US IS LOOKING TO TRACK DOWN RANSOMWARE ATTACKERS

Term of the month: Worm A worm is a specific type of malware with the defining characteristic of the program being that it self-replicates and spreads from one system to another. It can arrive either through the network or added as attachments in spam. Worms can delete data, install backdoors, give access to third

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BRIEF UPDATE A new Windows 10 zero-day was discovered and an unofficial patch was issued until Windows releases an official one. The zero-day requires 2 specific conditions but gives admin rights to the attacker making it rather dangerous. US Department of State is offering a sizable reward to bring to justice the preparators of the Colonial Pipeline ransomware incident. This is a new step for the US government who is taking sizable steps to start discouraging the ransomware attacks that have been targeting US companies for so long. SharkBot banking trojan targeting European Android handsets has been discovered. The mobile malware appears to be in early development but is clearly a version of the next generation mobile malware. GoDaddy announced that they were affected by a data breach containing the private information of 1.2 million of its customers on the WordPress hosting service. The state sponsored surveillance company NSO is back in the news since it was brought to light that their software was used to target journalist, businessmen and human rights lawyers Apple has taken a large legal action against them. With the added news that NSO was added to the US trade blacklist for targeting US nationals. Ransomware seems to be evolving constantly into a more complex and interconnected chain of gangs. With new reports coming out suggesting that each gang specialises in one part of the attack and then they spread the profits of a successful attack.

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CYBER SECURITY IN THE NEWS

•New banking Trojan SharkBot makes waves across Europe

•Reward Offers for Information to Bring DarkSide Ransomware Variant Co-Conspirators to Justice

•Researchers wait 12 months to report vulnerability with 9.8 out of 10 severity rating

•GoDaddy data breach exposes over 1.2 million customer details

•Apple sues NSO Group over Pegasus attacks on its customers

•APT37 targets journalists with Chinotto multi-platform malware

•Ransomware is now a giant black hole that is sucking in all other forms of cybercrime

•New Windows 10 zero-day gives admin rights, gets unofficial patch

•PhoneSpy malware destroys Android privacy