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InfoSec News Nuggets 2/3/2025

Facebook flags Linux topics as ‘cybersecurity threats’ — posts and users being blocked

Facebook is banning posts that mention various Linux-related topics, sites, or groups. Some users may also see their accounts locked or limited when posting Linux topics. Major open-source operating system news, reviews, and discussion site DistroWatch is at the center of the controversy, as it seems to be the first to have noticed that Facebook’s Community Standards had blackballed it. A post on the site claims, “Facebook’s internal policy makers decided that Linux is malware and labeled groups associated with Linux as being ‘cybersecurity threats.’ We tried to post some blurb about distrowatch.com on Facebook and can confirm that it was barred with a message citing Community Standards.

 

Engineering giant Smiths Group discloses security breach

London-based engineering giant Smiths Group disclosed a security breach after unknown attackers gained access to the company’s systems. Smiths is a British multinational listed on the London Stock Exchange that employs more than 15,000 people in over 50 countries. It also provides products to customers in the energy, safety, security, aerospace, and defense markets and reported £3,132 million in revenue last year. In a Tuesday filing with the London Stock Exchange, the engineering firm said it’s investigating a “cyber security incident” involving “unauthorised access to the Company’s systems.”

 

Guess who left a database wide open, exposing chat logs, API keys, and more? Yup, DeepSeek

China-based AI biz DeepSeek may have developed competitive, cost-efficient generative models, but its cybersecurity chops are another story. Wiz, a New York-based infosec house, says that shortly after the DeepSeek R1 model gained widespread attention, it began investigating the machine-learning outfit’s security posture. What Wiz found is that DeepSeek – which not only develops and distributes trained openly available models but also provides online access to those neural networks in the cloud – did not secure the database infrastructure of those services.

 

Ransomware attack disrupts New York blood donation giant

​The New York Blood Center (NYBC), one of the world’s largest independent blood collection and distribution organizations, says a Sunday ransomware attack forced it to reschedule some appointments. NYBC collects almost 4,000 units of blood products every day and serves more than 75 million people in more than a dozen states. It also provides transfusion-related medical services to over 500 hospitals nationwide. On Wednesday, NYBC said it detected the attack after noticing suspicious activity on its IT systems over the weekend, on January 26.

 

Indian tech giant Tata Technologies hit by ransomware attack

Tata Technologies Ltd. had to suspend some of its IT services following a ransomware attack that impacted the company network. A subsidiary of Tata Motors, Tata Technologies is an Indian public multinational tech firm that focuses on automotive design, aerospace engineering, and R&D engineering in general. It is one of India’s key tech developers and state project contractors, employs over 11,000 people, has an annual revenue of $600 million, and operates 18 locations in India, North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

 

WhatsApp says it disrupted spyware campaign aimed at reporters, civil society

WhatsApp said Friday that it had disrupted a spyware campaign that targeted 90 people, including journalists and activists. The company tied to the campaign, according to WhatsApp, is Israeli firm Paragon, which last fall signed a $2 million contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and recently was purchased by U.S. private equity giant AE International. “We’ve reached out directly to people who we believe were affected,” said a WhatsApp spokesperson. “This is the latest example of why spyware companies must be held accountable for their unlawful actions. WhatsApp will continue to protect peoples’ ability to communicate privately.”

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