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The new  Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA)  requires CISA to create rules regarding cyber incident reporting by critical infrastructure organizations. The RFI and hearings precede a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that CISA must publish sooner than  24 months  from the enactment of CIRCIA, which the President signed into law  in March . The sessions and NPRM are steps toward creating the new rule.  CISA is  soliciting expert opinion on what to include  in a report but is taking steps to implement the change soon. Here's what that change means for businesses in the US and what you can do about it now.  Overview of the CISA reporting rule  Owners and operators of critical infrastructure must file cyber incident reports with CISA  within 72 hours . They must report ransom payments for ransomware attacks  within 24 hours . Other businesses can take part voluntarily.  The CISA Director can  subpoena  organizations in noncompliance to compel

The US State Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday a $3 Million reward for the information leading to the direct arrest or conviction of Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev , one of the most wanted hacking suspects accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars with his malware. This is the highest bounty U.S. authorities have ever offered in any cyber case in its history. The 30-year-old Russian man who, according to bureau, is an alleged leader of a cyber criminal group who developed the GameOver Zeus botnet . STOLE MORE THAN $100 MILLION Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev, also known under the aliases " lucky12345 ," " Slavik ," and " Pollingsoon, " was the mastermind behind the GameOver Zeus botnet , which was allegedly used by cybercriminals to infect more than 1 Million computers and resulted in more than $100 Million in losses since 2011. GameOver Zeus makes fraudulent transactions from online bank account

BRUSSELS (AFP) – European computer guards battled Thursday against a simulated attempt by hackers to bring down critical Internet services in the first pan-continental test of cyber defences. All 27 of the European Union's member nations as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland took part in the simulation as participants or observers, working together against the fictitious online assault, the European Commission said. The exercise was based on a scenario in which one country after the other increasingly suffered problems accessing the Internet, making it difficult for citizens, businesses and public institutions to access essential services. Security experts had to work together to prevent a simulated "total network crash," said Jonathan Todd, a commission spokesman for digital affairs. "I would like to emphasise, so as to avoid any 'War of the Worlds' scenario here, this is purely an exercise and practice," Todd told a news briefing. "

SaaS applications are dominating the corporate landscape. Their increased use enables organizations to push the boundaries of technology and business. At the same time, these applications also pose a new security risk that security leaders need to address, since the existing security stack does not enable complete control or comprehensive monitoring of their usage. LayerX has recently released a new guide, " Let There Be Light: Eliminating the Risk of Shadow SaaS " for security and IT teams, which addresses this gap. The guide explains the challenges of shadow SaaS, i.e., the use of unauthorized SaaS apps for work purposes, and suggests practices and controls that can mitigate them. The guide also compares various security controls that attempt to address this risk (CASB, SASE, Secure Browser Extension) and explains how each one operates and its efficacy. Consequently, the guide is a must-read for all security leaders at modern organizations. Here are the main highlights:

FBI's Cyber Division has a new and sharper focus on cyber-intrusion ," You are one click from compromising your network " FBI said. Giving priority to the labeling of suspects follows claims by the Pentagon that the military now has the capability to single out and retaliate against hackers. FBI over the past year has put in place an initiative to uncover and investigate web-based intrusion attacks and develop a cadre of specially trained computer scientists able to extract hackers digital signatures from mountains of malicious code. " A key aim of the Next Generation Cyber Initiative has been to expand our ability to quickly define the attribution piece of a cyber attack to help determine an appropriate response ", said Richard McFeely , executive assistant director of the Bureau's Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. Investigators can send findings to the FBI Cyber Division's Cyber Watch command, a 24-hour station at headquarters, where sp

The Police of Finland (aka Poliisi) has formally accused a Chinese nation-state actor tracked as APT31 for orchestrating a cyber attack targeting the country's Parliament in 2020. The intrusion, per the authorities, is said to have occurred between fall 2020 and early 2021. The agency described the ongoing criminal probe as both demanding and time-consuming, involving extensive analysis of a "complex criminal infrastructure." The breach was  first disclosed  in December 2020, with the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo)  describing  it as a  state-backed cyber espionage operation  designed to penetrate the Parliament's information systems. "The police have previously informed that they are investigating the hacking group APT31's connections with the incident," Poliisi said. "These connections have now been confirmed by the investigation, and the police have also identified one suspect." APT31 , also called Altaire, Bronze Vin

