CyberWire Daily

Japan calls out China for cyberespionage. Colonial Pipeline restores service, as organizations look to their own vulnerability to ransomware. The DarkSide gang may have said it’s going out of business, but it’s at least as likely, probably likelier, that they’re either rebranding or absconding. Two other gangs are in business: Conti is hitting Irish health organizations, and Avaddon says it compromised insurer AXA. (AXE-uh) Rick Howard looks at new responsibilities for CISOs. Our guest is Samantha Madrid of Juniper Networks on establishing automation and security integrations seamlessly. And a spy gets fifteen years in a US prison.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/94

Technical account manager Dominique West takes us on her career journey from engineering to cybersecurity. Even though her undergraduate degree was in information systems, Dominique did not learn about cybersecurity until she personally experienced credit card fraud. She had a range of positions from working the help desk in an art museum to vulnerability management and cloud security. Dominique mentions remembering feeling isolated as the only black person and one of few women in many situations. These experiences spurred her into action to create Security in Color to help others navigate their way into cybersecurity and share resources are available to them. Dominique recommends those interested in cybersecurity to go ahead and get your hands dirty out there; figure out what you like and what you don't like and do community. We thank Dominique for sharing her story with us.

The Zero Trust security model asserts that organizations should not trust anything within its perimeters and instead must inspect every traffic and verify anything connecting to its systems before granting access. While Zero Trust is generating a lot of buzz in the cyber world, it’s often hard to determine the implications of this security model. 

In this episode of CyberWire-X, guests will discuss the origins of the model, cut through the hype, and discuss what you really need to know to design, implement, and monitor an effective Zero Trust approach. John Kindervag of ON2IT Cybersecurity, also known as the "Creator of Zero Trust," shares his insights with the CyberWire's Rick Howard, and Tom Clavel of sponsor ExtraHop joins Kapil Raina from their partner CrowdStrike to offer their thoughts to the CyberWire's Dave Bittner.

Guest LTC Erica Mitchell from Army Cyber Institute joins us to talk about their infrastructure resiliency research project called Jack Voltaic. The Army Cyber Institute’s (ACI’s) Jack Voltaic (JV) project enables the institute to study incident response gaps alongside assembled partners to identify interdependencies among critical infrastructure and provide recommendations. JV provides an innovative, bottom‐up approach to critical infrastructure resilience in two unique ways. Whereas most federal efforts to improve resiliency focus on regional or multistate emergency response, JV focuses on cities and municipalities where critical infrastructure and populations are most heavily populated. Furthermore, JV deviates from other cybersecurity and national preparedness exercises in that it builds around areas of interest nominated by the participants. Although JV events include national-level capabilities and resources, they are conceptually driven by the concerns of the cities and their infrastructure partners. Through this approach, the ACI, the Army, and the Department of Defense (DoD) are able to harvest insights about potential roles, dependencies, partners, and support requests, while cities are able to discover potential capability gaps and expand their critical infrastructure information-sharing networks before a potential disaster strikes.

Research links:

• Jack Voltaic Cyber Research Project
• Jack Voltaic 3.0 Cyber Research Report Executive Summary

DarkSide says it’s feeling the heat and is going out of business, but some of its affiliates are still out and active, for now at least. A popular hackers’ forum says it will no longer accept ransomware ads. The Bash Loader supply chain compromise afflicts another known victim. Colonial Pipeline resumes delivery of fuel. Irresponsible disclosure of vulnerabilities hands attackers a big advantage. Carole Theriault looks at NFTs. Joe Carrigan wonders about the return on your ransomware payment investment. And there’s a lot of Amazon-themed vishing going on out there.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/93

The US Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity is out. Colonial Pipeline partially resumed delivery of fuel yesterday evening, as its preparation for and response to the cyberattack it sustained receive scrutiny. The DarkSide’s extortion of the US pipeline company seems likely to prompt regulatory revision. DarkSide operators say they’ve gotten busy against other targets. Our own Rick Howard speaks with Aaron Sant-Miller, Chief Scientist at BAH, on developments in artificial intelligence. And Verizon’s Database Investigations Report is out. I check in with Verizon’s Chris Novak for highlights from the DBIR.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/92

