Tag Archive for: IMPROVED

In Cyberattacks, Iran Shows Signs of Improved Hacking Capabilities


Iranian hackers are waging a sophisticated espionage campaign targeting the country’s rivals across the Middle East and attacking key defense and intelligence agencies, according to a leading Israeli-American cybersecurity company, a sign of how Iran’s quickly improving cyberattacks have become a new, important prong in a shadow war.

Over the past year, the hackers struck at countries including Israel, Saudi Arabia and Jordan in a monthslong campaign linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, according to a new report by the company, Check Point.

The Iranian hackers appeared to gain access to emails from an array of targets, including government staff members, militaries, telecommunications companies and financial organizations, the report said.

The malware used to infiltrate the computers also appeared to map out the networks the hackers had broken into, providing Iran with a blueprint of foreign cyberinfrastructure that could prove helpful for planning and executing future attacks.

“The primary purpose of this operation is espionage,” security experts at Check Point wrote in the report, adding that the approach was “notably more sophisticated compared to previous activities” that Check Point had linked to Iran.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to an inquiry on Monday about the hack. But Iran’s minister of defense, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, said last week in a speech to his country’s defense officials that given the current complex security situation in the Middle East, Iran had to redefine its national defenses beyond its geographic borders.

He said that meant utilizing new warfare strategies to defend Iran, including the use of space, cyberspace and other ways. “Our enemies know that if they make one mistake, the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond with force,” General Ashtiani said, according to Iranian media.

Although the report did not specify what, if any, data Iran had taken, Check Point said the hacking campaign successfully broke into computers associated with the Saudi Arabian ministry of defense, and agencies, banks and telecom firms in several other Middle Eastern countries including Jordan, Kuwait and…

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Improved knowledge is important to addressing cyber crimes


BY LORRAINE WOHI

Lack of people with knowledge on how to deal with cyber threat intelligence is an issue that needs to be addressed in PNG and rest of the Pacific Island nation.

APNIC Senior Internet Security Specialist, Adli Wahid speaking at the 27th PITA conference in Port Moresby said in most cases many of the organisations are struggling not with the issue itself but with people who are dealing with these issues.

Cyber threat intelligence refers to data that is collected, processed, and analyzed to understand a threat actor’s motives, targets, and attack behaviours.

Mr Wahid said in most cases, organisations lack people including security engineers, security practitioners who are quite new to the field and they are playing catch-up on different areas.

He spoke on three main areas which include insights on how organisations prepare to question and identify why and how ransomware occur in an effort to improve cybersecurity, to better define and provide awareness.

“Cyber security intelligence is about people.

“The bottom line is getting the people to be informed in discussion and talking about it.

All of you need to ask each other how does the security teams or the security engineers heard information about threat and is there something we can do to collaborate together.

I think this is where organisation needs to put profit aside and see if there is a common goal in defending the organisation in the Pacific region as well as in the niche economic so that you can bring people together,” Mr Wahid said.

Discussions on cyber security is one of the key topics of discussion that has and will be discussed at the four days annual general meetings for the Pacific Islands Telecommunication Association (PITA) at Hilton , Port Moresby.

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State, local cybersecurity could be improved with cyber ranges


With the current macro economic head winds, 2023 budgets are either frozen or are flat. Where should CISOs focus these limited budgets to maximize the most out of their security program? In this segment, we invite Jon Fredrickson, Chief Risk Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island, to debate what should be in your minimum viable securit…

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What’s new and improved in Windows 11 22H2, coming soon


Windows 11

Windows 11 version 22H2 aka Sun Valley 2 is set to launch later this year. Unlike the original Windows 11 release, it won’t be a massive update with radical design changes.

Instead, Sun Valley 2 will be similar to Windows 10 Anniversary Update, so you can expect minor improvements and a few new features.

The version 22H2 will contain a number of improvements and it will be offered as a full feature update rather than an enablement package.

Start Menu improvements

Microsoft is testing a new feature that will allow you to pin more apps or activities in the recommendations section of the Start Menu.

Additionally, you can soon force the Start Menu recommendations tab to open files in Office web only if your device doesn’t come with full desktop apps.

There’s a possibility that Start Menu features will be released using ‘Windows Feature Experience Packs,’ which is a new way to update and improve the OS without major feature updates.

Taskbar

Microsoft is restoring the drag and drop capability. This means you can finally drag your files onto apps pinned to the taskbar. Or you can also drag apps to the taskbar to create shortcuts.

Task Manager

22H2 will refresh Task Manager with a new design based on Fluent UI and WinUI. 

New hero element in Windows Task Manager

Like the current version of Task Manager, the new version can also display the same set of screens, such as Processes, Performance, App history, Startup apps, Users, Details, and services. However, there are a few noticeable changes.

As you can see in the below screenshots, Task Manager will now use a new sidebar or hamburger menu to display processes and performance options. This would make the Task Manager easily accessible on touchscreen devices.

Task Manager

Additionally, Task Manager’s top bar now displays the brand and name of the device, its model (if available), a picture of the device, and CPU or RAM being used.

New flyout design

Microsoft is refreshing the design for the hardware indicators like sound and brightness.

Media controls that appear on the Lock screen when playing music in a supported app are also getting a new look.

Media Flyout

The updated flyout matches the design shown for the media controls across the operating system and Microsoft’s vision for…

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