A Volunteer Cyber Group Formed To Protect Hospitals During the Pandemic Releases Its First Report
An organization founded by vigilantes seeking to protect healthcare workers from digital threats during the COVID-19 pandemic has released its first report, which details cybercrime activity against global healthcare entities since pandemic lockdowns began in March of last year. In line with previous reports on the sector, it found that cybercrime had accelerated during the pandemic as criminals exploited the rapid transition to remote work and the psychological pressures produced by the global health crisis…
SIM Swappers Stole $100 Million from âWell-Known Influencersâ Before Getting Arrested, Authorities Say
An international law enforcement operation arrested ten suspected hackers who are accused of targeting U.S. celebrities with SIM swapping attacks that netted them $100 million in cryptocurrency. âWell-known sports stars, musicians, and influencersâ were targeted in the scheme, which involved exploiting phone service providers to deactivate a victimâs SIM and transferring the number to one owned by a member of the criminal network. This let the attackers intercept messages directed to the victims, allowing them to hijack accounts, steal money, and masquerade as the victims on social media, authorities said…
Hackers Targeted Work-From-Home Technology and Avoided Adobe Products Last Year
In 2015, eight of the top ten most exploited vulnerabilities involved Adobe products. But in 2020, no Adobe products made the list, according to new data. Instead, cybercriminals focused their attention on vulnerabilities in remote-work technology, such as Citrixâs Application Delivery Controller, PulseSecureâs Pulse Connect, and Oracleâs WebLogic, as well as widely-used Microsoft products…
An Interview With Ares, a Russian Coder Who Built a Swiss Army Knife for Hackers
In 2012, a Russian hacker who went by the moniker Ares received a routine email asking about Intercepter-NG, a popular tool he developed that can be used for traffic interception. The user was having difficultyâthe tool would crash when he tried using it to parse large amounts of dataâand Ares was quick to reply. âMan, you patch quick!â the user wrote in response. According to Ares, the messages came from [email protected], the email address used by NSA contractor Edward Snowden. About a year after their first conversation, Snowden would be living as a fugitive, wanted by the U.S. government for revealing thousands of classified documents to journalists….
Federal Officials: COVID-19 Fraud Highlights Need for a New Digital Identity System
âWeâve seen how billions of dollars in fraud involving COVID-19 relief programs have exposed weaknesses in current identity and payment systems. These forced us to take a really hard look at how identity is managed, verified, and authenticated,â said Michael Mosier, deputy director of the Treasury Departmentâs Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, also known as FinCEN. âTo get payments right, we have to get identity right and we have to do it in a way that preserves privacy while ensuring security in the system.” Lawmakers and other officials called on the Biden administration to focus on creating a new digital identification system that would make it harder for cybercriminals to steal from financial institutions and individuals…
Global Operation Takes Down Part of Emotet, âWorldâs Most Dangerous Malwareâ
Itâs been called the âking of malware,â âone of the most prevalent ongoing threats,â and âthe worldâs most dangerous malware.â And now a global law enforcement operation says theyâve seized control of it. On Wednesday, Europol announced that a collaborative effort between authorities in the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Lithuania, Canada, and Ukraine disrupted the prolific malware operation by taking control of its infrastructure….
‘Adopt the Adversarial Point of View:’ Cybersecurity Lessons From a National Intelligence Technology Leader
Amit Meltzer spent three decades working in Israel’s national security apparatus, including as chief technologist for Mossad, the country’s famed national intelligence agency. âThe main reason I left was that my wife said: ‘Enough!’â
I caught up with Meltzer to talk about his time working in national intelligence and how it shaped his thinking on cybersecurity…
3 Ways Hacks Exploiting the COVID-19 Crisis Have Evolved
Over the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic has been punctuated by a series of crises and developments: In February, the U.S. declared a public health emergency; In March, the economy contracted and unemployment skyrocketed; Relief packages were both passed and stalled in Congress throughout the year; And by December, vaccines were given emergency approval. With each of these events, hackers altered their techniques in an effort to capitalize on pandemic fears, according to a new report…
Researchers Find Links Between SolarWinds Campaign and Tools Used by Russian Hackers
Federal investigators still canât say with certainty who was behind the recent hacking campaign that compromised countless government agencies and private companies. But cybersecurity researchers say theyâve found evidence linking tools used in the months-long espionage campaign to malware used by Russian cyber operators….
The Year of the Teenage Hacker
The year 2020 was full of high-profile cyberattacks launched by criminal gangs and state-sponsored hackers. But dozens of headline-grabbing cybersecurity incidents and arrests this year involved teenagersâsome of whom havenât even graduated high school yet. As the coronavirus pandemic forced schools across the country to adopt distance learning programs and change the way they operate, some studentsâlikely pent up at home with a lot of time and little to do that doesnât involve a Wi-Fi connectionâseem to have used it as an opportunity to hone their hacking skills…