Security News
The French national cyber-security agency has linked a series of attacks that resulted in the breach of multiple French IT providers over a span of four years to the Russian-backed Sandworm hacking group. According to the French cyber-security agency, the campaign shows several similarities to behavior observed while analyzing previous Sandworm attacks, including intrusion campaigns before choosing one of the victims for further compromise.
Two French citizens and a Moroccan went on trial in Paris on Monday charged with planning attacks after their cyber network was successfully infiltrated by a French intelligence agent posing as a jihadist. The agent from France's DGSI domestic intelligence service, using the codename Ulysse, had infiltrated communication networks of Islamic State group jihadists in a ruse that led to the arrest of the three.
France's CNIL data privacy watchdog slapped 135 million euros in fines on US tech titans Google and Amazon for placing advertising cookies on users' computers without consent. The 100-million-euro fine against Google is the largest sanction the regulator has ever imposed, which it justified by the fact 90 percent of French internet users use the firm's search engine.
Cybersecurity agencies across Asia and Europe have issued multiple security alerts regarding the resurgence of email-based Emotet malware attacks targeting businesses in France, Japan, and New Zealand. "The emails contain malicious attachments or links that the receiver is encouraged to download," New Zealand's Computer Emergency Response Team said.
French President Emmanuel Macron says France is not excluding Chinese telecom giant Huawei from its upcoming 5G telecommunication networks but favors European providers for security reasons. France's information security agency ANSSI said last month that Huawei Technologies Ltd. will not be banned from France, but French telecoms operators that buy its technology will only be able to get licenses limited to eight years.
China urged France Monday to guarantee a "Fair and just" environment for its companies after Paris decided to restrict licenses for telecom operators using 5G technology from Huawei. The United States and Australia have banned Huawei from their 5G networks and the Financial Times reported Monday that Britain could decide this month to phase out the company's equipment from its system.
China's Huawei is not totally banned from France's next-generation 5G wireless market, but French operators using them will only get limited licences, the head of the national cybersecurity agency told Les Echos newspaper Sunday. The comments were the latest development in the controversy over Huawei's involvement, after several Western nations barred the company from participation in their 5G networks over security fears.
French prosecutors said on Friday that police had broken up an international network aimed at the so-called "Jackpotting" of ATMs that makes the machines eject all the cash they have inside. Jackpotting has become a known criminal scourge across the world in recent years.
It discloses the name Maximator and provides documentary evidence. The five members of this European alliance are Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and France.
The United States pressed France on Wednesday to take "Strong security measures" against potential breaches from 5G services provided by Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei, saying failure to do so could imperil intelligence exchanges. The United States did not ask France for a Huawei ban, he said, but for strong protections against potential "Malicious intrusions" from software and firmware updates of any systems provided by the company.