Telecommunications


  • Orange suffers cyber attack affecting clients’ internet access in Spain

    January 3, 2024

    The Spanish unit of telecoms provider Orange on Wednesday suffered a cyber attack that affected an undisclosed number of clients who could not access certain websites, a company spokesperson said. The unauthorized access to Orange’s IP network coordination centre has been mostly solved and was neutralized by Orange, the second largest telecoms provider in Spain, the ...

  • Mint Mobile reveals another major data breach

    December 29, 2023

    American mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Mint Mobile has confirmed suffering a data breach affecting an unknown number of its customers. The company revealed the news in an email sent to its customers, in which it explained “We are writing to inform you about a security incident we recently identified in which an unauthorized actor obtained ...

  • A cyberattack targets Albanian Parliament, cellphone provider and air flight company

    December 27, 2023

    Albania’s Parliament said on Tuesday that it had suffered a cyberattack with hackers trying to get into its data system, resulting in a temporary halt in its services. A statement said Monday’s cyberattack had not “touched the data of the system,” adding that experts were working to discover what consequences the attack could have. It said ...

  • Seedworm: Iranian Hackers Target Telecoms Organisations in North and East Africa

    December 19, 2023

    Iranian espionage group Seedworm (aka Muddywater) has been targeting organizations operating in the telecommunications sector in Egypt, Sudan, and Tanzania. Seedworm has been active since at least 2017, and has targeted organizations in many countries, though it is most strongly associated with attacks on organizations in the Middle East. It has been publicly stated that Seedworm ...

  • Xfinity discloses a data breach but doesn’t say how many users are affected

    December 18, 2023

    Xfinity is notifying customers of a “data security incident” it says resulted in the theft of customer information, including usernames, passwords, contact information, and more. In a notice on Monday, Xfinity says “there was unauthorized access” to its systems from October 16th to October 19th, 2023. Xfinity traces the breach to a security vulnerability disclosed by ...

  • Kyivstar explains network failure by hacker attack, subscriber data not compromised

    December 12, 2023

    A failure in the network of Ukraine’s largest telecoms operator Kyivstar, which occurred on Tuesday morning, was caused by a hacker attack, but subscriber data was not compromised, the company involved law enforcement agencies and special government services in eliminating the failure, and promises compensation to customers. “On the morning of December 12, the Kyivstar communications ...

  • New Tool Set Found Used Against Organizations in the Middle East, Africa and the US

    December 1, 2023

    Unit 42 researchers observed a series of apparently related attacks against organizations in the Middle East, Africa and the U.S. The researchers will discuss a set of tools used in the course of the attacks that reveal clues about the threat actors’ activity. Unit 42 team is sharing this research to provide detection, prevention and hunting ...

  • Singapore cyber defenders fend off simulated attacks against cellular, gas and airport systems

    November 24, 2023

    As simulated attackers tried to overload an electrical system, cripple a water distribution network and shut down a gas plant, cyber defence operators across 26 national agencies sprung into action to neutralise the assaults on a fictional state’s critical infrastructure. These were among the scenarios that more than 200 participants went through from Nov 22 to ...

  • Türkiye’s MIT saves Palestinian Iron Dome hacker from Mossad hit

    November 22, 2023

    Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) saved Omar A. from possible death or abduction in an international operation and offered him protection as the renowned Palestinian hacker was targeted by Mossad in Türkiye and Malaysia. The young man credited with hacking into Israel’s notorious Iron Dome air defense system was sought by Israel for a long time. ...

  • Ukraine sacks ‘corrupt’ cyber defence chiefs

    November 21, 2023

    Ukraine has sacked two top cyber defence officials after they were charged with orchestrating a multi-million pound embezzlement scheme. Yurii Shchyhol and Viktor Zhora, the head and deputy of the Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP), are accused of inflating the value of a software deal for personal gain by £1.4million ($1.7million). Read ...

  • #StopRansomware: Rhysida Ransomware

    November 15, 2023

    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 September 2023. Rhysida – an emerging ransomware variant – has predominately been deployed against the education, ...

  • #StopRansomware: Royal Ransomware Update

    November 13, 2023

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are releasing this joint CSA to disseminate known Royal ransomware IOCs and TTPs identified through FBI threat response activities as recently as June 2023. Since approximately September 2022, cyber threat actors have compromised U.S. and international organizations with Royal ransomware. FBI and ...

  • Australia: Telcos required to report on cybersecurity measures in bid to prevent repeat of 2022 Optus hack

    November 13, 2023

    Australia’s telecommunications companies will be hit with new rules forcing them to update the federal government on their cybersecurity regimes, with the Home Affairs minister worried they have been left to manage their own affairs with limited oversight. Last year’s massive Optus cyber attack forced the issue into the public spotlight, fuelling serious concerns about the ...

  • Judge rules it’s fine for car makers to intercept your text messages

    November 9, 2023

    A federal judge has refused to bring back a class action lawsuit that alleged four car manufacturers had violated Washington state’s privacy laws by using vehicles’ on-board infotainment systems to record customers’ text messages and mobile phone call logs. Car manufacturers Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, and General Motors were facing five related privacy class action suits. One ...

  • Gaza in communications blackout as Israel intensifies siege

    October 27, 2023

    The destruction of phone and internet connections has plunged Gaza into a communications blackout and created an information vacuum amid the heaviest aerial bombardment of the war so far. A handful of reports that emerged from the enclave on Saturday depicted chaos and anguish as paramedic teams and aid agencies struggled to coordinate rescue and ...

  • Police warn Israelis not to answer unknown calls

    October 27, 2023

    The Israel Police warned citizens on Friday not to answer phone or video calls from numbers they don’t recognize—particularly from abroad—following a surge of suspicious calls reported to authorities. “The purpose of the calls may be to cause panic and harassment and may be part of attempts to take over the WhatsApp accounts,” per a ...

  • Stayin’ Alive – targeted attacks against telecoms and government ministries in Asia

    October 11, 2023

    In the last few months, Check Point Research has been tracking “Stayin’ Alive”, an ongoing campaign that has been active since at least 2021. The campaign operates in Asia, primarily targeting the Telecom industry, as well as government organizations. The “Stayin’ Alive” campaign consists of mostly downloaders and loaders, some of which are used as ...

  • MICITT Seeks To Protect Costa Ricans From Cyber Attacks With The 5G Network

    October 8, 2023

    Protecting the information of citizens, businesses, public institutions and the country in general from constant cyber attacks is the purpose sought by the Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT) with the “Regulation on Cybersecurity Measures Applicable to Telecommunications Services Based on Fifth Generation Mobile Technology (5G) and Higher. ”This was announced by Paula ...

  • Lyca Mobile blames cyberattack for network disruption

    October 4, 2023

    U.K.-based mobile virtual network provider giant Lyca Mobile has confirmed a cyberattack that caused service disruption for millions of its customers. Lyca Mobile claims to be the world’s largest international mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, which piggybacks off network operator EE’s infrastructure. Lyca confirmed in a statement this week that the security incident prevented customers ...

  • Budworm: APT Group Uses Updated Custom Tool in Attacks on Government and Telecoms Org

    September 28, 2023

    The Budworm advanced persistent threat (APT) group continues to actively develop its toolset. Most recently, the Threat Hunter Team in Symantec, part of Broadcom, discovered Budworm using an updated version of one of its key tools to target a Middle Eastern telecommunications organization and an Asian government. Both attacks occurred in August 2023. Budworm (aka LuckyMouse, ...