Hacker Claims Major Chinese Citizens’ Data Theft
A sample of 750,000 entries posted online by the hacker showed citizens’ names, mobile phone numbers, national ID numbers, addresses, birthdays and police reports they had filed. AFP and cybersecurity experts have verified some of the citizen data in the sample as authentic, but the scope of the entire database is hard to determine. Advertised…
Cyberattack Disrupts Unemployment Benefits in Some States
In Tennessee, the website for unemployment benefits remained down Thursday morning after the vendor, Geographic Solutions Inc., told the state Sunday that service would be interrupted. Some 12,000 Tennesseans rely on the unemployment program, and for now, they’re not getting their payments. The company said that it expects Tennessee’s system to be back online before…
Google Blocks Domains of Hack-for-Hire Groups in Russia, India, UAE
The internet giant has added more than 30 domains used by these threat groups to its Safe Browsing mechanism, which prevents users from accessing them. Hack-for-hire groups are often conflated with entities offering surveillance tools. Google has pointed out that surveillance vendors typically provide the tools needed for spying but leave it up to the…
Detection, isolation, and negotiation: Improving your ransomware preparedness and response
The risks presented by ransomware and cyber extortion events have likely found a place in your own security team’s discussions, and rightfully so. Ransomware attacks have proliferated in the last decade. The numbers are staggering if not overwhelming, and make it abundantly clear that ransomware attacks are not a threat that any organization, however big…
The price of stolen info: Everything on sale on the dark web
What is the price for personal information, including credit cards and bank accounts, on the dark web? Privacy Affairs researchers concluded criminals using the dark web need only spend $1,115 for a complete set of a person’s account details, enabling them to create fake IDs and forge private documents, such as passports and driver’s licenses….
Costa Rica Chaos a Warning That Ransomware Threat Remains
Teachers unable to get paychecks. Tax and customs systems paralyzed. Health officials unable to access medical records or track the spread of COVID-19. A country’s president declaring war against foreign hackers saying they want to overthrow the government. For two months now, Costa Rica has been reeling from unprecedented ransomware attacks disrupting everyday life in…
Windows Updates Patch Actively Exploited ‘Follina’ Vulnerability
The Follina vulnerability can and has been exploited for remote code execution using specially crafted documents. The root cause of the vulnerability has been known for at least a couple of years, but Microsoft appears to have largely ignored the issue until a researcher saw it being exploited in May. The first attacks leveraging Follina…
Exiled Iran Group Claims Tehran Hacking Attack
Iranian state media said earlier that the internal computer system of the municipality of Tehran was targeted in a “deliberate” shutdown Thursday in the latest apparent cyber attack in the country. The People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), which is outlawed in Iran, said in a statement that their operatives inside the country had carried out…
Wray: FBI Blocked Planned Cyberattack on Children’s Hospital
Wray told a Boston College cybersecurity conference that his agents learned of the planned digital attack from an unspecified intelligence partner and got Boston Children’s Hospital the information it needed last summer to block what would have been “one of the most despicable cyberattacks I’ve seen.” “And quick actions by everyone involved, especially at the…
Iranian Cyberspy Group Launching Ransomware Attacks Against US
Also referred to as APT35, Magic Hound, NewsBeef, Newscaster, Phosphorus, and TA453, the advanced persistent threat (APT) actor is known for the targeting of activists, government organizations, journalists, and various other entities. In November 2021, a joint advisory from government agencies in the US, UK, and Australia warned of Iranian state-sponsored attacks targeting critical infrastructure…
