Between legislation to protect government IoT devices, developments in the TikTok saga and Supreme Court arguments, what’s happening at the federal level this week could have far-reaching implications for cybersecurity.

SonicWall in the News

Politics in the Technology World Order — Verdict Magazine
SonicWall President and CEO Bill Conner weighs in on the future of the U.S. data privacy landscape.

Perimeter 81 Looks To Take Firewall Appliances Out — Security Boulevard
SonicWall, an investor in Perimeter 81’s recent funding round, has partnered with the firm on its firewall-as-a-service software.

Sectigo to Be Acquired by GI Partners — Sectigo Press Release
In a comment about the acquisition, SonicWall President, CEO and Sectigo Board Chairman Bill Conner said, “The future is bright for Sectigo as the company builds on its impressive position as a digital identity and web security solutions leader.”

Industry News

This security awareness training email is actually a phishing scam — Bleeping Computer
A creative phishing campaign spoofs a well-known security company in an email pretending to be a reminder to complete security awareness training.

Oracle-TikTok Deal to Undergo U.S. Security Review — The Wall Street Journal
The Treasury Department said it would review an agreement for Oracle and others to revamp TikTok’s U.S. operations, with the aim of avoiding a ban of the popular video-sharing app.

House approves bill to secure internet-connected federal devices against cyber threats — The Hill
The Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act, passed unanimously by the House, would require all internet-connected devices purchased by the federal government to comply with minimum security recommendations.

Hackers are getting more hands-on with their attacks. That’s not a good sign — ZDNet
Both nation-state-backed hackers and cybercriminals are trying to take advantage of the rise in remote working — and getting more sophisticated in their approach.

LockBit ransomware launches data leak site to double-extort victims — Bleeping Computer
The LockBit ransomware gang has launched a new data leak site to be used as part of their double extortion strategy to scare victims into paying a ransom.

Zerologon attack lets hackers take over enterprise networks — ZDNet
If you’re managing enterprise Windows servers, don’t skip on the August 2020 Patch.

Security researchers slam Voatz brief to the Supreme Court on anti-hacking law — Cyberscoop
The Supreme Court is about to take up a case with major implications for computer research — and a group of high-profile cybersecurity specialists doesn’t want mobile voting firm Voatz to have the last word.

Don’t pay the ransom, mate. Don’t even fix a price, say Australia’s cyber security bods — The Register
Over the past 12 months, the Australian Cyber Security Centre has observed real-world impacts of ransomware incidents, which have typically originated from a user executing a file received as part of a spearphishing campaign.

Russian Intelligence Hackers Are Back, Microsoft Warns, Aiming at Officials of Both Parties — The New York Times
China is also growing more adept at targeting campaign workers, with Beijing mostly aiming at Biden campaign officials.

Iran Says US Vote Hack Allegation ‘Absurd’ — Security Week
Tehran on Friday hit back at allegations by Microsoft that Iran-based hackers had targeted the U.S. presidential campaigns.

Treasury Dept. sanctions Russian, Ukrainian individuals for election interference — The Hill
The Treasury Department has added four Russian and Ukrainian individuals to its specially designated nationals list, citing attempts by the individuals to interfere in U.S. elections.

In Case You Missed It

• Overcoming Advanced Evasion of Malware Detection — Brook Chelmo
• ‘3 & Free’ Promotion: How to Upgrade Your SonicWall Firewall for Free — Robert (Bob) VanKirk
• New SonicWall Solutions: Engineered for the New Normal — Atul Dhablania
• Your Email DLP Just Got Better and More Secure — Vishnu Chandra Pandey
• All it Takes is One Click! — Vishnu Chandra Pandey
• Not Safe for Work — Amber Wolff

This week, teenage hackers and nation-state attackers made trouble worldwide.

SonicWall Spotlight

SonicWall TZ 600 POE — SC Magazine

• SC Media takes a close look at the TZ 600 POE and awards it top marks.

Why Small Businesses Must Deal With Emerging Cybersecurity Threats — Entrepreneur

• Cybercriminals are counting on small businesses to be less protected — and they’re often right.

Surging CMS attacks keep SQL Injections On The Radar During The Next Normal — Help Net Security

• Cyberattacks have risen during the pandemic, leaving businesses to wonder whether things will settle down when COVID-19 begins to wane, or if the increase in attacks is here to stay.

Cybersecurity News

Teenager arrested in cyberattacks on Miami-Dade schools — The Washington Times

• A 16-year-old student has been arrested for orchestrating a series of network outages and cyberattacks during the first week of school in Florida’s largest district.

