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Showing posts from February 5, 2023

Ransomware Attacks in Europe Targeting 2-Year-Old Computer Bug, Say Cybersecurity Agencies Amid Internet Outage

Cybersecurity agencies in Europe are warning of ransomware attacks exploiting a 2-year-old computer bug as Italy experienced widespread internet outages.  The Italian premier's office said Sunday night the attacks affecting computer systems in the country involved “ransomware already in circulation" in a product made by cloud technology provider VMware.  A Friday technical bulletin from a French cybersecurity agency said the attack campaigns target VMware ESXi hypervisors, which are used to monitor virtual machines.  Palo Alto, California-based VMware fixed the bug back in February 2021 but the attacks are targeting older, unpatched versions of the product.  The company said in a statement Sunday that its customers should take action to apply the patch if they have not already done so.  “Security hygiene is a key component of preventing ransomware attacks,” it said.  The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said Sunday it is “working with our public and

Government Bans Over 230 Betting, Loan Lending Apps With Chinese Links After Complaints of Extortion

In a major crackdown, the Central government has initiated the process to ban and block 138 betting apps and 94 loan lending apps with Chinese links on an 'urgent' and 'emergency' basis, top government sources said on Sunday. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ( MeitY ) is learnt to have taken the decision based on the recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). As per sources, the MHA recommended the MeitY this week to ban and block these apps, and the Ministry subsequently initiated the process as per communication. The move was taken after confirming that these apps attract Section 69 of the IT Act as they contain material which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India. The action behind the move is based on several complaints of extortion and harassment of common people who had availed small amounts of loans through the mobile apps being run by those entities and persons. It is learnt that these apps are the brainchild o