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InfoSec News Nuggets 12/22/2020

Zoom Says It’s Being Probed by SEC, Two U.S. Attorneys Offices

Zoom Video Communications Inc. said it has provided information to multiple U.S. prosecutors and regulators regarding interactions with China and other overseas governments, as well as security and user privacy matters. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and two U.S. Attorney’s offices have been investigating Zoom for months, the San Jose, California-based company said Friday in a blog post and a filing. The videoconferencing company disclosed the legal and regulatory scrutiny the same day a former employee was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice for assisting China to block a remote gathering on the service commemorating the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square uprising.

 

Trucking giant Forward Air hit by new Hades ransomware gang

Trucking and freight logistics company Forward Air has suffered a ransomware attack by a new ransomware gang that has impacted the company’s business operations. Forward Air is a leading trucking and air freight logistics company based out of Tennessee, USA. The company generated $1.4 billion in revenue for 2019 and employs over 4,300 people. Last week, FreightWaves reported that Forward Air suffered a cyberattack that forced them to take their systems offline to prevent the attack’s spread. Forward Air later confirmed this attack in a statement to BleepingComputer. Sources have told BleepingComputer today that Forward Air suffered a cyberattack by a new ransomware operation known as Hades.

 

50% of U.S. tech execs say state-sponsored cyber warfare their biggest threat

A new CNBC survey of technology executives found that most believe state-sponsored cyber warfare is the most dangerous threat to their company or organization. Thirty-two percent of those surveyed also said that defining a national cybersecurity protocol should be the top priority for the incoming Biden administration and new Congress. The findings come following this week’s breach of both the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments, which is believed to be the work of nation state actors in Russia.

 

Apple targets car production by 2024 and eyes ‘next level’ battery technology

  • Apple is moving forward with self-driving car technology and is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The iPhone maker’s automotive efforts, known as Project Titan, have proceeded unevenly since 2014 when it first started to design its own vehicle from scratch. At one point, Apple drew back the effort to focus on software and reassessed its goals. Since then, Apple has progressed enough that it now aims to build a vehicle for consumers, two people familiar with the effort said.

 

Is Fortnite Safe for Kids?

Fortnite is a popular online game among young people, but that doesn’t make it safe. With 350 million players as of May 2020, it’s difficult to know who your child may be interacting with, so are you sure they’re safe playing Fornite? Scammers use Fortnite to lure in children because it’s so popular. Scammers will send messages offering free in-game currency and rewards. These messages may ask your child to provide sensitive information or to download malicious software. Fraudsters create many different varieties of these scams to trick kids. Some scammers use questionnaires to farm information, while some request your child to enter their account number into a website. The best way to keep your kid safe from scams is to follow our safe online participation guide.

 

Microsoft, Google, Cisco, and others file amicus brief in support of Facebook’s NSO lawsuit

Tech giants including the likes of Microsoft, Google, Cisco, and VMWare have signed today an amicus brief in support of Facebook’s lawsuit against the NSO Group, an Israeli company that makes and sells hacking tools to foreign governments. Besides the four, the amicus brief was also signed by Microsoft subsidiaries GitHub and LinkedIn, but also by the Internet Association, an industry lobby group representing tens of other tech companies, such as Amazon, Twitter, Reddit, Discord, PayPal, eBay, Uber, and many others.  The amicus brief was filed in a lawsuit Facebook filed against the NSO Group in October 2019. At the time, Facebook said the NSO Group developed an exploit against the WhatsApp mobile app that it later sold to its government contractors. A subsequent investigation discovered that the exploit was used to install malware on the phones of more than 1,400 WhatsApp users, including attorneys, journalists, human rights activists, political dissidents, diplomats, and other senior foreign government officials.

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