CyberWire Daily

Latest Episodes:

Interview select: Kenneth Geers of NATO's CCD COE on "Cyber War in Perspective: Russian Aggression Against Ukraine." Feb 21, 2022

Show notes

As we break to observe Washington's birthday, our team thought you might like to try a sample of a CyberWire Pro podcast called Interview Selects. These podcasts are a series of extended interviews, exclusives, and a curated selection of our most engaging and informative interviews over the years, featuring cyber security professionals, journalists, authors and industry insiders. In this extended interview, Dave Bittner speaks with Kenneth Geers from NATO's CCD COE on "Cyber War in Perspective: Russian Aggression Against Ukraine." Like what you hear? Consider subscribing to CyberWire Pro for $99/year. Learn more.

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Bonus: Afternoon Cyber Tea: IoT-Based Infrastructures Feb 21, 2022

Show notes

Afternoon Cyber Tea with Ann Johnson is a CyberWire Network podcast created by Microsoft Security. It's a bi-weekly show that comes out every other Tuesday. We thought you would enjoy this episode in particular and hope you consider subscribing in your favorite podcast app.

Diana Kelly, the co-founder, and CTO of SecurityCurve, a cybersecurity consulting firm, joins Ann Johnson on this episode of Afternoon Cyber Tea. Diana is a globally known security expert who donates much of her time volunteering in the cybersecurity community while also serving on the Association for Computing Machinery Ethics and Plagiarism Committee. Diana talks with Ann about helping inexperienced organizations get up to speed on the cybersecurity landscape, some of the current significant security and privacy hurdles currently plaguing the field, and some of the best practices to assist network defenders and users trying to combat botnet threats.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

How companies can protect themselves from new unsecure devices
When security risks correspond with access management and IoT devices
Why we need security programs to grow to a new level

Some Questions We Ask:

How should network defenders and users combat botnet threats?
What types of universal IoT standards need to be created?
What privacy hurdles are currently plaguing the field of IoT-connected devices?

Resources:

View Diana Kelly on LinkedIn

View Ann Johnson on LinkedIn

Listen to: Security Unlocked

Afternoon Cyber Tea with Ann Johnson is produced by Microsoft and distributed as part of The CyberWire Network.

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Joe Carrigan: Build your network. [Security engineer] [Career Notes] Feb 20, 2022

Show notes

Senior security engineer with the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute and the Institute for Assured Autonomy, Joe Carrigan, shares what he calls his life mistake and what spurred him to finally choose a career in technology. Throughout his life, Joe had interest in technology, he even worked at the computer lab in college, but never set his sights on that for a career. A conversation with a stranger guided him in that direction and he's been there ever since. As co-host of the CyberWire's Hacking Humans, Joe sees some heartbreaking results of scams and feels education of the public will help to prevent these. Joe reminds us to build our networks as they include people we can always go back to either when searching for a position or looking to fill one on our teams. We thank Joe for sharing his story with us.

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What Log4Shell has taught us. [CyberWire-X] Feb 20, 2022

Show notes

If 2021 taught us anything, it’s that our supply chain–especially our technical supply chain–hangs in the balance of a very fragile system. The year came to a close with the announcement of the Log4j zero day. Talk about saving the best for last.

On this episode of CyberWire-X, the CyberWire's Rick Howard speaks with Tom Quinn CISO at T. Rowe Price, about the topic. Show Sponsor ExtraHop’s Head of Product, Ted Driggs, joins the CyberWire's Dave Bittner to examine what Log4Shell tells us about the state of cyber defense going into 2022, and what enterprises can do to prepare. Through these conversations, we explore the challenges that enterprises had in patching the vulnerability, take a closer look at the advanced post-compromise threat activity spotted in the wild, and glean lessons that can be learned to build resilience against the next Log4j-style zero day.

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Instagram hijacks all start with a phish. [Research Saturday] Feb 19, 2022

Show notes

Guest Marcelle Lee, Senior Security Researcher and Emerging Threats Lead, from SecureWorks joins Dave to share her team's work on "Ransoms Demanded for Hijacked Instagram Accounts." An extensive phishing campaign has targeted corporate Instagram accounts since approximately August 2021. The threat actors demand ransoms from the victims to restore access.

Organizations typically focus on traditional enterprise cybersecurity threats. However, some threats are more subtle, targeting organizations on unexpected platforms. In October 2021, Secureworks Counter Threat Unit (CTU) researchers identified a phishing campaign that hijacks corporate Instagram accounts, as well as accounts of individual influencers who have a large number of followers. The threat actors then extort ransom payments from the victims. The activity continues at the time of the interview.

The research can be found here:

Ransoms Demanded for Hijacked Instagram Accounts

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False flags, disinformation, and cyber operations in a hybrid conflict. Log4j vulnerabilities exploited. Wiper used against Iranian television. Kraken’s evolution. CISA’s guide to free security tools. Feb 18, 2022

Show notes

False flags and disinformation in Ukraine, as Western governments warn of the risk of both Russian escalation and the prospects of cyberattacks spreading beyond Ukraine’s borders. Log4j “Day-1” vulnerabilities exploited in the wild. Threat actors deployed a wiper in the course of hijacking Iranian television. The Kraken botnet is evolving, picking up an information-stealing capability. Our guest is Brittany Allen of Sift to discuss the DOJ seizing 3.6B worth of stolen crypto. Chris Novak from Verizon addresses Geopolitics and threat intelligence. And CISA launches a Catalog of Free Cybersecurity Services and Tools.