News Items

Security researchers at RedLock have discovered the use of an Amazon cloud account by hackers to mine cryptocurrency. The attack follows a series of cryptojacking attacks that have been recently launched by hackers to secretly use a victim's computer processing power to generate cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. This article continues to discuss the discovery of this attack, Tesla's response to the finding, and the rise in cryptojacking attacks.

Domain-B reports "Hackers Hijack Tesla's Amazon Cloud Account to Mine Crypto-Currency"

According to a report released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and McAfee, the total annual cost of damages resulting from cybercrime and espionage is more than $600 billion. The total annual cost of cybercrime is rising as the adoption of new technology and the complexity of hacking tools continues to grow. This article continues to discuss the findings of the report in relation to the driving forces behind the rising cost of damages caused by cybercrime, targets of cybercrime, and possible solutions.

CyberScoop reports "Cybercrime Causes over $600 Billion in Damage Annually"

A tool by the name of AutoSploit has raised some concern among the security community as it significantly eases the process of launching cyberattacks for less-skilled hackers. The tool takes advantage of the Shodan search engine to perform automated mass exploitation of remote targets found by the search engine. This article continues to discuss AutoSploit and concerns surrounding the tool, along with how organizations should respond to such news.

eSecurity Planet reports "AutoSploit: Making Massive Cyber Attacks Too Easy?"

Researchers at Aqau Security Software conducted an exercise in which the operation of cryptocurrency mining by cyberattackers within cloud containers is further explored. The process of installing Monero cryptocurrency mining malware onto Docker containers was observed by researchers. This article continues to discuss the setup, observations, and key lessons of the exercise, along with the characteristics of cloud containers that attract cryptocurrency miners.

eWeek reports "Researchers Show Docker Containers at Risk for Crypto-Currency Attacks"

The FS-ISAC's 2018 Cybersecurity Trends Report indicate that employee training should be a top priority for CISOs in the improvement of cybersecurity within organizations in the financial sector. The report emphasizes the need for organizations to enhance cybersecurity awareness and culture through staff training and education. Security awareness training is essential as hackers continue to exploit human factors and use social engineering tactics to launch cyberattacks. This article continues to discuss the findings of the report in relation to the priorities of CISOs in improving cybersecurity, reporting structure, frequency of reporting, and recommendations.

Security Week reports "Security Awareness Training Top Priority for CISOs: Report"

418 Intelligence Corporation, a cybersecurity company based in Herndon, VA, was awarded $350,000 by the Department of Homeland Security in support of developing a game-based cybersecurity forecasting system. The platform will be used by organizations to share information about cyberattacks or vulnerabilities that they have detected. The information shared by organizations will then be assessed by a crowd of cybersecurity analysts to devise effective strategies for responding to such attacks and threats. This article further discusses the concept, structure, and participants of the platform.

GCN reports "Crowdsourcing Cyber Threat Defense"

MIT researchers have developed a new chip to efficiently execute public-key encryption protocols for IoT devices. The chip performs public-key encryption with significantly faster execution, and consumes less power and memory than the software used to execute the same encryption protocols. This article continues to discuss the chip in relation to its development and technique, along with why software execution of encryption protocols is difficult for IoT devices.

MIT News report "Energy-Efficient Encryption for the Internet of Things"

Global security strategist at Absolute, Richard Henderson, emphasizes the importance of mitigating insider threats as several major breaches of data have been found to be caused by insiders. Insiders pose a significant threat to the security of organizations as they could deliberately or inadvertently expose sensitive information, damage systems, and more. This article continues to discuss why the performance of insider threat mitigation is often neglected and how organizations could minimize insider threats.

Help Net Security reports "Tackling the insider threat: Where to start?"

Researchers at ForcePoint Labs have discovered a new point-of-sale (PoS) malware called UDPoS that uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP) DNS traffic to steal credit card information. The malware is distributed under the guise of an update from a remote desktop control application, LogMeIn. This article continues to discuss what has been observed about the UDPoS malware.

Cyber Defense Magazine reports "UDPoS PoS Malware Exfiltrates Credit Card Data DNS Queries"

The Infraud Organization was taken down by US law enforcement authorities as the global cybercrime group has been found to be behind the loss of over $500 million within the last seven years. 36 individuals have been charged for their alleged positions in the organization that operated as a global forum for cybercriminal activities. This article further discusses the operation, activities, and takedown of the Infraud Organization.

Dark Reading reports "US, International Law Enforcement Shut Down Massive Cybercrime Marketplace"

Director of Cybersecurity Research Center Mordechai Guri and his team of researchers at Israel's Ben-Gurion University have demonstrated methods that could be used to exfiltrate data from air-gapped systems. The methods demonstrated by researchers exploit computer component emissions that often go unnoticed such as light, sound, and heat. This article further discusses the research conducted by Guri and his team of researchers on the exfiltration of sensitive data from air-gapped computers and the methods demonstrated, as well as solutions to these techniques.

Wired reports "Mind the Gap: This Researcher Steals Data With Noise, Light, and Magnets"

The cyber arms race is intensifying as automated cyber weapons become more advanced for the launch of devastating cyberattacks. The increased circulation and investment of cyber weapons among cybercriminals and malicious nation-states have triggered the launch of larger and more complex cyberattacks. This article further discusses the propagation, utilization, and impacts of automated cyber warfare weapons, along with the advancement of cyber defense technologies used by U.S. military forces.

SIGNAL Magazine reports "Cyberspace Triggers a New Kind of Arms Race"

A new method has been identified by security researchers at Fidelis Cybersecurity that could be used by attackers to covertly exchange data during TLS negotiation and circumvent network perimeter defenses. This technique is performed through the exploitation of the public key certificate standard X.509. This article further discusses the method and the research behind it.

Threatpost reports "Covert Data Channel in TLS Dodges Network Perimeter Protection"

According to a research report released by Positive Technologies, the number of vulnerable industrial control devices is growing each year. The poor security of such devices significantly increases the possibility of network infiltration by cyberattackers and this could have damaging effects on the companies that use them. This article further discusses the findings shared by the report in relation to the security of ICS components as well as recommendations for protecting ICS networks.

eWeek reports "Threats to Industrial Control Systems Grow as Vulnerabilities Increase"

Blockchain technology has attracted much attention from leaders across different industries as the technology has the potential to improve upon cybersecurity in many ways. The methods of blockchain technology could be applied to improve authentication for IoT device security, ensure the confidentiality and integrity of data, and much more. This article continues to discuss six ways in which blockchain technology is being used in security, along with challenges faced in moving towards a blockchain method.

CSO Online reports "6 Use Cases for Blockchain in Security"

A new cybersecurity course will be offered to high school students by CodeHS, which is a teaching platform for coding courses. The course will be geared towards offering students hands-on learning of aspects within cybersecurity such as vulnerabilities, phishing, and cryptography. This article continues to discuss the format and goals of the cybersecurity course, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of teaching kids hacking skills in schools with professionals that are inexperienced in computer science.

EdSurge News report "New Cybersecurity Course Teaches Teens the ABCs of (Ethical) Hacking"

Tripwire conducted a survey to which 406 cybersecurity professionals responded. According to the results of the survey, an overwhelming majority of organizations that will be affected by the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have not established a process for notifying customers in the event that they suffer a data breach. This article further discusses the findings of the survey in relation to how prepared organizations are in the prevention and handling of data breaches, along with how organizations can prepare to comply to the requirements of GDPR.

Infosecurity Magazine reports "Just 20% of Orgs Have Breach Notification Plans"

A*STAR researchers were able to recover decryption keys for popular instant-messaging applications WeChat and WhatsAPP, which could allow users' personal data and information to be collected. A mobile forensics method called information flow analysis was applied by researchers to discover the decryption keys for the current and future versions of WeChat and WhatsApp. This article further discusses the experiment and preventive measures.

Phys.org reports "Easy Decryption Shows That Chat-App Designers Should Improve the Ways They Protect Users' Personal Data"

According to a new survey conducted by Imperva, cybersecurity concerns surrounding the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) have significantly increased. Public-facing APIs raise security concerns as they provide a way in which hackers could access sensitive data behind applications. This article further discusses the findings of the survey in relation to growing concerns surrounding the cybersecurity of APIs, cybersecurity risks posed by the use of APIs, what organizations are doing to secure data behind their APIs, and the importance of DevSecOps in the development of applications.

Help Net Security reports "Widespread API Use Heightens Cybersecurity Risks"

A new report released by researchers from Ben-Gurion University highlights the increasing vulnerability of medical equipment to being targeted by cyberattackers. Researchers emphasize the importance of strengthening the security of Medical Imaging Devices (MIDs) such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT). This article further discusses the content of the report in relation to the increasing security vulnerability of MIDs, attacks that may result from this vulnerability, and how such attacks pose serious threats to the safety of patients, along with challenges faced in the prevention of these attacks.

ZDNet reports "CT, MRI Machines Face the Greatest Risk of Cyberattack, Researchers Warn"

Researchers from the University of Michigan and the Zhejiang University warn of the imminent dangers of transduction attacks in which external signals such as sound and electromagnetic waves are used to deliberately deceive sensors into reading incorrect values. Security risks arise as the software used to read data from sensors, has indiscriminate trust in the hardware devices containing these sensors. This article further discusses what transduction attacks are, how they pose serious security threats, examples of such attacks, and mitigation.

Bleeping Computer reports "Scientists Warn of Transduction Attacks on Sensors"

Researchers in the U.S. and China worked with IBM to conduct research on possible threats to the security of popular virtual assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. A demonstration performed by researchers show how these virtual assistants could be deceived into executing commands in a covert manner. This article further discusses the study and demonstration conducted by researchers.

Computing reports "Researchers Develop Way to Turn Commands into Voice-Activated AI Software"

Security researchers at Trend Micro have discovered the exploitation of YouTube advertisements by hackers that allows a viewer's CPU power to be used to mine cryptocurrency. An analysis of YouTube advertisements revealed the use of Coinhive Javascript code to hijack CPU power and generate digital currency. This article further discusses the details of the cryptojacking campaign, Google's response to this discovery, as well as the recent increase of browser-based mining and cryptojacking attacks.

IBT reports "Hackers Are Now Exploiting Youtube Ads to Hijack Your Computer and Secretly Mine Cryptocurrency"

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