News – January 2024


  • Volt Typhoon Actors Exploiting Insecure SOHO Routers

    January 31, 2024

    Threat actors—particularly the People’s Republic of China (PRC)—sponsored Volt Typhoon group—are compromising small office/home office (SOHO) routers by exploiting software defects that manufacturers must eliminate through secure software design and development. Specifically, Volt Typhoon actors are exploiting security defects in SOHO routers to use them as launching pads to further compromise U.S. critical infrastructure entities. CISA ...

  • Czech cyber security agency reports record number of attacks in 2023

    January 31, 2024

    Czechia’s National Cyber and Security Information Agency says it registered a record number of cyber-attacks last year. The state organisation said on its website on Wednesday that it had recorded 262 such attacks in 2023, compared to 146 the previous year. The agency said the increase was mainly due to repeated waves of DDoS attacks led ...

  • Hackers obtain confidential information on Romanian officials after cyber attack at Parliament

    January 31, 2024

    Hackers breached the database of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Parliament, after a recent cyber attack. They reportedly managed to obtain confidential information, such as the prime minister’s identity documents, medical analyses, and other personal data.  The hackers threatened to release the personal data of the deputies if they did not ...

  • German police seizes $2.17 billion in bitcoin in ‘most extensive’ action ever

    January 30, 2024

    German police have confiscated 50,000 bitcoin worth $2.17 billion in the country’s ‘most extensive’ cryptocurrency seizure ever, it said in a statement on Tuesday. “This is the most extensive seizure of bitcoins by law enforcement authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany to date,” police in the city of Dresden said. The investigation was supported by ...

  • Apple warns of “privacy and security threats” after EU requires it to allow sideloading

    January 30, 2024

    Despite several warnings about the risks, Apple will allow European iPhone owners to install apps obtained from outside the official App store (sideloading). These drastic changes are brought about to comply with the European Union’s (EU) Digital Markets Act (DMA). The Digital Markets Act (DMA) establishes a set of clearly defined objective criteria to identify “gatekeepers”. ...

  • Series of cyber attacks risks sensitive data at New Jersey schools, hospitals

    January 30, 2024

    Class was canceled Monday across the Freehold Township school district, but not for the familiar January troubles of slushy roads, frozen pipes or a busted boiler. No, this was “a cybersecurity event” that ground school business to a halt. District officials disclosed little about what happened, assuring parents in an email they “retained outside IT expert consultants ...

  • Ex-Google CEO’s secret startup to build Ukraine AI-powered $400 kamikaze drones

    January 29, 2024

    In a groundbreaking venture that was under wraps until the beginning of this month, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has created White Stork, a startup set to revolutionize warfare with its development of low-cost kamikaze drones. Although Storks are normally considered a symbol of peace, there is very little that is peaceful about the objective of ...

  • Sustainability Business Division of Schneider Electric Responds to Cybersecurity Incident

    January 29, 2024

    On January 17th, 2024, a ransomware incident affected Schneider Electric Sustainability Business division. The attack has impacted Resource Advisor and other division specific systems. Schneider Electric Global Incident Response team has been immediately mobilized to respond to the attack, contain the incident, and to reinforce existing security measures. Sustainability Business division has informed impacted customers. Read more… Source: ...

  • Ukrainian activists launch devastating cyber attack on Russian Space Hydrometeorology Center

    January 29, 2024

    Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense claims that pro-Ukrainian hacktivists breached the Russian Center for Space Hydrometeorology, known as “planeta” (планета), and wiped 2 petabytes of data. Planeta is a state research center that uses space satellite data and ground sources such as radars and stations to provide information and accurate predictions about weather, climate, natural disasters, extreme ...

  • Blackwood APT Group Has a New DLL Loader

    January 29, 2024

    This week, the SonicWall Capture Labs threat research team analyzed a sample tied to the Blackwood APT group. This is a DLL that, when loaded onto a victim’s computer, will escalate privileges and attempt to install a backdoor for communications monitoring and diversion. It has evasive capabilities and, as of this writing, is targeting companies and ...