The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) responded to a ransomware attack that targeted a U.S. natural gas facility, forcing it to shut down for two days. CISA did not reveal when the incident happened or the identity of the victim organization. An employee of the facility clicked on a malicious link from a spear-phishing email, allowing a malicious actor to jump from the gas compression facility’s IT network onto the operational technology (OT) network. The attacker was then able to deploy data-encrypting ransomware on the networks.
ISBuzz Team
Cybersecurity experts commented tonight on breaking news that the personal details of more than 10.6 million users who stayed at MGM Resorts hotels have been published on a hacking forum this week. Besides details for regular tourists and travelers, included in the leaked files are also personal and contact details for celebrities, tech CEOs, reporters, government officials, and employees at some of the world’s largest tech companies. https://twitter.com/campuscodi/status/1230272791741595648
Amazon Ring have announced in a blog post that they will make two-factor authentication mandatory. Users will receive a one-time, six-digit code every time they attempt to log in, either via email or text. Users will also be able to opt out of personalised advertising, and Ring will provide additional options to limit sharing information with third-party service providers.
According to a story on security investigator Brian Kreb’s site: “A new email-based extortion scheme apparently is making the rounds, targeting Web site owners serving banner ads through Google’s AdSense program. In this scam, the fraudsters demand bitcoin in exchange for a promise not to flood the publisher’s ads with so much bot and junk traffic that Google’s automated anti-fraud systems suspend the user’s AdSense account for suspicious traffic.” More on the story here: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/02/pay-up-or-well-make-google-ban-your-ads/
Web application vulnerabilities are often caused by application design flaws and misconfigured web servers. They can be particularly easy targets for hackers who look to take advantage of system security flaws. With more web application security solutions now readily available on the market, organisations are placing more importance on ensuring their safety. However, despite growing concerns over web application security, recent research has shown that in 2019 the overall number of vulnerabilities increased by 17.6% in 2019 compared to 2018. Shockingly, according to Imperva’s data, almost half of vulnerabilities (47%) have a public exploit available to hackers. In addition, more…
A serious vulnerability was recently found in the Profinet industrial communication protocol exposes devices from Siemens, Moxa and possibly other vendors to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. The high-severity vulnerability was discovered last year by researchers at OTORIO, who found that an attacker could easily cause devices to enter a DoS condition — in some cases requiring a hard restart for recovery — by sending legitimate Profinet packets over the network. According to the researchers, the vulnerability is so easy to exploit that it may be triggered by accident by an employee who misconfigures the network and can result in serious disruptions to operational processes.…
ZDNet reported that today, February 18, residents of Fulton, Wisconsin will elect representatives for the Wisconsin Supreme Court via voting machines that will be running Microsoft’s ElectionGuard software. These will be the first voting machines deployed in any US election that will be running Microsoft’s new voting software, which will face it’s first real-world test since being announced last year. ElectionGuard is a software development kit (SDK) that Microsoft made available for free on GitHub. The project’s goal was to create the voting software that uses strong encryption, was built by some of the world’s brightest cryptographers, and was extensively audited for bugs. Microsoft…
Webroot Also Observed a 125% Increase in Malware Targeting Windows 7® OpenText™ (NASDAQ: OTEX) (TSX: OTEX) today issued the 2020 Webroot Threat Report, highlighting not only the agility and innovation of cybercriminals who continue to seek out new ways to evade defenses, but also their commitment to long-established attack methods. Most notably, Webroot observed a 640 percent increase in phishing attempts and a 125 percent increase in malware targeting Windows 7®. The report is derived from metrics captured and analyzed by Webroot’s advanced, cloud-based machine learning architecture: the Webroot® Platform. “In the cybersecurity industry the only certainty is that there is no certainty,…
It has been reported that fresh firmware vulnerabilities in Wi-Fi adapters, USB hubs, trackpads and cameras are putting millions of peripheral devices in danger of a range of cyberattacks, according to research from Eclypsium. TouchPad and TrackPoint firmware in Lenovo Laptops, HP Wide Vision FHD camera firmware in HP laptops and the Wi-Fi adapter on Dell XPS laptops were all found to lack secure firmware update mechanisms with proper code-signing.
Infosecurity Magazine reported that two-thirds (66%) of global CISOs say they are struggling to recruit the right talent and a similar number believe shortages will only get worse, according to a new study from Marlin Hawk. The global executive recruiter surveyed 500 cybersecurity leaders working in businesses with 500 or more employees across the US, Europe and APAC, to compile its report, Global Snapshot: The CISO in 2020.