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☆ Generative AI financial scammers are getting very good at duping work email
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Ellen Sheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Among the most common email scams are phishing emails. Instead of sending out generic emails, the emails are addressed to an individual or a specific organization. Now, criminals anywhere in the world can use ChatGPT or FraudGPT to create convincing phishing and spear phishing emails. If I'm going to do 1,000 spear phishing emails or CEO fraud attacks, and I find one in 10 of them work, that could be millions of dollars," said Davies. It will take some time for companies to adjust, but for now, cybersecurity experts say generative AI is leading to a surge in very convincing financial scams.

Persons: Chase, Christopher Budd, Elon, Gayle King, Tucker Carlson, Bill Maher, Andrew Davies, Cyril Noel, Tagoe, Davies, Venmo, Wise, Netcea, Banks, Ajay Bhalla, haven't, Noel, I've, Budd Organizations: Association of Financial, eBay, CBS, Fox News, Facebook, YouTube, PayPal, Mastercard Locations: Hong Kong, ComplyAdvantage

☆ Apple knew AirDrop users could be identified and tracked as early as 2019, researchers say
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-12 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Washington CNN —Security researchers warned Apple as early as 2019 about vulnerabilities in its AirDrop wireless sharing function that Chinese authorities claim they recently used to track down users of the feature, the researchers told CNN, in a case that experts say has sweeping implications for global privacy. AirDrop lets Apple users who are near each other share files using a proprietary mix of Bluetooth and other wireless connectivity without having to connect to the internet. A Chinese tech firm, Beijing-based Wangshendongjian Technology, was able to compromise AirDrop to identify users on the Beijing subway accused of sharing “inappropriate information,” judicial authorities in Beijing said this week. The Chinese tech firm, Wangshendongjian Technology, that claimed to have exploited AirDrop appeared to have used some of the same techniques first identified by the Darmstadt researchers in 2019, said Alexander Heinrich, one of the German researchers. “Now that Chinese security agencies are exploiting this vulnerability, it’s a tough political problem for Apple.”

Persons: Apple, “, ”, Benjamin Ismail, Florida Sen, Marco Rubio, ” Rubio, Milan Stute, Sascha Meinrath, Palmer, Alexander Heinrich, ” Heinrich, Kenn White, Heinrich et al, ” White, Sen, Ron Wyden, ” Wyden, “ Apple, Qi An Xin, Dakota Cary, SentinelOne, Ismail, would’ve, Matthew Green Organizations: Washington CNN —, CNN, Apple, Bluetooth, Technology, Republican, Senate Intelligence Committee, Technical University of Darmstadt, Penn State University, Wangshendongjian Technology, ” Apple, Oregon Democrat, Beijing, Olympic, Xinhua, Johns Hopkins University, “ Locations: China, Washington, Hong Kong, Beijing, Florida, Germany, Darmstadt, Oregon, cyberattacks, Dakota

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A ransomware attack has prompted a health care chain that operates 30 hospitals in six states to divert patients from at least some of its emergency rooms to other hospitals, while putting certain elective procedures on pause, the company announced. All of its hospitals are continuing to provide medical screenings and stabilizing care to patients arriving at emergency rooms, the company said. Ransomware criminals do not usually admit to an attack unless the victim refuses to pay. Education was the sector most likely to be hit, with attack saturation at 80%. While industries across the spectrum have been hit by ransomware, a recent attack on China’s biggest bank that affected U.S. Treasury trading represented a rare attack on a financial institution.

Persons: Sophos, Brett Callow, Emsisoft, ”, “, ” “ We’re, ” Callow, Frank Bajak Organizations: Ardent Health Services, Ardent, ”, Treasury, Associated Press Locations: Tenn, Nashville , Tennessee, Oklahoma , Texas , New Jersey, New Mexico , Idaho, Kansas, U.S, Soviet

☆ Ransomware targets will pay one way or another
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Anita Ramaswamy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The White House has even considered an outright ban on firms making ransom payments. If companies can’t pay ransom, there’s no point in asking for it. ICBC’s self-identified attacker, a gang of digital extortionists called Lockbit, says ICBC paid up. Follow @AnitaRamaswamy on XCONTEXT NEWSThe Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s U.S. arm was hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted some trades in the U.S. Treasury market on Nov. 9. A senior White House official said on Oct. 31 that the U.S. government planned to lead an alliance of 40 countries in a pledge to never pay ransom to cybercriminals.