Microsoft Defender can ironically be used to download malware — Bleeping Computer

• A recent update to Windows 10’s Microsoft Defender antivirus solution ironically allows it to download malware and other files to a Windows computer.

Twitter Hack May Have Had Another Mastermind: A 16-Year-Old — The New York Times

• A Massachusetts teenager appears to have played a significant role in the July 15 Twitter attack, investigators and fellow hackers said.

Chinese Hackers Targeted European Officials in Phishing Campaign — Bloomberg

• Chinese nation-state hackers launched a phishing campaign against European government officials, diplomats, non-profits and other organizations to gather intelligence about global economies reeling from the pandemic.

Minister: New Zealand Enduring Wave of Cyberattacks — Security Week

• According to the Associated Press, tracking down the perpetrators will be extremely difficult, as the distributed denial of service attacks are being routed through thousands of computers.

Federal agencies deny seeing attacks on voting infrastructure — The Hill

• The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have denied seeing any reports of attacks on voting infrastructure, following the publication of a report on potential Russian election interference.

The FBI Botched Its DNC Hack Warning in 2016—but Says It Won’t Next Time — Wired

• Facing looming election threats and a ransomware epidemic, the bureau says it has revamped its process for warning hacking victims.

The accidental notary: Apple approves notorious malware to run on Macs — Ars Technica

• Newfangled malware protection gives users a false sense of security, critics say, making it potentially worse than nothing at all.

Attackers abuse Google DNS over HTTPS to download malware — Bleeping Computer

• More details have emerged on a malware sample that uses Google DNS over HTTPS to retrieve the stage 2 malicious payload.

‘UltraRank’ Gang Sells Card Data It Steals — Bank Info Security

• A cybercriminal gang that has spent five years planting malicious JavaScript code in order to steal payment card data from hundreds of e-commerce websites also takes the unusual step of selling the data on its own.

Hackers Attack Norway’s Parliament — Security Week

• Norway’s parliament said Tuesday it had been the target of a “vast” cyberattack that allowed hackers to access the some lawmakers’ emails.

In Case You Missed It

• Your Email DLP Just Got Better and More Secure — Vishnu Chandra Pandey
• All it Takes is One Click! — Vishnu Chandra Pandey
• Not Safe for Work — Amber Wolff
• SonicWall Wins ChannelPro Reader’s Choice Award — Amber Wolff
• Get the Most out of Your Security Appliance with Multi-Instance — Ajay Uggirala
• SonicWall Products Compliant with NDAA Section 889 Regulations — Wayne Engelke
• SonicWall CEO Bill Conner Talks Company Milestone in CRNtv Guest Appearance — Lindsey Lockhart
• Introducing the SonicExpress Mobile App — Sathya Thammanur

This week marks one of the biggest launches in SonicWall history, bringing with it a comprehensive set of new solutions designed to increase security, simplify management and meet the challenges of today’s cybersecurity reality.

SonicWall Spotlight

SonicWall’s Biggest Launch To-Date Delivers Future-Proof Security, Remotely — CRN TV

• CRN’s video discusses SonicWall CEO Bill Conner’s leadership and showcases the importance of SonicWall to the channel and the industry overall.

SonicWall Leads SMB Market To Resolve Stretched Security Budgets And Risks For Newly Extended Remote Workforces — Source Security

• SonicWall is introducing new zero-touch enabled, multi-gigabit SonicWall TZ firewalls with SD-Branch capabilities, along with a redesigned cloud-native management console.

SonicWall Refreshes High End Both Enterprise and SMB Firewalls — ChannelBuzz

• ChannelBuzz highlights the new versions of SonicWall’s firewalls and includes commentary from Bill Conner on the importance of the launch.

SonicWall Sounds Off On Next-Gen Security Line Up  — SDxCentral

• SDxCentral explains how SonicWall’s Gen 7 offerings expand the company’s enterprise capabilities and strengthen its current portfolio of products.

SonicWall Ships High-Speed Firewalls for SMB and Branch Office Environments — The ChannelPro Network

• In a feature on SonicWall’s Gen 7 launch, the ChannelPro Network discusses SonicWall’s new firewall appliances.

Cybersecurity News

Israel Says It Thwarted Cyber Attack Targeting Defense Industry — Bloomberg

• Israel has announced it foiled a cyberattack targeting its defense industry by a shadowy group that the U.S. has linked to North Korea. .

Agent Tesla Spyware Adds Fresh Tricks to Its Arsenal — Threat Post

• The RAT is surging in 2020, becoming more prevalent than even the infamous TrickBot or Emotet malware.

