— The cybersecurity community during the COVID-19 emergency
Coalition of Nonprofits Join Together to Help Businesses Secure Remote Workforce (Work From Home) Today a coalition of 13 nonprofit organizations joined the Work From Home. Secure Your Business. campaign.
CompTIA Grants Extensions, Options for Certification Exams (InformationWeek) Alternatives to visiting testing centers are being put into place for IT professionals seeking accreditation.
GlobeX Data and Partner Guard Street Launch Remote Workforce Cybersecurity Business Solutions Package in Response to Corona Virus COVID-19 (AP NEWS) GlobeX Data Ltd. (OTCQB:SWISF) (CSE:SWIS) (“GlobeX” or the “Company”), the leader in Swiss hosted cyber security and Internet privacy solutions for secure data management and secure communications, is pleased to announce that it has partnered with its reseller in the USA, Guard Street Partners LLC (“Guard Street”) in the launch of a new Remote Workforce Cybersecurity Secure Business Solutions Package.
Menlo Security Offers Free Cloud Security and Phishing Protection Licenses to Secure Remote Workers (BusinessWire) Menlo Security, a leader in cloud security, today announced an offer for free 90-day licenses of its award-winning Global Cloud Proxy and Secure Offic
Facebook Aims $100 Million at Media Hit by the Coronavirus (New York Times) With grants and marketing spending, the social media giant hopes to support outlets doing essential local reporting but struggling with a drop in advertising.
Facebook’s Fact Checkers Fight Surge in Fake Coronavirus Claims (Wall Street Journal) Contractors battle bogus assertions about canine vaccines and free baby formula: “We’ve maxxed out.”
ServiceNow gives free apps to help manage workers (CRN Australia) Deployed four emergency apps for free to more than 1,100 organizations.
Google says network not stressed by Coronavirus crisis (CRN Australia) "In good shape" to handle the sustained surge in traffic.
How Cyber Cases Can Inform COVID-19 Business Litigation (Law360) Businesses hoping to understand their COVID-19 litigation risks, including those involving the impracticability of contracts due to shutdowns, can learn from recent complicated privacy and data litigation, says Christopher Ott at Rothwell Figg.
Coronavirus selloff spares cybersecurity stocks because security is a 'corporate need' (Yahoo) Cybersecurity stocks have seen a boost as more companies shift to work from home.
How to implement a strong COVID-19 cybersecurity plan (SearchSecurity) With the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19, cybersecurity scams have proliferated. The rise in the number of remote workers is further weakening organizations' security systems. This guide is packed with advice on how to keep your organization safe in this unprecedented time.
Segregation is key to effectively work from home (SC Magazine) Security executive shares personal insights for SC UK readers working remotely
Working from home? You are probably being spied on by your boss (The Telegraph) Home workers have been warned their employers could be spying on them as many have installed software on their computers which takes pictures of their screen.
Researchers find shift in monthly web traffic amidst pandemic (Help Net Security) There have been shifts in total web traffic broken down by the world’s largest industries as the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded over the past several weeks.
Cyber Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
Hundreds of asylum seekers' names made public in government data breach (ABC News) In a breach of the migration act, the Federal Court publishes hundreds of asylum seekers' names online, potentially putting them at risk in their home countries.
Report: 42M Iranian "Telegram" User IDs & Phone Numbers Leaked Online (Comparitech) 42 million user IDs and phone numbers for a third-party version of Telegram were exposed online without a password. The accounts belong to users in Iran, where the official Telegram app is blocked.
Security lapse exposed Republican voter firm’s internal code (TechCrunch) Exclusive: The exposed cache of code contained app secrets and internal passwords.
You know all those stories of leaky cloud buckets taken offline? Well, some may still be there, just badly hidden (Register) Plus, Google warns of fake journo phishing attacks
Two zero days are Targeting DrayTek Broadband CPE Devices (360 Netlab Blog - Network Security Research Lab at 360) From December 4, 2019, 360Netlab Threat Detection System has observed two different attack groups using two 0-day vulnerabilities of DrayTek. Vigor enterprise routers and switch devices to conduct a series of attacks, including eavesdropping on device’s network traffic, running SSH services on high ports, creating system backdoor...
Skimming-as-a-Service: Anatomy of a Magecart Attack Toolkit (PerimeterX) Magecart attacks are now evolving into Skimming-as-a-Service. PerimeterX researchers explore the anatomy of the Inter digital skimming operation.