FireEye provides an overview of the DarkSide ransomware-as-a-service operation. Forcepoint suggests a connection between DarkSide and other ransomware gangs, notably REvil. Colonial Pipeline continues its recovery efforts from the cyber attack it sustained. As ransomware grows more common, CISA offers advice on how to prepare defenses. A new Android banking Trojan is in circulation. Cecelia Marinier from RSA on the RSAC Innovation Sandbox. Bret Arsenault from Microsoft previews his new Microsoft CISO podcast. And yesterday, of course, was Patch Tuesday.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/91

Updates on the DarkSide ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline. Other ransomware strains, including Avaddon and Babuk are out, and dangerous. Guidelines on 5G threat vectors. Lemon Duck cryptojackers are looking for vulnerable Exchange Server instances. A bogus, malicious Chrome app is circulating by smishing. Ben Yelin examines an online facial recognition platform. Our guest is Mathieu Gorge of VigiTrust on the privacy risks of video and audio recordings. And an update on an espionage trial.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/90

Colonial Pipeline shuts down some systems after a ransomware attack, disrupting refined petroleum product delivery in the Eastern US. We’ll check in with Sergio Caltagirone from Dragos for his analysis. Other ransomware attacks hit city and Tribal governments. Joint UK-US alert on SVR tactics issued, and the SVR may have changed its methods accordingly. SolarWinds revised downward its estimate of the number of customers affected by its compromise. Rick Howard previews his CSO Perspectives podcasts on risk metrics. Four guilty pleas in “bulletproof hosting” RICO case.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/89

Good security gets out of the way of users while getting in the way of adversaries. Passwords fail on both accounts. Users feel the pain of adhering to complex password policies. Adversaries simply copy, break, or brute-force their way in. Why, then, have we spent decades with passwords as the primary factor for authentication?From the very first theft of cleartext passwords to the very latest bypass of a second-factor, time and again improvements in defenses are met with improved attacks. The industry needs to trust passwordless authentication.What holds us back from getting rid of passwords? Trust.

In this episode of CyberWire-X, guests will discuss a framework of technical controls to ensure only trusted sessions authenticate, regardless of faults or failures in any one factor. We will share a path forward for increasing trust in passwordless authentication. Nikk Gilbert of CISO of Cherokee Nation Businesses and retired CSO Gary McAlum share their insights with Rick Howard, and Advisory CISO of Duo Security at Cisco Wolfgang Goerlich from sponsor Duo Security offers his thoughts with Dave Bittner.

VP of Global Solutions Architecture at eSentire Tia Hopkins shares her career journey and talks about its beginnings in engineering and pivots into cybersecurity leadership. Tia shares how she liked to take things apart when she was young, including the brand new computer her mother bought her and how she was fascinated by all the pieces of it spread all across her bedroom floor. As she started studying engineering, Tia learned she was more of a technologist than an engineer. Tia got her start in technology without completing her formal education by what she says is "grit and right place, right time." Once she was in a management role, Tia wanted to validate her knowledge, experience, and ability and not only completed her bachelor's degree, but also two master's degrees. Tia recently started an organization to encourage and grow interest, confidence, and leaders of women of color in the field of cybersecurity. We thank Tia for sharing her story with us.

Guest Mike McLellan from Secureworks joins us to share his team's insights about SUPERNOVA and threat group attribution. Similarities between the SUPERNOVA activity and a previous compromise of the network suggest that SPIRAL was responsible for both intrusions and reveal information about the threat group.

In late 2020, Secureworks® Counter Threat Unit™ (CTU) researchers observed a threat actor exploiting an internet-facing SolarWinds server to deploy the SUPERNOVA web shell. Additional analysis revealed similarities to intrusion activity identified on the same network earlier in 2020, suggesting the two intrusions are linked. CTU™ researchers attribute the intrusions to the SPIRAL threat group. Characteristics of the activity suggest the group is based in China.

