Election Propaganda Part 1: How does election propaganda work?

Joshua Miller from Proofpoint is discussing their work on "Best Laid Plans: TA453 Targets Religious Figure with Fake Podcast Invite Delivering New BlackSmith Malware Toolset." Proofpoint identified Iranian threat actor TA453 targeting a prominent Jewish figure with a fake podcast interview invitation, using a benign email to build trust before sending a malicious link. The attack attempted to deliver new malware called BlackSmith, containing a PowerShell trojan dubbed AnvilEcho, designed for intelligence gathering and exfiltration. This malware consolidates all of TA453's known capabilities into a single script rather than the previously used modular approach. The research can be found here: Best Laid Plans: TA453 Targets Religious Figure with Fake Podcast Invite Delivering New BlackSmith Malware Toolset Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Interpol arrests eight in an international cybercrime crackdown. A MedusaLocker variant targets financial organizations. Cloudflare mitigates a record DDoS attempt. Insights from the Counter Ransomware Initiative summit. Fin7 uses deepnudes as a lure for malware. Researchers discovered critical vulnerabilities in DrayTek routers. CISA issues urgent alerts for products from Synacor and Ivanti. A former election official gets nine years in prison for a voting system data breach. Microsoft and the DOJ seize domains used by Russia’s ColdRiver hacking group. On our Industry Voices segment, we are joined by Eric Olden, Founder and CEO of Strata Identity. to learn how the modern enterprise can orchestrate the 7 A's of identity security to achieve zero trust. Harvard students demonstrate glasses that can see through your privacy.  Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you’ll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn. Industry Voices Segment On our Industry Voices segment, we are joined by Eric Olden, Founder and CEO of Strata Identity. Eric talks about how the modern enterprise can orchestrate the 7 A's of identity security to achieve zero trust. You can check out Strata’s blog on “Understanding the 7 A’s of IAM” and their book on “Identity Orchestration for Dummies”.  Selected Reading International police dismantle cybercrime group in West Africa (The Record) New MedusaLocker Ransomware Variant Deployed by Threat Actor (Infosecurity Magazine) Cloudflare Mitigates Record Breaking 3.8 Tbps DDoS Attack (Hackread) Recently patched CUPS flaw can be used to amplify DDoS attacks (Bleeping Computer) More frequent disruption operations needed to dent ransomware gangs, officials say (CyberScoop) FIN7 hackers launch deepfake nude “generator” sites to spread malware (Bleeping Computer) 14 New DrayTek routers' flaws impacts over 700,000 devices in 168 countries (Security Affairs) CISA Warns Active Exploitation of Zimbra & Ivanti Endpoint Manager Vulnerability (Cyber Security News) Former Mesa County clerk sentenced to 9 years for 2020 voting system breach (CyberScoop) Microsoft and DOJ disrupt Russian FSB hackers' attack infrastructure (Bleeping Computer) Someone Put Facial Recognition Tech onto Meta's Smart Glasses to Instantly Dox Strangers (404 Media) Share your feedback. We want to ensure that you are getting the most out of the podcast. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey as we continually work to improve the show.  Want to hear your company in the show? You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here’s our media kit. Contact us at [email protected] to request more info. The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dmitri Alperovitch discusses his book World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century with host Ben Yelin. Alperovitch highlights the rising tensions between the U.S. and China, focusing on Taiwan as a critical flashpoint that could ignite a new Cold War. He shares insights on the strategies America must adopt to maintain its status as the world’s leading superpower while addressing the challenges posed by China. By examining both strengths and weaknesses, as well as providing a timely blueprint for navigating the complexities of global relations in the 21st century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rick Howard, N2K CyberWire’s Chief Analyst and Senior Fellow, discusses personal defensive measures that an average citizen, regardless of political philosophy, can take in order to not succumb to propaganda. References: David Ehl, 2024. Why Meta is now banning Russian propaganda [News]. Deutsche Welle. Jeff Berman, Renée DiResta, 2023. Disinformation & How To Combat It [Interview]. Youtube. Niha Masih, 2024. Meta bans Russian state media outlet RT for acts of ‘foreign interference’ [News]. The Washington Post. Quentin Hardy, Renée DiResta, 2024. The Invisible Rulers Turning Lies Into Reality [Interview]. YouTube. Rob Tracinski, Renée DiResta, 2024.  