TOP OF THE DAY – Southeast Asian Cybercrime Profits Fuel Shadow Economy

(Robert Lemos – Dark Reading – 15 October 2024) Cyber-enabled fraud, innovative criminal organizations, and advances in money laundering have created a booming shadow economy in Southeast Asia that grows more entrenched every year, creating challenges for governments in the region. The criminal syndicates in the delta region of the Mekong River and the greater Asia-Pacific region operate out of casinos, hotels, special economic zones, and other properties, which have become hubs for massive cybercriminal enterprises, raking in between $27 billion and $37 billion a year in profits, according to a report published on Oct. 7 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). While some law enforcement organizations and regional officials have mounted efforts to fight against the growing criminal syndicates, they often just move their operations to “inaccessible and autonomous non-state armed group territories and other criminal enclaves,” the report stated. – Southeast Asian Cybercrime Profits Fuel Shadow Economy (darkreading.com)

Geostrategies

(Cole McFaul, Hanna Dohmen, Sam Bresnick, Emily S. Weinstein – Center for Security and Emerging Technology – October 2024) The Chinese Academy of Sciences is among the most important S&T organizations in the world and plays a key role in advancing Beijing’s S&T objectives. This report provides an in-depth look into the organization and its various functions within China’s S&T ecosystem, including advancing S&T research, fostering the commercialization of critical and emerging technologies, and contributing to S&T policymaking. – Fueling China’s Innovation: The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Its Role in the PRC’s S&T Ecosystem | Center for Security and Emerging Technology (georgetown.edu)

Security

(Zack Whittaker – TechCrunch – 14 October 2024) We’re almost at the end of 2024, a year that will go down as having seen some of the biggest, most damaging data breaches in recent history. And just when you think that some of these hacks can’t get any worse, they do. From huge stores of customers’ personal information getting scraped, stolen and posted online, to reams of medical data covering most people in the United States getting stolen, the worst data breaches of 2024 have surpassed the 1 billion stolen records and rising. These breaches not only affect the individuals whose data was irretrievably exposed, but also embolden the criminals who profit from their malicious cyberattacks. Travel with us to the not-so-distant past to look at how some of the biggest security incidents of 2024 went down, their impact and, in some cases, how they could have been stopped. – The biggest data breaches in 2024: 1 billion stolen records and rising | TechCrunch

(Ionut Arghire – SecurityWeek – 14 October 2024) The Iran-linked cyberespionage group OilRig has been observed intensifying cyber operations against government entities in the Gulf region, cybersecurity firm Trend Micro reports. Also tracked as APT34, Cobalt Gypsy, Earth Simnavaz, and Helix Kitten, the advanced persistent threat (APT) actor has been active since at least 2014, targeting entities in the energy, and other critical infrastructure sectors, and pursuing objectives aligned with those of the Iranian government. – Iranian Cyberspies Exploiting Recent Windows Kernel Vulnerability  – SecurityWeek

(Alessandro Mascellino – Infosecurity Magazine – 14 October 2024) A growing network of online scammers is targeting users of popular accommodation booking platforms such as Booking.com and Airbnb. According to new findings from ESET researchers, these cybercriminals use a Telegram-based toolkit called Telekopye, which has been operating since 2016. – Telekopye Scammers Target Booking.com and Airbnb Users – Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

(Alessandro Mascellino – Infosecurity Magazine – 14 October 2024) The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has urged organizations to address security risks related to unencrypted cookies used in F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) systems. According to the agency, cyber threat actors are exploiting these unencrypted persistent cookies to access and map non-internet-facing devices on networks. – CISA Urges Encryption of Cookies in F5 BIG-IP Systems – Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

(Ionut Arghire – SecurityWeek – 14 October 2024) Gryphon Healthcare and Tri-City Medical Center last week disclosed separate data breaches in which the personal information of more than 500,000 individuals was stolen. The Houston, Texas-based billing services provider Gryphon is notifying 393,358 individuals of an incident discovered on August 13, 2024, which involved an unnamed partner “that Gryphon provides medical billing services for.” – Gryphon Healthcare, Tri-City Medical Center Disclose Significant Data Breaches – SecurityWeek

