Security News
Abu Dhabi and the UAE are working to pioneer breakthroughs in post-quantum cryptography and neuromorphic computing through an international partnership between Technology Innovation Institute's Cryptography Research Centre and Yale University, an Ivy League research university in Connecticut, United States. Speaking on the partnership, Dr Najwa Aaraj, Chief Researcher at Cryptography Research Centre, said: "We are excited to work with peers from Yale University in carrying out groundbreaking research in these two vital fields. At the Cryptography Research Centre, we are creating a knowledge-driven ecosystem powered by like-minded scientists and researchers - all focused on designing breakthrough solutions in different areas of cryptography."
The US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network warned financial institutions of ransomware actively targeting vaccine research organizations. "FinCEN is aware of ransomware directly targeting vaccine research, and FinCEN asks financial institutions to stay alert to ransomware targeting vaccine delivery operations as well as the supply chains required to manufacture the vaccines," the US Treasury Department bureau warned [PDF].
North Korean nation-state hackers tracked as the Lazarus Group have recently compromised organizations involved in COVID-19 research and vaccine development. After slithering into their network, the North Korean state hackers deployed Bookcode and wAgent malware with backdoor capabilities.
Threat actors such as the notorious Lazarus group are continuing to tap into the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine research to steal sensitive information to speed up their countries' vaccine-development efforts. Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky detailed two incidents at a pharmaceutical company and a government ministry in September and October leveraging different tools and techniques but exhibiting similarities in the post-exploitation process, leading the researchers to connect the two attacks to the North Korean government-linked hackers.
The North Korea-linked threat actor known as Lazarus was recently observed launching cyberattacks against two entities involved in COVID-19 research. Active since at least 2009 and believed to be backed by the North Korean government, Lazarus is said to have orchestrated some high-profile attacks, including the WannaCry outbreak.
Sophos and ReversingLabs on Monday announced SoReL-20M, a database of 20 million Windows Portable Executable files, including 10 million malware samples. Aimed at driving security improvements across the industry, the database provides metadata, labels, and features for the files within, and enables interested parties to download the available malware samples for further research.
Kudelski Security announced the launch of a new focus on quantum security, including expanded research and advisory services that enable security leaders and product and system developers to align their long-term approach to risk and data protection to the era of quantum computing. The global quantum practice for Kudelski Security is led by Dr. Tommaso Gagliardoni, who brings extensive expertise in academic and applied research in the fields of cryptography, quantum computing, and advanced mathematics.
Intel unveiled ControlFlag - a machine programming research system that can autonomously detect errors in code. "We think ControlFlag is a powerful new tool that could dramatically reduce the time and money required to evaluate and debug code. According to studies, software developers spend approximately 50% of the time debugging. With ControlFlag, and systems like it, I imagine a world where programmers spend notably less time debugging and more time on what I believe human programmers do best - expressing creative, new ideas to machines," said Justin Gottschlich, principal scientist and director/founder of Machine Programming Research at Intel Labs.
Biomedical and clinical research company Miltenyi Biotec says that it has fully restored systems after a malware attack that took place last month and affected the firm's global IT infrastructure. "During the last two weeks, there have been isolated cases where order processing was impaired by malware in parts of our global IT infrastructure," Miltenyi Biotec said in an official statement.
Group-IB has opened the doors of its European headquarters in Amsterdam, which will serve as a central hub for the company's research into the European threat landscape. The Amsterdam office, located at Prinsengracht 919, is set to intensify the strong European cyber threat knowledge Group-IB had previously, broaden the company's global threat hunting infrastructure and strengthen the on-the-ground support for the company's customer base in the region, which, among others, includes major banks of the Netherlands.