CyberWire Daily

Details of the Zerologon vulnerability are published, and it seems a serious one indeed. CISA describes Chinese cyberespionage practices--they’re not exotic, but they’re effective. What’s the difference between highly targeted market research and intelligence collection against individuals? Better commercials? Ben Yelin explains a 9th circuit court opinion with 4th amendment implications. Our guest is Exabeam’s Richard Cassidy on why when it comes to insider risk, context is everything. And there’s been a data breach at the VA.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/179

Social engineers use text from legitimate recent warnings. Cybercrooks go for whatever they can get from software about to reach the end of its life. A big database filled with individual information is leaked from a Chinese government contractor. In the race to do whatever it is US companies hope to do with TikTok, Microsoft is apparently out, but Oracle is apparently in. Rick Howard looks at red versus blue. Our gust is Colby Prior, Infrastructure Engineer for AusCERT, on running honeypots. And the FBI wants you to know, contrary what you may have seen online, that Oregon wildfires are not extremist arson.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/178

A reading of “Ode to Wealthy Elite”, written circa August 16, 2016. From “The collected works of the Shadow Brokers, volume I,” read by D.W. Bittner, compiled and edited by the CyberWire. The Shadow Brokers represent themselves as hackers who sell stolen exploits, hacking tools, and other scandalous material online to the detriment of Wealthy Elite, whose hidden hands the ShadowBrokers wish to convince you secretly move the world's events. Their online auctions have been notorious fizzles, finding few takers, but they continue to reappear with their offers from time to time. The smart money bets that the Brokers are a Russian intelligence service operation. They communicate in Hollywood scriptwriter broken English as opposed to any known natural language.

Cybersecurity Sales Engineer Brandon Robinson shares how he built his career in technology and the barriers he experienced along the way. He talks about how his job involves him interacting with customers at the highest levels making sure their solution is meeting needs. In addition, Brandon describes how as a black man and a trailblazer, he's been met with resistance. His positive spin on moving ahead involves relying on himself. Brandon's advice: find your passion, don't be intimidated and you will be met with success. Our thanks to Brandon for sharing his story with us. 

Researchers at Symantec spotted a Sodinokibi targeted ransomware campaign in which the attackers are also scanning the networks of some victims for credit card or point of sale (PoS) software.

It is not clear if the attackers are targeting this software for encryption or because they want to scrape this information as a way to make even more money from this attack.

Joining us in this week's Research Saturday to discuss the report is Jon DiMaggio of Symantec. 

The research can be found here: 

• Sodinokibi: Ransomware Attackers also Scanning for PoS Software, Leveraging Cobalt Strike

Kittens and Pandas and Bears, oh my. Ransomware gets its skates on, but it still has loose idiomatic control. CISA has some advice on email. While at home on pandemic lockdown, a lot of people (not you) are spending too much time on unedifying sites. Momentum Cyber looks at the state of the cybersecurity sector in 2020. The SINET 16 have been announced. Chris Novak from Verizon on understanding the complexities of PFI breach investigations. Our guest is Steve Vintz from Tenable on why CFOs should lean into cybersecurity issues. And, finally, take a moment today to remember 9/11.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/177

Ransomware hits a major data center provider, but appears to have left service unaffected. There’s a thriving criminal market for website defacement tools: vandals can be consumers, too. CDRThief does what its name implies. ByteDance tried negotiating TikTok’s American future. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission starts enforcing Schrems II against Facebook. Awais Rashid outlines software development security pitfalls. Our guest is John Morello from Palo Alto with insights from their new State of Cloud Native Security report. And China’s ambassador to the UK has his Twitter account hacked.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/176

Back to school time for everyone...or it would be, if it weren’t for all that ransomware. The sad criminal underworld stealing from online gamers. Notes on Patch Tuesday. Joe Carrigan considers digital comfort zones. Our guest is Sandra Wheatley from Fortinet with key findings from their new report on the cybersecurity skills shortage. And some thoughts on election security and disinformation from the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/175

Thanos is back, but as ransomware or a wiper? Cyber agencies in France, Japan, and New Zealand warn of a spike in Emotet infections. Australian authorities say 186,00 were affected by the breach at Services NSW. Georgia decries cyberespionage at its Lugar Lab. COVID-19 cyberespionage efforts have been intense, as have counterintelligence efforts designed to defend labs and supply chains. Rick Howard looks at identity management. Ben Yelin covers tightened surveillance of political advisors. And Anonymous may have a successor: K-pop stans.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/174

Dave shares a story about our own state of Maryland trying to crack down on ransomware, Ben shares a New York Times story about facial recognition software, and later in the show our conversation with Stuart Thompson from the New York Times on the article, Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy.

