Tag: government
EU AI Act to act as a template for other regions
The European Union (EU) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, which came into effect earlier this month, is now set to act as a template for other regions, such as the US. The American government has already drafted an AI Bill of Rights, which aims to create a similar framework regulating AI. However, while governments are rightly concerned about the personal privacy aspect of the universal adoption of AI, some have a dangerously bullish view of the new technology’s potential. Despite a deluge of hilarious howlers, such as Google’s AI-driven images of African Vikings and American founding fathers, politicians anxious not to be left behind in the tech race swallowed Silicon Valley’s AI hype hook, line, and sinker.
America’s enemies strive to sway the US presidential election
Nations hostile to America, primarily Russia and China, are currently doubling down on their efforts to influence the outcome of the upcoming US elections. So far, their efforts appear to be directed at preventing Donald Trump from winning a second term as president, possibly fearing a Republican victory could herald the US taking a tougher stance on international affairs. According to an extensive nine-page Microsoft threat intelligence report: “Foreign malign influence concerning the 2024 US election started off slowly but has steadily picked up pace over the last six months due initially to Russian operations, but more recently from Iranian activity.”
Russian gang shuts down two Indiana counties
Clay County, Indiana, in the US, is sounding a Local Disaster Declaration in the wake of a “criminal ransomware attack” that occurred last week, following reports of increasing cyber-attacks on local governments across America. “Clay County local government suffered a significant ransomware attack in the early morning hours of July 9, 2024. This has resulted in an inability to provide critical services required for the daily operation of all offices of the Clay County Courthouse, Community Corrections, and Clay County Probation,” said the county in an official statement.
Public sector phishing attacks increase fourfold
With national elections coming up later this year, US public-sector organizations are experiencing unprecedented levels of phishing attacks designed to dupe government staff into opening weaponized links in fake emails. According to email security firm Abnormal Security: “Between May 2023 and May 2024, public sector organizations experienced an astounding 360 percent growth in phishing attacks. While phishing tends to consistently increase each year and regularly accounts for the majority of advanced threats, this level of growth is extraordinary.”
64% to Look for New Cybersecurity Jobs in the Next 12 Months – June 13th
According to a new Bitdefender survey, 64% of cybersecurity professionals are considering a shift to a new job in the sector within the next 12 months. The 2024 Cybersecurity Assessment Report also discovered that 57% of respondents experienced a data breach in the last 12 months, mainly in the UK, Germany, and Singapore.
Adobe Applies Patches to Critical Flaws – June 12th
Yesterday, June 11th, Adobe announced that they rolled out security patches for 6 critical vulnerabilities affecting Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, and Illustrator. According to Adobe, the vulnerabilities could have led to successful arbitrary code execution and/or memory leaks in the current user's context.
TikTok Confirms Account Hack Targeting CNN – June 5th
In a public statement, Alex Haurek, TikTok's spokesperson, announced the hack on CNN's TikTok account, among other high-profile accounts. "We have taken measures to stop this attack and prevent it from happening in the future. We're working directly with affected account owners to restore access if needed," he added.
US and UK call time on Silicon Valley
A clarion call has gone out on both sides of the Atlantic for digital technologies to be made secure by design rather than by default. At San Francisco’s RSA cyber conference earlier this month, Jen Easterly, the director of CISA, the US Cyber Defense Agency, called for software to be made far more secure. This week, Ollie Whitehouse, the CTO of the NCSC, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, also echoed her thoughts, demanding that the technology industry make its products more cyber-secure from the start.
Rise in Tax-Related Phishing Scams Detected – March 22nd
Microsoft's Threat Intelligence arm issued a warning on the rise of new, sophisticated tax phishing scams that could lead to stolen personal and financial data. These tax-related phishing scams are initiated by impersonating trusted employers, tax agencies, and payment processors. Victims click on a malicious attachment, which leads to a believable landing page designed to capture sensitive information.
Chinese ‘Earth Krahang’ Group Compromised 70 Organizations – March 20th
Trend Micro reported on an advanced persistent threat actor linked to the Chinese government called ‘Earth Krahang’, compromising over 70 organizations, with a focus on governments. Focusing on cyber espionage, 'Earth Krahang' and its attacks target government agencies, affecting 48 government organizations across Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Africa.
Google’s Improvements to Chrome’s ‘Safe Browsing’ Mode – March 18th
Google announced major security-focused revamps to Chrome's 'Safe Browsing' mode, which enables the service to work while checking against a server-side malware-site list in real-time. The added safety feature to Google Chrome's 'Safe Browsing' mode is a massive improvement compared to the browsing mode cross-checking against lists of malware-infected sites that were manually added every two hours.
Suspected Hackers Behind Meta Social Media Temporary Shutdown – March 6th
Cyberint reported that three threat actor groups (Skynet, Godzilla, and Anonymous Sudan) are suspected to be behind the temporary shutdown of Meta social media platforms; Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Despite the claims from the three threat actor groups on the Meta shutdown across various Telegram groups, there is still suspicion that these claims could be a hoax.