Security News for the Week Ending April 9, 2021

Ubiquiti All But Confirms Breach Story

As the stories about Ubiquiti’s really bad attempts to save their reputation after a breach earlier this year swirled, they were completely silent, other than a very short statement. Now they have posted a statement on their user forum that says that they have no evidence that customer information was accessed or even targeted. They do not say anything at all to refute the claims that were made that the reason they have no evidence is, well, because there were no log files being created. If you use a cloud provider, I recommend reading this story because it points out the joint responsibility you have. In this case, it is alleged that Ubiquiti’s bad cyber hygiene practices put their customers’ networks at risk. Credit: Brian Krebs

Is This a Breach: Terabytes of OnlyFans Data Leaked Online?

OnlyFans is an online platform for content creators to share content for a monthly subscription fee. The content creators are typically so-called social influencers and adult performers (OK, no jokes, these two are not the same, although there certainly is some overlap). There is content from almost 300 creators/performers and at least of the folders is over 10 gigabytes, so it looks like maybe, in total, a couple of terabytes of content. Google will only take down files if the performer identifies a specific file and says that I own the copyright to it. A bit of a mess, but they say they were not hacked. Credit: Bleeping Computer

Police Say White Supremacists and Conspiracy Theorists Target Cell Towers

The New York Police Department says that cell towers and other critical infrastructure have become an attractive target for conspiracy theorists, especially after the recent election. The Police Department says that conspiracy theorists and far-right white supremacist groups increasingly target critical infrastructure to incite fear, disrupt essential services, and cause economic damage with the United States and abroad. Sounds like the definition of a terrorist to me. Right now we are seeing isolated damage, but it is costing tens of thousands of dollars per incident – that you get to pay to repair and also causing service outages. Remember, for the most part, the only thing between a terrorist and critical infrastructure is a chain link fence and a padlock. The most recent case of that was the terrorist in Nashville that blew up a telephone company office and cost tens of millions of dollars of damage. That is the most that is in their way. Credit: The New York Times via the Intercept.https://theintercept.com/2021/03/17/5g-white-supremacists-conspiracy-theorists-critical-infrastructure/

LG Promises 3 Years of Security Updates After Pulling Out of Phone Biz

South Korean phone maker LG, always an also-ran in the phone biz, called it quits this week. However, they plan to provide both version and security updates for up to three years, depending on the model. The updates are based on when you bought the phone, not when the model was originally released, so this is actually good news for LG phone owners. Credit: The Record

Ex-GCHQ Staff Recommends Banning Ransomware Payments to Kill Off Ransomware

Several ex-GCHQ Staffer (like our NSA) suggest a law banning insurance paying ransoms to kill off the ransomware market. That would probably have some positive effect on it, but it is unlikely to actually kill it off. The other half of that law, however, needs to make the government pay the difference in cost between paying the ransom and not paying the ransom. For example, if the ransom demand is $250k and to rebuild the computers, restore what data you have and replace the lost business for the data that you don’t have will cost you $2 million, the gov needs to fork up the other $1.75 million. While I am not a fan of paying ransoms, this is not the right solution. What we have started to see, but need to see more of, is insurance companies declining to provide coverage to companies with inadequate security. This does not require any laws and will make companies deal with the externalities (this is the insurance company’s problem, not mine). Credit: The Register

by