CyberWire Daily

What does Beijing want to know about US Presidential campaigns? Position papers, mostly. A redacted version of the CIA’s inquiry into the WikiLeaks Vault 7 material is out. That DDoS attack you read about on Twitter? Never happened. Former eBay employees face Federal charges of conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and witness tampering. Ben Yelin explains a judge refusing to sign off on a potential Facebook facial recognition settlement. Our guest is Randy Vanderhoof from the Secure Technology Alliance on mobile drivers licenses. And where would you store “niche” dating app material? In a misconfigured AWS S3 bucket. Where else? For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief: https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/116 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new Android spyware tool is deployed against China’s Uyghur minority. Anonymous claims it disrupted the Atlanta Police Department’s website yesterday to protest a police shooting. An apparently legitimate security firm has apparently been selling malware to criminals. Breachstortion joins sextortion as a criminal tactic. Craig Williams from Cisco Talos on Astaroth, an information-stealer that has been targeting Brazil, Our own Rick Howard on risk assessments. And why spelling always counts. For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief: https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/115 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Financial firm CISO, Tom Quinn, takes us from his first experience with modern computers in the military to his current role as a Chief Information Security Officer. It's important to understand how the technology works, but it's also important to understand how people work. And, to make a difference. Our thanks to Tom for sharing his story with us.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Proactive, efficient threat mitigation and risk management require understanding adversaries’ fundamental thought processes, not just their tools and methods. Cyber threat intelligence analysts combed through 15 years (2004 to 2019) of public sources that have documented the activities of one prolific threat actor, Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU. Analysis shows that the timing, targets, and impacts of this activity mirrored Russian strategic concerns about specific events and developments. Joining us in this week's Research Saturday are Brad Stone & Nate Beach-Westmoreland from Booz Allen Hamilton to discuss their report and some of the 33 case studies presented in it.The research can be found here:  Bearing Witness: Uncovering the Logic Behind Russian Military Cyber Operations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twitter’s transparency efforts see through accounts being run by Chinese, Russian, and Turkish actors. Zoom is working to both comply with Chinese law and contain the reputational damage involved in doing so. Industrial firms recover from Ekans infestations. Caleb Barlow from CynergisTek on how hospital CISOs are dealing with the COVID-19 situation. Our guest is Ronald Eddings from Palo Alto Networks and the Hacker Valley Studio Podcast on strategies for finding and managing security architects. And it’s not Posh Spice who’s got the attention of Maze; it’s just her M&A advisors. For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief: https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/114 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Gamaredon Group is back, and what’s their secret? Like Crazy Eddie’s, it’s volume! Doxing during times of unrest. Phoney contact-tracing apps are snooping on personal information in at least ten countries. Thanos is a criminal favorite in the ransomware-as-a-service market. Another skirmish in the Crypto Wars is brewing up on Capitol Hill. David Dufour from Webroot on how organizations can successfully navigate their new workplace realities. Our guest is Chester Wisniewski from Sophos on fleeceware apps found in the Apple app store. And no, really, Elon Musk is not on YouTube offering you Bitcoin. For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief: https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/113 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Notes on Patch Tuesday--it was a fairly big one this time. Honda continues its investigation of the incident it sustained over the weekend, and outsiders see it as a ransomware attack. Facebook is said to have developed a Tails zero-day to help the FBI with a notorious case. Crooks are turning to search engine optimization. IBM and Google cloud services recovered quickly from outages. You’re unlikely to get rich from a breach settlement. Joe Carrigan describes free online courseware aimed at Community College students. Our guest is Dennis Toomey from BAE on how financial institutions need to enact stronger cyber protocols as employees migrate to working from home. And BellTroX says, hey, it was just helping some private eyes. For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief: https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/112 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Commercialized hacking-for-hire is traced to an Indian firm, but it’s probably not an isolated problem. Ransomware shuts down Honda production lines in three continents. Criminals develop and distribute an anti-DDoS tool to help keep the dark web souks responsive and available. Ben Yelin revisits Twitter’s flagging or removing the U.S. President’s tweets. Our guest is Jeremy Oddo from The Third Floor to discuss cybersecurity in Hollywood during COVID-19. And researchers compile a menu of cyber contraband. For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief: https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/111 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

South and Southwest Asian regional rivalries play out in cyberspace. Election interference could move from disruptive influence operations to actual vote manipulation. Someone is spearphishing leaders in Germany’s PPE task force. Nations move to restrict dependence on foreign companies in their infrastructure. Justin Harvey from Accenture on the train of thought behind breach disclosure. Our own Rick Howard on DevSecOps. And Washington State recovers some, but not all, of the unemployment funds lost to fraud. For links to all of today's stories check out our CyberWire daily news brief: https://www.thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/110 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cyber analyst, Tracy Maleeff, shares her unexpected journey from the library to cybersecurity and offers advice for those both seeking to make a change and those doing the hiring. It's not just about the invitation, it's more than that. Our thanks to Tracy for sharing her story with us.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices