U.S. Offered $10M for Hacker Just Arrested by Russia
In January 2022, KrebsOnSecurity identified a Russian man named Mikhail Matveev as “Wazawaka,” a cybercriminal who was deeply involved in the formation and operation of multiple ransomware groups. The U.S. government indicted Matveev as a top ransomware purveyor a year later, offering $10 million for information leading to his arrest. Last week, the Russian government reportedly arrested Matveev and charged him with creating malware used to extort companies.
Finland says latest fiber-optic cable break was an accident, not sabotage
Finland’s police confirmed on Tuesday that the damage to two fiber-optic cables running across the country’s land border with Sweden was caused by excavation work rather than sabotage. In an official statement, the police said they have no ongoing criminal investigation into the recent cable break, dismissing previous reports that the incident was allegedly caused by malicious activity. As of the time of writing, the cables had been repaired — a day after they were damaged at two separate locations in rural areas.
Senators say US military is failing to secure its phones from foreign spies
Two U.S. senators are accusing the Department of Defense (DOD) of not doing enough to protect the communications of its military personnel, as the U.S. government contends with an ongoing Chinese hacking campaign targeting American phone and internet giants. The senators say the Department of Defense still relies too heavily on old-fashioned landline calls, and unencrypted cellular calls and texts, which are vulnerable to snooping by foreign spies. Democratic senator Ron Wyden from Oregon and Republican senator Eric Schmitt from Missouri specifically point to threats, such as the Chinese government espionage group known as Salt Typhoon, which was recently accused of breaking into major U.S. telecommunications providers, including AT&T and Verizon, to spy on Americans.
FBI Warns iPhone And Android Users—Stop Sending Texts
Timing is everything. Just as Apple’s adoption of RCS had seemed to signal a return to text messaging versus the unstoppable growth of WhatsApp, then along comes a surprising new hurdle to stop that in its tracks. While messaging Android to Android or iPhone to iPhone is secure, messaging from one to the other is not. Now even the FBI and CISA, the US cyber defense agency, are warning Americans to use responsibly encrypted messaging and phone calls where they can. The backdrop is the Chinese hacking of US networks that is reportedly “ongoing and likely larger in scale than previously understood.” Fully encrypted comms is the best defense against this compromise, and Americans are being urged to use that wherever possible.
White House Says at Least 8 US Telecom Firms, Dozens of Nations Impacted by China Hacking Campaign
A top White House official on Wednesday said at least eight U.S. telecom firms and dozens of nations have been impacted by a Chinese hacking campaign. Deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger offered new details about the breadth of the sprawling Chinese hacking campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. Neuberger divulged the scope of the hack a day after the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued guidance intended to help root out the hackers and prevent similar cyberespionage in the future. White House officials cautioned that the number of telecommunication firms and countries impacted could still grow.
