IT Security Newsletter

IT Security Newsletter - 12/09/2020

Written by Cadre | Wed, Dec 9, 2020

Apple Manufacturer Foxconn Confirms Cyberattack

Foxconn Technology Group confirmed Tuesday that a November cyberattack knocked some of its U.S. operations offline. The incident is reportedly a ransomware attack carried out by a cybergang attempting to extort $34 million from the global manufacturing powerhouse. "We can confirm that an information system in the U.S. that supports some of our operations in the Americas was the focus of a cybersecurity attack on November 29," Foxconn said in a statement on Tuesday. READ MORE...

Ransomware forces hosting provider Netgain to take down data centers

Cloud hosting and IT services provider Netgain was forced to take some of their data centers offline after suffering a ransomware attack in late November. Netgain offers hosting and cloud IT solutions, including managed IT services and desktop-as-a-service environments, to companies in the healthcare and accounting industry. In a series of emails sent to customers and seen by BleepingComputer, Netgain states that they were victims of a ransomware attack on November 24th, 2020. READ MORE...

Norwegian police implicate Fancy Bear in parliament hack, describe 'brute forcing' of email accounts

Norwegian authorities on Tuesday got more specific in their accusation of Russian involvement in an August cyberattack on Norwegian parliament, implicating the same notorious group of suspected Russian military intelligence hackers accused of interfering in the 2016 U.S. election. Fancy Bear or APT28 - a group of hackers linked with Russia's GRU military agency - was likely behind the breach, which resulted in the theft of "sensitive content" from some Norwegian lawmakers' email accounts. READ MORE...

Microsoft issues guidance for DNS cache poisoning vulnerability

Microsoft issued guidance on how to mitigate a DNS cache poisoning vulnerability reported by security researchers from the University of California and Tsinghua University. Successfully exploiting the vulnerability could allow attackers to use modified DNS records to redirect a target to a malicious website under their control as part of DNS spoofing (also known as DNS cache poisoning) attacks. The end goal of such attacks is to either exploit device or software vulnerabilities to infect the target with malware. READ MORE...

Global Cybercrime Losses Cross $1 Trillion Mark

Security industry estimates of global cybercrime losses tend to vary quite widely, and sometimes the projections can be startling in terms of magnitude. But the data still helps lend some broad perspective to the mushrooming nature of cybercrime. Such is the case with the latest cybercrime loss estimates from McAfee. According to the company, a study it conducted along with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) shows cybercrime cost the world economy in excess of $1 trillion. READ MORE...

Scammers spoof Target's gift card balance checking page

It's the giving season, and cybercriminals are more actively looking to steal gift cards. One of the most popular brands in their sight is giant retailer Target. A trick that crooks are currently pulling is to lure victims to fake sites that check the balance on the gift card. Retail and gaming brands are at the top of scammers' list of preferences these days as gift card sales register a sharp growth. READ MORE...

SAP Releases Four 'Hot News' Notes on December 2020 Patch Day

SAP this week released eleven security notes as part of its December 2020 Security Patch Day, including four that were rated 'hot news.' There were also two updates to previously released notes. Featuring a CVSS score of 10, the most important of the notes addresses a missing authentication check vulnerability (CVE-2020-26829) in SAP NetWeaver AS JAVA (P2P Cluster Communication). Identified by security researchers at Onapsis, a firm that specializes in securing Oracle and SAP applications. READ MORE...

Vulnerable TCP/IP stacks open millions of IoT and OT devices to attack

Forescout researchers have discovered 33 vulnerabilities affecting four open source TCP/IP (communications) stacks used in millions of connected devices worldwide. Collectively dubbed Amnesia:33 because they primarily cause memory corruption, these vulnerabilities may allow attackers to remotely compromise devices, execute malicious code, perform denial-of-service attacks, steal sensitive information or inject malicious DNS records to point a device to an attacker-controlled domain. READ MORE...

Bug could expose patient data from GE medical imaging devices, researchers warn

Security researchers have discovered a software vulnerability that could allow an attacker to steal sensitive patient data from X-ray and MRI machines, or more than 100 models of General Electric medical devices. While there is no evidence that hackers have exploited the vulnerability for their own gain, the flaw points to the recurring issue of health care devices sending patient information over insecure channels. READ MORE...

  • ...in 1883, physical trainer Joseph Pilates, creator of the exercise methods bearing his name, is born in Monchengladbach, Germany.
  • ...in 1906, computer science pioneer and US Navy Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, the inventor of the first machine-independent program compiler, is born in New York City.
  • ...in 1953, actor and producer John Malkovich ("Dangerous Liasons", "Burn After Reading") is born in Christopher, IL.
  • ...in 1960, the first episode of "Coronation Street", the world's longest-running television soap opera, is broadcast by the British ITV network.