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IT Security Newsletter - 6/16/2020

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Hacking

'Vendetta' hackers are posing as Taiwan's CDC in data-theft campaign

A mysterious hacking group has been posing as Taiwan's top infection-disease official in an attempt to steal sensitive data from Taiwanese users, researchers said Monday. The hackers sent meticulously written spearphishing emails to a select group of targets, which may have included Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control employees, according to ElevenPaths, the cybersecurity unit of Spanish telecommunications firm Telefónica Group, which uncovered the activity. READ MORE...

Malware

US bank customers targeted in ongoing Qbot campaign

Security researchers at F5 Labs have spotted ongoing attacks using Qbot malware payloads to steal credentials from customers of dozens of US financial institutions. Qbot (also known as Qakbot, Pinkslipbot, and Quakbot) is a banking trojan with worm features [1, 2, 3] used to steal banking credentials and financial data, as well as to log user keystrokes, deploy backdoors, and drop additional malware on compromised machines. READ MORE...


Research shows human rights activists in India were targeted with spyware

Human rights activists in India were targeted by a coordinated spyware campaign from January to October of 2019, according to research published Monday by Amnesty International and the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab. Nine activists in total were targeted, eight of which have been calling for the release of 11 people jailed during protests related to the violent uprising in Bhima Koregaon, India in 2018. READ MORE...

Exploits/Vulnerabilities

'Lamphone' Hack Uses Lightbulb Vibrations to Eavesdrop on Homes

Researchers have discovered a novel way to spy on conversations that are happening in houses from almost a hundred feet away. The hack stems simply from a lightbulb hanging in the home. The hack, dubbed "lamphone," is performed by analyzing the tiny vibrations of a hanging lightbulb, which are caused by nearby sounds. All an attacker would need is a laptop, as well as a telescope and an electro-optical sensor. READ MORE...


Warning issued over hackable security cameras

Around 3.5 million security cameras installed in homes and offices mainly in Asia and Europe have serious vulnerabilities that expose the gadgets' owners to the risk that attackers will spy on them, steal their data or target other devices on the same networks, the United Kingdom's consumer watchdog Which? has warned. Any wireless camera using the CamHi app and sporting a certain type of Unique Identification Number (UID) could be susceptible to a hack. READ MORE...

Science & Culture

A chilling first: Physicists create exotic "fifth form of matter" on board the ISS

Physicists at Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have created a rare quantum state of matter known as a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in space for the first time, according to a recent paper published in the journal Nature. The physicists did so by placing a compact experimental setup the size of a mini-fridge on board the International Space Station (ISS). It's called the Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL), aka "the coolest spot in the universe." READ MORE...

On This Date

  • ...in 1858, Abraham Lincoln delivers his House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois.
  • ...in 1884, Coney Island opens the "Switchback Railway", widely considered the first true roller coaster, designed by inventor LaMarcus Adna Thompson.
  • ...in 1911, IBM is founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, NY.
  • ...in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.