Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin speaks on Friday to Sky News Australia.

Optus Attacker Halts AU$1.5 Million Extortion Attempt

Jeremy Kirk • September 27, 2022

The person who stole nearly 10 million customer records from Australian telco Optus withdrew their AU$1.5 million extortion attempt after suddenly releasing 10,000 customer records. Also, Optus says it has not paid a ransom as it grapples with one of the largest data breaches in the country.

Cybercrime

Uber Says Lapsus$ Hacker Breached Its Internal Systems

Latest

Cybercrime

Would-Be Software Pirates Served Malware Through 'NullMixer'

Prajeet Nair • September 27, 2022

A new malware dropper uncovered by Kaspersky targets would-be users of pirated software with a slew of nasty infections including backdoors, Trojan-Banker programs, downloaders, spyware and more. The cybersecurity company calls the dropper "NullMixer."

Cloud Security

SentinelOne's Tomer Weingarten on Cloud, XDR and Analytics

Michael Novinson • September 27, 2022

Identity protection, XDR, data analytics and cloud security have been SentinelOne's biggest investment areas, says CEO Tomer Weingarten. Cloud has become the fastest-growing part of SentinelOne's business, appealing even to customers who might have chosen a different vendor for endpoint security.

Fraud Management & Cybercrime

LockBit Publishes Stolen Data as Hospital Rejects Extortion

Mihir Bagwe • September 26, 2022

Ransomware hackers made good on a threat to publish patient and staff data stolen from a French hospital after administrators said they refused on principal to pay out. François Braun, French minister of social affairs and health, said that the government will "not give in to these criminals."

Governance & Risk Management

Code42's Joe Payne on Why Source Code Theft Is So Prevalent

Michael Novinson • September 26, 2022

Too often when software developers change jobs, they take source code they've written with them, feeling the code belongs to them even if it belongs to an employer. Code42's Joe Payne shares the challenges of detecting source code theft and ways to protect intellectual property wherever it resides.

Cyberwarfare / Nation-State Attacks

Feds: Chinese Hacking Group Undeterred by Indictment

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee • September 26, 2022

Two federal indictments against APT41, a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group, haven't slowed down its operations, the U.S. government acknowledges in a warning telling the healthcare sector to be vigilant about the threat actor. The hackers are believed to be at large, likely in China.

Finance & Banking

Assessing Growing Cyberthreats to Africa's Financial Sector

Anna Delaney • September 26, 2022

Financial services firms in Africa are becoming bigger cyber targets as they expand into new mobile payment and financial inclusion products. Rob Dartnall of Security Alliance explains why these firms need to invest in information sharing, training and new cybersecurity practices to avoid breaches.

Cybercrime

Metador Threat Group Targets Telcos, ISPs and Universities

Prajeet Nair • September 24, 2022

Researchers uncovered a never-before-seen advanced threat actor dubbed Metador targeting telecommunications, internet service providers and universities in several countries in the Middle East and Africa for cyberespionage. They found two different Windows-based malware platforms.

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

HHS HC3 Warns Health Sector of Monkeypox Phishing Schemes

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee • September 23, 2022

Scammers are taking advantage of the monkeypox virus outbreak to launch phishing campaigns targeting healthcare providers and public health organizations to harvest credentials, the Department of Health and Human Services' Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center says.

Governance & Risk Management

Fortinet, VMware, Cisco Drive SD-WAN Gartner Magic Quadrant

Michael Novinson • September 23, 2022

Perennial leaders Fortinet and VMware and a surging Cisco set themselves apart from the pack in SD-WAN, according to the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant. Fortinet and VMware again took the gold and silver in ability to execute, with Cisco leapfrogging both Versa and Palo Alto to capture the bronze.

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

Sweepstakes Spam Hackers Used Microsoft Infrastructure

Prajeet Nair • September 23, 2022

Hackers behind a campaign of deceptive sweepstakes spam hacked their way into Azure cloud accounts that lacked multifactor authentication and obtained admin privileges for Exchange servers. Microsoft advises turning on MFA and other measures such as conditional access.

Multi-factor & Risk-based Authentication

ISMG Editors: How a Teen's Hack of Uber Adds to MFA Crisis

Anna Delaney • September 23, 2022

In the latest weekly update, ISMG editors discuss the industrywide implications of a teenager hacking into Uber's internal systems, key trends in the new Gartner SD-WAN Magic Quadrant report, and how ethics and security culture are center stage due to recent CISO revelations at Uber and Twitter.

Fraud Management & Cybercrime

Ransomware's Future: A Continuing Money Spinner

Jeremy Kirk • September 23, 2022

What is the future of ransomware, and is it going to continue with the same intensity of the last few years? Michael DeBolt of Intel 471 says anti-ransomware efforts, including government action and better cybersecurity practices, are working. But ransomware isn't going away soon.