OODA Analysis and Briefs

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UN chief visits flood-hit Pakistan, appeals for ‘massive’ help

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appealed for global support on behalf of Pakistan due to unprecedented flooding has killed almost 1,400 people and destroyed over a million people’s homes. Guterres landed in the Pakistani capital early on Friday morning and was received by Hina Rabbani Khar, the Pakistani state minister for foreign affairs. …
Ukraine has retaken 1,000 square kilometers in a week – Zelensky

Ukraine claims to have retaken possession of over 1,000 square kilometers of its territory in the south and east of the country from Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the land had been liberated since September 1. Another general report also stated that over 20 villages in the Kharkiv region have been recaptured as well. …
Indian and Chinese troops disengaging from disputed border area, New Delhi says

Chinese and Indian troops have begun to disengage from the Gogra-Hotsprings border area in the western Himalayas, according to the Indian government on Thursday. The disengagement comes 2 years after clashes at the border site strained diplomatic ties between India and China. In the announcement, India said the disengagement is taking place in a coordinated…
North Korea declares itself a nuclear weapons state, in ‘irreversible’ move

North Korea passed a new law declaring itself a nuclear weapons state, a move that leader Kim Jong Un says is irreversible. When he passed the law, he said the country would never give up its nuclear weapons and would not negotiate on denuclearization. The new law also gave Pyongyang the right to use preemptive…
SEC Chair Gary Gensler Backs Giving CFTC Bitcoin Oversight

At an industry conference today, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chief Gary Gensler said that he supports handing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the power to “oversee and regulate crypto nonsecurity tokens and related intermediaries.” Gensler stressed that should Congress give the CFTC prime oversight over crypto, his own federal agency shouldn’t be overlooked.…
Crypto Scammers Use Fake Websites in Latest Bid to Dupe Customers

Scammers in recent weeks have employed up fake cryptocurrency web pages to attempt to steal money from users, the latest tactic to emerge in what’s already been a costly year for crypto-related hacks. The sham websites – which masquerade as pages for popular services such as Coinbase, Gemini, Kraken and MetaMask – aim to dupe visitors…
North Korea’s Lazarus hackers are exploiting Log4j flaw to hack US energy companies

Security researchers have linked a new cyber espionage campaign targeting U.S., Canadian and Japanese energy providers to the North Korean state-sponsored Lazarus hacking group. Threat intelligence company Cisco Talos said Thursday that it has observed Lazarus — also known as APT38 — targeting unnamed energy providers in the United States, Canada and Japan between February and…
Investors Sue Treasury Department for Blacklisting Crypto Platform

A group of cryptocurrency investors sued the Treasury Department on Thursday to block government sanctions that bar Americans from Tornado Cash, a popular crypto platform that criminals have used to launder virtual currencies. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Western District of Texas, is funded by the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, which has clashed with…
U.S. Recovers Over $30 Million in Cryptocurrency Stolen by North Korean Hackers

U.S. authorities have seized more than $30 million in cryptocurrency plundered from an online game this year by hackers linked to North Korea, one of the largest successes clawing back digital revenue from Pyongyang, investigators said. While only a fraction of the hundreds of millions in cryptocurrency purloined, the sum recovered is far higher than previously…
‘DangerousSavanna’ Hackers Targeted Financial Institutions in Africa For Two Years

Check Point research has identified a persistent cyber-attack campaign it calls DangerousSavanna targeting major financial institutions in French-speaking African countries. According to the cybersecurity firm, the campaign has been active for the past two years and focuses on spear phishing techniques to initiate infection chains. The threat actors behind the attacks delivered malicious attachment emails…
US approves $2.6bn in aid for Ukraine and allies

The United States has approved an aid package for Ukraine containing nearly $2.7 billion, including $675 million in weapons. The arms package was announced by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a meeting with dozens of fellow ministers at the US air base in Ramstein, Germany. The arms package contains howitzers, munitions, Humvee vehicles, armored ambulances…
At least 16 dead as heavy rains trigger landslides in Uganda

Heavy rains in the Kasese district of western Uganda caused a landslide early Wednesday, killing at least 16 people. Six additional people were injured and are receiving treatment at a local hospital. Search and rescue workers have been shoveling the mud to find survivors in the region that sits in the foothills of the Rwenzori…
Japan Government Websites Hit By Cyber-Attacks, Killnet Suspected