Trump Moves on China Apps May Create New Internet ‘Firewall’ — Security Week

• A Trump administration ban on apps such as TikTok and WeChat risks fragmenting an already fragile global internet and creating an American version of China’s “Great Firewall.

Avaddon ransomware launches data leak site to extort victims — Bleeping Computer

• The Avaddon ransomware operators’ site will be used to publish the stolen data of victims who do not pay a ransom demand.

Hacked government, college sites push malware via fake hacking tools — Bleeping Computer

• A large scale hacking campaign appears to offer articles on hacking social network accounts, but instead delivers malware and scams.

UN reports sharp increase in cybercrime during pandemic — The Washington Times

• A 350% increase in phishing websites was reported in Q1 2020, many targeting hospitals and health care systems responding to the COVID-19 pandemic

Magecart group uses homoglyph attacks to fool you into visiting malicious websites — ZDNet

• A new campaign is utilizing the Inter kit and favicons to hide skimming activities.

Maryland officials warn gun dealers about phishing scams — The Washington Times

• Authorities in Maryland have issued an advisory about an apparent email phishing scam targeting firearms dealers in the state.

In Case You Missed It

• Bring the Power of RTDMI Analysis On-Premises with CSa 1000 — Dmitriy Ayrapetov
• SonicWall NSM: Centralized Firewall Management that Scales for Any Environment — Ken Dang
• New SonicWall NSsp 15700 Firewall: Security for Modern Enterprises — Mallik Vatti
• New SonicWall TZ570 and TZ670: Security for Modern SMBs and Branches — Sathya Thammanur
• New SonicWall SonicOSX 7.0 and SonicOS 7.0 Operating Systems Offer Visibility and Simplicity — Srudi Dineshan
• New SonicWall Solutions Deliver Security, Simplicity and Value — Bill Conner
• What’s the Malware Capital of the US? — Amber Wolff

This week, ransomware attacks on U.S. governments, the energy sector, sports teams and smartwatch maker Garmin made headlines — and with cryptocurrency on the rise, more may be in store.

SonicWall Spotlight

Malware is Down, But IoT and Ransomware Attacks Are Up — TechRepublic

• Malicious attacks disguised as Microsoft Office files increased 176%, according to SonicWall’s midyear threat report.

Sharp Spike in Ransomware in U.S. as Pandemic Inspires Attackers — ThreatPost

• COVID-19 has changed the face of cybercrime, as the latest malware statistics show.

Inactive wear! Smartwatch maker Garmin suffers widespread outages after ‘ransomware attack’ – leaving thousands unable to track their workouts — Daily Mail

• According to Bill Conner, the combination of remote internet connections and less secure personal computers has increased organizations’ risk of being compromised.

Smartwatch maker Garmin suffers outage after ransomware attack — The Telegraph

• SonicWall found that there had been a 20% increase in the number of ransomware attacks in the first half of the year, to more than 120 million.

HoJin Kim Named as part of CRN‘s Top 100 Executives Of 2020 list, we highlight 25 sales executives leading the channel charge — CRN Award

• Kim has revolutionized pricing for MSSPs, with a pay-as-you-go model for SonicWall’s software products that delivers a cost savings of 20% over buying an annual license.

Cybersecurity News

FBI warns of Netwalker ransomware targeting US government and orgs — Bleeping Computer

• The FBI has issued a security alert about Netwalker ransomware operators, advising victims not to pay the ransom and to report incidents to their local FBI field offices.

Russia’s GRU Hackers Hit US Government and Energy Targets — Wired

• A previously unreported Fancy Bear campaign persisted for well over a year — suggesting the notorious group behind the attacks has broadened its focus.

UK govt warns of ransomware, BEC attacks against sports sector — Bleeping Computer

• The UK National Cyber Security Centre has highlighted the increasing number of ransomware, phishing and BEC schemes targeting sports organizations.

Bitcoin rises above $10,000 for first time since early June — Reuters

• After several weeks of trading in narrow ranges, Bitcoin has breached $10,000 for the first time since early June.

Feature-rich Ensiko malware can encrypt, targets Windows, macOS, Linux — Bleeping Computer

• Threat researchers have found a new feature-rich malware that can encrypt files on any system running PHP.

CISO concern grows as ransomware plague hits close to home — ZDNet

• An increasing wave of cybercrime targeting Fortune 500 companies is starting to ring alarm bells.

BootHole GRUB bootloader bug lets hackers hide malware in Linux, Windows — Bleeping Computer

• When properly exploited, a severe vulnerability in almost all signed versions of GRUB2 bootloader could enable compromise of an operating system’s booting process even if the Secure Boot verification mechanism is active.

