Cyberattack

More Than 500 Schools in the U.S. Hit by Ransomware in 2019, Says Report

A recent report published by the cybersecurity firm Armor says ransomware infections have hit over 500 US schools in 2019 to date. Armor warns the rate of attack seems to be picking up with 15 new ransomware victims in the last two weeks, all of them educational institutions. more

Why the 1# Vulnerability for Cyber Attacks Will Be Apathy

Everyone has heard of the cyber security attacks on Target (2013), Home Depot (2014), Neiman Marcus (2014), Sony Pictures (2014), and the United States' second-largest health insurer, Anthem (reported February 2015), but have you heard of the security breaches for Aaron Brothers, Evernote (denial of service attack), P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Community Health Services, Goodwill Industries, SuperValu, Bartell Hotels, Dairy Queen, U.S. Transportation Command contractors, and more. more

Notorious Hacker Group XENOTIME Expands Its Targeting Beyond Oil and Gas to Electric Utility Sector

XENOTIME, the notorious group behind what is regarded as the most dangerous malware targetting industrial control systems has expanded its targeting beyond oil and gas to the electric utility sector. more

Cyberattacks Spur Boom in Insurance Demand Amid Rising Global Threats

A wave of high-profile cyberattacks is reshaping the global insurance industry, creating both risk and reward for major players. According to a new Bloomberg report, firms like Munich Re and Chubb are capitalising on surging demand for cyber insurance as artificial intelligence makes digital breaches more frequent and destructive. more

Russian Cybercrime is Organized / Russian Cybercrime is Not Organized

The more I read, the more I see conflicting views on the state of the criminal cybercrime world. On the one hand, the Russian criminal cybercrime underworld is a scary, organized place... On the other hand, there is the position that that position is an exaggeration of what it is actually like and that it's a bunch of ragtag folks who have some advanced computer skills but they are not formally organized. ... I see this very similarly to how I see cyber warfare... more

DNS, Domain Names, and Certificates: The Missing Links in Most Cybersecurity Risk Postures

In 2019, we've seen a surge in domain name system (DNS) hijacking attempts and have relayed warnings from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, U.K.'s Cybersecurity Centre, ICANN, and other notable security experts. Although the topic has gained popularity amongst CIOs and CISOs, most companies are still overlooking important security blind spots when it comes to securing their digital assets outside the enterprise firewalls -- domains, DNS, digital certificates. more

Chuck Norris Botnet and Broadband Routers

Last week Czech researchers released information on a new worm which exploits CPE devices (broadband routers) by means such as default passwords, constructing a large DDoS botnet. Today this story hit international news... The spread of insecure broadband modems (DSL and Cable) is extremely wide-spread, with numerous ISPs, large and small, whose entire (read significant portions of) broadband population is vulnerable. more

The Harsh Reality of Spam and Online Security… Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Working in the anti-spam and online malware fight can be depressing or at best invoke multiple personality disorder. We all know things are bad on the net, but if you want a dose of stark reality, check out Brian Kreb's fantastic 'Security Fix' blog on the Washington Post site... Speaking to an old friend who asked me what I was doing these days, I recently likened the fight against this relentless onslaught to having one's pinky in a dyke, and there are days when I don't even think we have a dyke! more

Why Private Support of Cyber Security Initiatives May Not Work

A fledgling international cyber security alliance is continuing to gather backing from private business, according to a recent article published on ComputerWeekly.com. The International Cyber Security Protection Alliance (ICSPA) aims to support law enforcement agencies in countries that lack the resources to fight cybercrime. Commercial security organizations such as McAfee and Trend Micro are supporting the alliance. more

Government Regulation of Cybersecurity: Partnership (or Power Grab) in the Making?

A cybersecurity bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on April 1st, 2009 would give the United States federal government extraordinary power over private sector Internet services, applications and software. This proposed legislation is a direct result of a review ordered by the Obama administration into government policies and processes for defending against Internet-born attack. The focus of the bill, according to a summary released by the sponsoring senators, is on establishing a new partnership between the public and private sectors in a joint effort to bolster Internet security... more

Call for Nominations: M3AAWG J. D. Falk Award Seeks Stewards of a Better Online World

Anyone seeking to honor a groundbreaking contribution toward a better online world should submit a nomination for the 2014 M3AAWG J. D. Falk Award. Presented to people whose work on specific projects made the Internet a safer, more collaborative, more inclusive place, the J. D. Falk Award has recognized leaders and pioneers who saw elements of the online experience that needed improvement and took action to fix them.  more

Florida Cities Are Paying Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Ransom to Get Their Data Back

Lake City became the second Florida city to pay a substantial ransomware demand to hackers in less than a week. more

Should We Make the Possession of Malware a Crime?

In the U.S., it is a federal crime to use malware to intentionally cause "damage without authorization" to a computer that is used in a manner that affects interstate or foreign commerce. Most, if not all, U.S. states outlaw the use of malware to cause damage, as do many countries. The Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime, which the United States ratified a few years ago, has a provision concerning the possession of malware. Article 6(1)(b) of the Convention requires parties to the treaty to criminalize the possession of malware "with intent that it be used for the purpose of committing" a crime involving damage to a computer or data... more

Industrial Plant Attack Generates Renewed Concerns Over Critical Infrastructure Hacking Threats

A recent malware attack on the control systems of an industrial plant has renewed concerns about the threat hacking poses to critical infrastructure. more

Monster.com Response to Security Breach Unacceptable

As some of us are continuing to learn this week the Monster.com service has again been successfully hacked. According to a security bulletin posted on Monster.com on January 23rd, 2009, the intruder gained access to the user database, while no resumes were apparently compromised... As a user of Monster.com what I find incredibly upsetting about this situation is that I had to find out about this through a security blog. more