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A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld

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a-brief-weekly-review-of-top-stories-that-dominated-the-cyberworld

By AMSAT Aug 27,2021

A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld

The outgoing week saw a number of events that had far-reaching effects on the cybersecurity landscape.  From China passing a strict new online privacy law to US and Singapore signing memorandums of understanding, the world of security was replete with some extraordinary developments.

 

Here’s a brief review of the major developments of the past week.    

China Okayed Stringent New Online Privacy Law

China passed a comprehensive privacy law with the aim of stopping companies from gathering important personal data, as the country faced a surge in internet scams.

Green-lighted by China’s leading lawmaking body, under the new rules, state and private businesses dealing with personal information would be required to decrease data collection and acquire user consent.

 

However, the Chinese state security system would maintain access to a wide range of personal data. Beijing has long been blamed for exploiting big tech to hasten repression in the northwestern Xinjiang province and somewhere else.

US, Singapore inked MOUs to broaden collaboration in cybersecurity

As per reports, the United States and Singapore signed a spate of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to extend cooperation in cybersecurity across many fields such as finance, defence, and research and development. Such measures would include further information about sharing, joint exercises, and competency development. 

Three MOUs were inked as part of US Vice President Kamala Harris’ three-day visit to Singapore this week. 

One of these involved an agreement between Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency (CSA) and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to widen collaboration in cybersecurity beyond data sharing and exchanges. The two government agencies will seek to include new areas of support in important technologies as well as research and development, amongst others. 

US Tech Companies Pledged Billions to Boost Cybersecurity Defenses

The White House announced that some of the top technology firms of the United Stated had pledged to invest billions of dollars to improve cybersecurity infrastructure and to train workers.

 

The meeting, in which President Joe Biden also participated, was held during a persistent stretch of ransomware assaults that had targeted important defenses, in addition to other illegal cyber operations that U.S. authorities have associated to foreign threat actors.

 

 

The US government had been asking the private sector to play its role to boost cybersecurity defenses against those highly sophisticated attacks which President Biden referred to as a “core national security challenge” for the United States.

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    A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld
    Posted in Uncategorized

    A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld

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    A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld

    By AMSAT Aug 20,2021

    A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld

    The outgoing week saw a number of events that broke over the cybersecurity landscape like bombshells. News stories such as the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) coming under a serious cyberattack to hackers carrying out an attack on U.S. Census Bureau in 2020, remained the core highlights of the week. 


    Here’s a brief review of the major developments of the past week.    

    FBR Comes under Serious Cyberattack

    In an unprecedented development that occurred right on the country’s Independence Day, cybercriminals conducted a cyberattack on Pakistan’s largest data center run by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), bringing down all the official websites and creating a crisis-like situation for the entire tax machinery.


    Immediately after the incident, the FBR’s team started migrating services, which it said was essential to facilitate the upgradation of the system in order to improve the seamless services to the clients of the revenue body.


    An FBR official said that the attack had impacted the virtual environment of the data center, adding that the hackers managed to exploit the hyper-V software by Microsoft Inc.

    An FBR official said that the attack had impacted the virtual environment of the data center, adding that the hackers managed to exploit the hyper-V software by Microsoft Inc.

     

    Brazilian National Treasury Hit by Ransomware Attack

     

    The Brazilian government revealed that a ransomware attack hit its National Treasury on 13 August. 


    A statement from finance ministry said that the early measures to control the effect of the cyberattack were quickly taken. The first evaluations have so far discovered there was no harm to the structuring systems of the National Treasury, such as the platforms pertaining to public debt administration.


    Security experts from the National Treasury were examining the ramifications of the ransomware attack, while the Federal Police had also been notified. The ministry observed new information on the event would be revealed in a timely manner and with due transparency.

    Millions of IoT Devices Exposed to Attack Due to Cloud Platform Flaw

    FireEye’s threat intelligence experts spotted a grave flaw that exposed millions of IoT devices to remote attacks.


    The vulnerability was discovered in a core component of the Kalay cloud platform for IoT devices offered by a Taiwan-based company named ThroughTek. The firm provides IoT and M2M solutions for surveillance, security, smart home, cloud storage, and consumer electronics systems.


    The experts discovered late last year that a critical flaw impacted the platform, which is used by millions of IoT devices. Since a number of the affected equipment also include video surveillance products, exploiting the flaw could let a hacker intercept live audio and video data.

    Hackers Hit Census, But Failed to Access System: Report 

    A watchdog report divulged that, during a cybersecurity attack, threat actors exploited computer servers of U.S. Census Bureau uninvolved with last year’s census, but they failed to keep access to the system.

     

    The attack occurred in January 2020 on the bureau’s remote access servers.


