John Leyden reports: A newly discovered group of cyber-spies are closely targeting high profile US targets, possibly including both the White House and the State Department. The so-called CozyDuke hackers make extensive use of spear-phishing, sometimes using emails containing a link to a hacked (otherwise legitimate) websites such as “diplomacy.pl”. Read more on The Register.
Category: Malware
The Bad News For Infosec In The Target Settlement: OpEd
Giora Engel of LightCyber writes: The legal argument behind the $10 million Class Action lawsuit and subsequent settlement is a gross misrepresentation of how attackers operate. Central to the recent Target data breach lawsuit settlement was the idea that cyber attacks are mechanistic and follow a prescribed course or chain of events. The judge hearing the case…
OS X Yosemite still open to Rootpipe backdoor, warns ex-NSA bod
Shaun Nichols reports: Apple’s attempt to fix a serious security weakness in OS X has fallen short, leaving users still vulnerable to malware hijacking their Macs, it is claimed. Patrick Wardle, director of research at Synack, reckons Cupertino has not been able to kill off the so-called “Rootpipe” backdoor that was supposed to be eradicated…
Former member of SwaggSec sentenced to 3 years in prison for attacks on DirecTV, Farmers Insurance, and L.A. Dept. of Public Works
Nancy Dillon reports that a 32-year old hacker who used the online names of “fame” and “infam0us” and was part of SwaggSec has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for his role in attacking DirecTV, Farmers Insurance and the Los Angeles Department of Public Works: Mario Patrick Chuisano was sentenced in U.S. District Court in…
MA: Salisbury Fire Department’s computers crippled by possible ransomware attack
AngelaJean Chiaramida reports: A nasty computer virus that had some of the hallmarks of a “ransomware” attack hobbled the Salisbury Fire Department recently, destroying computer files and temporarily forcing staffers to resort to pen and paper. […] The Salisbury Fire Department’s problem began about two weeks ago, when Souliotis’ desk computer started acting strangely when…
Lawyer: Malware located on drive provided by police department in discovery
Bill Bowden reports: A lawyer representing three Fort Smith police officers in a whistleblower case said Monday that someone tried to hack into his computer by giving him an external hard drive contaminated with malicious software. Matthew Campbell of the Pinnacle Law Firm in North Little Rock has been representing three current and former Fort…