Tag Archive for: Members

LAPSUS$’ Alleged Members Are in Jail, but the Gang Hacked Sitel

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Image for article titled A Hacker Gang's Alleged Members Are in Jail. It's Still Stealing Data.

Image: John M Lund Photography Inc (Getty Images)

London police announced Friday that two teenagers had been charged with hacking crimes in connection to LAPSUS$, a cybercriminal gang that has managed to breach some of the biggest tech companies in the world over the past few months. Far from disintegrating in a leadership vacuum, though, the gang has continued to make digital mayhem without them.

The unnamed teens, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old boy, face a bevy of charges, including “three counts of unauthorised access to a computer with intent to impair the reliability of data; one count of fraud by false representation and one count of unauthorised access to a computer with intent to hinder access to data,” Scotland Yard said. The duo, who remain in custody, were scheduled to appear in Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Friday. A total of seven people were recently arrested in connection to the gang. The oldest of them is 21.

While the jailing of several of its alleged members would seem to signal an end to LAPSUS$, the group is, in fact, keeping busy. It hacked a new company earlier this week, and the fallout from its past escapades goes on.

After the arrests, a new LAPSUS$ hack

In a matter of months, LAPSUS$ has managed to conduct a series of remarkably successful cyberattacks on the likes of Microsoft, Samsung, Nvidia, and other big name firms. The gang has leaked much of its victims’ data to the web and has often seemed motivated less by money than by a desire for fame and notoriety.

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LAPSUS$’ newest victim is the global software developer Globant, which claims as its clients several blue chip technology companies. On Tuesday, LAPSUS$ updated its Telegram “leak” page with the following: “For anyone who is interested about the poor security practices in use at Globant.com. i will expose the admin credentials for ALL there [sic] devops platforms below.” The gang then dumped a bevy of passwords, along with a link to what it said was 70 gigabytes of Globant’s internal data. According to the gang, this tranche included some internal source code for several of Globant’s biggest clients, including Facebook and Apple.

When…

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Only 23% of board members consider ransomware their top priority

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A security logo is shown on screen during a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show on Jan. 7, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Research from Egress on Wednesday found that only 23% of board members consider ransomware their top priority.

The software company said it’s a major concern because according to the survey, 59% of organizations fell victim to ransomware and a staggering 84% of organizations were victims of phishing, even though 98% of companies offer anti-phishing training to the staff.

“Cybercriminals continue to leverage sophisticated social engineering attempts to catch users at a weak moment and gain access to the sensitive data they’re seeking,” said Jack Chapman, vice president of threat research at Egress. “The results of this study show that cybersecurity training is limited in its effectiveness and it’s a big ask for people within an organization to be constantly vigilant to phishing threats”

It’s incredibly concerning that only 23% of board members see ransomware as a major threat to their organizations, said Hank Schless, senior manager, security solutions at Lookout. Schless said this might happen because board members think about these events in terms of what can have the most impact on the business. However, a successful ransomware attack can be detrimental to the existence of any organization. 

“Everyone needs to understand the connection between security and business continuity,” Schless said. “Today, when entire organizations run on cloud-based infrastructure, everything about the business relies on having secure systems. The commercialization of ransomware and the emergence of the Ransomware-as-a-Service market have made these attacks much more viable for less sophisticated hackers. This will only increase the number of ransomware attacks organizations face.” 

John Bambenek, principal threat hunter at Netenrich, said business leaders are in business to make money and they view security as a cost center, ironically even for security companies.

“Part of this number is complacence,” Bambenek said. “Like car insurance, no one thinks accidents will happen to them until they do. Part of it is the idea…

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SaaS, IoT, AI and Cloud will continue to accelerate Indian IT: ETILC Members

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Housing a global IT powerhouse, India’s economy witnessed a temporary stagflation last year. The consecutive waves of COVID-19 and the rising streaks of infections lead the economy into attrition, forcing companies to adopt cost-cutting measures, even in the IT sector. The sector witnessed a high attrition rate of 8.03% during April to June this year.

However, despite slowing down the financial ecosystem, the statewise lockdowns also had an upside; the pandemic drove companies worldwide to expand their investments in their respective digital infrastructure. The IT sector accounted for 8% of India’s GDP in 2020, which is a substantial increase from its contribution of 1.2% in 1998. In 2019-20, India held the position of the largest sourcing destination in the IT-BPM industry globally.

Growing Demand

As per Gartner’s predictions, IT spending in India will amount upto $98.5 billion by 2021. With the imposition of home isolation due to the pandemic, more and more people started accessing digital services from home. To make ends meet, the IT sector has been constantly keeping up with these demands by providing online services to businesses.

“India is at the cusp of creating massive employment opportunities in the IT/BPM sector, owing to tech like citizen development, AI and cloud”

— Ram Singampalli, COO, Hexaware Tech

The consequent demand and trust in the sector has facilitated companies like Cognizant, Infosys, and Wipro, Tanla Solutions, and HCL Tech with digital expansion as well as increased revenue. Moreover, Tech Mahindra experienced a growth of 39.2% with its net profit at Rs 1,353.2 crore for Q1 FY 2021-2022. Wipro witnessed revenue growth of 22.3% with Tata Consultancy Services at 18.5% growth.

As per the latest Naukri JobSpeak report, the Indian job market witnessed 57 per cent Y-o-Y growth as of September. The IT/software sector in particular grew by 138 per cent (Y-o-Y). Additionally, with thickening technological intervention and the gradual post-covid reopening, retail and hospitality industries also saw an increase in hiring by 82 per cent and 70 per cent, respectively. As digital innovation expands, the scope of job creation and acquisition will also…

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HackPack is back: Ethical hacking, cybersecurity club looking for new members | News

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HackPack, NC State’s student hacking and cybersecurity club, is welcoming new students, with or without hacking experience. The club focuses on ethical hacking and helping students understand cybersecurity concepts, as well as competing in competitions and games like Capture The Flag.

Dr. Alexandros Kapravelos, assistant professor of computer science, is the faculty advisor of HackPack.

“When we talk about ethical hacking here, we talk about basically hacking into systems that have been designed to be hacked,” Kapravelos said.

Another of HackPack’s major focuses, according to the club’s student president, Dominic Brown, a fourth-year studying computer science, is to encourage independent study into computer science programs. 

HackPack encourages students’ exploration of cybersecurity as is stated in its mission statement: “Our goal is to create a friendly environment where students can learn and practice security concepts free of judgement.”

According to Kapravelos, the club competes in capture the flag competitions.

“[We host] security competitions that have been designed to pretty much gamify hacking and provide a series of different security challenges where the students basically have to craft novel attacks against the systems, hack into them, gain some information, and gain points in the game,” Kapravelos said.

Any interested student can join HackPack; there are no fees and no need for a high-speed computer. However, to be able to participate in capture the flag events and other activities, students must have a working knowledge of computer science. This is why much of the club membership is made up of computer science students, however the club is not exclusive to computer science majors.

For students who are new to cybersecurity and ethical hacking, it will require independent self-study. Plenty of students, however, don’t even major in computer science or engineering. John Allison, for example, is the vice president of HackPack and is studying political science.

HackPack is a small club, but students partner with clubs at other universities like Texas A&M for activities and games. 

“[It] was kind of a…

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