Author Archives: Sean Lyngaas

Former CISA deputy details ouster, condemns violent threat from Trump campaign

Posted on by

The former deputy of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Tuesday faulted the Trump campaign for politicizing election security and condemned a violent threat from a campaign lawyer toward his former boss, Chris Krebs, in his first public comments since leaving the agency. “I have yet to see a partisan issue within securing America’s infrastructure that warrants politicizing what we do,” Matt Travis, former deputy CISA director, said during a virtual event hosted by the Aspen Institute. “And what we were hearing from the Trump campaign was in effect politicizing the security of a sub-sector of infrastructure, namely the election system.” President Donald Trump on Nov. 17 fired Krebs as CISA director after Krebs and his agency repeatedly debunked the president’s baseless claims of electoral fraud. Travis resigned later that evening after, he said, the White House made clear that he would not succeed Krebs as head of the […]

The post Former CISA deputy details ouster, condemns violent threat from Trump campaign appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Former CISA deputy details ouster, condemns violent threat from Trump campaign→

Manchester United attack illuminates the cyberthreats facing an overlooked sports sector

Posted on by

Manchester United, one of the wealthiest and most decorated soccer clubs in the word, is still recovering from a disruption of its computer systems that it revealed 11 days ago. Beyond a statement blaming “organized cybercriminals” for the incident, the club has declined to comment on who was behind the breach or whether it involved ransomware. The club said it took “swift action to contain the attack” and worked with outside security experts to minimize disruption to its IT systems. But the incident speaks for itself in some ways. It’s a stark reminder that major sports franchises have a target on their backs from cybercriminals, even if regulators and the press don’t apply the same amount of scrutiny to data protection strategies in athletics as in other sectors, like energy and finance. “We’ve seen more and more football clubs and other high-profile sporting businesses targeted by things like ransomware,” said Ciaran Martin, who until August headed the […]

The post Manchester United attack illuminates the cyberthreats facing an overlooked sports sector appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Manchester United attack illuminates the cyberthreats facing an overlooked sports sector→

Twitter, WhatsApp users in Cuba report disruptions amid free speech protests

Posted on by

Social media users in Cuba experienced interruptions to Twitter and WhatsApp service over the weekend amid protests against government restrictions on free expression, according to a digital rights group and media outlets that track Cuba. “Twitter, WhatsApp, and, at certain moments YouTube and other Facebook servers, were intermittently unavailable” from Nov. 27 to Nov. 30 through Cuba’s state-owned telecommunications provider, according to NetBlocks, a digital rights group that tracks internet activity. Some Cubans reported that Twitter and WhatsApp only functioned properly if they used virtual private network (VPN) software to mask their location. The reported service issues coincided with protests by Cuban musicians, writers and activists against the communist government’s jailing of their colleagues. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has denounced the collective of artists, known as the San Isidro Movement, as an “imperialist reality show” backed by the United States. The Cuban government has nonetheless taken the rare step of meeting with the […]

The post Twitter, WhatsApp users in Cuba report disruptions amid free speech protests appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Twitter, WhatsApp users in Cuba report disruptions amid free speech protests→

Networking giant Belden says hackers accessed data on employees, business partners

Posted on by

Belden, a U.S. manufacturer of networking and industrial cable products, said Tuesday that unidentified attackers had accessed and copied data on current and former employees, and some of its business partners. The St. Louis-based company, which reported more than $2 billion in revenue last year, said in a statement that it believed it prevented the attackers from further accessing data on its servers, and that it had hired lawyers to help it “notify appropriate regulatory authorities [of the incident] around the world.” The company said law enforcement is investigating the incident. Executives did not disclose the type of data involved, or how many people’s information was compromised. Belden, which has offices on multiple continents, makes fiber-optic cables and networking equipment used in the transportation, oil and gas, and other sectors. Belden has invested considerably in cybersecurity products. The company in 2014 bought cybersecurity company Tripwire, which makes data-integrity software, for $710 million. Belden said it […]

The post Networking giant Belden says hackers accessed data on employees, business partners appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Networking giant Belden says hackers accessed data on employees, business partners→

State-sponsored hackers try to exploit flaw in popular mobile software, UK warns

Posted on by

Suspected state-sponsored hackers and cybercriminals are trying to exploit a five-month-old vulnerability in popular mobile device management software to target a range of U.K. organizations in the local government, health, logistics and legal sectors, the British government warned Monday. Organizations use the affected software to manage mobile devices from a central server, “making them a valuable target for threat actors,” the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said in a security advisory. By breaking into the mobile device management (MDM) software, snoops could selectively steal information from mobile devices communicating with the MDM server. Some of the exploitations have been successful, the NCSC said without elaborating. The NCSC did not name any foreign governments suspected to be behind the activity. It was also unclear what type of health care organizations were targeted. The NCSC did not respond to a request for comment. The advisory is part of a consistent effort by […]

The post State-sponsored hackers try to exploit flaw in popular mobile software, UK warns appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading State-sponsored hackers try to exploit flaw in popular mobile software, UK warns→

