BotNet News

Cyberthreat News is a field of information and advice on protecting computers, networks, programs, and data from unauthorized access, attacks, or damage. Cybersecurity professionals must stay abreast of the constantly evolving landscape of threats, vulnerabilities, defense mechanisms, and regulatory changes to devise effective strategies for their organizations and clients.

A cyber attack on the United States’ telecommunications infrastructure could cripple critical services, officials warn. An FBI director says Chinese hackers could spend up to five years in U.S. networks, targeting everything from financial systems to power and water systems. Hospitals are urging the federal government to go further than it did with Change Healthcare’s outage in helping providers get their claims paid.

North Korea-linked threat group Kimsuky adopts longer, eight-stage attack chain to conduct cyber espionage & financial crimes against South Korean entities. An executive from the telecommunications company that owned a hacked email platform says it was compromised in 2016. The CEO of the cybersecurity software firm CrowdStrike calls out rival Palo Alto Network’s strategy of offering free incentives to customers, saying “free is never free.”

A series of research reports from George Washington University analyzing mainstream news coverage finds that while the volume of cyber stories dropped in 2020, they became more substantive and detailed. The Hewlett Foundation Cyber Initiative has commissioned these studies, and previous research shows that deeper reporting is often correlated with greater public awareness and understanding of issues. In addition, the research points out that while earlier studies showed that a high percentage of quoted sources were experts — usually cybersecurity companies who reported on incidents in the news — in 2019-2020 nearly 10% of the quotes came from ordinary citizens.