March 31 -- A supply chain attack affecting the company known as 3CX is of a comparable magnitude to that of the SolarWinds and Kaseya supply chain attacks. 3CX reports a client list that includes more than 600,000 different organizations. SolarWinds had merely half that number of customers when the company experienced a supply chain attack and...

March 29 – Over 1,000 technology leaders and researchers, including Steve Wozniak, are calling for a moratorium in regards to the development of powerful artificial intelligence systems, warning in an open letter that AI presents "profound risks to society and humanity." AI software engineers are embattled in an "...out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital...

March 27 – The anxiety over generative AI has stoked fears around artists' and musicians’ eventual obsolescence. Some speculators contend that AI will eventually make better art than most humans, sparking debates over the future of creativity and human ingenuity. While some argue that AI-generated art lacks the emotional depth and nuance of human-created art, others believe that...

March 22 -- As of today, the UK and Israeli governments have signed an agreement that will reshape bilateral relations between the two countries, and that will enhance mutual cyber security advancement. The agreement will remain in effect until 2030. The 2030 Roadmap for Israel-UK Bilateral Relations reflects mutual interest in collaborating on security, technology, trade and defense....

March 20 -- Have you ever unlocked your car only to realize that's not actually your car? It could happen to anyone. And that's exactly what happened to Rajesh Randev, and immigration consultant in Vancouver, Canada. A case of mistaken Teslas On Tuesday, Randev believed that he was getting into his Tesla on Tuesday, having opened the door with...

March 15 – On Monday, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced the creation of a new Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot (RVWP) program. The program will proactively track common cyber vulnerabilities that are under exploit by ransomware attackers, and will alert exposed organizations to risks. Shortly after the program’s initial launch, it notified 93 organizations of vulnerability...

March 13 – Hackers are quick to capitalize on anything that’s trending, and ChatGPT is no exception. In November of 2022, the AI-powered chatbot launched with zero fanfare, but it rapidly gained worldwide attention and popularity. ChatGPT can write presentable student essays, summarize research papers, answer questions well enough to pass medical exams, provide code for software development,...

March 10 – Cyber security experts are sounding the alarm in regards to a potent new form of malware, which can circumvent an essential security protocol that typically initiates when Microsoft Windows users power on their computers. BlackLotus malware This “bootkit” malware, called BlackLotus, enables hackers to bypass UEFI Secure Boot – the security measure that scrutinizes the firmware...

March 8 – The information security (InfoSec) world moves at a “glacial pace” when it comes to gender equity, according to The Register. But that doesn’t seem to hold true in the cyber criminal underground. A recent study shows that at least 30%, if not more, of cyber criminal forum users are women. Women in cyber For this study, researchers...

March 6 – The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have issued a joint warning pertaining to the dangers of Royal Ransomware, which threatens critical infrastructure groups both in the U.S. and abroad. Royal Ransomware warning The warning emerges after an advisory from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),...

March 2 – Today, the Biden-Harris administration released a new national cyber security strategy that emphasizes shifting the burden of defense for the country onto software vendors and software service providers. “We must rebalance the responsibility to defend cyberspace by shifting the burden for cybersecurity away from individuals, small businesses, and local governments and onto the organizations that...

Feb 27 – The Australian government is planning an overhaul of its cyber security rules. Legislators intend to establish an agency that will manage government investments in cyber security and that will help coordinate national responses to cyber attacks. AU’s new rules This decision occurs in the wake of numerous large-scale data breaches that have shocked the country. Last...

Feb 23 – The European Commission has banned TikTok from employee phones, citing cyber security. Owned by Chinese company ByteDance, in recent months, the app has come under increased international scrutiny, especially as political tensions have heated up. Chinese national security laws can force both foreign and domestic businesses within the country to share data with the government...

Feb 21 – The Twitterverse is on fire once again. Twitter users are calling out Elon Musk following a new company announcement saying that Twitter will now charge for text-based two-factor authentication. The paywall in exchange for a universal security measure represents the latest in a series of controversial decisions made by Musk. Twitter 2FA security Two-factor authentication will...

Feb 16 –  Despite a series of newly developed federal and state policies, and individual corporate efforts, U.S. networks and critical infrastructure systems require significant additional cyber security advances and investments in order to thwart the most menacing of modern cyber adversaries. It’s well-known that tax credits and penalties can motivate businesses to reshape and revise cyber security...

