Colonial Pipeline resumes operations after ransomware prompted closure
Colonial Pipeline said it restarted operations on Wednesday afternoon after a five-day outage brought on by a ransomware attack caused gasoline shortages and panic-buying in East Coast states. "Following this restart, it will take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal," the operator of the 5,500-mile pipeline said on its website. Colonial temporarily halted operations on Saturday, after determining that it was the victim of a ransomware attack. READ MORE...
Microsoft: Threat actors target aviation orgs with new malware
Microsoft warns of an ongoing spear-phishing campaign targeting aerospace and travel organizations with multiple remote access trojans (RATs) deployed using a new and stealthy malware loader. "In the past few months, Microsoft has been tracking a dynamic campaign targeting the aerospace and travel sectors with spear-phishing emails that distribute an actively developed loader, which then delivers RevengeRAT or AsyncRAT," Microsoft said. READ MORE...
Green Energy Company Volue Hit by Ransomware
Norway-based green energy solutions provider Volue has been working on restoring systems after being targeted in a ransomware attack. The attack was discovered on May 5, when Volue said some of its operations had been impacted. The company shut down affected applications and started working on restoring systems. It said all data had been backed up in the cloud and backups were not affected by the attack. READ MORE...
Threat spotlight: DarkSide, the ransomware used in the Colonial Pipeline attack
Late last week, the business network systems of Colonial Pipeline, the biggest supplier of fuels on the East Coast of the United States, were compromised due to a ransomware attack, forcing the company to temporarily shut down its operations while investigations are underway. Monday morning, Pacific time, the FBI confirmed that the ransomware culprit is DarkSide, a fairly new strain that started making a name roughly in mid- to late-2020. READ MORE...
Researchers Flag e-Voting Security Flaws
A group of election security experts said after a deep dive into Australia's electronic voting systems that they have "serious problems" with the accuracy, integrity and privacy with elections run by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Electoral Commission. The team of four cybersecurity professionals concluded that the ACT e-voting system errors did not impact any election outcomes, but could potentially sway future vote counts if left uncorrected. READ MORE...
Hashes, Salts, and Rainbow Tables: Confessions of a Password Cracker
If you've ever watched TV and movies about cybersecurity, you probably envision someone sitting in a dark room trying to guess someone else's password based on a few facts like their kids' names or favorite sports team. Even Mr. Robot, renowned for its realistic portrayal of technology, is guilty of showing password cracking this way. While targeted attacks on individuals using personal information and social engineering do happen, they are not the norm. READ MORE...
Apple's 'Find My' Network Exploited via Bluetooth
Apple's "Find My device" function for helping people track their iOS and macOS devices can be exploited to transfer data to and from random passing devices without using the internet, a security researcher has demonstrated. Security researcher Fabian Bräunlein with Positive Security developed a proof of concept, using a microcontroller and a custom MacOS app, that can broadcast data from one device to another via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). READ MORE...
CDC advisory committee recommends COVID vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds
On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended that the CDC approve the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for the 12- to 15-year age group. The decision comes two days after the Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization for the same age group and will help the US further limit the pool of people who can spread infections or foster the evolution of new viral variants. READ MORE...
- ...in 1880, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway in Menlo Park, NJ.
- ...in 1939, the first commercial FM radio station is launched in Bloomfield, CT. It would later become WDRC-FM, currently 102.9 The Whale.
- ...in 1950, singer-songwriter Stevland Hardaway Morris, AKA Stevie Wonder, is born in Saginaw, MI.
- ...in 1964, comedian and TV host Stephen Colbert is born in Washington, D.C.
