CyberWire Daily

Latest Episodes:

Chris Hare: Find just three people. [Development] [Career Notes] Nov 26, 2023

Show notes

This week, we invite our very own Chris Hare, N2K's Project Management Specialist Content Developer, to join and discuss her career. Growing up, Chris shares that she wanted to be a veterinarian, which slowly turned into her becoming a writer for the first part of her career. She shares that she started off writing marketing copy for the technology and E-commerce space, writing for everyone from NASA to adopting the written voice of the comedian, Wayne Brady. She shares that she was able to come up into her career after finding three people that were willing to help her when she needed it. She says "I became what I like to think of as a Pied Piper of seeking out three types of people. First, someone who needed help. Second, a person who served as a mechanism for my self improvement through my jealousy of them. And third, a person who gave me the nudge to continuously improve." We thank Chris for sharing her story with us.

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Encore: Another infection with new malware. [Research Saturday] Nov 25, 2023

Show notes

Larry Cashdollar, Principal Security Intelligence Response Engineer from Akamai Technologies, joins Dave to talk about their research on "KmsdBot: The Attack and Mine Malware." Akamai's Security Research team has found a new malware that infected their honeypot, which they have dubbed KmsdBot.

The research states "The malware attacks using UDP, TCP, HTTP POST, and GET, along with a command and control infrastructure (C2), which communicates over TCP." The botnet targets weak login credentials and then infects systems via an SSH connection.

The research can be found here:

KmsdBot: The Attack and Mine Malware

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Solution Spotlight: Simone Petrella is speaking with Tatyana Bolton from Google about ways to tackle the cyber talent gap. [Interview Selects] Nov 24, 2023

Show notes

This interview from October 20th, 2023 originally aired as a shortened version on the CyberWire Daily Podcast. In this extended interview, our very own Simone Petrella is speaking with Tatyana Bolton from Google about ways to tackle the cyber talent gap.

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Cops in the catfish game. [Hacking Humans Goes to the Movies] Nov 23, 2023

Show notes

Thanks for joining us again for another episode of fun project brought to you by the team of Hacking Humans, the CyberWire's social engineering podcast. Hacking Humans co-host Dave Bittner is joined by Rick Howard in this series where they view clips from their favorite movies and television shows with examples of the social engineering scams and schemes you hear Dave and co-host Joe Carrigan talk about on Hacking Humans. In this episode, Dave and Rick watch each of the selected scenes, describe the on-screen action for you, and then they deconstruct what they saw. Grab your bowl of popcorn and join us for some fantastic scams and frauds.

Links to this episode's clips if you'd like to watch along:

Dave's clip from the movie: Chicago P.D.
Rick's clip from the movie: The Imitation Game

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On the eve of the holiday season, officials in many countries issue warnings and take action against cybercrime. Nov 22, 2023

Show notes

CISA issues joint Cybersecurity Advisory on Citrix Bleed. Law enforcement takes down "pig butchering" operations. Altman will return to OpenAI. Israeli honeypots deployed during the war. A renaissance in electronic warfare. And a response in the form of countermeasures. Ihab Shraim, Chief Technology Officer at CSC, shares how the growing popularity of AI is giving cybercriminals a new avenue to take advantage of some of the largest companies in the world. And online safety during the holidays.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news briefing:

https://thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/12/223

Selected reading.

CISA issues joint Cybersecurity Advisory on Citrix Bleed. (CyberWire)

Cyber Scam Organization Disrupted Through Seizure of Nearly $9M in Crypto (U.S. Department of Justice)

China Rounds Up 31,000 Suspects in Sweeping ‘Pig-Butchering’ Crackdown (Wall Street Journal)

OpenAI Says Sam Altman to Return as CEO (Wall Street Journal)

Altman Agrees to Internal Investigation Upon Return to OpenAI (Information)

Sam Altman, OpenAI Board Open Talks to Negotiate His Possible Return (Bloomberg)

Before Altman’s Ouster, OpenAI’s Board Was Divided and Feuding (New York Times)

Altman Argued With OpenAI Board Member Toner Before Ouster (Information)

The Invisible War in Ukraine Being Fought Over Radio Waves (New York Times)

Exclusive: This pizza box-sized equipment could be key to Ukraine keeping the lights on this winter (CNN)

Commercial Flights Are Experiencing 'Unthinkable' GPS Attacks and Nobody Knows What to Do (Vice)

Shopping securely on Black Friday (and beyond). (CyberWire)

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Threat actors with mixed motives: from the political to the financial. Nov 21, 2023

Show notes

OpenAI's continuing turmoil. Crypto firm sustains API attack. Konni campaign phishes with a Russian document as bait. LockBit's third-party compromise of Canadian government personnel data. Ukraine removes senior security officials under suspicion of graft. Dave Bittner sits down with Steve Winterfeld from Akamai to discuss emerging threats in the financial services sector. And Idaho National Laboratory sustains data breach.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news briefing:

https://thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/12/222

Selected reading.