The research can be found here:

• SUPERNOVA Web Shell Deployment Linked to SPIRAL Threat Group

CISA outlines the FiveHands ransomware campaign. Circumstantial evidence suggests that some cybergangs are either controlled by or are doing contract work for Russian intelligence services. US Federal agencies turn their attention to software supply chain security. Scripps Health continues its recovery from cyberattack. Insecure home routers in the UK. Daniel Prince from Lancaster University has thoughts on cybersecurity education. Our guest Rupesh Chokshi from AT&T has suggestions for organizations who want to get SASE, but don’t know where to begin. And Ryuk ransomware throws a wrench in research at a European biomedical institute.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/88

Some possible insight into what a Chinese cyberespionage unit is up to. Hackathons, from Beijing to Washington (the one sponsored by Beijing developed an iPhone zero-day used against China’s Uyghurs). Panda Stealer is after crypto wallets. Microsoft's Kevin Magee reflects on lessons learned in the last year. Our own Rick Howard speaks with Todd Neilson from World Wide Technology on Zero Trust. And Peloton deals with a leaky API.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/87

Belgium sustains a DDoS attack that knocks parliamentary sessions offline. New malware strains identified in phishing campaign. Threat actors look for ways of working around multi-factor authentication and open authentication. COVID-19 scams continue online, and attract law enforcement attention. Joe Carrigan describes a compromised password manager. Our guests are Linda Gray Martin & Britta Glade from RSA with a preview of this year’s RSAC conference. And how secure was your high school’s election for homecoming court.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/86

Pulse Secure patches its VPN, and CISA for one thinks you ought to apply those fixes. Apple has also patched two zero-days in its Webkit engine. Scripps Health recovers from what’s said to be a ransomware attack. Researchers describe Genesis, a criminal market for digital fingerprints. Ben Yelin described a grand jury subpoena for Signal user data. Our guest is Ryan Weeks from Datto on the need for cyber resilience in the MSP community. And Japan works on cybersecurity for this summer’s upcoming Olympic Games.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/85

Possible data exposure at the Philippines’ Office of the Solicitor General. In the US, FISA surveillance targets dropped during 2020’s pandemic. The Babuk gang says it’s giving up encryption to concentrate on doxing. A new version of the Buer loader is out in the wild. Rick Howard looks at security in the energy sector. Betsy Carmelite from Booz Allen Hamilton on telemedicine security concerns. The US Justice Department undertakes a review of its cybersecurity policies and strategy.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/84

CEO and co-founder of SafeGuard Cyber Jim Zufoletti shares his journey starting out as an intrepreneur and transformation into a serial entrepreneur in cybersecurity. Jim shares how he got his feet wet working for others as an intrepreneur and catching the entrepreneurial bug in the mid-90s. He has co-founded a number of companies starting with FreeMarkets, a B2B ecommerce company. After that went public and Jim moved on, he went to business school at the University of Virginia and crossed paths with his future co-founder of SafeGuard Cyber. At UVA, Jim was inspired by a professor who exposed him to the effectuation approach to entrepreneurship, Along those lines, Jim recommends those looking to start a business in cyber build their experience portfolio. Jim took what he learned to help build where he is today. His company helps protect the humans in this new digital world with the current work from home environment. And, we thank Jim for sharing his story with us.

Guest Jen Miller-Osborn from Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 joins Dave to discuss their 2021 Unit 42 Ransomware Threat Report, which highlights a surge in ransomware demands based on a global analysis of the threat landscape in 2020. To evaluate the current state of the ransomware threat landscape, the Unit 42 threat intelligence team and the Crypsis incident response team collaborated to analyze the ransomware threat landscape in 2020, with global data from Unit 42 as well as US, Canada, and Europe data from Crypsis. The report details the top ransomware variants, average ransomware payments, ransomware predictions, and actionable next steps to immediately reduce ransomware risk.

The report can be found here:

• 2021 Unit 42 Ransomware Threat Report

The US Government expands its investigation into Pulse Secure VPN compromises. Microsoft discloses its discovery of BadAlloc IoT and OT vulnerabilities. Someone’s distributing Purple Lambert spyware. Chinese intelligence services seem to be backdooring the Russian defense sector. Financially motivated criminals are exploiting SonicWall VPN vulnerabilities. A look at the emerging criminal market for deepfakes. Josh Ray from Accenture Security on Why Cybersecurity Community Service Matters. Our guest Manish Gupta of ShiftLeft looks at cyber attacks on the CI/CD pipeline. And the World Health Organization attracted impersonators early this month. Again.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/83

An API bug may have exposed credit ratings. A study offers advice for the new anti-ransomware task forces emerging in the US and elsewhere. Israelis warned to keep their cyber-guard up on Quds Day next week. Russia says it would spot any US cyberattack before it hit. The US Congress considers establishing surge cyber response capacity. Dinah Davis from Arctic Wolf has tips on preventing RDP attacks. Rick Howard speaks with Rehan Jalil from Securiti on GDPR. NSA offers advice for security OT networks. 

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/82

Ghostwriter is back, and has moved its “chaos troops” against fresh targets in Poland and Germany. The Naikon APT has a new secondary backdoor. FluBot, temporarily inhibited by police raids, is back, and expanding its infection of Android devices across Europe. Microsoft is rethinking how much, and with whom, it wants to share vulnerability information. Joe Carrigan examines a phone scam targeting Amazon Prime customers. Our guest is Tzury Bar Yochay of Reblaze on open-source software and scalability. And Signal’s discovery of Cellebrite issues is finding its way into court.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/81

FBI, CISA, detail SVR cyber activities. Nine US Combatant Commands see declassification as an important tool in information warfare. A convergence of OPSEC and privacy? Apple fixes a significant Gatekeeper bypass flaw. Babuk ransomware hits DC police. A new twist in credential harvesting. Ben Yelin considers the FTCs stance on racially biased algorithms. Our guest Tony Howlett from SecureLink tracks the evolution of threat hunting. And that was no hack; it was just a careless tweet.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/80

Zoom prankers deceive European members of parliament with a deepfake video call. A password manager is compromised. Europol took a good whack at Emotet yesterday, removing the botnet’s malware from infected machines. US response to the Holiday Bear campaign receives cautious good reviews. A cyberattack interferes with cancer treatments. Caleb Barlow from CynergisTek on emergency notification systems. Rick Howard previews the latest CSO Perspectives podcast focused on the healthcare vertical. And movie-themed phishbait chummed the waters around yesterday’s Oscars.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/79

Proliferation of data continues to outstrip our ability to manage and secure data. The gap is growing and alarming,especially given the explosion of non-traditional smart devices generating, storing, and sharing information. As edge computing grows, more devices are generating and transmitting data than there are human beings walking the planet. 

High-speed generation of data is here to stay. Are we equipped as people, as organizations, and as a global community to handle all this information? Current evidence suggests not. The International Data Corporation (IDC) predicted in its study, Data Age 2025, that enterprises will need to rely on machine learning, automation and machine-to-machine technologies to stay ahead of the information tsunami, while efficiently determining and iterating on high-value data from the source in order to drive sound business decisions. 

That sounds reasonable, but many well-known names in the industry are trying - and failing - to solve this problem. The struggle lies in the pivot from “big data,” to “fast data,” the ability to extract meaningful, actionable intelligence from a sea of information, and do it quickly. Most of the solutions available are either prohibitively expensive, not scalable, or both.

In this episode of CyberWire-X, guests will discuss present and future threats posed by an unmanageable data avalanche, as well as emerging technologies that may lead public and private sector efforts through the developing crisis. Don Welch of Penn State University and Steve Winterfeld of Akamai share their insights with Rick Howard, and Egon Rinderer from sponsor Tanium offers his thoughts with Dave Bittner.

Senior security researcher from Secureworks Marcelle Lee shares her career journey into cybersecurity and how she helps solve hard problems in her daily work. Marcelle came into cybersecurity not through any traditional path. She describes her route from a different field and starting in cyber at her local community college through a grant program. Marcelle took full advantage of the opportunities she had and grew her career from there. She recommends finding your specialty, but continue to build other skills. As a woman in the field, she is a strong proponent of diversity and encouraging others to find what excites them. And, we thank Marcelle for sharing her story with us.

Guest Jason Passwaters of Intel 471 joins us to discuss his team's research into bulletproof hosting (BPH). The research team at Intel 471 defined what a typical BPH service offers and how these services can be stopped in order to limit the damage they have on enterprises, businesses and digital society itself. They examined some popular malware families that actors host or leverage via BPH services. While much more goes into a cybercriminal’s full operation, it would be vastly more difficult to pull off without the ability to host malware and be free from impunity. Finally, they listed of some of the BPH providers that are firmly entrenched in the cybercrime underground and how they give support to other cybercriminal enterprises. By recognizing their behaviors, security teams can begin to take measures to figure out who the actors are, how they operate and what their infrastructure looks like. By doing so, organizations can begin to uncover ways to proactively counter maliciously-used infrastructure before criminals have a chance to launch their attacks. 