Links to stories:

How ransomware bill would tighten focus on the threat in Maryland

The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy As We Know It

Got a question you'd like us to answer on our show? You can send your audio file to caveat@thecyberwire.com or simply leave us a message at (410) 618-3720. Hope to hear from you.

Technology attorney and startup chief of staff Elizabeth Wharton shares her experiences and how she came to work with companies in technology. Elizabeth talks about how she always liked solving problems and Nancy Drew mysteries, but not litigation. These morphed finding into her home in the policy legal world and some time later, technology law. Elizabeth describes how she loves planning and strategy in her work and encourages others to ask questions and absorb all of the information. Our thanks to Elizabeth for sharing her story with us. 

A look at the realities of ransomware from Sophos, including an industry-first detailed look at new detection evasion techniques in WastedLocker ransomware attacks that leverage the Windows Cache Manager and memory-mapped I/O to encrypt files. A complementary article examines the evasion-centric arms race of ransomware, providing a months-long review of how cybercriminals have been escalating and markedly changing evasion techniques, tactics and procedures (TTPs) since Snatch ransomware in December 2019. 

The research also breaks down the five early warning signs organizations are about to be attacked by ransomware and why ransomware attacks continue to occur.

Joining us on this week's Research Saturday to walk us through the research and share their findings is Sophos' Principal Research Scientist Chet Wisniewski and EVP & Chief Product Officer Dan Schiappa.

The media alert and research articles can be found here: 

• Media Alert: Sophos Reports on the Realities of Ransomware
• WastedLocker’s techniques point to a familiar heritage
• Ransomware’s evasion-centric arms race
• 5 signs you’re about to be hit by ransomware
• The realities of ransomware: extortion goes social
• Ransomware: why it’s not just a passing fad

Ransom DDoS: it’s been around for awhile, but now it’s become a much bigger thing. Phishing campaigns are putting malicious payloads into legitimate file-sharing services. Malek Ben Salem from Accenture on proactive "alpha innovator" organizations. Our guest is Joseph Marks from The Washington Post on his recent coverage of election security. And it’s time to go back to school, at least virtually, with all the attendant cyber risk.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/173

Updates on cyberattacks against Norway’s parliament and the Hedmark region. A popular TikTok page is infested with scammers. Magecart’s Inter scanner gains criminal market share. Thomas Etheridge from CrowdStrike on the many potential benefits of outsourced threat hunting. Our guest is Lauren Bean Buitta from Girl Security on closing the gender gap in national security. Heading back to school in Miami? Not so fast, kids. And in Northumberland? Same goes there. (That’s Northumberland, England, by the way, not Northumberland, Pennsylvania.)

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/172

Facebook’s August takedowns included coordinated inauthenticity from Pakistan, Russia (that’s St. Petersburg, with a waystation in DC), and a US strategic communication firm. CISA and the FBI say nope, the Russians weren’t in voter databases. A Chinese APT turns its attention from Europe back to Tibet. A new cryptocurrency stealer is active in Central Europe. New Zealand DDoS attacks may be an extortion attempt. Joe Carrigan has the story of a reporter's stolen Facebook account. Our guest is Ophir Harpaz from Guardicore Labs with their Botnet Encyclopedia. And there may be another teenage mastermind behind last month’s Twitter hack.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/171

An election hack that wasn’t. More DDoS in New Zealand’s stock exchange. A look at how Iranian cyber contractors make money as a byproduct of cyberespionage. Malware sneeks past Apple’s notarization process. The bandit economy that’s grown up around Fortnite. Ben Yelin looks at how the upcoming US elections could direct the nation’s cybersecurity strategies. Our guest is Julian Waits from Devo with highlights from their 2nd annual SOC performance report. And the US Army’s youngest branch celebrates a birthday.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/170

