Content by Doug Olenick

Biden Promises Retaliation Unless Putin Stops Cyberattacks

Doug Olenick  •  June 16, 2021

U.S. President Joe Biden issued a clear warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin at their Geneva summit Wednesday, saying that should Russia continue to launch cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, or hack software supply chains, then Moscow should expect to see retaliation.

Report: China-Connected APT41 Likely Behind Attacks on Airlines

Doug Olenick  •  June 15, 2021

The China-backed advanced persistence threat group APT41 apparently was responsible for the breach of SITA, an international provider of IT services for the air transport industry worldwide, that led to customer data at Air India and other airlines being compromised, according to Group-IB. SITA disputes the findings.

McDonald's Breach Exposes Korean, Taiwanese Customer Data

Doug Olenick  •  June 12, 2021

Fast-food giant McDonald's is acknowledging a data breach that affected some customer and company data from its locations in Korea and Taiwan. Phone numbers, delivery and email addresses were exposed. Payment data, however, has not been compromised.

EA Acknowledges Breach; Says Game Source Code Stolen

Doug Olenick  •  June 11, 2021

Electronic Arts has acknowledged that a threat actor has breached the gaming giant and has posted a huge swath of gaming and corporate data for sale on the publicly accessible leak site RaidForums. The ad claims to have 780GB of data.

Fake Lazarus DDoS Gang Launches New 'Attacks'

Doug Olenick  •  June 11, 2021

Traditional ransomware attacks may have taken over the news, but Proofpoint researchers say the malicious actors who presents themselves as the North Korean-backed Lazarus advanced persistent threat group have revamped their distributed denial-of-service ransom extortion strategy and rebranded.

RSA Spins Off Fraud and Risk Business

Doug Olenick  •  June 10, 2021

RSA Security LLC has spun off its fraud and risk intelligence business into a stand-alone company named Outseer. The new company will be led by Reed Taussig as CEO, and it will serve a worldwide customer and partner community.

Microsoft Patches 6 Vulnerabilities Currently Under Attack

Doug Olenick  •  June 9, 2021

Microsoft's June Patch Tuesday contained patches for six zero-day vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild, including two flaws detected by Kaspersky that were being exploited by a new threat group named PuzzleMaker.

Private Equity Firms Acquire ExtraHop in $900 Million Deal

Doug Olenick  •  June 9, 2021

ExtraHop announced Tuesday it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by the private equity firms Bain Capital Private Equity and Crosspoint Capital Partners for $900 million. The transaction is expected to close in the summer of 2021.

Colonial CEO at Senate Hearing Details Ransomware Attack

Doug Olenick  •  June 8, 2021

Colonial Pipeline Co. CEO Joseph Blount defended his actions during the opening hours of the May 7 DarkSide ransomware attack against his company as several lawmakers on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee grilled the executive for over two hours on Tuesday.

$2.3 Million of Colonial Pipeline Ransom Payment Recovered

Doug Olenick  •  June 7, 2021

The U.S. Justice Department reported it recouped $2.3 million of the $4.4 million ransom Colonial Pipeline Co. paid following a May 7 ransomware attack. The DOJ's Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force coordinated the effort, in which the FBI tracked payment to a bitcoin wallet it controls.

Siloscape Malware Reportedly Targeting Windows Containers

Doug Olenick  •  June 7, 2021

Researchers believe that a malware variant that specifically targets poorly protected or misconfigured Windows containers has been uncovered for the first time, according to a report published by Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42. A successful attack establishes a backdoor and persistence.

Is STG Building a New Cybersecurity Powerhouse?

Doug Olenick  •  June 5, 2021

Symphony Technology Group's acquisition of FireEye Products Business in a $1.2 billion deal will set up the private equity group to better compete with security giants such as Microsoft and Cisco, while unlocking profit potential for FireEye and the now stand-alone Mandiant Solutions, analysts say.

White House Urges Cybersecurity Boost: Business Reaction

Doug Olenick  •  June 4, 2021

In response to a string of high-profile and damaging ransomware attacks that took place over the past several months, the Biden administration sent an open letter to U.S. business leaders asking them to take the proper steps to protect their organizations from ransomware.

Cox Media Group Affiliates Go Offline

Doug Olenick  •  June 4, 2021

Cox Media Group's TV and radio affiliates' ability to livestream content was mostly offline Thursday evening, possibly due to an unspecified cyber incident, says the security firm Recorded Future.

Amazon Sidewalk Raises Privacy and Security Concerns

Doug Olenick  •  June 3, 2021

Internet of things security professionals are expressing concern over Amazon's new Sidewalk - a low-bandwidth network program that will allow some of the company's connected and IoT devices to share Wi-Fi access even outside an owner's home.