Emotet Cleanup Continues As LEAs Mass Sanitize PCs, Share Victim Emails To HIBP – Cyber Security News
Emotet Cleanup Continues As LEAs Mass Sanitize PCs, Share Victim Emails To HIBP Cyber Security News
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No vehicle inspections in Mass. through Sunday due to malware attack on vendor
The Registry of Motor Vehicles said there will be no vehicle inspections Friday and through the rest of the weekend in Massachusetts due to a problem with a vendor that was attacked by digital malware, officials said.
The agency confirmed the troubling news via Twitter on Thursday night.
“Due to a production issue with our vendor Applus Technologies, inspection stations will be unable to inspect vehicles Friday, 4/2, through Sunday, 4/4. Please visit http://mavehiclecheck.com for more information,” the RMV tweeted. The agency also said that it had notified law enforcement, and asked for their cooperation in using their discretion to not cite those with an expired sticker who may have visited a station this week. The problem first arose on Wednesday.
Earlier Thursday, the agency had tweeted a similar message.
“The RMV has been notified by our vehicle inspection vendor (Applus Technologies) of a Vendor production issue that will prevent vehicles from being inspected on Thursday, 4/1,” the RMV tweeted. “The vendor has confirmed that this is a nationwide system issue that they are working to resolve.”
A virtual trip to the website early Friday morning showed users another message about the issue.
“Applus Technologies, Inc. detected and stopped a malware attack which has temporarily interrupted the process of conducting vehicle inspections in Massachusetts and other locations,” the website said. “The restoration involves resetting Applus Technologies’ IT environment and will take some time to fully restore the safety and emissions stations to testing capabilities. We know our customers and vehicle owners rely on our technology and we are committed to restoring normal operations as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
The 60-day retest requirement, the site said, “will be extended during this time. Massachusetts Vehicle Check Customer Service (1-844-358-0135 or [email protected]) will be kept up-to-date on the current Program status and available to assist with questions. Information will be provided on this website when stations are able to begin testing again.”
In a statement issued Thursday afternoon around 2:40 p.m.,…
UK Mass Hacking Ruled Illegal
Exterior of the Royal Courts of Justice in London, commonly called the Law Courts
After five years of legal wrangling, the UK High Court has ruled that the security and intelligence services cannot search the computers and phones of millions of people under a single ‘general warrant’.
Quashing a decision by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), the court ruled that section 5 of the Intelligence Services Act (ISA) 1994 does not permit the issuing of general warrants to property interference with property and certain forms of computer hacking.
The decision hinged on common law indicating that the government can’t search private premises – including computers and phones – without lawful authority; and that a warrant must target an identified individual or individuals. Because general warrants aren’t targeted, the court found, they lack that lawful authority.
“The aversion to general warrants is one of the basic principles on which the law of the United Kingdom is founded,” the court said in its ruling.
“As such, it may not be overridden by statute unless the wording of the statute makes clear that Parliament intended to do so.”
The use of general warrants was revealed in 2014, following the Edward Snowden disclosures, but a challenge by campaign gruop Privacy International failed in 2016.
However, in May 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the Investigatory Powers Tribunal’s decisions are subject to judicial review in the High Court, leading to today’s hearing.
“Today’s victory rightly brings 250 years of legal precedent into the modern age. General warrants are no more permissible today than they were in the 18th century,” says Privacy International’s legal director, Caroline Wilson Palow.
“The government had been getting away with using them for too long. We welcome the High Court’s affirmation of these fundamental constitutional principles.” The government could in theory respond by specifically passing legislation to legitimize the use of general warrants.
However, similar practices have already been declared unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights. And while the UK’s departure from the EU could in theory negate this decision,…
Mass hijacking spree takes over subreddits to promote Donald Trump
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Dozens of discussion groups on Reddit—including those dedicated to the National Football League, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Gorillaz—were hit in a Friday morning mass takeover spree that used the subreddits to spread messages promoting President Trump.
The hijacked accounts had tens of millions of combined members. The 148,000-member subreddit Supernatural, dedicated to the TV show by the same name, was emblazoned with pro-Trump images and slogans. Reddit personnel have since restored the moderator account to its rightful owner. The image above is how the subreddit appeared when the takeover was still active. The takeovers came five weeks after Reddit banned /r/The_Donald, a leading forum for fans of the president, and hundreds of other unrelated subreddits for violating recently rewritten content rules.
Reddit personnel published this post captioned, “Ongoing incident with compromised mod accounts.” Reddit personnel then warned that moderator accounts were being compromised and used to vandalize subreddits. It asked moderators of affected subreddits to report them in responses. At the time this post when live, the list of reported subreddits included:
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