Company that created ChatGPT is thrown into turmoil after Microsoft hires its ousted CEO (AP News)

The Doomed Mission Behind Sam Altman’s Shock Ouster From OpenAI (Bloomberg)

Briefing: OpenAI Execs to Continue Discussions With Altman, Board: Memo (The Information)

OpenAI in ‘Intense Discussions’ to Quell Potential Staff Mutiny (Bloomberg)

Microsoft Wants to Work With Altman, No Matter What, Says CEO (Bloomberg)

Briefing: Microsoft CEO Nadella Says Altman Could End Up at Microsoft or OpenAI; Board Governance Should Change (The Information)

Sam Altman's AI 'mission continues' at Microsoft, future of OpenAI and ChatGPT uncertain (ZDNET)

OpenAI’s Customers Consider Defecting to Anthropic, Microsoft, Google (The Information)

OpenAI’s Board Approached Anthropic About Merger (The Information)

The Vast Majority of OpenAI Employees Ask the Board to Resign (The Information)

Konni Campaign Distributed Via Malicious Document (Fortinet Blog)

Ukraine sacks top cyber defence officials amid graft probe (Reuters)

Two top Ukrainian cyber officials dismissed amid embezzlement probe (Record)

Ukraine fires top cybersecurity officials (TechCrunch)

Ukraine-Russia war: Ukraine sacks 'corrupt' cyber defence chiefs (The Telegraph)

Kronos Research halts trading amid $25M API key hack investigation (Cointelegraph)

Kronos Research Loses $26 Million in Unauthorized API Access Incident (Bitcoin News)

Canadian government discloses data breach after contractor hacks (BleepingComputer)

Idaho National Laboratory experiences massive data breach; employee information leaked online (East Idaho News)

Detailed data on employees of U.S. national security lab leak online (CyberScoop)

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Fortunes of commerce in Silicon Valley; fortunes of war on the banks of the Dnipro. Nov 20, 2023

Show notes

Leadership turmoil at OpenAI. Citrix Bleed vulnerability implicated in ransomware attacks. QakBot seems to have a successor. The FSB deploys LitterDrifter in cyberespionage against Ukraine. Russian security firm says China and North Korea are the source of most cyberattacks against Russia. Privateers and auxiliaries engage targets of opportunity. Ann Johnson from Afternoon Cyber Tea talks about leading edge cyber innovation with Nadav Zafrir. And alleged war crimes may include cyber operations conducted in support of other, conventional, kinetic war crimes.

For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news briefing:

https://thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/12/221

Selected reading.

OpenAI announces leadership transition (OpenAI)

A statement from Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella (The Official Microsoft Blog)

A timeline of Sam Altman’s ouster from OpenAI and Microsoft appointment (Reuters)

Sam Altman leaves OpenAI: Everything you need to know (Computing)

OpenAI Employees Threaten to Quit Unless Board Resigns (Wall Street Journal)

Sam Altman to Join Microsoft Following OpenAI Ouster (Wall Street Journal)

Dozens of Staffers Quit OpenAI After Sutskever Says Altman Won’t Return (The Information)

AI to accelerate your security defenses (IBM)

OpenAI’s Board Set Back the Promise of Artificial Intelligence (The Information)

A New AI Lexicon: Existential Risk (AI Now)

Hackers Are Exploiting a Flaw in Citrix Software Despite Fix (Bloomberg)

Medusa ransomware gang claims Toyota Financial Services hack (Security Affairs)

CitrixBleed Vulnerability Exploitation Suspected in Toyota Ransomware Attack (SecurityWeek)

Yamaha and WellLife Network confirm cyber incidents after ransomware gang claims attacks (Record)

Are DarkGate and PikaBot the New QakBot? (Cofense)

