National Cyber Security Centre urges increased vigilance over risk of indirect attack by hacktivists amid conflict
UK businesses with a presence in the Middle East have been urged to step up vigilance against cyber threats from Iran after US-Israeli attacks.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said there was “almost certainly” a heightened risk of an indirect cyber threat for organisations that had offices, or supply chains, in the Middle East.
Continue reading...Gulf nation is accused of placing monitoring software on computers of two dissidents living in London
Bahrain is to tell the UK’s supreme court that it enjoys sovereign immunity from claims it placed surveillance software on the computers of two dissidents when they were living in London.
The Gulf country has lost the sovereign immunity claim both in the high court and court of appeal, and a decision to take the case further to the supreme court shows how important it is to the country’s reputation.
Continue reading...Exclusive: No cyber-attack assistance cash has gone into carmaker’s accounts or to struggling suppliers
Jaguar Land Rover has not drawn down any of a £1.5bn loan facility guaranteed by the government, with suppliers expressing anger over ministers’ claims to have supported the carmaker’s supply chain after a crippling hack.
Britain’s biggest automotive employer was forced to shut down all of its wholly owned factories from 1 September for more than a month, after cyber-attackers compromised key computer systems.
Continue reading...Citizens have enrolled with little opposition, albeit with some concerns over security and privacy, as UK plans system
For Danish teenagers, getting enrolled for MitID (my ID) has become somewhat of a rite of passage.
From the age of 13, Danes can enrol for the national digital ID system, which can be used for everything from logging into online banking to signing documents electronically and booking a doctor’s appointment.
Continue reading...The attack forced the company to halt production at most of its 30 factories nationwide, including those producing its signature beer
The Asahi group, Japan’s biggest brewery, is reportedly just days away from running out of its most popular beer, as it struggles to recover from a cyber-attack that caused a system outage.
The ransomware attack, reported on Monday, forced the company to halt production at most of its 30 factories nationwide, including those producing it signature mass-market lager Asahi Super Dry.
Continue reading...National cyber security centre raises alert level to ‘caution’ as technicians race to restore government systems after battery fire sparked nationwide chaos
South Korea’s intelligence agency has raised the national cyber threat level, amid concerns that hackers could take advantage of the chaos caused by a fire at a government datacentre that paralysed critical digital infrastructure across the country.
The national cybersecurity centre, operating under the intelligence service, elevated the alert from “attention” to “caution” on Monday, citing fears hackers could exploit vulnerabilities as recovery work continues.
Continue reading...Carmaker has informed relevant regulators and ‘will contact anyone as appropriate’ as investigation progresses
The cyber-attack on Jaguar Land Rover has affected data held by the carmaker, it has said, as its factories in the UK and abroad face prolonged closure.
JLR, Britain’s biggest carmaker, said on Wednesday that in its investigations into the hack, which first emerged last week, it had now discovered data had been breached.
Continue reading...Police allege the woman’s hacking escalated to allegedly threatening to sell confidential student data on the dark web
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A former Western Sydney University student allegedly waged a four-year hacking campaign on the institution which began as an attempt to secure discounted parking on campus and culminated in her threatening the sale of student information on the dark web.
The 27-year-old was arrested on Wednesday and charged with 20 offences including accessing or modifying restricted data on a computer, dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, and unauthorised modification of data with intent to cause impairment.
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Continue reading...Organisations including energy and transport firms told to guard systems against powerful new computers
The UK’s cybersecurity agency is urging organisations to guard their systems against quantum hackers by 2035, as the prospect of breakthroughs in powerful computing threaten digital encryption.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued new guidance recommending large entities including energy and transport providers introduce “post-quantum cryptography” in order to prevent quantum technology being deployed to break into their systems.
Continue reading...The US agency said it refers to this specific North Korean malicious cyber activity as ‘TraderTraitor’
North Korea was behind the theft of approximately $1.5bn in virtual assets from a cryptocurrency exchange, the FBI has said, in what is being described as the biggest heist in history.
The haul, which reportedly has since lost some of its value, exceeded the previous record sum of $1bn stolen by the dictator Saddam Hussein from Iraq’s central bank before the 2003 war, and underlines the North’s growing expertise in cybercrime.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Barristers at Doughty Street Chambers say they have been subject to surveillance, hacking and rape threats
UK-based lawyers have spoken out about being targeted by the Chinese state and its supporters in a campaign of intimidation including surveillance, hacking of bank accounts and rape threats.
