Global Cyber News Digest

FBI warns on dating, romance Internet scams

Source: FOX News
By: Brooke Crothers
Published: August 8, 2019

* The dating and romance scams involve financial fraud and recruiting so-called =93money mules,=94 the FBI said in a public service announcement this week. * The stats back up the growing threat. While in 2017 more than 15,000 people filed complaints with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) saying they were victims of confidence/romance fraud with reported losses of $211 million, in 2018, the number of victims jumped to more than 18,000, with more than $362 million in losses, an increase of more than 70 percent over the previous year, according to the FBI.

Fort Atkinson mindful of increasing threat of cyber attacks

Source: Daily Union
By: Henry Redman
Published: August 8, 2019

* Typically, a city the size of Fort Atkinson doesn't have to face the same problems with crime that larger cities deal with on a daily basis.
* Cities keep a large amount of important data such as employee payroll information, taxpayer information and utility customer information; cities crunched for cash might not have the funds to keep their systems as up to date as possible and cities often will pay a ransom just to get back to the important business of governing.

How to Recover from a Cyber Attack

Source: IndustryWeek
By: Traci Spencer
Published: August 8, 2019

* Recovering from a cybersecurity incident can be a daunting undertaking, especially if you've lost information that's critical to running your manufacturing facility.
* Take an honest look at your processes, procedures, and technology solutions and assess what improvements you need to make to reduce your risks.

Ransomware attack in Lincoln county for 2nd time

Source: WCNC
By: Xavier Walton
7August 2019

* It's deja vu for Lincoln County officials after they experienced their second ransomware attack in as many weeks.
* The first attack happened on July 26. Authorities said hackers held hostage the sheriff's office's computers and website.
* The second strike took place Tuesday night and crippled Lincoln County Communications. At this point, Lincoln County is not aware of any ransom requests made by the hacker.

Security Vulnerabilities Are Increasingly Putting Kids at Risk

Source: Threat Post
By: Lindsey O'Donnell
Published: August 7, 2019

* A kid's tablet with security vulnerabilities is only the latest privacy faux pas in a children's connected device.
* IoT devices are increasingly coming into the hands of children - from connected watches, to Amazon Echo smart speakers - but security experts worry that these are opening up children's data to future privacy breaches.

Hack computers to steal someone's identity in China? Why? You can just buy one from a bumpkin for, like, $3k

Source: The Register
By: Iain Thomson
Published: August 7, 2019

* Exploit an 3l33t zero-day and reverse-shell that backend DB proxy server... or simply pay this farmer off * Black Hat Black Hat founder Jeff Moss opened this year's shindig in Las Vegas with tales of quite how odd the hacking culture in China is.

Warshipping: Attackers can access corporate networks through the mailroom

Source: HelpNetSecurity
By: Zeljka Zorz
Published: August 7, 2019

* Most infosecurity professionals have heard of wardialing and wardriving, but what about warshipping?
* The expression has been coined by IBM X-Force Red researchers to describe a new attack vector, which consists of covertly delivering to the target's premises small devices that can be used to gain access to the home or office wireless network and assets connected to it.

Hacker Bribed AT&T Employees to Unlock Millions of Company Phones, DOJ Says

Source: The Daily Beast
By: Blake Montgomery
Published: August 6, 2019

* A Pakistani man allegedly bribed AT&T employees in a suburb of Seattle with more than $1 million to illegally access 2 million of their company's phones from 2012 to 2017 in a complex reselling scheme, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
* "This defendant thought he could safely run his bribery and hacking scheme from overseas, making millions of dollars while he induced young workers to choose greed over ethical conduct," said U.S. Attorney Brian Moran.

DHS warns of potential cyber scams tied to El Paso, Dayton shootings

Source: The Hill
By: Maggie Miller
Published: August 6, 2019

* The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday warned internet users to watch out for potential "malicious cyber activity" that seeks to take advantage of the shootings over the weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
* Specifically, DHS's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recommended that users should "exercise caution" in opening emails or email attachments that refer to either of the shooting incidents, which together led to the deaths of more than 30 people and to dozens of injuries.
* CISA noted that these emails and attachments could direct users to malware-infected websites.

Online skimming: An emerging threat that requires urgent awareness and attention

Source: HelpNetSecurity
By: FNU LNU
Published: August 6, 2019

* A growing threat that all merchants and service providers should be aware of is web-based or online skimming. These attacks infect e-commerce websites with malicious code, known as sniffers or JavaScript (JS) sniffers and are very difficult to detect, according to PCI Security Standards Council and the Retail & Hospitality ISAC. * Once a website is infected, payment card information is =93skimmed=94 during a transaction without the merchant or consumer being aware that the information has been compromised.