Canada: Current and former public service, RCMP, military members affected by data breach

The federal government is warning current and former public service employees and members of the RCMP and Canadian Armed Forces their personal and financial information may have been accessed in a data breach that occurred on Oct. 19. The breach Read More …

Zimbra 0-day used to target international government organizations

In June 2023, Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) discovered an in-the-wild 0-day exploit targeting Zimbra Collaboration, an email server many organizations use to host their email. Since discovering the 0-day, now patched as CVE-2023-37580, TAG has observed four different groups Read More …

#StopRansomware: Rhysida Ransomware

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the MultiState Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) are releasing this joint CSA to disseminate known Rhysida ransomware IOCs and TTPs identified through investigations as recently as Read More …

TA402 Uses Complex IronWind Infection Chains to Target Middle East-Based Government Entities

In mid-2023, Proofpoint researchers first identified TA402 (Molerats, Gaza Cybergang, Frankenstein, WIRTE) activity using a labyrinthine infection chain to target Middle Eastern governments with a new initial access downloader Proofpoint has dubbed IronWind. From July through October 2023, TA402 utilized Read More …

UK: Government has never paid a ransomware demand, minister says

The government has announced that it has never paid a ransom demanded by cybercriminals – and pledged that it never will. The announcement – made to tie in with last week’s meeting of members of the international Counter Ransomware Initiative Read More …

Do government sanctions against ransomware groups work?

Earlier this year, the U.S. government imposed sanctions against Russian national Mikhail Matveev, an FBI most-wanted cybercriminal, who authorities accuse of being a “prolific ransomware affiliate” involved in cyberattacks in the United States and overseas. Authorities say Matveev played a Read More …

Over the Kazuar’s nest: Cracking down on a freshly hatched backdoor used by Pensive Ursa

While tracking the evolution of Pensive Ursa (aka Turla, Uroburos), Unit 42 researchers came across a new, upgraded variant of Kazuar. Not only is Kazuar another name for the enormous and dangerous cassowary bird, Kazuar is an advanced and stealthy Read More …

Canada bans Chinese app WeChat from government devices

Canada has announced it will ban WeChat on government devices. The Chinese-owned app is sometimes referred to as the “everything app” – like WhatsApp, Facebook, Amazon and Tinder all in one. However Western governments have security concerns about it, mainly Read More …

Philippines’ cybersecurity failures exposed as hackers leak state secrets, people’s data

All it apparently took for one Philippine hacker to break into a government website was “Admin123” – a password that reflects what experts say is the authorities’ lax attitude towards cybersecurity that not only leaves millions of Filipinos vulnerable to Read More …