The blog posts can be found here:

• Hiding in plain sight: Bulletproof Hosting’s dueling forms
• Bulletproof hosting: How cybercrime stays resilient
• Here’s who is powering the bulletproof hosting market

Ransomware operators begin timing their releases for more reputational damage. Another gang is equipping its ransomware with scripts to disable defenses, and yet another is now into stock shorting. The US Postal Inspection Service is apparently monitoring social media. GCHQ’s head warns of the dangers of becoming dependent on China’s technology. Johannes Ullrich from SANS on Commodity Malware Targeting Enterprises. Our guest is Etay Maor from Cato with some of the clever ways criminals avoid detection. And it’s not just sharks interested in undersea cables.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/78

Agencies continue to respond to the Pulse Secure VPN vulnerabilities. Updates on the SolarWinds compromise show that it remains a threat, and that it was designed to escape detection and, especially, attribution. A cryptojacking botnet is exploiting vulnerable Microsoft Exchange Server instances. Facebook takes down two Palestinian groups distributing spyware. Ransomware draws more attention. Craig Williams from Cisco Talos looks at cheating the cheater. Our guest is Bruno Kurtic from Sumo Logic on their Continuous Intelligence Report. And a Cellebrite vulnerability is exposed.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/77

SonicWall zero-days are under active exploitation; mitigations are available. Pulse Secure VPN is also undergoing exploitation, probably by China, and mitigations are available here, too. The US begins work on shoring up power grid cybersecurity. Cyber ops rise with Russo-Ukrainian tension. The help desk at ISIS tells jihadists to stay away from Bitcoin. Joe Carrigan looks at cryptocurrency anonymity. Our guest is Bert Kashyap from SecureW2 on what needs to be done before devices used for learning from home return to schools. And is your password inspired by cinema?

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/76

Update on the Codecov supply chain attack. The Babuk gang says they’ve debugged their decryptor. MI5 warns of “industrial scale” catphishing in LinkedIn. Positive Technologies responds to US sanctions. The US stands down the two Unified Coordination Groups it established to deal with the SolarWinds and Exchange Server compromises. Are all Five Eyes seeing eye-to-eye on China? Ben Yelin explains the legal side of the FBI removing webshells following the Microsoft Exchange Server hack. Our guest is May Habib from Writer on how the AI is helping the security industry with outdated and problematic terminology. And, psst: your kitchen appliances are a bunch of sellouts...or something.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/75

Another supply chain incident surfaces. The Natanz sabotage seems to have landed a punch, but not a knock-out blow against Iran’s nuclear program (and it appears to have been a bomb). China’s “big data” gangs and their place in the criminal economy. Tolerating (and protecting?) ransomware gangs in Russia? Betsy Carmelite looks at the intersection of 5G and zero trust. Rick Howard is focusing on finance and fraud in the latest season of CSO Perspectives. Russia’s counterretaliation for US sanctions in the SolarWinds affair. 

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/74

CEO and Founder of Votiro Aviv Grafi shares his story from serving as a member of the IDF's intelligence forces to leading his own venture. Aviv says his service in the IDF shaped a lot of his thinking and problem solving. Following his military service, Aviv worked to gain more real world and business experience. Starting his own business as a pentester was where the seeds for what would become Votiro would form. Aviv talks about the roller coaster that you experience when starting your own venture and offers some advice. And, we thank Aviv for sharing his story with us.

Guest Deepen Desai joins Dave to talk about Zsaler's research "Return of the MINEBRIDGE RAT With New TTPs and Social Engineering Lures." In Jan 2021, Zscaler ThreatLabZ discovered new instances of the MINEBRIDGE remote-access Trojan (RAT) embedded in macro-based Word document files crafted to look like valid job resumes (CVs). Such lures are often used as social engineering schemes by threat actors.

MINEBRIDGE buries itself into the vulnerable remote desktop software TeamViewer, enabling the threat actor to take a wide array of remote follow-on actions such as spying on users or deploying additional malware.The use of social engineering tactics targeting security teams appears to be on an upward trend.

