News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

End-to-end encryption coming to Android phones

along with RCS messaging update

https://www.cyberscoop.com/android-encry...messaging/

The updated data protection protocol, which will render Android users’ messages only readable by the sender and recipient, will initially be available in beta this month, and those interested in participating in testing will have to sign up, Google said. Once end-to-end encryption is available more broadly for Android users, Google will implement it by default, according to The Verge.
Russia and China will be exempt from encryption.

How curious it is to see that those exemptions are characterized by their totalitarian postures.
Would agencies like the FBI ended loving this new encryption system?

The announcement of the forthcoming privacy and security feature coincides with Google’s announcement that Android users are now able to use RCS, or Rich Communications Services, messaging globally, with a few exceptions. The update is meant to catapult users from relying on SMS text messaging to more modern messaging features, such as chatting over Wi-Fi, sending and receiving better quality pictures and videos, and being able to use read receipts.

Of course, that service gotta be updated and both devices involved there should be using the same version of RCS to let it work smoothly.

[kyonides]

Another 'Minecraft' lesson for kids: Beware of deceitful adware apps

https://www.cyberscoop.com/minecraft-mod...kaspersky/
This time we can really say this is malware in the traditional sense at all. Actually it's about nuisance adware. The sample we examined automatically opened a browser window with ads every two minutes, greatly interfering with normal smartphone use.

Because the ‘modpack’ seemed glitchy from the start, most users, especially kids and teens, won’t waste time looking for it. They may even forget it and not bother trying to remove it. Unbeknownst to the user, however, the app remains on the smartphone — and not merely there, but hard at work.

So far Kaspersky claims they can be removed and they won't try to reinstall them or hide among the system files. You can identify them thanks to their lame descriptions and the excess of 5 and 1 stars reviews on their profiles.

Apple's anti-advertising privacy features

It claims Facebook doesn't care about user privacy

https://www.cyberscoop.com/apple-apps-ad...-facebook/
Apple affirmed Thursday that its mobile operating system will soon get a new privacy feature opposed by the advertising industry, and it specifically called out Facebook for showing a “disregard for user privacy.”

ATT essentially will block iOS apps from tracking the use of other apps on a device. The goal is to limit the information that advertising networks collect about Apple device users.

The current behavior allows apps to share too much data with third parties and even lets them resell them at will. They don't inform you about what they are currently doing with it or who received it at any given point.

The Whole US Congress passes Internet of Things cybersecurity bill

https://www.cyberscoop.com/congress-iot-...ntractors/
The legislation supported by members of both parties is aimed at enhancing the safeguards of internet-connected devices such as smart sensors that monitor water quality or control ships in waterway locks.
This new law promotes the disclosure of vulnerabilities by coordinating with private cyber security companies or groups.

Here's a summary of what it has changed so far.

the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology establishes a baseline security requirements for any IoT manufacturer that wishes to contract with the federal government, in areas such as patching or identity management. The bill also would require contractors to implement vulnerability disclosure policies.

They compared this with the EnergyStar rating but instead of making machines not to waste electricity, they'll focus on security standards. At some point all companies should be encouraged to apply them whether or not they work with or supply anything to the government. Others think those not interested in dealing with the US government won't care about that and still provide buggy software or hardware.

In the Linux world it's quite common to share flaws they've found with pretty much anybody interested in fixing them or suggesting ways to improve its performance, etc. Now companies should be able to easily find some group they can trust to help them find bugs that otherwise would compromise your phones or tablets or phablets or brick them just because. Even if a company is expected to rely on their own programmers and cyber security advisers to minimize the risks, there's always something that goes wrong or a third party entity plays with it as a simple test to see if they can recommend the product or buy tons of them and notices how flawed it is. Now they should work closely with white hat hackers to prevent dangerous hackers and crackers from stealing your data. How they will make this happen? Time will tell, especially since every company is free to hire any group's services at will.

Anyway this is a complement for other laws like the once that promotes threat sharing information between government and industry.

