- New ransomware hits Windows, Linux servers of Chile government agency
September 1, 2022
Chile’s national computer security and incident response team (CSIRT) has announced that a ransomware attack has impacted operations and online services of a government agency in the country. The attack started on Thursday, August 25, targeting Microsoft and VMware ESXi servers operated by the agency. The hackers stopped all running virtual machines and encrypted their files, appending ...
- Montenegro hit by ransomware attack, hackers demand $10 million
September 1, 2022
The government of Montenegro has provided more information about the attack on its critical infrastructure saying that ransomware is responsible for the damage and disruptions. Public Administration Minister Maras Dukaj stated on local television yesterday that behind the attack is an organized cybercrime group. The effects of the incindet continue for the tenth day. The minister added ...
- China-linked APT40 gang targets wind farms, Australian government
August 31, 2022
Researchers at security company Proofpoint and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) said on Tuesday they had identified a cyber espionage campaign that delivers the ScanBox exploitation framework through a malicious fake Australian news site. The campaign, active from April to June of this year, targeted Australian government agencies, Australian media companies and manufacturers who conduct maintenance on wind turbine ...
- Website of Taiwan’s presidential office receives overseas cyber attack
August 2, 2022
The website of Taiwan’s presidential office received an overseas cyber attack on Tuesday and was at one point malfunctioning, a source briefed on the matter said. The website was shortly brought back online, the source told Reuters. U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was expected to arrive in Taipei later on Tuesday, people briefed on ...
- LockBit ransomware gang claims it ransacked Italy’s tax agency
July 26, 2022
The LockBit ransomware crew is claiming to have stolen 78GB of data from Italy’s tax agency and is threatening to leak it if a ransom isn’t paid by July 31. The notorious gang put a notice on its dark-web site adding the agency – the Agenzia delle Entrate – to its growing list of victims. According ...
- Russia, Iran discuss tech manufacturing, infosec and e-governance collaboration
July 22, 2022
Iran’s Communications Ministry joined in a pledge with Russian state-owned defence and technology conglomerate Rostec to explore future collaboration in e-government, information security, and other areas. News of the collaboration came in a statement published on Friday by Iran’s Information Technology Organization (ITO) – a government agency charged with developing policy related to data networks and ...
- Transparent Tribe begins targeting education sector in latest campaign
July 13, 2022
Cisco Talos recently discovered an ongoing campaign conducted by the Transparent Tribe APT group against students at various educational institutions in India. This campaign was partially covered by another security firm, but our findings reveal more details regarding the adversary’s operations. Typically, this APT group focuses on targeting government (government employees, military personnel) and pseudo-government entities ...
- Cyberattack shuts down unemployment, labor websites across the US
July 1, 2022
A cyberattack on a software company almost a week ago continues to ripple through labor and workforce agencies in a number of US states, cutting off people from such services as unemployment benefits and job-seeking programs. Labor departments and related agencies in at least nine states have been impacted. According to the Louisiana Workforce Commission in ...
- GALLIUM Expands Targeting Across Telecommunications, Government and Finance Sectors With New PingPull Tool
June 13, 2022
Over the past year, this group has extended its targeting beyond telecommunication companies to also include financial institutions and government entities. During this period, we have identified several connections between GALLIUM infrastructure and targeted entities across Afghanistan, Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Malaysia, Mozambique, the Philippines, Russia and Vietnam. Most importantly, we have also identified the group’s ...
- Microsoft seizes 41 domains tied to ‘Iranian phishing ring’
June 7, 2022
Microsoft has obtained a court order to seize 41 domains used by what the Windows giant said was an Iranian cybercrime group that ran a spear-phishing operation targeting organizations in the US, Middle East, and India. The Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit said the gang, dubbed Bohrium, took a particular interest in those working in technology, transportation, ...
- Costa Rican government held up by ransomware … again
June 6, 2022
Last month the notorious Russian ransomware gang Conti threatened to overthrow Costa Rica’s government if a ransom wasn’t paid. This month, another band of extortionists has attacked the nation. Fresh off an intrusion by Conti last month, Costa Rica has been attacked by the Hive ransomware gang. According to the AP, Hive hit Costa Rica’s Social ...
- WinDealer dealing on the side
June 2, 2022
LuoYu is a lesser-known threat actor that has been active since 2008. It primarily goes after targets located in China, such as foreign diplomatic organizations established in the country, members of the academic community, or companies from the defense, logistics and telecommunications sectors. In their initial disclosures on this threat actor, TeamT5 identified three malware ...
- Australian digital driving licenses can be defaced in minutes
May 30, 2022
An Australian digital driver’s license (DDL) implementation that officials claimed is more secure than a physical license has been shown to easily defaced, but authorities insist the credential remains secure. New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, launched its DDL program in 2019, and as of 2021 officials there said that slightly more than half of ...
- BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware asks $5 million to unlock Austrian state
May 27, 2022
Austrian federal state Carinthia has been hit by the BlackCat ransomware gang, also known as ALPHV, who demanded a $5 million to unlock the encrypted computer systems. The attack occurred on Tuesday and has caused severe operational disruption of government services, as thousands of workstations have allegedly been locked by the threat actor. Carinthia’s website and email ...
- White House: Quantum computers could crack encryption, so here’s what we need to do
May 5, 2022
The White House has announced a set of proposals for keeping the US ahead in the quantum computing race globally, while mitigating the risk of quantum computers that can break public-key cryptography. Quantum computers powerful enough to break public-key encryption are still years away, but when it happens, they could be a major threat to national ...
- UK Prime Minister, Catalan groups ‘targeted by NSO Pegasus spyware’
April 18, 2022
Citizen Lab has reported finding suspected surveillance software on devices associated with both the UK Prime Minister’s Office and what was formerly called the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Canadian research outfit also said it had identified at least 65 individuals linked with Catalan civil society groups in Spain who were targeted by, or infected ...
- Lazarus Targets Chemical Sector
April 14, 2022
Symantec, a division of Broadcom Software, has observed the North Korea-linked advanced persistent threat (APT) group known as Lazarus conducting an espionage campaign targeting organizations operating within the chemical sector. The campaign appears to be a continuation of Lazarus activity dubbed Operation Dream Job, which was first observed in August 2020. Symantec tracks this sub-set ...
- Finnish govt websites knocked down as Ukraine President addresses MPs
April 9, 2022
Cyberattacks took down Finnish government websites on Friday while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Finland’s members of parliament (MPs). Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks hit Finland’s ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs’ websites around noon local time. About an hour later, both government agencies tweeted that the websites were back up and running. The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs ...
- Mystery of alleged Chinese hack on eve of Ukraine invasion
April 7, 2022
Allegations of Chinese cyber activity as the recent conflict broke out in Ukraine have been emerging. The details appear unusually murky but one Western intelligence official believes the aim was espionage – and the cyber-attack may have been broader than previously reported. The Times first reported that hackers, alleged to be based in China, began targeting Ukrainian ...
- Israeli officials are being catfished by APT-C-23 hackers
April 7, 2022
High-ranking Israeli officials are being catfished in a new cyberespionage campaign launched by APT-C-23. AridViper, also known as APT-C-23, Desert Falcon, and Two-tailed Scorpion, is a politically-driven advanced persistent threat (APT) group active in the Middle East. In the past, AridViper has conducted spear-phishing attacks against Palestinian law enforcement, military, and educational establishments, as well as the ...