Many companies today have developed a Cybersecurity Incident Response (IR) plan. It’s a sound security practice to prepare a comprehensive IR plan to help the organization react to a sudden security incident in an orderly, rational manner. Otherwise, the organization will develop a plan while frantically responding to the incident, a recipe ripe for mistakes.
A judicial candidate in Louisiana has been charged with hacking into state computers and sharing confidential court documents with a friend. Attorney Trina Chu allegedly committed the offenses while working as a law clerk to now retired Chief Judge Henry Brown in 2018. According to a statement released by Caddo Parish sheriff Steve Prator, Chu copied sensitive
The databases contain personal information that could be used for phishing attacks and identity theft schemes Researchers have found close to 10.5 billion pieces of consumer data that has been left sitting in almost 10,000 unsecured internet-facing databases hosted across 20 countries. The data is said to include email addresses, passwords, and phone numbers. The study was
A new research has identified four new variants of HTTP request smuggling attacks that work against various commercial off-the-shelf web servers and HTTP proxy servers. Amit Klein, VP of Security Research at SafeBreach who presented the findings today at the Black Hat security conference, said that the attacks highlight how web servers and HTTP proxy
North Dakota has suffered fewer data breaches than any other American state over the past 15 years. Analysis of data breaches that have occurred in the United States since 2005 revealed California to be the state hit by the highest number of breaches. The Sunshine State was also found to have exposed the largest number of
In one scheme, shoppers ordering gadgets or gym equipment are in for a rude surprise – they receive disposable face masks instead The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has recorded a surge in complaints from victims who have been duped by fraudulent online marketplaces that never deliver the purchased items. According to the FBI,
by Paul Ducklin Law enforcement in Belarus has announced the arrest of a 31-year-old man who is alleged to have extorted more than 1000 victims with the infamous GandCrab ransomware in 2017 and 2018. He apparently demanded payments ranging from $400 to $1500 in Bitcoin. Unlike more targeted attacks where crooks break into networks first
Intelligence agencies in the US have released information about a new variant of 12-year-old computer virus used by China’s state-sponsored hackers targeting governments, corporations, and think tanks. Named “Taidoor,” the malware has done an ‘excellent’ job of compromising systems as early as 2008, with the actors deploying it on victim networks for stealthy remote access.
Michigan’s largest healthcare provider has warned around 6,000 patients that their data may have been exposed following a cyber-attack. The cybersecurity incident is the second phishing-related data breach to befall Beaumont Health in recent months. In April, the organization started notifying 112,211 individuals that some of their personal health information (PHI) had been exposed. The warning came after a data
The going prices are lower than you probably think – your credit card details, for example, can sell for a few bucks It’s no news that the dark web is rife with offers of stolen data that ranges from pilfered credit card information and hijacked payment services accounts to hacked social media accounts. Anyone interested
Many endpoint security vendors are beginning to offer their applications only in the cloud, sunsetting their on-premise offerings. This approach may be beneficial to the vendor, but many clients continue to need on-premise solutions. Vendors that sunset on-premise solutions force clients that prefer on-premise solutions to either change their operating environment and approach or change
A malware author has pleaded guilty to conspiracy for his role in a transnational cybercrime organization responsible for stealing over $568m. Valerian Chiochiu, a.k.a. “Onassis,” “Flagler,” “Socrate,” and “Eclessiastes,” admitted being involved with one of the largest cyber-fraud enterprises ever created that victimized Americans in all 50 states and millions globally. The 30-year-old Moldovan national was living
The attackers exploited the human factor to gain access to Twitter’s internal systems and the accounts of some of the world’s most prominent figures Twitter – still recovering from the recent brazen breach where miscreants hijacked 130 accounts belonging to prominent figures and used the handles to peddle a bitcoin scam – has now shed
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Security researchers have outlined a new technique that renders a remote timing-based side-channel attack more effective regardless of the network congestion between the adversary and the target server. Remote timing attacks that work over a network connection are predominantly affected by variations in network transmission time (or jitter), which, in turn, depends on the load