The Internet Rumor Mill [Interview]. YouTube. Robin Stern, Marc Brackett, 2024. 5 Ways to Recognize and Avoid Political Gaslighting [Explainer]. The Washington Post. Sarah Ellison, Amy Gardner, Clara Ence Morse, 2024. Elon Musk’s misleading election claims reach millions and alarm election officials [News]. The Washington Post. Scott Small, 2024. Election Cyber Interference Threats & Defenses: A Data-Driven Study [White Paper]. Tidal Cyber. Staff, 2021. Foreign Threats to the 2020 US Federal Elections [Intelligence Community Assessment]. DNI. Staff, 2024. Election Cyber Interference Threats & Defenses: A Data-Driven Study [White Paper]. Tidal. Stuart A. Thompson, Tiffany Hsu, 2024. Left-Wing Misinformation Is Having a Moment [Analysis. The New York Times. Stuart A. Thompson, 2024. Elon Musk’s Week on X: Deepfakes, Falsehoods and Lots of Memes [News]. The New York Times. Will Oremus, 2024. Zuckerberg expresses regrets over covid misinformation crackdown [News]. The Washington Post. Yascha Mounk, Renée DiResta, 2022. How (Not) to Fix Social Media [Interview]. YouTube. Renee DiResta, 2024. Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality [Book]. Goodreads. Nina Jankowicz, 2020. How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News and the Future of Conflict [Book]. Goodreads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A global news agency suffers a cyberattack. CISA and the FBI provide guidance on cross site scripting attacks. A Texas health system diverts patients following a ransomware attack. Western Digital patches a critical vulnerability in network attached storage devices. California passes a law protecting domestic abuse survivors from being tracked. Verizon and PlayStation each suffer outages. CISA responds to critiques from the OIG. T-Mobile settles with the FCC over multiple data breaches. The DOJ indicts a Minnesota man on charges of selling counterfeit software license keys. On our Industry Voices segment kicking off Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we are joined by Chad Raduege, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Cyber Innovation Institute at The University of Tulsa, discussing the Institute’s K-12 outreach initiatives. A Crypto Criminal Stretches His Limits—And His Legs. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you’ll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn. Industry Voices Segment On our Industry Voices segment kicks off Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we are joined by Chad Raduege, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Cyber Innovation Institute at The University of Tulsa, discussing the Institute’s K-12 outreach initiatives.  Selected Reading AFP News Agency's Content Delivery Systems Hit by Cyberattack (Hackread) CISA and FBI Issue Alert on XSS Vulnerabilities (Security Boulevard) UMC Health System Diverts Patients Following Ransomware Attack (SecurityWeek) Western Digital My Cloud Devices Flaw Let Attackers Execute Arbitrary Code (CyberSecurity News) California passes car data privacy law to protect domestic abuse survivors (The Record) The Playstation Network is down in a global outage (Bleeping Computer) Verizon Mobile Outages Reported Across the U.S. (The New York Times) DoJ audit finds CISA faces challenges in cyber threat information sharing, as participation hits record low (Industrial Cyber) T-Mobile pays $31.5 million FCC settlement over 4 data breaches (Bleeping Computer) Man charged for selling forged license keys for network switches (Bleeping Computer) Crooked Cops, Stolen Laptops & the Ghost of UGNazi (Krebs on Security) Share your feedback. We want to ensure that you are getting the most out of the podcast. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey as we continually work to improve the show.  Want to hear your company in the show? You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here’s our media kit. Contact us at [email protected] to request more info. The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A critical vulnerability has been discovered in the NVIDIA Container Toolkit. Representatives from around the world are meeting in Washington to address ransomware.  The Pentagon shoots down the notion of a separate cyber service. A genetic testing company leaves sensitive information in an unsecured folder. A public accounting firm breach affects 127,000 individuals. The DOJ charges a British national with hacking U.S. companies. California’s Governor vetoes an AI safety bill. CISOs deserve a seat at the table. Tim Starks from CyberScoop describes the House Homeland Security chair’s proposed cyber workforce bill. Password laziness leaves routers vulnerable.  Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you’ll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn. CyberWire Guest Tim Starks from CyberScoop talking about the House Homeland Security chair releasing and pushing forth a cyber workforce bill. Read more in Tim’s article.  