CyberWire Daily

In today's podcast, we hear that some believe they've seen the Professor Moriarity behind 2017's Android malware outbreak. Erebus is back, and this time it's in Linux. Mirai may be about to become more resistant to cleaning. Crytpo wars flare in the UK and EU as terror investigations proceed. A quick look at SINET's Innovation Summit. Raytheon's DHS cyber contract survives challenge. CrashOverride...

In today's podcast, we hear that Google is in an "uphill battle" against adware infestation of the PlayStore. GCHQ seems to agree with NSA, which seems to think WannaCry was a North Korean caper. Big data firm leaves voter data exposed on an Amazon S3 account. GCHQ says the Russians didn't disrupt the recent UK elections. Dr. Charles Clancy from VA Tech's Hume Center describes methods for preventi...

In today's podcast, we hear that WikiLeaks has dumped more of Vault7. More attribution of WannaCry to North Korea, where Hidden Cobra and the Lazarus Group appear to be one and the same. FIN10 cybercriminals are asking US and Canadian businesses for a big payoff to head off a big doxing. Conventional ransomware hits British universities. Kasperky and Avast release free decryptors for Jaff and Encr...

In today's podcast, we hear that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have warned that Hidden Cobra actively pursuing DDoS campaigns. Microsoft patches remaining ShadowBrokers' exploits, even in deprecated systems. The US Congress votes to sanction Russia for election influence operations. Those operations have a long, long history, going back to the 1930s at least. Electrical and natur...

Robert M Lee from Dragos provides an overview of CrashOverride. A quick look at yesterday's Patch Tuesday. Some of the fixes even reached back into Windows XP's unquiet grave. Terrorist information operations are increasingly sustained by cryptocurrency funding. Accenture's Justin Harvey reviews automation and orchestration. Russian intelligence may have been more active probing US state election...

In today's podcast, we hear that CrashOverride looks like a power grid threat, and industry and government are taking it seriously. Cyber operations against ISIS are proving better at collection than disruption. Criminals are exploiting vulnerable Samba instances to spread cryptocurrency mining software. NSO Group has put itself up for sale, valued at more than a billion dollars. Well-informed obs...

In today's podcast, we hear that Dragos and ESET are bringing some clarity—and some bad news—to investigation of December 2016's Ukrainian power-grid hack. Qatar and its neighbors try to sort out hack-induced diplomatic troubles. DoubleSwitch social media malware hijacks dissidents' accounts. CertLock impedes removal of unwanted programs by security software. MacSpy and MacRansom appear as malware...

In today's podcast we hear that whatever else former FBI Director Comey told the Senate, one thing is clear: he's convinced the Russian are fully committed to influence operations, and that they'll be back. More on disinformation and hacking in Qatar. Fresh malware surfaces in the Android ecosystem—some but not all has been booted from the PlayStore. Mousing over a malicious hyperlink can now be a...

In today's podcast, we hear that Qatar remains in bad odor with its neighbors over a recent online provocation. (Russia denies any involvement.) Anomali talks about influence operations, especially with respect to elections, where they may be moving from doxing to disinformation. Leaks about election hacking shouldn't turn you off to multifactor authentication—it's not the technology; it's us. For...

In today's podcast, we say farewell to a legendary coder, and we also remember the Battle of Midway. Influence operations in the Gulf may have been Russian. Alleged leak of NSA report on election hacking proceeds. Two new data breaches are disclosed. A script kiddy is arrested in Japan for writing and distributing ransomware. EternalBlue remains a risk. Johns Hopkins' Joe Carrigan reviews research...

In today's podcast we hear about a leaked report describing eleventh-hour Russian influence operations during last year's US elections. An alleged leaker is already charged and in custody. The UK's investigation into last weekend's terror attacks continues, online as well as in physical space. Apple hints it's helping out. The attackers seem to have been known to authorities. In its continuing cam...

In today's podcast, we hear that ISIS has claimed responsibility for Saturday's terror attacks in London. The UK reacts with strong words against terrorist safe spaces online. The Prime Minister wants restrictions on end-to-end encryption and a very hard line against extremist messaging. Hacking has diplomatic consequences for Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. India investigates a poss...

In today's podcast we hear, second-hand but ultimately from Vladimir Vladimirovich himself, that Russian hackers are free-spirited, patriotic artists, and maybe he'd be in a position to know. WikiLeaks dumps more Vault7 documents. White hats reconsider crowdsourcing membership in the exploit-of-the-month club. OceanLotus may be weaponizing a ShadowBrokers' leak. Fireball malware used for ad fraud....

In today's podcast we discuss the ShadowBrokers and their new exploit-of-the-month club, now open for subscription. We get some industry reaction, and it seems unlikely that the ShadowBrokers should be taken at face value. Plus, Webroot's David Dufour give us the dirt on worms.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's podcast, we hear that the ShadowBrokers open their exploit-of-the-month club at the low, low price of $22,000 in Zcash. Group-IB finds more evidence that the Lazarus Group is a North Korean intelligence unit. Extortion, both real and bluffing, grows in underworld popularity, but carders are with us still, alas. President Macron tells President Putin everyone's on to his use of Russia To...

In today's podcast, we hear that British Airways suffered a glitch, not a hack, but whichever it was, it amounted to an infrastructure takedown. Fancy Bears may be snuffling at the Government of Malta. The ShadowBrokers may be cashing out. Google kicks Judy adware out of the PlayStore. Researchers find another Android vulnerability, "Cloak-and-Dagger." Anonymous is working on the Houdini RAT. Mall...

In today's podcast we hear that bogus WannaCry remediation apps are cumbering the PlayStore—don't be taken in. More on the complexities of WannaCry attribution. An EternalRocks worm may have been withdrawn by its authors. Citizen Lab finds evidence that influence operations against targets in almost forty countries are now corrupting data. Vietnam does some cyber snarling at the Philippines over t...

In today's podcast, we hear about a vulnerability in widely used networking software leaves it open to a worm infestation. Were the WannaCry hackers annoying stumblebums, or are there deeper games afoot? Help desk scammers say they'll rid you of ransomware—they won't. Researchers watch "Widia," commodity ransomware that's still an early stage work-in-progress. The Manchester terrorist looks more l...

In today's podcast we hear that the Manchester bombing investigation is looking closely at the bomber's networks, with international cooperation. NSA says it's waging cyber war against ISIS. EnSilo patches ESTEEMAUDIT, one of the vulnerabilities set up for exploitation by EternalBlue. Russian police arrest members of the Cron cyber gang. Ben Read from FireEye describes recently discovered zero-day...

In today's podcast, ISIS claims responsibility for the Manchester concert bombing. Security companies make their case for pinning Wannacry on North Korea. US legislators consider bills to upgrade equipment and permit limited hacking back. Emily Wilson from Terbium Labs considers coming European privacy regulations. Doug Depeppe from the Cyber Resiliency Project describes a community based approach...

In today's podcast, the FBI and CIA are reported to be looking for the source of a compromise that shut down CIA agents in China between 2010 and 2012: hackers or moles, no one knows. Or was it just a tradecraft mismatch? WannaCry has been slowed, at least temporarily. Observers speculate the ransomware may have been a probe. Other uses of EternalBlue exploits look more focused and more discipline...

In today's podcast we learn that crooks are interested in home IoT. Twitter outages aren't just you. Android Marshmallow won't be getting a patch, just a replacement. WannaCry observers focus on North Korea as a possible source. Palo Alto Networks' Rick Howard has research on Shamoon. Joyce Brocaglia from Alta Associates and the Executive Women's Forum shares results from the 2017 Women in Cyber S...

In today's podcast, we hear that Iran's OilRig cyberespionage campaign seems to employing Russian hoods, and BlackEnergy. WannaCry recovery continues, but there may be worse to come. Still talking funny, the ShadowBrokers say you'll be able to subscribe to an Equation Group leak service next month. The US Senate considers putting the Vulnerability Equities Process on a legal foundation. NIST issue...

In today's podcast, we hear that APT3, also known as Gothic Panda, has been fingered as an agent of China's Ministry of State Security. An unreleased Disney flick is held for ransom: Disney doesn’t pay, movies goes up on Pirate Bay. WannaCry may be sloppy but it's still dangerous. OT has a harder time patching against WannaCry than IT does. Dr. Charles Clancy from VA Tech's Hume Center contracts t...

In today's podcast we follow the developing story of the WannaCry pandemic as it continues to unfold, with speculation about attribution focusing on the Lazarus Group. Why malware would have a kill switch. Throwbacks to the worm wars. The risks of unpatched, superannuated, or pirated software. Litigation exposure in the WannaCry affair. David Dufour from Webroot on the basics of exploits and scrip...