A 23-year-old Russian national has been indicted in the U.S. and added to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Cyber Most Wanted List for his alleged role as the administrator of Marketplace A, a cyber crime forum that sold stolen login credentials, personal information, and credit card data. Igor Dekhtyarchuk , who first appeared in hacker forums in 2013 under the alias "floraby," has been accused of charges of wire fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft, a set of offenses that could lead to up to 20 years in federal prison. According to the FBI's  Wanted poster , Dekhtyarchuk previously studied at the Ural State University in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and was last known to reside in the city of Kamensk-Uralsky. "Marketplace A specialized in the sale of unlawfully obtained access devices for compromised online payment platforms, retailers, and credit card accounts, including providing the data associated with those accounts such as na

In the most surprising manner, the Chinese government said it arrested criminal hackers behind the massive cyber attack on US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) earlier this year, dismissing its involvement. Three months back, we reported that China arrested a handful of hackers within its borders who were suspected of allegedly stealing commercial secrets from US companies. The arrests took place shortly before China President Xi Jinping visited the United States in September 2015 when both heads of states agreed that neither side will participate in commercial espionage against one another. China: Cyber Criminals Hacked OPM, Not Government Spies Now, those suspected hackers have turned out to be the ones in connection with the OPM hack that resulted in the theft of personal details of more than 21 Million United States federal employees, including 5.6 Million federal employees' fingerprints . Citing an " investigation ", the Chinese governme

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 70 people suspected of carrying out cyber criminal activities associated with one of the most active underground web forums known as Darkode . Darkode , also used by notorious Lizard Squad , was an online bazaar for cyber criminals looking to buy and sell hacking tools, botnet tools, zero-day exploits, ransomware programs, stolen credit cards, spam services and many illicit products and services. Darkode had been in operation since 2007 before law enforcement authorities seized it this week as part of an investigation carried out in 20 different countries. "We have dismantled a cyber-hornet's' nest...which was believed by many, including the hackers themselves, to be impenetrable," said U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton . The crackdown, which the FBI dubbed Operation Shrouded Horizon , was initiated two years ago by its counterparts in Europe, Brazil and law enforcement agencies in more

The United States Treasury Department on Friday announced sanctions against three state-sponsored North Korean hacking groups for conducting several destructive cyberattacks on US critical infrastructure. Besides this, the hacking groups have also been accused of stealing possibly hundreds of millions of dollars from financial institutions around the world to ultimately fund the North Korean government's illicit weapons and missile programs. The three North Korean hacking groups in question are the well-known Lazarus Group , and its two sub-groups, Bluenoroff and Andariel . The sanctions announced by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) claim that all the three groups are "agencies, instrumentalities, or controlled entities of the Government of North Korea" based on their relationship with Pyongyang's central intelligence bureau called the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB). Specifically, the sanctions aim to lock any fore

The Russian government has introduced a draft bill that proposes prison sentences as punishment for hackers and cyber criminals creating malicious software used in targeting critical Russian infrastructure, even if they have no part in actual cyber attacks. The bill, published on the Russian government's website on Wednesday, proposes amendments to the Russian Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code with a new article titled, "Illegal influence upon the critical informational infrastructure of the Russian Federation." The article introduces punishment for many malicious acts, including the "creation and distribution of programs or information, which can be used for the destruction, blocking or copying data from the Russian systems." When suspects found as part of any hacking operation, they will face a fine between 500,000 and 1 Million rubles (about $7,700 to $15,400) and up to five years in prison, even if the hacking causes little or no harm. Also R

Cyber Crime has now reached to hacking information from the mobile phones. The 3G technology recently launched by the mobile service providers is in much rage nowadays. The 3G technology allows a user to access internet on a good quality network on the cellphone. As such hackers will now target the 3G users for accessing their personal information and this in turn will result into increased cyber-crime", said Sunny Vaghela, the cyber-crime expert while talking to TOI. When questioned is there any solution to this new problem, Vaghela mentioned that as of now there exists no solution to prevent hacking from taking place from a mobile phone but he added that certain steps can be taken to minimise the cases of hacking. "Never reply to the e-mails that offer lottery prize money. Always keep your anti-virus updated and do not download pictures of celebrities from mails sent by anonymous sender. Also avoid downloading songs from Pakistani wesbites. All these steps if taken can

