Security News Bites for the Week Ending July 20, 2018
Israeli Startup Raises $12.5 Million to Help Governments Hack IoT
Given the sad state of IoT security, I am not sure that governments need any help in hacking IoT devices, but just in case they do, Israeli startup Toka raised $12.5 million to help police hack iPhones, Alexas, Echos and Nests, along with other IoT devices like your TV, refrigerator and dishwasher.
If you weren’t paranoid before, maybe you should be now.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is a cofounder and Brigadier General Yaron Rosen, former head of the Israel Defense Forces cyber staff is the president of Toka.
Kind of like NSA’s Tailored Access Operations (TAO) that builds custom hacks for the NSA, Toka said they are going to see what customers ask for and then deliver.
This sounds like a company to watch. (Source: Forbes)
U.S. Intel Chief Warns of Devastating Cyber Threat to U.S. Infrastructure
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said the warning lights are blinking red again, nearly two decades after 9-11.
Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are launching daily cyber strikes on the networks of federal, state and local government agencies, U.S. corporations and academic institutions.
Of the four, Russia has been the most aggressive according to Coats.
Coats warned that the possibility of a “crippling cyber attack on our critical infrastructure” by a foreign actor is growing. (Source: Reuters)
Voting Machine Vendor Admits Installing Remote Access Software After Lying About it to the New York Times
Election Systems and Software admitted in a letter sent to Senator Ron Wyden that they installed pcAnywhere remote access software on some voting machines delivered between 2000 and 2006. This is opposite what they told a New York Times reporter in February, so either they were lying then or are lying now, pick one.
They stopped installing the remote access software in December 2007 after the laws changed which would have made installing that software illegal.
The remote access software was not on the ballot boxes in the local precincts but rather on the election management systems in the city and county headquarters. There are much fewer of these systems and each one is accountable for many voting machines, which would make them a much more attractive target for hackers. (Source: Motherboard)
LabCorp Shuts Down Network Due to Ransomware Attack
Laboratory Corporation of America, known to most Americans as LabCorp shut down portions of its network over the weekend due to suspicious activity. That is about as vague as the company has been.
The attack hit the company’s genetic testing unit and spread from there. The company has data on over 250 million Americans. LabCorp says there is no indication that data was breached, but according to people familiar with the attack, it is a strain of the common ransomware SamSam and it has infected tens of thousands of workstations.
The hackers demanded $52,000 in ransom which LabCorp says it has no intention of paying.
LabCorp is working hard to try and minimize brand damage as the fight for marketshare with Quest Diagnostics. Unfortunately, unless they can prove that no data was stolen, under HIPAA rules, this will be considered a breach and must be reported to the government, at which point we will get more details. Source: Wall Street Journal.
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