Selected Reading Critical flaw in NVIDIA Container Toolkit allows full host takeover (Bleeping Computer) Here's what to expect from the Counter Ransomware Initiative meeting this week (The Record) Pentagon asks lawmakers to kill third-party look at an independent cyber force (Breaking Defense) Facial DNA provider leaks biometric data via WordPress folder (Hackread) Accounting Firm WMDDH Discloses Data Breach Impacting 127,000 (SecurityWeek) British National Arrested, Charged for Hacking US Companies (SecurityWeek) California Gov. Newsom Vetoes Hotly Debated AI Safety Bill (BankInfo Security) PwC Urges Boards to Give CISOs a Seat at the Table (Infosecurity Magazine) New Critical Password Warning—86% Of All Router Users Need To Act Now (Forbes) Share your feedback. We want to ensure that you are getting the most out of the podcast. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey as we continually work to improve the show.  Want to hear your company in the show? You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here’s our media kit. Contact us at [email protected] to request more info. The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rick Howard, N2K CyberWire’s Chief Analyst and Senior Fellow, turns over hosting responsibilities to Rick Doten, the VP of Information Security at Centene and one of the original contributors to the N2K CyberWire Hash Table.  He makes the case to invigorate the automation first principle cybersecurity strategy. In this case, he is specifically addressing remediation automation. References: Staff, n.d. National Pie Championships [Website]. American Pie Council. Rick Doten. Rick’s Cybersecurity Videos [Youtube Channel]. YouTube. Joe, 2020. The Unbearable Frequency of PewPew Maps [Explainer]. Stranded on Pylos. Aanchal Gupta, 2022. Celebrating 20 Years of Trustworthy Computing [Explainer]. Microsoft Security Blog. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this 2-part special edition series, guest Steve Blank, co-founder of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University, speaks with N2K's Brandon Karpf about national security and the dilemma of technology disruption. Listen to part 1 here. In this series, Steve Blank, a renowned expert in national security innovation, explores the critical challenges facing the U.S. Department of Defense in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. From the rise of global adversaries like China to the bureaucratic obstacles hindering defense innovation, Blank breaks down the “dilemma of technology disruption” in national security. Learn how the U.S. can overcome its outdated systems, accelerate innovation, and prepare for the future of defense technology. Whether you’re interested in defense tech, cybersecurity, or government innovation, this episode offers deep insights into the intersection of national security and technological disruption. For some background, you can check out Steve’s article “Why Large Organizations Struggle With Disruption, and What to Do About It.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Enjoy this encore episode where we are joined by the Chief strategy officer and chief security officer for Netskope, Jason Clark, shares his journey as he challenges the status quo and works to expand diversity in cybersecurity. Jason started his career by breaking the mold and heading to the Air Force rather than his family legacy of Army service. Following his military service, he became a CISO for the New York Times at age 26 and kept building from there. Jason advises, "You should always be seeking out jobs you're actually not qualified for. I think that's how you grow. If you know you could do the job, and you've got half the skills, go for it." Jason aspires to a legacy of increasing diversity in the cybersecurity industry and founded a non-profit to do just that. And, we thank Jason for sharing his story with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are joined by Yves Younan, Senior Manager, Talos Vulnerability Discovery and Research from Cisco, discussing their work on "How multiple vulnerabilities in Microsoft apps for macOS pave the way to stealing permissions." Cisco Talos has uncovered eight vulnerabilities in Microsoft applications for macOS that could allow attackers to exploit the system's permission model by injecting malicious libraries. By leveraging permissions already granted to these apps, attackers could gain access to sensitive resources like the microphone, camera, and screen recording without user consent. While Microsoft considers these issues low risk and has declined to fix them, the vulnerabilities pose a potential threat to user privacy and security. The research can be found here: How multiple vulnerabilities in Microsoft apps for macOS pave the way to stealing permissions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices