Security News for the Week Ending April 8, 2022
Hackers Hack Russia’s Largest State Owned Media Corporation
Hackers stole 20 years of communications including almost a million emails from the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK). Those emails were published by DDoSecrets. VGTRK runs 5 national TV stations, 5 radio stations and numerous propaganda outlets. The data is available for download as an almost 1 terabyte torrent. The hackers say they did this because of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. This is part of the ongoing cyber war between Ukraine and Russia. Credit: Daily Dot
Apple AirTags Are Useful for Stalking
Motherboard asked dozens of police departments for reports that included Apple Airtags. They received 150 reports that mentioned Airtags. Remember that they asked for reports from something like less than one half of one percent of the departments. In 50 cases women called the police because they were being notified by THEIR iPhones that they were being stalked. Many of these women thought that either former or current intimate partners were to blame. Only one report came from a man. A few of the reports talked about robbery or theft as the potential reason. In any case, Apple has a challenge for which there is no easy fix. Credit: Motherboard
Russia’s Great Firewall has Some Holes in It
Russian citizens are turning to a variety of tools to bypass Russia’s attempt to block citizens from accessing western media. From VPN tools, to Telegram to Cloudflare’s WARP, they are effectively bypassing Russian controls and accessing French, British and U.S. newspapers. Credit: Bleeping Computer
Hotels Are Now Prime Targets for Hackers
As hotels use more tech and create more apps, they have more data for crooks to steal. And, since data is king, the crooks go after it. The Marriott/Starwood hack, back in the old days of 2014, netted the hackers information on a half billion people. With new laws like state privacy laws in the U.S. and GDPR in Europe, the stakes for breaches are just going to get a lot more expensive. Luxury hotels are particular targets as London’s Ritz recently found out. If you have to give information to a hotel, do what you can to minimize it. Credit: Financial Times of London
Government Sponsored Hacks not Limited to Russia-Ukraine
China continues to target India’s power grid, a year after the start of the attack campaign. Security researchers say the purpose right now is to gather intelligence to enable future attacks. They say the attackers would attempt to compromise the grid’s load management system. If it succeeds, it could cause cascading blackouts with no way to stop the dominoes until the country is dark. The FBI says that hundreds of U.S. critical infrastructure companies have been attacked as well, so this is not limited to India. Credit: The Hacker News
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