Independent – Page 31 – Computer Security Articles

It looks as if people are at last waking up to a second extraordinarily dangerous requirement buried within a UK government bill designed to promote the nation as a surveillance state. It means bureaucrats can delay or prevent distribution of essential software updates, making every computer user far less secure.

A poor law

This incredibly damaging limitation is just one of the many bad ideas buried in the UKs latest piece of shoddy tech regulation, the Investigatory Powers Act. What makes the law doubly dangerous is that in the online world, you are only ever as secure as your least secure friend, which means UK businesses will likely suffer by being flagged as running insecure versions of operating systems.

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Independent Krebs

August 25, 2023 admin

Kroll Employee SIM-Swapped for Crypto Investor Data

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2023 18:05:10 +0000

Security consulting giant Kroll disclosed today that a SIM-swapping attack against one of its employees led to the theft of user information for multiple cryptocurrency platforms that are relying on Kroll services in their ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. And there are indications that fraudsters may already be exploiting the stolen data in phishing attacks. Cryptocurrency lender BlockFi and the now-collapsed crypto trading platform FTX each disclosed data breaches this week thanks to a recent SIM-swapping attack targeting an employee of Kroll — the company handling both firms’ bankruptcy restructuring.

Independent Krebs

August 22, 2023 admin

Tourists Give Themselves Away by Looking Up. So Do Most Network Intruders.

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2023 17:45:28 +0000

In large metropolitan areas, tourists are often easy to spot because they’re far more inclined than locals to gaze upward at the surrounding skyscrapers. Security experts say this same tourist dynamic is a dead giveaway in virtually all computer intrusions that lead to devastating attacks like ransomware, and that more organizations should set simple virtual tripwires that sound the alarm when authorized users and devices are spotted exhibiting this behavior.

ComputerWorld Independent

August 21, 2023 admin

Why and how to create corporate genAI policies

As a large number of companies continue to test and deploy generative artificial intelligence (genAI) tools, many are at risk of AI errors, malicious attacks, and running afoul of regulators — not to mention the potential exposure of sensitive data.

For example, in April, after Samsung’s semiconductor division allowed engineers to use ChatGPT, workers using the platform leaked trade secrets on least three instances, according to published accounts. One employee pasted confidential source code into the chat to check for errors, while another worker shared code with ChatGPT and “requested code optimization.”

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Independent Krebs

August 17, 2023 admin

Karma Catches Up to Global Phishing Service 16Shop

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 19:58:56 +0000

You’ve probably never heard of “16Shop,” but there’s a good chance someone using it has tried to phish you. Last week, the international police organization INTERPOL said it had shuttered the notorious 16Shop, a popular phishing-as-a-service platform launched in 2017 that made it simple for even complete novices to conduct complex and convincing phishing scams. INTERPOL said authorities in Indonesia arrested the 21-year-old proprietor and one of his alleged facilitators, and that a third suspect was apprehended in Japan.

ComputerWorld Independent

August 17, 2023 admin

Zoom goes for a blatant genAI data grab; enterprises, beware (updated)

Credit to Author: eschuman@thecontentfirm.com| Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 07:06:00 -0700

When Zoom amended its terms of service earlier this month — a bid to make executives comfortable that it wouldn’t use Zoom data to train generative AI models — it quickly stirred up a hornet’s nest. So the company “revised” the terms of service, and left in place ways it can still get full access to user data.

Computerworld repeatedly reached out to Zoom without success to clarify what the changes really mean.

Editor’s note: Shortly after this column was published, Zoom again changed its terms and conditions. We’ve added an update to the end of the story covering the latest changes.

Before I delve into the legalese — and Zoom’s weasel words to falsely suggest it was not doing what it obviously was doing — let me raise a more critical question: Is there anyone in the video-call business not doing this? Microsoft? Google? Those are two firms that never met a dataset that they didn’t love.

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ComputerWorld Independent

August 17, 2023 admin

China hacks the US military and government — the Feds blame Microsoft

Hidden in the basic infrastructure that runs the US military is a powerful piece of Windows-borne Chinese malware that can disrupt the communications systems, power grids, and water supplies at the military’s bases around the world. One US congressional aide calls it a “ticking time bomb” that as The New York Times put it, “could give China the power to interrupt or slow American military deployments or resupply operations by cutting off power, water and communications to US military bases.”

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