Tag: whatsapp
“Panda Shop” Takes “Smishing” to a New Level
‘Smishing’ - cybercrime involving sending deceptive SMS text messages - has just been taken to a new and dangerous level by China’s crime syndicates. Cybersecurity company, Resecurity, has discovered a devastating new smishing kit known as "Panda Shop," which comes complete with interactive manuals on how to use it.
The coming St Valentine’s Day cyber-massacre
This coming Friday is St Valentine’s Day and cybercriminals all over the world are rubbing their hands together with glee at the harvest they intend to reap. Developments in artificial intelligence and the widespread availability of off-the-shelf cybercrime software have enabled a new generation of cyber-scams specifically designed around St Valentine’s Day. In the recent past, cybercriminals typically used February 14th as an excuse to introduce themselves to lonely people with a view to patiently winning their victims’ trust in the short-term and cruelly robbing them of their savings in the longer term.
China’s Telecom Hack ‘Most Serious’ in US History
US Senator Mark Warner has called the Salt Typhoon hack, conducted by a group that has been linked to Chinese intelligence, “the most serious telecoms hack in our history.” In a recent interview with the NY Times, Warner also said that hackers were able to listen in on telephone calls and access text messages, emphasizing that “every major provider has been broken into.” This follows hard on the FBI releasing a joint statement with the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in which they announced that “China-affiliated actors have compromised networks at multiple telecommunications companies.”
Brussels backs down on mass surveillance
The European Union (EU) Council has made a last-minute withdrawal of the EU’s highly controversial planned “Chat Control” legislation, which was due to vote yesterday. This would have effectively introduced mass digital surveillance by means of fully automated real-time monitoring of all messaging and chats. The EU would appear to finally have heeded the harsh warnings that have been coming from the cybersecurity and communication sectors since the controversial ruling was first proposed in 2022. For the six months prior to Thursday’s decision, the EU Belgian Council presidency has been sitting on a deadlock between EU countries. Germany and Poland have heeded privacy experts' warnings of a potential police state. But Ireland and Spain are pressing for draconian new online laws to fight a rise in online child sexual abuse material that has grown since the start of Europe’s widespread lockdowns two and a half years ago.
Telegram chief’s arrest ignites global cyber-war
In the wake of Telegram owner and founder Pavel Durov’s shock arrest in Paris on Saturday, the French state is being hit by a growing wave of cyber-attacks designed to cause maximum embarrassment to beleaguered French president Emmanuel Macron. Durov was released from police custody in France on Wednesday and has been transferred to court for questioning ahead of a possible indictment that could result in a long prison sentence. A post on X by SaxX, reportedly the nom de Twitter of cybersecurity consultant Clément Domingo, listed 10 websites in France that bore the brunt of the first wave of cyber-attacks orchestrated by a new online hacktivist group, #opDurov.
Android Malware Posing as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Snapchat – May 15th
The SonicWall Capture Labs team reported on threat actors developing malicious, fake Android apps to impersonate Google, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and X. When downloaded by victims and once permissions have been granted to use them, illegitimate apps aim to steal sensitive data from Android devices, such as contacts, text messages, call logs, and passwords.
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.
‘Pig Butchering’ crypto-fraudsters net billions
‘Pig Butchering’, a new and particularly mean and ruthless form of cryptocurrency fraud that originated in China, has evolved into a global scourge. Sha zhu pan, which translates as “pig-butchering”, uses sophisticated fraudulent decentralized finance (DeFi) applications to bypass most of the defenses provided by mobile device vendors. WhatsApp is the preferred platform for targets outside China; Telegram is also used, as is Skype. According to cybersecurity firm Sophos: “Originating in China at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, ‘pig butchering’ scams have expanded globally ever since, becoming a multi-billion-dollar fraud phenomenon.”