Security News
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."
The social media conglomerate also took steps to disable accounts and block infrastructure operated by spyware vendors, including in China, Russia, Israel, the U.S. and India, that targeted individuals in about 200 countries. A second set of 250 accounts on Facebook and Instagram linked to another Israeli company called QuaDream was found "Engaged in a similar testing activity between their own fake accounts, targeting Android and iOS devices in what we assess to be an attempt to test capabilities to exfiltrate various types of data including messages, images, video and audio files, and geolocation."
Russia's second-largest financial institution VTB Bank says it is facing the worse cyberattack in its history after its website and mobile apps were taken offline due to an ongoing DDoS...
Russia's second-largest financial institution VTB Bank says it is facing the worse cyberattack in its history after its website and mobile apps were taken offline due to an ongoing DDoS attack. "At present, the VTB technological infrastructure is under unprecedented cyberattack from abroad," stated a VTB spokesperson to TASS. "It is not only the largest cyberattack recorded this year, but in the entire history of the bank."
Ukraine has come under a fresh onslaught of ransomware attacks that mirror previous intrusions attributed to the Russia-based Sandworm nation-state group. Slovak cybersecurity company ESET, which dubbed the new ransomware strain RansomBoggs, said the attacks against several Ukrainian entities were first detected on November 21, 2022.
US government agencies including the Army and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pulled apps running Pushwoosh code after learning the software company - which presents itself as American - is actually Russian, according to Reuters. Pushwoosh is a software company that provides code and data analysis for developers so they can automate custom push notifications based on smartphone users' online activity.
The European Commission on Thursday proposed a cyber defense policy in response to Europe's "Deteriorating security environment" since Russia illegally invaded Ukraine earlier this year. This will include establishing an EU Cyber Defence Coordination Centre, encouraging member states to more actively participate in Military Computer Emergency Response Teams, while building a similar network for civilian cyber incident responders, according to a joint communication [PDF] to the European Parliament and Council.
The Australian Federal Police has pointed to Russia as the location of the attackers who breached local health insurer Medibank, accessed almost ten million customer records, and in recent days dumped some customer data onto the dark web. The release of customer data - some it containing intimate details of health services customers accessed using their insurance - came after Medibank refused to pay a ransom to secure the data on grounds that doing so would not guarantee customers' safety.