Security News
The US government's Dept of Commerce on Wednesday sanctioned four companies in Israel, Russia, and Singapore for selling software used to break into computer systems and by foreign governments to suppress dissent. "The United States is committed to aggressively using export controls to hold companies accountable that develop, traffic, or use technologies to conduct malicious activities that threaten the cybersecurity of members of civil society, dissidents, government officials, and organizations here and abroad," said US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in a statement.
The U.S. has sanctioned four companies located in Israel, Russia, and Singapore for the development of spyware or the sale of hacking tools used by state-sponsored hacking groups. Israeli companies NSO Group and Candiru are being sanctioned for creating and selling spyware used to target journalists and activists.
Yahoo is pulling its services out of China, citing an 'increasingly challenging operating environment. As Yahoo has already been undergoing a dramatic down-scale in China, announcing a total withdrawal is more of a symbolic move, signifying that the decision is final.
Having struck down Safe Harbor - the agreement governing EU-US data transfers - in 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union went on to condemn its replacement, the beleaguered EU-US Privacy Shield, to a similar fate just over a year ago. Now, it would be wrong to say that lightning struck a third time - the CJEU did not invalidate SCCs - but the Court did rule, in the same judgment that put an end to the Privacy Shield, that businesses must assess the underlying transfer of data to which the contracts apply.
China Telecom Americas is the largest foreign subsidiary of China Telecom Corporation, China's state-owned telecom company. "Indeed, the FCC's own review found that China Telecom Americas poses significant national security concerns due to its control and ownership by the Chinese government, including its susceptibility to complying with communist China's intelligence and cybersecurity laws that are contrary to the interests of the United States."
The FBI said on Monday that Ranzy Locker ransomware operators had compromised at least 30 US companies this year from various industry sectors. "Unknown cyber criminals using Ranzy Locker ransomware had compromised more than 30 US businesses as of July 2021," the FBI said in a TLP: WHITE flash alert.
Following the recent international law enforcement effort that dismantled the infrastructure for the REvil ransomware group, fellow cybercrime group Groove called for revenge - encouraging the wider cyber extortionist community to band together to target U.S. interests. At a time when the U.S. is leading the international law enforcement effort to make splashy busts and shows of force against cybercriminals, this seems like a bold bet by Groove.
The Groove ransomware gang is calling on other extortion groups to attack US interests after law enforcement took down REvil's infrastructure last week. Yesterday, Reuters reported that REvil's takedown resulted from an international law enforcement operation that included support from the FBI. Today, the Groove ransomware gang published a Russian blog post calling on all other ransomware operations to target US interests.
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security today announced new controls that would ban U.S. companies from exporting and reselling software and hardware tools that could be used to fuel authoritarian practices through malicious hacking activities and human rights abuse.The rule will become effective in 90 days and will effectively ban the export of "Cybersecurity items" for National Security and Anti-terrorism reasons.
The latest TikTok attacks are getting served to gamers on the platform disguised as "Free" or "Hacked" versions of games like Among Us, free Steam accounts and more, according to a new report from Malwarebytes Labs. Considering games like Among Us are largely played by tweens and teenagers, the emerging TikTok landscape could be a potent tool for threat actors to launch offensives against kids, researchers pointed out.