity Launches Enhanced Data Protection Platform to Secure Sensitive Data in Hybrid-cloud, Multi-cloud, and SaaS Environments (Protegrity) The Protegrity Data Protection Platform Offers the Most Complete Data-security Solution for Heterogeneous Cloud Environments with Data Anonymization and an Expanding Ecosystem of Partners to Provide Security at the Speed of Innovation
Securonix Announces Adversary Behavior Analytics Capability for Preemptive Threat Detection and Response (Yahoo) Securonix, Inc., a leader in Next-Gen SIEM, today announced it signed an OEM agreement with Opora, a next-generation cybersecurity provider that uses pre-attack adversary behavior analytics to protect organizations from emerging threats.
Technologies, Techniques, and Standards
Cybersecurity Expert Helps Voters Identify Presidential Election Misinformation (PR Newswire) Warning that efforts to dupe Americans will increase approaching the Presidential Election, a national cybersecurity expert has developed a...
Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Week 3 – Securing Internet- Connected Devices in Healthcare (Digital Shadows) The healthcare industry is increasingly relying upon internet-connected devices and solutions to improve patient care, organizational efficiency, crisis response speed, and much more. The emergence of
Cybersecurity Awareness Month: What's New at NIST on IOT Security? (NIST) Here’s a one-question multiple-choice test: What's new at NIST on Internet of Things
Cyber Sparring Is One Of The Best Ways To Build Cyber Resilience (Analytics India Magazine) To understanding how AI can enhance a businesses’ defensive capabilities, we spoke to Steve Ledzian, VP & CTO, APAC at FireEye.
How to Install Mitre CALDERA and Configure Your SSL Certificate (Black Hills Information Security) Carrie & Darin Roberts // If you would like to install the Mitre CALDERA server on your own, the CALDERA GitHub page has installation instructions on their ReadMe here. Detailed steps are provided below for installing CALDERA on Ubuntu and configure it to use your SSL certification. Clone the Repository git clone https://github.com/mitre/caldera.git –recursive –branch […]
Network, GPS Will Be Jammed In Project Convergence 2021 (Breaking Defense) In this fall’s Project Convergence exercises, it took a heroic effort just to get the network to work at all. Next year, the Army wants the network to function in the face of electronic attack.
How Cyber Awareness Can Save Your Company (Infrascale) Cyber awareness is something that every company knows they should be doing, but the extent to which they implement it varies widely. This is great news to hackers and other malevolent actors who have the knowledge and tools to take advantage of lax policies and hole-filled – or nonexistent – cybersecurity solution deployments. While there […]
Design and Innovation
TikTok plans to do more to tackle hateful content after reports say it has a 'Nazi problem' (CNBC) TikTok has pledged to do more to tackle hateful content and behavior on its platform following reports that it has a Nazi problem and a White supremacy problem.
Sweet-Talking CEOs Are Starting to Outsmart the Robot Analysts (Bloomberg) Study finds companies alter words to cater to listening algos. Emphasis on positivity as negative phrases get ditched.
Academia
University of Miami joins Global Cyberinfrastucture Network as a scientific partner (EurekAlert!) The University of Miami's Institute for Data Science and Computing (IDSC) has joined FABRIC, the advanced U.S. cyberinfrastructure network funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), as a scientific partner. A three-year research award to UM was included in a $3 million NSF grant that will expand FABRIC to four leading scientific institutions in Asia and Europe, and support international research that benefits from real-time sharing of large-scale datasets.
Legislation, Policy, and Regulation
Kremlin slams hacking accusations against Russian intel agencies as blatant Russophobia (TASS) The spokesman said the trend to blame Moscow "for just everything" was regrettable
Russia rejects Olympics cyber-attack claims as ploy to ruin diplomatic relations (Inside the Games) The Russian Embassy to the United Kingdom claimed allegations of cyber-attacks were made to disrupt relations with the Olympic host countries of South...
U.S. agencies mount major effort to prevent Russian interference in the election even though Trump downplays threat (Washington Post) The U.S. government is mounting a major effort to prevent a repeat of 2016 — when federal agencies were slow to address Russia’s attempts to manipulate the presidential election — and is taking a range of actions despite the disinterest of President Trump, who questions intelligence that the Kremlin is intent on undermining American democracy.
US Cyber Command Teams With Microsoft To Limit TrickBot Botnet Ahead of Expected Election Interference (CPO Magazine) The US Cyber Command is expecting the TrickBot botnet to be involved in election interference attempts, and is actively running persistent operations against it along with Microsoft.
()
Zelensky enacts Law on Intelligence (UNIAN) The Ukrainian leader sees intelligence among the country's priorities.
US designates 6 more Chinese media outlets as 'foreign missions' (TheHill) The State Department announced Wednesday that the administration is labeling six more Chinese media outlets as “foreign missions,” accusing the publications of spreading propaganda.
