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Finland Charges Psychotherapy Hacker With Extortion

Finland on Wednesday charged a hacker, accused of the theft of tens of thousands of records from psychotherapy patients, with over 21,000 counts of extortion, the national prosecutor announced. “The suspect is held on remand and has denied being guilty of the offenses,” the National Prosecution Authority said in a statement. The prosecutor is seeking a seven-year prison sentence for the defendant, Aleksanteri Kivimaki, who was formerly identified as Julius Kivimaki. In the 2018 breach…

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The Fake Browser Update Scam Gets a Makeover

One of the oldest malware tricks in the book — hacked websites claiming visitors need to update their Web browser before they can view any content — has roared back to life in the past few months. New research shows the attackers behind one such scheme have developed an ingenious way of keeping their malware from being taken down by security experts or law enforcement: By hosting the malicious files on a decentralized, anonymous cryptocurrency…

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Tech CEO Sentenced to 5 Years in IP Address Scheme

Amir Golestan, the 40-year-old CEO of the Charleston, S.C. based technology company Micfo LLC, has been sentenced to five years in prison for wire fraud. Golestan’s sentencing comes nearly two years after he pleaded guilty to using an elaborate network of phony companies to secure more than 735,000 Internet Protocol (IP) addresses from the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), the nonprofit which oversees IP addresses assigned to entities in the U.S., Canada, and parts…

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Prove Identity Snags $40M Funding for ID Verification Tech

Prove Identity, a late-stage startup with roots in the ecommerce mobile payments space, on Tuesday closed a $40 million funding round as it continues a major pivot to the digital identity verification and authentication market. The New York-based company, previously known as Payfone, said the latest investment round led by MassMutual Ventures and Capital One Ventures.  To date, Prove Identity has raised more than $215 million and rebranded itself as an enterprise vendor targeting banks, retailers…

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Signal Pours Cold Water on Zero-Day Exploit Rumors

Privacy-focused messaging firm Signal is pouring cold water on widespread rumors of a zero-day exploit in its popular encrypted chat app. “We have seen the vague viral reports alleging a Signal 0-day vulnerability. After responsible investigation *we have no evidence that suggests this vulnerability is real* nor has any additional info been shared via our official reporting channels,” Signal said late Sunday night. Rumors of a Signal zero-day started circulating over the weekend with what…

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Staying on top of security updates – Week in security with Tony Anscombe

Video Why keeping software up to date is a crucial security practice that should be followed by everyone from individual users to SMBs and large enterprises 13 Oct 2023 This week, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added five new vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog, citing solid evidence of active exploitation by attackers. The vulnerabilities, for which patches are available, affect Adobe Acrobat and Reader. One of them can be…

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CISA Now Flagging Vulnerabilities, Misconfigurations Exploited by Ransomware

The US cybersecurity agency CISA is stepping up its efforts to prevent ransomware by making it easier for organizations to learn about vulnerabilities and misconfigurations exploited in these attacks. As part of its Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot (RVWP) program launched in March, the agency has released two new resources to help organizations identify and eliminate security flaws and weaknesses known to be exploited by ransomware groups. “Through the RVWP, CISA determines vulnerabilities that are commonly…

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Juniper Networks Patches Over 30 Vulnerabilities in Junos OS

Networking equipment manufacturer Juniper Networks on Thursday announced patches for more than 30 vulnerabilities in Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved, including nine high-severity flaws. The most severe of these issues is an incorrect default permissions bug that allows an unauthenticated attacker with local access to a vulnerable device to create a backdoor with root privileges. Tracked as CVE-2023-44194 (CVSS score of 8.4), the flaw exists because a certain system directory has improper permissions associated…

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In Other News: Ex-Uber Security Chief Appeal, New Offerings From Tech Giants, Crypto Bounty

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 important 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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6 steps to getting the board on board with your cybersecurity program

Business Security How CISOs and their peers can better engage with boards to get long-term buy-in for strategic initiatives Phil Muncaster 11 Oct 2023  •  , 4 min. read Building a safer digital world requires action on several fronts. Initiatives like Cybersecurity Awareness Month (CSAM) are great opportunities to remind the general public of important best practices for password management, vulnerability patching and more. But while this can help make life tougher for cybercriminals targeting…

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