Cybersecurity News & Trends – 02-19-21
This week was a good one for the rule of law, as a number of cybercriminals involved in ransomware, phishing and cryptocurrency theft were brought to justice.
SonicWall in the News
2021 Channel Chiefs: Robert (Bob) VanKirk — CRN
- Robert (Bob) VanKirk has been named one of CRN’s Channel Chiefs for 2021.
2021 Channel Chiefs: HoJin Kim — CRN
- HoJin Kim has been named one of CRN’s Channel Chiefs for 2021.
2021 Channel Chiefs: David Bankemper — CRN
- David Bankemper has been named one of CRN’s Channel Chiefs for 2021.
Industry News
North Korea Turning to Cryptocurrency Schemes in Global Heists, U.S. Says — The Wall Street Journal
- The U.S. Justice Department has charged North Koreans hackers in wide-ranging scheme that includes attempts to steal $1.3 billion for Pyongyang.
Nigerian man sentenced 10 years for $11 million phishing scam — Cyberscoop
- The sentence comes as the cost of email scams continues to rise, plaguing U.S. businesses.
Cred-stealing trojan harvests logins from Chromium browsers, Outlook and more, warns Cisco Talos — The Register
- A credential-stealing trojan is capable of lifting your login details from the Chrome browser, Microsoft’s Outlook and instant messengers.
NIST hints at upgrades to its system for scoring a phish’s deceptiveness — SC Magazine
- Officials from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) this week teased future improvements to its “Phish Scale,” which helps companies determine whether phishing emails are hard or easy for their employees to detect.
Egregor Arrests a Blow, but Ransomware Will Likely Bounce Back — Dark Reading
- Similar to previous ransomware takedowns, this disruption to the ransomware-as-a-service model will likely be short-lived, security experts say.
SolarWinds attack hit 100 companies and took months of planning, says White House — ZDNet
- The White House warns the SolarWinds attack was more than espionage, because the private sector targets could lead to follow-up attacks.
Senate Intel leader demands answers on Florida water treatment center breach — The Hill
- Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) has demanded answers regarding the investigation into the recent attempt to breach and poison the water supply in a Florida city.
Rising healthcare breaches driven by hacking and unsecured servers — Bleeping Computer
- 2020 was a bad year for healthcare organizations in the U.S., which had to deal with record-high cybersecurity incidents on the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bitcoin hits new record of $50,000 — BBC
- The cryptocurrency, which was created by an unknown inventor, has risen about 72% this year.
270 addresses are responsible for 55% of all cryptocurrency money laundering — ZDNet
- Most cryptocurrency money laundering is concentrated in a few online services, opening the door for law-enforcement actions.
Microsoft asks government to stay out of its cyber attack response in Australia — ZDNet
- Government intervention would result in a “Fog of War,” further complicating any attempt to mitigate cyberattack response, the company said.
France’s cyber-agency says Centreon IT management software sabotaged by Russian Sandworm — The Register
- Web hosts were infiltrated for up to three years in an attack that somewhat resembles the SolarWinds breach.
100+ Financial Services Firms Targeted in Ransom DDoS Attacks in 2020 — Dark Reading
- Consumer banks, exchanges, payment firms and card-issuing companies around the globe were among those hit.
Microsoft: SolarWinds attack took more than 1,000 engineers to create — ZDNet
- Microsoft reckons that the huge attack on security vendors and more took the combined power of at least 1,000 engineers to create.
In Case You Missed It
- Three SonicWall Executives Named to Annual CRN 2021 Channel Chiefs List — Lindsey Lockhart
- SonicWall CEO Talks Federal Cybersecurity, Resiliency and Ryuk — Amber Wolff
- Massive Supply-Chain Attack Targets SolarWinds Orion Platform — Brook Chelmo
- SonicWall Sweeps Six Industry Awards, Including Grand Trophy, at Network Product Guide 2020 IT World Awards — Brook Chelmo
- SonicWall Celebrates 20 Years of Delivering World-Class Cybersecurity Solutions in Mexico — Eustolio Villalobos
