InfoSec News

Security

The Weather Channel compromised by Malware Attack Trevor

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By William Knowles @c4i
Senior Editor
InfoSec News
April 19, 2019

The Weather Channel’s normally quiet morning broadcast was suspended for a brief time on Thursday after what it said was a “malicious software attack on the network.”

America’s Morning Headquarters – “AMHQ” the Weather Channel’s morning show, was unable to air at 6 a.m. The Weather Channel showed “Heavy Rescue: 401” until 7:39 a.m. when “AMHQ” was back on the air.

“We experienced issues with this morning’s live broadcast following a malicious software attack on the network,” the Weather Channel said in a statement. “We were able to restore live programming quickly through backup mechanisms. Federal law enforcement is actively investigating the issue. We apologize for any inconvenience to viewers as we work to resolve the matter.”

pic.twitter.com/ovSgrgHxXY

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) April 18, 2019

“The Weather Channel, sadly, has been the victim of a malicious software attack today,” said The Weather Channel anchor Jim Cantore. “Yes, and it has affected our ability to bring you your weather information,” added anchor Stephanie Abrams. “So we just wanted to say thank you again for your patience and we want to get right to today’s severe weather.”

The Weather Channel tweeted “We are experiencing technical difficulties with our live broadcast. We apologize for any inconvenience while we resolve this issue. We appreciate your patience.” — The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) April 18, 2019

It’s too early to know if this was a targeted attack and what the vector was to upload malware to The Weather Channel. It could have been as simple as phishing the Weather Channel employees with a salacious email like “Reed Timmer and Ginger Zee vacation photos” but it was obvious The Weather Channel had learned inexpensive lessons about making regular backups and keeping copies offline to prevent future compromises like the $300 million ransomware attack on the Maersk Group.

Citrix compromised by international cybercriminals

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By William Knowles @c4i
Senior Editor
InfoSec News
March 11, 2019

Late last week, Citrix announced in a statement by Chief Security and Information Officer, Stan Black that they were hit by hackers in attacks that potentially exposed terabytes of customer data and potentially internal Citrix corporate secrets.

“On March 6, 2019, the FBI contacted Citrix to advise they had reason to believe that international cybercriminals gained access to the internal Citrix network.”

“Citrix has taken action to contain this incident. We commenced a forensic investigation; engaged a leading cybersecurity firm to assist; took actions to secure our internal network; and continue to cooperate with the FBI.”

“Citrix is moving as quickly as possible, with the understanding that these investigations are complex, dynamic and require time to conduct properly. In investigations of cyber incidents, the details matter, and we are committed to communicating appropriately when we have what we believe is credible and actionable information.”

“While our investigation is ongoing, based on what we know to date, it appears that the hackers may have accessed and downloaded business documents. The specific documents that may have been accessed, however, are currently unknown. At this time, there is no indication that the security of any Citrix product or service was compromised.”

Hackers Deface Electronic Billboard Near Seattle Washington

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By William Knowles @c4i
Senior Editor
InfoSec News
January 1, 2019
Updated: January 3, 2019

For 99.9999% of the world’s population, New Year’s Eve is a time to let your hair down and have a few drinks celebrating the passing of another year, but I suspect its just another day on the calendar for John McAfee when he shared this tweet (Very NSFW) to his 885K followers on Twitter.

So it comes to no surprise that billboard hackers @le_keksec shared McAfee’s tweet to hundreds of thousands more near Seattle Washington and was reposted posted to Twitter. (NSFW)

On Tuesday, a McAfee spokesperson confirmed that the billboard operator was hacked and as a result, the display has been shut down.  McAfee, a device to cloud cybersecurity company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, also noted that John McAfee has not been affiliated with the company in any capacity for over 25 years.

The DoD Cybersecurity Policy Chart

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By William Knowles @c4i
Senior Editor
InfoSec News
November 11, 2018
Updated January 8, 2019

The goal of the DoD Cybersecurity Policy Chart, developed by the Cyber Security and Information Systems Information Analysis Center (CSIAC) is to capture the tremendous breadth of applicable policies, some of which many cybersecurity professionals may not even be aware, in a helpful organizational scheme. The use of color, fonts, and hyperlinks are all designed to provide additional assistance to cybersecurity professionals navigating their way through policy issues in order to defend their networks, systems, and data.

At the bottom center of the chart is a legend that identifies the originator of each policy by a color-coding scheme. On the right-hand side of the Cybersecurity Policy Chart, there are boxes, which identify key legal authorities, federal/national level Cybersecurity policies, and operational and subordinate level documents that provide details on defending the DoD Information Network (DoDIN) and its assets. Links to these documents can be found in the Chart.

Click on the image above to download an interactive copy of .pdf of the DoD Cybersecurity Policy Chart, The chart was last updated on January 7, 2019. View the changelog here.

DerbyCon 8 Videos are online!

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DerbyCon8

By William Knowles @c4i
Senior Editor
InfoSec News
October 18, 2018

Adrian/@irongeek_adc has uploaded all the presentations from DerbyCon VIII here and at Archive.org to download. DerbyCon was held at the Marriott Louisville on October 3rd thru the 7th, 2018. Dates for DerbyCon 9 have been announced, Training dates are September 18th and 19th 2019, with the conference again to be held at the Marriott Louisville September 20th to 22nd 2019.