A couple of days ago there was a lot of interest in how terrorists may have been using chat features of popular video console platforms (e.g. PS4, XBox One) to secretly communicate and plan their attacks. Several journalists on tight deadlines reached out to me for insight in to threat. Here are some technical snippets on the topic that may be useful for future reference. more
A 32-year-old Russia man was sentenced on Friday to 27 years in prison for computer hacking crimes that is reported to have caused over $169 million in damages to small businesses and financial institutions. more
The German digital association, Bitkom, recently announced that the cost of IT equipment theft, data breaches, digital and industrial espionage, and sabotage is expected to reach a staggering 206 billion euros ($224 billion) in 2023. more
Michael "Mick" Moran, who has helped rescue thousands of child abuse material victims since he started working in the field in 1997, challenged the internet industry to do more to protect innocent children as he received the 2017 M3AAWG Mary Litynski Award. more
Domain names that can be rapidly acquired, used in an attack, and abandoned before they can be traced are a critical resource for cybercriminals. Some attacks, including spam and ransomware campaigns and criminal infrastructure operation (e.g., "botnets"), benefit particularly from the ability to rapidly and cheaply acquire very large numbers of domain names – a tactic known as bulk registration. more
Since January 2016, discreet campaigns involving malware called Trojan.Odinaff have targeted a number of financial organizations worldwide, warned Symantec Security Response team on Tuesday. more
In part 1, I talked about some of the risks associated with BYOD. But there are actions you can take to greatly reduce this risk. One effective method for limiting the risk of BYOD is to employ DNS-based security intelligence techniques. DNS-based security intelligence makes use of an enterprise's caching DNS server to monitor and block DNS queries to known botnet command and control (C&C) domains. more
The cybersecurity reports, which represent only a slice of all cyber attacks on the Fed, were obtained by Reuters through a Freedom of Information Act request. more
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, has released a letter asking three federal agencies for information on the tools available that prevent cyber criminals from compromising consumer products, such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices. more
U.S. authorities announced today that they have shut down one of the largest spam operations in the world, an extensive network with ties to Australia, New Zealand, India, China and the United States. The group, dubbed 'HerbalKing' by spam fighting organizations, had been active as far back as 2005 and became notorious as the number one worst spam gang on the Internet for much of 2007 and 2008 according to Spamhaus, a non-profit anti-spam research group. more
As of January 1, the delivery of ransomware is illegal in California as per Senate Bill 1137 going into effect. more
As news of the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to emerge, CSC has undertaken the first in a series of studies looking at how the development of the crisis has affected online content. This first article looks at the numbers of registered domains with names containing coronavirus-related strings - "coronavirus" or "covid(-)19" (optional hyphen) - and analyzes the types of content present on the associated websites. more
The Caribbean is under virtual siege as incidents of cyber attacks and cyber crimes surge across the region. "The sophisticated use of technology by highly incentivised criminal organisations has created unprecedented opportunities for transnational crime elements that no one region, country or entity can fight on its own. More inter-regional cooperation and collaboration are needed to develop and implement smart and integrated approaches to fight new and emerging cyber threats." more
According to a report by the Defense Science Board, the President-elect Barack Obama will inherit a cybersecurity infrastructure that is ill-prepared for advanced cyberattacks which will be of particular challenge for the new leaders... Reporting today on eWeek, Roy Mark writes: "The Bush administration has been widely criticized by security experts as de-emphasizing cyber-security and hamstringing the authority of officials in charge of government-wide cyber-security" said Roy Mark in a report eWeek." more
In a recent article published by WIRED Magazine, a significant shift in international law regarding cyberwarfare has been brought to light. The International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague has signaled its intention to investigate and prosecute hacking crimes that breach existing international law without the need for new regulations. more
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