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Oakley, Pleasant Hill face cyber incidents

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A laptop displays a message after being infected by a ransomware as part of a worldwide cyberattack on June 27, 2017 in Geldrop.
The unprecedented global ransomware cyberattack has hit more than 200,000 victims in more than 150 countries, Europol executive director Rob Wainwright said May 14, 2017. Britain’s state-run National Health Service was affected by the attack. / AFP PHOTO / ANP / Rob Engelaar / Netherlands OUT (Photo credit should read ROB ENGELAAR/AFP/Getty Images)

The cities of Pleasant Hill and Oakley both experienced cyber security incidents on Thursday.

Officials from the city of Pleasant Hill said Friday that their IT professionals detected a cyber intrusion that targeted the city’s computer servers Thursday afternoon and responded quickly to isolate the threat, but they don’t yet know the extent of the intrusion. The Pleasant Hill Police Department is investigating the incident.

The city of Oakley was also hit Thursday afternoon. In response to a ransomware attack, the Oakley city manager declared a local state of emergency.

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Uzbekistan’s web resources face over 11.2 mn cyber attacks in 2023 — Daryo News

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In the realm of cybersecurity, Uzbekistan faced a significant challenge last year, with more than 11.2 mn cyber attacks targeting web resources within the country. This statistic was revealed by the Center for Cyber Security, shedding light on the growing threat landscape faced by the nation’s digital infrastructure.

An analysis of the geographical origins of these cyber attacks in 2023 revealed some notable trends. The Netherlands emerged as a prominent source, with 759.5 thousand attacks originating from IP addresses in the region. Following closely behind were the United States, Russia, Germany, India, and China, each contributing significantly to the volume of cyber threats faced by Uzbekistan.

Delving deeper into the nature of these attacks, it became evident that various vulnerabilities in web resources served as entry points for cybercriminals. Among the identified vulnerabilities were:

  • Lack of verification and filtering of user content: This oversight allowed malicious actors to exploit weaknesses in the system, enabling them to inject harmful content or execute unauthorized actions.
  • Coding vulnerabilities: Vulnerabilities in PHP plugins and other coding frameworks provided avenues for attackers to exploit flaws in the underlying code, compromising the integrity and security of web applications.
  • Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities: CSRF attacks leveraged the trust between a user’s browser and a web application to execute unauthorized actions on behalf of the user, often leading to data breaches or unauthorized transactions.
  • Weak password protection: Inadequate password policies and weak authentication mechanisms made it easier for attackers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive accounts and data.

Until April 15, 2022, Uzbekistan lacked a specific law addressing cybersecurity issues. However, various laws already in effect touched upon general cybersecurity matters related to telecommunications and internet security. The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. RK-764, enacted on April 15, 2022, marked the country’s first comprehensive legislation dedicated…

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Nigerian Businesses Face Growing Ransomware-as-a-Service Trade

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Ransomware-as-a-service looks set to fuel an increase in cyberattacks in Nigeria in the coming year, even as operational disruptions and recovery efforts already cost billions of Nigerian naira, or millions of US dollars, in 2023.

The National Cyber Threat Forecast 2024 from the Cyber Security Experts of Nigeria (CSEAN), a nonprofit championing cybersecurity awareness in Nigeria, reports that ransomware groups and other malware variants — such as ALPHV, 0XXX Virus, DJVU, and the Cobalt Strike exploit toolkit — affected big swathes of both public- and private-sector organizations in the African country in 2023.

For example, one “notable regulatory agency” fell victim to the Mallox ransomware, “exploiting a Microsoft vulnerability in their public-facing digital systems,” the study noted, although there was no detail on which agency it was.

Ransomware-as-a-Service

Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) is a business model where ransomware developers sell or lease their variants to other cybercriminals, known as affiliates, who do the grunt work of planting malware by either exploiting software vulnerabilities or phishing.

RaaS allows would-be cybercriminals to launch sophisticated cyberattacks, according to the report. “Factors like the use of outdated or unpatched software and systems, reliance on cracked software, insufficient proactive monitoring, and unaddressed security vulnerabilities contributed to the success of these attacks,” CSEAN noted. “The accessibility of ransomware-as-a-service and the success of previous campaigns suggest a persistent and growing threat.”

Potential mitigations in the face of an increased threat of ransomware attacks include prompt patching, avoiding unauthorized software and rolling out stronger monitoring practices through intrusion detection systems.

“Adopting these proactive cybersecurity measures is essential to lessen the anticipated impact of the expected surge in ransomware attacks,” according to CSEAN.

CSEAN is not the first cybersecurity organization to report that Nigeria has become a hub of ransomware attacks. During the first half of 2023, Nigeria saw a 7% increase in ransomware attack attempts on individual and corporate users compared with the…

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iPhone Security In The Face Of Zero-Click Exploits

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Apu Pavithran is the founder and CEO of Hexnode, an award-winning unified endpoint management platform.

For Apple enthusiasts and business owners alike, the iPhone has been more than a device—it’s a symbol of security and reliability. That doesn’t imply, however, that the iPhone is a veritable Fort Knox. Vulnerabilities popping up occasionally are nothing new. However, a recent pair of zero-day vulnerabilities raise considerable concern. In early September 2023, CitizenLab, a vigilant internet watchdog group, unearthed a zero-click iOS vulnerability that enabled the notorious Pegasus spyware to infiltrate iPhones. This revelation serves as a wake-up call, reminding us that even the seemingly impenetrable can be compromised.

Unraveling The Vulnerability

What’s truly unsettling is that even the most up-to-date iPhone with the latest iOS can fall victim to this attack without any user interaction. Unlike traditional attacks that require some form of user interaction, this exploit can compromise an iPhone without any action from the victim.

The first exploit, CVE-2023-41064, affects Image I/O, a foundation for programs that enable them to read and write different image formats. A buffer overflow issue in Image I/O may be used to build a maliciously created image that causes iOS to execute malicious software. For those unfamiliar, a buffer overflow takes place when a program tries to input more information into a buffer than it can accommodate. This can lead to various issues such as data distortion, program malfunctions or even the activation of harmful code. The second vulnerability, CVE-2023-41061, affects Apple Wallet and can be exploited to trick it into executing malicious code.

At the end of both vulnerabilities lies Pegasus, a potent and sophisticated spyware developed by Israel’s NSO group. Pegasus utilizes the zero-click zero-day vulnerability to inject itself onto iPhones and iPads. Once infiltrated, its capabilities are staggering: It can siphon off texts, emails, media files, contacts and GPS coordinates. Additionally, it can eavesdrop on calls and surreptitiously activate both the microphone and camera.

Marketed under the guise of crime and terrorism…

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