OkCupid: Hackers want your data, not a relationship — ZDNet

• Researchers have discovered a way to steal the personal and sensitive data of users on the popular dating app.

US defense contractors targeted by North Korean phishing attacks — Bleeping Computer

• Employees of U.S. defense and aerospace contractors were targeted in a large-scale spearphishing campaign designed to infect their devices and to exfiltrate defense tech intelligence.

In Case You Missed It

• SonicWall SMA Added to the Department of Defense Approved Products List — Wayne Engelke
• SonicWall’s Tiffany Haselhorst Joins 2020 CRN 100 Rising Female Stars List — Lindsey Lockhart
• New Cyber Threat Intelligence Finds Malicious Office Files Spiking, Ransomware Up during COVID-19 Pandemic — Geoff Blaine
• ‘3 & Free’ Promotion: The Easiest Way to Upgrade Your SonicWall Firewall for Free — Robert (Bob) VanKirk
• SonicWall EMEA 2020 Virtual Partner Events — Terry Greer-King
• COVID-19 Ushers in a New Era of Cybersecurity for Higher Ed — Bill Conner

This week, between breaches at Twitter, compromise at Citrix and cyberattacks against COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, the case for a U.S. national cyber director got even stronger.

SonicWall Spotlight

Russian Cyber Espionage Group is Trying to Steal U.S. COVID-19 Vaccine Research — Newsweek International

• SonicWall CEO and GCHQ advisor Bill Conner said, “Russia happens to be the first country placed in the spotlight, but it was only a matter of time before a nation state resorted to cybercrime to influence or control global healthcare during a time of great need. … [Cyber] criminals tend to follow the money trail, thus putting a massive bounty on anything vaccine-related.”

Cybersecurity News

Honeywell Sees Rise in USB-Borne Malware That Can Cause Major ICS Disruption — Security Week

• Honeywell says it has seen a significant increase over the past year in USB-borne malware that can cause disruption to industrial control systems.

Malware adds online sandbox detection to evade analysis — Bleeping Computer

• Malware developers are now using Any.Run malware analysis service in an attempt to prevent their malware from being easily analyzed by researchers.

This botnet has surged back into action spreading a new ransomware campaign via phishing emails — ZDNet

• There’s been a big jump in Phorpiex botnet activity – but it’s a trojan malware attack that was the most common malware campaign in June.

New AgeLocker Ransomware uses Googler’s utility to encrypt files — Bleeping Computer

• A new and targeted ransomware named AgeLocker utilizes the ‘Age’ encryption tool created by a Google employee to encrypt victims’ files.

The case for a National Cyber Director — Cyberscoop

• Although the effects of COVID-19 will last for years, it’s already clear that shifting more activity online has increased our society’s digital dependence even faster than expected.

‘DdoS-For-Hire’ Is Fueling a New Wave of Attacks — Wired

• Turf wars are heating up over routers that fuel distributed DDoS attacks.

New Mirai Variant Surfaces with Exploits for 9 Vulnerabilities Products — Dark Reading

• Impacted products include routers, IP cameras, DVRs, and smart TVs.

TrickBot malware mistakenly warns victims that they are infected — Bleeping Computer

• The notorious TrickBot malware accidentally included a test module that’s warning victims that they are infected and should contact their administrator.

Russian Hackers Blamed for Attacks on Vaccine-Related Targets — The Wall Street Journal

• U.S. and U.K. government officials said a prominent state-backed Russian hacking group is responsible for ongoing cyberattacks against organizations involved in the development of coronavirus vaccines and other healthcare-related work.

A Brazen Online Attack Targets V.I.P. Twitter Users in a Bitcoin Scam — The New York Times

• In a major show of force, hackers breached some of the site’s most prominent accounts, a Who’s Who of Americans in politics, entertainment and tech.

Citrix: No breach, hacker stole business info from third party — Bleeping Computer

• Citrix has published an official statement to deny claims that the company’s network was breached by a malicious actor who says that he was also able to steal customer information.

In Case You Missed It

• ‘3 & Free’ Promotion: The Easiest Way to Upgrade Your SonicWall Firewall for Free — Robert (Bob) VanKirk
• SonicWall EMEA 2020 Virtual Partner Events — Terry Greer-King
• COVID-19 Ushers in a New Era of Cybersecurity for Higher Ed — Bill Conner
• A Brief History of COVID-19 Related Attacks, Pt. 1 — Dmitriy Ayrapetov
• SonicWall’s Online Community Connects Cybersecurity Professionals — Micah Vorst