CyberWire Daily

In today's podcast we hear that Singapore's SingHealth has sustained a major data breach: authorities speculate it may have been the work of a nation-state yet to be determined (or at least named). A third-party data exposure affects major manufacturers, including car makers. The Aspen Security Forum concludes with sobering warnings from senior US Government officials and the private sector of ele...

Researchers Gang Wang and Hang Hu from Virginia Tech recently conducted an end-to-end measurement on 35 popular email providers and examining user reactions to spoofing through a real-world spoofing/phishing test. Gang Wang joins us to share the sobering results. End-to-End Measurements of Email Spoofing Attacks https://people.cs.vt.edu/gangwang/usenix-draft.pdf   Learn more about your ad choices....

In today's podcast we hear that the US Intelligence Community remains convinced the Bears are up to no good. Finland experienced elevated rates of cyberattack during the Helsinki summit, mostly Chinese espionage. The hacker "Anarchy" assembled an 18,000-member botnet in less than a day, using known vulnerabilities. Crooks monetize stolen credit cards through online games. Amazon works to induce be...

In today's podcast, we hear that Fancy Bear has taken a Roman Holiday, and the Italian Navy may be taking note. A criminal espionage campaign is underway, with Ukraine's government as its target. An exposed AWS S3 bucket leaks voter information. A security firm and a vendor dispute whether an issue is a vulnerability or a case of user abuse. NIST announces its intention of withdrawing some obsolet...

In today's podcast, we hear about the spread of Magnibur ransomware. LabCorp discloses "suspicious activity" on its networks. The Pentagon will add cybersecurity checks to its test and evaluation process. Siemens updates customers on Spectre and Meltdown. Oracle's quarterly patch bulletin is out. Fallout, clarifications, and more fallout from the Helsinki summit. US agencies continue preparations...

In today's podcast we review fallout from the Trump-Putin summit. Cyberespionage campaigns resurface in East Asia—at least one of them originates in North Korea. Telefonica sustains a major data breach of Spanish customers' details. Passwords to DVRs are found cached in an IoT search engine. Those DVRs' firmware is also vulnerable to exploitation. The US Census Bureau is asked to provide an overvi...

DNI says "warning lights are blinking red" over cyber threats. Election interference remains a risk despite lower than expected levels of threat activity. Presidents Trump and Putin meet in Helsinki. Notes on the Mueller investigation and the GRU indictments. Huawei, under suspicion over African cyberespionage, is said to be excluded from participation in Australian 5G buildout. Congress may reimp...

Andy Bochman is senior grid strategist for Idaho National Lab’s National and Homeland Security directorate. Today we’re discussing the research the INL has been doing, developing new approaches to protecting mission critical systems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's podcast, we hear that Special Counsel Mueller has secured an indictment of twelve Russian intelligence officers for hacking during the 2016 US presidential elections. Ukraine finds VPNFilter in a water treatment facility. Comment spam returns. Speculative execution issues. Mobile-device-management tool used against smartphone users in India. The US Army directly commissions two cyber op...

In today's podcast, we hear that Timehop has released more information as its breach investigation proceeds. The case will be interesting as an indicator of what GDPR enforcement will look like. Two speculative execution side-channel attacks are described (in the lab, but not yet, it's believed, in the wild). The US Senate's flesh creeps over bug disclosure practices. Someone uses a Netgear exploi...

In today's podcast we hear reports that the Ticketmaster breach is the tip of a big software supply chain iceberg. Chinese intelligence services closely interested in Cambodia's elections. iOS crashes appear related to code designed to block displays of Taiwan's flag to users in China. Congress wants some answers on smartphone privacy from both Apple and Alphabet. Facebook's wrist is slapped in th...

In today's podcast, we hear that advance fee scams run by Elon Musk impersonators are using the recently rescued boys' soccer team as phishbait. Bancor wallet robbed of crytpocurrencies. Palestinian police spearphished. BlackTech espionage group using stolen certificates to sign malware. Apple's upgrades are out—one privacy enhancement has a workaround. Microsoft is in the process of patching. And...