New Zealand’s stock exchange continues to fight through offshore DDoS attacks. Sunday’s Internet outage was a glitch, not an attack. China enacts new technology export controls that may impede the sale of TikTok. Danish authorities investigate allegations of data sharing with NSA. North Korea says it doesn’t rob banks, but Americans do. Caleb Barlow looks at security validation and how it can help manage vendors and SOCs. Rick Howard has the CSO Perspective on Identity Management. And a look at Terracotta, a botnet serving up ad fraud.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/169

Host of Darknet Diaries podcast Jack Rhysider shares his experiences from studying computer engineering at university to his strategy of using gamification on his career that led to him landing in the security space. Jack talks about how his wide experiences came together in security and what prompted him to learn podcasting. Jack endeavors to share the whole story through his podcasts while making them entertaining, enlightening and inspirational. Our thanks to Jack for sharing his story with us. 

Docker containers have been gaining popularity over the past few years as an effective way of packaging software applications. Docker Hub provides a strong community-based model for users and companies to share their software applications. This is also attracting the attention of malicious actors intending to make money by cryptojacking within Docker containers and using Docker Hub to distribute these images.

Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 researchers identified a malicious Docker Hub account, azurenql, active since October 2019 that was hosting six malicious images intended to mine the cryptocurrency, Monero. The images hosted on this account have been collectively pulled more than two million times. Additionally, when last checked minexmr.com for this wallet ID, Palo Alto's team saw recent activity indicating that it’s still being used.

Joining us on this week's Research Saturday is Jen Miller-Osborn from Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 group to share the research and findings.

The research and blog post can be found here: 

• Attackers Cryptojacking Docker Images to Mine for Monero

Denial-of-service attacks continue to cripple New Zealand’s NZX stock exchange. The Empire criminal market has exited, and done so with its users funds. US authorities have filed for civil forfeiture of Hidden Cobra’s stolen crytpo assets. An Instagram hijacking campaign is under way. Qbot and Emotet are back, and together again. The former Green Beret who allegedly spied for the GRU offers an insight into his (alleged) motives. We welcome our newest partner to the show, Betsy Carmelite from BAH. Our guest is Mark Calandra from CSC on their 2020 domain security report that revealed shortfalls among the Forbes Global 2000. And the unnamed company cited in the arrest of a Russian national this week has now been named: it’s Tesla. 

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/168

Several Magecart campaigns turn out to be the work of one gang. The unfortunate persistence of DDoS-for-hire services. Ransomware’s growing sophistication as a class of criminal enterprise. Andrea Little Limbago from Interos on supply chain attacks & risks. Our guest is Mark Testoni from SAP's NS2 on how Covid-19 reshaped classified work. And hey kids: the BeagleBoyz are on a crime spree.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/167

New Zealand’s stock exchange has sustained two distributed denial-of-service attacks this week. CISA and FBI issue an alert about GoldenSpy. Two cyber mercenary groups are engaged in industrial espionage for hire. Thailand decides to crack down on sites that host content the government deems illegal. Joe Carrigan looks at new types of crimes made possible by AI. Our guest is Shane Harris from The Washington Post on an Elite CIA unit which failed to secure its own systems. And a Russian national faces US charges of conspiracy to damage a computer.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/166

Security trends during the pandemic include shifts in underworld markets and some enduring changes in the way organizations approach cybersecurity. Discount phones come preloaded with adware and fleeceware. TikTok files its lawsuit. Ben Yelin on the Massachusetts Attorney General creating a data privacy office. Our guest is Nitzan Miron from Barracuda Networks on how brick & mortar shops have accelerated their shift online. And spoofing a Bitcoin exchange to spread malware. 

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/165

Iranian wannabes successfully use Dharma ransomware against soft targets. SourMint hid an ad-fraud and info-stealing package in an SDK. A former US Army officer and sometime Government contractor is charged with working for the GRU. DarkSide ransomware rises as affiliates go into business on their own. Awais Rashid from the University of Bristol on aligning cyber security metrics with business goals. Rick Howard talks data loss prevention with members of the Hash Table. And copycat DDoS extortionists pretend to be, who else? Fancy Bear.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/164

Managing director of the Cyber Readiness Institute Kiersten Todt shares how she came to be in the cybersecurity industry helping to provide free tools and resources for small businesses through a nonprofit. She describes how her work on the Hill prior to and just after 9/11 changed. Kiersten talks about the diversity of skills that benefit work in cybersecurity and offers her advice on going after what you want to do. Our thanks to Kiersten for sharing her story with us. 

