### Impact

It was discovered that due to improper handling and escaping of user-provided query parameters, a maliciously crafted Nautobot URL could potentially be used to execute a Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (Reflected XSS) attack against users. All filterable object-list views in Nautobot are vulnerable, including:

- /dcim/location-types/
- /dcim/locations/
- /dcim/racks/
- /dcim/rack-groups/
- /dcim/rack-reservations/
- /dcim/rack-elevations/
- /tenancy/tenants/
- /tenancy/tenant-groups/
- /extras/tags/
- /extras/statuses/
- /extras/roles/
- /extras/dynamic-groups/
- /dcim/devices/
- /dcim/platforms/
- /dcim/virtual-chassis/
- /dcim/device-redundancy-groups/
- /dcim/interface-redundancy-groups/
- /dcim/device-types/
- /dcim/manufacturers/
- /dcim/cables/
- /dcim/console-connections/
- /dcim/power-connections/
- /dcim/interface-connections/
- /dcim/interfaces/
- /dcim/front-ports/
- /dcim/rear-ports/
- /dcim/console-ports/
- /dcim/console-server-ports/
- /dcim/power-ports/
- /dcim/power-outlets/
- /dcim/device-bays/
- /dcim/inventory-items/
- /ipam/ip-addresses/
- /ipam/prefixes
- /ipam/rirs/
- /ipam/namespaces/
- /ipam/vrfs/
- /ipam/route-targets/
- /ipam/vlans/
- /ipam/vlan-groups/
- /ipam/services/
- /virtualization/virtual-machines/
- /virtualization/interfaces/
- /virtualization/clusters/
- /virtualization/cluster-types/
- /virtualization/cluster-groups/
- /circuits/circuits/
- /circuits/circuit-types/
- /circuits/providers/
- /circuits/provider-networks/
- /dcim/power-feeds/
- /dcim/power-panels/
- /extras/secrets/
- /extras/secrets-groups/
- /extras/jobs/
- /extras/jobs/scheduled-jobs/approval-queue/
- /extras/jobs/scheduled-jobs/
- /extras/job-results/
- /extras/job-hooks/
- /extras/job-buttons/
- /extras/object-changes/
- /extras/git-repositories/
- /extras/graphql-queries/
- /extras/relationships/
- /extras/notes/
- /extras/config-contexts/
- /extras/config-context-schemas/
- /extras/export-templates/
- /extras/external-integrations/
- /extras/webhooks/
- /extras/computed-fields/
- /extras/custom-fields/
- /extras/custom-links/

as well as any similar object-list views provided by any Nautobot App.

### Patches

Fixed in Nautobot 1.6.20 and 2.2.3.

### Workarounds

No workaround has been identified

### References

- #5646 
- #5647

**Credit to [Michael Panorios](mailto:michael.panorios@pwc.com) for reporting this issue.**

**Impact**

It was discovered that due to improper handling and escaping of user-provided query parameters, a maliciously crafted Nautobot URL could potentially be used to execute a Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (Reflected XSS) attack against users. All filterable object-list views in Nautobot are vulnerable, including:

*   /dcim/location-types/
*   /dcim/locations/
*   /dcim/racks/
*   /dcim/rack-groups/
*   /dcim/rack-reservations/
*   /dcim/rack-elevations/
*   /tenancy/tenants/
*   /tenancy/tenant-groups/
*   /extras/tags/
*   /extras/statuses/
*   /extras/roles/
*   /extras/dynamic-groups/
*   /dcim/devices/
*   /dcim/platforms/
*   /dcim/virtual-chassis/
*   /dcim/device-redundancy-groups/
*   /dcim/interface-redundancy-groups/
*   /dcim/device-types/
*   /dcim/manufacturers/
*   /dcim/cables/
*   /dcim/console-connections/
*   /dcim/power-connections/
*   /dcim/interface-connections/
*   /dcim/interfaces/
*   /dcim/front-ports/
*   /dcim/rear-ports/
*   /dcim/console-ports/
*   /dcim/console-server-ports/
*   /dcim/power-ports/
*   /dcim/power-outlets/
*   /dcim/device-bays/
*   /dcim/inventory-items/
*   /ipam/ip-addresses/
*   /ipam/prefixes
*   /ipam/rirs/
*   /ipam/namespaces/
*   /ipam/vrfs/
*   /ipam/route-targets/
*   /ipam/vlans/
*   /ipam/vlan-groups/
*   /ipam/services/
*   /virtualization/virtual-machines/
*   /virtualization/interfaces/
*   /virtualization/clusters/
*   /virtualization/cluster-types/
*   /virtualization/cluster-groups/
*   /circuits/circuits/
*   /circuits/circuit-types/
*   /circuits/providers/
*   /circuits/provider-networks/
*   /dcim/power-feeds/
*   /dcim/power-panels/
*   /extras/secrets/
*   /extras/secrets-groups/
*   /extras/jobs/
*   /extras/jobs/scheduled-jobs/approval-queue/
*   /extras/jobs/scheduled-jobs/
*   /extras/job-results/
*   /extras/job-hooks/
*   /extras/job-buttons/
*   /extras/object-changes/
*   /extras/git-repositories/
*   /extras/graphql-queries/
*   /extras/relationships/
*   /extras/notes/
*   /extras/config-contexts/
*   /extras/config-context-schemas/
*   /extras/export-templates/
*   /extras/external-integrations/
*   /extras/webhooks/
*   /extras/computed-fields/
*   /extras/custom-fields/
*   /extras/custom-links/

as well as any similar object-list views provided by any Nautobot App.

**Patches**

Fixed in Nautobot 1.6.20 and 2.2.3.

**Workarounds**

No workaround has been identified

**References**

*   #5646
*   #5647

**Credit to Michael Panorios for reporting this issue.**

**References**

*   GHSA-jxgr-gcj5-cqqg
*   nautobot/nautobot#5646
*   nautobot/nautobot#5647
*   nautobot/nautobot@2ea5797
*   nautobot/nautobot@42440eb
*   https://github.com/nautobot/nautobot/releases/tag/v1.6.20
*   https://github.com/nautobot/nautobot/releases/tag/v2.2.3

GHSA-jxgr-gcj5-cqqg: nautobot has reflected Cross-site Scripting potential in all object list views

Four major wireless carriers have been fined by the FCC for sharing access to customers’ location data without consent.

After four years of investigation, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has concluded that four of the major wireless carriers in the US violated the law in sharing access to customers’ location data.

The FCC fined AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon a total of almost $200 million for “illegally sharing access to customers’ location information without consent and without taking reasonable measures to protect that information against unauthorized disclosure.”

The fines are divided up into $12 million for Sprint, $80 million for T-Mobile (which has now merged with Sprint), more than $57 million for AT&T, and an almost $47 million for Verizon.

From the press release it becomes apparent that the FCC considers real-time location data some of the most sensitive data in a carrier’s possession. Each of the four major carriers was found to be selling its customers’ location information to “aggregators,” who then resold access to such information to third-party location-based service providers.

The investigation by the FCC was set in motion by public reports like the ones in the New York Times, Vice.com, and a letter from Sen. Ron Wyden to the FCC. All pointed out that anyone could get location information about almost any US phone if they were willing to pay an unauthorized source.

The FCC press release specifically mentions a location-finding service operated by Securus, a provider of communications services to correctional facilities, as a source that provided the possibility to track people’s location.

The US law, including section 222 of the Communications Act, requires carriers to take reasonable measures to protect certain customer information, including location information.

The wireless carriers attempted to offload their obligation to obtain customer consent onto the downstream recipients of the location information. The end result was a failure in which no valid customer consent was obtained. And even though the carriers were aware of this, they continued to sell access to location information without taking reasonable measures to protect it from unauthorized access.

As reported by Krebs on Security, one of the data aggregation firms, LocationSmart, had a free, unsecured demo of its service online that anyone could abuse to find the near-exact location of virtually any mobile phone in North America.