The research can be found here:

• Return of the MINEBRIDGE RAT With New TTPs and Social Engineering Lures

The European Union expresses solidarity with the US over the SolarWinds incident. The UK joins the US in attributing the incident to Russia. Russia objects to US sanctions and hints strongly that it intends to retaliate. IBM discloses new cyber threats to the COVID-19 vaccine cold chain. Iran says Natanz is back in business. Kevin Magee from Microsoft looks at the security of startups. Our guest is Brad Ree of ioXt Alliance with results from their Mobile IoT Benchmark report. And data breaches hit people who park and people who read.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/73

The US announces a broad range of retaliatory actions designed to “impose costs” on Russia for its recent actions in cyberspace, prominently including both the SolarWinds supply chain compromise and attempts to influence elections. More reports on the Natanz incident suggest that a buried bomb was remotely detonated. David Dufour from Webroot has a wakeup call on digital privacy. Our guest is Ganesh Pai from Uptycs on Mitre ATT&CK Evaluations. And IcedID is taking Emotet’s place in the criminal ecosystem.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/72

Updates on Natanz, where the nature of the sabotage remains unclear--it happened, but there are conflicting explanations of how. Electrical utilities on alert for cyberattack, especially after the SolarWinds incident. The US Government takes extraordinary steps to fix the Microsoft Exchange Server compromise. Joe Carrigan analyses effective phishing campaigns. Our guest is the FBI’s Herb Stapleton on their recent IC3 report. And the US Intelligence Community’s Annual Threat Assessment points, in order of diminishing rsk, to China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/71

Updates on the sabotage at Natanz--whether it was cyber or kinetic, Iran has vowed to take its revenge against Israel. NAME:WRECK vulnerabilities affect DNS implementations. Tax season scammers are phishing for credentials. If you liked the investment opportunities those Nigerian princes used to offer, you’re going to love their loaded ATM cards. Ben Yelin looks at data protection and interoperability. Our guest is Jules Martin from Mimecast on the importance of security integration. And in the Netherlands ransomware is inducing a shortage of cheese.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/70

Iran says Israel was responsible for sabotaging the Natanz nuclear facility yesterday, and Tehran promises revenge. Online plotting results in the arrest of a Texas man alleged to have planned an attack on an Amazon Web Services center. Scraped, not hacked, data from LinkedIn and Clubhouse are being hawked online. Andrea Little Limbago from Interos addresses asymmetric power within cyberspace and how that plays out in warfare. Our guest is Giovanni Vigna from VMware on the takedown of the Emotet infrastructure. And the US moves to fill senior cybersecurity positions.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/69

Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, Engineering for Digital Guardian Debra Danielson shares her career journey. From aspirations of becoming an astronaut studying mechanical and aerospace engineering, Finding her first job at a local software company that turned into a long term commitment after it was acquired by another firm. Debra mentions that when she was heads-down programming, there were many women in the field and when she emerged from the cube to take on management and leadership positions, the ratio of women had dropped dramatically. She noted at this time that it took a lot of energy to be different. Debra shared that each time she had challenges in her career, she learned from them. She offers advice of taking risks earlier in your career as you don't know what it could lead to. And, we thank Debra for sharing her story with us.

Guests Gage Mele, Winston Marydasan, and Yury Polozov from Anomali join Dave to discuss their research into Static Kitten targeting government agencies in the UAE and Kuwait. Anomali Threat Research uncovered malicious activity very likely attributed to the Iran-nexus cyberespionage group, Static Kitten (Seedworm, MERCURY, Temp.Zagros, POWERSTATS, NTSTATS, MuddyWater), which is known to target numerous sectors primarily located in the Middle East This new campaign, which uses tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) consistent with previous Static Kitten activity, uses ScreenConnect launch parameters designed to target any MOFA with mfa[.]gov as part of the custom field. Anomali's team found samples specifically masquerading as the Kuwaiti government and the UAE National Council respectively, based on references in the malicious samples.

