Security

The White House has allocated a total of $3.1bn to cybersecurity infrastructure in its latest budget report. Published on Thursday, the document shows $145m of this figure will go toward making the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) “more resilient and defensible.” Of the remaining funds, $98m will be invested in implementing the Cyber Incident Reporting

The threat actor known as “8220 Gang” has been associated with a new payload targeting an exploitable Oracle Weblogic Server in a specific Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). The payload, analyzed by Fortinet security researchers, is characterized by the extraction of ScrubCrypt, a type of malware designed to obfuscate and encrypt applications with the goal of

by Paul Ducklin Even if you’re not entirely sure what a TPM is, you’ll probably know that if you want to run Windows 11, you need one. More precisely, you need a TPM 2.0 (although there’s an official Microsoft workaround to get by with TPM 1.2, the previous, incompatible version of the technology). TPM is

The North Korean threat actor known as Lazarus Group has been spotted exploiting flaws in unnamed software to gain access to a South Korean finance firm twice last year. The news comes from security researchers at Asec, who published an advisory about the attacks on Tuesday. The company recorded the first of the attacks in

A ransomware cyber-attack has targeted one of Barcelona’s leading hospitals, shutting down its computer system and forcing the cancellation of 150 non-urgent operations and up to 3000 patient checkups. Reported Monday on Twitter, the attack against Hospital Clinic de Barcelona occurred on Sunday. At the time, the institution said it was working to determine the

by Naked Security writer You’ve almost certainly heard of the ransomware family known as DoppelPaymer, if only because the name itself is a reminder of the double-barrelled blackmail technique used by many contemporary ransomware gangs. To increase the pressure on you to pay up, so-called double-extortionists not only scramble all your data files so your

German and Ukrainian police forces have apprehended suspected key members of the DoppelPaymer ransomware gang, Europol announced today. The operation, carried out on February 28, was supported by Europol, the Dutch Police and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and resulted in the capture of a suspect in Germany and one in Ukraine.

Two separate vulnerabilities have been found in the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 that could lead to information disclosure or escalation of privilege. At a basic level, TPM is a hardware-based technology providing secure cryptographic functions to the operating systems on modern computers, making them resistant to tampering. Affecting Revisions 1.59, 1.38 and 1.16 of the

by Paul Ducklin The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which dubs itself “America’s Cyber Defense Agency”, has just put out a public service annoucement under its #StopRansomware banner. This report is numbered AA23-061a, and if you’ve slipped into the habit of assuming that ransomware is yesterday’s threat, or that other specific cyberattacks should

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has published a new advisory warning system defenders against the Royal Ransomware group. Part of the Agency’s #StopRansomware campaign, the document was released on Thursday in collaboration with the FBI and describes tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) alongside indicators of compromise (IOCs) associated with Royal ransomware variants. The

by Paul Ducklin A ROGUES’ GALLERY Rogue software packages. Rogue “sysadmins”. Rogue keyloggers. Rogue authenticators. No audio player below? Listen directly on Soundcloud. With Doug Aamoth and Paul Ducklin. Intro and outro music by Edith Mudge. You can listen to us on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and anywhere that good podcasts are

Security researchers from ESET have discovered a new custom backdoor they dubbed MQsTTang and attributed it to the advanced persistent threat (APT) group known as Mustang Panda. Writing in an advisory published on March 2, 2023, ESET malware researcher, Alexandre Côté Cyr explained the new backdoor is part of an ongoing campaign the company traced back to early January.

Russian government officials will no longer be able to use messaging apps developed and run by foreign companies, according to a new law which went into force yesterday. Parts 8–10 of Article 10 of the new law – On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection – apply to government agencies and organizations. “The law establishes

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has repeated calls for an urgent review into government ministers’ use of private messaging apps for official business, after 100,000 WhatsApp messages were leaked to a newspaper. The messages had been shared by former health secretary Matt Hancock with right-wing journalist Isabel Oakeshott so she could ghost write his Pandemic Diaries