Japanese websites have reportedly been hit by denial of service (DoS) attacks that resulted in operational issues. Japan’s digital agency confirmed that its e-Gov administrative portal was experiencing difficulties logging onto some services. The Russia-affiliated notorious hacking group Killnet has claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming to have impacted 20 websites across four government ministries.…
New Iranian hacking group APT42 deploys custom Android spyware

Cybersecurity firm Mandiant has released information regarding what is believed to be a new Iranian state-sponsored hacking group referred to as APT42. The group is allegedly using a custom Android malware to spy on targets that fit its interests. Mandiant has reportedly collecting enough evidence to prove that the group is separate from other previously…
Crypto Insiders Edgy over Quantum Computing’s Looming Threat to Blockchain Security

Chatter on the cryptographic side of cryptocurrency has been growing over the past couple of years about the threat posed by quantum computing, an entirely new type of computer that would be many orders of magnitude more powerful than current ones — so powerful that many modern forms of encryption will be crackable.Including the cryptography…
Hacker Steals Bill Murray’s Crypto After $185K NFT Charity Auction

Hours after the closing of Bill Murray’s NFT auction that raised 119.2 ETH (around $185,000) for charity Thursday, a hacker stole the funds. The hacker started to drain Murray’s personal wallet at around 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, according to on-chain data from Etherscan and details from Murray’s team. The unknown individual also attempted to…
South Korea Is Gearing Up to Institutionalize Security Tokens

Financial regulators in South Korea want to bring security tokens, which are blockchain-based digital forms of traditional securities, into the scope of the country’s capital markets rules in an effort to formalize the products. The country’s top financial regulators, including the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and Financial Supervisory Service, met with industry representatives like the…
TeslaGun Primed to Blast a New Wave of Backdoor Cyberattacks

A newly discovered cyberattack panel dubbed TeslaGun has been discovered, used by Evil Corp to run ServHelper backdoor campaigns. Data gleaned from an analysis by the Prodraft Threat Intelligence (PTI) team shows the Evil Corp ransomware gang (aka TA505 or UNC2165, along with half a dozen other colorful tracking names) has used TeslaGun to carry out…
Bitcoin hits lowest level since June as cryptocurrency market drops below $1 trillion again

Bitcoin traded below $19,000 on Wednesday morning, hitting its lowest level since June following a drop in stock markets globally and the continued strength of the U.S. dollar. The value of the entire cryptocurrency market also fell below $1 trillion as digital coins across the board saw a sell-off. Bitcoin was last trading slightly lower…
TeslaGun Primed to Blast a New Wave of Backdoor Cyberattacks

New data from an analysis released by Prodraft Threat Intelligence demonstrates how the Evil Corp ransomware gang, also known as TA505 and UNC2165, has expanded its cyber weapon arsenal to include TeslaGun. The cyberattack panel referred to as TeslaGun has been leveraged by the group to help conduct phishing campaigns and ServHelper backdoor campaigns. The…
Meta Fined $400m in Ireland For Children’s Privacy Breach

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has announced that it plans to fine social media platform Instagram $402 million due to mistreatment and mishandling of children’s data. The DPC found that Instagram allowed children to run business accounts that displayed the account holder’s phone number and email address. Therefore, Instagram was effectively exposing the minors’ data.…
FBI K-12 Ransomware Warning as LAUSD is Hit

The FBI has warned that there may be a possible surge in ransomware attacks targeting US schools as they resume classes following the summer break. Over the holiday weekend, the FBI reported that the country’s second largest school district, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) was compromised by threat actors. The county serves 600,000…
BlackCat Ransomware Linked to Italy’s Energy Services Firm Hack

Hacking group BlackCat has been linked to recent attacks on Italy’s energy services firm GSE. According to Reuters, the notorious hacking group was behind the attack and threatened to publish if their ransom demands were not met. GSE is a state-owned energy services firm that operates critical infrastructure, making it an attractive target. According to…
Authorities Take Down Prolific WT1SHOP Cybercrime Marketplace

