This Week in Security News: Trend Micro Detects a 10 Percent Rise in Ransomware in 2019 and New Wi-Fi Encryption Vulnerability Affects Over a Billion Devices
Welcome to our weekly roundup, where we share what you need to know about the cybersecurity news and events that happened over the past few days. This week, read about how Trend Micro detected a 10 percent rise in ransomware attacks in 2019. Also, learn about a new Wi-Fi encryption vulnerability affecting over a billion devices.
Read on:
Trend Micro Detects a 10 Percent Rise in Ransomware
In its 2019 Annual Security Roundup, Trend Micro detected a decrease in the number of new ransomware families despite the overall attack increase. Additionally, it found that ransomware groups formed alliances in 2019 for more effective attacks. The healthcare industry remains the most targeted by ransomware; meanwhile, government and education sectors were also highly targeted.
In Safe Hands with Trend Micro Home Network Security – Part 3: Testing Its Functions
Are you sure your home network is secure? In the third post of its four-part series, Trend Micro breaks down home network security to help you test the following features: threat blocking, access control and parental controls.
Six Suspected Drug Dealers Went Free After Police Lost Evidence in Ransomware Attack
US prosecutors were forced to drop 11 narcotics cases against six suspected drug dealers after crucial case files were lost in a ransomware infection at a Florida police department. Evidence from the 11 cases could not be recovered following the attack that hit the Stuart police department in April 2019.
Hackers Expand Their Repertoire as Trend Micro Blocks 52 Billion Threats in 2019
Trend Micro’s 2019 roundup report reveals just how many tools, techniques and procedures hackers have at their disposal today. With 52 billion unique threats detected in 2019 by Trend Micro’s filters alone, threats are becoming an overwhelming challenge for many IT security departments.
New Wi-Fi Encryption Vulnerability Affects Over A Billion Devices
Cybersecurity researchers uncovered a new high-severity hardware vulnerability residing in Wi-Fi chips manufactured by Broadcom and Cypress—reportedly powering over a billion devices. Dubbed ‘Kr00k’ and tracked as CVE-2019-15126, the flaw could let nearby remote attackers intercept and decrypt some wireless network packets transmitted over-the-air by a vulnerable device.
Cybercrime Group Uses G Suite, Physical Checks in BEC Scam
An African cybercrime group named Exaggerated Lion uses G Suite and physical checks as new tools for Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks, reported in a research paper by Agari. Like other BEC scams, the targets belong to company departments that handle finance.
Cisco Patches Flaws in FXOS, UCS Manager and NX-OS Software
On Wednesday, Cisco released patches for 11 vulnerabilities in its products, including multiple flaws that impact Cisco UCS Manager, FXOS, and NX-OS software. The most important of the bugs is a high severity flaw in FXOS and NX-OS that could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to execute arbitrary code as root. The weakness can also be exploited for denial of service (DoS).
PowerGhost Spreads Beyond Windows Devices, Haunts Linux Machines
Trend Micro researchers encountered a PowerGhost variant that infects Linux machines via EternalBlue, MSSQL and Secure Shell (SSH) brute force attacks. The malware, previously known to target only Windows systems, is a fileless cryptocurrency-mining malware that attacks corporate servers and workstations, capable of embedding and spreading itself undetected across endpoints and servers.
Android Malware Can Steal Google Authenticator 2FA Codes
Security researchers say that an Android malware strain can now extract and steal one-time passcodes (OTP) generated through Google Authenticator, a mobile app that’s used as a two-factor authentication (2FA) layer for many online accounts.
Ransomware Hits U.S. Electric Utility
The Reading Municipal Light Department (RMLD) has been infected with ransomware, revealed in a statement by the electric utility company. RMLD did not disclose the details on how their system was infected or the demands of the group behind the malware and there was no indication of plans to pay ransom to the threat actors.
Are you surprised that the number of new ransomware families detected in 2019 decreased while number of attacks increased? Share your thoughts in the comments below or follow me on Twitter to continue the conversation: @JonLClay.
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