Hacking against France’s Macron previews dangers for other major European elections

Last week’s “massive and coordinated hack” against the campaign of French President-elect Emmanuel Macron was the opening act in a year slated with critical European elections that will help decide the fate of the EU. The incident was, for about 24 hours, a hold-your-breath moment for Macron’s campaign. By Sunday night, the centrist candidate handily won, taking more than 66 percent of the vote over far-right-wing rival Marine Le Pen. Le Pen’s global array of opponents exhaled. But any reprieve for election systems’ cyber-defenders is destined to be brief. The United Kingdom, Germany and France are readying themselves for further elections and similar potential attacks. Experts have noted close similarities between this week’s leaked emails and hacks against American political targets in 2016 that were blamed widely on Russian intelligence agencies. While most experts say it’s too early yet to definitively attribute these latest attacks to any specific group, many expect the coming year to be […]

The post Hacking against France’s Macron previews dangers for other major European elections appeared first on Cyberscoop.

Continue reading Hacking against France’s Macron previews dangers for other major European elections

It finally happened: Criminals exploit SS7 vulnerabilities, prompting concerns about 2FA

Cybersecurity researchers warned us that this would happen, eventually. Earlier this year, hackers were able to remotely pilfer German bank accounts by taking advantage of vulnerabilities evident in an important yet outdated communications protocol known as Signaling System 7, or SS7, which enables global cellular networks to communicate with one another. The high-tech robbery, initially reported last week by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, represents the first known, real-world case of thieves exploiting SS7 to intercept confirmation codes that are typically sent by banks to validate actions taken by online banking customers. Recently disclosed intrusions showcase a unique and sophisticated hacking operation that leveraged a combination of both targeted phishing emails and SS7 exploits to essentially bypass two-factor authentication, or 2FA, protection. Telecommunications giant O2-Telefonica confirmed details of the SS7-based cyberattacks to Süddeutsche Zeitung. The multi-stage cybercrime campaign required that the hackers steal user credentials to access individual bank accounts in […]

The post It finally happened: Criminals exploit SS7 vulnerabilities, prompting concerns about 2FA appeared first on Cyberscoop.

Continue reading It finally happened: Criminals exploit SS7 vulnerabilities, prompting concerns about 2FA

Attackers exploited SS7 flaws to empty Germans’ bank accounts

Cyber criminals have started exploiting a long-known security vulnerabilities in the SS7 protocols to bypass German banks’ two-factor authentication and drain their customers’ bank accounts. What is SS7 and what do these vulnerabilities allow? SS7 (Signaling System #7) is a set of telephony signaling protocols that are used by over 800 of telecoms around the world. It allows their customers to seamlessly connect to different telecom networks when travelling, and use their mobile phone in … More Continue reading Attackers exploited SS7 flaws to empty Germans’ bank accounts

News in brief: NASA to crash probe into Saturn; laptop ban might widen; Facebook tool to spot fake news

Your daily round-up of some of the other stories in the news Continue reading News in brief: NASA to crash probe into Saturn; laptop ban might widen; Facebook tool to spot fake news

News in brief: NASA to crash probe into Saturn; laptop ban might widen; Facebook tool to spot fake news

Your daily round-up of some of the other stories in the news Continue reading News in brief: NASA to crash probe into Saturn; laptop ban might widen; Facebook tool to spot fake news