American and Portuguese authorities have reportedly taken down a notorious cybercrime marketplace on which sellers posted troves of stolen personal information that amassed millions of dollars over the years it was active. According to the US Department of Justice, the platform was one of the largest of its kind and offered roughly six million records…
UK forces crypto exchanges to report suspected sanction breaches

Crypto exchanges must report suspected sanctions breaches to UK authorities under new rules brought in amid concerns that bitcoin and other cryptoassets are being used to dodge restrictions imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Official guidance was updated on 30 August to explicitly include “cryptoassets” among those that must be frozen if sanctions are…
Brazilian SEC is looking to change crypto regulation with new bill

According to reports, the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission is looking to switch up the country’s legal framework for cryptocurrencies. The main concern is that the bill in question does not consider tokens as digital assets or securities, which means that it does not fall under SEC regulation. Subsequently, the updated position of the Brazilian…
Top 4 Biggest Exploits in August and How They Got Access

According to one of the most recent reports by a data analysis platform Chainanalysis, vulnerabilities in cross-chain bridge protocols have posed the biggest security threat in the crypto industry; they now represent two-thirds of all hacks. According to a blockchain security firm SlowMist Hacked, users lost around $263 million worth of cryptocurrency to hacks in…
Crypto: Stablecoins scramble for safe havens as sanctions threat escalates

A major stablecoin issuer is formulating an intricate plan to ensure it always remains beyond the reach of centralised authority after US regulators froze USDC (USDC-USD) funds without warning. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, (OFAC) strong-armed USDC issuer Circle into freezing over 75,000 USDC in the wake of the Tornado Cash affair.…
Understanding The ‘Ethereum Merge’

After many delays, the long-hyped ‘Ethereum Merge’ is about to happen. The first stage of the process – Bellatrix – happens today, 6 September. The second stage – Paris – completes at some point next week. At that point, the way Ethereum – the world’s second largest cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin – fundamentally works will change,…
EvilProxy Phishing Toolkit Spotted on Dark Web Forums

EvilProxy, a new phishing-as-a-service has been identified for sale on dark web forums. The phishing tool is also known as Moloch. Security researchers at Resecurity were the first to identify the malicious tool for sale online. EvilProxy threat actors are reportedly using reverse proxy and cookie injection methods to effectively bypass two factor authentication, according…
London’s Biggest Bus Operator Hit by Cyber “Incident”

London commuters and travelers are bracing themselves for delays after the city’s largest bus operator, Go-Ahead, revealed that it had suffered from a cybersecurity incident. The company is based in Newcastle and released a statement with the London Stock Exchange confirming that it had detected unauthorized activity on its network. Go-Ahead stated that it immediately…
SharkBot Malware Resurfaces on Google Play to Steal Users’ Credentials

The SharkBot mobile malware has been spotted with new upgrades on the Google Play Store, according to the NCC Group. The Fox-IT branch of the NCC Group released a new blog post detailing the malware and the apps it is currently hiding in. According to the report, the new version of SharkBot targets the banking…
North Korea supplying Russia with weapons, say US reports

Due to sanctions that limit Moscow’s ability to supply its military, Russia has been forced to buy military hardware from North Korea. The New York Times obtained declassified intelligence that shows that Russia has bought millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea. US officials expect that Russia will be forced to buy additional…
Kenya’s top court confirms William Ruto’s victory in presidential vote

The Supreme Court in Kenya upheld the results declaring William Ruto the winner of last month’s presidential elections. Ruto won with 50.49% of the vote, his rival Raila Odinga received 48.85% of the vote, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission announced in August. Four members of the commission rejected the results, sending the otherwise peaceful…
IRS Leaks 120,000 Taxpayers’ Personal Details

According to recent reports and a letter from the IRS to Congress, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) accidentally posted sensitive taxpayer data to its website. This means that those affected could potentially be at risk for further threats, such as identity fraud. The problem with the data leak stemmed from the machine-readable Form 990-T,…
Watering Hole Attacks Push ScanBox Keylogger

Researchers have discovered that a China-based threat actor referred to as APT TA423 has ramped up its efforts to distribute the ScanBox reconnaissance framework to victims. Security researchers identified a watering hole attack that was likely conducted by the malicious hacking group against domestic Australian organizations and offshore energy firms in the South China Sea.…
VMware looks to tap growing APAC need for multi-cloud management

