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 News

The first episode of 2023 of the Transatlantic Cable Podcast kicks off with news around the recent Twitter hack – emphasis on recent as the data was actually siphoned from Twitter back in 2021, but has only recently come to light – timing is everything it seems. From there, the team look at news that the Web3   show more ...  

industry lost a whopping $4 billion to crypto-fraud last year – apparently, this is good news as the previous year it was a colossal $8 billion. Staying with crypto, the next story dives into the recent news around the closure of CryptoZoo – a game created by internet star, Logan Paul. The premise of the game allowed users to breed and share unique NFT creatures, all whilst earning cryptocurrency. To wrap up, the last story looks at more news around crypto, this time looking at news that U.S. bank Silvergate saw $8 billion in crypto withdrawals, most near the tail end of 2022. If you liked what you heard, please do consider subscribing. More than 200 million Twitter users email addresses leaked by hackers The Web3 industry lost billions to crypto fraud last year YouTube star Logan Paul apologizes for CryptoZoo project failure US bank Silvergate hit with $8bn in crypto withdrawals

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 Business

No company can operate successfully without smooth cooperation between the general management and the specialists responsible for different areas of the business. Such cooperation of course requires communication, which can sometimes be difficult since managers and specialists work in different information bubbles and   show more ...  

often speak different languages. Management thinks about profit, costs and development; specialists – and the information security service is no exception – think about their specific technical tasks. A recent study conducted by our colleagues found that, while mutual understanding between business managers and information security specialists is generally growing, problems do still exist. In fact, 98% of the business representatives surveyed said that they experienced a misunderstanding with the information security service at least once. As for direct consequences of such a misunderstanding, 62% said that it had led to at least one security incident, while 61% reported negative impacts to the business — including losses, losing key employees, or a worsening of communication among departments. At the same time, the security professionals themselves are not always aware of any problems: 42% of business leaders would like the security specialists to communicate more clearly — but 76% of those specialists feel sure that everyone understands them perfectly! There are often problems with the language used: managers generally dont understand all the technical terms that information security services use. But terminology isnt the only problem in the communication between the managers and information security — in fact, its not even the main problem. Lets attempt to understand the other issues with the help of Patrick Miller, Managing Partner of Archer International, and his speech at the Kaspersky Industrial Cybersecurity Conference 2019. Different ideas about risk Most information security specialists have a very low risk-tolerance threshold. But in business, the opposite is true: without risk, theres no profit, so managers are often ready to take greater risks. For the boss, the main goal is to find the ideal balance between potential profits and potential losses. The real goal of the security department, as strange as this may sound, is not to eliminate all threats but to help the business earn as much as possible. From the business point of view, risks can be accepted, avoided, reduced, or transferred (for example, to insurers). Managers will try to take as many risks as possible to increase profits. Information security is just a small part of the picture for them: they probably dont even want to think about it. As a result, information security specialists should not think about how to close all the gaps, but rather how to identify and neutralize those threats that really could cause serious damage to the business. And, consequently, they should also think about how to explain to managers why its worth spending money on resolving something. FUD doesnt work Trying to persuade managers using tactics of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) is not going to work because getting scared isnt what the business pays the information security service for. Specialists are there to solve problems — ideally so that no one even notices that there are any. Another problem with using FUD is that managers are already pretty stressed out, simply because any mistake they make could be their last: there are a lot of folks around whod jump at the chance of taking their place, they dont really trust anyone, and so on. They just dont need any extra fear factors. And finally, no boss likes to show that they dont know something. Therefore, any attempts to bombard management with smart-sounding terms are obviously doomed to fail. Think like a business The main goal of any commercial business is to earn money. All managers look at everything from this point of view. Thats what they know how to do. Therefore, if an information security specialist comes to them and says, a threat has appeared and we need to invest X amount of funds to neutralize it, what the manager hears is if we take a risk and do nothing, well save X amount of funds. Sounds crazy, but thats exactly how business thinks. For the manager, its essential that any of their actions (or inactions) results in positive financial numbers — even if such a positive number happens to be the difference between two negative ones. So, the situation must be presented to the management in a form it can understand: Theres a threat with a Z% probability of causing Y damage to the business. We need to spend X to neutralize it. This is an equation that makes sense to the business mindset. Of course, its not always possible to realistically predict the cost of potential damage, so you can use known values such as downtime (during which the consequences of the incident would be cleaned up), the amount and type of data that could be lost or compromised, reputational losses, and so on. The business can then convert this information into understandable numbers — with the help of relevant specialists. But its better if the information security team can do this themselves, since it saves a lot of time. Naturally, theres always the possibility that the equation wont work out in favor of information security. This isnt always a problem of miscommunication — maybe the managers hear and understand everything perfectly, but its just more profitable to take the risk. Either that or information security wasnt able to convincingly argue their position because it didnt learn to think like a business. The key here is to have a good grasp of the information security services position within the company and the profit it generates. This will make it possible to better evaluate and classify potential threats, avoid wasting your own and other peoples time and nerves on initiatives that clearly wont go anywhere, and in general to work more efficiently. The time factor and deadlines For security, the time factor is crucial: some threats must be protected against immediately. But time is also important for business, because for it — time is money. You can spend the aforementioned X amount of money today, but if you do so in a month, then in skillful hands X will turn into X*n, and X*(n-1) will stay in the bank. Even if the managers understand the problem well and know that it must be solved, they wont rush to spend money unless theyre given a clear and well-argued deadline. They should also be notified that once the deadline passes, they automatically take responsibility for the specified risk, since then information security can only clean up the consequences. This deadline should be as realistic as possible. If information security is always demanding a decision to be made yesterday, then management will stop listening and instead treat it like the boy who cried wolf. And if its always saying well, you can decide within a year, theyll simply be fired following the next incident (or simply made redundant). Its important to be able to assess and set the real deadline and highlight the potential risks. Its worth noting that very few companies simply keep reserve money in their accounts, waiting for the chief information security officer to come and tell them where to spend it as soon as possible. Funds to solve the problem will have to be taken or borrowed from somewhere, and this can take time. And, by the way, in order to understand the time it takes, its also important to know how the business works and is financed. Be a marketer To communicate effectively, information security specialists should have some marketing skills; then they can sell their solutions to the boss(es). Offer a solution, not a problem. Obviously, you cant sell a problem. Whenever possible, rely on real and easily verifiable precedents. Managers love them — they reduce uncertainty. Instead of technical terms, use engaging sales language and slides with colorful charts. Offer several options — including the clearly unfeasible ones. Fit the whole offer on one page — nobody will read any more than that. Use synonyms for the expression information security: risk reduction, ensuring resilience/continuity of work processes, maintaining operational efficiency, downtime reduction, damage prevention, and so on. Keep emotional language to a minimum and maintain a business-like, professional communication style. What to do? Soft skills are the key to successful business communication. You need to be able to get out of your specialized bubble and learn to talk to managers using the language and contexts they prefer. Though they might want to, they cant dive deep into all the technical details of every department in the company. For the information security service, its important to recognize that youre just one part of the business, to know how it works, and to help get the maximum income with minimum costs. And its also worth checking out the results of our latest research study Fluent in InfoSec: Are c-level executives and IT security managers on the same page?

