22 Feb 2024
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 2/22/2024

Reward Offers for Information on LockBit Leaders and Designating Affiliates The Department of State is announcing reward offers totaling up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of any individual participating in a LockBit ransomware variant attack and for information leading to the identification and/or location of any key leaders of the LockBit ransomware group. Since January 2020, LockBit actors have executed over 2,000 attacks against victims in the United States, and…
Read More
13 Dec 2023
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 12/13/2023

  Recruiters, beware of cybercrooks posing as job applicants!  Recruiters are being targeted via spear-phishing emails sent by cybercrooks impersonating job applicants, Proofpoint researchers are warning. “The tone and content of the emails suggest to the recipient the actor is a legitimate candidate, and because the actor specifically targets people who are involved in recruiting and hiring, the emails do not immediately seem suspicious,” they noted.     Northern Ireland cops count human cost of August data…
Read More
05 Oct 2023
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 10/05/2023

Say (an encrypted) hello to a more private internet  As web users, what we say and do online is subject to pervasive surveillance. Although we typically associate online tracking with ad networks and other third-party sites, our online communications travel across commercial telecommunication networks, allowing these privileged entities to siphon the names of the websites we visit and monetize our browsing history for their own gain. Enter Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) – by encrypting that first “hello”…
Read More
14 Aug 2023
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 08/14/2023

Microsoft to freeze license extensions for Russian companies Microsoft will stop renewing licenses for its products to Russian companies starting in October following sanctions imposed against Russia due to the war in Ukraine. The U.S. software giant said in a letter sent to Russian businesses on Thursday that it will no longer process payments via wire transfer to a local bank account for its services in Russia. Microsoft customers now have two months to find…
Read More
31 Jul 2023
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 07/31/2023

Senate opens path for a cyber-focused military branch  The possibility of a U.S. Cyber Force moved one step closer to reality on Thursday after the Senate approved its version of a massive defense policy bill. The $886 billion National Defense Authorization Act passed in a 86-11 vote. The Republican-led House narrowly passed its version of the legislation earlier this month, mostly along party lines. The two chambers will now go to conference to write a final…
Read More
21 Jul 2023
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 07/21/2023

How safe is your sensitive data in mental health apps?  Australian Academics have raised concerns about some popular mental health apps' data collection and use policies. A CHOICE survey of over 1,000 people conducted in June 2022 found that 30% of Australians had one or more mental health apps downloaded on their phones. Some are designed to help users improve their emotional well-being, become more mindful, and address common mental health issues providing access to online therapy, meditation practice,…
Read More
29 Jun 2023
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 06/29/2023

Windows 11 tests letting you sign into websites with your fingerprint or face  Microsoft is improving Windows 11’s support for the new passkey standard that aims to replace passwords with a more secure and convenient way of logging in. A recent Insider Preview Build (23486) now lets you use Windows Hello natively to create and sign in to supported applications and websites using passkeys, where you’ll be asked to prove your identity using a PIN, fingerprint, or…
Read More
22 Jun 2023
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 06/22/2023

Oreo maker Mondelez staff hit by data breach at third-party law firm  Snack giant Mondelez is warning past and present employees that their personal information may now be in the hands of hackers following a data breach at a third-party firm. Over 50,000 members of staff are receiving data breach notifications from the Oreo maker, after a data breach at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, a law firm hired by Mondelez to provide legal advice. Bryan Cave…
Read More
25 May 2023
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 05/25/2023

US sanctions North Korean entities involved in cyberattacks and IT worker fraud The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday announced new sanctions on four entities that employ thousands of North Korean IT workers who help illicitly finance the regime's missile and weapons of mass destruction programs. North Korea maintains legions of “highly skilled” IT workers around the globe, primarily in China and Russia, who “generate revenue that contributes to its unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs,” according…
Read More
12 May 2023
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 05/12/2023

Australian software giant won’t say if customers affected by hack  Australian enterprise software company TechnologyOne has halted trading after confirming it was hit by a cyberattack. In a stock exchange filing on Wednesday, the Brisbane-based software maker said it had detected that “an unauthorized third-party acted illegally to access its internal Microsoft 365 back-office system.” TechnologyOne said the company’s customer-facing platform is not connected to the affected Microsoft 365 system and “therefore has not been impacted,” but when reached, the company would…
Read More
10 Apr 2023
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 04/10/2023

