Plus: Royal surpasses LockBit as the most used ransomware in November
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The Guardian has been hit by a cyberattack from an unknown threat actor. All its employees have been directed to work from home until next week. More: - The hacking campaign was deployed on Tuesday night and severely damaged the company's digital infrastructure.
- Company officials stated that they believed this hacking campaign was a ransomware attack but did not provide more details regarding the origin of this hacking campaign or its technical details.
- Its digital and print news publishing has not been affected by the breach so far.
Zoom Out: - Earlier this year, Fast Company was forced to shut down its website after being hacked through a WordPress security flaw. The threat actor that breached the news publication sent racist messages through the company's Apple News channel.
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President Biden's senior cybersecurity advisor and National Cyber Director Chris Inglis will step down in the next three months. The reason behind this decision has not been made public yet. More: - The office of the National Cyber Director was created last year through a vote by Congress.
- This institution serves as an extension of the executive branch and formulates plans on how to respond to major hacks that affect the federal government and its agencies.
- Inglis will be replaced by temporary director Kemba Eneas Walden, a former Microsoft executive.
- CNN claims that it contacted Inglis, who did not confirm or deny the reports on his decision to step down.
- Inglis was appointed last year as the Biden administration sought to create positive change among federal agencies and their cybersecurity practices.
- During his time at this office, Inglis held meetings with representatives from many private sector industries to raise awareness of the importance of cybersecurity and played a role in the creation of the U.S. government's cybersecurity directive.
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A new report claims that U.S. financial institutions were the most attacked globally in 2022. Phishing remained the most used threat vector from hackers. More: - After the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, and China ranked as the most targeted countries in the financial industry.
- U.S.-based companies were targeted with 14 ransomware attacks in 2022, the most of any country.
- As of Dec. 9, finance and insurance entities across the world experienced 566 data breaches, which has so far amounted to over 254 million leaked records.
- During this year, security researchers have noticed a trend where hackers are using money-transferring alternatives such as Western Union and ZCASH as a method to transfer stolen money quickly.
- In terms of specific hacker groups, LockBit leaked the most data belonging to financial companies. The group uses its ransomware-as-a-service to attack its targets, a method it has deployed since 2019.
- LockBit victims pay an average ransom of approximately $85,000, indicating that LockBit targets small to medium-sized organizations.
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Royal surpassed LockBit as the most used ransomware in November. The group's activity accounted for 16% of all ransomware attacks during the month. More: - Ransomware attacks overall increased by 41% during November. This significant rise is likely related to the holiday season, where consumers are more likely to spend money and fall victim to different hacking campaigns.
- Royal uses partial encryption and multi-threaded ransomware to accelerate the encryption process and evade detection while using social engineering to distribute its ransomware.
- Cuba was the second most active hacker group, making up for 15% of all ransomware attacks that happened in November.
- The resurgence of this threat actor has caught industry researchers by surprise, who claim that the group has been relatively passive during the past two years.
- Infamous hacker group LockBit was third, with 12% of all ransomware attacks being credited to it. The group is expected to launch numerous campaigns in 2023 as it is likely to create new tools after having some of its operation details leaked earlier this year.
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Over 400 banking apps and crypto wallets are being targeted with a trojan named Godfather. Researchers believe that the campaign may be led by Russian-based hackers. More: - Most of the targets are in the U.S., Turkey, Spain, Canada, Germany, France, and the U.K.
- There are no targets from former Soviet Union countries, which has led researchers to believe that Russian hackers are behind this campaign.
- This malware, a variant of old malware Anubis, is downloaded by the victims through the Google Play Store and shows up on their devices as Google Protect, an app that is meant to make devices safe from malware activity.
- The Godfather variant has the ability to use keyloggers and record a device's screen.
- Researchers believe the campaign has been actively targeting victims since June 2021.
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- A malware-ad campaign that ran on adult websites managed to gather millions of impressions.
- President Biden has signed The Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act into law today. The bill aims to give U.S. institutions a boost regarding the field, which is expected to become one of the key cybersecurity components in the future.
- The EU has opened an anti-trust investigation regarding the proposed acquisition of VMware by Broadcom. According to the agency, the acquisition could lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less innovation.
- Two men have been charged with participating in a hacking campaign that breached Ring cameras and making fake phone calls that resulted in SWAT team interventions to locations where there was no risk present.
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 |  | Arbër is an Inside writer who also has experience in entrepreneurship. He has experience covering Consumer Tech, Venture Capital, NFTs, Crypto, etc. Arbër holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from XAMK University in Finland. When he is not reading(and writing) business news, he chooses to watch sports or anime...and then read news about sports or anime. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
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