Security News
A cyber spy gang supporting Russia is targeting US elected officials and their staffers, in addition to European lawmakers, using unpatched Zimbra Collaboration software in two campaigns spotted by Proofpoint. At the time, the criminals were targeting government agencies in Azerbaijan, Cyprus, India, Italy, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the Vatican.
Russia's Rostec has reportedly bought a platform that allows it to uncover the identities of anonymous Telegram users, likely to be used to tamp down on unfavorable news out of the country. The organization, which has an active role in monitoring the circulation of information within the country, is particularly interested in the identity of Telegram channel administrators who are critical of the Russian state.
Russia's internet watchdog agency Roskomnadzor warns that laws banning the use of many foreign private messaging applications in Russian government and state agencies came into force today. "The law establishes a ban for a number of Russian organizations on the use of foreign messengers used for exchanging messages exclusively between their users, in which the sender determines the recipients of messages and does not provide for placement by Internet users publicly available information on the Internet)," warns Roskomnadzor in a translated alert published today on its portal.
Russia's internet watchdog agency Roskomnadzor is warning that today is the first day that laws banning the use of many foreign private messaging applications in the country come into force. The law is "On information, information technology, and information protection," specifically Part 8-10 of Article 10, which prohibits Russian organizations from using information exchange systems owned by foreign entities.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is urging organizations and individuals to increase their cyber vigilance, as Russia's military invasion of Ukraine officially enters one year. "CISA assesses that the United States and European nations may experience disruptive and defacement attacks against websites in an attempt to sow chaos and societal discord on February 24, 2023, the anniversary of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine," the agency said.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to have a major impact on energy prices, inflation, and cyberthreats, with the ransomware scene experiencing some of the biggest shifts, according to ESET. "The ongoing war in Ukraine has created a divide among ransomware operators, with some supporting and others opposing the aggression. Attackers have also been using increasingly destructive tactics, such as deploying wipers that mimic ransomware and encrypt the victim's data with no intention of providing a decryption key," explains Roman Kováč, Chief Research Officer at ESET. The digital threats trends. The war also affected brute-force attacks against exposed RDP services, but despite the decline of these attacks in 2022, password guessing remains the most favored network attack vector.
Uncle Sam has put up a $10 million reward for intel on Hive ransomware criminals' identities and whereabouts, while Russia has blocked the FBI and CIA websites, along with the Rewards for Justice site offering the bounty. The $10 million bonty is part of the US State Department's Rewards for Justice program, and in a Thursday tweet the agency sought tips for Hive members "Acting under the direction or control of a foreign government." The notice also referenced the FBI's Hive website takedown, which the feds announced earlier that day.
The NSCS has attributed the campaigns to a Russia-based group called SEABORGIUM and the Iran-based TA453 group, also known as APT42. The threat groups target individuals working in academia, defence, government, non-government organisations, and think-tanks.
The Polish government is warning of a spike in cyberattacks from Russia-linked hackers, including the state-sponsored hacking group known as GhostWriter. The Polish believe Russian hackers target their country due to the continued support they have provided Ukraine in the ongoing military conflict with Russia.
The reports, "Apps at Risk: Apple's Censorship and Compromises in Hong Kong" and "United Apple: Apple's Censorship and Compromises in Russia," were released by the Apple Censorship Project, which is run by free speech advocacy group GreatFire. "Apple's temporary withdrawal from Russia following the start of the war in Ukraine, and Apple's decision to move part of its production out of China, have not provided tangible evidence of any improvement of the situation in the App Store so far. For all we know, Apple is still willing to collaborate with repressive regimes."