Security News Update for December 13, 2024
Ransomware as a Chaos Mechanism
This version of ransomware doesn’t require much skill. Rather than encrypting files and demanding a ransom, they are just deleting as many files as possible and watching the chaos with some popcorn and beer. Even if the company has good backups, and many don’t, it can still cause downtime, supply chain interruption, reputation damage and a lot of money. In this case, there is no ransom to pay, even if that seems like your only option. Ransomware just for the entertainment value. Credit: CSO Online
Romania’s Top Court Nullifies Presidential Election Due to Russian Interference
Conceptually, this is pretty scary. Romania’s constitutional court has annulled the first round of the country’s 2024 presidential election process, which was narrowly won by far-right ultranationalist candidate Calin Georgescu amid allegations of Russian interference. That means the runoff election won’t take place this weekend. The court’s decision requires a do-over in the election. Interesting way to cause chaos. Credit: CNN
Europol Shuts Down Pirate IP TV Streaming That Pirated 2,500 Channels
Call me naive; I didn’t know that was a big thing, but apparently, it is. The group pirated more than 2,500 channels, notably pay sports channels, and streamed them over the Internet. The pirated content was available to more than 22 million people. The group earned more than $250 million A MONTH from fees they charged. The cops also seized drugs, guns and cash. The lost revenue, assuming these people would pay retail, was in excess of 10 billion Euros. Credit: The Record
Texas AG Continues His Campaign Against Big Tech
The AG is not telling a lot about what he is doing, but among the companies being investigated are Reddit, Instagram, Discord and Character.ai (whom I wrote about this week). The laws he is using are SCOPE and TDPSA, which bar these companies from sharing, disclosing or selling minor’s data. He sued TikTok in October and settled with Meta in July. Not being mentioned is Twitter. If not, that would obviously be a political move by the Republican AG. Credit: The Record
Apple, the Privacy Center – Maybe Not So Much
An Apple employee is not happy with the company. He is suing Apple over employee monitoring. Apple wants its employees to use completely neutered Apple devices at work, so many employees use their personal Apple devices to get the job done. In order to do this, employees have to give the company permission to search anything on the device or iCloud, whether at work or not. Apple thinks that is perfectly reasonable. This is another example of Security being “the department of NO”. Credit: Tech Crunch
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