Editor’s Note: Updated to include information on the brand of EAS device that was compromised. – PFR 2/14/2013 OK – the good news is that the dead aren’t rising from their graves and the Zombie Apocalypse hasn’t begun (yet…). The bad news: a phony EAS (Emergency Alerting System) warning about just such a cataclysm earlier this week may have been the result of a hack of what one security researcher says are known vulnerabilities in the hardware and software that is used to distribute emergency broadcasts to the public in the U.S. The warning from Mike Davis, a Principal Research Scientist at the firm IOActive, comes just days after unknown hackers compromised EAS systems at television stations in the U.S. and broadcast a bogus emergency alert claiming that the “dead were rising from their graves” and attacking people. Published reports say that at least four television stations were the victims […]
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Making It Official
For those of you who have been regular visitors to this site over the past few months, this post might seem a bit strange. I’m taking the opportunity today to officially launch The Security Ledger: a security news website dedicated to covering the rapidly expanding landscape of the IT security space. Yes – I know: Security Ledger has been publishing regularly since late August. But think of that kind of like one of Google’s interminable “beta” periods, in which you keep expectations low and shake out all the bugs before making it official. So what’s this all about? With help from our sponsors, Qualys Inc. and Veracode, The Security Ledger is dedicated to covering the vastly expanding cyber security landscape. As more and more elements of our daily lives join the “Internet of Things,” The Security Ledger offers original reporting and curated news from the front lines, including coverage of mobile devices, intelligent consumer […]
In Iran, New Data Wiping Malware on the Loose
Iran’s Computer Emergency Response Team (IR-CERT) issued a warning on Sunday about a newly discovered malicious program that is erasing hard drives on infected systems in that country – just the latest data-destroying malware to appear there. IR-CERT said that an investigation by its Maher center found that the malware “wipes files on different drives in various predefined times,” including disk partitions and user profiles. However, the malware isn’t widespread and doesn’t appear linked to “other sophisticated targeted attacks,” the alert said – in a possible reference to the Stuxnet and Flame malware, both of which targeted Iranian critical infrastructure. Subsequent analysis by independent security firms confirmed most of the details of the IR-CERT warning. Writing on Monday, Jamie Blasco of the firm Alien Vault said the malware was “just another wiping malware” and “very simple,” and could have been delivered in a variety of ways – from USB drive […]
Forget Cyberwar, Sandy Puts Continuity Plans To the Test
We’ve all read a lot about the potentially devastating impact of a pre-emptive, nation-state backed cyber attack on our critical infrastructure in recent years. Why, it wasn’t more than two weeks ago that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned about the dire consequences of a “digital Pearl Harbor.” An “aggressor nation or extremist group,” he warned “could use these kinds of cybertools to gain control of critical switches … [and] derail passenger trains, or even more dangerous, trains loaded with lethal chemicals,” according to a report in Stars and Stripes. “They could contaminate the water supply in major cities, or shut down the power grid across large parts of the country.” It’s scary stuff, for sure. But not unprecedented. In fact: anyone on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States can look out their window right now and see a major dry run (more like a wet run) of a massive […]
Logicube’s Falcon®-NEO2 Forensic Imager Achieves Project VIC Validation; Now VICS Data Compliant
Chatsworth, United States, 14th May 2025, CyberNewsWire