The barristers, from Doughty Street Chambers in London, say there has been a coordinated and concerted campaign against them since they began acting for the jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media mogul, Jimmy Lai, three years ago.
Continue reading...After WhatsApp claimed 90 users were targeted last year, experts concerned over how US could use cyberweapons
Even as WhatsApp celebrated a major legal victory in December against NSO Group, the Israeli maker of one of the world’s most powerful cyberweapons, a new threat was detected, this time involving another Israel-based company that has previously agreed contracts with democratic governments around the world – including the US.
Late in January, WhatsApp claimed that 90 of its users, including some journalists and members of civil society, were targeted last year by spyware made by a company called Paragon Solutions. The allegation is raising urgent questions about how Paragon’s government clients are using the powerful hacking tool.
Continue reading...Francesco Cancellato, whose reporting exposes fascists within PM Meloni’s far-right party, condemns ‘violation’
An Italian investigative journalist who is known for exposing young fascists within prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right party was targeted with spyware made by Israel-based Paragon Solutions, according to a WhatsApp notification received by the journalist.
Francesco Cancellato, the editor-in-chief of the Italian investigative news outlet Fanpage, was the first person to come forward publicly after WhatsApp announced on Friday that 90 journalists and other members of civil society had been targeted by the spyware.
Continue reading...Messaging app said it had ‘high confidence’ some users were targeted and ‘possibly compromised’ by Paragon Solutions spyware
Nearly 100 journalists and other members of civil society using WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by Meta, were targeted by spyware owned by Paragon Solutions, an Israeli maker of hacking software, the company alleged today.
The journalists and other civil society members were being alerted of a possible breach of their devices, with WhatsApp telling the Guardian it had “high confidence” that the users in question had been targeted and “possibly compromised”.
Continue reading...Cyber-espionage group ‘Salt Typhoon’ targeting ‘at least’ eight US telecom and telecom infrastructure firms
A large number of Americans’ metadata has been stolen in the sweeping cyber-espionage campaign carried out by a Chinese hacking group dubbed “Salt Typhoon”, a senior US official told journalists on Wednesday.
The official declined to provide specific figures but noted that China’s access to America’s telecommunications infrastructure was broad and that the hacking was ongoing.
Continue reading...Details of emerge in sworn depositions by employees of Israeli company as part of lawsuit brought by WhatsApp
Legal documents released in ongoing US litigation between NSO Group and WhatsApp have revealed for the first time that the Israeli cyberweapons maker – and not its government customers – is the party that “installs and extracts” information from mobile phones targeted by the company’s hacking software.
The new details were contained in sworn depositions from NSO Group employees, portions of which were published for the first time on Thursday.
Continue reading...The Washington Post reports Chinese state-affiliated hackers intercepted audio and texts from unnamed adviser
Chinese state-affiliated hackers intercepted audio from the phone calls of US political figures, including an unnamed campaign adviser of Donald Trump, the Washington Post reported Sunday.
Various media outlets reported on Friday that the Trump campaign was made aware last week that the Republican presidential candidate and his running mate JD Vance were among a number of people inside and outside of government whose phone numbers were targeted through the infiltration of Verizon phone systems.
Continue reading...NCA says cybercriminal gang used family links to spy agency to shield members targeted by US authorities
A prolific Russian cybercriminal gang carried out attacks against Nato countries at the behest of state intelligence services and used family links with Russia’s domestic spy agency to protect its members after being targeted by US authorities, according to the UK’s National Crime Agency.
The dramatically named Evil Corp group had an unusually close relationship with the Russian state, said the NCA.
Continue reading...Weapons facilities targeted as security companies report more sabotage attempts, espionage and cyber-attacks
Swedish authorities have warned of a heightened risk of Russian sabotage, in particular of weapons facilities, as the defence industry said it was being increasingly targeted.
Security companies in Sweden reported a rise in sabotage attempts, including using drones over defence company facilities to document and map them, “more aggressive” espionage, cyber-attacks and misinformation.
Continue reading...Campaign says it was ‘not aware of any security breaches’ after Trump’s campaign says it was hacked
Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign said it was notified by the FBI last month that it was “targeted by a foreign actor influence operation”, a NBC News reporter said on Tuesday.
“We have robust cybersecurity measures in place, and are not aware of any security breaches of our systems resulting from those efforts,” the campaign said, according to the reporter.
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