Cybersecurity

Nigerian Scammer, Ringleader of International Criminal Network Arrested

The 40-year-old Nigerian national, ringleader of a global network believed to be behind scams totalling more than USD $60 million has been arrested in a joint operation by INTERPOL and the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). more

New York’s Department of Financial Services Issues Cybersecurity Proposal

New York state is proposing new rules requiring banks and insurance companies to establish cybersecurity programs and designate an internal cybersecurity officer. more

Energy Industry Number One Target by Cyber Criminals, According to New Study

Web security company, ScanSafe reports that, in the past quarter, companies in the Energy industry faced the greatest risk of Web-based malware exposure, at a 196% heightened risk compared to other verticals. The Pharmaceutical and Chemicals industry faced the second highest risk of exposure at 192% followed by the Construction & Engineering industry at 150%. The Media and Publishing industry were also among those at highest risk, with a 129% heightened risk compared to other verticals. more

Sophisticated Maleware Found Aimed to Target Energy Companies

"The threat uses sophisticated techniques to evade detection and prepares the ground for more malware components," Lucian Constantin reporting in CIO: "Security researchers have discovered a new malware threat that goes to great lengths to remain undetected while targeting energy companies." more

FCC Alert on Cybersecurity Risks

The FCC warns telecom companies of rising ransomware threats after attacks quadrupled since 2022. The agency urges stronger defenses including patching, multifactor authentication, network segmentation, and closer oversight of vendors and incident response planning. more

Data on Nearly 200 Million Potential Voters in U.S. Found Fully Exposed

According to reports released today, databases containing information on close to 200 million potential U.S. voters were found unsecured and exposed to the Internet, allowing anyone to download it without a password. more

Cyberattacks Listed as High-Impact Threat to North American Electric Grid

In a report released today by The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), cyber attacks are among the top high-impact risks -- "with potential to significantly affect the reliability of the North American bulk power system." Certain protections and mitigations are already in place to address these risks, and this study has been released to help public utility commissions, and the federal government to further prepare for these potential risks. more

Implications of California Telecom Attack Gone Un-Reported

In an article titled "A Cyber-Attack on an American City", Bruce Perens writes: "Just after midnight on Thursday, April 9, unidentified attackers climbed down four manholes serving the Northern California city of Morgan Hill and cut eight fiber cables in what appears to have been an organized attack on the electronic infrastructure of an American city. Its implications, though startling, have gone almost un-reported. That attack demonstrated a severe fault in American infrastructure: its centralization. The city of Morgan Hill and parts of three counties lost 911 service, cellular mobile telephone communications, land-line telephone, DSL internet and private networks, central station fire and burglar alarms, ATMs, credit card terminals, and monitoring of critical utilities..." more

Fake Anti-Virus Peddlers Taking Aggressive Steps to Avoid Detection

Over at Krebs on Secrity blog, Brian Krebs reports: "Purveyors of fake anti-virus or 'scareware' programs have aggressively stepped up their game to evade detection by legitimate anti-virus programs, according to new data from Google. In a report being released today, Google said that between January 2009 and the end of January 2010, its malware detection infrastructure found some 11,000 malicious or hacked Web pages that attempted to foist fake anti-virus on visitors." more

Tactics for Responding to Cyber Attacks - Squeezing Your Cyber Response-Curve: Part 2

In part one of this post we introduced the cyber response curve. In this post, we have outlined some observations which illustrate how different level of maturity and approaches can affect your cyber response curve. more

Study Ranks Riskiest Online Cities in US

A recent study by Symantec Norton and Sperling's Best Places has ranked 50 cities in the United States by "Riskiest Online Cities". The study included investigation of a number of factors including... more

What Trump and Clinton Said About Cybersecurity in the First US Presidential Debate

The Internet and tech got very little mention last night during the first of three presidential debatest. The only notable exception was cybersecurity where moderator Lester Holt asked: "Our institutions are under cyber attack, and our secrets are being stolen. So my question is, who's behind it? And how do we fight it?" The following are the responses provided to the question by the two candidates. more

Consumer Reports: U.S. Consumers Lost Nearly $8.5 Billion to Viruses, Spyware, and Phishing

U.S. consumers lost almost $8.5 billion over the last two years to viruses, spyware, and phishing schemes according to latest projections from the Consumer Reports State of the Net survey. Additionally, report estimates that American consumers have replaced about 2.1 million computers over the past two years because of online threats. Survey has also reveals some hopeful signs such as declining chances of becoming a cybervictim -- consumers have 1 in 6 chance of becoming a cybervictim, down from 1 in 4 in 2007. more

Information Warfare Publicly Admitted, No Longer Just a Tool for Espionage

Gadi Evron reporting today on Dark Reading: "A National Journal Magazine article called "The Cyberwar Plan" has been making waves the last few days in our circles -- it's about how cell phone and computer attacks were used against Iraqi insurgents by the National Security Agency (NSA). Its significance is far more than just what's on the surface, however. The article describes several issues and that in my opinion confuses what matters..." more

Pro-Trump Russians Accused for Democratic National Committee Email Hack, FBI Investigating

"DNC Hack Prompts Allegations of Russian Involvement," Damian Paletta and Devlin Barrett reported in the Wall Street Journal today: "U.S. authorities said they are still investigating who perpetrated the hack, but cybersecurity experts said the email release resembled past examples of political interference that other countries have tied to Russia." more