Via LLRX – Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health/medical, to name but a few. On a weekly basis, MEdia Dragon, Pete Weiss, highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways our privacy and security is challenged and diminished, often without our situational awareness.
Ars
Technica February
22, 2018
The Stuxnet
worm that targeted Iran's nuclear program almost a decade ago was a watershed
piece of malware for a variety of reasons. Chief among them, its use of
cryptographic certificates belonging to legitimate companies to falsely vouch
for the trustworthiness of the malware. Last year, we learned that fraudulently
signed malware was more widespread than previously believed. On Thursday,
researchers unveiled one possible reason: underground services that since 2011
have sold counterfeit signing credentials that are unique to each buyer. In
many cases, the certificates are required to install software on Windows and
macOS computers, while in others, they prevent the OSes from displaying
warnings that the software comes from an untrusted developer. The certificates
also increase the chances that antivirus programs won't flag previously unseen
files as malicious. A report published by threat intelligence provider Recorded
Future said that starting last year, researchers saw a sudden increase in
fraudulent certificates issued by browser- and operating system-trusted
providers that were being used to sign malicious wares. The spike drove
Recorded Future researchers to investigate the cause. What they found was
surprising.
*Last week, “On February 20, 2018 the Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to approve a statement and interpretive guidance to assist public companies in preparing disclosures about cybersecurity risks and incidents.
*Last week, “On February 20, 2018 the Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to approve a statement and interpretive guidance to assist public companies in preparing disclosures about cybersecurity risks and incidents.
Nextgov
The growing
internet of things and increasingly sophisticated malware are putting global
organizations at a greater risk for cyberattacks, but leaders aren’t doing
enough to bolster their groups’ security, according to a pair of reports.
Researchers at Raytheon and the Ponemon Institute found more than 80 percent of
cybersecurity and IT experts predict unsecured internet of things devices will
cause a potentially “catastrophic” data breach at their organizations within
the next three years. Two-thirds of respondents also expect to see an increase
in ransomware attacks between now and 2021, and 60 percent said nation-state
attacks will intensify during that period and potentially lead to a cyber war.
The study was conducted in late 2017 and included perspectives from more than
1,100 senior IT specialists from the U.S., Europe, Middle East and North
Africa.
Ars
Technica
February
20, 2018
Add Tesla
to the legion of organizations that have been infected by cryptocurrency-mining
malware. In a report published Tuesday, researchers at security firm RedLock said
hackers accessed one of Tesla's Amazon cloud accounts and used it to run
currency-mining software. The researchers said the breach in many ways
resembled compromises suffered by Gemalto, the world's biggest SIM card maker,
and multinational insurance company Aviva. In October, RedLock said Amazon and
Microsoft cloud accounts for both companies were breached to run
currency-mining malware after hackers found access credentials that weren't
properly secured. The initial point of entry for the Tesla cloud breach,
Tuesday's report said, was an unsecured administrative console for Kubernetes,
an open source package used by companies to deploy and manage large numbers of
cloud-based applications and resources.
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