Top 10 Stories

Russian media outlets report that laws mandating encryption backdoors have been tabled in the Duma. If accurate, you could expect an exodus of US services from the country. This Russian-language report, once the Vulture South hack was able to untangle translations like “proposed a fine messenger”, sets down the basics: those providing messaging applications like WhatsApp and Telegram would face fines if they can't provide users' messages to the FSB.   Original Source: The Register...

The Chinese government appears to be abiding by its September pledge to stop supporting the hacking of American trade secrets to help companies there compete, private U.S. security executives and government advisors said on Monday. FireEye Inc, the U.S. network security company best known for fighting sophisticated Chinese hacking, said in a report released late Monday that breaches attributed to China-based groups had plunged by 90 percent in the past two years. The most dramatic...

Controversial agriculture and biotech giant Monsanto has filed a lawsuit against former employee Jiunn-Ren Chen, accusing him of stealing 52 files from its computer systems. Chen, who worked as a programmer for Monsanto, is said to have accessed sensitive information nine days after he told the firm that he was resigning, reports Jacob Bunge at the WSJ.   Original Source: Graham Cluley's Blog View the full story here.

Microsoft has unveiled details of its “Project Bletchley” service that will use blockchain to ensure that transaction history remain impervious to forgery. Blockchain is the technology that underpins Bitcoin transactions, beloved of ransomware criminals. In this instance, the technology can be used to protect the fidelity of any type of transaction. This is potentially of interest to organisations involved in banking and other financial institutions. Original Source: SC Magazine UK View the full story here.

Islamic State (Isis) has set its sights on US air force bases in South Korea, according to the country's intelligence agency. The extremist group's hacking arm, the United Cyber Caliphate, has collected information on 77 US and Nato air bases across the globe, including South Korea and is calling for its supporters to attack them. South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said the Isis is using Telegram – the encrypted messaging service – to release...

Blizzard was experiencing issues with Battle.net last week, and despite having resolved the problem, it’s reared its head again today. As well as difficulties with logging in, Overwatch players are being disconnected from matches, leading to a general concern on Twitter that they’ll be penalised in line withBlizzard’s crackdown on rage quitters. While there’s been no mention of a DDOS attack, it appears that Lizard Squad may be responsible, going by this tweet from a...

The chief executive of TalkTalk received 2.8 million pounds ($4.1 million) in pay and share bonuses for the last 12 months, despite the telecoms company suffering a cyber attack in October that put the data of thousands of customers at risk. Dido Harding, who received 550,000 pounds in base pay, said she would donate her 220,000 pound annual cash bonus to charity following the hack on its business. "Throughout the cyber attack, we worked hard...

The payroll service for about 31,000 civil servants, which has been the subject of multiple complaints and at least two inadvertent data breaches, is being audited by the Data Protection Commissioner. PeoplePoint, part of the Government’s National Shared Services Office (NSSO), was established in 2013 and handles payroll and leave requests from civil servants.   Original Source: Irish Times View the full story here.

The FBI is warning that businesses have handed some US$3.1 billion to email scammers, a whopping 1,300 percent increase in 18 months. Businesses are tricked into sending the cash to would-be chief executive officers who have sufficient company information, obtained through open source searching or hacking, that makes the requests for money appear legitimate. Some 14,032 victims in the US have hemorrhage US$961 million, thanks business email compromise scams. The agency counts only 1,636 victims...

A security researcher has uncovered a serious vulnerability that affects every version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system from Windows 95 to Windows 10. The vulnerability could give attackers a way to set up man-in-the-middle attacks against victims by getting them to click on a link, open a Microsoft Office document or plug in a USB drive. View full story ORIGINAL SOURCE: Naked Security