    The Office of Inspector General said that the Census Bureau missed opportunities to restrict its flaw to the attack and didn’t spot and report the attack in a timely manner. The bureau also failed to keep adequate system logs, which stalled the inquiry, and was using operating system no longer supported by the vendor. 

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      A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld
      Posted in Cyber Security

      A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld

      Latest Blogs

      A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld

      By AMSAT Aug 13,2021

      A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld

      The outgoing week saw events that had far-reaching effects on the cybersecurity scene. From a ‘sophisticated group’ accused of a cyberattack on Alaska health department to 10,000 victims hit by Android Trojan in 140 countries, the security landscape was awash with a slew of exciting developments.  

       

      Here’s a brief synopsis of the events:

      ‘Sophisticated Group’ Blamed for Alaska Cyberattack

      A spokesperson for the Alaska health department accused a “highly sophisticated group” of the cyberattack that targeted the former, as well as other governmental entities.

      A department spokesperson Clinton Bennett said that a highly sophisticated group known to carry out intricate cyberattacks against organizations that include state governments and health care entities is responsible for the attacks on the Alaska health department.


      However, in an email, Mr Bennett said the department will not comment on the group’s identity, citing a continuing probe.


      The company has so far raised $154 million, with the earlier round being $30 million in September 2019. It says the funding will be used to help scale product development efforts and boost its sales, marketing and partner efforts. 

      Social Media Hijacking: 10,000 Victims in 140 Countries hit by Android Trojan

      According to a report, cybersecurity firm Zimperium identified a new malware Android Trojan that has hit more than 10,000 victims in more than 100 countries. 


      Named FlyTrap, the trojan, was able to spread through “social media hijacking, third-party app stores, side-loaded applications” since March.


      The malware was first spotted by Zimperium’s zLabs mobile threat research teams that figured out that it uses social engineering ruses to affect Facebook accounts. The malware hijacks social media accounts by infecting Android devices, letting attackers gather information from victims like Facebook ID, location, email address and IP address as well as cookies and tokens tied to your Facebook account.

      Hacker exploited flaw to steal $600m in ‘biggest’ cryptocurrency theft

      In one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts so far, a threat actor apparently exploited a vulnerability to steal $600 million from a blockchain finance platform.


      The creators of Poly Network, a “DeFi” or decentralized finance platform that works across blockchains, said on Tuesday that a hacker made off with about $600 million in cryptocurrencies.

      The Poly Network team said: “The amount of money you hacked is the biggest one in defi history. 


      Law enforcement in any country will regard this as a major economic crime and you will be pursed. It is very unwise for you to do any further transactions. The money stole is from tens of thousands of crypto community members, hence the people. You should talk to us to work out a solution.”

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        a-brief-weekly-review-of-top-stories-that-dominated-the-cyberworld
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        A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld

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        a-brief-weekly-review-of-top-stories-that-dominated-the-cyberworld

        By AMSAT August 06,2021

        A Brief Weekly Review of Top Stories that Dominated the Cyberworld

        The outgoing week was rife with a number of events with serious ramifications on the cybersecurity scene. From US Justice Department accusing Russian threat actors of hacking federal prosecutors to Amazon slapping a record fine of 746 million euros, the security landscape was witness to a slew of exciting developments. 

         

        Here’s a brief synopsis of the events:

        Russians Hacked Federal Prosecutors: US Justice Department

        According to the Justice Department, the Russian hackers behind the colossal SolarWinds cyberespionage drive infiltrated the email accounts of some of the key federal prosecutors’ offices across the country last year.

         

        The department said that hackers broke into 80% of Microsoft email accounts used by employees in the four U.S. attorney offices in New York. The Justice Department said that during that hacking spree, 27 U.S. attorney offices had at least one employee’s email account compromised.

         

        It also said that it believes the accounts were breached from May 7 to Dec. 27, 2020. The time frame is important because the SolarWinds drive, which intruded lots of private-sector businesses and think tanks as well as at least nine U.S. government agencies, was first exposed and publicized in mid-December.

        Amazon Slapped with Record Fine Over Data Privacy in
        Luxembourg

        Online retail colossus Amazon said it was hit by a heavy fine of 746 million euros ($880 million) by Luxembourg authorities over charges it breached the EU’s data protection rules.

         

        In a securities filing, the company said that the fine was issued on July 16 by the Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection after its finding that “Amazon’s processing of personal data did not comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).”

         

        Using the company’s French acronym, Amazon went on to say: “We believe the CNPD’s decision to be without merit and intend to defend ourselves vigorously in this matter.”

        Nozomi Networks Said It Had Raised $100 Million

        Industrial cybersecurity startup Nozomi Networks said it had raised $100 million in a Series D pre-IPO-funding round.

