U.K. bans TikTok on government devices / Google finds 18 flaws in Samsung chips / Hackers breach data recovery company Rubrik

Plus: U.K. security agency says there is a low chance that ChatGPT enables the masses to become cybercriminals

Inside.com Part of   Network March 16, 2023

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The U.K. has officially banned the use of TikTok on government devices. The decision comes after a security review made by state authorities. More: The decision was made public by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Dowden. According to the British government, the ban is being implemented due to the sensitive nature of the information stored on government devices. Government employees will still be allowed to use TikTok on their personal electronic devices. Exemptions will be made mostly for those working in law enforcement. Zoom Out: TikTok and its privacy policy have been at the center of discussion for over two years.  Recently, the European Commission decided to ban the app for all government employees. The Belgian federal government has also taken the same decision. In the U.S., the House of Representatives ordered all employees to delete the app from their devices only three months ago. States such as Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, Tennessee, Iowa, North Dakota, and others have all banned the app for their federal employees.

Google has found 18 security flaws in Samsung chips that are used in phones, smartwatches, and cars. Some of the bugs could enable hackers to breach the device remotely. More: Out of the 18 flaws, four are considered high risk. Only one of these four bugs has been given a CVE ID (CVE-2023-24033). This flaw could be deployed by knowing a limited amount of information about the victim, such as only their phone number. While these flaws were reported to Samsung three months ago, the company has still not patched all of them.  These flaws affect the following devices: Pixel 6, Pixel 7, S22, M33, M13, M12, A71, etc. Some of the other flaws that were not ranked as highly risky are tracked as follows: CVE-2023-24072, CVE-2023-24073, CVE-2023-24074, CVE-2023-24075, CVE-2023-24076, etc.

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Hackers have exploited a cloud flaw to breach the data management company Rubrik. The Clop ransomware group took credit for the hacking campaign. More: Rubrik is a cloud data management service that offers enterprise data backup and recovery services for urgent situations when companies lose their data. It is believed that Clop exploited the Fortra zero-day flaw, also tracked as CVE-2023-0669. The company claims that the hackers did not manage to steal customer data such as: Social Security numbers, Financial account numbers, Payment card numbers, etc. Over 100 organizations are at risk of being hacked through this vulnerability.

A U.K. security agency has stated there is a low chance that ChatGPT enables the masses to become cybercriminals. The agency claimed that the public should feel safe in the government's ability to protect its data. More: Some security experts have suggested that the tool could lower the barrier to entry for less technically capable threat actors by providing information on how to design ransomware and other threats. The NCSC, however, has stated that it believes that tools such as ChatGPT are likely to be more useful for saving hacking experts time than teaching novices how to carry out sophisticated attacks. Chatbots could be deployed to help technically proficient threat actors with poor linguistic skills to craft more convincing phishing emails in multiple languages, it warned. An attacker who is struggling to escalate privileges or find data might ask an AI-powered chatbot and receive an answer that's not unlike a search engine result but with more context.

Monarx has raised a $6.1M funding round to provide web hosting protection through its cloud solution. The company has raised nearly $16M since its inception in 2017. More: Monarx is an advanced malware detection and remediation solution for web hosters. The company claims that its solution is more effective, substantially less risky, and 17X less resource-intensive than present options in the market. Its software blocks 35% more malware than other tools, according to company officials. Signal Peak led the funding round, with participation from Kickstart Fund, Pelion Venture Partners, and Crosscut Ventures.

Quick Hits: Develop a better understanding of partnership marketing. Discover various partnership types and how they’ve helped leading companies flourish in this guide.* A new malware named Silkloader has been tracked by researchers. The malware contains elements from CobaltStrike and is being used as a new tool to help hackers hide their online activity. CISA has announced that a hacker collective comprising actors from multiple countries has breached a U.S. agency using an old security flaw. Avast has published a new report where it highlights a hacking campaign that uses Adobe to create false invoices that convince users to click on malicious documents. The TeamTNT hacker group has been tracked as the responsible threat actor behind a hacking campaign that breached Monero cryptocurrency users. End the March Madness of manual expense reporting with Divvy. Demo with Divvy to get a College Basketball Jersey of your choice.* *This is sponsored content.

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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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