A new variant of the Shamoon malware has destroyed significant amounts of data at a UAE “heavy engineering company” and the Italian oil and gas contractor Saipem. Shamoon is the Iranian malware that was targeted against the Saudi Arabian oil company, Saudi Aramco, in 2012 and 2016. We have no idea if this new variant … Read More “New Shamoon Variant” »
Attackers are targeting two-factor authentication systems: Attackers working on behalf of the Iranian government collected detailed information on targets and used that knowledge to write spear-phishing emails that were tailored to the targets’ level of operational security, researchers with security firm Certfa Lab said in a blog post. The emails contained a hidden image that … Read More “Real-Time Attacks Against Two-Factor Authentication” »
Piling on from last week’s post, the squid emoji’s siphon is in the wrong place. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Read my blog posting guidelines here. Powered by WPeMatico
The New York Times and Reuters are reporting that China was behind the recent hack of Mariott Hotels. Note that this is still uncomfirmed, but interesting if it is true. Reuters: Private investigators looking into the breach have found hacking tools, techniques and procedures previously used in attacks attributed to Chinese hackers, said three sources … Read More “Marriott Hack Reported as Chinese State-Sponsored” »
Last week, Australia passed a law giving the government the ability to demand backdoors in computers and communications systems. Details are still to be defined, but it’s really bad. Note: Many people e-mailed me to ask why I haven’t blogged this yet. One, I was busy with other things. And two, there’s nothing I can … Read More “New Australian Backdoor Law” »
The research group AI Now just published its annual report. It’s an excellent summary of today’s AI security challenges, as well as a policy agenda to address them. This is related, and also worth reading. Powered by WPeMatico
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has some problems with the squid emoji. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Read my blog posting guidelines here. Powered by WPeMatico
Five years ago, the NSA published 23 years of its internal magazine, Cryptolog. There were lots of redactions, of course. What’s new is a nice user interface for the issues, noting highlights and levels of redaction. Powered by WPeMatico
Kaspersky is reporting on a series of bank hacks — called DarkVishnya — perpetrated through malicious hardware being surreptitiously installed into the target network: In 2017-2018, Kaspersky Lab specialists were invited to research a series of cybertheft incidents. Each attack had a common springboard: an unknown device directly connected to the company’s local network. In … Read More “Banks Attacked through Malicious Hardware Connected to the Local Network” »
In an excellent blog post, Brian Krebs makes clear something I have been saying for a while: Likewise for individuals, it pays to accept two unfortunate and harsh realities: Reality #1: Bad guys already have access to personal data points that you may believe should be secret but which nevertheless aren’t, including your credit card … Read More “Your Personal Data is Already Stolen” »