Tag Archive for: services

3 Top Stocks to Ride the Buoyancy in Security and Safety Services Industry – October 10, 2023

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The Zacks Security and Safety Services industry is poised to benefit from strong demand for security and safety solutions prompted by growing concerns of terrorist and criminal activities and the need to safeguard citizens and infrastructure. Improving supply chains and a deceleration in inflation augur well for the industry’s near-term prospects.

Companies like Axon Enterprise (AXON – Free Report) , Brady Corporation (BRC – Free Report) and Lakeland Industries (LAKE – Free Report) are poised to take advantage of the buoyancy in the industry.

About the Industry

The Zacks Security and Safety Services industry comprises companies that provide sophisticated and interactive security solutions and related services, which are meant to be used for residential, commercial and institutional purposes. A few industry players develop electrical weapons for personal defense, as well as military, federal, law enforcement and private security. Some of them provide solutions for the recovery of stolen vehicles, wireless communication devices, equipment for the safety of facility infrastructure and employees, and products for detecting hazards. A few companies provide a variety of services to automobile owners and insurance companies. The industry serves customers belonging to various end markets, including manufacturing, electronics, hospitality, education, construction, telecommunications, aerospace and medical.

3 Trends Shaping the Future of the Security and Safety Services Industry

Demand for Security and Safety Services: Growing concerns of terrorism and criminal activities around the world are promoting demand for security and safety services. Political unrest across countries, prompting governments to safeguard citizens and protect infrastructure, acts as a key growth driver for the industry. With growing urbanization, governments are increasingly focusing on the safety and security of people, assets and the like, thus driving demand in the industry. Thanks to rising instances of hacking, the industry is seeing growing demand for Internet security products and services like firewalls and…

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Services at MGM Resorts restored following ransomware attack

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Services at hotels and casinos owned by MGM Resorts International Inc. have been at least mostly restored following a ransomware attack that crippled services provided by the company last week.

The cyberattack was first detected on Sept. 10 and affected systems, including websites, online reservations, ATMs, credit card machines and MGM Resorts across the U.S. In Las Vegas, it was reported that the attack also affected slot machines and room key systems.

To this point, MGM has still not formally disclosed the form of what the company still described as a “cybersecurity issue.” But a report on Sept. 13 linked the attack to the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group. VX-Unground, a malware research group, claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that the ransomware group compromised the company by calling the MGM Resorts helpline and undertaking a 10-minute conversation.

Other reports have since linked the attack to a group going by the name of “Scatter Spider,” the same group that was linked to a similar attack on casino operator Caesars Entertainment Inc. earlier this month. According to a report on Sept. 14, Scatter Spider, also known as UNC3944, is an affiliate of ALPHV/BlackCat.

Ransomware affiliates collaborate with ransomware creators, in this case, ALPHV/BlackCat, by deploying the ransomware within victim networks and are sometimes responsible for specific tasks like data theft or extortion based on their expertise.

In a statement on X on Sept. 20, MGM Resorts said services in its hotel and casinos are now operating normally — though one reporter said she still couldn’t book a room there.

The attack on MGM Resorts has drawn widespread attention to the problem of ransomware attacks and the need to enhance cybersecurity measures.

“The recent cyberattack on MGM Resorts International unveiled the significant deficiencies in the company’s cyber infrastructure and training, paralyzing key sectors of the business,” Lisa Plaggemier, executive director at the non-profit security awareness and educational organization

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Mobile internet services to be restored after over four months

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Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that mobile internet services will be restored across the state from Saturday, PTI reported.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state had shut down both broadband and mobile internet services in the wake of ethnic violence between the Meiteis and the Kukis that broke out on May 3. Over 200 people have been killed in the state since the conflict broke out.

The government had said that it took the decision to prevent people from spreading disinformation and rumours on social media.

On July 25, the government had conditionally lifted ban on broadband internet services. It had allowed for internet to be provided through Internet Lease Lines, used typically by businesses, and Fibre to the Home connections, which are more expensive to install than traditional broadband ones.

However, the July order did not allow internet connections through WiFi hotspots. Social media websites and virtual private networks also remained blocked.

On Saturday, Singh told reporters that as the situation in Manipur had improved, the government had decided to restore mobile internet services.

The chief minister also said that the Free Movement Regime that allows people from India and Myanmar to travel up to 16 kilometers inside each other’s territory has been suspended. He added that the Manipur government has requested the Centre to permanently close the agreement.

The BJP government has alleged on a number of occasions that the violence in Manipur was due to the influx of Kukis from Myanmar following the military coup in 2021 in the Southeast Asian country.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had claimed in Parliament in August that the increase of Kukis from Myanmar into Manipur had led to anxieties among the majority Meitei community.

Surrender illegal weapons within 15 days: Manipur government

On Friday, the Manipur government told citizens to surrender illegal weapons within 15 days, after which comprehensive search operations will be carried out by central and state security forces.

Since the violence broke out in the state, there have been several reports of mobs attempting to loot state armouries. On several occasions, mobs have also clashed with central…

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AWS cryptojacking campaign abuses less-used services to hide

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To remain undetected for longer in cloud environments, attackers have started to abuse less-common services that don’t get a high level of security scrutiny. This is the case of a recently discovered cryptojacking operation, called AMBERSQUID, that deploys cryptocurrency mining malware on AWS Amplify, AWS Fargate, and Amazon SageMaker instead of the more obvious Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2).

“The AMBERSQUID operation was able to exploit cloud services without triggering the AWS requirement for approval of more resources, as would be the case if they only spammed EC2 instances,” researchers from security firm Sysdig said in a report. “Targeting multiple services also poses additional challenges, like incident response, since it requires finding and killing all miners in each exploited service.”

How the AMBERSQUID cryptojacking campaign works

The Sysdig researchers came across the cryptojacking campaign while scanning 1.7 million Linux container images hosted on Docker Hub for malicious payloads. One container showed indicators of cryptojacking when executed and further analysis revealed several similar containers uploaded by different accounts since May 2022 that download cryptocurrency miners hosted on GitHub. Judging by the comments used in the malicious scripts inside the containers, the researchers believe the attackers behind the campaign are from Indonesia.

When deployed on AWS using stolen credentials, the malicious Docker images execute a series of scripts, starting with one that sets up various AWS roles and permissions. One of the created roles is called AWSCodeCommit-Role and is given access to AWS Amplify service, a service that lets developers build, deploy and host full-stack web and mobile applications on AWS. This role also gets access to AWS CodeCommit, a managed source-code repository service, and AWS CloudWatch, an infrastructure monitoring and data visualization service.

A second role that is created by the container scripts is called sugo-role, and this role has full access to SageMaker, another AWS service that allows data scientists to build, train, and deploy machine-learning models. A third created role is…

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