Feb 15 – On Tuesday, Sandbox AQ, a startup spun off from Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), said that it raised $500 million to help customers prepare for a quantum computing future. Quantum computers run on processors that can make calculations millions of times more quickly than today’s fastest supercomputers. However, they remain years away from leading to major changes,...

Feb 13 –  In the U.S., the main research group that’s connected to the U.S. intelligence community is searching for ways to leverage psychology in order to thwart cyber attacks. There hasn’t been adequate focus on “…understanding how cyber attackers behave, make decisions, select strategies, how their cognition works,” said Kimberly Ferguson-Walter, manager of the program at the...

Feb 8 -- Prepare for and mitigate global risk. Read Check Point's latest cyber security report, which covers sophisticated adversaries, cloud security threats, and disruptive malware. It also provides practical takeaways and recommendations for reducing your risk liabilities. Cyber security has expanded into a bigger enterprise issue than ever before. Reviewing eye-opening trends, along with new security strategies,...

Feb 3 – U.K. Information Technology (IT) leaders believe that some nations are already using ChatGPT maliciously. ChatGPT attacks In the U.K., 76% of IT leaders believe that other nations are using ChatGPT in order to enact cyber attacks. Nearly 50% of IT leaders think that a successful cyber attack will be credited to the technology within a year. ...

Feb 1 – Amazon Web Services CTO Werner Vogels recently took to social media in order to express his concerns surrounding ChatGPT, the new artificial intelligence technology that has taken the world by storm. Vogel slammed ChatGPT in relation to cyber security. Here’s an excerpt of what he said… AWS CTO on ChatGPT “Security has become one of the...

Jan 30 – Data privacy is important, but it's becoming increasingly difficult for organizations to tackle. A new report by the professional IT governance association known as ISACA indicates that there is a general lack of qualified cyber security labor available to assess risk mitigation and compliance initiatives. Technical privacy and legal/compliance teams are understaffed. Making matters worse,...

Jan 27 – According to U.S. documents, the Hive ransomware network extorted over $100M from over 1,500 victims who spanned 80 countries around the globe. Victims included hospitals, financial institutions, critical infrastructure groups and educational entities. In a statement on Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated, “Cybercrime is a constantly evolving threat. But as I have said...

Jan 25 – According to a new report, the number of data breaches that affected the American public increased by 42% in 2022, as compared to the prior year’s numbers. The total number of people affected by data breaches climbed to 422.1 million by end-of-year. More information The number of publicly disclosed breaches that listed a direct cause of...

Jan 23 – Email enables us to coordinate, project manage, ensure continuous productivity, deliver positive customer experiences and to grow initiatives quickly, among other things. It’s arguably one of our most valuable tools in the modern workplace. That’s also why email-based phishing attacks are extremely dangerous. Despite awareness training, employees are still human and still fall for basic...

Jan 17 – In the UK, lawmakers are vying to make the country the safest place for children to learn, grow and flourish online. At present, a number of lawmakers contend that the only way to guarantee a safe online future for children is by holding tech leaders fully accountable. In so doing, lawmakers have developed an Online...

Jan 13 – In Canada, a security consultant discovered that an Android TV box, which was purchased from Amazon, arrived pre-loaded with malware baked into its firmware. The malware was identified by Daniel Milisic, who created a script and instructions that assisted users in stopping the payload. The untrustworthy TV is known as the T95 Android TV box and...

Jan 11 – This year will bring new challenges and new opportunities in relation to SaaS security. As we move into the year, it's becoming increasingly clear that SaaS organizations will need to take great care in implementing the processes, policies, tools and best practices that will prevent next-generation threats from disrupting the flow of business. In...

Jan 09 – American fast food chain Five Guys has reported a data breach that compromised the personal details belonging to job applicants. Five Guys initially discovered “unauthorized access to files on a file server” in mid-September, but the precise information that the documents contained was not confirmed until early December. “This is yet another incident where attackers have...

Jan 5 – On a popular hacker forum, the data belonging to over 200 million Twitter users has been leaked. Hackers are selling and circulating data sets from scraped Twitter profiles. The data sets were initially developed in 2021. At that point in time, hackers managed to exploit a Twitter API vulnerability that allowed users to input email...

