Shelby Rose reports on a ransomware incident in Arkansas: A Sherwood telemarketing agency has unexpectedly closed its doors, leaving over 300 employees without jobs a few days before Christmas. In a letter to employees, CEO of The Heritage Company, Sandra Franecke saying their servers were attacked by hackers, who demanded a ransom, which they paid…
Category: Business Sector
Chinese hacker group caught bypassing 2FA
Catalin Cimpanu reports: Security researchers say they found evidence that a Chinese government-linked hacking group has been bypassing two-factor authentication (2FA) in a recent wave of attacks. The attacks have been attributed to a group the cyber-security industry is tracking as APT20, believed to operate on the behest of the Beijing government, Dutch cyber-security firm…
The Hacker Who Took Down a Country
Kit Chellel reports: The attack against Liberia began in October 2016. More than a half-million security cameras around the world tried to connect to a handful of servers used by Lonestar Cell MTN, a local mobile phone operator, and Lonestar’s network was overwhelmed. Internet access for its 1.5 million customers slowed to a crawl, then…
RavnAir flights in Alaska canceled after cyber attack
Anchorage Daily News reports: At least a dozen RavnAir flights in Alaska were canceled Saturday following what the company described as “a malicious cyber attack” on its computer network. The cancelations affected around 260 passengers, said company spokeswoman Debbie Reinwand. The regional carrier, which flies routes across much of Alaska, canceled all flights involving its…
Twitter for Android Security Issue
Kritti Bhalla reports: Microblogging website Twitter, on December 21, admitted that a malicious code was inserted into its mobile-app that may have compromised some user’s information. The privacy breach is said to have taken place worldwide, including India. “We don’t have evidence that malicious code was inserted into the app or that this vulnerability was…
Member of “Turkish Crime Family” who attempted to extort Apple in 2017 gets no prison time
Catalin Cimpanu reports: A 22-year-old man was sentenced today in London for his involvement in an extortion attempt against Apple, during which the suspect and co-conspirators threatened to mass-hack iCloud accounts and factory reset 250 million iPhones and iPads. The man, Kerem Albayrak, was sentenced today to a two-year suspended jail term, 300 hours of…