Persons: Joe Biden’s, cybercriminals, it’s, there’s, ICBC, –, reckons, John Foley, Aditya Sriwatsav Organizations: Reuters, Industrial, Commercial Bank of China, SS, Treasuries, Companies, Caesars Entertainment, Commercial Bank of China’s, U.S . Treasury, White House, ., Thomson Locations: U.S, United States, Commercial Bank of China’s U.S

☆ I made about $500,000 in 12 months from the free Substack I started in college. Here's how I scaled it into paid content in 6 months.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

I started an investigation into a companyIn my spare time, I started an investigation into a publicly traded company called Care.com, an online babysitting platform. I started my newsletter to get employers' attentionAfter the Care.com story, I decided to start a free newsletter in February 2020, when I was a senior, as a way to get attention from employers. Every Sunday, I'd recap news about short selling in my free newsletter called The Bear Cave. One month into launching the paid newsletter, I saw the business model worked and it could be a full-time job. The Bear Cave now has 53,000 free readers and 1,000 paid subscribers, and I made about $500,000 in revenue over 12 months.

Persons: Edwin Dorsey, Harvey Weinstein, It's Organizations: Street, SEC, YouTube Locations: New York

☆ MGM Resorts is back online after a huge cyberattack. The hack might have cost the Vegas casino operator $80 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Will Gendron | Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A recent cyberattack by a notorious hacking group targeted MGM, disrupting its Las Vegas locations. The hack sheds light on the way cybersecurity can play out in the real world. Rival casino owner Caesars Entertainment also disclosed last week to federal regulators that it was hit by a cyberattack Sept. 7. But Moody also noted that MGM Resorts reports annual revenues above $14 billion, which would mean it averages at least $270 million in revenues per week. Experts said the attacks exposed critical cybersecurity weaknesses at MGM and Caesars and shattered an image of casino invulnerability.

Persons: Gregory Moody, Moody, Christopher Budd, There's Organizations: MGM, Service, MGM Resorts, Aria, Caesars Entertainment, Social, University of Nevada, Caesars Locations: Wall, Silicon, Las Vegas

[1/2] A sign indicates the direction to the offices of Progress Software in Burlington, Massachusetts, U.S., July 26, 2023. But more than two months after the breach was first disclosed by Massachusetts-based Progress Software, the parade of victims has scarcely slowed. The tallies show that nearly 40 million people have been affected so far by the hack of Progress' MOVEit Transfer file management program. Now the digital extortionists involved, a group named "cl0p", have become increasingly aggressive about thrusting their data into the public domain. MOVEit is used by organizations to ship large amounts of often sensitive data: pension information, social security numbers, medical records, billing data and the like.

Persons: Brian Snyder, Marc Bleicher, cl0p, Huntress Security's John Hammond, Christopher Budd, Sophos, Eric Goldstein, Nathan Little, Emsisoft, Bert Kondruss, Rowe Price, Maximus, Alexander Urbelis, Crowell, Goldstein, didn't, Surefire's, Raphael Satter, Zeba Siddiqui, Chris Sanders, Grant McCool Organizations: Progress Software, REUTERS, FRANCISCO, Reuters, Software, Insurance, of America, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Security Agency, Tetra Defense, WHO, Pension, California Public Employees, Moring, U.S ., Thomson Locations: Burlington , Massachusetts, U.S, WASHINGTON, American, Massachusetts, York, New York, Louisiana, California, New York City, Oregon

"It's hard to think of an area that this couldn't help," said Diogo Rau, Eli Lilly chief information and digital officer. He said Lilly already is using generative AI to write patient safety reports and clinical narratives, and ultimately, it will play a role in drug discovery. One of the most anticipated uses for generative AI is in customer relationship management, and that is happening at more companies. Others noted their firms are in the early days of rolling out code generation tools using gen AI, as well as AI "co-pilots" across many roles, and using generative AI to help make investment decisions. Generative AI could enable a more customized and pro-security posture for organizations," he said.

