08.01.25 Security News Bites

Drug Cartels Use IT to Kill FBI Informants

According to a newly published report, a Sinaloa cartel/El Chapo insider contacted the FBI in 2018 and told it of all the ways in which the cybercrook hired by the cartel helped it track down those who could give up key details about its operation and eliminate the threat. The mercenary cybercriminal offered “a menu of services” that included “exploiting mobile phones and other devices,” the report stated. While the FBI is admitting to what happened 7 years ago, there is no reason to think it is not still happening. The revelatory audit comes after the Department of Justice identified “immediate concerns regarding the FBl’s management of the Ubiquitous Technical Surveillance (UTS) threat” in 2022. Credit: The Register

CISA Caves – Since They Would Like the Senate to Confirm a Director

CISA has not had a Senate-confirmed director in this administration. Senator Ron Wyden has been blocking the confirmation because CISA has refused to release an unclassified report into the Chinese attacks (Salt Typhoon) on US telcos. Why is unclear, but one has to assume it is to protect the guilty. CISA is still playing games around the release but says it is going to release it. Wyden said that after it is released they can have their director, but not until. Alternatively, the agency can run without a director, but with no one steering the ship, that is not a great thing. Credit: The Register

Ransomware Gangs Threaten Physical Harm

Survey says: hackers threaten system lockouts (52%) and data destruction (63%), but almost half – 47 percent – say that attackers threaten to file regulatory complaints against the victim company and 40 percent received physical threats. “The threats of physical harm are pretty scary,” Jeff Wichman told The Register. “I am afraid of what’s next.” That includes threats against family members. The attackers know where the executives live, where their families are and where their kids go to school. Credit: The Register

Minnesota Activates National Guard over Cyberattack

The Minnesota Governor activated the National Guard after an attack on Saint Paul. While the city hasn’t provided any details, the attack continues to disrupt city services. The city requested the Guard, saying the breach exceeded the city’s capacity to respond to it. White the city doesn’t store a lot of citizen data, but they do store data on employees. Credit: Tech Crunch

Browser Extensions Pose Threat to Gen-AI Tools Handling Sensitive Data

Wow, didn’t see this coming. Browser extensions are known to be unsecure, if that is a word. That doesn’t stop people from loving them. But a malicious one could inject its own AI prompts into ChatGPT, Gemini, CoPilot, Claude, etc. and security firm LayerX has demonstrated it. If the LLM handles sensitive data and the extension is malicious, your data may visit Beijing or Moscow. Credit: Security Week

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