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Informing your decisions with actionable intelligence
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Informing your decisions with actionable intelligence
While Europe and Russia may appear to be on the brink of conventional warfare breaking out, we are really in a gray zone of Putin’s design. If you are tracking the events in Europe with an eye towards your organization’s geopolitical risk in the region (impact on strategic partnerships, employee safety, etc), the following post…
Late on Monday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the arrest of nine people relating to acts of sabotage in connection with the Russian services. Prime Minister Donald Tusk also announced that Poland would allocate extra funding in the form of an additional 100 million zlotys ($25.53 million) to its intelligence services to guard against the…
On Monday, Iran announced five days of mourning for President Ebrahim Raisi. Following the death of Iran’s President and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahain, government loyalists filled the mosques and squares with prayer. However, the majority of shops have remained open in the wake of the deaths. Opponents of the leadership posted videos of people…
On Monday, a Russian-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution failed as it split the 15-member body. The Russian-drafted resolution called on all countries to prevent “for all time” the threat, placement, or use of any weapons in outer space. The draft ultimately failed as it was unable to acquire the minimum number of votes necessary…
Fluent Bit, a logging utility used by several major companies has been impacted by a severe vulnerability to its system. Fluent Bit operates as an open-source data collector and processor that handles large swaths of data from a myriad of sources. The vulnerability, detailed by cybersecurity firm Tenable, leaves the logging utility exposed to denial-of-service…
On Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an enforcement regarding steps to protect drinking water systems against cyber threats. According to inspections conducted by the EPA, over 70% of water systems in the U.S. are not compliant with the Safe Drinking Water Act. Inspections conducted since September 2023 revealed that critical cyber vulnerabilities…
An in-depth multi-stage campaign has been uncovered wherein cyber criminals abuse legitimate services to deliver malware. Legitimate services such as GitHub and FileZilla have been utilized to deliver different stealer malware and banking Trojans. The threat actors are able to impersonate credible software such as 1Password and Pixelmator Pro to execute this campaign and effectively…
On Sunday, a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister crashed, killing the Iranian President. According to an Iranian official, the helicopter crashed while navigating through heavy fog and crossing over mountain terrain. The crash occurred on a return trip from a border visit with Azerbaijan. The official also stated that the…
On Monday, Taiwan officially inaugurated Lai Ching-te as its new President, who is a relative moderate and will continue Taiwan’s independent stance from China. The ceremony was held in the Presidential Office Building in Taipei, wherein thousands gathered to watch the arrival of the President. Lai has promised to continue to bolster Taiwan’s defenses while…
Slack has garnered backlash over revealing that it has used customer data, messages, and files to train machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). Slack stated that its internal systems have continuously been analyzing customer data and user information without requiring users to opt in. This default setting enables the analysis of messages, user content,…
As a part of an effort to disrupt a North Korean IT workers scheme, the U.S. government announced charges, seizures, arrests, and reward incentives. A network of North Korean IT workers has earned millions of dollars for North Korea by infiltrating hundreds of companies. According to the Justice Department, North Korea has utilized the skills…
On Monday, the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s office stated it has requested arrest warrants including one for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The arrest warrants are issued on account of alleged war crimes. The prosecutor Karim Khan’s office stated that all members included in the warrant bear criminal responsibility. The arrest warrants include Netanyahu, his…
WebTPA Employer Services has disclosed a data breach that has impacted over 2.4 million individuals through the exploitation of personal information. WebTPA is a third-party administrator that focuses on health insurance and benefits plans, based out of Irving, Texas. The data breach was first realized on December 28, 2023, wherein suspicious activity was discovered on…
The U.S. Department of Justice has arrested and charged two Chinese nationals for allegedly orchestrating a pig butchering scam and laundering $73 million from victims. The scheme involved laundering money from victims through shell companies under the guise of an international crypto investment scam. Both individuals, Daren Li, 41, and Yicheng Zhang, 38 have been…
On Wednesday, a government minister announced that Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has improved from his previous life-threatening condition following being shot. The assassination attempt occurred on Wednesday evening as Fico was exiting a government meeting. The gunman shot Prime Minister Fico a total of five times. As a result, Fico had to undergo surgery…
