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Microsoft today released updates to plug nearly 120 security holes in Windows and supported software. Six of the vulnerabilities were publicly detailed already, potentially giving attackers a head start in figuring out how to exploit them in unpatched systems. More…
The latest on ransomware gangs and their strategies.
Welcome to Cyber Security Today. It’s Monday May 17th. I’m Howard Solomon, contributing reporter on cybersecurity for ITWorldCanada.com.
Is the Darkside ransomware gang dead or temporarily going quiet? Has ransomware suddenly got a bad name among crooks? This is what many cybersecurity experts are wondering after Darkside said it had lost access to the public part of its blog, payment server and content delivery server. Not only that, Darkside is releasing its decryption keys so anyone hit by its ransomware could get their scrambled data back for free. In addition cryptocurrency funds were also taken by someone from the gang’s payment sever, which is where victims made ransomware payments. This came after U.S. President Joe Biden urged Moscow to take action against the reportedly Russia-based group for its attack on the Colonial Pipeline in the U.S., and Biden promised the U.S. would disrupt the gang.
Vulnerable Protocols Leave Firms Open to Further Compromises
Companies may no longer have Internet-facing file servers or weakly secured Web servers, but attackers that get by the perimeter have a wide-open landscape of vulnerability.
Nearly nine out of every 10 companies have devices that use outdated protocols, such as Microsoft s Server Message Block version 1 for sharing files, giving attackers that breach the network perimeter an easy avenue to extend a compromise, according to a new report by network security firm ExtraHop.
Microsoft s SMBv1 protocol, developed in the 1980s and deprecated in 2013, continues to be detected in 88% of environments, with almost a third of organizations showing signs of at least 100 devices still using the protocol, the report states. Another protocol, the NT LAN Manager version 1, which is used to pass credentials without exposing passwords, is present in more than half of all environments, including 19% that appear to have at least 100 device