IT Security Newsletter

IT Security Newsletter - 7/23/2021

Written by Cadre | Fri, Jul 23, 2021

No cyberattack in sprawling internet outage, Akamai says

A global internet outage on Thursday downed tens of thousands of websites, including those of giant corporations like McDonald's and Delta Airlines, according to companies that track web statistics. But the company at the center of it says the downtime was not the result of a hack, data breach or other kind of malicious attack. Internet infrastructure company Akamai said it has fixed the issue that it began investigating shortly after noon EST. READ MORE...

Ransomware gang breached CNA's network via fake browser update

Leading US insurance company CNA Financial has provided a glimpse into how Phoenix CryptoLocker operators breached its network, stole data, and deployed ransomware payloads in a ransomware attack that hit its network in March 2021. Two months ago, on May 13, CNA said it began operating "in a fully restored state" after restoring the systems impacted in the attack. READ MORE...

Kaseya Obtains Universal Decryptor for REvil Ransomware

Kaseya has obtained a master decryptor key for the REvil ransomware that locked up the systems of at least 60 of its customers in a spate of worldwide cyberattacks on July 2. The attacks, which exploited now-patched zero-days in the Kaseya Virtual System/Server Administrator (VSA) platform, affected Kaseya customers in 22 countries using the on-premises version of the platform - many of which are managed service providers (MSPs) who use VSA to manage the networks of other businesses. READ MORE...

Never mind the trolls, Discord hosts 'significant volumes of malware' in its CDN

Sophos on Thursday warned that internet instant-chat service Discord is becoming an increasingly popular malware distribution channel. In a blog post, security sleuths Sean Gallagher and Andrew Brandt said four per cent of all TLS-protected malware - representing about 46 per cent of all malware command-and-control communication - interacts with Discord. "Sophos products detected and blocked, just in the past two months, nearly 140 times the number of detections over the same period in 2020," they said. READ MORE...

Scary 'malware-as-a-service' Mac attack discovered

Another day, and it's time for another Apple security scare: malware that can harvest keystrokes and log-ins and is available on the Darknet for only $49. Check Point Software's research team claims to have identified the hack, which it is calling XLoader. Enterprise security specialists managing Macs and Apple devices need to be aware of the new attack, as we're told it can harvest logins from browsers, collect screen shots, log keystrokes, and download and execute malicious files. READ MORE...

  • ...in 1903, Ford Motor Company sells its very first automobile.
  • ...in 1961, actor Woody Harrelson ("Cheers", "The Messenger") is born in Midland, TX.
  • ...in 1962, the communications satellite Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program. featuring Walter Cronkite.
  • ...in 1976, chess player Judit Polgar, who became a Grandmaster at age 15 and was the game's #1 rated woman player for over 25 years, is born in Budapest, Hungary.