[kyonides]

Qualcomm: Android phones to get Snapdragon 888 chip

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55150532

The Snapdragon 888 is Qualcomm's first chip to be made using a five nanometre process. This is a reference to the fact its transistors are smaller than before and can therefore be packed more densely together to offer performance gains.
"Snapdragon 888 will... transform smartphones into professional cameras," said Qualcomm in a press release.
"[The chip can capture] roughly 120 photos at 12 megapixels resolution - up to 35% faster than the previous generation."
Another advance is that the 5G modem is now built into the chip rather than being a separate component, as was the case last time round.
Qualcomm said the chip's "AI engine" had also been completely re-engineered.

Such improvements would let you take photos quite fast, improve autofocus in video and photography, make augmented reality features perform better than usual and automatically adjusting audio levels depending on your environment.
Sadly, you'll still need to wait till March 2021 to find any device abusing of its curious features.

[kyonides]

COVID-19 hacking extends to supply chain for controlling vaccine temperature

https://www.cyberscoop.com/coronavirus-v...cking-ibm/

IBM researchers on Thursday revealed a global spearphishing campaign they said was aimed at companies involved in the storage and transport of vaccines in temperature-controlled environments. Those controls allow the medicine to be sent to far-flung places. IBM suspects the attackers are tied to a government, but they said they didn’t have enough evidence to determine which one.
The attackers’ goal may have been to steal login credentials from those companies in order to gain future access “to corporate networks and sensitive information relating to the COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
The phishing campaign uncovered by IBM began in September and has targeted organizations in six countries in Europe and Asia. All of the organizations appear to be associated with a supply-chain program run by Gavi, an international organization that handles vaccines.

And how exactly did they fool their targets?

That cover saw the hackers pose as an executive at Haier Biomedical, a supplier involved in Gavi’s vaccine supply-chain program, and send phishing emails to companies supporting transportation needs for the program. China-based Haier touts itself as “the world’s only complete cold chain provider,” or organization that offers the full range of temperatures needed for storing biomedical equipment.

So they let you think they don't know what state is sponsoring this hackers but they pretend to be executives of Haier, a Chinese company...

Ransomware attack may delay scheduled procedures at Baltimore-area medical center

https://www.cyberscoop.com/ransomware-at...al-center/

Greater Baltimore Medical Center on Sunday became the latest U.S. hospital to grapple with a ransomware incident.
The ransomware attack caused “many of our [IT] systems” to go down, the 342-bed medical center said in a statement late Sunday. That means some patient procedures scheduled for Monday “may be affected,” GBMC said.

The Towson, Maryland-based medical center is following a playbook that numerous hospitals across the country have exercised after having their computer systems hampered by ransomware.

Well, Wulfo, you might need to think it twice before getting hurt or feeling sick.

[kyonides]

AT&T Inc agrees to sell Crunchyroll anime business
to Sony Corp’s Funimation Global Group, LLC

Transaction purchase price reportedly US$1.175 billions

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/a...-group-llc

The purchase price for the transaction is $1.175 billion subject to customary working capital and other adjustments, and the proceeds will be paid in cash at closing, AT&T and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc said.

Together with Crunchyroll, we will create ... greater opportunity for creators, producers and publishers in Japan and elsewhere.

You might wonder why they were after Crunchyroll. Here's an explanation.  

Sony is beefing up gaming and entertainment businesses under Chief Executive Kenichiro Yoshida’s strategy to increase recurring revenue streams that cushion the impact of volatile hardware sales cycles.

Time will tell whether or not streaming service will offer better contents from now on.

[kyonides]

White House confirms cyberattack report on U.S. Treasury by foreign government

The NSA met with the White House on Saturday regarding the matter

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/u...ent-report

The U.S. government has acknowledged reports that hackers backed by a foreign government have breached the U.S. Treasury Department and an agency within the Commerce Department.
According to Reuters, the elaborate cyber hack was launched on the Treasury Department as well as the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, a U.S. agency that is tasked with crafting internet and telecommunications policy. Sources told the outlet that the hack was so serious it led to a National Security Council meeting on Saturday.
Hackers reportedly used the organization's Microsoft Office 365 platform to monitor staff members emails for months.

They were hiding in the shadows for months and Christopher Krebs, the former head of CISA, claimed the elections were safe. Then tell me how the hell did they never notice in a timely fashion they had been monitored for such a long period of time? It seems Trump was right about firing Krebs after all.  

Will they ever find out which state sponsored this cyber attack!?

How would Wall Street react after learning about this mayor threat to the country's stability?