The research can be found here:

• Probable Iranian Cyber Actors, Static Kitten, Conducting Cyberespionage Campaign Targeting UAE and Kuwait Government Agencies

Lazarus Group has a new backdoor. Bogus Clubhouse app advertised on Facebook. Cryptojacking goes to school. A ransomware cartel is forming, but so far apparently without much profit-sharing. The US Senate is preparing to make strategic competition with China the law of the land. Dinah Davis from Arctic Wolf looks at phony COVID sites. Our guest is Jaclyn Miller from NTT on the importance of mentoring the next generation. And Russia remains displeased with a lot of Twitter’s content.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/68

Cring ransomware afflicts vulnerable Fortigate VPN servers. Distance learning in France stumbles due to sudden high demand, and possibly also because of cyberattacks. Hafnium’s attack on Microsoft Exchange Servers may have been long in preparation, and may have used data obtained in earlier breaches. Commerce Department adds seven Chinese organizations to its Entity List. 5G security standards in the US are said likely to emphasize zero trust. Atlantic Media discloses a breach of employee data. Caleb Barlow from CynergisTek with a clever way of thinking about ransomware preparedness. Our guest is Amit Kanfer from build.security on authorization, a problem he says remains mostly unsolved. And emissions testing stations in some US states remain down.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/67

Goblin Panda’s upped its game in recent attacks on Vietnamese government targets. The EU is investigating cyberattacks against a number of its organizations. Scraped LinkedIn data is being sold in a hackers’ forum. Facebook talks about the causes of its recent data incident. New Android malware poses as a Netflix app. Joe Carrigan shares comments from the new head of the NCSC. Our guest is Fang Yu from Datavisor with highlights from their Digital Fraud Trends Report. And the Molerats are using voice-changers to phish for IDF personnel.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/66

A watering hole campaign compromised several Ukrainian sites (and one Canadian one). File transfer blues. A couple of looks into the criminal-to-criminal marketplace: establishing a brand and selling malicious document building tools. Ben Yelin has details on a privacy suit against Intel. Our guest is Steve Ginty from RiskIQ on the threat actors behind LogoKit. And notes on the big and apparently old Facebook breach, including why people care about it.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/65

An old leaked database has been delivered into the hands of skids. (The news isn’t that the data are out there; it’s that the skids now have it. For free.) CISA and the FBI warn that APTs are scanning for vulnerable Fortinet instances. Cryptojackers pan for alt-coin in GitHub’s infrastructure. Holiday Bear may have looked for network defenders. Threats to water utilities. Johannes Ullrich explains why dynamic data exchange is back. Our guest is Mark Lance from GuidePoint Security tracking parallels between the SolarWinds attack and the RSA hack a decade ago. And a cyberattack snarls vehicle emission testing.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/64

Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer for Corelight Greg Bell describes the twists and turns of his career bringing him back to his childhood joy of computers. Working in a myriad of fields from human rights to Hollywood to writing a history of conspiracy belief before pivoting back to technology. Focusing on the relationships within the open source community, Greg works to change and improve the world through his mission-based organization. For those looking to begin their career in cyber, Greg offers that great mentorship and working for great organizations where you can soak in the culture are really important. And, we thank Greg for sharing his story with us.

Guests Fernando Martinez and Tom Hegel from AT&T Alien Labs join Dave to discuss their team's research "Malware using new Ezuri memory loader." Multiple threat actors have recently started using a Go language (Golang) tool to act as a packer and avoid Antivirus detection. Additionally, the Ezuri memory loader tool acts as a malware loader and executes its payload in memory, without writing the file to disk. While this technique is known and commonly used by Windows malware, it is less popular in Linux environments.

The research can be found here:

• Malware using new Ezuri memory loader

Goblin Panda might be out and about. Ubiquiti confirms that an extortion attempt was made, but says the attempted attack on data and source code was unsuccessful. The Accellion compromise claims more university victims. It’s National Supply Chain Integrity Awareness Month in the US. BOLO Mr. Korhsunov. Andrea Little Limbago from Interos on supply chain resilience in a time of tectonic geopolitical shifts. Our guest is Paul Nicholson from A10 Networks on their State of DDoS Weapons report. And some down-market phishing attempts.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/63

US Cyber Command and CISA plan to publish an analysis of the malware Holiday Bear used against SolarWinds. The DPRK is again phishing for security researchers. Exchange Server exploitation continues. Stone Panda goes after industrial data in Japan. Human error remains the principal source of cyber risk. A US Executive Order on cyber hygiene and breach disclosure nears the President’s desk. David Dufour from Webroot on the 3 types of hackers and where you’ve seen them recently. Rick Howard checks in with our guest Sharon Rosenman from Cyberbit on SOC Evolution. And gamers? Don’t cheat.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/62