Decrypting Danger: Check Point Research deep-dive into cyber espionage tactics by Russian-origin attackers targeting Ukrainian entities (Check Point Blog)

Malware Spotlight - Into the Trash: Analyzing LitterDrifter (Check Point Research)

Russian APT Gamaredon uses USB worm LitterDrifter against Ukraine (Security Affairs)

Russian Cyber Espionage Group Deploys LitterDrifter USB Worm in Targeted Attacks (The Hacker News)

Remarks by Assistant Secretary Graham Steele at the Federal Insurance Office and NYU Stern Volatility and Risk Institute Conference on Catastrophic Cyber Risk and a Potential Federal Insurance Response (U.S. Department of the Treasury)

Russian analysts point finger at China, North Korea over cyber activity (Record)

How Pro-Ukrainian Hackers Have Undermined Russia's War Every Step Of The Way (WorldCrunch)

Ukraine says it has evidence of 109,000 Russian war crimes (POLITICO)

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Ian Blumenfeld: Swimming in a pool of cyber. [Research] [Career Notes] Nov 19, 2023

Show notes

Ian Blumenfeld, a Research Director from Two Six Technologies sits down to share his story with us. Ian begins his story by sharing he wanted to be a scientist, slowly he began to figure out and pinpoint more of what he liked about science, which ended up being math. Ian explains how math began to become a passion for him, and he eventually tried to pursue a career in it by teaching. He discovered teaching was not the thing for him and then started to move into the direction he wanted too, taking on more and more challenging roles until he landed where he is today. Ian says "If you're a smart person and you have skills in coding, you can swim. So it's okay to jump. It's okay to jump into the lake, you can swim. Something will get you out. You will have, you will be able to find a job. So, if you see something that looks cool, if you see something that advances you to the next stage of your career, if you have to take a little bit of a risk, it's okay." Ian wants to be someone who helped make the world a little better when it comes to code and wants to shares his desires and passions with the community. We thank Ian for sharing his story with us.

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Breaking Through: Securing the advancement of women in cybersecurity. [Special Edition] Nov 19, 2023

Show notes

In the dynamic field of cybersecurity, it’s well established that creating more opportunities for diversity and inclusion is essential for developing a highly skilled workforce. As an industry, we are starting to see the fruits of that labor, but there is a growing need for diverse leadership to nurture continuous innovation and resilience in cybersecurity.

As part of N2K’s 2023 Women in Cyber content series, we’re excited to host an engaging virtual panel discussion moderated by N2K's President Simone Petrella featuring insights, experiences, and strategies for advancing more women into leadership roles within the field.

This virtual discussion explores different areas including:

Navigating the Cybersecurity Landscape: Gain insights into our guests' career journeys, including mentors, challenges, and success, and how the evolving landscape may present different challenges and opportunities for women.
Building a Supportive Ecosystem: Explore the importance of mentorship, allyship, and a strong network in propelling women into leadership, and how to create an environment where everyone can thrive.
Closing the Gender Gap: Delve into actionable strategies and best practices for organizations to promote gender diversity in their cybersecurity leadership teams.
The Future of Cybersecurity Leadership: Gain a forward-looking perspective on the evolving role of women in shaping the future of cybersecurity.

This panel discussion is a must-listen event for professionals, leaders, and aspiring cybersecurity experts who are committed to promoting diversity and empowering women to excel in cybersecurity leadership. Don't miss the opportunity to be part of this inspiring conversation and drive positive change in the industry.

Panelists:

Abisoye Ajayi, Cyber & Analytics Manager at Tulsa Innovation Labs
Koma Gandy, VP, Leadership & Business at Skillsoft
Lauren Zabierek, Sr. Advisor at CISA

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The malicious YoroTrooper in disguise. [Research Saturday] Nov 18, 2023

Show notes

Asheer Malhotra from Cisco Talos discussing their research and findings on "Kazakhstan-associated YoroTrooper disguises origin of attacks as Azerbaijan." Cisco Talos' research team, released research attributing the work of the espionage-focused threat actor, YoroTrooper, to individuals based in Kazakhstan.

The research states "YoroTrooper attempts to obfuscate the origin of their operations, employing various tactics to make its malicious activity appear to emanate from Azerbaijan, such as using VPN exit nodes local to that region." They also found that the YoroTrooper continues to rely heavily on phishing emails that direct victims to credential harvesting sites.

The research can be found here: