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Do you have any idea what the software you have installed is doing stealthily in the background? If it's not an open source software, can you find out? Usually, the answer is no. After Edward Snowden’s revelations, it's clear that how desperately government agencies wants to put secret backdoors in your network, devices, and software. However, Bulgaria has come forward with an all new set of laws that would be appreciated by privacy lovers and open-source community. Also Read:  Top Best Password Managers . The Bulgarian Parliament has passed legislative amendments to its Electronic Governance Act that require all software written for the country's government to be fully open-sourced and developed in the public Github repository . This means that source code of software developed for the Bulgarian government would be accessible to everyone and provided free for use without limitations. Article 58A of the Electronic Governance Act states that administrative...

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday  signed an executive order  that restricts the use of commercial spyware by federal government agencies. The order said the spyware ecosystem "poses significant counterintelligence or security risks to the United States Government or significant risks of improper use by a foreign government or foreign person." It also seeks to ensure that the government's use of such tools is done in a manner that's "consistent with respect for the rule of law, human rights, and democratic norms and values." To that end, the order lays out the various criteria under which commercial spyware could be disqualified for use by U.S. government agencies. They include - The purchase of commercial spyware by a foreign government or person to target the U.S. government, A commercial spyware vendor that uses or discloses sensitive data obtained from the cyber surveillance tool without authorization and operates under the control of a foreign g...

Moscow-based cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab has taken the United States government to a U.S. federal court for its decision to ban the use of Kaspersky products in federal agencies and departments. In September 2017, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a Binding Operational Directive (BOD) ordering civilian government agencies to remove Kaspersky Lab software from their computers and networks within 90 days. The order came amid mounting concern among United States officials that the Kaspersky antivirus software could be helping Russian government spy on their activities, which may threaten the U.S. national security. U.S. President Donald Trump also signed into law last week legislation that bans the use of Kaspersky products within the U.S. government, capping a months-long effort to purge Kaspersky from federal agencies amid concerns it's vulnerable to Kremlin influence. The Kaspersky's appeal is part of an ongoing campaign by the c...

India's telecommunications ministry has ordered major mobile device manufacturers to preload a government-backed cybersecurity app named Sanchar Saathi on all new phones within 90 days. According to a report from Reuters, the app cannot be deleted or disabled from users' devices. Sanchar Saathi , available on the web and via mobile apps for Android and iOS, allows users to report suspected fraud, spam, and malicious web links through call, SMS, or WhatsApp; block stolen handsets; and allow a mobile subscriber to check the number of mobile connections taken in their name. One of its important features is the ability to report incoming international calls that start with the country code for India (i.e., +91) to facilitate fraud. "Such international calls are received by illegal telecom setups over the internet from foreign countries and sent to Indian citizens disguised as domestic calls," the government notes on the website. "Reporting about such calls help...

Members of the hacker community are leery of working with the government and sharing their skills, if it means navigating through outdated regulations and being viewed as potential security risks. Hackers and other computer experts willing to collaborate with the Department of Homeland Security to bolster the nation’s cyber-defense are unable to do so because of red tape, according to the former head of the department. Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, two former secretaries of Homeland Security, joined current DHS boss Janet Napolitano to discuss the evolution of threats facing the United States, including the challenges of securing cyber-space. They expressed their views during a March 2 roundtable discussion at Georgetown University, which was webcast by the Aspen Institute, marked the department’s eighth anniversary. “The portfolio of threats is a lot broader,” Ridge said. There are a number of possible scary scenarios, including a sophisticated hacker from another country break...

President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Friday that encourages and promotes sharing of information on cybersecurity threats within the private sector and between the private sector companies and the government agencies as well. AREAS TO IMPROVE During his speech at the White House Cybersecurity Summit at Stanford University in California, where many tech leaders and other government officials also assembled, the President highlighted events affecting cybersecurity and the development of the Internet. The four areas that Obama believes must be improved are listed below: Development and evolution of the Internet Cybersecurity Rights of individuals in regards to the Internet Cooperation between the Government and private companies EVERYONE IS VULNERABLE - OBAMA " The cyber world is sort of the Wild Wild West and to some degree we are asked to be the sheriff ," Mr. President told a crowd at the Memorial Auditorium. " When something lik...

After the disclosure of sophisticated global espionage and disinformation campaign aimed to discredit enemies of the state, Citizen Lab researchers exposed the dirty game of the Mexican government and its politics. The report — " Government Spy: Systematic monitoring of journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico " — published by Citizen Lab today revealed how the Mexican government used advanced spyware tools purchased from the NSO Group to target the country's most prominent human rights lawyers, anti-corruption activists, and journalists. The NSO Group, an Israel-based company that produces the most advanced mobile spyware on the planet, sold the tool to governments with an explicit agreement that it should be used only to fight terrorists or criminal groups that have long kidnapped and killed Mexicans. But, the Mexican government targets include: Lawyers looking into the case of 43 Students disappeared in September 2014 from the town of Iguala. Two ...

Ukraine's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA) has warned of Belarusian state-sponsored hackers targeting its military personnel and related individuals as part of a phishing campaign mounted amidst Russia's military invasion of the country. "Mass  phishing emails  have recently been observed targeting private 'i.ua' and 'meta.ua' accounts of Ukrainian military personnel and related individuals," the CERT-UA  said . "After the account is compromised, the attackers, by the IMAP protocol, get access to all the messages." Subsequently, the attacks leverage the contact information stored in the victim's address book to propagate the phishing messages to other targets. The Ukrainian government attributed the activities to a threat actor tracked as UNC1151, a Minsk-based group whose "members are officers of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus." In a follow-up  update , the agency said the nation-state group a...

In recent months, the House of Representatives has been hard at work drafting various spending bills for the 2023 fiscal year. While these bills provide funding for a vast array of government programs and agencies, there was one thing that really stands out. Collectively, the bills that are making their way through the house  allocate a staggering $15.6 billion to cybersecurity spending . As you could probably guess, the lion's share of this spending ($11.2 billion) is being allocated to the Department of Defense. It is worth noting, however, that nearly $3 billion is going to the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Although it may be tempting to think of these cybersecurity budget allocations as just another example of excessive government spending, it's worth considering what a $15.6 billion cash infusion will mean for the IT security industry. It's equally important to consider why the US government finds it necessary to ramp up its cybersecurity...

Two China-linked advanced persistent threat (APT) groups have been observed targeting entities and member countries affiliated with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as part of a cyber espionage campaign over the past three months. This includes the threat actor known as  Mustang Panda , which has been recently linked to  cyber attacks against Myanmar  as well as other Asian countries with a variant of the PlugX (aka Korplug) backdoor dubbed  DOPLUGS . Mustang Panda, also called Camaro Dragon, Earth Preta, and Stately Taurus, is believed to have targeted entities in Myanmar, the Philippines, Japan and Singapore, targeting them with phishing emails designed to deliver two malware packages. "Threat actors created malware for these packages on March 4-5, 2024, coinciding with the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit (March 4-6, 2024)," Palo Alto Networks Unit 42  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. One of the malware package is a ZIP...

Government agencies publish notices and directives all the time. Usually, these are only relevant to government departments, which means that nobody else really pays attention. It's easy to see why you would assume that a directive from CISA just doesn't relate to your organization. But, in the instance of the latest CISA directive, that would be making a mistake. In this article, we explain why, even if you're in the private or non-government sector, you should nonetheless take a close look at CISA Binding Operational Directive 22-01. We outline why CISA was forced to issue this directive, and why that firm action has implications for all organizations – inside and outside of government. Acting on cybersecurity issues isn't as simple as flicking a switch, of course, so keep reading to find out how you can address the core issue behind the CISA directive. Okay, so what exactly is a CISA directive? Let's take a step back to gain some context. Just like any organ...

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced charges against 12 Chinese nationals for their alleged participation in a wide-ranging scheme designed to steal data and suppress free speech and dissent globally. The individuals include two officers of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) Ministry of Public Security (MPS), eight employees of an ostensibly private PRC company, Anxun Information Technology Co. Ltd. (安洵信息技术有限公司) also known as i-Soon , and members of Advanced Persistent Threat 27 ( APT27 , aka Budworm, Bronze Union, Emissary Panda, Lucky Mouse, and Iron Tiger) - Wu Haibo (吴海波), Chief Executive Officer Chen Cheng (陈诚), Chief Operating Officer Wang Zhe (王哲), Sales Director Liang Guodong (梁国栋), Technical Staff Ma Li (马丽), Technical Staff Wang Yan (王堰), Technical Staff Xu Liang (徐梁), Technical Staff Zhou Weiwei (周伟伟), Technical Staff Wang Liyu (王立宇), MPS Officer Sheng Jing (盛晶), MPS Officer Yin Kecheng (尹可成), APT27 actor aka "YKC" Zhou Sh...

Canada on Monday announced a ban on the use of apps from Tencent and Kaspersky on government mobile devices, citing an "unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security." "The Government of Canada is committed to keeping government information and networks secure," the Canadian government  said . "We regularly monitor potential threats and take immediate action to address risks." To that end, Tencent's WeChat and Kaspersky's suite of applications have been removed from government-issued mobile devices effective October 30, 2023. Going forward, users of these devices will be blocked from downloading the apps. "We are taking a risk-based approach to cyber security by removing access to these applications on government mobile devices," Anita Anand, President of the Treasury Board, said in a statement, adding the apps "provide considerable access to the device's contents." WeChat is a Chinese instant messaging, social med...