In today's podcast, we hear that if your nation's team was playing a World Cup match, you probably weren't visiting dodgy websites. Concerns mount in the UK that Russia may be readying a long-expected attack on British infrastructure and holding it until the Cup is decided. The Australian National University is hacked in an apparent espionage attempt. Data breaches at Timehop, DomainFactory, and M...

Sellers of malware on Dark Web forums often use No Distribute malware scanning tools to help verify the effectiveness of their wares, while preventing legitimate virus scanning tools from adding the malware to their database. Daniel Hatheway is a Senior Security Analyst at Recorded Future, and he takes us through their recently published research, Uncover Unseen Malware Samples with No Distribute...

In today's podcast we hear about catphishing in Berlin and Tel Aviv: whether you're offering payment for a white paper or up-to-date futbol scores, it pays to know the right bait. Android apps may be permission hogs, but it's surprising how often the hogs hoard like misers, never really using them. The US Army pushes cyber into the brigades. How Facebook checks facts. The Thermanator knows which k...

In today's podcast we hear about some catphishing in the IDF's pond. Charming Kitten uses itself as bait. Facebook and Google face scrutiny over sharing users' information with third-parties. The Pirate Bay is back after its hiatus, and it's back to cryptojacking. The European Parliament voted today to reopen debate on its controversial copyright legislation. ZTE receives some perhaps temporary, p...

In today's podcast we hear that Ukraine has warned of hybrid warfare during UN counter-terrorism meetings. ProtonMail DDoS continues. Security concerns surrounding ZTE, Huawei, and China Mobile. Retail data breaches. A quiz app's backup data are accessed by unauthorized parties. FBI, FTC, and SEC sift through Facebook's answers to questions for the record. A strange set of symptoms among diplomats...

In today's podcast we hear a bit about the data breach Adidas disclosed late last week. Facebook answers Congressional questions for the record and adopts a data abuse bounty program. Investigation of the Exactis data exposure incident continues, but the class action lawsuits have already begun. Algonquin College discloses a hacking incident. Tenable with hold an IPO. US-Russian summit will take u...

Researchers from Cisco Talos continue to track malware they've named VPNFilter, a multi-stage infection with multiple capabilities, targeting consumer-grade routers. Craig Williams is head of Cisco Talos Outreach, and he joins us with the details.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's podcast we hear that Ticketmaster UK's hacking incident will provide an interesting GDPR test case. Data aggregator Exactis left nearly two terabytes of personal and business information exposed on the publicly accessible Internet. NSA destroys telephone call data collected in ways it can't square with applicable law. California hastily passes a data protection law. Ave atque vale Harlo...

In today's podcast we hear that Ukraine has warned that Russia is preparing a coordinated attack against Ukrainian financial and energy infrastructure. China appears to be stepping up surveillance of the Tibetan diaspora. Cisco's Talos unit has a free decryptor for Thanatos ransomware. Facebook's self-audit of data usage proves both more difficult and more skeleton-rattling than hoped. Norwegian c...

In today's podcast, we hear that ProtonMail was hit this morning by an Apophis Squad DDoS attack. Rancor cyberespionage campaign observed in Southeast Asia. PythonBot serves up adware and cryptojacking. WannaCry-themed protection racket is all bark and no bite. EU organizing a joint cyber incident response force. FBI and international partners make arrests in an Africa-based business email comprom...

In today's podcast, we hear warnings of Russian cyber operations from Romania and the UK. Recent attempts at developing international rules of conduct (and conflict) in cyberspace. Bronze Butler's naughty USB drives—not as scary as they sound, but a useful reminder of some sound precautions. FireEye says it never hacked back. Smart batteries may be too smart for their users' good. A new venture fu...

In today's podcast, we hear that Taiwan continues to receive the PLA's cyber attentions. A look at what the Lazarus Group is up to. Cryptocurrency fraudsters arrested as alt-coin values have a rocky ride. Continuing US hot water for ZTE and Huawei. GDPR-themed data extortion. Business email compromise is up. So are ransomware attacks against US city governments. And when is a ransomware attack not...

Researchers at Check Point Research recently discovered vulnerabilities in some LG smartphone keyboards, vulnerabilities that could have been used to remotely execute code with elevated privileges, act as a keylogger and thereby compromise the users’ privacy and authentication details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices