WEEK OF MARCH 14, 2022

Samsung hacked by same hackers as NVIDIA, 190GB worth of data stolen

• The same group that hacked NVIDIA have attacked Samsung, stealing 190GB worth of data including confidential Samsung code.
• The hackers made the 190GB of downloaded information from Samsung’s servers as a torrent, with the hacking group saying that it would deploy additional servers to get the download speed up higher.
• Not only that, but the hackers have reportedly gotten their hands-on “algorithms for all biometric unlock operations”, the “bootloader source code for all recent Samsung devices”, and even “confidential source from Qualcomm”.

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Ubisoft confirms ‘cyber security incident’, resets staff passwords

• Video game developer Ubisoft has confirmed that it suffered a ‘cyber security incident’ that caused disruption to its games, systems, and services.
• Data extortion group LAPSUS$, who has claimed responsibility for hacking Samsung, NVIDIA, and Mercado Libre thus far, appears to be behind this incident.
• At this time, there is no evidence indicating any personal information of players was exposed during the incident.

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Clearview AI fined €20M for collecting Italians’ biometric data

• The Italian privacy guarantor (GPDP) has imposed a fine of €20,000,000 on Clearview AI for implementing a biometric monitoring network in Italy without acquiring people’s consent.
• This decision resulted from a proceeding that launched in February 2021, following relevant complaints about GDPR violations that stemmed directly from Clearview’s operations.
• More specifically, the investigation revealed that the American facial recognition software company maintains a database of 10 billion images of people’s faces, including Italians, who had their faces extracted from public website profiles and online videos.

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Vodafone investigating threat from hackers behind Samsung breach to leak source code

• Vodafone said it is working with law enforcement to investigate claims of a data breach made by hacking group Lapsus$ who are threatening to leak the telecommunication giant’s source code.
• Lapsus$ claims it has 200 gigabytes worth of Vodafone source code.
• Lapsus$ last week claimed responsibility for a data breach of South Korean electronics giant Samsung in which the hacking group obtained source codes of Galaxy-branded devices like smartphones.

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Google Blocks Chinese Phishing Campaign Targeting U.S. Government

• Google says it has blocked a phishing campaign originating from China and aimed at Gmail users associated with the U.S. government.
• The attacks, Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG) director Shane Huntley said on Tuesday, happened in February and were completely blocked. According to him, TAG has no evidence that these attacks are related to the war in Ukraine.
• Likely working on behalf of the Chinese government, APT31 was previously observed targeting known vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange, and likely acquired and cloned an exploit associated with the NSA-linked Equation Group.
• Huntley also said that Google has sent warnings to all users who had their accounts targeted in government-backed attacks, including those who were not the focus of APT31.

*Source 

FBI: Govt officials impersonated in widespread extortion schemes

• Scammers are impersonating government officials and law enforcement in active and rampant extortion schemes targeting Americans’ money or personally identifiable information (PII).
• Cybercriminals use fake credentials belonging to well-known US government and law enforcement agencies.
• “The FBI is warning the public of ongoing widespread fraud schemes in which scammers impersonate law enforcement or government officials in attempts to extort money or steal personally identifiable information,” the FBI warned.

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