Dubbed ChaChi by researchers at BlackBerry, the RAT has recently shifted its focus from government agencies to schools in the US. Image: IvonneW, Getty Images/iStockPhoto A Remote Access Trojan is targeting schools and universities with ransomware attacks. Christened ChaChi by the BlackBerry Threat Research and Intelligence SPEAR team, the RAT is being used by operators of the PYSA ransomware, according to a report released by BlackBerry on Wednesday. Specifically, ChaChi has been discovered in data…

Scammers are on pace to steal nearly $1 million USD from unsuspecting users through a popular decentralized finance protocol, Uniswap, by abusing YouTube to promote a fake SpaceX coin as part of ads appearing before and during cryptocurrency videos. Background In early May, scammers compromised Twitter and YouTube accounts to promote a series of cryptocurrency scams ahead of Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, stealing over $10 million dollars in…

Ransomware attacks fell by 50% in Q1 2021 as threat actors shifted from using mass spread campaigns to focusing on fewer, larger targets with unique samples, according to the McAfee Threats Report: June 2021. The researchers noted that the traditional approach of using one form of ransomware to infect and extort payments from many victims is becoming less prominent, mainly because the targeted systems can recognize and block such attempts over time. Instead, they see…

Over three-quarters of consumers and cybersecurity professionals want to see ransom payments made illegal, as new figures showed a triple-digit year-on-year increase in victim organizations. Mandiant claimed to have detected a 422% increase in victim organizations announced by ransomware groups on their leak sites between Q1 2020 and the first quarter of 2021. That amounted to over 600 European organizations, with those in manufacturing, legal and professional services and retail most affected. The new figures…

A home improvement company has been fined £130,000 by the UK’s data privacy watchdog for inundating consumers with nearly a million nuisance calls. ColourCoat Ltd of St Leonards on Sea in East Sussex provides insulation and wall and roof coatings, as well as roof repairs and cleaning, according to its website. However, the firm is said to have made over 900,000 nuisance marketing calls to recipients in just over eight months. After scores of complaints to…

Cybercrime is now the primary means by which the North Korean state is funded, according to researchers at Venafi. The security vendor’s threat intelligence specialist, Yana Blachman, and her team analyzed publicly available information on state-sponsored attacks directed by the hermit kingdom over the past four years. They concluded that the Asian dictatorship now monetizes cyber-attacks to circumvent economic sanctions and keep the Kim Jong-un regime alive. However, global democracies must take more assertive action to…

Over the last year, our relationship with digital technology has changed completely, and probably irrevocably. The pandemic has been bruising in many different ways, but it has been clear from the very start how important the internet has been as a tool to help us through it. Even just a few years ago, the behavioural shifts it enabled would not have been possible. From offices running on videoconferencing, to essential retail moving online, to digitally-delivered…