[kyonides]

Amazon just started sharing your internet connection with your neighbors

It seems that no matter where you go, something's tracking you

https://www.foxnews.com/tech/amazon-just...-neighbors

Your public profile is created automatically, whether you want it or not, and it contains your comments and any ratings that you have left on products purchased on Amazon. Your biographical information and other site interactions are also posted to your profile.
Amazon's Ring cameras are watching, and hundreds of police departments can tap into the footage.
About a year ago, Amazon quietly announced a new product called Sidewalk, which is basically a mesh network that extends your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection range by up to a mile.
Sidewalk turns your Echo speakers and Ring gadgets into bridge devices. That gives internet-connected tech far from your router, like lights at the edge of your driveway, a real boost.

If you own any of those devices, you better opt out of its products or remove personal information from your profile.

How exactly does that work?

Sidewalk uses a "small portion" of your internet bandwidth to pass low-energy Bluetooth connections and 900 MHz radio signals across all those connected devices.

Amazon claims they use 3 layers of encryption but that doesn't mean a hacker couldn't invade your device at some point and still get access to your data.

YouTube, other Google services suffer outage
“Something went wrong,” said a message on the YouTube home page

https://www.foxnews.com/tech/youtube-oth...fer-outage

“Something went wrong,” said a message on the YouTube home page. The Downdetector website also noted problems accessing the video-sharing service.
Citing user reports, Downdetector also mentioned problems with Gmail, Google Drive, Google Classroom, Google Home and Nest, which is owned by Google.

https://twitter.com/TeamYouTube/status/1...9084999681

Some apps started to come back online, with Google Search working as of 7:29 a.m. EST for some users and Gmail was working at 7:32 a.m. EST.

Google Outage - BBC

It also had a knock-on effect on other apps, with players of the smartphone game Pokémon Go, for example, reporting being unable to log in.
The cause of the problem is unclear. However, while it lasted, users were still able to access the websites' landing pages in "incognito mode", which does not store a log of the users' browsing activity.

According to BBC, the outage didn't last long. As you can see, you can open Google Drive right now.

[kyonides]

Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught

Hackers accessed systems at the National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, have evidence that hackers accessed their networks as part of an extensive espionage operation that has affected at least half a dozen federal agencies, officials directly familiar with the matter said.
On Thursday, DOE and NNSA officials began coordinating notifications about the breach to their congressional oversight bodies after being briefed by Rocky Campione, the chief information officer at DOE.
They found suspicious activity in networks belonging to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico and Washington, the Office of Secure Transportation at NNSA, and the Richland Field Office of the DOE.

Google says antitrust lawsuit would 'deprive' Americans of information, hurt businesses

Attorneys general from 38 states filed a new civil antitrust lawsuit against Google on Thursday

Google on Thursday said the lawsuit filed against them by attorneys general from more than three dozen states seeks to redesign search in ways that would "deprive Americans" of information and "hurt businesses" in their efforts to connect directly with customers.
Google argued in its response that the platform shows information that helps connect consumers with businesses directly.

They commented they'd need to let middlemen intervene in every single search. Google also rejected the claims saying that authorities around the world had rejected them.

Google Search has prime placement on more than 90 web browsers, including Google Chrome, the most popular web browser in the U.S., and Apple’s Safari, the complaint states. It also says Google pays Apple between $8 billion and $12 billion annually under the agreement that Google pay Apple "a significant percentage of the Google search advertising revenue generated on Apple personal computers.”

Well, that sounds a lot like buying Apple's preference for search engines to me.

[kyonides]

Androzek + other browser extensions used in widespread ad fraud campaign

The scammers are using malicious browser extensions— a tried and tested fraud tactic — to inject bogus advertisements into the results displayed on a search engine page. The more users who visit the fraudulent ad pages, the more money the perpetrators earn via a traffic-driven advertising program.
...
In addition, the malware maintains persistence and exfiltrates website credentials, exposing affected devices to additional risks.
Researchers from Awake Security in June revealed a sweeping campaign, which amassed 33 million downloads of malicious code, that used Chrome extensions to spy on users in the oil and gas, finance and health care sectors.
The code has other insidious features, including the capability to alter security settings on some browsers to give scammers more control over the browser.

