Cyber Defense Advisors

Year: 2024

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  • April 25, 2024

The Rise of Large-Language-Model Optimization

The web has become so interwoven with everyday life that it is easy to forget what an extraordinary accomplishment and treasure it is. In just a few decades, much of human knowledge has been collectively written up and made available to anyone with an internet connection. But all of this is coming to an end. […]

Cyber News
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  • April 25, 2024

DOJ Arrests Founders of Crypto Mixer Samourai for $2 Billion in Illegal Transactions

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Wednesday announced the arrest of two co-founders of a cryptocurrency mixer called Samourai and seized the service for allegedly facilitating over $2 billion in illegal transactions and for laundering more than $100 million in criminal proceeds. To that end, Keonne Rodriguez, 35, and William Lonergan Hill, 65, have […]

Cyber News
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  • April 25, 2024

Google Postpones Third-Party Cookie Deprecation Amid U.K. Regulatory Scrutiny

Google has once again pushed its plans to deprecate third-party tracking cookies in its Chrome web browser as it works to address outstanding competition concerns from U.K. regulators over its Privacy Sandbox initiative. The tech giant said it’s working closely with the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and hopes to achieve an agreement by […]

Cyber News
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  • April 25, 2024

State-Sponsored Hackers Exploit Two Cisco Zero-Day Vulnerabilities for Espionage

A new malware campaign leveraged two zero-day flaws in Cisco networking gear to deliver custom malware and facilitate covert data collection on target environments. Cisco Talos, which dubbed the activity ArcaneDoor, attributed it as the handiwork of a previously undocumented sophisticated state-sponsored actor it tracks under the name UAT4356 (aka Storm-1849 by Microsoft). “UAT4356 deployed […]

Cyber News
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  • April 24, 2024

Smashing Security podcast #369: Keeping the lights on after a ransomware attack

Leicester City Council suffers a crippling ransomware attack, and a massive data breach, but is it out of the dark yet? And as election fever hits India we take a close eye at deepfakery. All this and more is discussed in the latest edition of the “Smashing Security” podcast by cybersecurity veterans Graham Cluley and […]

Cyber News

Find the Smart Balance in Your Digital Defense Investments

Striking the Right Balance in Your Cybersecurity Budget Optimizing digital defense investments can be crucial for small to mid-sized companies. Here are ten best practices to help you and your company find the right balance in your cybersecurity efforts: Risk Assessment First: Start by conducting a thorough risk assessment to identify the most critical vulnerabilities […]

Cyber Thoughts
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  • April 24, 2024

U.S. Treasury Sanctions Iranian Firms and Individuals Tied to Cyber Attacks

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Monday sanctioned two firms and four individuals for their involvement in malicious cyber activities on behalf of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cyber Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC) from at least 2016 to April 2021. This includes the front companies Mehrsam Andisheh Saz Nik (MASN) […]

Cyber News
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  • April 24, 2024

Researchers Detail Multistage Attack Hijacking Systems with SSLoad, Cobalt Strike

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an ongoing attack campaign that’s leveraging phishing emails to deliver a malware called SSLoad. The campaign, codenamed FROZEN#SHADOW by Securonix, also involves the deployment of Cobalt Strike and the ConnectWise ScreenConnect remote desktop software. “SSLoad is designed to stealthily infiltrate systems, gather sensitive information and transmit its findings back to its […]

Cyber News
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  • April 24, 2024

City street lights “misbehave” after ransomware attack

Graham CLULEY April 24, 2024 Promo Protect all your devices, without slowing them down. Free 30-day trial The UK’s Leicester City Council was thrown into chaos last month when a crippling cyber attack forced it to shut down its IT systems and phone lines. The INC Ransom group perpetrated the ransomware attack, which reportedly impacted […]

Cyber News