More government data allegedly stolen by prolific criminals An extortionist claims to have stolen files from the US Army Aviation and Missile Command in August 2023, and now claims they are selling access to a $75 billion aerospace and defense company.... [...]

Plus: Google Chrome, Apple bugs also exploited in the wild Happy May Patch Tuesday. We've got a lot of vendors joining this month's patchapalooza, which includes a handful of bugs that have been exploited — either in the wild or at Pwn2Own — and now fixed by Microsoft, Apple, Google and …

Agency is on the lookout for a Prince among men The US Federal Communications Commission has named its first robocall gang, dubbing the crew "Royal Tiger," and detailed its operations in an attempt to encourage international action against the scammers.... [...]

After years of people being victimized, it's about time Google and Apple are rolling out an anti-stalking feature for Android 6.0+ and iOS 17.5 that will issue an alert if some scumbag is using a gadget like an AirTag or similar to clandestinely track the user.... [...]

Going once, going twice, going offline Christie's website remains offline as of Monday after a "technology security issue" shut it down Thursday night – just days before the venerable auction house planned to flog $840 million of art.... [...]

Hint: It's the 'the largest' maker of a key computer component RSAC An unnamed tech business hired IBM's X-Force penetration-testing team to break into its network to test its security. With the help of AI automation, Big Blue said it was able to do so within hours.... [...]

As gang tactics get nastier while attacks hit all-time highs Interview Ransomware hit an all-time high last year, with more than 60 criminal gangs listing at least 4,500 victims – and these infections don't show any signs of slowing.... [...]

But China's the most technologically advanced Interview China remains the biggest cyber threat to the US government, America's critical infrastructure, and its private-sector networks, the nation's intelligence community has assessed.... [...]

'This was a no sh*tter' RSAC A malware-laced USB stick, inserted into a military laptop at a base in Afghanistan in 2008, led to what has been called the worst military breach in US history, and to the creation of the US Cyber Command.... [...]

Spoiler alert: We're gonna talk about AI Interview Mick Baccio, global security advisor at Splunk, has watched the evolution of election security threats in real time.... [...]

Having China, Russia, and Iran routinely rummaging around is cause for concern, says ex-NSA man RSAC Digital intruders from China, Russia, and Iran breaking into US water systems this year should be a "wake-up call," according to former National Security Agency cyber boss Rob Joyce.... [...]

It's 'essential to national security' ex-Navy intel officer tells us Interview As undersea cables carry increasing amounts of information, cyber and physical attacks against them will cause a greater impact on the wider internet.... [...]

And it would seriously inconvenience the Chinese and Russians, too RSAC There's a way to vastly reduce the scale and scope of ransomware attacks plaguing critical infrastructure, according to CISA director Jen Easterly: Make software secure by design.... [...]

Keynotes, physical security, playlists... the buck stops with Linda Gray Martin Interview The 33rd RSA Conference is underway this week, and no one feels that more acutely than the cybersecurity event's SVP Linda Gray Martin.... [...]

'I'm blown away by the fact that they weren't using MFA' Interview The cybersecurity practices that led up to the stunning Change Healthcare ransomware infection indicate "egregious negligence" on the part of parent company UnitedHealth, according to Tom Kellermann, SVP of cyber strategy at Contrast Security.... [...]

Or at least it might well be if these trial programs work out, with some civil lib oversight etc etc etc RSAC AI is a double-edged sword in that the government can see ways in which the tech can protect and also be used to attack Americans, says US …

In the first year alone, that's saved us all a lot of money and woe Interview As ransomware gangs step up their attacks against healthcare, schools, and other US critical infrastructure, CISA is ramping up a program to help these organizations fix flaws exploited by extortionists in the first …

Extortionists turning to 'psychological attacks', Mandiant CTO says RSAC Ransomware infections have morphed into "a psychological attack against the victim organization," as criminals use increasingly personal and aggressive tactics to force victims to pay up, according to Google-owned Mandiant.... [...]

Privacy Not Included label slapped on 22 of 25 top lonely-hearts corners Interview Dating apps ask people to disclose all kinds of personal information in the hope of them finding love, or at least a hook-up.... [...]

Cops prevented crims from bilking victims out of more than €10m - but couldn't stop crime against art A Europol-led operation dubbed “Pandora” has shut down a dozen phone scam centers, and arrested 21 suspects. The cops reckon the action prevented criminals from bilking victims out of more than €10 …

Windows giant extends passwordless tech to everyone else Microsoft today said it will now let us common folk — not just commercial subscribers — sign into their Microsoft accounts and apps using passkeys with their face, fingerprint, or device PIN.... [...]

After extorting $700 million from thousands of victims A Ukrainian man has been sentenced to almost 14 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $16 million in restitution for his role in infecting thousands of victims with REvil ransomware.... [...]

Intrusion investors went through Blount farce trauma, says SEC Jack Blount, the now-ex CEO of Intrusion, has settled with the SEC over allegations he made false and misleading statements about his infosec firm's product as well as his own background and experience.... [...]

Vastaamo villain more than doubled reported crime in Nordic nation A cyber-thief who snatched tens of thousands of patients' sensitive records from a psychotherapy clinic before blackmailing them and then leaking their files online has been caged for six years and three months.... [...]

Congress to hear how Citrix MFA snafu led to massive data theft, $870M+ loss UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty will tell US lawmakers Wednesday the cybercriminals who hit Change Healthcare with ransomware used stolen credentials to remotely access a Citrix portal that didn't have multi-factor authentication enabled.... [...]