Researchers have discovered a digital propaganda campaign focused on spreading false information and inciting hatred against the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Dubbed Ghostwriter, the apparently well-resourced campaign has sought to portray the presence of American and NATO troops in Europe as aggressive and dangerous to local populations. Tactics used to turn public opinion
by Paul Ducklin The US Department of Justice just issued a press release entitled simply, “Three Individuals Charged for Alleged Roles in Twitter Hack.” In some ways, the Twitter hack referred to, which happened just two weeks ago on 2020-07-15, was tiny. In a world in which data breaches involving millions, hundreds of millions and
The Council of the European Union has imposed its first-ever sanctions against persons or entities involved in various cyber-attacks targeting European citizens, and its member states. The directive has been issued against six individuals and three entities responsible for or involved in various cyber-attacks, out of which some publicly known are ‘WannaCry‘, ‘NotPetya‘, and ‘Operation
The University of Chicago has launched a new initiative that aims to increase the cybersecurity of America’s forthcoming presidential election. Election Cyber Surge will function as a matchmaker service, connecting US election officials concerned about cybersecurity with volunteers who are experts in the field. Officials will choose an area of particular weakness, and then choose from a
by Paul Ducklin According to reports, Minnesota-based business travel company CWT is the latest victim of the latest trend in ransomware. In fact, we’re probably at the point where we need to stop calling them just “ransomware” attacks, because it’s increasingly common that there’s a lot more to these attacks than just keeping you out
A 17-year-old teen and two other 19 and 22-year-old individuals have reportedly been arrested for being the alleged mastermind behind the recent Twitter hack that simultaneously targeted several high-profile accounts within minutes as part of a massive bitcoin scam. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Mason Sheppard, aka “Chaewon,” 19, from the United Kingdom,
An American researcher has admitted stealing scientific trade secrets from a children’s hospital and selling them to China. Former Ohio resident Li Chen pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to steal scientific trade secrets and conspiring to commit wire fraud concerning the research, identification, and treatment of a range of pediatric medical conditions. Chen and her husband, alleged
by Paul Ducklin Another month, another BWAIN! That’s our tongue-in-cheek name for a cybersecurity vulnerability that not only gets assigned an identifier like CVE-2020-10713, but also acquires an impressive name plus a jaunty logo (and even, in one intriguing case, a theme tune). This month’s bug with an impressive name (see what we did there?)
Popular video conferencing app Zoom recently fixed a new security flaw that could have allowed potential attackers to crack the numeric passcode used to secure private meetings on the platform and snoop on participants. Zoom meetings are by default protected by a six-digit numeric password, but according to Tom Anthony, VP Product at SearchPilot who
Britain’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is funding a new wave of projects aimed at putting the UK at the forefront of 5G technology. Among the research and development projects to secure funding are a remote music festival that will take place in the Brighton Dome, trials of autonomous lorries, and a traffic system
A view of the Q2 2020 threat landscape as seen by ESET telemetry and from the perspective of ESET threat detection and research experts With half a year passed from the outbreak of COVID-19, the world is now trying to come to terms with the new normal. But even with the initial panic settled, and
by Paul Ducklin The Beatles famously sang about The Taxman back in 1966, when Britain had much higher taxes on the rich than it does now: Let me tell you how it will be There's one for you, nineteen for me 'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman Should five per cent appear too
A team of cybersecurity researchers today disclosed details of a new high-risk vulnerability affecting billions of devices worldwide—including servers and workstations, laptops, desktops, and IoT systems running nearly any Linux distribution or Windows system. Dubbed ‘BootHole‘ and tracked as CVE-2020-10713, the reported vulnerability resides in the GRUB2 bootloader, which, if exploited, could potentially let attackers
Rite Aid‘s quiet use of facial recognition technology in its stores has ended after nearly a decade. Since 2012, the American drugstore had gradually implemented the technology in 200 stores around the country, according to an investigation by Reuters. Analysis of where the technology had been deployed indicated that Rite Aid had primarily installed it in
The Bureau expects cybercriminals to increasingly abuse new threat vectors for large-scale DDoS attacks The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued an alert warning private sector organizations in the United States about a ramp-up in the use of built-in network protocols for large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) amplification attacks. “A DDoS amplification attack occurs when