SecurityWeek

Apple this week officially released iOS 12, which patches various vulnerabilities in the mobile operating system (OS) and brings improved performance and other enhancements.

Switzerland's foreign minister said Monday that he will meet his Russian counterpart next week after details emerged of alleged attempts by two Russian spies to hack sensitive Swiss targets.

Judge Amy Totenberg ruled Monday that the state of Georgia's existing plans for the midterm elections to be conducted via some 27,000 Diebold AccuVote DRE touchscreen voting machines must stand. Her remarks, however, suggest that this should be the last time.

Let’s start this column with some good news.

Symantec on Tuesday announced the launch of a new service that aims to make elections more secure by helping candidates and political organizations improve their security posture and detect fake websites.

Facebook announced on Monday that it has expanded its bug bounty program to introduce rewards for reports describing vulnerabilities that involve the exposure of user access tokens.

Altaba, the investment company that resulted from Verizon’s $4.5 billion acquisition of Yahoo’s Internet business last year, has agreed to settle consumer class action lawsuits triggered by the massive data breaches suffered by Yahoo in the past years.

A security researcher discovered several vulnerabilities in Alpine Linux, a distribution commonly used with Docker, including one that could allow for arbitrary code execution. Based on musl and BusyBox, the Alpine Linux distribution has a small size and is heavily used in containers, including Docker, as it provides fast boot times. 

There was a time once when CISOs could dazzle or dominate every conversation with the board or senior management – they were the high priests of a technology that no one outside the cubicles of the IT group could understand. The inside joke was that all it took was FUD – Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt – to win budget.  A heat map with some angry red zones was a good visual aid.

Windows machines that haven’t been patched against the National Security Agency-linked EternalBlue exploit are stuck in an endless loop of infection, Avira warns.

Bristol Airport in the United Kingdom was hit recently by a ransomware incident that caused disruption to flight information display systems, forcing staff to resort to whiteboards and markers.

Cybersecurity is unique compared to most other business operations, even most IT operations. Unlike marketing or network management—both of which tackle difficult and ever-changing challenges in the business operating environment—cybersecurity pits defenders against intelligent, creative and deliberate opponents. 

Never-ending breaches, ever-increasing regulations, and the potential effect of brand damage on profits has made cybersecurity a mainstream board-level issue.

A private vendor inadvertently introduces malware into voting machines he is servicing. A hacker hijacks the cellular modem used to transmit unofficial Election Day results. An email address is compromised, giving bad actors the same access to voting software as a local elections official.

Amazon is investigating allegations that some of its staff sold confidential customer data to third party companies particularly in China, the online giant confirmed on Sunday.

A bill introduced last week by U.S. Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) aims to address the cybersecurity workforce shortage through a grant for apprenticeship programs.

Members of Google’s Android team discovered that some of Honeywell’s Android-based handheld computers are affected by a high severity privilege escalation vulnerability. The vendor has released software updates that should address the flaw.

Hundreds of e-commerce Sites Impacted by MageCart Compromise of Cloud Service Provider

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday Berlin was boosting military cyber capabilities to respond to Russian hybrid warfare that is targeting its troops deployed on NATO's eastern flank.

A Nigerian man was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 60 months in prison for his role in fraudulent business email compromise (BEC) scams, the United States Department of Justice announced this week.