Security News for the Week Ending August 20, 2021
Well That Seems Like a Bit Over the Top
A pharmacist in Illinois faces up to 120 years in prison for selling dozens of (I assume blank) Covid vaccine cards. The pharmacist sold 134 cards to 11 buyers for roughly $1276. He is being charged with theft of government property. That seems like a stretch, but maybe. Mostly they want to make a point that if you want a fake vaccine card, you should create them on Photoshop yourself. Yes, it will take you a few hours, but it isn’t very hard. That makes it harder for the feds to discover that you did that. And don’t brag about it on social media. Mind you, just because you do make it yourself doesn’t mean you aren’t breaking the law. Falsely using a government seal, for example, is crime, but it probably won’t get you 120 years, which is why the came up with this creative charge. Just doing a quick Google search, I found blank cards online, so I have no idea why anyone would buy one. Blank cards were also for sale on Amazon for a while – 10 for $12.99. Credit: Bleeping Computer
Another Day, Another Cryptocurrency Hack
Last week a hacker stole $600 million in cryptocurrency for fun … and then gave it back. This week hackers stole $97 million from the crypto exchange ‘Liquid’. This time it doesn’t appear to be a joke. The exchanges are getting better at freezing the money when this happens because the have so much experience at it. That is probably not a good thing. For the hackers, that is. Credit: Data Breach Today
Blackberry Says Older Versions of it’s QNX OS Vulnerable
Blackberry sells a real time operating system used in cars, medical equipment and other embedded equipment. This includes 175 million cars (this number doesn’t include the tens of millions of other devices which could have been bought pre-fix and are still in use in factories, warehouses and many other places). But the cars are older cars – Blackberry says that they fixed the bugs in 2012 – after denying for months that they existed. That likely (maybe) means that products that were DESIGNED after 2013 or 2014 are not vulnerable, but that could be a design date and not a manufacture date or sale date. Blackberry has released patches to manufacturers, but that doesn’t mean that patches have been installed. Credit: The Register
Ransomware 4.0? Maybe
First there was ransomware. Just encrypt your files and demand money. Then ransomware 2.0 – steal your data and demand money to get it back. Next came ransomware 3.0. With this generation, the hackers go directly to the businesses’ customers (one example was a psychotherapy practice where the hackers threatened to release the therapists’ notes if the patients didn’t pay up). Now comes version 4. With V4, the hackers offer employees of the intended victim a cut of the action if they release the ransomware into their employer’s network. Wow. This is getting out of hand. Credit: Brian Krebs
by 