Tag Archive for: intensifies

DDoS Attempts Hit Russia as Ukraine Conflict Intensifies

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When Russian president Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked war against Ukraine this week, he did so with a warning that any interference from the West would be met with a response “never seen” in history. The implied nuclear threat has little if any precedent over the last several decades, and while the Kremlin is far more likely to unleash cyberattacks, it was a chilling indication of how far Putin may be willing to escalate.

Russia’s notorious Sandworm hackers, meanwhile, did not sit idly by when researchers exposed their VPNFilter malware in 2018. Intelligence agencies in the US and UK this week detailed Cyclops Blink, a hacking tool that Sandworm developed soon after VPNFilter was no longer useful. Cyclops Blink targets network devices, conscripting them into a botnet and exposing them to further infection. While UK officials said that the revelation was not directly related to the situation in Ukraine, it did come at a time of increasingly serious cyberattacks against the country.

We also took a look inside Intel’s iStare lab, where the company’s researchers work to hack chips in an effort to head off the next Spectre and Meltdown or Rowhammer attack. And we talked to security researchers who figured out how to eavesdrop on any room that has a shiny object in it within view.

If you’re looking to lock down your Chrome browsing experience, you might want to give Enhanced Safe Browsing a try; we talked you through how to set it up. And we picked the best personal safety devices, apps, and alarms for when you need a little extra protection in the real world as well.

And there’s more! We’ve rounded up all the news here that we didn’t break or cover in depth this week. Click on the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.

Leading up to and in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s cyberspace strategy has included a combination of denial-of-service attacks and data wipers. This week saw several efforts to DDoS Russia in return, with mixed results. Russian government, military, and bank websites have all been hit with traffic tsunamis, though for the most part they appear to be holding steady. Mil.ru, the country’s…

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Fight to foil cyberthreats intensifies

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The rise of cyberthreats has alarm bells ringing for corporations and individuals seeking protection. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)
The rise of cyberthreats has alarm bells ringing for corporations and individuals seeking protection. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)

Cybersecurity has become paramount for businesses and individuals as digital transformation, internet usage and digital asset values are skyrocketing.

Thailand encountered more than 20 million cyberthreats last year, according to global cybersecurity company Kaspersky.

Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) reported its products detected 20,598,223 different internet-borne cyberthreats on computers using KSN items in Thailand last year. Some 28.4% of Thai users were at risk of infection from online threats last year.

Thailand ranked 87th worldwide when it comes to the dangers associated with surfing the internet. Among its Asean peers, the Philippines was sixth, Malaysia seventh, Vietnam 19th, Indonesia 66th and Singapore 154th.

For web threat detections against consumers and businesses, data shows 2.7 million detections on consumer products and 856,000 detections on corporate products in Thailand.

Thailand ranked fifth in Asean for highest level of consumer detection, and third for highest level of business detection.

Kaspersky said its products detected 49.9 million local incidents on computers using KSN items in Thailand, ranking 70th worldwide.

The share of incidents caused by servers hosted in Thailand stands at 0.01%, which represents 273,458 incidents.

Thailand ranks 56th in this category worldwide.

The firm’s new report titled “Mobile Malware Evolution 2020” also shows 28,861 mobile malware detections in Thailand last year, ranking the country 44th in this category globally.

RISKS FACING COMPANIES

“The pandemic has blurred the lines dividing corporate defence and home security,” said Yeo Siang Tiong, general manager for Southeast Asia of Kaspersky.

“Remote work, online classes and digitalisation across all sectors will continue, at least during 2021, and it is high time for all shapes and sizes of businesses to understand online threats, even against individuals, should be considered as risks against companies.”

Mr Yeo said several incidents in the form of scams…

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Suu Kyi faces new charges as Myanmar crackdown intensifies

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Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar — Police in Myanmar filed a new charge against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her lawyer said Tuesday, in a move that may allow her to be held indefinitely without trial as part of an intensifying crackdown by authorities who seized power in a coup.

Suu Kyi, who was deposed and detained in the military takeover on Feb. 1, already faced a charge of illegally possessing walkie-talkies — an apparent attempt to provide a legal veneer for her house arrest. Under the new charge, she is accused of breaking a law that has been used to prosecute people who have violated coronavirus restrictions, lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told reporters after meeting with a judge in a court in the capital, Naypyitaw.

It carries a maximum punishment of three years in prison. But, perhaps more worryingly, because of changes to the Penal Code instituted by the junta last week, it could allow her to be detained indefinitely, even without a court’s permission. Suu Kyi’s lawyer told reporters he has not seen her since her arrest — and only arrived after an unexpected videoconference the judge said had been held with her.

The legal maneuver comes two weeks after the military seized power in a coup that shocked many in the international community who had been hopeful that Myanmar was taking steps toward democracy. Since then, the junta has ratcheted up the pressure on protesters resisting the takeover, including violently breaking up some demonstrations and blocking internet access.

On Monday, security forces pointed guns at a group of 1,000 demonstrators and attacked them with slingshots and sticks in the city of Mandalay. Local media reported that police also fired rubber bullets into a crowd and that a few people were injured.

Protests continued Tuesday in Yangon, the country’s largest city, and elsewhere. In Yangon, police blocked off the street in front of the Central Bank, which protesters have targeted amid speculation online that the military is seeking to seize money from it. Buddhist monks demonstrated outside the U.N.’s local office in the city.

Around 3,000 demonstrators — mainly students — returned to the streets of Mandalay, carrying posters of Suu Kyi…

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Ransomware surge imperils hospitals as pandemic intensifies

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Hospitals and other health facilities are increasingly being targeted by ransomware even as they try to ramp up for the acceleration in the pandemic
Hospitals and other health facilities are increasingly being targeted by ransomware even as they try to ramp up for the acceleration in the pandemic

WASHINGTON – Hackers are stepping up attacks on health care systems with ransomware in the United States and other countries, creating new risks for medical care as the global coronavirus pandemic accelerates.

Alerts from US authorities and security researchers highlight a wave of cyberattacks on hospitals coping with rising virus infections.

An unusual warning this week from the FBI with the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, underscored the threat.

The three agencies “have credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to US hospitals and health care providers,” said the alert issued Wednesday, calling on health systems to “take timely and reasonable precautions to protect their networks from these threats.”

Media reports have cited several US hospitals hit by ransomware.

One of them, the University of Vermont Medical Center, said in a statement Thursday it was working with law enforcement on “a now confirmed cyberattack that has affected some of our systems” which has had “variable impacts” on patient care.

Daniel dos Santos of the computer security firm Forescout said cash-strapped medical centers are particularly attractive targets for hackers and that at least 400 hospitals had been hit in the past few weeks in the US and Britain.

Hackers are aware that “health care is the most likely to pay the ransom because their services are critical,” dos Santos said.

“Stopping services means that people will literally be dying.”

For hospitals unable or willing to pay, “it would mean going back to pen and paper, which can cause huge slowdowns,” he added.

Forescout said in a report that while many hospitals have upgraded computer systems, most use a variety of connected devices such as patient monitors or CT scanners which “act as the weak links in the network” because they transmit data over insecure channels.

In one sign of the troubles looming, dos Santos and fellow researchers said they discovered data on some three…

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