Security News

Cybersecurity agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.S., and the U.K. on Wednesday released a joint advisory in response to widespread exploitation of multiple vulnerabilities in Apache's Log4j software library by nefarious adversaries. "Sophisticated cyber threat actors are actively scanning networks to potentially exploit Log4Shell, CVE-2021-45046, and CVE-2021-45105 in vulnerable systems. These vulnerabilities are likely to be exploited over an extended period."

CISA and the NSA shared guidance on securing cloud-native 5G networks from attacks seeking to compromise information or deny access by taking down cloud infrastructure. The two federal agencies issued these recommendations for service providers and system integrators that build and configure 5G cloud infrastructure, including cloud service providers, core network equipment vendors, and mobile network operators.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Security Agency published today an advisory with details about how the BlackMatter ransomware gang operates.The joint cybersecurity advisory from CISA, the FBI, and the NSA shares the tactics, techniques, and procedures associated with BlackMatter activity that could help organizations protect against the BlackMatter ransomware gang.

In a document released last week, the agency provides mitigations against the risks that come with the use of wildcard certificates. A wildcard digital certificate can be used with multiple subdomains on the same domain, so it can cover multiple servers, while a multi-domain certificate is used for multiple domains on a single IP address.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Security Agency have released guidance for hardening the security of virtual private network solutions. The two agencies created the document to help organizations improve their defenses particularly against attacks from nation-state adversaries, who in the past have exploited bugs in VPN systems to "Steal credentials, remotely execute code, weaken encrypted traffic's cryptography, hijack encrypted traffic sessions, and read sensitive data from the device."

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Security Agency have released guidance for hardening the security of virtual private network solutions.The two agencies created the document to help organizations improve their defenses particularly against attacks from nation-state adversaries, who in the past have exploited bugs in VPN systems to "Steal credentials, remotely execute code, weaken encrypted traffic's cryptography, hijack encrypted traffic sessions, and read sensitive data from the device."

CISA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Security Agency warned today of an increased number of Conti ransomware attacks targeting US organizations. The three US federal agencies urge enterprise IT admins to review their organizations' network security posture and implement the immediate actions outlined in the joint advisory to defend against Conti ransomware.

We knew the basics of this story, but it’s good to have more detail. Here’s me in 2015 about this Juniper hack. Here’s me in 2007 on the NSA backdoor.

America's National Security Agency has published an FAQ about quantum cryptography, saying it does not know "When or even if" a quantum computer will ever exist to "Exploit" public-key cryptography. In the document, titled Quantum Computing and Post-Quantum Cryptography FAQ, the NSA said it "Has to produce requirements today for systems that will be used for many decades in the future." With that in mind, the agency came up with some predictions [PDF] for the near future of quantum computing and their impact on encryption.

The National Security Agency's Inspector General Robert Storch has announced a review of whether the agency illegally conducted cyber-espionage and collected the electronic communications of Fox News opinion-show host Tucker Carlson, who has accused the NSA of trying to capture embarrassing information that might lead to him being taken off the air. The statement emphasized that the NSA is only authorized to target foreign entities, adding, "With limited exceptions, NSA may not target a U.S. citizen without a court order that explicitly authorizes the targeting."