Apple fixes two zero-days exploited to hack iPhones and Macs  Apple has released emergency security updates to address two new zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in attacks to compromise iPhones, Macs, and iPads. "Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited," the company said when describing the issues in security advisories published on Friday. The first security flaw (tracked as CVE-2023-28206) is an IOSurfaceAccelerator out-of-bounds write that could lead to corruption of data, a crash, or code execution.   …
Read More
29 Mar 2023
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 03/29/2023

Tech Press Slowly Figuring Out That Banning TikTok Doesn’t Fix The Actual Problem  The great TikTok moral panic of 2023 is largely a distraction. It’s a distraction from the fact we’ve refused to meaningfully regulate dodgy data brokers, who traffic in everything from your daily movement habits to your mental health diagnosis. And it’s a distraction from our corrupt failure to pass even a baseline privacy law for the internet era. Until the last few weeks, that’s been an oddly…
Read More
14 Feb 2023
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 02/14/2023

Don't Get Scammed This Valentine's Day  Valentine's Day can be a tough time to be single, but be careful who you connect with. That beautiful blond woman or superhot guy messaging you may be after more than just your love and affection. Experts warn that this is peak season for online romance scams, which accounted for a staggering $1.3 billion in losses last year, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The pandemic and our increasingly digital lives mean…
Read More
05 Apr 2022
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 04/05/2022

Experts Shed Light on BlackGuard Infostealer Malware Sold on Russian Hacking Forums A previously undocumented "sophisticated" information-stealing malware named BlackGuard is being advertised for sale on Russian underground forums for a monthly subscription of $200. "BlackGuard has the capability to steal all types of information related to Crypto wallets, VPN, Messengers, FTP credentials, saved browser credentials, and email clients," Zscaler ThreatLabz researchers Mitesh Wani and Kaivalya Khursale said in a report published last week. Also sold for…
Read More
30 Mar 2022
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 03/30/2022

Log4Shell exploited to infect VMware Horizon servers with backdoors, crypto miners The Log4Shell vulnerability is being actively exploited to deliver backdoors and cryptocurrency miners to vulnerable VMware Horizon servers. On Tuesday, Sophos cybersecurity researchers said the attacks were first detected in mid-January and are ongoing. Not only are backdoors and cryptocurrency miners being deployed, but in addition, scripts are used to gather and steal device information. Log4Shell is a critical vulnerability in Apache Log4J Java logging library. The…
Read More
31 Jan 2022
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 01/31/2022

Attackers connect rogue devices to organizations’ network with stolen Office 365 credentials Attackers are trying out a new technique to widen the reach of their phishing campaigns: by using stolen Office 365 credentials, they try to connect rogue Windows devices to the victim organizations’ network by registering it with their Azure AD. If successful, they are ready to launch the second wave of the campaign, which consists of sending more phishing emails to targets outside…
Read More
27 Jan 2022
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 01/27/2022

Threats Are (Still) on the Rise: 2022 Ponemon Report Insider threats are a major risk for organizations of all sizes—and it’s expensive to ignore them. Insider threat incidents are costing businesses upwards of $15 million annually, on average. And it’s not just careless insiders who are to blame for insider threats; more organizations are reporting that credential theft is a growing concern in 2022. To compound matters, it now takes 85 days to contain an insider threat,…
Read More
18 Nov 2021
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 11/18/2021

Cybercriminals Increasingly Employ Crypto-Mixers to Launder Stolen Profits Cryptocurrency mixing — a technique that uses pools of cryptocurrency to complicate the tracking of electronic transactions — has become a common service used by cybercriminals and is expected to become even more popular as governments regulate cryptocurrency exchanges in the future, researchers say. Threat intelligence firm Intel 471 warned in a new report that crypto-mixers have professional-looking sites, offer services in English and often Russian, and handle individual…
Read More
27 Sep 2021
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 09/27/2021

Hackers breached computer network at key US port but did not disrupt operations Suspected foreign government-backed hackers last month breached a computer network at one of the largest ports on the US Gulf Coast, but early detection of the incident meant the intruders weren't in a position to disrupt shipping operations, according to a Coast Guard analysis of the incident obtained by CNN and a public statement from a senior US cybersecurity official. The incident…
Read More
14 Sep 2021
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 09/14/2021

Apple issues urgent iPhone software update to address critical spyware vulnerability Apple has updated its software for iPhones to address a critical vulnerability that independent researchers say has been exploited by notorious surveillance software to spy on a Saudi activist. Researchers from the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab said the software exploit has been in use since February and has been used to deploy Pegasus, the spyware made by Israeli firm NSO Group that has…
Read More
27 Aug 2021
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 08/27/2021