How popular apps can read your phone's clipboard without permission (The Telegraph) Few people are aware that when they copy text on their smartphone, it could actually be snooped on by every other app on their phone before they even hit "paste".
FBI re-sends alert about supply chain attacks for the third time in three months (ZDNet) The FBI says some attacks have also targeted the healthcare industry, currently grappling with the coronavirus outbreak.
Kwampirs threat actor continues to breach transnational healthcare orgs (Help Net Security) The Kwampirs (aka Orangeworm) attack group continues to target global healthcare entities in this time crisis, the FBI has warned.
U.S Small Business Administration Spoofed In Remcos RAT Campaign (IBM X-Force Collection) The outbreak of the novel coronavirus continues to have a devastating effect on the global economy. While most larger enterprises are able to deal with the economic impacts, thousands of smaller businesses are severely suffering - to the point where they are forced to apply for federal disaster assistance, for instance at the U.S. Small Business Administration.
COVID-19 relief package provides another platform for bad actors (Cisco Talos) A blog from the world class Intelligence Group, Talos, Cisco's Intelligence Group
Hackers target health care AI amid coronavirus pandemic (TheHill) The health care sector has increasingly turned to artificial intelligence to aid in everything from performing surgeries to helping diagnose and predict outcomes of patient illnesses.
Coronavirus Creates an Epidemic of Scams (Wall Street Journal) Scammers are trying to cash in on the nation’s panic over the coronavirus by peddling fake cures, soliciting donations to phony charities and selling needed items like hand sanitizer and toilet paper at jacked-up prices.
Covid-19: State-backed players join pandemic cyber crime attacks (The Star Online) Sophisticated state-supported actors are following cybercriminals in exploiting the coronavirous pandemic and posing an "advanced persistent threat" (APT), French defence technology giant Thales warned March 30.
Post-lockdown eCommerce boost increases security concerns (SC Magazine) Orders up 23 percent year-on-year in UK; scamsters target card details and user info as more and more stay online
COVID-19 phishing and email scams surge in Australia (Tech Wire Asia) As more Australian now resort to remote working, cybercriminals have taken the advantage to launch various phishing scams to steal information.
COVID-19 Impact: Cyber Criminals Target Zoom Domains (Check Point Software) While the world is struggling with the Coronavirus outbreak, many countries have implemented precautionary measures. Schools are being closed, communities
Hackers Take Advantage of Zoom's Popularity to Push Malware (BleepingComputer) Attackers are attempting to take advantage of Zoom's increasing user base since the COVID-19 outbreak started by registering hundreds of new Zoom-themed domains for malicious purposes.
COVID-19: Hackers Begin Exploiting Zoom's Overnight Success to Spread Malware (The Hacker News) Covid-19 Impact: Hackers Begin Exploiting Zoom's Overnight Success to Spread Malware During Coronavirus Outbreak With Fake Domains and Websites.
Zoom Meetings Aren’t End-to-End Encrypted, Despite Misleading Marketing (The Intercept) The video conferencing service can access conversations on its platform.
Working from home? Hackers can drop malware with fake Zoom apps (HackRead) Due to the coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak, institutions, corporations, and even government offices globally have all shut down physically and depending on running things remotely.
FBI Warns of Ongoing Zoom-Bombing Attacks on Video Meetings (BleepingComputer) The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned today of hijackers who join Zoom video conferences used for online lessons and business meetings with the end goal of disrupting them or for pulling pranks that could be later shared on social media platforms.
FBI warns of "Zoom-bombing," where hackers hijack video conferences after two schools affected (Newsweek) The FBI warned the public on Monday that video conferences being are interrupted by "pornographic and/or hate images and threatening language."
Hackers hijack video of Esopus Town Board meeting, go on racist rant (Daily Freeman) A video meeting of the Esopus Town Board on Monday was hijacked by hackers who went on a high-tech racist rant and flashed screen shots of
Hacker hijacks YouTube accounts to broadcast Bill Gates-themed crypto Ponzi scam (ZDNet) UPDATE: Microsoft says none of its verified accounts were hacked. YouTube has also intervened to take down the scam's live streams.
Microsoft warns of RCE vulnerabilities (Technology Decisions) Microsoft has discovered two remote code execution vulnerabilities in unpatched versions of the Adobe Type Manager Library for Windows 7.
Council Post: Big-Game Ransomware: Four Things CEOs Should Know (Forbes) Unfortunately, big-game ransomware victims have more to worry about than just getting their data and systems back.
Vulnerability Summary for the Week of March 23, 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.
