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“University of Wisconsin reported malware was found on a server that stored the names and Social Security numbers of 75,000 students and faculty members.” (Source: Security Breach Hits Wisconsin University Server Storing Student, Faculty SSNs – Security – News & Reviews – eWeek.com.)
“New software being used by the State Department to assess security weaknesses is helping improve real-time awareness of vulnerabilities, according to a Government Accountability Office report on information security.” (Source: GAO Report Examines State Department Cybersecurity Risk Software | Security Management.)
“Hackers broke into the Hong Kong stock exchange news Web site today, forcing the exchange to suspend trading of seven companies, according to The Wall Street Journal. “ (Source: Hong Kong stock exchange halts trading after hack attack | InSecurity Complex – CNET News.)
“Apparently, ‘Anonymous’ won’t be accepting your friend request.” (Source: Hacker group vows to ‘kill Facebook’ – CNN.com.)
“Government leaders don’t understand the gravity of the threat of cyber attacks or the implications, ex-CIA official tells Black Hat attendees.” (Source: Cyber Threat Resembles Pre-9/11 Terror Threat: Black Hat — InformationWeekCyber Threat Resembles Pre-9/11 Terror Threat: Black Hat – government Blog.)
“A hacker group on Saturday claimed it has ‘defaced and destroyed’ websites at scores of US police agencies in retaliation for the arrest of suspected peers accused of hacking into the CIA, British crime agency SOCA, and Sony.” (Source: AFP: Hacker group declares cyber war on US police.)
“A hacker managed to penetrate the website of confectionary giant Hershey and change a recipe.” (Source: Hershey hacked by attacker who changes recipe rather than steal data – SC Magazine UK.)
“Lawmakers and some Pentagon officials argue that the US should shift cyberdefense from ‘How to build the next best firewall’ to an offensive message: Those who attack US computers risk ‘land-based attack’.” (Source: You hack, we shoot: Pentagon discusses armed counterstrikes to cyberattacks – CSMonitor.com.)
“One of Sony Corp’s insurers has asked a court to declare that it does not have to pay to defend the media and electronics conglomerate from mounting legal claims related to a massive data breach earlier this year.” (Source: Sony insurer sues to deny data breach coverage | Reuters.)
“Today, as part of the EU-US Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial in Gödöllo (Hungary), Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice President for the Digital Agenda, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano reiterated their shared commitment to deepening cooperation to address the increasing threats to global…
“The FBI has sent out a fraud alert over recent trend of unauthorized wire transfers to China. Small- to medium-sized business in the U.S. are typical victims.” (Source: FBI uncovers string of large, unauthorized wire transfers to China.)
“The story of Stuxnet, a piece of malware that almost certainly targeted an Iranian nuclear facility, is complex and dense. Most of the interesting stuff is buried in the half megabyte of code that the worm is made of, and telling a good story about the details is nearly as difficult as figuring them out…
“Some of the federal government’s most critical agencies are falling down on database security with misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and a lack of best practices, putting sensitive citizen and defense information at risk as a result, new government audits show. Just this week, the Office of the Inspector General (IG) found that the Department of Homeland Security…
“Hackers who have claimed responsibility for a spate of recent break-ins said on Friday that they had infiltrated the network of IRC Federal, an engineering contractor that works for federal agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and stole internal documents from its database and e-mail system.” (Source: AntiSec Hackers Hit F.B.I. Contractor – NYTimes.com.)
“The Obama administration is working to contain cybersecurity threats posed by software and hardware infrastructure built overseas, an official said Thursday.” (Source: U.S. infrastructure faces cyberthreats – UPI.com.)
Thailand’s Pita Limjaroenrat failed to secure his initial bid for the Prime Minister’s office on Thursday. He was derailed by a high-stakes parliamentary vote that featured many no-shows and almost 200 abstentions. Despite support from his eight-party alliance, the leader of the Move Forward party was unable to secure 375 votes in the bicameral parliament.…
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met on Thursday to discuss the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and its rules of operations. The two leaders sought to initiate urgent negotiations between their countries and Sudan, and want to finalize agreements within four months. Egypt and Ethiopia have butted heads for…
Apple re-released its recent Rapid Security Response updates for iOS and macOS after the original patches caused a website access issue. MacOS Ventura 13.4.1 (a), iOS 16.5.1 (a), iPadOS 16.5.1 (a), and Safari 16.5.2 addressed the actively exploited WebKit vulnerability CVE-2023-37450. The bug allowed attackers to exploit arbitrary code attacks after users accessed malicious content…
Prayuth Chan-ocha, the army chief who staged a coup and has ruled Thailand for nine years, has announced his retirement from politics. Despite initially promising a temporary tenure, Prayuth remained in power as prime minister, reshaping the country’s power structures and suppressing dissent. His conservative political party performed poorly in the recent election, and his…
Private equity firm TPG announced plans to acquire Forcepoint’s Global Governments and Critical Infrastructure (G2CI) business on Monday. The business was created in 2018 to act as Forcepoint’s government cybersecurity unit and will be spun out as an independent entity. According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal is reportedly valued at around $2.5 billion.…
Russian President Vladimir Putin met mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin after the failed Wagner group mutiny in June. Prigozhin leads the Wagner mercenary group and was among 35 Wagner commanders invited to the meeting in Moscow with Vladimir Putin. President Putin had given an assessment of the Ukraine war effort and the mutiny at the meeting.…
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has stated that he will quit politics after his coalition government collapsed on Friday in a row over asylum politics. Rutte has been the Dutch Prime Minister for almost 13 years and is one of Europe’s longest serving leaders. He is heading a caretaker administration until elections can be held…
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Monday that Brussels should approve Ankara’s accession to the European Union before his country approves Sweden’s bid for NATO membership. Erdogan made the comments at a news conference on Monday before he left for the NATO summit in Lithuania. Erdogan emphasized that Turkey has been waiting for admittance…