Biden’s DHS pick was a ‘quick study’ of cybersecurity issues as the department’s deputy

Posted on by

Alejandro Mayorkas, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to run the Department of Homeland Security, gained an appreciation for how cyberthreats factor into national security challenges when he was deputy of the department from 2013 to 2016, former U.S. officials who know Mayorkas told CyberScoop. As DHS’s No. 2, the Cuban-American lawyer took a close interest in the department’s work on cyberthreat-sharing with the private sector, and was involved in negotiations with China over a 2015 agreement forbidding intellectual property theft. Mayorkas also witnessed the U.S. response to major state-sponsored hacking operations, from China’s alleged breach of the Office of Personnel Management to Russia’s probing of election infrastructure in 2016. Mayorkas is now poised to be a central figure in how the incoming Biden administration responds to such threats. “He clearly understood [cybersecurity] issues and why they were important and was a good advocate for DHS’s part in that,” said Christopher Painter, […]

The post Biden’s DHS pick was a ‘quick study’ of cybersecurity issues as the department’s deputy appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Biden’s DHS pick was a ‘quick study’ of cybersecurity issues as the department’s deputy→

‘Smart’ doorbells for sale on Amazon, eBay came stocked with security vulnerabilities

Posted on by

Holiday shoppers looking for a wireless-connected doorbell might want to take a closer look at the device’s security features. The U.K.-based security company NCC Group and consumer advocacy group Which? have found vulnerabilities in 11 “smart” doorbells sold on popular platforms like Amazon and eBay. One flaw could allow a remote attacker to break into the wireless network by swiping login credentials. Another critical bug, which has been around for years, could enable attackers to intercept and manipulate data on the network. The investigation focused on doorbells made by often obscure vendors, but which nonetheless earned top reviews and featured prominently on Amazon and eBay. The researchers raised concerns that some of the devices were storing sensitive data, including location data and audio and video captured by the doorbell’s camera, on insecure servers. One device made by a company called Victure, for example, sent a user’s wireless name and password, […]

The post ‘Smart’ doorbells for sale on Amazon, eBay came stocked with security vulnerabilities appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading ‘Smart’ doorbells for sale on Amazon, eBay came stocked with security vulnerabilities→

Police arrest 2 in connection with CyberSeal, Dataprotector crime services

Posted on by

Romanian police have arrested two people for allegedly distributing malicious software designed to evade anti-virus protections to more than 1,560 accused cybercriminals, Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, said Friday. The international crackdown, which Europol and the FBI supported, targeted a decade-long scheme that provided crooks with relatively cheap access to victim computers, which they used to carry out information-stealing and ransomware attacks. The two Romanian suspects, whom authorities did not identify, allegedly ran “crypting” services designed to sneak malicious code past anti-virus software. The services, dubbed CyberSeal and Dataprotector, sold for between $40 to $300, according to Europol. The two suspects also allegedly offered cybercriminals access to a platform to test their malware against anti-virus software for as little as $7. It’s the latest effort by global law enforcement agencies to strike at the heart of infrastructure used by people accused of facilitating costly hacking schemes. Europol and Australian police […]

The post Police arrest 2 in connection with CyberSeal, Dataprotector crime services appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Police arrest 2 in connection with CyberSeal, Dataprotector crime services→

Energy official eyed for senior CISA position after White House throws agency into turmoil

Posted on by

Following President Trump’s removal of the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s cyber division, the man whom the White House tapped for a senior position there in October is preparing to join the agency amid questions about his security clearance. Sean Plankey, currently a senior official at the Department of Energy, has in recent days contacted current and former officials at DHS to discuss working at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Plankey indicated in one conversation that his move to CISA was “imminent,” one source said. The Trump administration in October announced its intention to appoint Plankey as CISA’s assistant director for infrastructure security. The apparent momentum behind Plankey comes days after the president announced via Twitter that he had fired Chris Krebs, CISA’s director, for declaring the Nov. 3 election “the most secure in American history.” The status of Plankey’s security clearance, however, hangs […]

The post Energy official eyed for senior CISA position after White House throws agency into turmoil appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Energy official eyed for senior CISA position after White House throws agency into turmoil→

DHS’s cyber agency is led by career official Brandon Wales. For now.

Posted on by

Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump fired Chris Krebs, the dust is still settling at the Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity agency that Krebs led. Officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) who have spent months refuting conspiracy theories and battling disinformation surrounding the election say they will continue to do so, despite a White House purge of the agency’s leadership. CISA is now led on an acting basis by Brandon Wales, a 15-year veteran of DHS who is deeply familiar with CISA’s operations after serving as the agency’s top career civil servant. A former senior cybersecurity adviser to then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Wales is well-liked at CISA and known for his technical acumen. How long Wales will lead the agency, though, remains unclear. The dismantling of CISA’s leadership has employees on edge. And CISA’s continued work to debunk fraud claims could draw additional White House scrutiny. After Trump fired Krebs via tweet on […]

The post DHS’s cyber agency is led by career official Brandon Wales. For now. appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading DHS’s cyber agency is led by career official Brandon Wales. For now.→