Security News
CISA, the FBI, and the Environmental Protection Agency shared a list of defense measures U.S. water utilities should implement to better defend their systems against cyberattacks. The fact sheet they published today outlines the top eight actions U.S. Water and Wastewater Systems sector organizations can take to reduce cyberattack risks and boost their resilience against malicious activity.
The U.S. State Department is now also offering rewards of up to $15 million to anyone who can provide information about LockBit ransomware gang members and their associates. 10 million is offered for information that could lead to locating or identifying LockBit leadership, and an extra $5 million is available for tips that could lead to the apprehension of LockBit ransomware affiliates.
Ukraine's cyber police arrested a 31-year-old for running a cybercrime operation that gained access to bank accounts of American and Canadian users and sold it on the dark web. "To distribute his virus, the hacker created and administered several websites, offering users to download various software for free," reads the police's announcement.
The U.S. State Department is offering rewards of up to $10 million for information that could lead to the identification or location of ALPHV/Blackcat ransomware gang leaders. An additional $5 million bounty is also available for tips on individuals trying to take part in ALPHV ransomware attacks, likely to discourage affiliates and initial access brokers.
The Chinese government's Volt Typhoon spy team has apparently already compromised a large US city's emergency services network and has been spotted snooping around America's telecommunications' providers as well. On the other hand, you may expect China by now to be all over US infrastructure just as much as Uncle Sam's NSA and CIA is probably all over Chinese networks.
Officer pay, limited command duties and writing 'code for your country' Skilled IT professionals considering a career change have a new option, as the US Air Force is reintroducing warrant officer...
Analysis The FBI's latest PR salvo, as it fights to preserve its warrantless snooping powers on Americans via FISA Section 702, is more big talk of cyberattacks by the Chinese government. During a US House subcommittee meeting last week on cyber threats from Beijing, FBI boss Christopher Wray told lawmakers that "702 is the greatest tool the FBI has to combat PRC hacking groups." PRC being People's Republic of China.
The U.S. State Department offers rewards of up to $10 million for information that could help locate, identify, or arrest members of the Hive ransomware gang. "Today, the Department of State is announcing a reward offer of up to $10,000,000 for information leading to the identification and/or location of any individual(s) who hold a key leadership position in the Hive ransomware variant transnational organized crime group," the State Department said.
Volt Typhoon isn't the only Chinese spying crew infiltrating computer networks in America's energy sector and other critical organizations with the aim of wrecking equipment and causing other headaches, the US government has said. Last week, the FBI said it obtained search warrants and issued a remote kill command to wipe Volt Typhoon's botnet after the gang infected hundreds of end-of-life routers with backdoor malware to break into critical infrastructure networks.
The Chinese Volt Typhoon cyber-espionage group infiltrated a critical infrastructure network in the United States and remained undetected for at least five years before being discovered, according to a joint advisory from CISA, the NSA, the FBI, and partner Five Eyes agencies. Volt Typhoon hackers are known for extensively using living off the land techniques as part of their attacks on critical infrastructure organizations.