Top 10 Stories

A report by the Privacy Commissioner found the electoral office failed to take adequate steps to protect the personal data of Hong Kong’s 3.78 million voters stored in one of two laptop computers that were stolen during the chief executive election in March. The report, released on Monday, accused the Registration and Electoral Office of lacking “the requisite awareness and vigilance expected of it in protecting personal data”. The commissioner ruled the office had broken the data...

The ransomware encrypts the Android device’s files and then displays a ransom message imitating the notorious WannaCry malware. Hackers have begun distributing Android ransomware disguised as copies of the popular multiplayer online battle game King of Glory, which has millions of users, security researchers have warned. The malware has prompted “emergency” warnings to be posted on gaming forums and websites in China, security firm Sophos said in an advisory. “This ransomware was spread via internet gaming...

Nayana, a web hosting company in South Korea, suffered a ransomware attack over the weekend which resulted in more than a hundred Linux servers and thousands of websites being infected with Erebus ransomware. The initial ransom amount was astronomically high. Yesterday, I came across the news that a South Korean web hosting company had been infected by ransomware, but it was extremely short on details. The ransomware was Erebus; the attack occurred on Saturday and thousands of sites were...

Two cyber security companies said they have uncovered a sophisticated piece of malicious software capable of causing power outages by ordering industrial computers to shut down electricity transmission. Analysis of the malware, known as Crash Override or Industroyer, indicates it was likely used in a December 2016 cyber attack that cut power in Ukraine, according to the firms, Slovakian security software maker ESET and U.S. critical-infrastructure security firm Dragos. The discovery may stoke fears about...

Hackers may be able to use Intel's Active Management Technology (AMT) to bypass Windows' built-in firewall rendering it completely useless in detection of malware and ransomware. AMT allows remote access to networks or computers enabling administrators to easily install programs like an operating system on a remote computer. A hacking group known as PLATINUM has reportedly figured how to use AMT's low-level firmware for injecting potential malware into Windows systems. View Full Story ORIGINAL SOURCE: IB...

The words "Linux" and "malware" don’t tend to belong in the same sentence, but a new strain called Linux.MulDrop.14 is infecting Raspberry Pi devices. Infected machines are used to mine cryptocurrency for the malware's author, and it take advantage of poor security to generate money from nothing. The good news is that the malware is fairly simple, and its spread is dependent on the laziness of Pi owners. Linux.MulDrop.14 works by scanning the internet for...

You think you're safe from malware since you never click suspicious-looking links, then somebody finds a way to infect your PC anyway. Security researchers have discovered that cybercriminals have recently started using a malware downloader that installs a banking Trojan to your computer even if you don't click anything. All it takes to trigger the download is to hover your mouse pointer over a hyperlink in a carrier PowerPoint file. According to researchers from Trend Micro and Dodge This Security the...

The US army has reportedly successfully used cyberweapons and electronic warfare (EW) to repulse a simulated tank attack during a training exercise. The cyberweapons used during the exercise, which took place at the Army National Training Centre in California, reportedly targeted radio and wireless communications systems of tankers. Soldiers reportedly used specific cyber tools to jam the tank's communication signals and hack into networks to disable attacks and/or manipulate communications to deliver false information to the enemy. The exercise included the intrusion of...

Security researchers have finally got their hands on samples of two new strains of Mac malware that have been offered through Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) portals on the Dark Web for almost two weeks now. Both portals were launched on May 25 and were discovered by your reporter during a routine scan of the Dark Web. The first site is named MacSpy and peddles Mac spyware, while the second is named MacRansom, and is renting ransomware in...

The compromise of a highly classified report by an NSA contractor is serious enough, but the poor security measures were worse The recent disclosure of a document leak from the National Security Agency that contains details about the Russian hacking attempt on a vendor of voter registration software has the making of a spy thriller, even including a perpetrator with a name that might be right out of a James Bond spy thriller. View Full...