Author: Thomas J Ackermann

Researchers discovered an unprotected TrueDialog database hosted by Microsoft Azure with diverse and business-related data from tens of millions of users. Tens of millions of SMS messages have been found on an unprotected database, putting the private data of hundreds of millions of people in the United States at risk for theft or exposure and…

A notice is asking for industry’s help in developing new and innovative cyber and signals intelligence technologies. (Greg Davis/U.S. Air Force/Getty Images) The Air Force is asking for industry’s help developing advanced cyber and signals intelligence technologies. Specifically, the Air Force Research Lab wants technologies that can improve extraction, identification, analysis and reporting of tactical…

Project Blackfin: Multi-Year Research Project Aims to Unlock the Potential of Machine Intelligence in Cybersecurity Project Blackfin is ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) research challenging the current automatic assumption that deep-learning neural network principles are the best way to teach a system to detect anomalous behavior or malicious activity on a network. Run by security firm F-Secure,…

NATO will need to utilize social media and other publicly available information to combat Russian disinformation says a new report from the Atlantic Council. Utilizing open source intelligence will be essential to combating Russian disinformation in the Baltics, according to a new report published Nov. 14 by the Atlantic Council. The report focuses on how…

Despite being considered extremely vulnerable in cyberspace, the United States does pose some asymmetric advantages in the domain as compared to authoritarian regimes. (Andy Wong/AP) If “mutually assured cyber destruction” were to occur, one Marine Corps leader said, authoritarian nations such as China might have more to lose than the United States. Top national security…

It’s not like this wasn’t among the reasons everywhere suspected when Apple suddenly announced it was buying Intel’s modem business, but now the chipmaker has filed a brief in support of the FTC in an ongoing appeal by Qualcomm of a decision made in May. That decision found in favor of the FTC’s allegations that…

Organised cybercrime, rogue insiders and nation-state-backed hackers are among the groups that could soon be targeting 5G networks. But there are a few surprises on the list, too. European computer security agency Enisa has listed the groups it thinks are most likely to attempt to hack into 5G networks, warning that security threats to telecoms…

File-encrypting malware is proving to be extremely lucrative for cyber attackers, who can continue large-scale ransomware campaigns – making hundreds of thousands of dollars – almost risk-free. Ransomware will continue to plague organisations in 2020 because there’s little risk of the cyber criminals behind the network-encrypting malware attacks getting caught; so for them there’s only…

A recently discovered technique allows ransomware to encrypt files on Windows-based systems without being detected by existing anti-ransomware products, Nyotron security researchers warn. Dubbed RIPlace, the technique allows malware to bypass defenses using the legacy file system “rename” operation, and the security researchers say it is effective even against systems that are timely patched and…

Israel-based cybersecurity startup Cymulate announced on Tuesday that it has raised $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Vertex Growth Fund. Founded by Eyal Wachsman and Avihai Bar Yosef, the company offers a cloud-based Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) platform that helps organizations test their security controls by running thousands of attack…

An advertisement on the cybercrime store Joker’s Stash for a new batch of ~4 million credit/debit cards stolen from four different restaurant chains across the midwest and eastern United States. On Nov. 23, one of the cybercrime underground’s largest bazaars for buying and selling stolen payment card data announced the immediate availability of some four…

Rendering of the future National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency facilities in St. Louis. (McCarthy HITT image) The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s new facility will host a range of features virtually unheard of in the intelligence community, from wireless technology to spaces that can switch between classified and unclassified environments. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency will break ground on its…

Video footage from Russian news agency Anna News shows the inside of an abandoned US army base in Syria, where items such as half-eaten food, beds, and footballs appear to have been left behind. According to the text below the video Fadel Nasrala, a correspondent at Anna News visited the abandoned US base in Manbij,…