FBI Warns of DoppelPaymer Attacks on Critical Infrastructure
The FBI has released a warning advising businesses to be wary of a recent increase in DoppelPaymer ransomware attacks and inform potential targets of changes in tactics. The DoppelPaymer operators are allegedly cold-calling victims with threats to pressure them into paying ransom demands. The attacks have targeted US infrastructures such
How the Russian hacking group Cozy Bear, suspected in the SolarWinds breach, plays the long game
The SolarWinds breach has thrown US government agencies and thousands of companies into a frenzy, trying to determine which agencies were hacked and what information was accessed. The culprit may have been one of the most high-profile and persistent hacking groups, the Russian government-backed APT29 referred to as Cozy Bear.
China Used Stolen Data to Expose CIA Operatives in Africa and Europe
China may have been leveraging stolen data to identify and expose CIA operatives working in Africa and Europe, threatening the employees’ livelihood and work. In 2013, US intelligence agencies reported a concerning pattern: they began to notice the speed and accuracy of CIA operatives being discovered by Chinese intelligence. China
Dozens of Al Jazeera journalists allegedly hacked using Israeli firm’s spyware
Israeli spyware has allegedly been abused by the Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates leadership to hack the phones of dozens of Al Jazeera journalists. The unprecedented cyber attack stems from a private intelligence firm in Israel that appears to have sold the powerful tool. The Citizen Lab at the
Microsoft says it found malicious software in its systems
Yesterday, Microsoft announced that it had also been targeted by the SolarWinds espionage campaign after uncovering malware within its systems. The tech giant uses the networking management software Orion found to be the source of the attack impacting a half dozen federal agencies so far. Microsoft’s own products may have
Phone scammers were able to get 270% more personal information in 2020 than in 2019
First Orion’s Annual Phone Scam Call Report details the organization’s research into phone scamming over the past year, concluding that phone scammers were able to obtain 270% more personal information in 2020 than they did in 2019. This is likely due to the fact that phone scammers have been capitalizing
3M Users Targeted by Malicious Facebook, Insta Browser Add-Ons
Avast Threat Intelligence has identified malware hidden in twenty-eight popular Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge extensions. The extensions are all used for social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Vimeo. Security researchers advise users to uninstall the extensions, which boast 3 million downloads in total. The most popular extensions
Nuclear Weapons Agency Hacked in Widening Cyberattack
According to Politico, official Department of Energy sources confirmed that the Energy Department and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were compromised as part of the SolarWinds espionage campaign. The NNSA is responsible for maintaining the US nuclear stockpile. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has oversight for the entire
BEC Hits Double Digits as COVID-19 Scams Abound
According to Barracuda Networks, business email compromise attacks have surged in 2020, alongside Covid-19 related scams seeking to lure victims into surrendering passwords or money. During the period of August to October 2020, Barracuda Networks found that the total number of targeted email threats was a whopping 2.3 million. Spear
FireEye Identifies Killswitch for SolarWinds Malware as Victims Scramble to Respond
FireEye, the company that exposed the SolarWinds intrusion, has now announced that it has identified a killswitch that would halt the malware’s operation on infected networks. The White House National Security Council has already created a unified group to coordinate responses across victims and collaborate on solutions. However, the killswitch