Jan 03 -- In recent years, cyber attacks have proliferated, evolved and disrupted organizations worldwide. The year 2022 is considered the worst year on record for ransomware attacks, which were 80% more frequent than in the year prior. In the first half of the year alone, there over 270,000 new malware variants emerged, and data shows that...

Dec 29 – Right now, machine learning algorithms are all the rage when it comes to generating “original” content, after being trained on pre-existing datasets. However, code-generating AI could present issues for software security. AI-assisted code and software security Select AI systems, like GitHub Copilot, intend to simplify the work of programmers’ by creating entire blocks of “new” code...

Dec 27 – In October, cyber criminals managed to steal data from multiple U.S. electric utilities, stoking fears around power service disruptions. At present, agencies are continuing to monitor the incident for potential large-scale impact. The stolen data has not yet appeared on the dark web, although some power company executives believe that it might. What happened This previously...

Dec 23 – A LastPass cyber security breach that occurred last August may have been more severe than the company previously anticipated or acknowledged, according to recent media reports. On Thursday, the popular password management service indicated that hackers obtained a selection of personal information belonging to its customers. The information included encrypted password vaults. These details were...

Dec 21 – On Tuesday, after a hack affecting over 400,000 home security cameras, South Korean police arrested a man. The individual had not only accessed the camera footage, but had also attempted to sell it online, providing personal visual data to nefarious persons in nations around the world. What happened The man deployed his knowledge of IT and...

Dec 19 –  On account of a confluence of factors, cyber attacks are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated. Cyber attacks are among the fastest-growing types of crime worldwide, costing the global economy over $2M per minute, according to The Telegraph. Organizations and corporate entities need to identify and implement strategic means of cyber protection, otherwise risk devastating...

Dec 16 – Google Maps has always had a distinct group of quiet competitors, but now it’s about to see fierce competition. The Linux Foundation has introduced Overture Maps, which is intended as an effort to develop interoperable open map data as a shared asset “that can strengthen mapping services worldwide.” The product is open source and...

Dec 14 – Two weeks ago, Apple released a software update designed to fix a zero day vulnerability, which the company now says that hackers attempted to exploit. The update, iOS 16.1.2 was released on November 30th. All supported iPhones -including iPhone 8 and later- received it. What happened According to a disclosure on the company’s security updates page,...

Dec 12 – On account of computer vision, Amazon’s cameras can recognize products easily – without the use of barcodes. Amazon says that the system will eventually support robots. According to Nontas Antonakos, an applied science manager in Amazon’s computer vision group, enabling robotic arms to pick up items and process them without requiring them to identify and...

Dec 9 – In Australia, a new bill designed to amend the country’s privacy legislation has been approved by parliament. The legislation significantly increases the maximum penalties that can be given to EU firms on account of large-scale, high-impact cyber security breaches. The new bill arrives after a spate of recent cyber attacks that targeted Australian companies, including...

Dec 8 – On Wednesday, Apple announced plans to enhance its encryption capabilities and augmentation of other security features. This shift will help shield user data from the eyes of cyber criminals and law enforcement alike. According to Apple, the new security set-ups will let users add end-to-end encryption to iCloud accounts. In turn, this means that data...

Dec 07 – In Europe, the tech industry has lost more than $400 billion in value this year. After reaching a peak of $3.1 trillion in 2021, the combined value of all public and private European tech firms has fallen to $2.7 trillion, according to venture capital firm Atomico. The numbers confirm what tech experts saw from the...

Dec 05 – The password management platform known as LastPass has suffered its second data breach in three months. Both breaches appear to have been initiated by the same set of cyber criminals. The latest breach is worse than researchers initially believed… According to the company, an “unauthorized party” compromised LastPass systems on Wednesday, November 30th, and gained...

Dec 2– On November 16, a threat actor posted on the Dark Web allegedly selling the phone numbers of nearly 500 million WhatsApp users. A recent analysis by Check Point Research (CPR) likely confirms this to be legitimate. Source: Check Point blog Following the reports that threat actors were selling WhatsApp numbers on the Dark Web, CPR analysts sifted...