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 cameras

For businesses looking to invest in the creation of a safer and more productive modern office environment, here’s a rundown of the top 2023 technologies to secure your hybrid workspace.  The post 2023 Technologies to Secure Your Hybrid Workspace appeared first on The Security Ledger with Paul F. Roberts. Related   show more ...  

StoriesWhat’s the Future of Detection Teams? Five Predictions for What Lies Ahead Why digital certificates are critical to 5G securityCES Overlooks New Report That Finds Auto Cyber Is A Dumpster Fire

 Govt., Critical Infrastructure

This revelatory information from the Pakistan government was delivered last week in a cabinet advisory titled “Leakage of Sensitive Data on Dark Web (AdvisorvNo.53)” that was issued without fanfare.

 Govt., Critical Infrastructure

Two of the US government's leading security agencies are building a ML-based analytics environment to defend against rapidly evolving threats and create more resilient infrastructures for both government entities and private organizations.

 Malware and Vulnerabilities

The campaign was first detected on December 22, 2022, when a malicious package named PyroLogin was identified as Python malware designed to fetch code from a remote server and execute it silently.

 Malware and Vulnerabilities

Zoom addressed four high-severity vulnerabilities impacting its videoconferencing platform Zoom Rooms. The flaws are tracked as CVE-2022-36930 (CVSS Score 8.2), CVE-2022-36929 (CVSS Score 7.8), and CVE-2022-36926 and CVE-2022-36927 (CVSS Score 8.8).

 Breaches and Incidents

On Monday, Des Moines Public Schools – which serves 30,000 students and has nearly 5,000 staff members – said it preemptively took the school district’s internet and network services offline in response to “unusual activity on the network.”

 Malware and Vulnerabilities

Once installed, the RAT is capable of collecting information and capturing screenshots, and exporting them to an offsite server. Regardless of its cybercrime connections, however, RomCom’s efforts focus on people.

 Malware and Vulnerabilities

xdr33 is a backdoor born from the CIA Hive project, its main purpose is to collect sensitive information and provide a foothold for subsequent intrusions. For network communication, xdr33 uses XTEA or AES algorithm to encrypt the original traffic.

 Companies to Watch

NetSPI has acquired nVisium to further scale its offensive security solutions and address heightened demand for human-delivered penetration testing. nVisium will support NetSPI’s efforts to deliver strategic security testing solutions to enterprises.

