A Colonial Pipeline facility outside Birmingham, Alabama (Photo: Flickr)

Colonial Pipeline Confirms Ransomware Causing Disruptions

Scott Ferguson • May 8, 2021

Colonial Pipeline, which oversees more than 5,500 miles of pipeline that supplies fuel throughout the U.S. East Coast, confirmed Saturday that a ransomware attack has disrupted its services, and the company has taken some of its IT systems offline as a precaution.

Critical Infrastructure Security

Fighting Ransomware: A Call for Cryptocurrency Regulation

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Critical Infrastructure Security

US and UK Issue Joint Alert on Russian Cyber Activity

Doug Olenick • May 8, 2021

U.S. and U.K. cyber, law enforcement and intelligence agencies issued a joint advisory Friday offering detailed information on how to defend against the activities of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR, in the wake of the 2020 SolarWinds attacks.

Cybercrime

Malspam Campaign Uses Hancitor to Download Cuba Ransomware

Akshaya Asokan • May 8, 2021

Attackers have co-opted the Hancitor malware downloader and recently used it to deliver Cuba ransomware as part of an email spam campaign for data exfiltration and ransom extortion, a new report by security firm Group-IB finds.

Endpoint Security

How Patched Android Chip Flaw Could Have Enabled Spying

Prajeet Nair • May 7, 2021

A severe vulnerability in a system on certain Qualcomm chips, which has been patched, potentially could have enabled attackers to remotely control Android smartphones, access users' text messages and listen in on conversations, according to a new report from Check Point Software Technologies.

Cryptocurrency Fraud

'Panda Stealer' Targets Cryptocurrency Wallets

Prajeet Nair • May 7, 2021

Researchers at Trend Micro have uncovered a new cryptocurrency stealer variant that uses a fileless approach in its global spam email distribution campaign to evade detection.

Cryptocurrency Fraud

ISMG Editors Discuss Cryptocurrency Regulations and More

Anna Delaney • May 7, 2021

Four editors at Information Security Media Group discuss timely cybersecurity issues, including a call for cryptocurrency regulation and the impact of hospital ransomware attacks.

DDoS Protection

DNS Flaw Can Be Exploited for DDoS Attacks

Akshaya Asokan • May 7, 2021

Security researchers have uncovered a flaw dubbed TsuNAME in DNS resolver software that attackers could used to carry out distributed denial-of-service attacks against authoritative DNS servers. Google and Cisco have resolved the issue in their DNS servers.

Application Security

Can Evidence Collected by Cellebrite's Tools Be Trusted?

Anna Delaney • May 7, 2021

The latest edition of the ISMG Security Report features an analysis of whether courts can trust evidence collected by Cellebrite's mobile device forensic tools. Also featured: Report shows attackers' dwell times plummeting; a call for partnership with law enforcement.

Endpoint Security

Intel, AMD Dispute Findings on Chip Vulnerabilities

Doug Olenick • May 6, 2021

Intel and AMD are disputing the findings of researchers from two universities who say they've discovered new attacks on Intel and AMD processors that can bypass most of the defenses put in place earlier for similar "Spectre" and "Meltdown" attacks.

Governance & Risk Management

Exim Patches 21 Flaws in Message Transfer Agent

Akshaya Asokan • May 6, 2021

Exim, one of the most-used message transfer agents, has issued patches for 21 flaws that could put thousands of users at risk of attacks, researchers at security firm Qualys say.

Cloud Security

Take Control of Encryption in Azure Cloud with Double Key Encryption

Information Security Media Group • May 5, 2021

Governance & Risk Management

PHP Composer Flaw That Could Affect Millions of Sites Patched

Prajeet Nair • May 5, 2021

A patch has been issued for a serious vulnerability that affects PHP Composer - a tool used to manage and install software dependencies in the PHP ecosystem. Security researchers at SonarSource say the flaw could put millions of websites at risk.

DDoS Protection

DDoS Attack Knocks Belgian Websites Offline

Doug Olenick • May 5, 2021

The websites of about 200 public and private entities in Belgium were knocked fully or partially offline Tuesday by a distributed denial-of-service attack against the publicly funded internet service provider Belnet.