Nov 29 – The data of 500 million users has been leaked on the Dark Web. An ad appearing on November 16 on a hacking forum claimed to be selling 487 million WhatsApp user mobile phone numbers. The threat actor claimed the dataset contains information from 84 countries, including Egypt (45 million), Italy (35 million), the U.S....

Nov 28 – Via a vulnerability known as an API (application programming interface) attack, the data belonging to over 5.4 million people made its way into hackers’ hands, eventually appearing on the internet. The private phone numbers and email addresses of celebrities and private companies may have been exposed, along with those belonging to private citizens. Worse yet,...

Nov 23 – According to Microsoft, cyber criminals are exploiting a discontinued web server found in popular Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and are using it in order to target energy sector organizations. Microsoft’s analysis On Tuesday, Microsoft researchers stated that they had discovered a vulnerable open-source element in the Boa web server. This server is still widely used...

Nov 21 – Twitter was created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams in March of 2006, launching in July of that year. In the first few months, the company started to see 20,000 tweets per day. The social media platform quickly became a hit. By the following year, the number of tweets had...

Nov 18 – In Big Tech, job cuts and revenue loss announcements give the impression that the sky is falling. However, the doom and gloom fail to give a sense of the full picture. What is really happening here? Twitter purchase After purchasing Twitter at the price of $44 billion, Elon Musk began layoffs that cut its 7,500 person...

Nov 16 – According to the Washington Post, Australia’s Cybersecurity Minister Clare O’Neil has promised to “hack the hackers,” following two massive cyber attacks that negatively affected companies and consumers. Australia's Taskforce On November 12th, Minister O’Neil announced the development of a taskforce that will identify and stop the cyber criminals who catalyzed recent data breaches. The taskforce will...

Nov 11 – On Tuesday, a draft report from European Union lawmakers announced that a Europe-wide moratorium on surveillance software, such as NSO Group’s products, is needed. The report was composed by Dutch member of the European Parliament, Sophie in ‘t Veld, who chairs a committee that has spent time investigating the use of spyware across 27 EU...

Nov 9 – If you’ve ever participated in a Zoom meeting from home or the office and wished that you could instead participate via a movie theater mega-screen, that may be possible in the near future. Zoom Video Communications is partnering with AMC Theaters to transform select movie theaters into enormous video conference rooms. Starting in 2023, the...

Nov 7-- A new type of device, developed by researchers from the University of Waterloo, can ‘see through walls’, or more precisely, detect the location of connected and smart devices from significant distances. The implications are unparalleled… Location-revealing privacy attacks The device, nicknamed “Wi-Peep”, is really a creepy, repurposed drone. When flying near a building, the drone can engage...

Nov 4 -- As world's highest net-worth individual and Tesla founder Elon Musk appointed himself to Twitter’s CEO role, he announced upcoming changes to the platform’s verification systems. The changes include an $8 monthly fee for account verification and 'Twitter Blue,' a digital verification symbol. After the announcement, Twitter users started to receive related phishing emails. The emails...

Nov 2 – Around the world, governments are pushing for greener technologies in order to combat climate change and reduce reliance on hydrocarbons. Norway has built a network of 17,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging points, while the US Department of Transportation recently announced a $5B plan to create a new network of EV charging stations. However, while automotive companies...

Oct 28 – For the third year in a row, Forbes has named Check Point Software Technologies LTD to its list of World’s Best Employers. With over 6,000 employees globally, Check Point continues to be recognized as the world’s number one cyber security employer and praised for its strong company culture, gender equality and corporate social responsibility. “Our...

Oct 26 -- Now that the European Union is mandating that every phone sold in its member countries use a certain type of connector if they have a physical charger, Apple has no choice but to add a USB-C port to the iPhone. At present, the law states that "all mobile phones and tablets" will be required to...

Oct 24th -- The latest Brand Phishing Report from Check Point Software highlights which brands were most frequently imitated by cyber criminals during July, August and September of 2022. The report indicates that the shipping company known as DHL was imitated with the greatest frequency during the specified time period. DHL shipping attacks According to researchers, shipping is one...

Oct 20th -- In October of 2020, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), launched the Cybersecurity Labeling Scheme (CLS) for smart devices, which aimed to improve IoT security, advance cyber hygiene levels and provide greater security in cyber space. This week, U.S. deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology, Anne Neuberger, stated that Singapore...

