Cybercrime

Coronavirus Online Threats Going Viral, Part 3: Mobile Apps

In part three of this series of posts looking at emerging internet content relating to coronavirus, we turn our attention to mobile apps - another digital content channel that can be used by criminals to take advantage of people's fears about the health emergency for their own gain.One of the most common attack vectors we have found in our analysis is the use of apps purporting to track global progression of COVID-19, or provide other information, but which instead incorporate malicious content. more

FBI’s Chabinsky Defines and Describes Cybercriminal Operations at FOSE

Neil Schwartzman writes: Steven R. Chabinsky, Deputy Assistant Director, Cyber Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation gave a keynote at the GovSec/FOSE Conference in Washington, D.C., March 23, 2010. Full text of the speech here. more

Brexit v. EU: Cybersecurity Stakes too Hight for UK to Take an Isolationist Approach

Michela Menting, Research Director at ABI Research sharing a cybersecurity perspective amidst Brexit aftermath: "It is likely that the UK will continue in a similar direction as the rest of the EU with regards to cybersecurity and cybercrime. However, there may be a dampening impact on the country with regards to the skills pool." more

What Steps Can Africans Take and Lead in Internet Governance and Social Justice?

Almost three years ago, I published a blog post on CircleID titled "Internet Governance: Why Africa Should Take the Lead." I argued that African Internet stakeholders use a 'wait and see approach' in matters as critical as Internet governance," and that African voices are missing in key Internet governance discussion fora. Additionally, I suggested that some reasons for this approach, including that Africa lacks well-trained Internet governance experts and Africans see foreign affairs and international relations as an East versus West dynamic. more

U.S. Nuclear Power and Other Energy Companies Hacked by Russians According to Government Officials

Russian government hackers are reported to be behind latest cyber-intrusions into the business systems of U.S. nuclear power and other energy companies with efforts to assess networks. more

Yellow Parking Violation Fliers on Windshields Get Drivers to Visit Malicious Website

Security expert and malware analyst, Lenny Zeltser has examined a creative malware distribution method in the real world where fliers placed on windshield of cars scare drivers into visiting a malicious website. Zeltser writes: "Several days ago, yellow fliers were placed on the cards in Grand Forks, ND. They stated: 'PARKING VIOLATION This vehicle is in violation of standard parking regulations. To view pictures with information about your parking preferences, go to website-redacted' ... If you went to the website, you'd see several photos of cars on parking lots in that specific town..." more

New Ways Cybercriminals are Thwarting Security

M86 Security today released it's bi-annual security report for the first half of 2010, highlighting the evolution of obfuscation through combined attacks. From the report: "This threat trend is the latest to emerge as cybercriminals seek new ways to limit the effectiveness of many proactive security controls. Because existing techniques for 'covering their tracks' are becoming less effective, cybercriminals have begun using combined attacks, which are more complex and difficult to detect. By splitting the malicious code between Adobe ActionScript language - built into Adobe flash - and JavaScript components on the webpage, they limit the effectiveness of many of the the proactive security detection mechanisms in place today." more

Canada Becoming the New Cybercrime Hub, Quickly Replacing China, Eastern Europe

A recently conducted analysis of Canada's cyber security risk profile by Websense has detected trends indicating Canada is becoming the new launchpad for cybercriminals. Sr. Manager, Security Research at Websense in a blog post writes: "Cybercriminals are on the move again. And, this time, Canada is the prime target. IP addresses in China and Eastern Europe are highly scrutinized and undergoing intense evaluation. So hackers are on a quest to move their networks to countries, like Canada, that have better cyber reputations." more

Duqu Reported as Precursor to a Future Stuxnet-Like Attack

Virus researchers at Symantec Corp. have revealed a variant of the Stuxnet worm, named Duqu, that is found to be stealing information about industrial control systems. Symantec reports: "Duqu's purpose is to gather intelligence data and assets from entities, such as industrial control system manufacturers, in order to more easily conduct a future attack against another third party. The attackers are looking for information such as design documents that could help them mount a future attack on an industrial control facility... Parts of Duqu are nearly identical to Stuxnet, but with a completely different purpose." more

NASCAR Team Pays Ransomware Fee to Recover Its Critical Files

NASCAR team Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing (CSLFR) disclosed today a ransomware infection incident that took place in April and nearly caused losing access to critical files worth about $2 million. more

Eugene Kaspersky: We Need Interpol for Internet, Law Enforcement Agencies Have Jurisdictional Limits

Eugene Kaspersky, co-founder of Internet security software Kaspersky Lab, was recently interviewed PC World where he talked about his views regarding cybersecurity and the evolution of malware. In response to fixing the problems with malware on the Internet, Kapersky says: "The Internet was never designed with security in mind. If I was God, and wanted to fix the Internet, I would start by ensuring that every user has a sort of Internet passport: basically, a means of verifying identity, just like in the real world, with driver's licenses and passports and so on. The second problem is one of jurisdiction. The Internet has no borders, and neither do the criminals who operate on the Internet. However, law enforcement agencies have jurisdictional limits, and are unable to conduct investigations across the globe. ... There is no such thing as anonymity on the Internet, for the average user." more

White House Announces Agenda for Game-Changing Cybersecurity R&D

The United States White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has released a new report titled, Trustworthy Cyberspace: Strategic Plan for the Federal Cybersecurity Research and Development Program, specifying an agenda for "game-changing" cybersecurity R&D according to an official announcement today. The report is described as "a roadmap to ensuring long-term reliability and trustworthiness of the digital communications network that is increasingly at the heart of American economic growth and global competitiveness." more

UK Announces Additional £1.9 Billion in Cyber Security Funding

Chancellor George Osborne announces government plan to almost double its investment in cyber security initiatives over the next five years, spending an additional £1.9 billion. more

US, China Reach Agreement on Guidelines to Combat Cybercrime

United States Justice Department has announced that US and China have reached an agreement governing how the two countries will request assistance to combat cybercrime. more

IT Security Guide: “Financial Impact of Cyber Risk” Released by ANSI and ISA

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Internet Security Alliance (ISA) released today a new action guide to assist business executives in the analysis, management and transfer of financial risk related to a cyber attack. In 2004, the Congressional Research Service estimated the annual economic impact of cyber attacks on businesses -- which can come from internal networks, the Internet or other private or public systems -- to be more than $226 billion. In 2008, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff named cyber risks one of the nation's top four priority security issues. more