Excel vulnerability aids delivery of malware (BetaNews) Microsoft office files have long been used as a means of delivering malware payloads and researchers at Mimecast have discovered a rise in LimeRAT malware delivered using an Excel default password.
Has Houseparty really hacked your phone and stolen your bank details? (Naked Security) There’s one thing missing in all the claims that deleting the Houseparty app will “unhack” you – evidence
Houseparty app offers $1m reward to unmask entity behind hacking smear campaign (ZDNet) App maker denies getting hacked after multiple reports in British media.
Houseparty users say YOU should delete the phone app to stop hackers stealing your data (Express) HOUSEPARTY - the hugely popular video chat app available on iPhone, iPad, Android, macOS, and Google Chrome - can be used by hackers to access your personal information, including login details for Netflix and Spotify accounts, thousands of users have claimed on social media. But do you need to delete the app from your phone?
“Instant bank fraud” warning spread on WhatsApp is a hoax (Naked Security) No, we don’t know why people start hoaxes like this. You can do your bit by not forwarding them, not even “just in case”.
SBTech partners experience 72-hour downtime after cyber-security breach (EGR Intel) No data was compromised after the sports betting supplier shut down global data centres
Security Patches, Mitigations, and Software Updates
Microsoft patches Windows 10 bug that kills Internet connectivity on VPNs (My Broadband) Microsoft has released an update for a bug which disrupted Internet connections on certain Windows 10 devices.
Microsoft Edge to Warn Of Credentials Leaked in Data Breaches (BleepingComputer) Microsoft Edge is introducing a new feature called "Password Monitor" that will alert users if their login credentials have been leaked in data breaches.
Samsung Galaxy S20 update brings April security patch (Geeky Gadgets) Samsung has released a software update for its galaxy S20 range of smartphones and the update includes the latest security updates. The software update
Chrome may bring back ‘www’ with option to show full URLs (Naked Security) Google’s doing so grudgingly: it still thinks that showing too much will confuse users trying to assess a site’s security.
Cyber Trends
Hackers Might Target Your Smart Thermostat or Printer Next (The National Interest) A new report states that while the Internet of Things is growing rapidly, there are ongoing security threats associated with it as well, especially in the medical sector.
2020 Unit 42 IoT Threat Report (Palo Alto Networks) Read the 2020 Unit 42 IoT Threat Report to understand immediate steps you can take to reduce your exposure to IoT-initiated attacks and develop an effective IoT security strategy.
Threat Snapshot: Coronavirus-related Lures Comprise More Than 80 Percent of the Threat Landscape (Proofpoint) The Proofpoint research team has tracked malicious activity associated with coronavirus since January 29 and regularly publishes our findings across this blog and our Twitter page.
21% of SMBs do not have a data backup or disaster recovery solution in place (Help Net Security) More than 20% of SMB leaders said they do not currently have a data backup or disaster recovery solution in place, according to Infrascale.
Universities being hit by millions of email attacks (ITProPortal) Spam, malware and phishing attacks are rampant.
Nation-State Attacks Drop in Latest Google Analysis (Threatpost) Phishing and zero-days continue to be a core part of the APT arsenal.
Marketplace
HackerOne cuts ties with mobile voting firm Voatz after it clashed with researchers (CyberScoop) HackerOne has kicked mobile voting vendor Voatz off its platform, citing the vendor’s hostile interactions with security researchers.
Axonius Announces $58 Million in New Funding to Fuel Exponential Growt (PRWeb) Axonius, the cybersecurity asset management company, today announced it has raised $58 in Series C funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation f
5-Star Rating in the 2020 CRN® Partner Program Guide (Digital Defense) Digital Defense, Inc. today announced that it has received another 5-Star rating from CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, in its 2020 Partner Program Guide.
Cyber security company increases revenue 13 per cent with £1m of new orders (Bdaily Business News) A cyber security company has announced that its revenue has increased by 13 per cent in the past year.
Falanx Group…
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Candid Wüest joins Acronis as Vice President of Cyber Protection Research (Help Net Security) Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection, announced the appointment of Candid Wüest as Vice President of Cyber Protection Research at Acronis.
Blue Ridge Networks Announces Mark Webber as New Vice President of Sales (PR Newswire) Blue Ridge Networks announced today that Mark Webber has joined the company's executive team in the position of Vice President of Sales. As...
Products, Services, and Solutions
L’Intelligence Artificielle Au Secours Du RGPD (Forbes France) Le RGPD, et ses variantes dans un nombre croissant de pays, est devenu un enjeu majeur pour les entreprises, qui s’y rallient non seulement par nécessité...
