Tag: telecommunications
Cyber-attack raises SIM-swapping fears
Telecoms operator Orange Belgium has revealed that a cyber-attack in July resulted in the theft of data from 850,000 customer accounts. The telecoms operator has been quick to reassure its customers that no passwords, email addresses, bank or financial details were hacked.
UK defence ministry ‘loses’ 269 phones
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has egg all over its face following its admission that over 269 of its phones went missing between January 1 and February 27. This is a record number, even for the MoD, which lost 262 phones in total in 2023 and 2024. The astonishing total of how many phones were recorded as lost, misplaced or stolen in the first two months of this year only came to light in response to a question asked in the UK parliament by the shadow defence secretary, James Cartlidge. The fact that a security-conscious organization such as the MoD could lose track of so many devices only evidences the increasing overlap between cybersecurity and physical security. Once a device such as a smartphone is in the hands of a threat actor, it can provide a portal to enable all kinds of cyber-attacks.
US takes on Chinese hackers
A man alleged to be behind the recent Salt Typhoon US telecoms network and US Treasury department breaches has been sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Yin Kecheng “has been a cyber actor for over a decade and is affiliated with the People’s Republic of China Ministry of State Security (MSS)”, says the Treasury Office. Yin is alleged to have had direct and associated involvement in both breaches. Two key individuals in President Donald Trump’s new administration, Elon Musk, and the president’s nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, have specifically cited the two devastating breaches as the prime examples of why the nation’s cybersecurity strategy is in pressingly urgent need of being overhauled.
FBI unplugs Chinese hackers
The US Justice Department and FBI have completed a law enforcement operation to delete Chinese malware from approximately 4,258 U.S.-based computers and networks. The international operation was led by French law enforcement and France-based private cybersecurity company Sekoia.io. According to court documents unsealed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a group of hackers paid by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), known as “Mustang Panda” and “Twill Typhoon,” used a version of PlugX malware to infect, control, and steal information from victim computers. Since at least 2014, Mustang Panda hackers have infiltrated thousands of computer systems in campaigns targeting US victims, European and Asian governments and businesses, and Chinese dissident groups.
Middle Eastern Governments Targeted by Evasive “CR4T” Backdoor – April 19th
Kaspersky reported on their discovery of the cyber campaign labeled "DuneQuixote," which targets Middle Eastern government agencies through a sophisticated backdoor to spread malware. The backdoor, "CR4T," is a C/C++-based memory-only implant that enables threat actors to access consoles for command-line execution. This can lead to uploading and downloading illicit files onto affected systems.
Millions of AT&T Data at Risk from Data Breach – April 1st
AT&T sent out a mass announcement to its customers, informing them that a dataset containing sensitive data from 7.6M current users and 65.4M former users is for sale on the dark web. To mitigate the breach, AT&T reset the passcodes of all its current users and will constantly communicate with customers to further protect accounts.
Ukrainian Hacking Group Dismantles Russian Telco – January 11th
A source informed Reuters that the Ukrainian spy agency-backed "Blackjack" hacking group successfully deleted 20TB of data from M9 Telecom, massively disrupting their operations. Seemingly coming as a retaliation attack to the "largest telco cyber attack in history" on Ukrainian telco, Kyivstar, the attack on M9 Telecom shut down internet use for thousands in Moscow.
3,500 Cybercriminals Arrested by Law Enforcement – December 21st
Over 3,500 cybercriminals were arrested and $300M worth of assets were seized by Europol, the South Korean government, along with cooperation from law enforcement agencies from 34 countries on a large-scale sting operation labeled "HAECHI IV". The operation spanning from July to December 2023, targeted predominantly email, e-commerce, and investment cyber fraudsters.
Cybersecurity Market To Reach $478B by 2030 – November 13th
Despite recent talk of a tech slowdown that reaches cyber, Allied Market Research reported that the market is poised to grow to $478.68B by 2030, with a 9.5% annual growth rate. The data predicting the cybersecurity market's growth was taken from Allied Market Research's “Cyber Security Market by Component, Solution, Deployment Model, Enterprise Size, and Industry Vertical: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021–2030”.