Quantum computers could read all your encrypted data. This 'quantum-safe' VPN aims to stop that To protect our private communications from future attacks by quantum computers, Verizon is trialing the use of next-generation cryptography keys to protect the virtual private networks (VPNs) that are used every day by companies around the world to prevent hacking. Verizon implemented what it describes as a "quantum-safe" VPN between one of the company's labs in London in the UK and a US-based…
Read More
17 Jun 2021
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 06/17/2021

Critical ThroughTek Flaw Opens Millions of Connected Cameras to Eavesdropping The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday issued an advisory regarding a critical software supply-chain flaw impacting ThroughTek's software development kit (SDK) that could be abused by an adversary to gain improper access to audio and video streams. "Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could permit unauthorized access to sensitive information, such as camera audio/video feeds," CISA said in the alert. ThroughTek's point-to-point (P2P) SDK…
Read More
09 Apr 2021
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 04/09/2021

Italian man arrested after allegedly paying hitman in cryptocurrency According to a Europol alert on Wednesday, the suspect dove into the darkest corners of the internet to find a hitman and eventually located a website claiming to offer these services on the dark web. It is necessary to use the Tor network to access the deep web -- an underlayer that is not indexed by typical search engines -- and a sector of this area, known as the…
Read More
27 Jan 2021
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 01/27/2021

North Korean hackers are targeting security researchers with malware, 0-days A North Korean government-backed hacking group targets security researchers who focus on vulnerability and exploit development via social networks, disclosed Google tonight. According to a report released tonight by Google's Threat Analysis Group, a North Korean government-backed hacking group uses social networks to target security researchers and infect their computers with a custom backdoor malware. The threat actors create fake Twitter profiles and blogs to…
Read More
26 Jan 2021
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 01/26/2021

Apple launches ‘Time to Walk’ for Fitness+ with Dolly Parton, Draymond Green, others Apple today launched a new component of Fitness+ designed to get people out of their homes and away from their TVs. Called Time to Walk, it’s the first outdoor component of Fitness+ and opens the service up to a new world of workouts. Apple seemingly goes out of its way to not call them podcasts, but Time to Walk is a very much in the vein.…
Read More
19 Jan 2021
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 01/19/2021

Nine Attention-Grabbing Inventions Unveiled at This Year’s CES Like school, work conferences and visiting your grandparents, this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been virtual-only. So instead of gathering in hangar-sized Las Vegas expo halls, those wishing to check out the year’s crop of tech and gadget debuts can simply tune in online. Some of these technologies will never catch on. Others may one day be as ubiquitous as the Xbox, satellite radio and 3D printers, all…
Read More
15 Jan 2021
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 01/15/2021

Apple drops 'exclusion list' which allowed its own apps to bypass firewalls The latest beta of macOS Big Sur has reportedly removed the contentious ability for Apple's own apps to bypass firewalls, and hide their network use. Apple's release of the macOS Big Sur 11.2 beta appears to show that the company is dropping a controversial network feature. In the current public version of Big Sur, 56 of Apple's own apps and system processes can use the internet…
Read More
11 Dec 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 12/11/2020

Hackers steal data on Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine The manufacturers of one of the leading Covid-19 vaccines has admitted that it has been targeted in an apparent cyberattack. US firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, which collectively have developed the first Covid vaccine to achieve approval in the West, confirmed that documents related to the vaccine’s development had been “unlawfully accessed.” Little information is known about the attack, including likely instigators, or when and how the attack…
Read More
18 Nov 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 11/18/2020

DarkSide ransomware is creating a secure data leak service in Iran The DarkSide Ransomware operation claims they are creating a distributed storage system in Iran to store and leak data stolen from victims. To show they mean business, the ransomware gang has deposited $320 thousand on a hacker forum. DarkSide is run as a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) where developers are in charge of programming the ransomware software and payment site, and affiliates are recruited to hack…
Read More
11 Nov 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 11/11/2020

The Double-Edged Sword of Cybersecurity Insurance Cybersecurity insurance is no longer a luxury. As attacks have accelerated — and become more costly — the idea of hedging against a breach has gone mainstream. The global cyber-insurance market now stands at $7.8 billion, but it's projected to reach $20.4 billion by 2025, according to an October 2020 report from ResearchAndMarkets. Indeed, companies are incorporating cybersecurity insurance into their overall business strategies, says Alexander Chaveriat, chief innovation officer…
Read More
06 Nov 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 11/06/2020

