Israeli spyware company NSO Group placed on US blacklist

Decision against company at heart of Pegasus project reflects deep concern about impact of spyware on US national security interests NSO Group has been placed on a US blacklist by the Biden administration after it determined the Israeli spyware maker has acted “contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US”. The finding by

Russia excluded from 30-country meeting to fight ransomware and cyber crime

Russia was not invited to attend a 30-country virtual meeting led by the United States that is aimed at combating the growing threat of ransomware and other cyber crime, a senior administration official said. Many ransomware gangs operate from Ukraine and Russia, private sector cybersecurity experts say. Some U.S. officials and analysts have said Russian

US, allies accuse China of global cyber hacking campaign

The United States and a coalition of allies accused China on Monday of a global cyber hacking campaign that employed contract hackers, specifically attributing a large Microsoft attack disclosed earlier this year to actors working on Beijing’s behalf. Opening a new area of tensions with China, the United States is joined by NATO, the European

Israeli companies aided Saudi spying despite Jamal Khashoggi killing

After the murder of Khashoggi in 2018, one of the firms, NSO Group, canceled its contracts with Saudi Arabia amid accusations that its hacking tools were being misused to abet heinous crimes. Israel secretly authorized a group of cyber-surveillance firms to work for the government of Saudi Arabia despite international condemnation of the kingdom’s abuse

Israeli spyware firm linked to fake Black Lives Matter and Amnesty websites – report

Researchers say web domains masquerading as activist, health and media groups are used by governments to hack targets An Israeli company that sells spyware to governments is linked to fake Black Lives Matter and Amnesty International websites that are used to hack targets, according to a new report. Researchers from the Citizen Lab at the University

GOP Rep. on cyber committee dumped MSFT stock shortly before $10B Pentagon contract was scrapped

Rep. Pat Fallon, a Texas freshman, has also failed to disclose 93 trades worth up to $17.53 million this year alone Rep. Pat Fallon, a first-term Republican from Texas, sold a large block of Microsoft stock just two weeks before the Pentagon announced it was scrapping a cloud computing deal with the company valued at up to

Russian hackers target aid groups in new cyber-attack, says Microsoft

Microsoft says another wave of Russian cyber-attacks has targeted government agencies and human rights groups in 24 countries, most in the US. It said about 3,000 email accounts at more than 150 different organisations had been attacked this week. The group responsible was the same one that carried out last year’s SolarWinds attacks, which Russia’s

Hackers gained access to top Trump Homeland Security officials’ email

Suspected Russian hackers gained access to email accounts belonging to the Trump administration’s head of the Department of Homeland Security and members of the department’s cybersecurity staff whose jobs included hunting threats from foreign countries, The Associated Press has learned. The intelligence value of the hacking of then-acting Secretary Chad Wolf and his staff is

Chinese cyber-espionage unit on US hacking spree: report

At least 30,000 US organizations including local governments have been hacked in recent days by an “unusually aggressive” Chinese cyber-espionage campaign, according to a computer security specialist. The campaign has exploited recently discovered flaws in Microsoft Exchange software, stealing email and infecting computer servers with tools that let attackers take control remotely, Brian Krebs said