The goal of malicious activity is to compromise the system to install some unauthorized software. Increasingly that goal is tied to one thing: the user. Over the past several years, we as an industry improved exploit mitigation and the value of working exploits has increased accordingly. Together, these changes have had an impact on the threat landscape. We still see large amounts of active exploitation, but enterprises are getting better at defending against them.

This has left adversaries with a couple of options, develop or buy a working exploit that will defeat today's protections, which can be costly, or pivot to enticing a user to help you. In today's threat landscape, adversaries are always trying to develop and implement the most effective lures to try and draw users into their infection path. They've tried a multitude of different tactics in this space, but one always stands out — current events.

Joining us on this week's Research Saturday from Craig Williams from Cisco's Talos Outreach team to walk us through how current events are used as lures.

The research and blog post can be found here: 

• Adversarial use of current events as lures

The CyberWire's Research Saturday is presented by Juniper Networks.

Thanks to our sponsor Enveil, closing the last gap in data security.

Transparent Tribe upgrades Crimson RAT. Cuba, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia are also interested in influencing the upcoming US election. The University of Utah restored from backups after a ransomware attack, but paid the ransom to prevent the crooks from publishing stolen data. Uber’s former CSO has been charged with allegedly covering up a hack the company sustained in 2016. Justin Harvey from Accenture on how the pandemic has affected Incident Response. Gerald Beuchelt from LogMeIn on how secure remote access may or may not be. And a popular fertility app was found to be sharing data with advertisers without users’ permission.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/163

Ukraine warns that Russia’s Gamaredon Group is running a phishing campaign ahead of Ukraine’s independence day. CISA and the FBI publish details on a North Korean remote access Trojan. Google patches a serious Gmail flaw. Marriott faces another lawsuit over its 2018 data breach. The WannaRen ransomware operators have released a decryption key. Rob Lee from Dragos with lessons learned from recent virtual conferences. Our guest is Rachel Tobac from SocialProof with her insights on social engineering and the Twitter hack. 

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/162

Phone spearphishing is catching on after the Twitter hack. Taiwan blames China for hacking government agencies. FritzFrog botnet is cryptomining, for now. Whoever’s behind GoldenSpy is trying to cover their tracks. WastedLocker ransomware is successful without stealing data. The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence releases its final report on Russian interference with the 2016 election. Joe Carrigan looks at shady SIM cards. Our guest is Nathan Jones from WhiteCanyon Software on secure data destruction. And an AI company exposes millions of medical records.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/161

Suspected patriotic hacktivists are defacing websites. A cryptomining worm is stealing AWS credentials. Cruise company Carnival suffered a ransomware attack that involved data theft. US measures against Huawei are expected to make things much more difficult for the Chinese company. Ben Yelin on new tools tracking cyber data on US borders. Our guest is Jesse Rothstein from ExtraHop on what happens to enterprise security when the network goes dark. And a look at the organizational structure of North Korea’s hacking units.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/160

North Korea harasses defectors. Researchers have been exploiting a bug in Emotet to inoculate systems against the malware for the past six months. CISA warns of KONNI spearphishing. RedCurl APT conducts corporate espionage. The US announces more restrictions on Huawei’s access to US-made chips. Chris Novak from Verizon on the evolving role of cyber insurance. Rick Howard on data loss prevention. And Australian schools are without email after an unpleasant experience with Reply-All.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/159

Founder and CEO Stu Sjouwerman takes us on a journey of how his career developed from starting a software service company to currently focusing on the infosec side of the business where his team essentially helps to create human firewalls. Stu talks about learning all aspects of the business while creating startups and suggests you learn to speak the language of the area you are looking to get into. He even touches on predicting the future and taking over the world. Our thanks to Stu for sharing his story with us. 

Teachers, students, admin, parents: The education sector has possibly the most diverse user base, each requiring its own user privileges, access requirements, and behavioral trends. Yet besides this, there are a number of unique challenges to securing an educational environment, including ensuring broad attack surface protection, minimal false positives, and maintaining a cost-effective security posture. Join us in as we chat with Kevin Ford, Chief Information Security Officer for the state of North Dakota, about these challenges for securing statewide educational institutions and their networks. Later, we will be joined by Steve Salinas, Head of Product Marketing at Deep Instinct and Matthew Fredrickson, Director of IT at Council Rock School District, in what should be a steep learning curve on protecting educational environments.