(Eduard Kovacs – SecurityWeek – 14 October 2024) Fortinet believes a state-sponsored threat actor is behind the recent attacks involving exploitation of several zero-day vulnerabilities impacting Ivanti’s Cloud Services Application (CSA) product. Over the past month, Ivanti has informed customers about several CSA zero-days that have been chained to compromise the systems of a “limited number” of customers. – Chinese State Hackers Main Suspect in Recent Ivanti CSA Zero-Day Attacks – SecurityWeek

(Associated Press/SecurityWeek – 14 October 2024) A group helping to lay the groundwork for a future Donald Trump administration said its computer systems were breached, marking the second known instance that people supporting the former president have been the target of a cyberattack. The America First Policy Institute discovered the breach last week. It would not say what materials were compromised. – America First Policy Institute, a Group Advising Trump, Says Its Systems Were Breached – SecurityWeek

(James Coker – Infosecurity Magazine – 14 October 2024) US Department of Defense (DoD) officials have been empowered to better assess defense contractors’ cybersecurity protections with the finalization of the latest version of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program. Defense contractors will need to pass the program to bid for contracts with the DoD. – US DoD Tightens Cybersecurity Standards for Defense Contractors – Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

(Kevin Poireault – Infosecurity Magazine – 14 October 2024) Japanese game developer Game Freak, the firm behind the Pokémon franchise, has suffered a security breach exposing the data of 2606 employees and partners. The leak first appeared on forum 4chan in early October and is now circulating on social media and online forums under the name ‘TeraLeak’, following the naming trend of the 2020 Nintendo leak known as the ‘GigaLeak.’ – Pokémon Developer Game Freak Suffers Data Breach – Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

(Phil Muncaster – Infosecurity Magazine – 14 October 2024) Casio has revealed that some of its corporate systems and services are still damaged and personal information has been compromised, after a ransomware attack over a week ago. The Japanese electronics giant claimed in a notice on Friday that it was alerted to an unauthorized intrusion after a system failure on October 5 rendered several systems unusable. – Casio Confirms Ransomware Outage and Data Breach – Infosecurity Magazine (infosecurity-magazine.com)

Defense, Intelligence, and War

(Jen Judson – Defense News – 14 October 2024) Tasked by the Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, the service’s missiles and space shop is examining the possibility of sending new air and missile defense capabilities still in the prototype phase into theater, the program executive officer told Defense News. “The chief has challenged us and has asked us to look at opportunities, present some options, by which we would accelerate [the Integrated Battle Command System] to the field, accelerate [the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor] to the field and accelerate some of the [Indirect Fire Protection Capability] capabilities to the field,” Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano said in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference. – Army weighing sending missile defense prototypes forward into theater (defensenews.com)

(Todd South – Defense News – 14 October 2024) As the Army updates how it uses robots and autonomous systems in the next fiscal year, drone swarms, automated convoy operations and an exoskeleton to lighten the load are on the horizon. The Army released its Robotics and Autonomous Systems, or RAS, strategy in 2017 with a series of near-, mid- and long-term priorities. – From drone swarms to exoskeletons, Army charts path for robotic future (defensenews.com)

(Todd South – Defense News – 14 October 2024) The next developments for the Army’s newest rifle and machine gun may have more to do with software than bullets. The Army fielded its first batch of the Next Generation Squad Weapon, or NGSW, system to soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division earlier this year. Meanwhile, officials overseeing the program recently announced the next dozen units to receive the weapons systems over the coming year, with many of the personnel expected to field the new equipment assigned to Pacific-focused units. – Sensor upgrades next up for the Army’s new rifle and machine gun (defensenews.com)