Dicker Data adds Heimdal Security to vendor roster (CRN Australia) Becomes sole Australian distributor.
An electronic signature service, SignSpace accelerates the digitalization of society: built on Nixu’s cybersecurity expertise (News Powered by Cision) Press release, March 31, 2020 at 8:05 AM EEST
Vastuu Group, together with its partner
Denver’s TruKno Launches Curated Cybersecurity Search Platform (American Inno) For the last year, Manish Kapoor and his team have interviewed hundreds of cybersecurity professionals from across industries, searching for the answer to one question.
Technologies, Techniques, and Standards
Leading CDN and Cloud Providers Join MANRS to Improve Routing Security (Internet Society) The Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) initiative, supported by the Internet Society, today announced the Content Delivery Network (CDN) and Cloud Programme to help secure large hubs of the Internet from common routing problems. Systemic security issues that arise from how traffic is routed on the …
NIST Shares Cyber Risk Management, Mobile Guides; Impact Analysis Tool (HealthITSecurity) NIST released several draft frameworks focused on cybersecurity and enterprise risk management, mobile device security, and privacy and security, along with a supply chain impact analysis tool.
NISTIR 8286 (Draft), Integrating Cybersecurity and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) (NIST Computer Security Resource Center) All enterprises should ensure cybersecurity risk gets the appropriate attention within their enterprise risk management (ERM) programs, which address all types of risk. Individual organizations within an enterprise can improve the cybersecurity risk information they provide as inputs to their enterprise's ERM processes.
Why you should delay your Zoom calls until quarter past the hour (The Telegraph) As coronavirus lockdowns sweep the world, millions of people have been forced to switch to remote working and video call meetings.
The most resilient organizations follow outcome-based cybersecurity (Fifth Domain) Compliance-based cyber is a comforting checklist of determining a risk profile, setting controls, and measuring compliance to controls. That’s become foundational to cyber security programs, but it’s obviously not sufficient.
Effective Data Security Begins With a Strong Tech Foundation (Security Intelligence) When laying the foundation of your data security and privacy strategy, you will want to prioritize data-centric solutions and consider a Zero Trust approach to minimize risk and facilitate compliance.
Council Post: Cloud Breaches Don't Have To Be Inevitable (Forbes) With the increasing number of enterprises storing sensitive customer, employee and business-critical data in the cloud, it is essential to rethink the way that cybersecurity is to be enforced.
Ransomware attacks: To pay or not to pay? (SC Magazine) If it’s not illegal to pay a ransomware demand, that still leaves open the separate question as to whether it’s ethical, then factor in the possibility that the criminals will not hold up their side of the bargain.
The top-ten tenets of software quality assurance, part six: testing (Computing) Testers have to be destroyers, argues Mark Wilson. But too often testers aren't trying too hard to bust the software. Rather, they are trying to show it working
3 Challenges to SAP Penetration Testing (EC-Council Official Blog) Penetration testing plays a significant role in achieving SAP security. The security of SAP is a balancing act involving processes, controls, and tools to restrict users’ access within the SAP landscape
Cyber Nutmeg aims to equip agencies with digital protection (DVIDS) When thinking about the military’s obligation to protecting the American people, thoughts of battlefields in far off countries may come to mind. However, as our infrastructure becomes more dependent on technology, today’s adversaries may not be equipped with rifles and rocket propelled grenades, but keyboards and Wi-Fi connections.
Messing With Web Attackers With SpiderTrap (Cyber Deception) (Black Hills Information Security) Hello and welcome! My name is John Strand. In this video, we’re going to be talking about using SpiderTrap to entrap and ensnare any web application pentesters or hackers that are trying to come into your web applications. Now, for this particular video, we’re going to be using the Active Defense Harbinger Distribution, or ADHD, …
Design and Innovation
Google Wants Your Data in Exchange for a Coronavirus Test (Foreign Policy) Public health shouldn’t mean surrendering privacy to Silicon Valley.
The race to create a Singapore-style coronavirus contact tracing app (The Telegraph) In Singapore's Kampong Glam, where 19th century shophouses line once-busy streets, social distancing is in full swing.
Opinion | Tracing Coronavirus Social Contacts: We Need an App for That (Wall Street Journal) Use cellphones to stop the disease’s spread without sacrificing civil liberties.
Research and Development
Researchers speed the death of ‘bad’ data in the race against good (Naked Security) They have a way to inject ‘good’ data – i.e., accurate COVID-19 news or security patches – to outpace the spread of fake news or malware.
