Insights

NIST’s International Cybersecurity and Privacy Engagement Update – Trade Missions, Workshops, and Translations

Our Cybersecurity Awareness Month may have come to a close at the end of October — but the importance of enhancing cybersecurity and engaging with our international partners to enhance cybersecurity is at the forefront of our minds all year long. Here are some updates on our international work: NIST is also currently working with industry partners to amplify our international outreach — as an example, we recently hosted a webinar along with the Coalition…

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CISA Releases The Mitigation Guide: Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) Sector

Today, CISA released the Mitigation Guide: Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) Sector as a supplemental companion to the HPH Cyber Risk Summary, published July 19, 2023. This guide provides defensive mitigation strategy recommendations and best practices to combat pervasive cyber threats affecting this critical infrastructure sector. It also identifies known vulnerabilities for organizations to assess their networks and minimize risks before intrusions occur.  For more information and resources, HPH entities are encouraged to visit CISA’s…

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Alleged Extortioner of Psychotherapy Patients Faces Trial

Prosecutors in Finland this week commenced their criminal trial against Julius Kivimäki, a 26-year-old Finnish man charged with extorting a once popular and now-bankrupt online psychotherapy practice and thousands of its patients. In a 2,200-page report, Finnish authorities laid out how they connected the extortion spree to Kivimäki, a notorious hacker who was convicted in 2015 of perpetrating tens of thousands of cybercrimes, including data breaches, payment fraud, operating a botnet and calling in bomb…

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FBI and CISA Release Advisory on Scattered Spider Group

Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) on Scattered Spider—a cybercriminal group targeting commercial facilities sectors and subsectors. The advisory provides tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) obtained through FBI investigations as recently as November 2023. Scattered Spider threat actors typically engage in data theft for extortion using multiple social engineering techniques and have recently leveraged BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware alongside their usual TTPs.…

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CISA Requests Comment on Draft Secure Software Development Attestation Form

CISA has opened a 30-day Federal Register notice to receive public comment on the draft Secure Software Development Attestation Form. CISA developed this form in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget. With the Secure Software Development Attestation Form, federal departments and agencies will be able to obtain attestation of product security from a software producer before using the software on government systems. This form will establish a standardized process for the federal government…

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Citrix Releases Security Updates for Citrix Hypervisor

Citrix has released security updates addressing vulnerabilities in Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 CU1 LTSR. A cyber threat actor could exploit these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system. CISA encourages users and administrators to review Citrix Hypervisor Security Bulletin for CVE-2023-23583 and CVE-2023-46835 and apply the necessary updates.                                        

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CISA, FBI, and MS-ISAC Release Advisory on Rhysida Ransomware

Today, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), #StopRansomware: Rhysida Ransomware, to disseminate known Rhysida ransomware indicators of compromise (IOCs), detection methods, and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) identified through investigations as recently as September 2023. Observed as a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model, Rhysida actors have compromised organizations in education, manufacturing, information technology, and government…

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Microsoft Patch Tuesday, November 2023 Edition

Microsoft today released updates to fix more than five dozen security holes in its Windows operating systems and related software, including three “zero day” vulnerabilities that Microsoft warns are already being exploited in active attacks. The zero-day threats targeting Microsoft this month include CVE-2023-36025, a weakness that allows malicious content to bypass the Windows SmartScreen Security feature. SmartScreen is a built-in Windows component that tries to detect and block malicious websites and files. Microsoft’s security…

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Fortinet Releases Security Updates for FortiClient and FortiGate

Fortinet has released security advisories addressing vulnerabilities in FortiClient and FortiGate. Cyber threat actors may exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system. CISA encourages users and administrators to review the following Fortinet security advisories and apply the recommended updates: FG-IR-22-299: FortiClient (Windows) – Arbitrary file deletion from unprivileged users FG-IR-23-274: FortiClient (Windows) – DLL Hijacking via openssl.cnf FG-IR-23-385: curl and libcurl CVE-2023-38545 and CVE-2023-38546 vulnerabilities

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