Today’s interdependent and interconnected world requires joint efforts and holistic approaches to protect critical infrastructure assets from the growing number of attacks and to address ever-evolving cyber threats to government, energy, healthcare, education, banking, transportation, telecommunication and other critical sectors.
With a dedicated section focusing on Critical Infrastructure protection, we aim to enhance cooperation and engage security professionals through news, articles and in-depth analysis of emerging threats and technologies.
NEWS
- New Zealand Reserve Bank breached using bug patched on Xmas Eve
January 12, 2021
A recent data breach at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, known as Te Pūtea Matua, was caused by attackers exploiting a critical vulnerability patched the same day. Over the weekend, the Reserve Bank disclosed that they suffered a data breach after an attacker hacked a third-party file sharing service containing sensitive data. In a new advisory ...
- State Department creates bureau to reduce ‘likelihood of cyber conflict’
January 11, 2021
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Thursday the creation of a new bureau inside the US Department of State dedicated to addressing cybersecurity as part of the US’ foreign policy and diplomatic efforts. The new bureau will be named the Bureau of Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies (CSET). “The CSET bureau will lead US government diplomatic ...
- Sunburst backdoor – code overlaps with Kazuar
January 11, 2021
On December 13, 2020, FireEye published a blog post detailing a supply chain attack leveraging Orion IT, an infrastructure monitoring and management platform by SolarWinds. In parallel, Volexity published an article with their analysis of related attacks, attributed to an actor named “Dark Halo”. FireEye did not link this activity to any known actor; instead, ...
- Capitol attack’s cybersecurity fallout: Stolen laptops, lost data and possible espionage
January 11, 2021
When hostile actors penetrated the Capitol Building on January 6, they gained access to individual chambers and offices and remained at large within the Capitol complex for well over two hours. We have reports that items were stolen. One report comes from acting US Attorney for DC, Michael Sherwin, who stated “items, electronic items were stolen ...
- United Nations data breach exposed over 100k UNEP staff records
January 11, 2021
Today, researchers have responsibly disclosed a security vulnerability by exploiting which they could access over 100,000 private employee records of United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The data breach stemmed from exposed Git directories and credentials, which allowed the researchers to clone Git repositories and gather a large amount of personally identifiable information (PII) associated with over ...
- UK: Fake NHS text asks for bank details in return for coronavirus vaccine
January 8, 2021
People are being warned about a fake NHS text which is demanding bank details from people waiting for a coronavirus vaccine. Liverpool City Council said in a “scam alert” that the message had been “circulating”, advising people they were eligible for a COVID-19 jab. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) also tweeted a warning, reminding those waiting ...
- Investigation launched into vulnerabilities found within US Judiciary case file system
January 8, 2021
The United States Judiciary has announced an audit into its systems, following concerns its case file system has been compromised. In making the announcement, the Judiciary said the Administrative Office of the US Courts was working with the Department of Homeland Security on a security audit relating to vulnerabilities in the Judiciary’s Case Management/Electronic Case Files ...
- North Korean hackers launch RokRat Trojan in campaigns against the South
January 7, 2021
A North Korean hacking group is utilizing the RokRat Trojan in a fresh wave of campaigns against the South Korean government. The Remote Access Trojan (RAT) has been connected to attacks based on the exploit of a Korean language word processor commonly used in South Korea for several years; specifically, the compromise of Hangul Office documents ...
- CISA Update: Advanced Persistent Threat Compromise of Government Agencies, Critical Infrastructure, and Private Sector Organizations
January 6, 2021
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is aware of compromises of U.S. government agencies, critical infrastructure entities, and private sector organizations by an advanced persistent threat (APT) actor beginning in at least March 2020. This APT actor has demonstrated patience, operational security, and complex tradecraft in these intrusions. CISA expects that removing this threat ...