VMware has announced that its next phase of cloud development will focus on multi-cloud management and security. Businesses in the Asia-Pacific are seeking options but have a difficult time coping with the complexities of different platform management. To solve this issue, VMware is looking to step in and aid its customers with a range of…
Terror groups may turn to NFTs to raise funds and spread messages: WSJ

The first known case of a nonfungible token (NFT) created and shared by a “terrorist sympathizer” has come to light, raising concerns that the immutable nature of blockchain tech could help the spread of terrorist messages and propaganda. In a Sunday article in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), intelligence experts said the NFT could be a…
Binance Identifies Suspects Who Stole From KyberSwap Whales

Binance may have helped crack last week’s $265,000 hack on decentralized exchange (DEX) platform KyberSwap. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said on Saturday that his exchange’s security team identified two suspects behind the attack, and that their identities have been forwarded to the KyberSwap team. On Sept. 1, KyberSwap issued an alert to notify users that a hacker…
Unraveling How Cybercriminals Extort Businesses Worldwide

The paper, “An Anatomy of Crypto-Enabled Cybercrimes,” takes a detailed look at how highly sophisticated criminal organizations, mainly based in Russia and North Korea, extort money from corporations worldwide. The majority of these victimized firms are in the United States. “This was actually a difficult decision to do this paper because there’s a substantial probability that…
Why are crypto assets important in a divorce proceeding?

The first decentralized digital currency Bitcoin was first released in 2009, and it has now been 13 years since then. Over the years, crypto assets have gained enormous popularity and are now widely recognized as one of the investment vehicles and payment methods despite its volatile nature. This can be seen from the price of…
Hackers Compromise The Youtube Channel of The South Korean Government To Promote a Crypto Scam

On September 03, the official YouTube channel of the South Korean government was compromised by a group of hackers who used it to promote a cryptocurrency scam with the image of Elon Musk, the electric car tycoon and Dogecoin enthusiast. According to local media outlet Yonhap News, the hackers changed the name of the government channel…
DeFi protocol Kyber Network suffers frontend hack, loses $265K

Multi-chain DeFi protocol Kyber Network (KNC) revealed that it suffered an exploit on its frontend on Sept. 1, leading to a loss of $265,000 from two whale wallets. According to Kyber Network, its team “identified a malicious code in our Google Tag Manager (GTM)which inserted a false approval, allowing a hacker to transfer users’ funds to…
Will Regulations Benefit The Cryptocurrency Market in The Long-Run

The crypto market exhibits a wide spectrum of opportunities for everyone including investors and regulators. The Crypto market is an ecosystem in itself pertaining to centralized and decentralized financial systems. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) allows market participants to work freely without any hindrance from single-control authorities. Whereas centralized finance is a circle where there is a…
This is how North Korean crypto hackers fund their regime

North Korea has been one of the most active nations behind several of the cryptocurrency hacks taking place over the last year. In mid-August, US-based blockchain analysis company Chainalysis suggested that hackers stole more than $1.9 billion (€1.9 billion) during the first seven months of 2022. Of this total money lost in crypto hacks, the “bad…
Domain spoofing on the rise as cybercriminals see some crypto sites as a ‘perfect target’

The crypto industry has become synonymous with hacks. The blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis found that criminal hackers stole approximately $3.2 billion in 2021—a 516% increase from 2020. With governments tackling ransomware attacks, hackers are turning to different techniques. A new report from the cybersecurity company Bitdefender found that website spoofing—or attacks where cybercriminals create international domain…
Apple Quietly Releases Another Patch for Zero-Day RCE Bug

Apple has released more updates to patch a remote-code execution flaw that is being actively exploited. The vulnerability was patched earlier this month in newer devices. However, the Wednesday update, iOS 12.5.6 now makes it possible to patch iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air, iPad mini 2, iPad mini 3, and iPod…
Ragnar Locker Ransomware Targets Energy Sector, Cybereason Suggests

Security researchers at Cybereason have released a Threat Analysis Report to highlight the details of an attack that occurred last month against Greece’s largest natural gas supplier, DESFA. The organization stated that it was hit by a cyberattack that impacted some of its systems. Threat actor group Ragnar Locker claimed responsibility for the ransomware attack…
New Ransomware Group BianLian Activity Exploding

A new ransomware group named BianLian that emerged in late 2021 has become increasingly active, according to security researchers. US cybersecurity firm Redacted released a report earlier this week alleging that the threat actor has already compromised twenty victims spanning several industries, including insurance, medicine, law, and engineering. The majority of the group’s targets are…
Malicious Google Chrome extensions affect 1.4 million users

According to a McAfee blog post published on Monday, malicious Google Chrome extensions are affecting more than one million users. Although extensions are popular and have a range of uses, users should be wary of which extensions they are downloading. Some of these downloads are mimicking the appearance of other legitimate extensions and could put…
Germany rejects new negotiations over Namibia genocide

Six years ago, Germany and Namibia entered into negotiations about a formal apology for the colonial-era killings of tens of thousands of the Herero and Nama people. There was a draft agreement in may of 2021, however, neither governments have signed it. The document drew loud criticism from both politicians and the descendants of the…
Mosque blast kills at least 18 in Afghanistan

An explosion at a mosque in Herat in western Afghanistan killed over a dozen civilians and a high-profile pro-Taliban scholar. 23 other people were wounded in the attack. No one has taken responsibility for the attack at the time. The explosion occurred during Friday noon prayers in the Guzargah Mosque. Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said…
Crucial hours as fuel removed from stricken ship in Gibraltar

Teams have been rushing to pump fuel off of a grounded ship after it collided with a gas tanker off of Gibraltar and began leaking fuel oil into the sea. There was a significant leak from the OS 35 on Thursday and booms were deployed to prevent the oil spreading. 80% of the ship’s diesel…
Myanmar junta sentences ex-British ambassador to one year in prison over immigration charges

The military junta in Myanmar sentenced former British ambassador Vicky Bowman to one year in prison on Friday. She and her husband were detained in Yangon last month and were accused of violating immigration laws, her husband was also sentenced to one year in prison. Bowman’s sentencing occurred on the same day that the former…
Dozens of Celsius clients ask US court to recover $22.5M in crypto

The bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network is facing more legal issues as disgruntled clients are taking action to recover their funds after the platform froze withdrawals in June. On Wednesday, an ad hoc group of 64 custodial account holders at Celsius filed a complaint with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New…
The metaverse and Web3 could fail without identity-first security principles: Here’s how IT leaders can take action

As the digital world takes over nearly every aspect of our work and personal lives, 2022 continues to be a foundational year for enterprise leaders to prepare their cybersecurity technology stacks for the future. IT leaders should not get lost in the hype, especially since in my experience, many still focus on old computing and security…
CEO of collapsed Turkish crypto exchange Thodex faces extradition from Albania following arrest

Faruk Fatih Özer, CEO of defunct Turkish crypto exchange Thodex, has been apprehended by law enforcement officials in Albania and faces extradition to Turkey, according to a statement from Turkey’s Interior Ministry. Thodex was one of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges before abruptly halting trading in April 2021, causing more than 400,000 users to lose funds.…
What is the Ethereum merge and how will it impact the blockchain?

A big change is set to hit the crypto space, with a long-anticipated upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain. The upgrade, known as the Ethereum merge, will see the blockchain move from its current energy-intensive system to a more environmentally friendly mechanism. The non-profit Ethereum Foundation claims this upgrade will lead to more scalability, security and…
U.S. sought records on Binance CEO for crypto money laundering probe

U.S. federal prosecutors asked Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, to provide extensive internal records about its anti-money laundering checks, along with communications involving its chief executive and founder Changpeng Zhao, according to a late-2020 written request seen by Reuters. The Justice Department’s money laundering section asked Binance to voluntarily hand over messages from Zhao and…
UK Imposes Tough New Cybersecurity Rules for Telecom Providers

The UK’s telecommunications industry is set to introduce new security framework in October. The shift will make the UK’s telecoms security regulations some of the strongest and most thorough in the world. The UK government published a public consultation response earlier this week outlining some of the changes that have been made to the regulations…