Security News
Russia's SVR spy agency made off with information about US counterintelligence investigations in the wake of the SolarWinds hack, according to people familiar with the American government cleanup operation. The SVR was named and shamed in April by Britain and the US as the organisation that compromised the build systems of SolarWinds' network monitoring software Orion, used by 18,000 customers across the world.
Today, U.S. President Joe Biden said that the U.S. will bring together 30 countries to jointly crack down on ransomware gangs behind a barrage of attacks impacting organizations worldwide. "I am committed to strengthening our cybersecurity by hardening our critical infrastructure against cyberattacks, disrupting ransomware networks, working to establish and promote clear rules of the road for all nations in cyberspace, and making clear we will hold accountable those that threaten our security."
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has requested a briefing to understand the rationale behind the FBI's decision to delay providing the victims of the Kaseya REvil ransomware with a universal decryption key for three weeks. "To understand the FBI's decision, the lawmakers are requesting a briefing from the FBI on its legal and policy rationale for withholding the ransomware key, as well as the FBI's overall strategy for addressing, investigating, preventing, and defeating ransomware attacks," the Committee said in a press release on Wednesday.
FBI accused of withholding ransomware key as part of REvil probe. The FBI had obtained a key to undo a flood of ransomware infections but sat on it for a while in an attempt to strike at the malware operators, it's claimed.
An "Insidious" new SMS smishing malware has been found targeting Android mobile users in the U.S. and Canada as part of a new campaign that uses SMS text message lures related to COVID-19 regulations and vaccine information in an attempt to steal personal and financial data. Proofpoint's messaging security subsidiary Cloudmark coined the emerging malware "TangleBot."
The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Russian cryptocurrency exchange Suex for helping facilitate and launder transactions from at least eight ransomware variants as part of the government's efforts to crack down on a surge in ransomware incidents and make it difficult for bad actors to profit from such attacks using digital currencies. "Virtual currency exchanges such as SUEX are critical to the profitability of ransomware attacks, which help fund additional cybercriminal activity," the department said in a press release.
The US Treasury Department announced the first-ever sanctions against a cryptocurrency exchange, the Russian-linked Suex, for facilitating ransom transactions for ransomware gangs and helping them evade sanctions. By sanctioning crypto exchanges providing ransomware groups with material support, the US hopes to drain their funding and disrupt their operations.
New Cooperative Inc., an agricultural cooperative owned by Iowa corn and soy farmers, has been hit by the BlackMatter ransomware group. The attackers are asking the co-op to pay $5,900,000 for the decryption key and not to release the stolen data.
U.S. farmers cooperative NEW Cooperative has suffered a BlackMatter ransomware attack demanding $5.9 million not to leak stolen data and provide a decryptor. NEW Cooperative is a farmer's feed and grain cooperative with over sixty locations throughout Iowa.
Cities, states, federal and military agencies should patch the Laserfiche CMS post-haste, said the security researcher whose jaw dropped at 50 sites hosting porn and Viagra spam. Gov domain hosting the offending files and displaying a specific Laserfiche error message.