Designation of Additional Chinese Media Entities as Foreign Missions - United States Department of State (United States Department of State) Over the past decade and particularly under General Secretary Xi Jinping’s tenure, the CCP has reorganized China’s state propaganda outlets disguised as news agencies and asserted even more direct control over them. He has stated “Party-owned media must. . . embody the party’s will, safeguard the party’s authority … their actions must be highly consistent […]
In banning Huawei and ZTE, Sweden calls China a national security threat (South China Morning Post) Prohibition has already drawn a response from Beijing, but stark description may lead to retaliation against Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson in China.
China urges Sweden to reverse its Huawei, ZTE ban to avoid harming its companies (Reuters) Sweden should reverse its ban on Chinese telecommunications companies Huawei [HWT.UL] and ZTE <0763.HK> <000063.SZ> from a planned 5G spectrum auction to avoid a "negative impact" on its own companies, said China's foreign ministry.
Factbox: Huawei's involvement in 5G telecoms networks around the world (Reuters) Swedish regulators on Tuesday banned the use of telecom equipment from China's Huawei and ZTE <000063.SZ> in its 5G network ahead of the spectrum auction scheduled for next month.
Trump signs legislation making hacking voting systems a federal crime (TheHill) President Trump has signed legislation making it a federal crime to attempt to hack federal voting systems.
Twitter hack shows need for cybersecurity regulations, govt. report says (Mashable) The report argues Facebook and Twitter are "systemically important institutions" that need cybersecurity regulations to protect users — and everyone else.
Cybersecurity Lessons From The Twitter Hack As New York’s Chief Financial Services Regulator Calls For A Dedicated Cybersecurity Regulator Of Large Social Media Companies | JD Supra (JD Supra) There are cybersecurity lessons to be learned from high profile data breaches and the ensuing regulatory responses. The recent well-publicized Twitter...
White House Nears New Rules on Artificial Intelligence (Wall Street Journal) The Trump administration prefers what U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios has called a “light-touch” approach toward regulating AI, to avoid holding back U.S. leadership in the field.
FCC cites Title II in defense of helping Trump’s attack on social media (Ars Technica) FCC lawyer claims authority to interpret any part of the Communications Act.
FCC trying to help Trump win election with Twitter crackdown, Democrats say (Ars Technica) Pai's Section 230 plan called a "reckless and politically motivated stunt."
Colorado secretary of state announces election misinformation initiative (Colorado Politics) Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold will expand efforts to combat foreign influence in November’s general election with a new misinformation initiative, she announced Tuesday.
Baltimore City Council Split on Banning Facial Recognition (Wall Street Journal) A Baltimore City Council subcommittee on Tuesday deadlocked on a bill that would have banned facial-recognition technology there, preventing the measure from going before the full council.
Litigation, Investigation, and Law Enforcement
The Police Can Probably Break Into Your Phone (New York Times) At least 2,000 law enforcement agencies have tools to get into encrypted smartphones, according to new research, and they are using them far more than previously known.
Judge in Google Lawsuit Presided Over Major Antitrust Case (Wall Street Journal) The Justice Department’s lawsuit against Google has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, an Obama appointee who presided over a major antitrust case in the food-distribution sector.
Europe’s Antitrust Push Against Google Hasn’t Dented Its Heft. Can the U.S.? (Wall Street Journal) Europe’s aggressive pursuit of antitrust cases against Google was long a beacon for detractors of the search giant world-wide. Now they see it as a cautionary tale.
Google's ex-CEO decries antitrust suit, says social networks are 'Amplifiers for Idiots' (Silicon Valley Business Journal) Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt doesn't think much of this week's government antitrust action against the search giant. But he said at a virtual Wall Street Journal conference on Wednesday that the "excesses" of social networks are going to bring more regulation of Internet platforms in the future.
Exclusive: Alleged Hunter Biden Emails Circulated in Ukraine as Rudy Giuliani Dug for Dirt There Last Year (Time) Giuliani claimed he obtained Hunter Biden's emails from a broken laptop in Delaware
Google AI Tech Will Be Used for Virtual Border Wall, CBP Contract Shows (The Intercept) Google Cloud will be used in conjunction with Anduril Industries’ surveillance tech on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Crimes linked to bank cards in Russia jump 500% so far this year: interior ministry (Reuters) The number of crimes linked to bank cards in Russia has shot up 500% so far this year, interior ministry data showed on Wednesday, with cyber fraud rising as Russians made more card payments online during coronavirus-related lockdowns.
UK Imposed Most GDPR Fines (TechRound) New data shows that the United Kingdom tops the list of the most expensive data breach penalties with €132.7 million in the total value of GDPR fines.
The Puzzle of the GRU Indictment (Lawfare) Why does the Justice Department laud indictments that communicate weakness?
Cybersecurity Consultant Was Outed for Ties to Moscow, So Why Is He Meeting Top Trump Officials in D.C.? (The Daily Beast) A German cybersecurity expert caused a scandal at home for taking part in a Russian influence operation. So what’s he doing meeting with security officials in the Trump admin?