British high street chain WH Smith has revealed earlier today it was hit by a cyber-attack that resulted in the theft of company data. In particular, the stationery and book chain said current and former employee data was accessed by the threat actors, including names, addresses, dates of birth and national insurance numbers. WH Smith

by Naked Security writer Dutch police announced late last week that they’d arrested three young men, aged between 18 and 21, suspected of cybercrimes involving breaking in, stealing data, and then demanding hush money. The charges include: computer intrusion, data theft, extortion, blackmail, and money laundering. The trio were actually arrested a month earlier, back

by Paul Ducklin There’s no date on the update, but as far as we can make out, LastPass just [2023-02-27] published a short document entitled Incident 2 – Additional details of the attack. As you probably remember, because the bad news broke just before the Christmas holiday season in December 2022, LastPass suffered what’s known

A business magnate and major political donor has been indicted for masterminding a “massive” $2bn scheme to defraud regulators and thousands of insurance policyholders. Greg Lindberg, 53, of Durham, North Carolina, allegedly conspired with others between 2016 and 2019 to invest nearly $2bn in multiple insurance companies – many of which have since 2019 apparently

by Paul Ducklin Thanks to Tommy Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry of @mysk_co for the impetus and information behind this article. The duo describe themselves as “two iOS developers and occasional security researchers on two continents.” In other words, although cybersecurity isn’t their core business, they’re doing what we wish all programmers would do: not

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned nations’ defenders yesterday against disruptive and defacement attacks today. These, the agency said on Thursday, may spur from attempts to sow chaos and societal discord on the anniversary of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. “In response to the heightened geopolitical tensions resulting from Russia’s full-scale invasion

Google Play Store’s new Data Safety labels have been criticized for being inaccurate in nearly 80% of cases. The claims come from Mozilla’s *Privacy Not Included researchers, who published a new study about them on Thursday. “[We] found that the labels were false or misleading based on discrepancies between the apps’ privacy policies and the

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted the vast cybercrime underground operating from the country, thanks to mobilization of some threat actors and the emigration of others, according to Recorded Future. The threat intelligence firm’s new report, Russia’s War Against Ukraine Disrupts the Cybercriminal Ecosystem, is compiled from analysis of dark web sources. The cybersecurity vendor

by Paul Ducklin LEARNING FROM OTHERS The first search warrant for computer storage. GoDaddy breach. Twitter surprise. Coinbase kerfuffle. The hidden cost of success. Click-and-drag on the soundwaves below to skip to any point. You can also listen directly on Soundcloud. With Doug Aamoth and Paul Ducklin Intro and outro music by Edith Mudge. You

The UK’s privacy regulator has called on accountants to play a key role in ensuring the country’s SMEs are compliant with rigorous data protection laws. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said that research from 2021 revealed that around a third (34%) of smaller businesses trust their accountants for advice, while a fifth (20%) use these

by Paul Ducklin Johnathan Swift is probably most famous for his novel Gulliver’s Travels, during which the narrator, Lemuel Gulliver, encounters a socio-political schism in Liiliputian society caused by unending arguments over whether you should open a boiled egg at the big end or the little end. This satirical observation has flowed diretly into modern

A suspected distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack downed several websites broadcasting President Putin’s state of the nation address on Tuesday, according to reports. Reuters said journalists based in multiple locations were unable to access the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) website or the Smotrim live-streaming platform for periods during the speech.

by Paul Ducklin Popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is the latest well-known online brand name that’s admitted to getting breached. The company decided to turn its breach report into an interesting mix of partial mea culpa and handy advice for others. As in the recent case of Reddit, the company couldn’t resist throwing in the S-word

Three fund managers have been sentenced to 12 years and three months following a seven-year investigation into their fraudulent handling of the Libyan sovereign wealth fund. The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said it began its investigation after one of the trio, Frederic Marino, walked out of a London meeting with auditors and promptly fled

by Paul Ducklin Twitter has announced an intriguing change to its 2FA (two-factor authentication) system. The change will take effect in about a month’s time, and can be summarised very simply in the following short piece of doggerel: Using texts is insecure for doing 2FA, So if you want to keep it up you're going

The FBI has released a brief statement about a recent cyber-incident that occurred at one of its highest profile field offices, claiming it is now under control. Sources briefed on the matter told CNN that a malicious incident impacted part of its network used in investigations of images of child sexual exploitation. “The FBI is