Tag: phishing
Healthcare attack exposes 200,000 Los Angeles patient records
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has been breached by a cyber-attack that has compromised the personal information of over 200,000 private individuals. This is the latest breach in a series of major cyber-attacks on the healthcare sector. As with so many breaches, the Los Angeles County breach was the result of a phishing attack aimed at unsuspecting staff. The attack enabled a hacker to gain the log-in credentials of 53 public health employees and subsequently compromised the personal information of 200,000 patients. According to the LA County Department of Public Health: “The information identified in the potentially compromised e-mail accounts may have included DPH clients/employees/other individuals’ first and last name, date of birth, diagnosis, prescription, medical record number/patient ID, Medicare/Med-Cal number, health insurance information, Social Security Number, and other financial information.”
Microsoft Pauses AI Copilot+ Feature Rollout Due to Safety Concerns – June 14th
Microsoft revealed that it's placing the AI-powered Copilot+ feature for PCs on hold due to critical safety concerns. "We are adjusting the release model for Recall to leverage the expertise of the Windows Insider community to ensure the experience meets our high standards for quality and security," Microsoft said in an update.
New cyber threat from North Korea
Microsoft has identified a new North Korean threat actor, Moonstone Sleet. Also known as Storm-1789, Moonstone Sleet has set up fake companies and job opportunities to engage with potential targets and has even created a fully functioning computer game designed to trap the unwary. The potentially hostile nation-state of North Korea has long been suspected of resorting to cybercrime, targeting the West to fund its military build-up and commit ongoing cyber espionage against countries such as the US and the UK. But Moonstone Sleet is taking cyber-attacks on the West to new levels of sophistication, posing a threat to all organizations. Microsoft says Moonstone Sleet “uses both a combination of many tried-and-true techniques used by other North Korean threat actors and unique attack methodologies to target companies for its financial and cyberespionage objectives.”
341% Rise in Advanced Phishing Attacks – May 22nd
SlashNext's report revealed a 341% increase in malicious phishing links, business email compromise (BEC), Quishing, and attachment-based threats in the past six months. "The State of Phishing 2024" report also states that malicious email and messaging threats have increased by 856% over the past 12 months, amplified by the emergence of generative AI.
FBI warns of fresh North Korean hacking tactic
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a joint advisory warning of a new tactic being used by North Korean intelligence-gathering cyber group Kimsuky. The warning is squarely aimed at think tanks, academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and members of the media in Western countries. Despite North Korea’s previous reliance on revenue from international crime to finance its weapons and military programs, the FBI reports that Kimsuky’s role is intelligence gathering. Kimsuky exploits an improperly configured Domain Name System (DNS) to mimic legitimate email senders and hack targeted individuals. Without properly configured DNS Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) policies, malicious hackers can send spoofed emails as if they came from a legitimate domain’s email exchange.
Cybercrime continues to cold-shoulder AI
Organized cybercriminals continue to give artificial intelligence (AI) the cold shoulder. New research from US telecoms conglomerate Verizon confirms a report in November from cybersecurity firm Sophos revealing that cybercriminals judged AI to be “overrated, overhyped and redundant.” According to Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report: “We did keep an eye out for any indications of the use of the emerging field of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in attacks and the potential effects of those technologies, but nothing materialized in the incident data we collected globally…The number of mentions of GenAI terms alongside traditional attack types and vectors such as “phishing,” “malware,” “vulnerability,” and “ransomware” was shockingly low, barely breaching 100 cumulative mentions over the past two years.”
Police rounding up LabHost users
International law enforcement is hailing last week’s bust of LabHost, the world’s largest phishing-as-a-service platform, as a major victory in the war against cybercrime. In addition to multiple arrests, the Europol-co-ordinated investigation also unearthed the identities of around 10,000 users of the illegal site, many of whom are now already under police investigation. The year-long investigation, led by the UK’s London Metropolitan Police, resulted in the arrest of 37 suspects worldwide following Europol-coordinated raids across 70 addresses worldwide. Partners in the investigation also included Chainalysis, Intel 471, Microsoft, The Shadowserver Foundation, and Trend Micro.
Malware Found to Evade Ukranian Detection for 9 Years – April 18th
Cisco Talos revealed its findings, showing that select Ukranian government agencies have been infected with the 'OfflRouter' malware since 2015. Cisco Talos researcher, Vanja Svajcer said. "The virus is still active in Ukraine and is causing potentially confidential documents to be uploaded to publicly accessible document repositories."
US Department of Health and Human Services Falls Victim to Social Engineered Scam – April 11th
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported that they fell victim to a social engineering scam over the phone, imitating HHS' financial department, convincing them to hand over ID verification details. The threat actors, aside from imitating HHS' financial department, pulled the attack off by using local area codes and AI voice-changing technology to disguise themselves. The surrendered information could lead to threat actors bypassing multifactor authentication (MFA) security.
OpenAI’s voice cloning raises security concerns
OpenAI, the maker of Microsoft-backed consumer-facing artificial intelligence (AI) service ChatGPT, may have scored something of an own-goal with the unveiling of Voice Engine, billed as “a model for creating custom voices”. While OpenAI’s blog on Friday highlights the legitimate use of voice cloning, sometimes referred to as ‘deepfake voice’, such as providing reading assistance to non-readers and children, its widespread availability could soon metamorphose into a cybersecurity nightmare. Deepfake voice and video software are already being used by cybercriminals to mimic the voices of senior executives to commit financial fraud and other crimes. But the widespread availability and marketing of deepfake voice software is now set to make cybercrime a virtual cottage industry where any number can play. It will open the floodgates to a whole new generation of cybercriminals, terrorists, pranksters, and disgruntled employees.
Google to Remove Billions of Personal Data to Settle Privacy Case – April 2nd
Google agreed to remove billions of personal records amid the previously announced lawsuit, accusing the tech giant of illegal surveillance. The personal records belong to approximately 136 million Google Chrome users. To add to the settlement, Google will add more disclosures of the terms for their 'incognito mode' feature.
US Government Sanctions 7 Chinese Hackers – March 26th
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against seven Chinese nationals based in Wuhan, China, for their affiliation with the 'APT31' hacking group. According to OFAC, APT31 is a nation-state-backed Chinese hacking group focused on infiltrating critical infrastructure in Eastern Europe, France, and the US.