CyberSecure Specialist

09 Jun

Asylum Ambuscade: crimeware or cyberespionage?

Information

A curious case of a threat actor at the border between crimeware and cyberespionage Asylum Ambuscade is a cybercrime group that has been performing cyberespionage operations on the side. They were first publicly outed in March 2022 by Proofpoint researchers after the group targeted European government staff involved in helping Ukrainian refugees, just a few weeks after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. In this blogpost, we provide details about the early 2022 espionage campaign…

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09 Jun

Thoughts on scheduled password changes (don’t call them rotations!)

Information

by Paul Ducklin We’re all still using passwords on many, perhaps most, of our accounts, because we’re all still using plenty of online services that don’t offer any other sort of login system. Just today, for instance, I paid membership fees to a cycling-related group that asked for my postal address so it could send me my membership card, which I thought was a delightfully simple and old-school way of letting me retrieve my membership…

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09 Jun

In Other News: AI Regulation, Layoffs, US Aerospace Attacks, Post-Quantum Encryption

Information, News

SecurityWeek is publishing a weekly cybersecurity roundup that provides a concise compilation of noteworthy stories that might have slipped under the radar. We provide a valuable summary of stories that may not warrant an entire article, but are nonetheless crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the cybersecurity landscape. Each week, we will curate and present a collection of noteworthy developments, ranging from the latest vulnerability discoveries and emerging attack techniques to significant policy changes and…

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09 Jun

Google launches Secure AI Framework to help secure AI technology

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

Google has announced the launch of the Secure AI Framework (SAIF), a conceptual framework for securing AI systems. Google, owner of the generative AI chatbot Bard and parent company of AI research lab DeepMind, said a framework across the public and private sectors is essential for making sure that responsible actors safeguard the technology that supports AI advancements so that when AI models are implemented, they’re secure-by-default. Its new framework concept is an important step…

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09 Jun

Blackpoint Raises $190 Million to Help MSPs Combat Cyber Threats

Information, News

Cybersecurity company Blackpoint Cyber this week announced that it has raised $190 million in a growth funding round led by Bain Capital Tech Opportunities. Accel also participated in Blackpoint’s third investment round, which has brought the total raised by the company to just over $200 million. Founded in 2014, Blackpoint provides an advanced security suite via managed service providers (MSPs), helping them keep customers safe. According to Blackpoint, its Managed Detection and Response (MDR) technology…

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09 Jun

Google Introduces SAIF, a Framework for Secure AI Development and Use

Information, News

The Google SAIF (Secure AI Framework) is designed to provide a security framework or ecosystem for the development, use and protection of AI systems. All new technologies bring new opportunities, threats, and risks. As business concentrates on harnessing opportunities, threats and risks can be overlooked. With AI, this could be disastrous for business, business customers, and people in general. SAIF offers six core elements to ensure maximum security in AI. Expand strong security foundations to…

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09 Jun

Key role targeted cyber attacks are on the rise

Attacks, Data Breaches

Research by Ponemon Institute and cyber security company BlackCloak has found that hackers have been directly targeting C-suite executives and their family members with cyber attacks via their personal email addresses.  In Understanding the serious risks to executives’ personal cybersecurity and digital lives, which was released on June 5, researchers found that 42 percent of organizations said that an executive or an executive’s family member had been the direct target of a cyber attack. This…

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08 Jun

ACT government falls victim to Barracuda’s ESG vulnerability

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

The Australian Capital Territory government is one of the victims of a vulnerability found in Barracuda’s email security gateway (ESG). In a press conference on 8 June, ACT government chief digital officer Bettina Konti said there is a likelihood that some personal information is involved but the harms assessment needs to completed for that to be clear. Barracuda had first identified the CVE-2023-2838 vulnerability on 19 May issuing a patch worldwide on 20 May followed…

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08 Jun

North Korean APT group targets email credentials in social engineering campaign

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

Researchers warn of a social engineering campaign by the North Korean APT group known as Kimsuky that attempts to steal email credentials and plant malware. The campaign, focused on experts in North Korean affairs, is part of this group’s larger intelligence gathering operations that target research centers, think tanks, academic institutions, and news outlets globally. “Kimsuky, a suspected North Korean advanced persistent threat (APT) group whose activities align with the interests of the North Korean…

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08 Jun

Barracuda Urges Replacing — Not Patching — Its Email Security Gateways

Information, Insights

It’s not often that a zero-day vulnerability causes a network security vendor to urge customers to physically remove and decommission an entire line of affected hardware — as opposed to just applying software updates. But experts say that is exactly what transpired this week with Barracuda Networks, as the company struggled to combat a sprawling malware threat which appears to have undermined its email security appliances in such a fundamental way that they can no…

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