Tag: dealing | SpinSafe

Airports can be safe and less chaotic when dealing with security threats

July 5, 2023/in Computer Security

You are comfortably seated at Gate A11 waiting for your flight to board, coffee in hand, when the loudspeaker announces that your terminal must be evacuated due to a security issue. At that point, thousands of people scurry to the exit, where they gather outside the terminal until the Transportation Security Administration determines what happened, why it happened, and eventually, that the security threat has been resolved before allowing people to re-enter the terminal.

The cause of such events is varied. It may be that a person entered the sterile side of the terminal unscreened, such as through a fire door. It could be a bag that was not appropriately screened, as what happened at San Diego International in August 2022. It could be a bomb threat, which occurred at San Francisco International in July 2022. It could be something as benign as an unattended bag, which led to a terminal evacuation at JFK International in July 2022. It could also be a technical error, such as what happened recently at DFW International Airport.

U.S. airports are not alone. On June 29, a passenger entered the sterile side of the airport via a fire door at Gatwick Airport, outside London. This required all passengers to be evacuated, including some who had already boarded their plane for departure, creating what was described as “chaos” in managing the rescreening process.

When any type of event occurs that compromises airport security, the ripple effect creates an endless stream of turmoil. It could impact light rail public transportation, which brings passengers to and from the airport and may need to be halted while the security breach is resolved. It impacts airport concessions, particularly food outlets, which must also evacuate, leaving food items unattended that will need to be discarded upon their return.

It obviously impacts the airlines, which must reschedule and re-accommodate the thousands of passengers on the flights that are delayed or canceled.

However, the biggest threat may be to the thousands of people who must gather outside the airport terminal, waiting for the security breach to be resolved. This often takes hours,…

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Canadian university dealing with ransomware attack on email system

June 3, 2023/in Internet Security

Canada’s University of Waterloo is dealing with a ransomware attack on its email system, the school confirmed this week.

On Wednesday, the school vice president Jacinda Reitsma said the university had stopped an attempted ransomware attack on May 30 and has been working to limit the impact of the initial breach that preceded the cyberattack. The Waterloo, Ontario-based school serves more than 40,000 students.

Reitsma explained that the school’s on-campus Microsoft Exchange email services were affected by the ransomware attack, sparing those who only use their cloud-based email.

But as a result of the attack the school had to disable the email system temporarily meaning students could not log in or create new accounts. Students also were not able to sign into other educational platforms with their email credentials, like Workday, Waterloo LEARN, and more.

“We are aware of a breach involving our on-campus email service (Microsoft Exchange). This service has now been isolated. Most Microsoft Exchange accounts are currently housed in the cloud and are not affected,” Reitsma said.

“This means that for most people on campus, your email access is unaffected. As we continue to investigate the impact of this breach, we may need to isolate more services which means you may not be able to access some systems throughout the day today.”

In an update on Thursday, the school said it was initiating a complete system shutdown and reset on Thursday night, which lasted about six hours.

Access to the school library’s online resources, including Omni and course reserves, were impacted by the outages. The school held a town hall to explain the situation to students and faculty with concerns about the incident.

On Friday, Reitsma said the reset was successful but noted that students and faculty will have to change their passwords before June 8. Those who miss the deadline will be locked out of their accounts and will need manual help from the school’s IT team.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police told Canadian media outlet The Record that it discovered the attack on Tuesday and informed the Waterloo Regional Police as well as the university’s Special Constable Services.

No ransomware…

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Dallas Still Dealing With Ransomware Attack – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

May 8, 2023/in Internet Security

The City of Dallas is still in the midst of a ransomware attack Monday as officials worked to bring computer service back to all city functions.

Some website access was restored but crucial public safety functions like police and fire computer-aided dispatch were still impacted.

“One of my first contacts was how much they were beat down this weekend because of all the backed-up calls,” Black Police Association of Greater Dallas President Terrance Hopkins said.

Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia shared body camera video Monday from officers who wounded a man early Saturday morning after the man threatened people and refused to drop a gun. The body camera video showed blank patrol car computer screens where officers would normally see information about a call for service.

“Certainly it’s impacted us. It’s impacted us and DFR quite a bit, but the men and women continue to answer the call,” Garcia said.

Computer-aided dispatch at the 911 communications center had been down since Wednesday.

“It figures out what the closest appropriate resource is and automatically dispatches that,” Dallas Firefighters Association President Jim McDade said.

Without that, McDade said he’s heard about ambulance calls delayed by 30 minutes for life-and-death situations like heart attack calls.

“Calls are not being answered in our normal timely manner,” he said.

The Dallas City Council Public Safety Committee Monday received a briefing on the situation from Dallas Chief Information Officer Bill Zielenski.

Some of it was presented in pubic, but Zielenski declined to discuss the means of attack, the mode of remediation or communication with attackers because criminal investigations are underway.

“Doing so risks impeding investigations or exposing critical information,” Zielenski said.

He said the ransomware is believed to be contained but every piece of the city network equipment must be reimaged to be certain no corruption remains.

Zielenski saved more of the discussion for a closed-door executive session with council members. There was no public mention of any ransom request or payment.

“This event underscores the need for our city to address the…

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QUT hack: Major Australian university Queensland University of Technology dealing with cybersecurity attack, QTAC affected

December 22, 2022/in Internet Security

A major Australian university has become the victim of a cybersecurity attack, affecting major services containing students’ personal information.

The IT department at Queensland University of Technology raised the alarm on Thursday morning.

Several printers began producing suspicious messages in bulk, with students instructed not to interact with the printers until further notice.

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The messages say the university’s system has been “hit”.

“Most likely what happened was that you decided to save some money on your security,” it reads.

“Alas, as a result, your critical data was not only encrypted but also copied.

“From there it can be published online. Then anyone on the internet from darknet…and even your employees will be able to see your internal documentation.”

The message then demanded money in return for data.

QUT reported a cohort of 53,253 students in 2021, as well as over 4500 staff members.

In a statement, a QUT spokesperson stated the university had “experienced a cybersecurity incident today which purports to be a Royal ransomware attack”.

“As a precaution, QUT IT systems have been taken offline while investigations are completed. At this stage, our assessment is that no student or staff data has been compromised.

“Staff and students have been notified. Students wanting to accept their QTAC offer are being contacted to let them know systems are down. They will be advised when the systems are back online.

“Technical staff are currently investigating and QUT has notified the relevant agencies of the situation.”

Watch: Dramatic sea rescue in the Torres Strait.

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Watch: Dramatic sea rescue in the Torres Strait.