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The Maze ransomware group has published personal and medical details of thousands of former patients of a London-based medical research company after a failed attempt to disable the firm's computer systems. Cyber gangsters have attacked the computer systems of a medical research company on standby to carry out trials of a possible future vaccine for the Coronavirus, Covid-19. Source: Computer Weekly

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a chatbot on WhatsApp to provide information on the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic sweeping the planet. To interact with it, users will need to message the WHO account on +41 79 475 22 09 and send the word 'Hi' to begin chatting, after which, a list of prompts is returned to the user to access official information about the virus. Source: ZD Net

Bitcoin and crypto-related ransomware attacks hit a record high in the United Kingdom last year. According to a report by Bitcoinist and records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), UK authorities received 562 reports from victims of devices that were hijacked by crypto-related ransomware. Source: CryptoGlobe

The notorious Maze ransomware gang announced Wednesday that it will not attack any healthcare organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has put a strain hospitals and public health agencies in recent weeks as governments across the globe struggle to contain the spread of COVID-19, also known as the new coronavirus. Some security vendors have expressed concern that coronavirus-related threats could soon include ransomware attacks, which would have a crippling effect on healthcare and government...

  An ongoing phishing campaign delivering emails posing as official messages from the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) is actively spreading HawkEye malware payloads onto the devices of unsuspecting victims. This spam campaign started today according to researchers at IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence who spotted it and it has already delivered several waves of spam emails attempting to pass as being delivered by WHO. Source: Bleeping Computer

Google has developed a tool for Linux machines that combats USB keystroke injection attacks by flagging suspicious keystroke speeds and blocking devices classified as malicious. Keystroke injection attacks can execute malicious commands via a thumb drive connected to a host machine, by running code that mimics keystrokes entered by a human user. Source: Daily Swig

For the past year, one of Russia's top state-sponsored hacking units has spent its time scanning and probing the internet for vulnerable email servers, according to a report published yesterday by cyber-security firm Trend Micro. The report deals with the activities of APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, Sednit, and Pawn Storm. Source: ZD Net

  Security experts recommend using a complex, random and unique password for every online account, but remembering them all would be a challenging task. That’s where password managers come in handy. Encrypted vaults are accessed by a single master password or PIN, and they store and autofill credentials for the user. However, researchers at the University of York have shown that some commercial password managers (depending on the version) may not be a watertight way...

  Privacy advocates advise caution when tracking the movements of patients or those infected with the new coronavirus, as an effort to minimize the pandemic’s effect. Authorities in the United States and Israel are eyeing ways to use mobile-phone and other location-based data to help control the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19, raising serious privacy concerns about the practice of using and sharing people’s personal data during the time of a global health crisis....

  France's cyber-security agency issued an alert this week warning about a new ransomware gang that's been recently seen targeting the networks of local government authorities. The alert, issued by France's CERT team, points to a rising number of attacks carried out with a new version of the Mespinoza ransomware strain, also known as the Pysa ransomware. Source: ZD Net