Friday Cybersecurity Report

September 29, 2023

Welcome reader to your Friday CybersecurityHQ report.

Headlines

● The Taliban is working to unify Afghanistan into a single surveillance network. The plan could piggyback off of a proposed American plan in place before its exit from the in 2021, according to an Interior Ministry spokesperson. The Taliban claims the surveillance system will help them fight international terrorist groups, including the Islamic State, which continues to lead attacks across Afghanistan. Critics warn such a system presents a major human rights concern.

The plan involves installing thousands of cameras in critical points in Kabul, adding to more than 62,000 cameras that the Afghan capital already has in place. To carry this out, the government has allegedly met with both US and Chinese officials — though both countries deny this story to varying degrees.

● The full extent of the recent MOVEit Transfer attack continues to grow, with three more companies acknowledging they were impacted. That list now includes Sovos, Financial Institution Service Corporation, and Johnson Financial Group. The total number of organizations hit exceeds 2,000, with more than 62 million individuals likely affected.

The zero-day attack is claimed to be the work of ransomware syndicate Cl0p, exploiting the file transfer tool MOVEit Transfer by Progress Software. The attack is the single biggest data theft event in 2023. The impact is so extensive that the US Securities and Exchange Commission issued new rules in July, requiring public companies to report data breaches within four business days.

● Agencies in both Japan and the US are warning of a state-backed hacking group in China named BlackTech. The group allegedly uses branch routers to access company networks in the two countries. They’ve proven able to modify router firmware before discovery, allowing them to exploit domain-trust relationships to hide attacker traffic.

The group has been active since at least 2007, operating under a variety of names. The latest wave of attacks includes Cisco firmware, raising alarm across the industry.

Long Read

As companies and local governments in the US fail to fill vacant cybersecurity jobs, are we falling behind? This recent long read from SecurityIntelligence details how America is finding itself lacking in cybersecurity personnel — with more than 650,000 positions open nationwide as of this writing.

That gap is widening at the same time that cyberattacks are increasing around the globe. While several solutions are put forward, there is no replacing

Cybersecurity Career Opportunities

For the latest openings in cybersecurity careers, check CybersecurityHQ.