 Malware and Vulnerabilities

The multi-stage infection sequence begins with a phishing email containing a link that downloads a password-protected ZIP archive file with two files: a shortcut (.LNK) file and a batch (.BAT) file.

 Trends, Reports, Analysis

The number of victims posted on ransomware extortion sites rose more than 20% in December to 241 organizations — the highest monthly count since April, according to data collected by Recorded Future.

 Malware and Vulnerabilities

S-RM researchers identified a Lorenz ransomware attack that was completed months after the attackers gained initial access. They exploited CVE-2022-29499, a vulnerability in Mitel telephony infrastructure.

 Incident Response, Learnings

The US Supreme Court gave the green light on Monday for WhatsApp to pursue a lawsuit against NSO Group, the Israeli surveillance company, for installing the Pegasus spyware on roughly 1400 devices where WhatsApp was also installed.

 Feed

Ubuntu Security Notice 5799-1 - Kyle Zeng discovered that the sysctl implementation in the Linux kernel contained a stack-based buffer overflow. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service or execute arbitrary code.

 Feed

Debian Linux Security Advisory 5313-1 - It was found that those using java.sql.Statement or java.sql.PreparedStatement in hsqldb, a Java SQL database, to process untrusted input may be vulnerable to a remote code execution attack.

 Feed

I2P is an anonymizing network, offering a simple layer that identity-sensitive applications can use to securely communicate. All data is wrapped with several layers of encryption, and the network is both distributed and dynamic, with no trusted parties. This is the source code release version.

 Feed

Ubuntu Security Notice 5793-3 - It was discovered that the io_uring subsystem in the Linux kernel did not properly perform reference counting in some situations, leading to a use- after-free vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code. It was   show more ...  

discovered that a race condition existed in the Android Binder IPC subsystem in the Linux kernel, leading to a use-after-free vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code.

 Feed

Ubuntu Security Notice 5793-4 - It was discovered that the io_uring subsystem in the Linux kernel did not properly perform reference counting in some situations, leading to a use- after-free vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code. It was   show more ...  

discovered that a race condition existed in the Android Binder IPC subsystem in the Linux kernel, leading to a use-after-free vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code.

 Feed

Debian Linux Security Advisory 5312-1 - Several flaws have been discovered in libjettison-java, a collection of StAX parsers and writers for JSON. Specially crafted user input may cause a denial of service via out-of-memory or stack overflow errors.

 Feed

Ubuntu Security Notice 5791-3 - It was discovered that a race condition existed in the Android Binder IPC subsystem in the Linux kernel, leading to a use-after-free vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code. David Leadbeater discovered that the   show more ...  

netfilter IRC protocol tracking implementation in the Linux Kernel incorrectly handled certain message payloads in some situations. A remote attacker could possibly use this to cause a denial of service or bypass firewall filtering.

 Feed

Ubuntu Security Notice 5798-1 - Johan Gorter discovered that .NET 6 incorrectly processed certain invalid HTTP requests. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service condition for an exposed endpoint.

 Feed

Red Hat Security Advisory 2023-0059-01 - This is a kernel live patch module which is automatically loaded by the RPM post-install script to modify the code of a running kernel. Issues addressed include an out of bounds write vulnerability.

 Feed

The first Patch Tuesday fixes shipped by Microsoft for 2023 have addressed a total of 98 security flaws, including one bug that the company said is being actively exploited in the wild. 11 of the 98 issues are rated Critical and 87 are rated Important in severity, with one of the vulnerabilities also listed as publicly known at the time of release. Separately, the Windows maker is expected to

 Feed

Government and military organizations in the Asia Pacific region are being targeted by a previously unknown advanced persistent threat (APT) actor, per the latest research. Singapore-headquartered Group-IB, in a report shared with The Hacker News, said it's tracking the ongoing campaign under the name Dark Pink and attributed seven successful attacks to the adversarial collective between June

 Feed

A wave of Gootkit malware loader attacks has targeted the Australian healthcare sector by leveraging legitimate tools like VLC Media Player. Gootkit, also called Gootloader, is known to employ search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning tactics (aka spamdexing) for initial access. It typically works by compromising and abusing legitimate infrastructure and seeding those sites with common keywords

 Feed

Are you looking to take your career in the information security industry to the next level? Look no further than the 2023 Certified Technology Professional Bundle! This unparalleled offer grants you lifetime access to nine comprehensive courses in information security, hacking, and cybersecurity at a remarkable price of just $49.99. Yes, you heard me right. Instead of paying the full price of $

 Feed

A new analysis of Raspberry Robin's attack infrastructure has revealed that it's possible for other threat actors to repurpose the infections for their own malicious activities, making it an even more potent threat. Raspberry Robin (aka QNAP worm), attributed to a threat actor dubbed DEV-0856, is malware that has increasingly come under the radar for being used in attacks aimed at finance,

2023-01
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