Oct 17 -- The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently issued an industry notification pertaining to unpatched and outdated devices, warning the public that cyber criminals are continuing to target internet-connected devices in order to leverage device weaknesses for nefarious gains. IoT devices are known to retain many vulnerabilities. The number of vulnerabilities within medical devices is...

Oct 11 -- In the last 48 hours, websites belonging to 14 US airports, including those in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, were temporarily taken offline due to cyber attacks. The attacks have not impacted flight operations. Airport management teams notified the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) about the attacks. In a statement, the...

Oct 5 -- A computer “Hacktivist” group known as Killnet announced that it intends to launch a series of cyber attacks on a number of US government websites. Experts state that the actions are in response to escalating geopolitical tensions. In Telegram post, the hacktivists listed several US government websites that it aims to target across the next...

Oct 5 -- Internet-connected security cameras are everywhere these days – public spaces, business settings, and affixed to the doors of private homes. The value of the market was estimated to hover around $50B in 2021 and is rapidly growing. Everyday, hundreds of thousands of security cameras are installed and connected worldwide. These products are being developed by...

Oct 3 -- Microsoft is working to role out a patch for a high-severity set of 0-day vulnerabilities, which threaten 220,000 servers. These security flaws have been under active exploit for more than a month, when a security expert discovered that an organization's networks were infected with malicious webshells, and that the initial point of entry was an...

Sept 30 -- Up until last year, hacktivism was primarily associated with groups like Anonymous – decentralized and unstructured collectives composed of private individuals with assorted agendas. Based on the preferences and wishes of its members, Anonymous has launched multiple campaigns directed at range of targets. Evidence shows that group members did not necessarily have any mutual ideological...

Sept 28 – In Iran, multiple hacker groups are using Telegram, Signal and dark web tools to assist anti-government protestors in bypassing regime restrictions. The news comes from security experts at Check Point Research (CPR), weeks after the death of Mahsa Amini, a protestor who was arrested for violating laws mandating that women wear headscarfs. Amini died in...

Sep 26 -- If you land on a Zoom website that looks unfamiliar, it may be one of six fake Zoom sites created by a cyber criminal gang. The fake pages attempt to persuade people to download malware that can steal banking data, IP addresses and other information. This appears to be part of a wider hacker-led info-stealing...

Sept 23 – Check Point Researchers recently observed a new wave of a long-standing malware campaign targeting the Uyghur community, a Turkic ethnic group originating in Central Asia and one of the largest minority ethnic groups in China. The malicious activity by a threat actor known as Scarlet Mimic was first documented in 2016, after a campaign that...

Sep 21 – Last week, Uber Technologies Inc. experienced a cyber attack that forced the company to temporarily shut down some internal systems. The attack perpetrators managed to gain access after obtaining a contractor’s account credentials. Uber blames Lapsus$ Uber believes that the hacking group Lapsus$ was behind the attack. Lapsus$ has been described as a “loosely” held collective...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Thousands of Microsoft 365 credentials were recently discovered on phishing servers. The credentials were stored in plaintext, making them easily readable. This finding appears to be a part of a larger credential harvesting campaign that targets real estate professionals, whose wire transfers are monetarily valuable. The attacks showcase the growing, evolving risk that standard username-password combinations present....

Sept 16 – Across the past 10 years, mobile device usage has increased exponentially. Over 5.3 billion people rely on mobile phones worldwide and over 90% of those individuals rely on smart or internet-enabled phones. What does this really mean? As smartphone usage has skyrocketed, so has the probability of experiencing a phone-based cyber attack. For many, phones...

Sep 15 – In a new court filing, billionaire Elon Musk accused Twitter of fraud, alleging that flaws in the company’s social media data security should entitle him to end his $44 billion Twitter purchasing deal. Musk, who is world’s richest individual, revised his previously filed lawsuit by incorporating allegations by a Twitter whistleblower, who provided congressional testimony...

Sept 14 -- In the US, the White House is releasing new guidelines pertaining to how federal agencies and government contractors can comply with President Biden's executive order requiring common cyber security standards. Prior to the executive order, the only criteria determining the quality of software was whether or not it functioned as advertised. Why this is important The new...

