Mike Mimoso and Chris Brook discuss the week in news, including the iPhone encryption debacle, the glibc Linux vulnerability, and the latest ransomware headlines.
Tag Archives: Encryption
Hollywood Hospital Pays $17,000 Ransom to Hacker for Unlocking Medical Records
Ransomware has seriously turned on to a noxious game of Hackers to get paid effortlessly.
Once again the heat was felt by the Los Angeles-based Presbyterian Medical Center when a group of hackers had sealed all its sensitive files and demanded $17,000 USD to regain the access to those compromised data.
The devastation of the compromised files can be pitched as:
- Compromised emails
- Lockout Electronic Medical Record System [EMR]
- Encrypted patient data
- Unable to carry CT Scans of the admitted patients
- Ferried risky patients to nearby hospitals
…and much more unexplained outcomes.
The hospital had confirmed that the Ransomware malware had hit its core heart a week before, potentially affecting the situation to grow much worse.
Hospital End up Paying $17,000
As the situation was grown out of wild, the hospital paid 40 Bitcoins (Roughly US $17,000) to the Ransomware Criminals to resume their medical operations after gaining the decryption keys.
“The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption key,” the hospital CEO Allen Stefanek said in a letter.
All the electronic medical system were restored back soon after unlocking the encrypted file locks.
The Ransomware had stolen the nights of many network administrators, as they would be often blamed to fight up this nasty threat; instead of blaming staffs who click the illegit links in their e-mail.
The FBI Advises Victims to Just Pay the Ransom
Last year, even the FBI advised paying off the Ransom amount to the ransomware criminals as they had not come up with any other alternatives.
Several companies had got webbed in the Ransomware business including a US Police Department that paid US $750 to ransomware criminals three years back.
Criminals often demand the ransom in BTC (their intelligent move) for the surety of not getting caught, as Bitcoin transactions are non-trackable due to its decentralized nature.
So until and unless a permanent solution evolves, users are requested not to click malicious or suspected links sent via an unknown person.
The frequent payment to Ransomware encourages the hackers in the dark to stash the cash and develop a more enticing framework for the next target.
But affecting a medical system is a heinous crime as hospitals are acting as a bridge between life and heaven.
Apple vs. FBI — Google Joins Tim Cook in Encryption Backdoor Battle
In the escalating battle between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Apple over iPhone encryption, former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai just sided with Apple’s refusal to unlock iPhone.
Yesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook refused to comply with a federal court order to help the FBI unlock an iPhone owned by one of the terrorists in the mass shootings in San Bernardino, California, in December.
Here’s What the FBI is Demanding:
The federal officials have asked Apple to make a less secure version of its iOS that can be used by the officials to brute force the 4-6 digits passcode on the dead shooter’s iPhone without getting the device’s data self-destructed.
Cook called the court order a “chilling” demand that “would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.” He argued that to help the FBI unlock the iPhone would basically providing an Encryption Backdoor that would make the products less secure.
Backdoor for Government, Backdoor for All
However, Apple is worried that once this backdoor gets created and handed over to the FBI, there would be chances that the backdoor will likely get into the hands of malicious hackers who could use it for evil purposes.
Although many politicians, including Donald Trump, have slammed Apple’s decision, Google has stepped up and taken a public stand in support of Apple’s decision.
“I agree 100 percent with the courts,” Trump said in a statement. “But to think that Apple won’t allow us to get into her cell phone, who do they think they are? No, we have to open it up.”
Google Sided with Apple
In a series of tweets late Wednesday, Pichai sided with Apple while saying “forcing companies to enable hacking could compromise users’ privacy” and “requiring companies to enable hacking of customer devices & data. Could be a troubling precedent.”
However, Pichai took more than 12 hours to talk about this burning issue, after Edward Snowden pointed out that Google had not yet stepped forward to speak up on his stand.
“The @FBI is creating a world where citizens rely on #Apple to defend their rights, rather than the other way around,” Snowden tweeted on Wednesday. Snowden called on Google to stand with Apple, saying, “This is the most important tech case in a decade.”
Pichai’s stance is basically:
The technology companies will give its customers’ data to law enforcement when it is required to, but the companies will not put in a “Backdoor” for the government.
While the statements made by Pichai is not quite as forceful as Cook’s statement published in an open letter to its customers, we can assume both Google and Apple are together, at least in the sense that the federal agencies are asking too much.
My father is being held for ransom
It’s enough to make the blood run cold of every computer user – a family member calling for help: “I can’t use my computer anymore! All I see are strange messages and I can’t open ANYTHING!” Here is what one Avira employee did, didn’t do, and why the FBI can be very, very wrong:
The post My father is being held for ransom appeared first on Avira Blog.
Here's How to Decrypt Hydracrypt & Umbrecrypt Ransomware Files
Over the last few years, we have seen several types of Ransomware malware that demand a whopping amount of money from users for the retrieval of their locked, compromised sensitive files.
We have also witnessed the birth of decryption solution for some of the Ransomware like Cryptolocker (partial), Coinvault, Rescue Kit.
One more solution has recently been released for decryption of
New York Police Used Cell Phone Spying Tool Over 1000 Times Without Warrant
The New York Police Department (NYPD) has admitted that it used controversial cell phone spying tool “Stingrays” more than 1,000 times since 2008 without warrants.
In the documents obtained by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the NYPD acknowledged that the department has used Stingrays to intercept personal communications and track the locations of nearby mobile phone users.
Valentine’s Day and Romancing the Phone
Planning a pre-Valentine’s Day surprise? Let your iPhone — and the Avira Vault — help you make the big romantic decisions securely.
The post Valentine’s Day and Romancing the Phone appeared first on Avira Blog.
ENCRYPT Act of 2016 — Proposed Bill Restricts States to Ban Encryption
The last year’s ISIS-linked terror attacks in Paris and California has sparked debate on Encryption, and the intelligent agencies started reviving their efforts to weaken encryption on various encrypted products and services.
But, there is some Good News!
California Congressman and Texas Republican are now challenging state-level proposals to restrict US citizens’ ability to encrypt
How to Crack GCHQ Crypto Puzzle? — Here's the Solution
GCHQ has finally released the solution to their head spinning Xmas Puzzle, after all, the participants failed to reach the final answer.
GCHQ had released a crypto puzzle, dubbed Xmas Puzzle, on 9th December in the form of a Christmas Card that went viral online soon after its release.
Nearly 600,000 people shot a “Go” for the challenge since early December, but only 30,000 had made it
The security review: Encryption 101 and Android security updates
Highlights from the past seven days in information security include encryption insights, Android updates, Facebook at 12 and a data breach at UCF in the US.
The post The security review: Encryption 101 and Android security updates appeared first on We Live Security.