Persons: OpenAI, Diogo Rau, Eli Lilly, Lilly, Rau, Eddie Fox, It's, Fox, Nicole Coughlin, Cybersecurity, ransomware, Jim Richberg, Richberg, Joe Levy, Sophos, it's, Levy Organizations: CNBC, Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, TEC, CNBC Technology, Epic, AIs Locations: Cary , North Carolina, Fortinet

☆ Wiz's rapid ascent to $10 billion valuation in market downturn shows cloud security is 'still huge'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The accelerated shift to cloud computing has boosted adoption of security software that can identify the spots where hackers can wage attacks. Older security companies such as Palo Alto Networks and Rapid7 have widened their portfolios to specialize in securing the cloud. Regardless of how Thomas views Wiz, in February his company added the startup to its list of competitors, putting it alongside Palo Alto Networks . Rappaport called out Palo Alto Networks, which has an offering called Prisma Cloud, as his company's best place to snag business. Rappaport also knows plenty about Microsoft, having sold his prior security startup, Adallom, to the company for $320 million in 2015.

☆ Gen Z doesn't think anyone can keep them safe online, and one of their biggest concerns is photos getting leaked
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Amanda Goh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Gen Z has little faith that anyone can keep them safe online, according to a Dell Technologies study. 18% of respondents said they trust the government to protect their data, while 17% trust private sector companies. Gen Z's main cyber threat concern relates to having their personal data or photos shared. The findings indicate that Gen Z doesn't trust any entity, public or private, to keep their data safe online. Having their personal data or photos shared without permission.

☆ Thoma Bravo to buy Coupa Software for $6.15 billion amid tech slump
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Coupa Software said on Monday it will sell itself to private-equity major Thoma Bravo for $6.15 billion in cash, calling the deal the "optimal path forward" as broader economic uncertainty hammers technology stocks. "The transaction provides superior risk-adjusted value relative to the company's (Coupa's) standalone prospects," said Roger Siboni, an independent director at the software firm. Coupa Software, which went public in 2016, provides business-spend management software, which helps companies manage the purchase of goods and services. Qatalyst Partners and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Coupa, while Goldman Sachs & Co, Piper Sandler, and Kirkland & Ellis were advisors to Thoma Bravo. Separately, Coupa reported a 17% rise in total revenue for the quarter ended Oct. 31 and a net loss of $84.1 million.

☆ Thoma Bravo to buy Coupa Software for $6.15 bln amid tech slump
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Coupa Software Inc (COUP.O) said on Monday it will sell itself to private equity major Thoma Bravo for $6.15 billion in cash, calling the deal the "optimal path forward" as broader economic uncertainty hammers technology stocks. Over the last two years, Thoma Bravo has acquired Ping Identity, Sophos, Proofpoint and Sailpoint Technologies. Coupa Software, which went public in 2016, provides business-spend management software, which helps companies manage the purchase of goods and services. Qatalyst Partners and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Coupa, while Goldman Sachs & Co, Piper Sandler, and Kirkland & Ellis were advisors to Thoma Bravo. Separately, Coupa reported a 17% rise in total revenue for the quarter ended Oct. 31 and a net loss of $84.1 million.

☆ Cybersecurity salaries revealed: How much firms like Sophos and Bitdefender pay, with base salaries as high as $220,000.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

There's a talent shortage in cybersecurity. Here's how much you could earn at major cybersecurity firms. European firms such as Sophos, Kaseya, and Bitdefender are likewise willing to compensate senior talent generously, according to Insider analysis of foreign-labor-disclosure-hire data. The data shows what foreign talent earns in the US, and is likely higher than what European firms would pay domestic talent. Here's how much employees can expect to earn at these top European cybersecurity firms in engineering, product, finance, and more.

☆ Ransomware's new business model enables anyone to extort companies for massive payouts. Some insiders say it's a criminal twist on the strategy that made cloud giants so successful.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-02 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ransomware is following the business and distribution model that made cloud giants so successful. Experts say it's so easy to buy ransomware tool kits that hackers can make a monthly income from it. In the same vein, ransomware developers are taking care of back-end operations to get hackers up and running. Today's ransomware gig economy includes a network of behind-the-scenes operatorsThe ransomware gig economy behind ransomware-as-a-service programs has also expanded rapidly over the past two years. Record-breaking payouts include a $4.4 million ransom secured by hackers that attacked the fuel-pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline in 2021.

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