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  On April 1st, 2020, Berkine became a victim of cyber-attack by the notorious Maze ransomware group that is known for its unique blackmailing practices. The attackers managed to steal the entire database containing over 500MB of confidential documents related to budgets, organizational strategies, production quantities, and similar sensitive data. The Maze ransomware group leaked the database containing information about the Sonatrach oil firm. Source: Hackread

  The FBI is cracking down on the practice of Zoom bombing, saying the hijacking of web conferences can be punishable by jail time. As reports of “Zoom bombing” explode, the FBI is cracking down on the issue with a new warning that web conference hijackers could face jail time. Authorities say that anyone who hacks into a teleconference meeting can be charged at the state and federal level. Charges can include the disruption of...

  Facebook has launched a set of tools that use anonymised location data collected from users in a bid to help researchers better understand where the coronavirus outbreak could spread next and the effectiveness of social distancing measures. The new tools, collectively called Disease Prevention Maps, are three separate aggregated datasets that provide information on how people move and interact with each other. Source: ZD Net

The data of more than 600,000 Email.it users is currently being sold on the dark web, ZDNet has learned following a tip from one of our readers. "Unfortunately, we must confirm that we have suffered a hacker attack," the Italian email service provider said in a statement to ZDNet on Monday. Source: ZD Net

Microsoft published this week details about a new project the company has been working for the Linux kernel. Named Integrity Policy Enforcement -- or IPE -- the project is a Linux security module (LSM). LSMs are optional add-ons for the Linux kernel that enable additional security features. According to a documentation page published on Monday, IPE is Microsoft's attempt to solve the code integrity problem for Linux -- an operating system the company broadly uses...

Citizen Lab, a research group within the University of Toronto, has been able to drive a proverbial truck through the encryption used by video conferencing app Zoom. In a report where the group said the video platform was not suitable for sharing secrets nor government or business use, Citizen Lab found Zoom has been rolling its own encryption scheme as part of a custom extension to the real-time transport protocol. Further, instead of using AES-256...

    Researchers at vpnMentor have shared news about a recent data leak which exposed 425 GB in sensitive financial documents. The research team, led by Noam Rotem, uncovered an open database on an app developed by Advantage Capital Funding and Argus Capital Funding. The app, which is now no longer available for download, stored data on an AWS S3 bucket database which apparently did not employ any form of encryptions, authentication, or access credentials....

  Birth certificates being sent to strangers and missing marriage certificates were among almost 400 data breaches reported at the Department of Social Protection last year. The 371 data breaches represent an increase of more than 60 percent compared with the previous year, when 226 incidents were logged, according to records obtained under freedom of information rules. In one case discovered at the department headquarters, three birth certificates and a marriage certificate were sent to...

The Interpol has warned of a significant increase in the number of attempted ransomware attacks against hospitals and other healthcare institutions on the front lines of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. At this point, the ransomware appears to be spreading primarily via emails – often falsely claiming to contain information or advice regarding the coronavirus from a government agency, which encourages the recipient to click on an infected link or attachment. Source: Computer Weekly

Foreign state-sponsored hackers have launched a massive hacking operation aimed at Chinese government agencies and their employees. Attacks began last month, in March, and are believed to be related to the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Chinese security-firm Qihoo 360, which detected the intrusions, said the hackers used a zero-day vulnerability in Sangfor SSL VPN servers, used to provide remote access to enterprise and government networks. Source: ZD Net