- Metro Bank targeted with 2FA-bypassing SS7 attacks
February 1, 2019
Metro Bank has reportedly fallen victim to a sophisticated two-factor authentication (2FA) bypass attack after hackers infiltrated a telecoms firm’s text messaging protocol. The Signalling Systems No. 7 (SS7) protocol is used by telecom firms to coordinate how texts and calls are routed around the world. But according to Motherboard, hackers are more actively exploiting SS7, and ...
- British spies ‘hacked into Belgian telecoms firm on ministers’ orders’
September 21, 2018
British spies are likely to have hacked into Belgium’s biggest telecommunications operator for at least a two-year period on the instruction of UK ministers, a confidential report submitted by Belgian prosecutors is said to have concluded. The finding would support an allegation made by the whistleblower Edward Snowden five years ago when he leaked 20 slides exposing the ...
- Smartphones From 11 OEMs Vulnerable to Attacks via Hidden AT Commands
August 25, 2018
Millions of mobile devices from eleven smartphone vendors are vulnerable to attacks carried out using AT commands, a team of security researchers has discovered. AT (ATtention) commands, or the Hayes command set, is a collection of short-string commands developed in the early 1980s that were designed to be transmitted via phone lines and control modems. Different AT ...
- T-Mobile Hacked — 2 Million Customers’ Personal Data Stolen
August 23, 2018
T-Mobile today confirmed that the telecom giant suffered a security breach on its US servers on August 20 that may have resulted in the leak of “some” personal information of up to 2 million T-Mobile customers. The leaked information includes customers’ name, billing zip code, phone number, email address, account number, and account type (prepaid or postpaid). However, the ...
- Researchers Uncover New Attacks Against LTE Network Protocol
June 29, 2018
If your mobile carrier offers LTE, also known as the 4G network, you need to beware as your network communication can be hijacked remotely. A team of researchers has discovered some critical weaknesses in the ubiquitous LTE mobile device standard that could allow sophisticated hackers to spy on users’ cellular networks, modify the contents of their ...
- Telco intercepts should be expanded to OTT providers: AGD
May 14, 2018
The Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) has argued in favour of extending Australia’s telecommunications interception laws from telcos to over-the-top providers. Speaking before the Joint Committee on Law Enforcement on Friday, AGD Assistant Secretary Andrew Warnes said this expansion would help combat the “challenge of encryption”. Read more… Source:
- China’s ZTE deemed a ‘national security risk’ to UK
April 17, 2018
Britain’s cyber-security watchdog has warned telecommunications companies against dealing with the Chinese manufacturer ZTE, citing “potential risks” to national security. The US commerce department has imposed a seven-year-ban on companies selling products and services to ZTE – which makes mobile phones and network equipment – alleging it failed to crack down on personnel who sold sensitive ...
- DHS, FBI describe North Korea’s use of FALLCHILL malware
November 14, 2017
The North Korean government has likely been using the malware since 2016 to target the aerospace, telecommunications, and finance industries, the US government says. The federal government on Tuesday issued an alert detailing the North Korean government’s use of malware known as FALLCHILL, warning that North Korea has likely been using the malware since 2016 to target the ...
- Hackers Can Silently Control Siri, Alexa & Other Voice Assistants Using Ultrasound
September 6, 2017
What if your smartphone starts making calls, sending text messages, and browsing malicious websites on the Internet itself without even asking you? This is no imaginations, as hackers can make this possible using your smartphone’s personal assistant like Siri or Google Now. A team of security researchers from China’s Zhejiang University have discovered a clever way of ...
- Holiday cyber threat: GCHQ says take extra steps to secure smartphones
August 26, 2017
British holidaymakers should take extra measures to secure smartphones and laptops abroad following a series of cyber attacks on hotel Wi-Fi networks across Europe, GCHQ has warned. The agency’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said travellers should avoid “insecure” WiFi networks and set up “two-step verification” for emails, typically meaning that accounts can only be accessed using a ...
- Telco sector’s new cyber regulation
August 17, 2017
The Federal Government has got new legislation through the Senate that will compel telcos to notify authorities when they make changes to their networks after a range of amendments were made that increase dialogue and decrease government over-reach. The Telecommunications Sector Security Reforms (TSSR) Bill passed through the Senate earlier this week and has been generally accepted ...
- Many Factors Conspire in ICS/SCADA Attacks
August 11, 2017
Critical infrastructure operators can’t be blamed for a perpetual case of whiplash. They are mired between hackers targeting internet-facing and air-gapped systems with equal precision, and vendors and management unwilling to properly tackle security for fear of downtime and incompatibility. “The space of ICS/SCADA has not changed much, so you can find devices running old OSes ...
- TalkTalk fined £100k for exposing personal sensitive info
August 10, 2017
Blighty’s Information Commissioner’s Office has whacked TalkTalk with a £100,000 fine after the data of the records of 21,000 people were exposed to fraudsters in an Indian call centre. The breach came to light in September 2014 when TalkTalk started getting complaints from customers that they were receiving scam calls. Typically, the scammers pretended they were ...
- Satellite Phone Encryption Calls Can be Cracked in Fractions of a Second
July 10, 2017
Security researchers have discovered a new method to decrypt satellite phone communications encrypted with the GMR-2 cipher in “real time” — that too in mere fractions of a second in some cases. The new attack method has been discovered by two Chinese security researchers and is based on previous research by German academicians in 2012, showing ...
- Virgin Media tells 800,000 users to change passwords over hub hacking risk
June 23, 2017
Virgin Media is advising more than 800,000 customers with a specific router to change their password immediately after an investigation found hackers could gain access to it. Virgin Media said the risk to customers with a Super Hub 2 router was small, but advised them to change both their network and router passwords if they were ...
- Brit hacker admits he siphoned info from US military satellite network
June 16, 2017
A UK-based computer hacker has admitted stealing hundreds of usernames and email addresses from a US military communications system. Sean Caffrey, 25, of Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, broke in and pinched the ranks, usernames and email addresses of more than 800 users of a satellite communications system and of about 30,000 satellite phones, back ...
- Inmarsat launches solution to boost cyber security
June 9, 2017
Inmarsat is launching a unified threat management (UTM) solution to take away cyber security risks. The solution – which will be available later this year – will be embedded within existing hardware onboard and is described as a ‘virtual machine’ that can be provisioned at any time, to provide data inspection and protection for the cyber ...
- Huawei appoints cyber security officer for Australia
June 8, 2017
Huawei has appointed a cyber security officer for its operations in Australia. Malcolm Shore, who started this month, has worked for the New Zealand government overseeing its information systems. He follows the example of John Suffolk, the former UK government chief information officer, who has been with Huawei as global cyber security and privacy officer ...
- Russian mobile telecom giant MegaFon down in Moscow & other cities
May 19, 2017
One of Russia’s three largest cellphone operators, MegaFon, has faced network troubles on Friday, according to comments from clients on social networks. Service has been affected in Moscow, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and other cities. “At the moment, there are massive difficulties with network connection.We are working on it. We apologize for any inconvenience caused,” the company posted ...
- After years of warnings, mobile network hackers exploit SS7 flaws to drain bank accounts
May 3, 2017
Experts have been warning for years about security blunders in the Signaling System 7 protocol – the magic glue used by cellphone networks to communicate with each other. These shortcomings can be potentially abused to, for example, redirect people’s calls and text messages to miscreants’ devices. Now we’ve seen the first case of crooks exploiting the ...