Sept 12 -- For the last two years, a malicious campaign known as DangerousSavanna has disrupted financial services groups in Western, French-speaking Africa. In the last few months, the campaign has heavily focused on the Ivory Coast, delivering malicious attachments and emails via diverse file types, including Word, PDFs, ZIP and ISO files. DangerousSavanna The DangrousSavanna campaign leverages common...

Sep 9 – In Portugal, hundreds of classified NATO documents were accidentally leaked after a cyber attack affecting the Portuguese government’s Department of Defence (DoD). US intelligence officials identified the documents as for sale on online forums. Portuguese General Staff of the Armed Forces (EMGFA) representatives, who work within the nation’s Department of Defence, stated “We do not...

Sep 7 – Last year, the Vice Society ransomware gang started to deploy ransomware attacks within the education sector, according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure agency, and the MS-ISAC, a cyber threat sharing body. Due to the sensitive nature of student data stored on school systems and/or via third-party systems, cyber criminals...

Sept 6 -- On Friday, cyber criminal operators created a new discussion on a hacking forum, where they claimed to have breached both TikTok and WeChat, which maintain billions of monthly users across the globe and own what is perhaps a frighteningly large quantity of data. The hack The cyber criminal operators claim to have obtained more than 2...

Sept 1 – Apple announced the release of a rare security update for older iPhones and iPads stuck on iOS 12, an operating system that received its last security update almost a year ago. The new iOS 12.5.6 update patches a single bug that hackers could exploit to enact arbitrary code execution through ‘maliciously crafted web content’. The...

Aug 30 -- Cyber criminals are deploying cryptocurrency-mining malware disguised as legitimate-looking application, such as Google Translate, on free software download sites and via Google searches. The cryptomining Trojan, called Nitrokod, is usually disguised as a clean Windows app and works as the user expects for days or weeks ahead of executing hidden Moner-crafting code. Experts say that the...

Aug 26 -- Demand for cyber security professionals is high. Earlier this year, the United States released figures showing that there are nearly 600,000 unfilled cyber security positions, and that number is expected to grow. Over 80% of cyber security teams are affected by or will be affected by the talent shortage, with a significant number already...

Aug 24 -- IT administrators and security professionals who apply security patches report that determining the impact of the patches is becoming increasingly difficult. Worsening the problem is the fact that it is patch quality seems to be declining. Experts report seeing re-patches for bugs that weren't fixed correctly the first time. Vulnerability management problems CVSS is an industry...

Aug 22 -- Southeast of Paris, the CHSF Hospital Centre in Corbeil-Essonnes revealed that it has been a victim of a cyber attack. The attack began on Saturday night, and has thus far led to a hacker demand for $10 million. The attempted extortion and the breach of the hospital's computer systems are both under investigation by the...

Aug 19 -- A new variant of the SOVA malware has been evolved to target Android devices, according to cyber security researchers. Experts have analyzed the latest version of the popular banking trojan and discovered a series of new features, including the capacity to encrypt locally stored files. The 5.0 version adds a ransomware module. SOVA capabilities  At present,...

Aug 17 – The smartphone maker known as Xiaomi, the world’s third-largest smartphone builder, which trails just behind Apple and Samsung, reported that it has patched a high-severity flaw in its ‘trusted environment’ which is used to store payment data. Last week, researchers at Check Point revealed that the Xiaomi smartphone flaw could have enabled attackers to hijack...

Aug 12 -- Around the world, mobile payment represents a very popular means of completing a purchasing transaction. However, mobile payment comes with risk, and the corresponding cyber security threats have become a growing concern as an increasing number of people are turning towards these payment systems. Mobile payment popularity Last year, more than $4 billion worth of goods...

Aug 10 -- The communications platform known as Twilio recently disclosed that a sophisticated threat actor gained unauthorized access to private data via an SMS-based phishing campaign. Twilio described the attack as "well organized" and "methodical." What is Twilio? Twilio is an American firm that provides programmable communications tools for making and receiving phone calls, sending and receiving text...

Aug 8 -- Separate phishing campaigns targeting thousands of victims are impersonating well known brands, like FedEx and Microsoft, among others, to deceive victims. At present, attackers are exploiting a well-known open redirect flaw to phish people's credentials and personally identifiable information (PII) using American Express and Snapchat domains, according to cyber security researchers. Open redirect is a security...

