Six Cisco salt-master backend servers were compromised when attackers exploited two recently reported vulnerabilities in SaltStack Salt. Cisco revealed the attacks in an advisory, saying the Cisco Modeling Labs Corporate Edition (CML) and the Cisco Virtual Internet Routing Lab Personal Edition (VIRL-PE) were vulnerable. In early May one or more attackers exploited the flaws in…
Just two days after Twitter marked two of his tweets – one dealing with the security of voting by mail – with fact-check tags, President Trump signed an Executive Order encouraging a change to federal law referred to as Section 230 that provides liability protections to social media firms. The EO seeks to task the…
The House late Wednesday nixed a planned vote on the FISA bill passed earlier this month by the Senate and which would authorize three surveillance initiatives in the USA Freedom Act. “We just formally announced a whip against it because, number one, it’s not going to become law,” Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters. “Number…
Microsoft told organizations Wednesday to focus less on the payload of Java-based ransomware PonyFinal and instead key “more on how it’s delivered” via human-operated ransomware attacks. “PonyFinal is at the tail end of protracted human-operated ransomware campaigns that are known to stay dormant and wait for the most opportune time to deploy the payload,” Microsoft…
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to hobble economies around the world, cybersecurity is one of six sectors currently booming, with first quarter funding topping $1.5 billion. That figure is close to a record high, according to Crunchbase Data Evangelist Gené Teare, who told SC Media that instead of seeing cybersecurity companies and VCs putting the…
Researchers have uncovered a version of the ComRat backdoor, one of the Turla Group’s oldest malware families, that distinguishes itself by using Gmail’s web UI to receive commands and nick data. The new version of ComRAT, known for stealing sensitive documents and targeting various government entities and military organizations, was in use as late as…
Nine months after President Trump heeded bipartisan criticism and withdrew the nomination of Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, for the director of national intelligence (DNI), Ratcliffe was confirmed as DNI by the Senate in a 49-44 vote. Ratcliffe, nominated by Trump a second time in February, replaces interim DNI Richard Grenell who had filled the position…
The recent breach of Home Chef, confirmed this week, after malicious actor Shiny Hunters sold eight million of its records on the dark web underscores the looming security challenge of managing employees who access business data from outside the confines of the secure network. “With increased BYOD and remote work, acceptable usage policy enforcement is…
Attorney General William Barr slammed Apple for not helping the FBI cracking the encryption on iPhones belonging to a Saudi airman who waged an attack on the Pensacola Naval Station last year and was discovered to be connected to al Qaeda. “Apple has made a business and marketing decision to design its phones in a…
Attorney General William Barr threw cold water on the budding Obamagate conspiracy in a Monday press conference, saying he doesn’t expect a review underway of the 2016 Russia probe into presidential election interference to result in criminal investigations of former President Barack Obama or former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democrat candidate who will…
