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Data shows 73% are concerned about municipal ransomware threats but only 38% are trained on preventing these attacks. RSA CONFERENCE2020 - San Francisco - Nearly 75% of government employees are concerned about the potential for ransomware attacks against cities across the United States, but only 38% of state and local government workers are trained in ransomware prevention, according to a new report. Source: Dark Reading

  Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran has lost almost $400,000 to cybercriminals after her office recently fell victim to a phishing scam. The incident began last week when Corcoran's bookkeeper received an email regarding an invoice related to a real estate renovation. Corcoran explained why her bookkeeper didn't find the email to be suspicious to PEOPLE, saying: “I lost the $388,700 as a result of a fake email chain sent to my company. It was an...

  Microsoft just announced that it’s bringing its Defender anti-virus software to Android and iOS. Although details about how the app will work are still pretty scarce, it’s expected the software will offer similar functionality to its desktop counterpart. Microsoft Defender – previously called Windows Defender before the release of the Windows 10 November 2019 Update – aims to make devices more secure with real-time protection against viruses, malware and spyware across the web. Source:...

  Cybercriminals behind a recently observed phishing campaign used a clever ruse in the form of a bogus NortonLifelock document to fool victims into installing a remote access tool (RAT) that is typically used for legitimate purposes. The malicious activity has the hallmarks of a seasoned threat actor familiar with evasion techniques and offensive security frameworks that help install the payload. Source: Bleeping Computer

  A Huawei executive and a US Department of Defense official got onstage together Wednesday at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, and the conversation got heated. Katie Arrington, an official in charge of acquisition at the Defense Department, insisted that lawmakers and President Donald Trump had good reason to remove Huawei products from government use. Huawei USA Chief Security Officer Andy Purdy said the decision was the wrong approach. Source: CNET

Cloud services provider Bretagne Télécom was hacked by the threat actors behind the DoppelPaymer Ransomware using an exploit that targeted servers unpatched against the CVE-2019-19781 vulnerability. Bretagne Télécom is a privately held French cloud hosting and enterprise telecommunications company that provides telephony, Internet and networking, hosting, and cloud computing services to roughly 3,000 customers, operating around 10,000 managed servers. Source: Bleeping Computer

Security researchers say that an Android malware strain can now extract and steal one-time passcodes (OTP) generated through Google Authenticator, a mobile app that's used as a two-factor authentication (2FA) layer for many online accounts. Google launched the Authenticator mobile app in 2010. The app works by generating six to eight-digits-long unique codes that users must enter in login forms while trying to access online accounts. Source: ZD Net

A council has admitted its IT service was targeted by hackers, who scrambled files and made a demand for money. Systems at Redcar and Cleveland Council have been down for almost three weeks after the ransomware attack. It said it had been prioritising frontline services and has now built a new server and website, as well as mobilising a temporary call centre. Source: BBC

Clearview AI, the company whose database has amassed over 3 billion photos, has suffered a data breach, it has emerged. The data stolen in the hack included the firm’s entire customer list–which will include multiple law enforcement agencies–along with information such as the number of searches they had made and how many accounts they’d set up. Clearview AI said the huge database of images was not part of the breach. The firm’s attorney, Tor Ekeland,...

It was reported yesterday that French sporting retail giant Decathlon leaked over 123 million records through an improperly secured ElasticSearch server, leaving customer and employee details exposed. The leak was spotted by security researchers Noam Rotem and Ran Locar at VPNmentor on 12th February, Decathlon were notified four days later, the leak was investigated, and the server pulled down shortly after. In light of the data breach affecting the retail firm, which has 44 UK...