A man by the name of Liam Reece Watts, age 20, had targeted the Greater Manchester Police department website in August of last year, then the Cheshire Police site in March of this year, with DDos attacks. According to a report by the The Register, both websites were disabled for a day. 

          According to a report, the DDoS attacks were in retaliation for him having been blamed for calling in bomb hoaxes just after a deadly attack hit the Manchester Arena; this attack left 22 dead and some 500 hundred injured. 


          Watts did eventually admit to the disabling the websites after his home was searched by police. He has been sentenced to 16 months in a young offenders instituition, and was also given a five year restraining order to prevent him from erasing his browser history. 

                      Original article can be found here.


          That was the news folks, have a good day, and stay safe out there. 


          ---Mad-Architect 
                     

                            

                The personal data of some 300 asylum seekers to Australia, was apparently leaked in 2015, and it was all due to an email typo that lead to the data being sent to a member of the general public. The leak is also, according to a report, due to Bupaa private contractor that deals in immigration, when their subcontractor, Sonic HealthPlus, pulled the data from secure government systems. 


       While no official statement has been given, we can only assume that the data was fetched back and secured again. Nothing has been reported about how this may affect those seeking asylum in Australia. 


       Original article can be found here.

        That was the news folks, have a good day, and stay safe out there. 


        ---Mad--Architect 
        

                                 

                     The Czech republic has recently announced that a cyber attack on its government Foreign Ministry, was orchestrated by a foreign state, although, they will not name any foreign state in particular. Government officials have stated that they have been dealing with waves of cyber attacks for months, and many people while not admitting it, are all silently pointing fingers at Russia. 

          Russia was officially blamed when the Foreign Ministry was hit with multiple cyber attacks in 2016. This resulted in the arrest of a Russian national, who was then extradited to the US, and officially charged by US, and also Russian authorities. 

          Officials have stated to the media, that Russia is their prime suspect, but no evidence has been brought forth.


          Original article can be found here.


                       That was the news folks, have a good day, and stay safe out there.


           ---Mad-Architect 

                              
                         A combined effort between the Met and City of London UK police departments has resulted in the dismantling of 13 OCGs or [Organized Crime Gangs] in the first half of 2016, and this number has only been growing. After a rise in many OCGs moving to online fraud, the UK enacted a joint effort that effectively created the DCPCU the [Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit]. This unit has prevented the over 6.8 million pounds of fraud this year alone, apart from the estimated 600 million pounds since their founding in 2002. 


          Despite its progress, it is having trouble keeping up with the surge in crime moving into the cyber space. New technologies and methodologies born from them, are creating a new era of online criminal fraud. Both young and naive and elderly are targeted in clever but callous scams. 

           The DCPCU is working close with social media firms and other companies as added support to combat the surge in online fraud, as well as SIM swapping fraud. 

           Original article can be found here.


             That was the news folks, have a good day, and stay safe out there.

            ----Mad-Architect 

                             
                                 South Wales based Police department is facing some legal hiccups after a trial began this month, for using a facial recognition app. This has some rights and advocacy groups on edge, obviously, as they are afraid that the app will not be used responsibly. 

               Rightfully so, as the tech is from a company called NEC, as well as an in-house developed UI, that will be used to scan crowds of people for anyone who may be on a watch list. 

               Clearly there is quite the gap that will need to be bridged, before the public can officially accept any form of facial recognition that won't be abused. 

               Original article can be found here.


               That was the news folks, have a good week, and stay safe out there.


               ---Mad-Architect 
                         

                                        

                   
                                    A new Trojan has been discovered, and it was was on the Google Play store, a place that has been popular with hackers. The new malware, designated "Clicker Trojan" has already been installed on 100 million Android user's devices. It was reported that the malware may have been installed via other apps, audio players, barcode scanners, or other software. 

                The purpose of the malware, was to help create traffic on other websites, by simulating user clicks to earn money from site traffic. There was also evidence of the Trojan automatically subscribing the person to paid subscriber services. See below:

                First user comment: “After installation, it subscribes you to paid services! Be careful, do not install this application!!!”

Developer response: “What services? You’re wrong.”

Second user: “After installation, I was subscribed to 5 services and now my phone account is empty.”


User comment: “The moment you log in, it deducts 50 rubles. I don’t know what it is for, please explain.”


User comment: “The moment you log in, it deducts 50 rubles. I don’t know what it is for, please explain.”


                 
                So far there isn't really a fix for something like this, other than staying aware of what you download, anything could either be or have malware. Stay weary my friends. 

                Original article can be found here.


                                    That was the news folks, have a good day, and stay safe out there.


                   ---Mad-Architect 

                           

                    Steam is facing some scrutiny after a Zero Day that has affected some 125 million users, is seemingly ignored by Valve, and was even labeled as N/A. Afterwards the threat was closed. This drew criticism from the security as well as the their own community. Miainly, the Zero-Day was ignored. that because the Zero-Day didn't fit into the scope of their bounty program. 

         The Zero-Day itself, is as follows, the vulnerability resides in the Steam Client Service. When the SDDL was reviewed, it was discovered that any user in the "Users" group can start and stop any program. Apparently, Users have permissions for all keys and subkeys. 

         While the report was filed, it doesn't seem like Valve will be addressing the Zero-Day, if it has been addressed, they have not given an official report. 

         Original article can be found here


                     That was the news folks, have a good day, and stay safe out there.

                      --Mad-Architect 


          

                              Monzo Bank, an online only banking service that started as a crowdfunding, had an harrowing time apologizing to its user base and securing its systems, when it was discovered that the PINs of around 480,000 customers was stored in log files. 

              Monzo very quickly secured the problem; deleting the log files and informing their customers of the issue and that it had been resolved. They also put out a statement that all users should update their banking app and even if you weren't directly affected, they should still take caution with they manage their account and be aware of how and where your information is stored. 

                               Original article can be found here.


                              That was the news folks, have a good day, and stay safe out there.

                ---Mad-Architect