Apple Confirms Emergency SOS via Satellite Launching on iPhone Later This Month
Apple today confirmed in a press release that Emergency SOS via Satellite for iPhone 14 models will be launching in the U.S. and Canada later this month. Apple has still not provided a specific release date or iOS version required for the feature. Apple also announced that it will be investing $450 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund towards the development of critical infrastructure supporting Emergency SOS via Satellite, with a majority of the funding to go to Apple’s satellite partner Globalstar.
Medibank hackers revealed to be in Russia
The Australian Federal Police has revealed that those responsible for the data breach of Australian private health insurer Medibank are in Russia. On October 13, Medibank paused trading in the Australian Securities Exchange and announced there had been a “cyber incident”. At the time the company believed no data had been accessed and that the main issue was at its ahm and international student policy management units. But what started as the second largest breach in Australia’s history slowly unraveled into a potentially much more harmful breach than the infamous Optus breach, which impacted a third of the Australian population.
FTC tracking developments at Twitter with ‘deep concern’ after CISO resigns
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it is monitoring the recent fracas around Twitter just hours after the company’s chief information security officer announced their resignation. Twitter was fined $150 million in May after it was caught by the Justice Department and FTC covertly using account security data for targeted advertising. Alongside the fine, the company agreed to a slate of other rules related to its security and advertising practices. All of that has been thrown into limbo by the recent purchase of the company by Tesla CEO Elon Musk — who completed his acquisition of the social media giant two weeks ago in a $44 billion deal — and high-profile departures at the company. Since taking over, Musk has fired half of Twitter’s employees and pushed through several changes to how the site functions in an effort to increase its profitability.
Qatar World Cup Firms Urged to Upgrade Cyber-Threat Model
Organizing bodies and key partners of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar this autumn have been warned to enhance their resilience against a potential barrage of cyber-threats. Threat intelligence firm Digital Shadows claimed that the world’s most-watched sporting event would invite scrutiny from a variety of threat actors. “Scams could present themselves in many forms. For instance, financially motivated threat actors often plant in malicious URLs spoofing these events to fraudulent sites, hoping to maximize their chances of scamming naive internet users for a quick profit,” it warned in a blog post. “At the same time, hacktivist groups may exploit the public attention given to such events to exponentially increase the reach of their message. State-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) groups may also decide to target global sporting events like the Qatar 2022 World Cup to achieve state goals to the hosting country or the broader event community.”
CISA Says Midterm Voting Uncompromised By Cyber-attack
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) director Jen Easterly issued a statement on Wednesday claiming the midterm voting procedures were not disrupted or compromised by cyber-attacks. “I want to express my gratitude to the election workers and hundreds of thousands of Americans who served as poll workers yesterday,” the executive said. According to Easterly, state and local election workers have already put in long hours and will continue to do so in the days ahead to certify the election results. “They serve on the front lines of our democracy, and they deserve our support, our admiration, and our respect. CISA is proud to call them partners. It’s because of them that we can all have confidence in the safety, security, and integrity of our elections,” he added.
