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Ang Cui has spent 10 years hacking into internet-connected office phones and other âembedded devicesââthat is, devices that don t
look like computers or servers but have all the trappings: a processor, memory, and, often, the ability to connect to other devices or the internet. As the founder of Red Balloon Security, Cui spends plenty of time evaluating sophisticated industrial control systems and even satellite infrastructure, but he still comes back to IP phones as a barometer for how much progress has been made securing the Internet of Things. His latest research indicates that there s still a long way to go.
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Colonial Pipeline says it is the victim of a cyberattack that forced the major provider of liquid fuels to the East Coast to temporarily halted all pipeline operations.
A ransomware attack has halted pipeline activities for the Colonial Pipeline Co., which supplies the East Coast with roughly 45 percent of its liquid fuels.
In a statement released on Saturday, Colonial Pipeline said it has temporarily halted pipeline operations in response to a cyberattack impacting the company starting Friday.
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Patches have been issued, but many devices cannot be fixed on April 15, 2021, 12:29
In context: Security researchers at Forescout and JSOF have uncovered a set of nine vulnerabilities within four commonly used TCP/IP stacks. They estimate that more than 100 million devices are affected by these security flaws, which they dubbed Name:Wreck. They mainly affect Internet of Things (IoT) products and IT management servers. The vulnerabilities exist in both open source and proprietary stacks, including FreeBSD and Siemens Nucleus NET.
The flaws all pertain to how these TCP/IP stacks handle DNS servers. While they found no evidence that these holes have been used in the wild, hackers could potentially utilize them to crash a network or infiltrate a victim s infrastructure allowing them remote control. These implications could be catastrophic for critical systems like those used in health care, manufacturing, or government networks.
Dive Brief:
About 25% of power utilities were exposed to the SolarWinds hack, officials at the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) said on Tuesday, though no subsequent activity from hackers was detected beyond the initial breach.
A much smaller number of utilities revealed that the vulnerability reached into operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems, but NERC said overall there were few operational impacts from the attack. Security experts warn it may be too soon to tell, however, if all of the SolarWinds impacts and vulnerabilities have been found or addressed.
The White House is rushing to develop a plan to protect the United States grid, including from supply chain vulnerabilities like the SolarWinds breakdown. Bloomberg reported on a draft of the plan, which includes an examination of vulnerabilities in grid components, incentives for security upgrades and an audit of high-impact points in utility systems.