(Tom Kington – Defense News – 14 October 2024) Aircraft and missiles heading into hostile territory will soon be relying on drone-mounted jammers flying ahead of them to bamboozle and block air defenses if a new British-built jammer takes off. In sharp contrast to stand-off jammers, which are placed on large aircraft out of harm’s way and take out enemy radars from long distance, Leonardo is launching a new “stand-in” jammer it claims will be small enough to fit on a drone and cheap enough to be expendable. – Leonardo debuts drone-mounted jammer to bamboozle air threats (defensenews.com)

(Jen Judson – Defense News – 14 October 2024) Army officials are pushing to add new 3D models to a repository of data files that troops can one day use to print spare parts close to the front line, according to a senior service official. During a recent rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, Louisiana, a team from the Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command passed a digital file of a repair part to a team that printed the replacement at the tactical edge. – US Army inches closer to 3D-printing spare parts under fire (defensenews.com)

Frontiers

(Tim De Chant – TechCrunch – 14 October 2024) Google announced (…) that it has signed a deal with nuclear startup Kairos Power to build seven small reactors to supply electricity to its data centers. The agreement promises to add around 500 megawatts of carbon-free electricity at a time when energy demand for data centers and AI is surging. The new power plants are scheduled to come online by the end of the decade, according to Google. It’s not clear whether the reactors would hook up to Google’s sites directly — an arrangement known as “behind the meter” — or if they would feed into the grid with Google claiming the carbon-free power by way of its agreement with Kairos. – Google signed a deal to power data centers with nuclear micro-reactors from Kairos — but the 2030 timeline is very optimistic | TechCrunch

(Aisha Malik – TechCrunch – 14 October 2024) Peanut, a social networking app for women, is launching a new feature to help users track their pregnancies. The new Peanut Track tool leverages seven years of data from questions asked on the social network and uses AI to anticipate questions that women have during different stages of their pregnancy. Founded in 2017, Peanut is an online community that is designed to connect women throughout all stages of their lives, from puberty to menopause. Now, the company is giving women personalized and anticipatory guidance tailored to each stage of pregnancy. – Peanut, a social network for women, adds a pregnancy tracking tool | TechCrunch

(Maxwell Zeff – TechCrunch – 14 October 2024) Adobe launched video generation capabilities for its Firefly AI platform ahead of its Adobe MAX event on Monday. Starting today, users can test out Firefly’s video generator for the first time on Adobe’s website, or try out its new AI-powered video feature, Generative Extend, in the Premiere Pro beta app. On the Firefly website, users can try out a text-to-video model or an image-to-video model, both producing up to five seconds of AI-generated video. (The web beta is free to use, but likely has rate limits.) – Adobe invites you to ’embrace the tech’ with Firefly’s new video generator | TechCrunch

(Ingrid Lunden – TechCrunch – 14 October 2024) Computer vision applications are getting a huge boost from advances in smartphones combined with AI that helps fill in the gaps of what everyday devices cannot see. Using these tools, a startup out of Munich called Beyond Presence believes it holds the keys to what is coming next: Hyper-realistic avatars that look and sound exactly like their human counterparts and can be used in real-time, conversational situations. The startup today said it raised its first outside funding, a pre-seed round of $3.1 million. German firm HV Capital is leading the round, with 10x Founders, Alba VC, and individuals from Meta, DeepMind and Zalando also participating. – After selling his last AI startup to Meta, Beyond Presence’s founder nabs $3.1M to build lifelike avatars | TechCrunch

(Aria Alamalhodaei – TechCrunch – 14 October 2024) The telecom industry is undergoing its greatest period of disruption since the telegraph, as companies work to open up space as the next frontier for communications. French startup Constellation hopes to take part by repurposing 5G tech to provide a Starlink-like satellite broadband that uses telecoms’ existing assets. Constellation Technologies and Operations, to call it by its full name, plans to launch a constellation of satellites in very low Earth orbit and work directly with telecom operators to provide high-speed internet access via small (but stationary) user terminals. – Constellation Technologies & Operations wants to work with telecom operators to deliver 5G internet from space | TechCrunch