A new report warns hackers could exploit flaws in agricultural hardware used to plant and harvest crops
UK Sextortion Cases Doubled in 2021
The UK’s Revenge Porn Helpline received 1124 reports of sextortion last year, compared to 593 in 2020
“Alarming” Surge in Conti Group Activity This Year
Ivanti observed a 7.6% rise in the number of vulnerabilities tied to ransomware, most of which were exploited by Conti
needrestart-3.6-1.el8
FEDORA-EPEL-2022-b991c4d1df
Packages in this update:
needrestart-3.6-1.el8
Update description:
Security fix for CVE-2022-30688
needrestart-3.6-1.el7
FEDORA-EPEL-2022-4add1d3059
Packages in this update:
needrestart-3.6-1.el7
Update description:
Security fix for CVE-2022-30688
CVE-2020-4107
HCL Domino is affected by an Insufficient Access Control vulnerability. An authenticated attacker with local access to the system could exploit this vulnerability to attain escalation of privileges, denial of service, or information disclosure.
gron-0.6.1-2.fc34
FEDORA-2022-53f0c619c5
Packages in this update:
gron-0.6.1-2.fc34
Update description:
Security fix for CVE-2022-28327
Phishing gang that stole over 400,000 Euros busted in Spain
Spanish police say that they have dismantled a phishing gang operating across the country, following the arrest of 13 people and the announcement that they are investigating a further seven suspects.
Read more in my article on the Tripwire State of Security blog.
How State and Local Governments Can Bolster their Cyber Defenses
Cyber security leaders of U.S. cities and states must protect their systems and data from nation-state attackers, including Russian hackers.
President Biden has warned of potential Russian cyberattacks against the U.S. as part of Russia’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine. In addition to alerting U.S. companies and critical infrastructure providers, President Biden has also warned state and local governments, saying they too must immediately harden their cyber defenses.
Specifically, the President sent letters to each governor asking them to increase oversight of their states’ critical infrastructure and offering assistance from the federal government to help each state shore up their cybersecurity defenses. The letter referenced the May 2021 Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, which established a set of essential, baseline standards for federal agencies to adopt, and urged state leaders to implement the same standards to secure their state’s computer systems and critical infrastructure. These standards include conducting exercises to plan and prepare for cyberattacks, and ensuring that systems are patched and up to date to protect against vulnerability exploits.
Malicious cyber actors, whether related to Russia’s attack on Ukraine or not, will continue to strike, especially when targets are distracted or unprepared. Fortifying cyber defenses does not happen overnight, but there are strategies state and local governments can employ to make their systems more secure against nation-state threats.
Invest in risk-based vulnerability management: The rise of nation state cyber threats makes it imperative for state and local governments to prioritize cybersecurity efforts where they are needed most rather than trying to find and patch every vulnerability. Risk-based VM scans help prioritize the vulnerabilities that pose the biggest risk to state and local government entities if they’re exploited by attackers. Leveraging risk-based VM, state and local governments can protect their citizens, data and systems from cyber attacks.
Safeguard state and local critical infrastructure: As IT/OT environments converge, cyber attack landscapes expand rapidly. Government entities must employ tools to proactively identify IT/OT weaknesses and protect critical infrastructure from cyber attacks. Visibility, threat tracking and situational awareness are essential to securing critical infrastructure.
Implement a zero-trust strategy: Take a ‘trust no one’ policy to disrupt attack paths and secure state and local governments against cyber attacks. Verifying everything before granting access to various networks and systems prevents attacks that leverage misconfigurations, and continuously assesses which resources are susceptible to a breach.
Secure your Active Directory: As the master key to an organization’s system and network privileges, Active Directory is a prime target for attackers looking to gain administrator privileges and engage in lateral movement. To keep AD safe and secure, state and local governments should enforce local administrator password solutions (LAPS) and privileged access management (PAM), and promote cybersecurity best practices such as multi-factor authentication and strong password policies.
For state and local governments facing mounting risks of cyber attacks to their information systems and critical infrastructure, the strategies laid out above are a great way to get started, but by no means a comprehensive list. Do not be caught off guard, Tenable can help you remain vigilant of cyber threats.
Find out how state and local governments can defend against ransomware.