Fahmida Y. Rashid writes: A bipartisan group of Senators are interested in establishing a cybersecurity leader for each state in order to increase the states’ abilities to respond to cyberattacks. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), the lead sponsor of the bill, highlighted the wave of ransomware attacks which have crippled cities and government entities in recent…
Category: Of Note
N.Y. Senator Carlucci Introduces Bill That Prohibits Paying Ransom
Security Magazine reports: New York Senator David Carlucci introduced Senate Bill S7289 that would ban the paying of ransom. The bill prohibits municipal corporations or other government entities from paying ransom in the event of a cyber-attack against them. In addition, the bill defines a cyber attack as “a virtual attack against the critical infrastructure, as defined in subdivision five of section eighty-six of…
Microsoft discloses security breach of customer support database
Catalin Cimpanu reports on another leak discovery by Bob Diachenko: Microsoft disclosed today a security breach that took place last month in December 2019. In a blog post today, the OS maker said that an internal customer support database that was storing anonymized user analytics was accidentally exposed online without proper protections between December 5…
Saudi Arabia denies hacking Jeff Bezos’ phone
Jill Petzinger reports that Saudi Arabia has denied a blockbuster claim reported by The Guardian yesterday: The Saudi Arabian embassy in the United States has denied that the kingdom breached the mobile phone of Amazon (AMZN) owner Jeff Bezos, saying that the reports are “absurd” and calling for an investigation. According to an investigation by the…
Brazil Prosecutors Charge U.S. Journalist Glenn Greenwald With Cybercrimes
Jeffrey T. Lewis reports: Brazilian prosecutors on Tuesday charged the American journalist and activist Glenn Greenwald with cybercrimes related to the hacking of Justice Minister Sergio Moro’s cell phone last year, raising concerns about press freedoms in Latin America’s largest democracy. Federal prosecutors say Mr. Greenwald, who co-founded The Intercept news site and lives in…
Hacker leaks passwords for more than 500,000 servers, routers, and IoT devices
Catalin Cimpanu reports: A hacker has published this week a massive list of Telnet credentials for more than 515,000 servers, home routers, and IoT (Internet of Things) “smart” devices. The list, which was published on a popular hacking forum, includes each device’s IP address, along with a username and password for the Telnet service, a remote…