Aug 5 -- In the US, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a warning concerning critical security vulnerabilities in unpatched Emergency Alert System (EAS) encoder/decoder devices. Systems may be able to distribute fake emergency alerts via TV and radio networks. Critical flaws: Emergency Alert System "We recently became aware of certain vulnerabilities in EAS encoder/decoder devices that,...

Aug 3 – Yesterday evening, an ominous Twitter post indicated that a widespread malware attack on GitHub may have been in-progress. However, upon further investigation, researchers found something a bit different from the expected. It appears that thousands of GitHub repositories were copied, and that the clones were altered to include malware. Original GitHub projects (all 35,000 of...

Aug 3 -- In Taiwan, a series of cyber attacks temporarily interrupted access to Taiwanese government websites. Access to the website of Taiwan's presidential office was unavailable for roughly 20 minutes.  Two other portals were temporarily taken offline in order to allow experts to assess possible damage. DDoS attacks In a statement, the Taiwanese officials said that websites had...

Jul 29 – A new Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) platform, known by the name of “Robin Banks” is providing cyber criminals with ready-made phishing tools that can trick consumers of reputable financial institutions and who use online financial services applications. The Robin Banks platform Robin Banks represents a new hacking initiative that has been operational since at least March of 2022....

Jul 27 -- Earlier this month, one of Canada's biggest orchestras experienced the fallout from a ransomware attack. The attack occurred on WordFly, a digital communications and marketing platform frequently deployed by arts, entertainment, culture and sports firms. WordFly environment On Monday, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, which relies on WordFly for email provisioning services, notified community members of the...

July 25 – Modernize your enterprise with Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA). Zero Trust Network Architecture is now considered a foundational element of a strong cyber security strategy and it can also serve as a component within an overarching business strategy framework. New work models Among a distributed workforce, ZTNA can offer unprecedented scalability, agility and stability. As hybrid...

July 21 – According to the FBI, cyber attackers are launching malicious apps that imitate those of legitimate companies. Consumers unwittingly download the look-alike apps, leading to phone-based malware infections and financial theft. The FBI is highlighting this issue to help prevent cyber security risks and fraud, as US citizens have lost millions due to these scams. The...

July 7 -- Twitter is testing out a new 'Co-Tweet' feature that allows users to co-author tweets, according to the company. Twitter intends to test the feature for a limited length of time to assess how users utilize the feature, and whether or not it increases collaboration and productive online conversations. Twitter's new feature In addition to helping individual...

July 5 -- A newly discovered malware has been used to infiltrate Microsoft Exchange servers. In this case, the servers belong to government and military organizations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The malware, dubbed SessionManager, is a malicious native-code module for Microsoft’s Internet Information Services (IIS) web server software. SessionManager has seen use ‘in the...

June 30 – In Norway, public and private sector websites were temporarily suspended following a cyber attack on the country’s national data network. Online services were suspended for several hours. Head of the Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM), said a criminal pro-Russian group appeared to be behind the attacks, adding that the attacks “give the impression that we...

June 29 -- In a new public service announcement, the FBI has warned employers not to fall for fraudulent job applications on behalf of remote jobs. According to the FBI, voice spoofing and stolen personal information have been used to deceive managers into moving applications through the hiring pipeline. Deepfakes and job applications Deepfakes have even been used in job...

June 24-- Across the globe, epidemiologists are tracking and investigating the Monkeypox outbreak. In the course of epidemiological investigations, "disease detectives" are known to reach out to individuals by phone or email, but cyber scammers are taking advantage of the trend in order to phish consumers. Monkeypox phishing emails Attackers have been observed sending Monkeypox-related phishing emails to employees....

June 23-- In April, after nation-wide protests against government policies were suppressed in Kazakhstan, researchers uncovered enterprise-grade Android surveillanceware in-use by the Kazakhstan government. A government entity ostensibly used brand impersonation to deceive victims into downloading the surveillanceware. Surveillanceware analysis Researchers believe that the surveillanceware, dubbed "Hermit," was likely developed by an Italian spyware vendor and a telecommunications solutions...

June 21-- NASA announced the winning bids for a concept design award on behalf of nuclear fission energy systems that will reside on the surface of the moon. Winning bids for this award were submitted by Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse and IX (a joint venture from Intuitive Machines and X-energy). Nuclear plants on the moon In case you missed it,...