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Potential for Iranian Cyber Response to U.S. Military Strike in Baghdad
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is sharing the following information with the cybersecurity community as a primer for assisting in the protection of our Nation’s critical infrastructure in light of the current tensions between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States and Iran’s historic use of cyber offensive activities to retaliate against perceived harm.
https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/aa20-006a
Disinformation For Hire: How A New Breed Of PR Firms Is Selling Lies Online
If disinformation in 2016 was characterized by Macedonian spammers pushing pro-Trump fake news and Russian trolls running rampant on platforms, 2020 is shaping up to be the year communications pros for hire provide sophisticated online propaganda operations to anyone willing to pay. Around the globe, politicians, parties, governments, and other clients hire what is known in the industry as “black PR” firms to spread lies and manipulate online discourse.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/disinformation-for-hire-black-pr-firms
Third Party Risk Management for Healthcare Cybersecurity
Third party-related breaches are increasingly impacting healthcare environments, and it’s an expensive way to learn that third party risks need to be proactively managed. A survey of healthcare IT leaders conducted in 2019 revealed 56% had experienced one or more third party data breaches in the last two years, causing on average a total of $2.9 million to remediate. CI Security’s Steve Torino explains why third party risks in healthcare are increasing now more than ever, and how to develop a Third Party Vendor Risk Management Program to manage the supply chain risks to patient care, ePHI, and critical systems.
https://ci.security/resources/news/article/third-party-risk-management-for-healthcare-cybersecurity
What the Iran situation means for health data
The Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center is warning of "significant risk that Iran will target critical infrastructure though cyberspace" as tensions with Iran escalate following the death of Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike, according to an email shared with Morning eHealth. H-ISAC is a nonprofit organization that shares cybersecurity threat intelligence with its members. "Historically, Iran has not deliberately targeted the healthcare sector," the bulletin reads. "However, we must be vigilant facing" attacks in which data could be deleted, it continues.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-ehealth/2020/01/06/what-the-iran-situation-means-for-health-data-784058
Enterprise Security Leaders Prepare For Nation State Cyber Attacks
An organization that has a SOC in place along with incident detection and threat intelligence capabilities likely has the potential for nation state attacks factored into their current security strategy. But it doesn’t hurt to self-reflect and ask yourself, “Does our executive leadership or the board believe that a foreign government’s retaliation is going to trickle down to this business entity?”
https://www.cshub.com/executive-decisions/articles/enterprise-security-leaders-prepare-for-nation-state-cyber-attacks
Utilities 'caught in the crosshairs' as US-Iran tensions rise; experts say domestic cyberattack likely
"There is ample evidence to suggest that Iranian-sponsored actors have invested considerable time and effort over the past several years to infiltrate the computer systems that control the critical infrastructure of the United States and its allies," PAS Global COO Mark Carrigan said in an email. "At some time these actors may leverage a successful infiltration to launch a cyber attack."
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/utilities-caught-in-the-crosshairs-as-us-iran-tensions-rise-experts-say/569864/
DoE Taking ‘Necessary Actions’ to Implement Cyber Data-Sharing Law
The IG report “found that policies and procedures related to sharing cyber threat indicators were sufficient and included requirements for the removal of personally identifiable information.” The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 was signed into law to help improve cybersecurity by enhancing information-sharing practices related to cyber threats. The legislation permits Federal agencies to share classified and unclassified cyber threat indicators and defensive measures with other agencies and “properly cleared representatives in the private sector.”
https://www.meritalk.com/articles/doe-taking-necessary-actions-to-implement-cyber-data-sharing-law/
Should banks expect cyberattacks from Iran?
The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which gathers cyberattack reports from thousands of U.S. banks, said that it is “closely monitoring recent geopolitical developments on behalf of our members. We have advised our members to remain vigilant as we continue to actively monitor the situation.” Joe Krull, senior analyst at Aite Group, said he sees danger for U.S. banks. “What greater revenge from a symbolic point of view but to go after American money?” he said.
https://www.americanbanker.com/news/should-banks-expect-cyberattacks-from-iran
Cybercrooks are targeting retirement accounts — and unlike credit cards, there's no guarantee you'll get your money back
Cybercriminals today are “looking for any possible route into people’s financial transactions, and they are increasingly focusing their efforts outside financial institutions’ firewalls,” said Steven Silberstein, chief executive officer of Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center[.] “In other words, directly at the public,” Silberstein said. “E-mail compromises, spear phishing and social profiling are some of the key tactics being used to target all types of assets, including retirement accounts.”
