Security News Update for the Week Ending April 12, 2024
Administration Announces Preliminary Agreement for New High Tech Chip Factories in Arizona
As you may remember, during the pandemic the shortage of chips caused widespread product shortages for everything from phones to cars. Congress passed the CHIPS act to subsidize companies who manufactured chips in the U.S. at a higher cost rather than in less friendly but cheaper countries like China. Taiwan Semiconductor has agreed to build three fabs in Arizona in exchange for $6 billion in subsidies to make up for the cost difference between making them here vs. lower cost countries. They are going to make 2 nanometer and 3 nanometer state-of-the-art chips there. Credit: Department of Commerce
The Risk of Using Hardware Past Its Expiration Date
Just like the milk in your refrigerator, hardware has an expiration date and if you use it past that , you may get sick – or hacked. 92,000 D-Link Network Attached Storage are vulnerable to an attack and are under exploitation and D-Link says “sorry, it is past its expiration date, we are not going to fix it”. If you have one there are some mitigations you can make to make it less vulnerable but also less functional. Credit: The Hacker News
Apple Warns Users in 150 Countries of “Mercenary Spyware” Attacks
Apple has taken some heat from certain governments (India, for example) for calling government spying “state-sponsored spyware”, so now they changed the name to “mercenary spyware attacks”. I am not sure that will make people feel better, but the good news is that they are warning people in more than 150 countries that they are being targeted. They try to warn people within two days. Apple says that if you get a message from them, contact a pro; this is not something you should try to fix yourself. Credit: Dark Reading
US Space Force Says It Needs Help from Musk and Bezos
The military-industrial complex has been around since at least the 1950s so this is not really news. It is just that the players are changing. US Space Force General Chance Saltzman said that China and Russia are challenging our space superiority like never before and we need to use tech to win. This is likely music to the Defense Industrial Base’s ears, BUT IT ALSO MEANS THAT THE DIB NEEDS TO GET ITS SECURITY ACT TOGETHER TO STOP CHINA AND RUSSIA FROM STEALING EVERYTHING THEY DO. Credit: The Register
FBI Warns of Massive Road Toll SMS Phishing Attacks
The attacks are super low tech: send you a text message that you have toll fees outstanding and click on this phishing link to pay your toll, avoid late fees and compromise your credit or debit card. If you get a message like this (a) delete it and (b) go directly to the toll authority’s web site and see if you actually have any tolls due. Typically they will debit your account electronically if you have a toll pass or send you a bill in the mail otherwise, but they do not send text messages. Also pay with a credit card if you can – the consumer protections are much stronger than for debit cards. Credit: Bleeping Computer
by 