News

Multiple supercomputers across Europe have been infected this week with cryptocurrency mining malware and have shut down to investigate the intrusions. Security incidents have been reported in the UK, Germany, and Switzerland, while a similar intrusion is rumored to have also happened at a high-performance computing center located in Spain. The first report of an attack came to light on Monday from the University of Edinburgh, which runs the ARCHER supercomputer. The organization reported "security...

Multiple actors in the ransomware business saw the new coronavirus pandemic as the perfect opportunity to focus on an already overburdened healthcare sector. ProLock is yet another threat to the list. The FBI‌ issued a flash alert at the beginning of the month to alert organizations of the new threat actor, saying that its targets in the US include entities in the following sectors: healthcare, government, financial, and retail. The FBI does not encourage giving...

Australian transport giant Toll Group has revealed the extent of data theft it has suffered after its second bout of ransomware this year, following a January infection. "Our ongoing investigations have established that the attacker has accessed at least one specific corporate server. This server contains information relating to some past and present Toll employees, and details of commercial agreements with some of our current and former enterprise customers," the company said on Tuesday. "The...

 The Romanian law enforcement authorities arrested four cybercriminals that were planning to launch ransomware attacks on health care organizations in Romania. Three hackers were arrested in Romania and the fourth one was arrested in the Republic of Moldova. The hackers were charged for committing crimes of illegal operations with computer devices and programs, illegal access to a computer system, alteration of computer data integrity, and computer forgery. According to the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized...

The new Microsoft Edge browser is based on Chromium, the same engine that powers Google Chrome, so it’s capable of running any extension published in the Chrome Web Store. But at the same time, Microsoft also maintains its own add-on stores where the company says it’s only publishing recommended extensions that have been previously verified and validated for its browser. Only that just like it happens in the case of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox,...

Computer science is facing a crisis. To tackle the sector-wide skills gap Schaffhausen Institute of Technology (SIT) has created its new Master of Science (MSc) in Computer Science and Software Engineering to better prepare graduates for leadership. Launching in September 2020, the newly developed program is available for students with bachelor’s in computer science or software engineering who have ambitions to become the next generation of technical leaders. The Computer Science and Software Engineering MSc...

Elexon, a crucial middleman in the UK power grid network, reported that it fell victim to a cyber-attack earlier today. In a short message posted on its website, the company said the incident only impacted its internal IT network and employee laptops. The company's email server was also impacted and had been taken down, cutting employees off from crucial communications. Systems that managed the UK's electricity transit were unaffected, according to Elexon. In a subsequent...

Details of Pakistani mobile subscribers have surfaced online after a hacker tried to sell the package for 300 bitcoins equivalent to $2.1 million. The data leak exposed personally identifiable information (PII) for 115 million subscribers. The exposure took place in two subsequent breaches that exposed the details of 44 million and 55 million subscribers, respectively. None of the affected mobile service providers has acknowledged any data breach on their servers. There is an ongoing investigation...

BEC gangs like “Exaggerated Lion” are using tricky tactics – like exploiting G Suite – to scam companies out of millions. Business email compromise (BEC) attacks continue to be a thorn in companies’ sides, with the FBI in its IC3 annual cybercrime report saying that the attacks cost victims $1.7 billion in 2019. Making matters worse, BEC cybergangs are turning to new tactics and tricks to avoid detection and capitalize on existing victims. For instance,...

Security researchers from Kaspersky have identified a new version of the COMpfun malware that controls infected hosts using a mechanism that relies on HTTP status codes. The malware has been first spotted last year, in November, and has been deployed in attacks against diplomatic entities across Europe. Responsible for the attacks is a group known as Turla, a state-sponsored Russian threat actor that has historically engaged in cyber-espionage operations.  Turla has a long history of...