Cybercriminals exploit SVB collapse to steal money and data
The collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 10, 2023, has sent ripples of turbulence throughout the global financial system, but for hackers, scammers, and phishing campaigns, it’s becoming an excellent opportunity. As multiple security researchers report, threat actors are already registering suspicious domains, conducting phishing pages, and gearing up for business email compromise (BEC) attacks.
Two U.S. Men Charged in 2022 Hacking of DEA Portal
Two U.S. men have been charged with hacking into a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) online portal that taps into 16 different federal law enforcement databases. Both are alleged to be part of a larger criminal organization that specializes in using fake emergency data requests from compromised police and government email accounts to publicly threaten and extort their victims.
Ring Denies Falling Victim to Ransomware Attack
Founded in 2013 and acquired by Amazon in 2018, Ring started with a smart doorbell and later expanded its portfolio with an alarm system and other smart home security products. On Monday, the cybergang behind the Alphv ransomware added an entry to their leaks site claiming they breached Ring and threatening to release data supposedly stolen from the company. The entry does not provide details on the amount or type of data that might have been compromised. “There’s always an option to let us leak your data,” the entry reads. Responding to a SecurityWeek inquiry, Ring denied falling victim to a ransomware attack. “We currently have no indications that Ring has experienced a ransomware event,” Ring said.
CISA Creates New Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Program
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced on Monday the creation of a new Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot (RVWP) program. Stemming from the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA) and coordinated by the Joint Ransomware Task Force (JRTF), the RVWP will see CISA assess flaws commonly associated with known ransomware exploitation. After finding these vulnerabilities, the Agency will warn critical infrastructure entities with the goal of enabling mitigation before a ransomware incident. To identify entities vulnerable to the bugs, CISA will rely on various existing services, data sources, technologies and authorities, including its Cyber Hygiene Vulnerability Scanning service.
7 problems facing Bing, Bard, and the future of AI search
This week, Microsoft and Google promised that web search is going to change. Yes, Microsoft did it in a louder voice while jumping up and down and saying “look at me, look at me,” but both companies now seem committed to using AI to scrape the web, distill what it finds, and generate answers to users’ questions directly — just like ChatGPT. Microsoft calls its efforts “the new Bing” and is building related capabilities into its Edge browser. Google’s is called project Bard, and while it’s not yet ready to sing, a launch is planned for the “coming weeks.” And of course, there’s the troublemaker that started it all: OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which exploded onto the web last year and showed millions the potential of AI Q&A.
