Safety Briefing- 5-1-2018
A new ransomware campaign known as SamSam has targeted as many computers in an organization as possible to encrypt then and then offers a volume discount for fixing the whole company. First time volume discounts have been seen in the wild! Neat!
Google will add SSO from Chrome on May 7th, a better version than the one that was compromised last year. Once a user logs in past there, a ‘verify it’s you’ prompt will pop up to ask users whether they recognize the account they are being signed into.
Jan Koum, the founder of WhatsApp who sold his private messaging app to Facebook four years ago for $19 billion, reportedly plans to step downin the wake of increasing concerns over the parent company’s intentions for its user data as well efforts to weaken its encryption.
The latest version of Chrome OS now keeps all devices protected from Meltdown, Google says. Update stuff!
More than 1,000 experts from nearly 30 countries have tested their ability to protect IT systems and critical infrastructure networks at NATO’s Locked Shields 2018 live-fire cyber defense exercise.
Hackers managed to compromise the Ukrainian energy ministry website, encrypt files, and post a ransom demand. Although Ukraine has been heavily hit by global malware outbreaks over the last year, including WannaCry, NotPetya, and Bad Rabbit, the recent incident appears isolated and by no means the work of state-sponsored actors, security experts say.
Konrads Voits of Ypsilanti, Michigan, has been sentenced to seven years and three months in prison for attempting to hack the Washtenaw County Jail computer systemand modifying prison records to get his friend released early.
Four years after the initial iteration was released, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released version 1.1 of the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. Direct link here.
Here’s a spicy list of neat features in the Windows 10 April 18 creator update, including dictation hotkeys, audio preferences per app, and improved Bluetooth pairing.