Early on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The talks between Putin and Xi were devised with the intention of deepening the strategic partnership between the two countries. In February 2022, China and Russia announced a “no limits” partnership, following a visit by Putin to Beijing.…
On Wednesday, U.S. officials highlighted concerns regarding China’s “misuse of AI”. In response, Beijing representatives criticized Washington’s “restrictions and pressure” on artificial intelligence These comments come following a meeting in Geneva between the U.S. and China regarding the risks posed by artificial intelligence. The transnational issue of the rapid development of AI technology has become…
For the second time within a year, law enforcement agencies have seized control over BreachForums, a platform known for peddling stolen data. BreachForums have been seized by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) following a collaborative operation conducted by Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Switzerland, the U.K., the U.S., and Ukraine. The first iteration of…
On Wednesday, the top U.S. arms control official stated that China has not responded to U.S. nuclear weapons risk-reduction proposals. Subsequently, Washington is left questioning Beijing’s call for no-first-use talks despite building up its own arsenal. According to the Under Secretary of State Bonnie Jenkins, the U.S. estimation of the Chinese nuclear weapons arsenal sits…
On Monday, Lai Ching-te assumed the office of Taiwan’s President, facing a China that refers to him as a “dangerous separatist”. Simultaneously, Lai Ching-te also faces problems on the home front as he reconciles with a fractured parliament with no majority political party. Previously serving as the Vice President for four years, Lai succeeds former…
In early May, the city of Wichita, Kansas revealed that personal files were stolen in a ransomware attack. On May 5, the city revealed the cyber attack and stated that as a security measure, certain city systems were shut down to contain the lifting of sensitive information. The attack was conducted via file-encrypting ransomware. At…
On Wednesday, Google announced the release of Chrome 125 with patches for nine vulnerabilities. One of the most significant bugs known as CVE-2024-4947, has already been exploited. This bug is a high-severity type confusion flaw located in the V8 JavaScript engine. The successful exploitation of this vulnerability would enable a remote hacker to execute arbitrary…
Ukrainian troops have retreated from several villages in the Kharkiv region amid intensified pressure from Russian forces, with soldiers relocating to more strategic positions following heavy fire. President Zelensky has canceled upcoming foreign trips as the country faces a new cross-border incursion, with towns and villages coming under significant attack. Moscow claims to have seized…
Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting Beijing amidst what he calls an “unprecedented” level of ties between Russia and China, despite growing pressure on China to distance itself from Moscow due to its invasion of Ukraine. While China has refrained from condemning the war and continues to trade with Russia despite sanctions from the US…
Violent clashes between rival cartels in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas have resulted in the deaths of at least 11 people, including two nuns and a teenager, according to reports by local media. The area, contested by the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), witnessed intense gunfire on Monday night, leading…
The northern region of France is currently the scene of an “unprecedented” manhunt after prisoner Mohamed Amra, dubbed “The Fly,” escaped during a violent ambush on his transport vehicle, resulting in the deaths of two officers and serious injuries to three others. The incident occurred as Amra was being returned to jail from a court…
Apple and Google have introduced a new feature on their mobile operating systems to alert users about unwanted location trackers moving with them. The feature targets Bluetooth Low Energy-enabled accessories with built-in location-tracking capabilities that are difficult to detect. iOS and Android users will receive alerts when such devices are identified as moving with them…
Singing River Health System (SRHS) has disclosed that approximately 900,000 individuals were affected by a ransomware attack in August 2023, with personal information including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and medical data compromised. Despite no evidence of misuse, SRHS is notifying those potentially impacted and offering free credit monitoring services and guidance on preventing identity…
The Ebury Linux botnet, initially discovered in 2014 with 25,000 infected systems, has persisted and expanded over the past decade, reaching approximately 100,000 infected systems by the end of 2023, according to a report by ESET. Despite a takedown attempt and the sentencing of one of its operators, Maxim Senakh, the botnet has continued to…
Santander, the Spain-based bank, disclosed on Tuesday that some of its customers and employees have been affected by a data breach at a third-party provider. The breach involved unauthorized access to one of Santander’s databases hosted by the third-party provider. The compromised database contained certain information on customers of Santander Spain, Chile, and Uruguay, as…
Informing your decisions with actionable intelligence
Informing your decisions with actionable intelligence