Government


  • Singtel, QIMR Berghofer report Accellion-related data breaches

    February 11, 2021

    Singtel and the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute are the latest companies to disclose data breaches caused by a vulnerability in the Accellion FTA secure file transfer software. Accellion is a developer of secure file transfer products that allow organizations to transfer sensitive files with people outside of their organization. In mid-December, Accellion announced that they became ...

  • Minnesota: Netgain ransomware incident impacts local governments

    February 2, 2021

    The ransomware incident that Netgain, a provider of managed IT services, had late last year rippled onto its customers. Now, Ramsey County, Minnesota, is informing clients of the Family Health Division program that the hackers may have accessed personal data. The government of Ramsey County learned about the potential breach on December 2, 2020, when Netagin ...

  • UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) suffers ransomware attack

    January 30, 2021

    The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is dealing with a ransomware incident that encrypted data and impacted two of its services, one offering information to subscribers and the platform for peer review of various parts of the agency. UKRI is a public body of the Government of the United Kingdom, tasked with investing in science and ...

  • Russian government warns of US retaliatory cyberattacks

    January 23, 2021

    The Russian government has issued a security warning to organizations in Russia about possible retaliatory cyberattacks by the USA for the SolarWinds breach. Last month, the SolarWinds network management company disclosed that they suffered a sophisticated cyberattack that led to a supply chain attack affecting 18,000 customers. The US government believes that this attack was conducted by ...

  • Malware found on laptops given out by UK government

    January 23, 2021

    Some of the laptops given out in England to support vulnerable children home-schooling during lockdown contain malware, BBC News has learned. Teachers shared details on an online forum about suspicious files found on devices sent to a Bradford school. The malware, which they said appeared to be contacting Russian servers, is believed to have been found on ...

  • CISA Issues Supply Chain Compromise Alert, Forms Coordination Group with Other Government Agencies

    January 21, 2021

    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently issued an alert regarding an advanced persistent threat (APT) compromising government agencies, critical infrastructures, and private sector organizations. According to CISA, the APT actor is accountable for the compromise of the SolarWinds Orion supply chain. The actor is also responsible for the abuse of commonly used authentication mechanisms. ...

  • UK government urged to undertake digital overhaul

    January 21, 2021

    If the UK is to become a world leader in digital technologies, while at the same time becoming more sustainable, it’s in need of a significant digital overhaul. This is the conclusion of a new report recently released by Public Policy Projects (PPP), Anderson Strategy and Huawei. The “Connected Citizen” report argues, first and foremost, that ...

  • Rob Joyce to Take Over as NSA Cybersecurity Director

    January 19, 2021

    As the incoming Biden administration continues to shake up federal leadership, the National Security Agency announced Friday that Rob Joyce, who is currently serving at the U.S. Embassy in London, was named to lead its cybersecurity division. Joyce will inherit the job from Anne Neuberger, who will leave the post to serve as deputy national security ...

  • Hackers breach Foreign Office computers in cyber attack on Government countryside outpost

    January 15, 2021

    It is understood the attack is not connected to the devastating cyber attack on the Solar Winds Orion software, which US officials pin on Russian hackers. The Foreign Office has not commented on any suspects of its investigation, but tonight confirmed the breach, which was first reported by The Sun. A Government spokesperson said: ‘We take data ...

  • 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 ...

  • US government formally blames Russia for SolarWinds hack

    January 5, 2021

    Four US cyber-security agencies, including the FBI, CISA, ODNI, and the NSA, have released a joint statement today formally accusing the Russian government of orchestrating the SolarWinds supply chain attack. US officials said that “an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor, likely Russian in origin” was responsible for the SolarWinds hack, which officials described as “an intelligence ...

  • Emotet malware hits Lithuania’s National Public Health Center

    December 30, 2020

    The internal networks of Lithuania’s National Center for Public Health (NVSC) and several municipalities have been infected with Emotet malware following a large campaign targeting the country’s state institutions. “When infected recipients opened infected messages, the virus entered the internal networks of the institutions,” NVSC officials said in a statement published today. “Infected computers, after downloading additional ...

  • Digital Footprint Intelligence Report

    December 29, 2020

    The Digital Footprint Intelligence Service announces the results of research on the digital footprints of governmental, financial and industrial organizations for countries in the Middle East region: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, UAE, Yemen. The data presented in this report was collected through Kaspersky’s own threat ...

  • Finland says hackers accessed MPs’ emails accounts

    December 28, 2020

    The Finnish Parliament said on Monday that hackers gained entry to its internal IT system and accessed email accounts for some members of Parliament (MPs). Government officials said the attack took place in the fall of 2020 and was discovered this month by the Parliament’s IT staff. The matter is currently being investigated by the Finnish ...

  • Vietnam targeted in complex supply chain attack

    December 28, 2020

    A group of mysterious hackers has carried out a clever supply chain attack against Vietnamese private companies and government agencies by inserting malware inside an official government software toolkit. The attack, discovered by security firm ESET and detailed in a report named “Operation SignSight,” targeted the Vietnam Government Certification Authority (VGCA), the government organization that issues ...

  • Microsoft Caught Up in SolarWinds Spy Effort, Joining Federal Agencies

    December 18, 2020

    Microsoft has become the latest victim of the ever-widening SolarWinds-driven cyberattack that has impacted rafts of federal agencies and tech targets. Its president, Brad Smith, warned late Thursday to expect many more victims to come to light as investigations continue. Adversaries were able to use SolarWinds’ Orion network management platform to infect users with a stealth ...

  • Suspected Russian hackers spied on U.S. Treasury emails – sources

    December 13, 2020

    Hackers believed to be working for Russia have been monitoring internal email traffic at the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments, according to people familiar with the matter, adding they feared the hacks uncovered so far may be the tip of the iceberg. The hack is so serious it led to a National Security Council meeting at ...

  • Chinese APT suspected of supply chain attack on Mongolian government agencies

    December 10, 2020

    A Chinese state-sponsored hacking group, also known as an APT, is suspected of having breached a Mongolian software company and compromised a chat app used by hundreds of Mongolian government agencies. The attack is believed to have taken place earlier this year, in June, according to a report published today by Slovak security firm ESET. The hackers ...