FCC announces plan to halt SIM-swappers

The FCC has unveiled a set of rules aimed at safeguarding consumers against scams that seek to commandeer their cell phone accounts.

The proposed regulations, designed to protect citizens' freedom to choose their preferred device and provider, require wireless providers to implement secure authentication methods when swapping SIM cards or porting phone numbers to another carrier.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said: “Every consumer has a right to expect that their...

13 July 2023 | Legislation & Government

Over 338K FortiGate firewalls remain unpatched to critical bug

A critical vulnerability in FortiGate firewalls, known as CVE-2023-27997, has left more than 338,000 devices exposed to potential exploitation.

The flaw, which allows for remote code execution, was patched by Fortinet last month, but a significant number of devices have yet to be updated.

Infosec company Bishop Fox has even developed an example exploit to demonstrate the severity of the vulnerability.

Rated 9.8 out of 10 in terms of CVSS severity, the...

4 July 2023 | Security

UK Government stops publishing Huawei security reports

The UK's annual report investigating potential security risks posed by Chinese telecoms company Huawei has not been made public for nearly two years, raising concerns about government transparency.

The decision to shelve the publication of the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) report was reportedly made by the then-culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, according to the Telegraph.

The HCSEC report, which analyses potential risks to the UK's national...

27 June 2023 | Legislation & Government

Russian cybercriminals attack US government agencies

Several US federal government agencies have fallen victim to a global cyberattack by Russian cybercriminals.

The attack exploits a vulnerability in widely used software, leading to concerns about data breaches and potential disruptions. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is working urgently to understand the impacts and facilitate timely remediation.

Colin Little, Security Engineer at Centripetal, said:

"Given the scope of this...

16 June 2023 | Security

Hackers steal the data of millions of AT&T customers

A vendor hack has resulted in the data of millions of AT&T customers being stolen.

AT&T is sending emails to around nine million customers to alert them of the theft of their data.

The attackers did not breach AT&T directly but compromised the systems of a marketing vendor used by the US telecom giant.

All impacted users had CPNI (Customer Proprietary Network Information) stolen, including phone numbers, full names, and email addresses. A smaller...

13 March 2023 | AT&T

Russian hackers disrupt NATO comms used for earthquake relief

Russian hacking group Killnet has claimed responsibility for disrupting communications between NATO and other organisations providing earthquake relief in Turkey and Syria.

The devastating earthquake has claimed at least 28,000 lives and efforts continue to pull victims from the rubble. Countries and NGOs worldwide dispatched resources to provide humanitarian aid, including aircraft with transport and airlift capabilities.

Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) is a...

13 February 2023 | Networks

CUJO AI: 67% of home networks are targeted every month

CUJO AI’s latest cybersecurity report states that over two-thirds of home networks are targeted by online threats every month.

The cybersecurity firm uses AI-powered software to protect networks. CUJO AI bases its annual reports on anonymised data from the 1.8 billion real-world devices that it defends.

Between 1 May 2002 and 1 November 2022, CUJO says it blocked over two billion threats. The average number of blocked threats swelled to 8,000 per...

2 February 2023 | Networks

Russian and Iranian hackers increase spear-phishing attacks

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ – has warned that hackers based in Russia and Iran are conducting increased spear-phishing attacks.

Spear-phishing involves sending a malicious electronic communication to get someone to download malware or hand over sensitive information.

The attacks are often highly targeted to make it appear like the communication is from a loved one, friend, colleague, or business that the target knows and...

27 January 2023 | Security

Ukraine signs NATO cybersecurity centre accession

Ukraine has formally signed its accession to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE).

The country applied for CCDCOE membership in August 2021. On 4 March 2022, existing CCDCOE members voted unanimously to accept Ukraine into the organisation.

“We have been actively cooperating with the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence for the last year,” said Yurii Shchyhol, Head of the State Special Communications Service of...

24 January 2023 | Legislation & Government

T-Mobile suffers another large data breach

Tens of millions of T-Mobile customers have had their details stolen in the operator’s latest data breach.

T-Mobile says it first identified malicious activity on 5 January 2023 and contained it within a day. However, the operator believes the hackers have been stealing data since 25 November 2022.

Around 37 million postpaid and prepaid customers are impacted by the breach. The hackers used an API to steal the information.

Customer data such as their name,...

20 January 2023 | Networks