What can you do if you suspect your browser has been infected? Well, you won't like this. You better reinstall your browser (after running your antivirus as a precaution) and become suspicious of any extension that looks suspicious or lacks support or is outdated. Actually deleting the whole directories related to your browser might also be a good idea, after the antivirus has finished sweeping off all of the menaces that might have been present there. Then you could reinstall your browser or start using another one.

I gotta say you better stay away from Chinese and Russian browsers for your own sake.

Google hit with 2 new antitrust lawsuits from 4 private publishers

Lawsuits allege Google has violated the Sherman Act

Dozens of state attorneys general and the Justice Department also filed two separate antitrust complaints, led by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, respectively, against the tech giant on Thursday and Wednesday, respectively.
Sweepstakes Today is one of four companies that filed two private lawsuits, which Reuters published online, against Google, alleging that the tech giant has violated the Sherman Act by displaying monopolistic behavior through its digital ad sales.

Publishers, including Sweepstakes Today, have seen their revenues decline significantly as Google uses their monopoly to horde more and more of the digital advertisement revenues.

The company says it made about $150,000 per year for about 10 years before 2012, when Google, "through both acquisitions and vertical integration, began consolidating the various markets that together constitute the online advertising market, driving out rivals, and became a direct horizontal competitor of publishers such as Sweepstakes Today," the complaint reads.
The complaint also accuses Google of making it nearly impossible for publishers to do business with smaller advertisers that compete with Google.

Why is this a problem for small and medium sized companies?  

You see, Google basically controls everything, especially sales. Advertisers, publishers, exchanges, fees, Google defines rules at will and its customers simply have to comply with its demands just because. If a relatively successful competitor or startup shows up in the market, it seems nothing would prevent them from acquiring it alias smashing it under current circumstances. Perhaps the game developer that complained about Apple's app development policies might be a good example of how the advertisers and the others feel about Google now.

Editorial

I am compelled to add here that Google's insidious custom of making it practically impossible to find links to conservative voices' websites is alarming. You basically need to have an idea of how the website's domain might look like in order to find them. Links to renowned or popular sites like Fox News, Breitbart rarely show up in Google searches. So they don't just control advertisements or sales but also your opinion for you wouldn't be able to read any viewpoints except for those coming from liberal sources.

We're all supposed to be living in our own modern democracies so how's it possible Google tells you or me what we SHOULD be reading next? One thing is to suggest something and another to completely blow up any connection to Republican or conservative sources in general. Why should Google care about a Costa Rican like me as to make it hard for me to find such websites or news articles? Even so I still got involved in this antidemocratic mess. Who told Google it was OK to play Big Brother in web searches?

Right, I might need to tell you it's extremely easy to find articles published by New York Times or Associated Press or BBC. In fact I could say I usually find tons of them but barely none coming from any conservative source unless, I dunno, they think that site is a lame tabloid of sorts that nobody would take it seriously.

I wonder how long it'd take for Google to start blocking webpages on its own a la Facebook's or Twitter's account blocks.
When would the authorities stop such large companies or corporations from owning the internet? That includes information they've never produced. With Biden I could certainly tell you that it'd never happen, they've donated millions of dollars to his campaign after all.

[kyonides]

Microsoft identifies second hacking group affecting SolarWinds software

Microsoft revealed that a second hacking group had deployed malicious code that affects software made by SolarWinds, the federal contractor at the center of a suspected Russian espionage campaign against multiple U.S. government agencies.
While Russian hackers are suspected in the compromise of the Orion software updates, it is unclear who is responsible for the additional malware discovered by Microsoft.
The newly revealed malware, known to researchers as Supernova, differs from the alleged Russian tampering because it does not appear to involve a compromise of the supply chain, Microsoft said. The Supernova code does, however, allow an attacker to send and execute a malicious program on the victim’s device, Microsoft said.
Researchers from cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks described Supernova as using “in-memory execution,” meaning the malicious code is loaded within a computer’s memory rather than on its disk. This suggests the code is designed to evade certain cybersecurity software that covers more external parts of a computer.

So now you can see how two different hacking groups have been attempting against US security and stability.
Really, how did media listen to Krebbs when he was head of CISA!? If they managed to break into the US Treasury, why wouldn't they want to intervene in the past elections?