When it comes to cyber security, even big organizations lack the basic knowledge of how to protect company's data from the outside. Everyday businesses are facing the threat of phishing, ransomware , data breaches and malware attacks that not only results in millions of dollars losses, but also damaged the reputations. A new study shows that five out of six of the most serious IT security threats directly relate to phishing or the aftermath of a successful phishing attack . SEA, short for Syrian Electronic Army , is famous for its advanced phishing attack capabilities and with the help of the same technique they fooled many popular organizations, social media and news media, including Twitter, Microsoft, Skype, Forbes, eBay and Paypal. Where do we lack? According to the annual Verizon Data Breach Investigations report, about 58% of cyber security incidents were caused by employees, either due to failure in handling data or approving malicious data. So, in

In Part I of this  two-part series from The Hacker News , the First Four list of Top Brutal Cyber Attacks shows that whoever you are, Security can never be perfect. As attackers employ innovative hacking techniques and zero-day exploits, the demand for increased threat protection grows. In this article, I have listed another three cyber attacks, as following: #5 Car Hacking Driving a car is a network's game now! ' Everything is hackable ,' but is your car also vulnerable to Hackers ? General Motors' OnStar application and cars like Jeep Cherokee, Cadillac Escalade, Toyota Prius, Dodge Viper, Audi A8 and many more come equipped with more advanced technology features. These cars are now part of the technology very well known as the " Internet of Things ". Recently two Security researchers, Chris Valasek and Charlie Miller demonstrated that Jeep Cherokee could be hacked wirelessly over the internet to hijack its steering, brakes, and transmi

At least two federal agencies in the U.S. fell victim to a "widespread cyber campaign" that involved the use of legitimate remote monitoring and management (RMM) software to perpetuate a phishing scam. "Specifically, cyber criminal actors sent phishing emails that led to the download of legitimate RMM software – ScreenConnect (now ConnectWise Control) and AnyDesk – which the actors used in a refund scam to steal money from victim bank accounts," U.S. cybersecurity authorities  said . The joint advisory comes from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), and Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC). The attacks, which took place in mid-June and mid-September 2022, have financial motivations, although threat actors could weaponize the unauthorized access for conducting a wide range of activities, including selling that access to other hacking crews. Usage of remote software by criminal grou

With the ongoing conflict in Eurasia, cyberwarfare is inevitably making its presence felt. The fight is not only being fought on the fields. There is also a big battle happening in cyberspace. Several cyber-attacks have been reported over the past months. Notably, cyber attacks backed by state actors are becoming prominent. There have been reports of a rise of ransomware and other malware attacks such as  Cyclops Blink ,  HermeticWiper , and  BlackCat . These target businesses as well as government institutions and nonprofit organizations. There have been cases of several attempts to shut down online communications and IT infrastructure. The ongoing list of  significant cyber incidents  curated by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) shows that the number of major incidents in January 2022 is 100% higher compared to the same period in the previous year. With the recent activities in cyberspace impacted by the emergence of the geopolitical tumult in February, it

With the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) treating successful cyber attacks by "Operation Payback" as criminal offenses, a new level of ambiguity is being introduced into the enforcement of cyber crime laws. The FBI was treating efforts by "Anonymous" and "4chan" as an "unauthorized and knowing transmission of code or commands resulting in intentional damage to a protected computer system," according to a search warrant affidavit published online Thursday. Not all distributed denial of service (DDoS) efforts are a crime. This is especially true when systems within the networks staging the attack are placed there voluntarily by their users, with thousands of willing individuals simply flooding a server by asking it to do what it's designed for: loading pages. Botnets of this nature have been compared to cyber "sit-ins": a computer-age echo of civil rights-era protests. However, a newly discovered software exploit in peer-to-pee

A 22-year-old man who claimed to have access to over 300 million iCloud accounts and threatened to factory reset all accounts unless Apple pays ransom has pleaded guilty in London for trying to blackmail Apple. In March 2017, Kerem Albayrak from North London claimed to be a spokesman for a hacking group called the " Turkish Crime Family " and in possession of 319 million iCloud accounts. Albayrak gave Apple a deadline until April 7, 2017, to pay up $75,000 in crypto-currency or $100,000 worth of iTunes gift cards in return for deleting the copy of stolen database, the U.K. National Crime Agency said in a statement , calling the blackmailer a "fame-hungry cyber-criminal." However, if the company failed to meet his demands, Albayrak threatened that he would start remotely wiping the victim's Apple devices, factory reset iCloud accounts, and dump the stolen database online. In late March 2017, the NCA's National Cyber Crime Unit arrested Albayrak at