Legislation, Policy, and Regulation
Cyber-warfare is a murky business (SC Magazine) US food giant Mondelez was denied a £76 m insurance pay-out after suffering a Russian ATP cyber-attack deemed to be “an act of war” and not covered under the firm’s cyber-security insurance policy.
Amid COVID-19 outbreak, China shifts to use "Russian-style" disinformation tactics (CBS News) Official Chinese accounts adopted a "more confrontational posture" in messaging on COVID-19, beginning in late February and March, as cases were confirmed across Europe and within the U.S.
Israel to use computer analysis to find likely coronavirus carriers (Reuters) Israel's defense ministry plans to use software that analyses data gathered from mobile phones - produced, according to Israeli media, by the spyware firm NSO - to help locate likely carriers of the coronavirus in order to test them.
How the UK is loosening its data rules to tackle coronavirus (The Telegraph) It was an idea mooted at Number 10’s tech summit three weeks ago:
Snowden: Coronavirus pandemic could lead to extended government surveillance (New York Post) NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden warned that the use of surveillance to track coronavirus cases during the pandemic could continue once the crisis subsides, according to a report. “When we se…
We weren't ready for a pandemic — imagine a crippling cyberattack (TheHill) The vulnerability of our electric grid is another 'blinking red light' threat to our national security and economy.
Analysis | The Cybersecurity 202: Coronavirus response is officially a new front in the election security fight (Washington Post) Trump accused Democrats of proposing vote by mail to help their electoral chances.
CISA Significantly Expands List of 'Essential Critical Infrastructure' Workers (Nextgov.com) The expanded list includes workers who may need to continue operating despite stay-at-home orders.
Advisory Memorandum on Identification of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During Covid-19 Response (CISA) As the Nation comes together to slow the spread of COVID-19, on March 16th the President issued updated Coronavirus Guidance for America that highlighted the importance of the critical infrastructure workforce.
Analysis | The Cybersecurity 202: Cybersecurity experts slam child protection bill that risks rolling back encryption (Washington Post) A strong majority of The Cybersecurity 202 Network experts say the EARN IT Act is a bad idea.
Litigation, Investigation, and Law Enforcement
New York Attorney General Looks Into Zoom’s Privacy Practices (New York Times) As the videoconferencing platform’s popularity has surged, Zoom has scrambled to address a series of data privacy and security problems.
Court: Violating a site’s terms of service isn’t criminal hacking (Ars Technica) Courts have struggled to interpret the vague Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
FBI turns to insurers to grasp the full reach of ransomware (CyberScoop) The FBI is turning to insurers to get data on ransomware attacks since victims are still not reaching out to the bureau when their systems are attacked.
FBI accuses Russian man of laundering money for a transnational cybercrime network (CyberScoop) FBI agents have arrested a Russian citizen accused of laundering money for a cybercriminal gang that allegedly stole funds from a range of U.S. banks.
Zoom Faces Class Action Lawsuit for Sharing Data with Facebook (Vice) The lawsuit comes after Motherboard analyzed the Zoom iOS app and found it sent analytic data to Facebook once opened.
First-Ever CCPA Cause of Action Filed in a Federal Court, but Is This Class Claim Short-Lived? (JD Supra) Although it may not seem like it, there are privacy-related issues to discuss beyond COVID-19. Before the state of emergency, we saw the first...
Law Firm Sued By Insurance Co. For Concealing Data Hack (Law360) A Kansas City personal injury firm was hit with a lawsuit by an insurance company that hired the firm to represent policyholders, with the company claiming the firm failed to protect sensitive information reportedly obtained by hacker group The Dark Overlord and did not warn either the company or clients that the information had been exposed.
NSW Police signs six-year biometric identification deal (ZDNet) The tech from Idemia captures criminals' biometric and demographic information.
Intel Shakes Microprocessor Security Flaw Suit For Now (Law360) An Oregon federal judge has axed multidistrict litigation accusing Intel Corp. of hiding design defects in its computer processors that created security vulnerabilities, finding that the plaintiffs had failed to show that they suffered any concrete or monetary harm while leaving the door open for them to amend their pleadings.
Charter Says TCPA Suit Should Wait For High Court, 2nd Circ. (Law360) Charter Communications Inc. pressed a Connecticut federal judge to pause a proposed class action alleging the telecom giant made illegal debt-collection robocalls to noncustomers, saying that upcoming "critical decisions" by the U.S. Supreme Court and Second Circuit "cut to the heart" of the case.