Bitdefender researchers have recently found the APT group StrongPity has been targeting victims in Turkey and Syria. Using watering hole tactics to selectively infect victims and deploying a three-tier C&C infrastructure to thwart forensic investigations, the APT group leveraged Trojanized popular tools, such as archivers, file recovery applications, remote connections applications, utilities, and even security software, to cover a wide range of options that targeted victims might be seeking.

Joining us on this week's Research Saturday to discuss the research is Bitdefender's Liviu Arsene. 

You can find the research here:

StrongPity APT – Revealing Trojanized Tools, Working Hours and Infrastructure

An update on Fancy Bear and its Drovorub rootkit. Karma Panda, a.k.a. CactusPete, is scouting Eastern European financial and military targets with the latest version of a venerable backdoor. How criminals and terrorists exploit COVID-19, and how law enforcement tracks them down. Caleb Barlow from Cynergistek covers security assessments and HIPAA data. Our guest is Ryan Olson from Palo Alto Networks on the 10th Anniversary of Stuxnet. And those celebrity endorsed investment scams aren’t actually endorsed by celebrities, and they’re not actually good investments.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/158

NSA and FBI release a detailed report on a GRU toolset. North Korea’s Operation Dream Job phishes in Israeli waters. CISA warns of COVID-19 loan relief scams. Malek Ben Salem from Accenture with highlights from their 2020 Security Vision report. Our guest is Mike Hamilton from CI Security, who clears the air on election security and the shift to absentee status. And crooks are using infection and job loss as retail phishbait.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/157

Regional rivals tussle in cyberspace, and governments have it out with dissidents and the opposition. Market penetration as an instrument of state power. TikTok gets more unwelcome scrutiny over its privacy practices. Joe Carrigan on a credential harvesting phishing scheme using Zoom as bait. Our guest is Avi Shua from Orca Security on accidental vulnerabilities. And suppressing creepware is apparently harder than it looks.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/156

Belarus shuts down its Internet after its incumbent president’s surprising, perhaps implausible, no...really implausible landslide reelection. Papua New Guinea undergoes buyer’s remorse over that Huawei-built National Data Centre it sprung for a couple of years ago. Versions of Chrome found susceptible to CSP rule bypass. Zoom is taken to court over encryption. Patch Tuesday notes. Ben Yelin looks at mobile surveillance in a Baltimore criminal case. Carole Theriault returns to speak with our guest, Alex Guirakhoo from Digital Shadows with a look at dark web travel agencies. And card-skimmers hit a university’s online store.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/155

A network mapping tool that pings IP addresses looking for a response and can discover host names, open communications ports, operating system names and versions. Written and maintained by Gordon Lyon, a.k.a. Fyodor, it is a free and open source software application used by both system admins and hackers alike and has been a staple in the security community for well over two decades.

The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released an appreciation of the goals of election interference among three principal US adversaries, Russia, China and Iran. Anomali offers a look at the ransomware-as-a-service market with its research on Smaug. The CyberWire’s Rick Howard continues his exploration of incident response. Andrea Little Limbago from Interos on cyber regionalism. And the tangles that need to be untangled in the TikTok affair, with a deadline looming less than a month from now.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/154

Cyber threat intelligence analyst Selena Larson takes us on her career journey from being a journalist to making the switch to industrial security. As a child who wrote a book about a green goldfish who dealt with bullying, Selena always liked investigating and researching things. Specializing in cybersecurity journalism led to the realization of how closely aligned or similar skills are required from an investigative journalist and a cyber threat intelligence analyst. Our thanks to Selena for sharing her story with us. 

“Cyberbunker” refers to a criminal group that operated a “bulletproof” hosting facility out of an actual military bunker. “Bullet Proof” hosting usually refers to hosting locations in countries with little or corrupt law enforcement, making shutting down criminal activity difficult. Cyberbunker, which is also known as “ZYZtm” and “Calibour”, was a bit different in that it actually operated out of a bulletproof bunker. In September of last year, German police raided this actual Cyberbunker and arrested several suspects.

While most of the group's assets were seized during the initial raid, the IP address space remained and was later sold to Legaco Networks. Before being shut down, Legaco Networks temporarily redirected the traffic to the SANS Internet Storm Center honeypots for examination.