Update your Chrome again as Google patches second zero-day in two weeks Before you start to Google for election news, we’d like you to check whether your browser is at the latest and safest version. “Again?”, Chrome users may say. Yes, because Google has found another zero-day vulnerability – that means it’s a hole that is actively being exploited right now. It’s the second zero-day in Google found in the past two weeks. Last week we…
Read More
29 Oct 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 10/29/2020

White Castle rolls out more robots from Miso Robotics to cook in its kitchens More robots are coming to White Castle . Expanding a partnership with Miso Robotics,  roughly 10 new White Castle locations will be rolling out the Pasadena, California-based company’s robotic fry cook. The move accelerates the adoption of Miso Robotics’ newly designed Flippy robot into kitchens to speed up production and allow more staff to work in the front of the house to service customers, the…
Read More
12 Oct 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 10/12/2020

Comcast says gigabit downloads and uploads are now possible over cable Comcast's cable Internet still has a heavy emphasis on download speeds, as even its gigabit-download service only comes with 35Mbps uploads. But that may not be the case forever, as today Comcast announced a "technical milestone" that can deliver gigabit-plus download and upload speeds over existing cable wires. Specifically, Comcast said it conducted "a trial delivering 1.25Gbps upload and download speeds over a live production network using Network Function…
Read More
30 Sep 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 09/30/2020

Google to block election ads after Election Day Google informed its advertisers Friday that it will broadly block election ads after polls close Nov. 3, according to an email obtained by Axios. Why it matters: Big Tech platforms have been under pressure to address how their ad policies will handle conflicts over the presidential election's outcome. In the email, Google says that advertisers will not be able to run ads "referencing candidates, the election, or its…
Read More
16 Sep 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 09/16/2020

Staples discloses data breach exposing customer info Giant office retail company Staples informed some of its customers that data related to their orders has been accessed without authorization. Few details are available at the moment. The company has not disclosed the incident publicly and alerted affected customers individually over email. It is important to note that Staples’ main business is selling office supplies and related products using retail channels and through business-to-business engagements. The office…
Read More
09 Sep 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 09/09/2020

Amazon, Apple, and Google’s open-source smart home standard is on track for a 2021 launch Project Connected Home over IP — the ambitious attempt to bring together Amazon, Apple, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance with a unified, open-source smart home platform — has just posted its latest update on the project. The group has announced (in the first major update since the standard was revealed) that work on the project is still ongoing, and it’s targeting a…
Read More
04 Sep 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 09/04/2020

Verizon spends big in FCC auction ahead of mid-band 5G launch Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) was the biggest winner in the FCC’s recently concluded auction for licenses in the 3.5 GHz band. In its announcement, the commission has revealed that Verizon placed $1.89 billion in winning bids, followed by Dish Network (under the name Wetterhorn Wireless) with total winning bids worth $912 million. The FCC started auctioning off 70 megahertz of Priority Access Licenses in a band…
Read More
01 Sep 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 09/01/2020

Cybercriminals Make Millions Selling Stolen Fortnite Accounts, New Research Shows Thousands of stolen Fortnite accounts are selling like hotcakes in underground marketplaces, amassing around $1.2 million a year for cybercriminals, a new report shows. The Fortnite Underground Cybercrime Economy report sheds light on a million-dollar business that capitalizes on the popularity of the free-to-play video game that managed to attract over 350 million players within three years of its launch. According to researchers from Night Lion Security,…
Read More
31 Aug 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 08/31/2020

US sues to recover cryptocurrency funds stolen by North Korean hackers The United States government has filed a lawsuit today seeking to seize control over 280 Bitcoin and Ethereum accounts that are believed to be holding funds North Korean hackers stole from two cryptocurrency exchanges. Court documents did not identify the hacked exchanges, but officials said the two hacks took place in July 1, 2019, and September 25, 2019. During the first incident, North Korean…
Read More
25 Aug 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 08/25/2020

Here's how to turn your old phone into a home security camera for free If you have some old phones collecting dust in a drawer somewhere, don't sell them for a fraction of what you bought them for. If they still turn on, you can put them to good use in your home. You could turn one into a baby monitor or a makeshift Google Home speaker, for example. Those are good ideas and you can find more in the link…
Read More
19 Aug 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 08/19/2020

