The Cyber News Rundown brings you the latest happenings in cybersecurity news weekly. Who am I? I’m Connor Madsen, a Webroot Threat Research Analyst and a guy with a passion for all things security. Any questions? Just ask.
New Trojan Alters Bitcoin Addresses
A newly discovered trojan variant targets Bitcoin users and, more specifically, any Bitcoin addresses that may be copied into the device’s clipboard. The trojan “Evrial” can alter the address in the clipboard so funds are transferred elsewhere when a user performs a Bitcoin transaction.[/inlinetweet] Additionally, Evrial is capable of stealing cookies and any credentials that are being stored within web browsersto further compromise any purchases made on the device.
Paradise Ransomware is Anything But
In a recent return, new attacks have been linked to Paradise ransomware, which had been relatively quiet since its initial burst of attacks last year. Not much has changed for the variant since its previous reveal; it still requires a user to open a phony email attachment and unzip the packed infection. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to decrypt any of the affected files, and the user would need to either restore everything from a clean backup or pay the ransom, which varies based on the victim’s reply time.
Top UK Law Firms Face Massive Breach
Researchers have recently discovered several data dumps that contain over a million email credentials from several of the largest law firms in the UK. Based on the information found in the dumps, roughly 2,000 credentials belonged to each of the companies; the largest company is responsible for over 30,000 of them. Even worse, many of the dumps were released just in the last six months, though most come from third-party breaches.
Major Twitter Accounts Hacked
Several high-profile Twitter accounts were compromised over the last week and used to spread Turkish and Palestinian propaganda while attempting to phish the credentials of related accounts. Along with the credentials, it appears that private messages and other sensitive information were breached as well, leaving the compromised accounts even more vulnerable.
Business Security Moving Forward
Following a Ponemon Institute study from late last year, many were shocked at the results from the companies who responded. Over half of the 1,000 IT professionals surveyed claimed to have suffered a ransomware attack within the last year, and the majority of those reported the cause to be phishing and social engineering tactics. Even more worrisome, the average data breach involved the compromise of an average of 9,000 unique records, costing victims several million dollars to return to normal.