https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/2020/01/07/401-k-retirement-accounts-targeted-online-and-your-money-not-guaranteed/2799053001/
What Iran Can – And Won’t – Do In A Cyberwar
In a match-up with the U.S., after all, Iran is less powerful on all fronts, but will seek to display at least some asymmetrical capabilities. Taking down planes through remote means (likely beyond Iran’s technological capabilities, as estimated by Visner), or causing significant loss of life, along with crippling infrastructure, would be tantamount to acts of war, he said. “Whatever Iran does,” said Visner, “they don’t want this to be out of control. They are careful. Even if they appear provocative, they are not idiots.”
https://www.pymnts.com/news/security-and-risk/2020/what-iran-can-and-wont-do-in-a-cyberwar/
State-Backed Cyber Attacks Expected at Tokyo 2020 Games
Russia has a particular motivation for an attack on the 2020 games, however. The country recently received a four-year Olympic ban from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) due to repeated violations. Russian athletes can compete under “neutral” status, but medals they are awarded do not count toward the country’s lifetime totals. Russia and Japan also have a long-running dispute over the Kuril Islands, and Russia has seized an unusual number of Japanese fishing boats this year in the area including five in December.
https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/state-backed-cyber-attacks-expected-at-tokyo-2020-games/
China Plays Powerful Hand As Trump’s ‘Political And Emotional’ Huawei Fight Heats Up
For Huawei, its short-term Achille’s heal is not concerns over network compromises from alleged security obligations and subservience to Beijing, but its undeniable involvement in the ongoing surveillance state deployed in China’s Xinjiang region. If Huawei is not able to extricate itself from programs that are seen by the international community to subjugate the minority Uighur population, then it will find it harder to defend itself against wider U.S. allegations, regardless of how tenuous those links might be.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2020/01/07/china-plays-powerful-hand-as-trumps-political-and-emotional-huawei-fight-heats-up/#4470cae679a5
The 2020 election will be the country's biggest cybersecurity test ever
If the election concludes without a security disaster that compromises the results or undermines public confidence in them, that will be a victory for solid planning, education and more than $900 million spent on digital election defense since 2016. If it's disrupted, however, it will be a drastic blow to faith in democracy and to the idea the United States can set any red lines in cyberspace that our adversaries won't cross.
https://www.thehour.com/news/article/The-2020-election-will-be-the-country-s-biggest-14955500.php
Facebook to ban 'deepfakes'
Facebook said it would remove videos if it realised they had been edited in ways that weren't obvious to an average person, or if they misled a viewer into thinking that a person in a video said words they did not actually say. "There are people who engage in media manipulation in order to mislead," wrote Monika Bickert, vice president of global policy management at Facebook in the blog. Facebook staff and independent fact-checkers will be used to judge a video's authenticity. The new policy will not apply to parody or satire videos.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51018758
Unable to unlock gunman’s iPhones, the FBI (once again) asks for Apple’s hel
Specifically, the FBI wanted Apple to create a custom firmware version that would bypass a protection that wipes an iPhone clean after 10 failed attempts to enter a passcode. In court documents and congressional testimony, FBI officials said they had no other way to access the contents of the iPhone so that investigators could determine if Farook and his wife (who also participated and died in the shooting) acted in concert with others to carry out the deadly attack. The government invoked an 18th-century law called the All Writs in seeking Apple's assistance.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/01/fbi-seeks-apples-help-in-unlocking-iphones-belonging-to-pensacola-gunman/
Amazon’s Ring Confirms New Security Features—Here’s What To Do
But security and privacy experts are already criticizing the new Control Center, saying it puts the onus on the user to protect their Ring devices. It comes after multiple reports of Ring cameras being hacked and a story by Vice’s Motherboard detailing a total lack of security measures taken by Ring. So bad is Ring’s reputation around security and privacy that one Ring owner has filed a class action lawsuit following the hack of his device.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2020/01/07/amazons-ring-confirms-new-security-features-heres-what-to-do/?ss=consumertech#4bf70afb8dd7
This password-stealing malware just got updated with new tactics to help it hide better
Predator the Thief malware first emerged in July 2018 and is capable of stealing usernames, passwords, browser data and the contents of cryptocurrency wallets, as well as take photos using the infected victim's webcam. The malware is commonly sold on underground hacking forums and has also featured as part of a bundle of six different forums of malicious software.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-password-stealing-malware-just-got-updated-with-new-tactics-to-help-it-hide-better/
Colorado town rolled, smoked for $1m by BEC scam
The town of Erie, high in Colorado, USA, found itself deep in the weeds after an email-based scam resulted in it getting lit up to the tune of $1m. The decidedly not-chill hackers posed as accountants from a construction company that built a bridge for the town. Using the lookalike email addresses, the hackers contacted city workers and requested the method of payment for the building work be changed.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/01/06/roundup_january_2/
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