Carnival Cruises into Danger After Ransomware Attack British-American cruise operator Carnival has suffered a ransomware attack in which guest and employee data was accessed, it has revealed in a regulatory filing. The Miami-headquartered travel giant — which operates big-name brands including Cunard, P&O, AIDA and Princess — said the attack was discovered on August 15. Attackers managed to encrypt “a portion” of the IT systems one of its brands, although Carnival refused to elaborate on…
Read More
07 Aug 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 08/07/2020

Cluster of 295 Chrome extensions caught hijacking Google and Bing search results More than 80 million Chrome users have installed one of 295 Chrome extensions that hijack and insert ads inside Google and Bing search results. The malicious extensions were discovered by AdGuard, a company that provides ad-blocking solutions, while the company's staff was looking into a series of fake ad-blocking extensions that were available on the official Chrome Web Store. A subsequent investigation into…
Read More
05 Aug 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 08/05/2020

US government sites abused to redirect users to porn sites In an ongoing blackhat SEO campaign tracked by BleepingComputer, scammers are using open redirects found on government websites to redirect visitors to pornography sites. An open redirect is an URL that anyone can use to redirect a visitor to a website of their choosing. Blackhat SEO scammers use these open redirects to get listings in search engines, such as Google, that show the page's title…
Read More
14 Jul 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 7/14/2020

The real reason Apple is warning users about MacBook camera covers Earlier this month, Apple published a support document that warned MacBook owners against closing their laptop with a camera cover fitted. And just as with the whole wearing masks in public debate, there are some people who don't like being told what to do, even it is for their own good. First off, some clarity. Apple didn't say, "don't use a camera cover." Apple clearly…
Read More
03 Jul 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 7/3/2020

Facebook admits to improperly giving user data to third-party developers, again In a Wednesday blog post, Facebook announced that (oops!) thousands of developers continued to receive updates to users' non-public information well past the point when they should have. Specifically, Facebook said that, for an unspecified number of users, it failed to cut off the data spigot — like it promised it would back in 2018 — 90 days after a person had last used an app.  We…
Read More
30 Jun 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 6/30/2020

Chinese bank requires foreign firm to install app with covert backdoor A large, multinational technology company got a nasty surprise recently as it was expanding its operations to China. The software a local bank required the company to install so it could pay local taxes contained an advanced backdoor. The cautionary tale, detailed in a report published Thursday, said the software package, called Intelligent Tax and produced by Beijing-based Aisino Corporation, worked as advertised. Behind the scenes, it…
Read More
29 Jun 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 6/29/2020

TikTok caught copying iOS users' clipboard contents, claims it's an anti-spam feature As the Telegraph notes, TikTok was one of several applications discovered to be reading users’ clipboards back in March. A couple of developers found popular applications such as AccuWeather, Overstock, AliExpress, Call of Duty Mobile, Patreon, and Google News were all snooping on both Android and iOS. ByteDance told Forbes this was related to the use of an outdated Google advertising SDK that was being replaced. At…
Read More
26 Jun 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 6/26/2020

NVIDIA and Mercedes partner to create a next-gen car computer During a joint press conference held Wednesday, NVIDIA and Mercedes Benz announced that they are teaming up to develop a “revolutionary in-vehicle computing system” for the automakers next generation of luxury automobiles in 2024. Touted as “the most sophisticated and advanced computing architecture ever deployed in an automobile,” per an NVIDIA press release, this new software system will enable Level 2 and 3 driving autonomy…
Read More
24 Jun 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 6/24/2020

Four California Hotels Redefine Social Distancing with Robots Delivering Groceries, Towels and Pet Treats As the California economy reopens, four California hotels have created a safe environment with elevated cleanliness and Social Distancing Robot Ambassadors.  With many guests preferring a touchless experience, the three-foot robots provide guests with peace of mind as they can deliver everything from pillows and pet treats to towels and groceries. Since the robots have no arms, they do not replace…
Read More
22 Jun 2020
By Mary

InfoSec News Nuggets 6/22/2020

To evade detection, hackers are requiring targets to complete CAPTCHAs CAPTCHAs, those puzzles with muffled sounds or blurred or squiggly letters that websites use to filter out bots (often unsuccessfully), have been annoying end users for more than a decade. Now, the challenge-and-response tests are likely to vex targets in malware attacks. Microsoft recently spotted an attack group distributing a malicious Excel document on a site requiring users to complete a CAPTCHA, most likely in an…
Read More