At least 8 US companies hit in telecom attack spree, officials say
Salt Typhoon has compromised at least eight telecommunications providers or telecom infrastructure companies in the U.S., though there could be more, Anne Neuberger, deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology, said Wednesday during a media briefing. The campaign to intrude telecom companies, affiliated with China's government, has been underway for between one to two years and has affected a few dozen countries thus far, a senior administration official said. READ MORE...
US recommends encrypted messaging as Chinese hackers linger in telecom networks
A US government security official urged Americans to use encrypted messaging as major telecom companies struggle to evict Chinese hackers from their networks. The attack has been attributed to a Chinese hacking group called Salt Typhoon. There have been reports since early October that Chinese government hackers penetrated the networks of telecoms and may have gained access to systems used for court-authorized wiretaps of communications networks. READ MORE...
Russian FSB Hackers Breach Pakistani APT Storm-0156
Hackers operating on behalf of Russian state intelligence have breached hackers operating out of Pakistan, latching onto their espionage campaigns to steal information from government, military, and defense targets in Afghanistan and India. In December 2022, Secret Blizzard (aka Turla) gained access to a server run by another advanced persistent threat (APT), Storm-0156 (aka Transparent Tribe, SideCopy, APT36). READ MORE...
AI chatbot startup WotNot leaks 346,000 files, including passports and medical records
An Indian AI startup that helps businesses build custom chatbots has leaked almost 350,000 sensitive files after the data was left unsecured on the web. Ahmedabad-headquartered WotNot left a massive collection of sensitive user information - including scans of passport and identity documents, medical records, resumes, travel itineraries and more - unsecured in a misconfigured Google Cloud Storage bucket. READ MORE...
Chemonics International Data Breach Impacts 260,000 Individuals
Chemonics International is notifying over 260,000 individuals that their personal information was compromised in a year-old data breach. Chemonics is an international development company based in Washington, D.C. The organization has projects in dozens of countries around the world, in areas such as economic growth, agriculture and food security, conflict and crisis, democracy and governance, education, and more. READ MORE...
BT Group confirms attackers tried to break into Conferencing division
BT Group confirmed it is dealing with an attempted attack on one of its legacy business units after the Black Basta ransomware group claimed they broke in. Black Basta posted "BT Group" on its data leak site on Wednesday, although it wouldn't be the first time these types of crooks have overhyped an attack. In the small print, and confirmed to The Register in a company statement, the attack actually targeted a smaller business unit of the British telco, BT Conferencing. READ MORE...
New DroidBot Android malware targets 77 banking, crypto apps
A new Android banking malware named 'DroidBot' attempts to steal credentials for over 77 cryptocurrency exchanges and banking apps in the UK, Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal. According to Cleafy researchers who discovered the new Android malware, DroidBot has been active since June 2024 and operates as a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) platform, selling the tool for $3,000/month. READ MORE...
British hospitals hit by cyberattacks still battling to get systems back online
Both National Health Service trusts that oversee the various hospitals hit by separate cyberattacks last week have confirmed they're still in the process of restoring systems. NHS Wirral University Teaching Hospital, which also looks after the nearby Clatterbridge and Arrowe Park hospitals, downgraded its "major incident" to a "business continuity incident" but is still working to bring hospital systems back online. READ MORE...
Veeam Urges Updates After Discovering Critical Vulnerability
Data protection vendor Veeam released an update to address a critical vulnerability affecting the Veeam Service Provider Console (VSPC) that, if exploited, could lead to remote code execution (RCE). Tracked as CVE-2024-42448 with a CVSS score of 9.9, the vulnerability was discovered by Veeam during internal testing. Veeam found another vulnerability in the process, CVE-2024-42449, with a high CVSS score of 7.1. READ MORE...
Bootloader Vulnerability Impacts Over 100 Cisco Switches
Cisco on Wednesday announced patches for a vulnerability in the NX-OS software's bootloader that could allow attackers to bypass image signature verification. Tracked as CVE-2024-20397, the high-impact security defect exists due to insecure bootloader settings that enable an attacker to execute specific commands to bypass the verification process and load unverified software. READ MORE...
- ...in 1890, Austrian-American director Fritz Lang, best known for making the classics "Metropolis" and "M", is born in Vienna.
- ...in 1933, the 21st Amendment to the US Constitution is ratified, overturning the 18th Amendment and ending the nationwide prohibition on alcohol.
- ...in 1969, the original four-node ARPANET network is established. It later becomes the first to use TCP/IP protocols, the basis of our modern Internet.
- ...in 2014, NASA launches the first flight test of the Orion MPCV (Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle), which is currently being used in the unmanned Artemis I mission.