         

        A number of prestigious firms such as Honeywell Ventures, CIA-linked In-Q-Tel, Keysight Technologies, Porsche Ventures Dubai Electricity, Telefónica Ventures, and others also participated in the funding, which was led by Triangle Peak Partners.

         

        The company has so far raised $154 million, with the earlier round being $30 million in September 2019. It says the funding will be used to help scale product development efforts and boost its sales, marketing and partner efforts. 

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          securing-your-organization-against-netwalker-ransomware
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          Securing Your Organization Against Netwalker Ransomware

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          By AMSAT July 4,2021

          Securing Your Organization Against Netwalker Ransomware

          securing-your-organization-against-netwalker-ransomware

          Although ransomware has been around for the last two decades, the treat is as serious as it was back then. In fact, the intensity and sophistication of this attack have grown immensely with time. While ransomware attacks have mainly targeted state and local governments, health care sectors, private companies, and the transportation sector have also been at the radar of hackers.

          What Is Netwalker Ransomware?

          Netwalker is a type of ransomware that is believed to be a threat of the Mailto effect, which is an updated version of it. This is the name allotted to a family of Windows ransomware that has targeted business computer networks, encoding the files it finds, and asking that a cryptocurrency payment is made for the secure retrieval of the encoded data. Mailto was discovered by independent cybersecurity investigator and Twitter user GrujaRS.

          This malicious business model is nothing new, and is being hired most noticeably by hackers behind the GandCrab ransomware and its updated version Sodinokibi. Nevertheless, joining in comes with its own set of rubrics. Affiliates are prohibited from going against establishments situated in the region of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Also, it is stated that agents must always return the files of the victims who paid the ransom. Nevertheless, this is never an assurance when it comes to ransomware attackers.

          How to Secure Your Organization Against Netwalker Ransomware

          In the event that Netwalker or any other similar threat affects sensitive data, organizations rid themselves by paying the ransom. But that’s the least thing an organization should do, because you can never be sure that the hackers will give you back access to your data.

          Here’s how you can protect your organization against Netwalker ransomware.

          1. Frame an Effective Data Backup Plan

          Threat actors who spread ransomware base their whole métier around keeping important data hostage. Having a restorable file record takes the power away from the hackers and puts it back into your hands. It is then important to have an offline backup on an external hard drive or another type of storage device, as well as one in the cloud.


          Nevertheless, for this approach to be really effective against Netwalker attacks, you need to appreciate what type of data your company needs to support in the first place. First, find the folders that are key to the even running of your operation. Then, ensure that they have precedence in the cloud and offline storage procedure.

          2. Frequently Change the Passwords on All Access Points

          One way in which Netwalker sneaks into the systems of large companies is through brute force and remote desktop procedure bouts. With the help of bots, the actors behind these malevolent hacks try a number of passwords until they hit the spot. Therefore, weak passwords cannot defend access points.


          The best way to remedy this in your organization for good strength appear too simple to be true. Nevertheless, it all boils down to often changing and firming passwords, as well as using two-factor verification procedures. It’s a foolproof method to avert ransomware affiliates from controlling computers in your network remotely through RDP.

          3. Use a Next-Generation Antivirus for Enhanced Safety

          As specified earlier, threat actors are becoming extremely sly in their attacks, and Netwalker is a testament to that. Therefore, you should, firstly, ensure that your antivirus is updated and latest. However, that itself might not cut it nowadays. Hence, you should consider arming your business with a next-generation antivirus.

           

          4. Frequently Apply Available Software Fixes

           

          Installing software fixes once they are arranged by their respective developers is important for your network’s stability. Without them, threat actors can easily abuse unfixed system weaknesses and penetrate your machine to perform Netwalker. To arrange covers automatically and rationalize your company’s cybersecurity process even more, it’s recommended you frequently apply software patches.

          5. Find a Netwalker Ransomware Decryptor

          When confronted by a nefarious Netwalker attack, the most effective approach to adopt is to try a ransomware decryptor. As of currently, no Netwalker decryption tool has been in print, but keep looking for a top-notch Netwalker ransomware decryption either on the market or on the internet. In the meanwhile, however, the safest way to adopt is to prevent your systems from coming under such wicked attacks.

          The Bottom Line

          It was only a matter of time before cybercriminals started to make a profit with threats related to the coronavirus pandemic, and Netwalker appears to be their most prominent venture in this direction. While several large organizations have already become its victim, this doesn’t need to occur to you now since information about this threat is on hand. As always, being hands-on is the best course of action when it comes to ransomware attacks. Waiting for a decryptor might be appealing, as it is the easiest way out, but meanwhile, it is your due thoroughness to secure your business and its assets from Netwalker as well as other types of cybersecurity problems.

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          • Nozomi Networks

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