This Week In Nerd News - July 13, 2020

Cyber Command backs ‘urgent’ patch for F5 security vulnerability.

Here’s a major bug in widely used networking gear which, if you haven’t patched your enterprise environment, you’re probably already a victim, according to @CISAKrebs.

One of the largest providers of enterprise networking equipment in the world, F5 Networks, has issued a security fix for a major vulnerability that, if exploited, could result in a “complete system compromise.”

Microsoft secretly seized domains used in COVID-19-themed email cyberattacks.

A U.S. federal court has allowed Microsoft to seize and take over a number of malicious domains used in a large-scale business email compromise (BEC) attack targeting victims in dozens of countries. The prevalence of this is no surprise if you ever look at certstream (real-time SSL certificate registrations) filtered by trademark strings.

A court has granted a bid by Microsoft to seize and take control of malicious web domains used in a large-scale cyberattack targeting victims in 62 countries with spoofed emails in an effort to defraud unsuspecting businesses.

The technology giant announced the takedown of the business email compromise operation in a Tuesday blog post.

Tom Burt, Microsoft’s consumer security chief, said the attackers tried to gain access to victims’ email inboxes, contacts and other sensitive files in order to send emails to businesses that look like they came from a trusted source. The end goal of the attack is to steal information or redirect wire transfers.

The hidden trackers in your phone, explained.

How covert code enables your phone’s apps to spy on you. Note that you’re tracked by default. It will take conscious action on your part to slow it down or stop it altogether.

In the earlier days of the coronavirus pandemic, an animated map from a company called Tectonix went viral. It showed spring breakers leaving a Florida beach to return to their homes across the US, as a series of tiny orange dots congregating on a beach in early March scattered across the country over the following two weeks.

Glupteba is state-of-the-art malware.

Lest we rest, thinking traditional defenses are good enough against cybercrime. Steve Gibson will be covering Glupteba in detail on Security Now Episode #775 tomorrow.

Here’s a SophosLabs technical paper that should tick all your jargon boxes!

Our experts have deconstructed a strain of malware called Glupteba that uses just about every cybercrime trick you’ve heard of, and probably several more besides.