Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack: Revealing How DarkSide Works – Security Boulevard
Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack: Revealing How DarkSide Works Security Boulevard
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DNR warns Wisconsin water works to update security after Florida system hacked | State & Regional
In this screen shot from a YouTube video posted by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri addresses reporters during a news conference Monday. At left is Eric Seidel, the mayor of Oldsmar, Fla.
State and federal officials are warning all water utilities to upgrade their cybersecurity after hackers attempted to poison the water supply of a small Florida city, raising alarms about the vulnerability of the nation’s water systems.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources cautioned Wisconsin’s 611 municipal water systems Wednesday to take steps to secure their computerized control systems, including installing firewalls and using strong passwords.
According to the DNR, on Feb. 5, unidentified hackers gained access to the control system at a water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Florida, and altered the supply of sodium hydroxide, or lye, a caustic chemical used in the water treatment process.
The hackers broke in twice on the same day, but in both cases workers at the treatment plant noticed the change and corrected the problem before the water was affected.
The DNR did not respond to questions about whether it is tracking utility responses to the recommended measures, which were outlined by the Environmental Protection Agency. Officials from the Madison and Sun Prairie water utilities, the largest in Dane County, could not be reached late Wednesday afternoon.
Suspicious incidents are rarely reported and usually are chalked up to mechanical or procedural errors, experts say. No federal reporting requirement exists, and state and local rules vary widely.
How Smartphone Security Works in North Korea
Smartphones in North Korea, it’s fair to say, don’t work the same they do in most of the Western world. Mobile phones were banned in North Korea until 2008. While 5G is rolling out in much of the world, North Korea is still on 3G, with recent reports indicating that a 4G deployment may soon be on the way.
Reuters wrote in 2019 that North Korea was evading sanctions and “using low-cost hardware imports to generate significant income for the regime.” Most North Korean phones, at the time, used Chinese batteries, Taiwanese semiconductors, and a version of the Android operating system.
Some mobile phone games have become popular in North Korea, with names like Taekwondo Competition and Badminton Competition, which are played over Bluetooth connections. Late last year, there were reports that North Korea was cracking down on Chinese-imported cell phones, with the regime even holding lectures “emphasizing that people who use Chinese-made mobile phones will face punishment.”
The Daily Mail, meanwhile, reported earlier this month that North Korea had passed a law cracking down on “perverted” language, with checks on people’s phones, to examine whether they had used such language in private messages, part of the enforcement.
Now, a new report looks at the software that is used in North Korea to bypass the security authentications that have been put in place by the regime.
This week, Daily NK published details about “Bidulgi 1.01,” a program used to “convert non-North Korean files on mobile phones.” Another program called Chammae is used for similar purposes. The Daily NK story includes photos of the software’s interface.
Both types of software run on Windows 7 and 10. The software helps bypass the software function, mandated by the regime, to delete unauthenticated files on users’ devices.
“North Korean authorities have installed two kinds of security authentications on smartphones: an independent authentication system and a “state authentication” system,” Daily NK said of the software. “Files authenticated by North Korean authorities with the state system run on all smartphones, while those authenticated with the independent one run only on the…
Purple Fox malware: What it is, how it works and how to prevent it – Security Boulevard
Purple Fox malware: What it is, how it works and how to prevent it Security Boulevard
“exploit kit” – read more