CyberWire Daily

Guest Maurits Lucas from Intel471 joins us to discuss his team's research into cybercrime in China. Data from Intel 471 show that the Chinese cybercrime underground proliferates through use of common methods or platforms, but behaves differently in large part due to the caution that actors take with regard to their identity. While the average citizen must follow the heavy handed nature of the government’s surveillance of cyberspace, Chinese threat actors take special precautions to protect their forums, TTPs and themselves. This leads to the Chinese cybercrime underground being disorderly when compared to others, particularly Russia, which tend to be much more organized.The research can be found here:No pandas, just people: The current state of China’s cybercrime underground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oxford biology lab hacked. A Zoom impersonation phishing campaign afflicts targets in the EU. Senators disappointed in Amazon’s decision not to appear at this week’s SolarWinds hearing. NSA advocates adopting zero trust principles. CISA issues alerts on industrial control systems. The US Department of Homeland Security describes increases to its cybersecurity grant programs. Dinah Davis examines how healthcare is being targeted by ransomware. Our guest is Michael Hamilton from CI Security on the Public Infrastructure Security Cyber Education System. And NIST’s draft IoT security standards are still open for comment.For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/38 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FriarFox is a bad browser extension, and it’s interested in Tibet. Ukraine accuses Russia of a software supply chain compromise (maybe Moscow hired Gamaredon to do the work). Egregor hoods who escaped recent Franco-Ukrainian sweeps are thought responsible for DDoS against Kiev security agencies over the weekend. A look at Babuk, a new ransomware-as-a-service entry. VMware servers are patched. Verizon’s Chris Novak looks at the 2021 threat landscape. Our guest is Andrew Hammond from the International Spy Museum. And a US Executive Order on supply chain security.For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/37 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As more organizations are affected by the Accellion FTA compromise, authorities issue some recommendations for risk mitigation. Ocean Lotus is back, and active against Vietnamese domestic targets. LazyScripter is phishing with COVID and air travel lures. SolarWinds hearings include threat information, exculpation, and calls for more liability protection. Turkey Dog is after bank accounts. Joe Carrigan ponders the ease with which new security flaws are discovered. Rick Howard speaks with our guest Michael Dick from C2A Security on Automotive Security. And some new ICS threat groups are identified.For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/36 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ukrainian security services complain of DDoS from Russia. The Accellion compromise is attributed to an extortion gang. Digital Shadow tracks the rise of initial access brokers, new middlemen in the criminal-to-criminal market. A botmaster uses an agile C2 infrastructure to avoid takedowns. IT executives to appear at US Senate hearings on Solorigate. US DHS talks up its cyber strategies. Ben Yelin comments on the latest court ruling on device searches at the border. Rick Howard speaks with Ariel Assaraf from Coralogix on SOAR and SIEM. And don’t be deceived by bogus FedEx and DHL phishbait.For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/35 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facebook takes down Myanmar junta’s main page. APT31 clones Equation Group tools. Silver Sparrow’s up to...something or other. Bogus Flash Player update serves fake news and malware. Effects of supply chain compromises spread. Clubhouse’s privacy issues. VC firm breached. CrowdStrike releases its annual threat report. We welcome Josh Ray from Accenture security to our show. Rick Howard examines Google’s cloud services. And a Maryland school concludes its annual cyber challenge.For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/34 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

High Performance Computing Systems Administrator at Brigham Young University Billy Wilson tells his cybersecurity career story translating language skills to technical skills. According to Billy's employer, moving to a technical position at his alma mater occurred because Billy showed this potential and a thirst for learning. He is currently pursuing his master's degree from SANS Technology Institute for Information Security Engineering while working to secure BYU's data for their computationally-intensive research. Billy notes that not everyone has one overarching passion which gives him variety in his work. And, we thank Billy for sharing his story with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest Bojan Zdrnja of Infigo IS and a certified instructor at SANS Institute shares an incident he discovered where attackers were using a pretty novel way of exfiltrating data and using that channel for C&C communication. The code that was acquired was only partially recovered, but enough to indicate powerful features that the attackers were (ab)using in Google Chrome. The basis for this attack were malicious extensions that the attacker dropped on the compromised system.The research can be found here:Abusing Google Chrome extension syncing for data exfiltration and C&C Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Microsoft wraps up its internal investigation of Solorigate, which the US Government continues to grapple with, and which has had some effect in Norway. An apparent Iranian APT has been hosting its command-and-control in two Netherlands data centers. Estonia’s annual intelligence report describes Russian and Chinese ambitions in cyberspace. Threat actors are hard at work against Apple’s new processors. Kevin Magee on the Canadian National Cyber Threat Assessment for 2020. Our guest is Mark Testoni from SAP National Security Services on the Biden administration’s first 100 days. Plus, lessons from the ice, and how hackers became cybercriminals.For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/33 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Watch out for the WatchDog Monero cryptojacking operation. The US Justice Department describes North Korea as “a criminal syndicate with a flag.” CISA outlines the DPRK malware that figures in the AppleJeus toolkit. The Chair of the US Senate Intelligence Committee asks the FBI and EPA for a report on the Oldsmar water system cybersabotage incident. Egregor takes a hit from French and Ukrainian police. Dinah Davis has advice on getting buy-in from the board. Our guest is Bentsi Ben Atar from Sepio Systems on hardware attacks. And the Netherlands Police advise cybercriminals to just move on.For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief:https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/10/32 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices