Cybersecurity

'Holy moly!': Inside Texas' fight against a ransomware hack

It was a steamy Friday two Augusts ago when Jason Whisler settled in for a working breakfast at the Coffee Ranch restaurant in the Texas Panhandle city of Borger. The most pressing agenda item for city officials like him that morning: planning for a country concert and anniversary event. Then Whisler’s phone rang. Borger’s computer […]

Kaseya gets master decryption key after July 4 global attack

The Florida company whose software was exploited in the devastating Fourth of July weekend ransomware attack, Kaseya, has received a universal key that will decrypt all of the more than 1,000 businesses and public organizations crippled in the global incident. Kaseya spokeswoman Dana Liedholm would not say Thursday how the key was obtained or whether […]

Saudi Aramco facing $50M cyber extortion over leaked data

Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant acknowledged Wednesday that leaked data from the company — files now apparently being used in a cyber-extortion attempt involving a $50 million ransom demand — likely came from one of its contractors. The Saudi Arabian Oil Co., better known as Saudi Aramco, told The Associated Press that it “recently became […]

Macron among 14 heads of states on potential spyware list

French President Emmanuel Macron leads a list of 14 current or former heads of state who may have been targeted for hacking by clients of the notorious Israeli spyware firm NSO Group, Amnesty International said Tuesday. “The unprecedented revelation … should send a chill down the spine of world leaders,” Amnesty’s secretary general, Agnes Callamard, […]

Respect In Security: Cybersecurity’s anti-harassment movement

A consortium of cybersecurity specialists launched on Tuesday an initiative to encourage companies to implement preventive security measures to end abusive online behavior experienced by workers. Respect In Security, launched by Lisa Forte from Red Goat Cyber Security and Trend Micro’s Rik Ferguson on July 14 on Twitter, is a long overdue plan that focuses […]

Virginia Tech targeted in Kaseya security breach

On Friday, Virginia Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski informed local media that the university was affected by the series of global security breaches that crippled businesses throughout the world. Several university units employed Kaseya – U.S.-based software company – that was breached in early July in a worldwide ransomware campaign. According to Owczarski, the virus distributed […]

Probe: Journalists, activists among firm's spyware targets

An investigation by a global media consortium based on leaked targeting data provides further evidence that military-grade malware from Israel-based NSO Group, the world’s most infamous hacker-for-hire outfit, is being used to spy on journalists, human rights activists and political dissidents. From a list of more than 50,000 cellphone numbers obtained by the Paris-based journalism […]

$10 million rewards bolster White House anti-ransomware bid

The State Department will offer rewards up to $10 million for information leading to the identification of anyone engaged in foreign state-sanctioned malicious cyber activity, including ransomware attacks, against critical U.S. infrastructure. A task force set up by the White House will coordinate efforts to stem the ransomware scourge. The Biden administration is also out […]

Israeli group sold hacking tools to spy on Windows

Microsoft along with technology human rights group Citizen Lab said on Thursday that an Israeli private firm named Candiru sold hacking tools that controls Microsoft Windows.   The hackers created and sold a software than can penetrate Windows. This new growing business aim to find flows in common software platforms for their clients, according to a report by Citizen Lab.   The clients […]

Facebook exposes Iranian cyber-spying operation targeting US

Facebook exposed on Thursday an Iranian cyber-spying operation that went after U.S. military personnel and people working at defense and aerospace companies.   The tech giant said that group of Iranian hackers, known as Tortoiseshell, created fake social media profiles, and sent targeted malicious links to victims.  The links that aimed to infect devices to enable espionage, used different tactics including setting up fake job recruiting sites. Facebook said the hackers tried to direct people to other websites, […]