Joining us on this week's Research Saturday from SANS Technology Institute is graduate student Karim Lalji and Dean of Research Johannes Ullrich to discuss their experiences. 

The research and blog post can be found here: 

Real-Time Honeypot Forensic Investigation on a German Organized Crime Network

Cyberbunker 2.0: Analysis of the Remnants of a Bullet Proof Hosting Provider

President Trump issues Executive Orders restricting TikTok and WeChat in the US. A Chinese APT has been active in industrial espionage against Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. Intel sustains a leak of sensitive company intellectual property. Rewards for Justice communicated to Russian and Iranian individuals by text message. Coordinated inauthenticity from Romanian actors, probably criminals. Magecart moves to homoglyph attacks. Craig Williams from Cisco Talos on ransomware campaigns making use of Maze and Snake malware. Our guest is Monica Ruiz from the Hewlett Foundation Cyber Initiative on the potential for a volunteer cyber workforce. And, sorry Fort Meade--there are limits to telework.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/153

The US announces five new lines of effort for the Clean Network program, and none of them are exactly mash notes for Beijing. The US is also offering rewards of up to ten million dollars for information about foreign computer crimes aimed at interfering with US elections. Australia’s new cybersecurity strategy is out. Maze may have hit Canon. Rob Lee from Dragos addresses speculation of an ICS supply chain back door. Our guest is Theresa Lanowitz from AT&T Cybersecurity on 5G security threats to businesses. And a bail hearing is disrupted by Zoom-bombing.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/152

NSA, yes, NSA, has some privacy advice. Interpol offers its take on where cybercrime is going during the time of the pandemic. Iran’s Oilrig is getting clever with its data exfiltration. The FBI would like to know when you’re finally going to move on from Windows 7--like, c’mon people. Joe Carrigan looks at pesky ads from the Google Play store. Our guest is Bobby McLernon from Axonius on how federal cybersecurity is particularly vulnerable during the shutdown. And a not-guilty plea from one of the three alleged Twitter hackers, along with some notes on how whoever dunnit dunnit.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/151

The US attributes the Taidoor remote access Trojan to the Chinese government. Sources tell Reuters that documents used in an attempt to influence the last British general election were taken from the compromised email account of the trade minister. Pegasus spyware is found deployed against churchmen and political opposition figures in Togo. China denounces the American smash-and-grab of TikTok. Ben Yelin looks at international law and attribution. Our guest is Ameesh Divatia from Baffle on misconfigured databases being attacked within just hours after coming online. And the Blackbaud ransomware attack continues to affect new victims.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/150

Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok as the US hints that it may be considering action against other Chinese software companies. Three young men have been charged in the Twitter hack. An apparent distributed denial-of-service attack turns out to have been a glitch. We welcome Verizon’s Chris Novak to the show. Rick Howard talks incident response. And updates on the Garmin hack suggest shifts in the ransomware threat.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/149

Director of Security Engineering at Marqeta and Host of Hacker Valley Studio podcast Chris Cochran describes his transitions throughout the cybersecurity industry, from an intelligence job with the Marine Corps, to starting the intelligence apparatus for the House of Representatives, then on to leading Netflix's threat intelligence capability. Chris points out that when pivoting to different roles and responsibilities, you must rely on your own strengths to move forward and bring value to your work Our thanks to Chris for sharing his story with us.

NortonLifeLock Research Group (NRG) released a prototype browser extension called BotSight that leverages machine learning to detect Twitter bots in real-time. The tool is intended to help users understand the prevalence of bots and disinformation campaigns within their Twitter feeds, particularly with the increase in disinformation of COVID-19.

Joining us on this week's Research Saturday to discuss this tool is Daniel Kats from NortonLifeLock Research Group.

You can find the research here:

Introducing BotSight

An update on social engineering at Twitter. A quick look at the phishing kit criminal market. The European Union sanctions individuals and organizations in Russia, China, and North Korea for involvement in notorious hacking campaigns. North Korea’s North Star campaign is back and dangling bogus job offers in front of its marks. Deceptikons snoop into European law firms. Zully Ramzan from RSA on Digital Contact Tracing. Our guest is Tom Kellermann from Vmware Carbon Black on top financial CISOs analyzing the 2020 attack landscape. And both NSA and NIST have some advice on shoring up your security.

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

https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/148