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Category: cybercrime/malcode – Page 211

Pemex Still Suffers Cyberattack Fallout

O.o…

The communications system of Mexico’s oil giant Pemex is still suffering the lingering effects of a cyberattack that occurred earlier this month, sources from the company told Bloomberg.

A ransomware attack caused administrative operations at Pemex to grind to a halt on November 10, with the company announcing the resumption of work soon after, saying the actual attack had been prevented.

The attackers used the Ryuk ransomware, which specifically targets companies with annual revenues of between $500 million and $1 billion. The Ryuk ransomware gets dropped into a network by another malware and soon after begins encrypting files. Yet the encryption begins with a delay, which gives the attackers time to study their target and how much money they could extort from it.

T-Mobile Reveals A Security Breach Affecting Prepaid Users

Adding one more to the count of data breaches this year, now joins the cellular firm T-Mobile. Recently, T-Mobile has disclosed a security breach impacting some of its customers.

T-Mobile Disclosed Security Breach

According to the security notice shared by T-Mobile, the firm has (once again) suffered a security breach. The incident has reportedly impacted prepaid consumers.

Utilities Targeted in Cyberattacks Identified

More than a dozen U.S. utilities that were targets in a recent wave of cyberattacks have been identified by The Wall Street Journal. Some of the utilities, most of which are relatively small, are located near dams, locks and other critical infrastructure.

These electricity providers were singled out in a hacking campaign that was brought to light in August by researchers at a Silicon Valley cybersecurity company. But little was known about the attacks until now.

Google really wants you to hack the Pixel’s Titan M security chip

Google has increased the maximum prize for its Android bug bounty program to $1 million for anyone who can compromise the Titan M security chip found in its Pixel phones. The top prize is for a “full chain remote code execution exploit with persistence” of the dedicated security chip. On top of that, there’s an additional 50 percent bonus if a security researcher is able to find an exploit on specific developer preview versions of Android, resulting in a potential prize of $1.5 million. The new rewards take effect starting today.

Introduced with 2018’s Pixel 3, Google’s Titan M security chip cordons off your smartphone’s most sensitive data from its main processor to protect against certain attacks. Google says the chip offers “on-device protection for login credentials, disk encryption, app data, and the integrity of the operating system.” Since its introduction, the chip has also been integrated with Android’s security key functionality where it’s used to store a person’s FIDO credentials. Suffice it to say, the integrity of the Titan M is an important element for the security of recent Pixel devices.

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