Spokespersons of Verizon and AT&T both indicated to BleepingComputer that they felt as if they were taking the blame for another company’s failure to obtain consent.

T-Mobile said in a statement to CNN that it discontinued the location data-sharing program over five years ago. The company wanted to make sure first that critical services like roadside assistance, fraud protection, and emergency response would not suffer any negative consequences if it did.

All three companies indicated they will appeal the order. We’ll keep you posted on any new developments.

**We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

 Wireless carriers fined $200 million after illegally sharing customer location data 

USBs have something the newest, hottest attack techniques lack: the ability to bridge air gaps.

Source: Mohammad Aaref Barahouei via Alamy Stock Photo

Industrial cyberattackers are increasingly using removable media to penetrate operational technology (OT) networks, then leveraging the same old malware and vulnerabilities to make their mark.

For whatever reason, USB devices are a la mode again with some of the world's premier threat actors. Nowhere is this more evident than in the OT space where, according to Honeywell's "2024 USB Threat Report," attackers are "clearly" turning to USBs to get a foothold in industrial networks.

With that foothold, Honeywell reports, attackers are forgoing sophisticated exploitation techniques, zero-day vulnerabilities, or novel malware. Instead, they're leveraging old tools and bugs, plus the built-in capabilities of OT control systems to achieve their end goals.

**Why USBs?**

USBs have something that none of the newest, hottest attack techniques do: the ability to bridge air gaps.

True air gaps are physical separations between OT and IT networks designed to let no malicious attacks pass through. Some also use the term to describe other kinds of setups that distinguish IT and OT systems using access controls, segmentation, and the like. Air gaps are most often used in high-risk industries — think nuclear, military, financial services, etc. — where other means of demarcating IT and OT networks won't cut it.

"A lot of operational facilities are entirely air gapped," explains Matt Wiseman, director of OT product marketing at OPSWAT. "Those more modern approaches like email-based attack — something over the network — aren't really as effective when \[the OT systems\] are disconnected from the broader Internet. You need to be more creative, think outside the box. USBs and removable media are very interesting because they're the only threat you can pick up in your pocket and carry beyond that air gap."

Interestingly, the trend seems to have been born during COVID. In 2019, only 9% of USB-carried cyber threats to industry were actually designed for USBs. By 2022 — and consistently ever since — that number exceeded 50%.

Having crossed that air gap with a USB, attackers are opting for living-off-the-land tactics to perform data collection and exfiltration (observed in 36% of Honeywell's detected USB attacks), defense evasion (29%), and escalation privileges (18%), ultimately achieving persistence in the operational network.

Clearly novel and powerful malware and vulnerabilities are not the focus, as brand name tools of yesteryear such as BlackEnergy and Industroyer (aka CrashOverride) are still making rounds. The most common vulnerabilities exploited in such attacks — such as CVE-2010-2883 and CVE-2017-11882 — are equally dated. All of the most common CVEs listed in Honeywell's report have been known since at least 2018.

In most cases, the goal of these attacks is disruption or destruction. Around 80% of USB-based threats every year now are capable of causing disruptions to OT systems, including loss of visibility or control, or worse (ransomware, wipers, etc.).

**Defending Against USB Threats**

The good news for defenders is that with such antiquated threat vectors, fancy and expensive solutions aren't necessarily the solution. "You can always go with the fundamentals," Wiseman says, meaning strict USB policies and procedures.

At many organizations, he says, "You go back a number of years, there was an honor system. 'Hey, did you scan that?' Now you have technology that can check to make sure. If you plug something in, it's not going to work unless it has been scanned and checked by some type of formal security solution."

This technology often takes the form of a kiosk or "sanitation station" for scanning removable media, placed strategically at the exterior of a sensitive site in order to make sure no malicious ones make their way through. Sometimes those stations are paired with file transfer systems to ensure that no outside device ever actually has to cross the threshold of an industrial control floor.

"We're seeing more mature conversations now. What's our mobile program? What's the process for employees? What's the process for guests? How do we manage these devices? How do we view the activity that's occurring? And how do we ensure that we're ahead of it going forward?" he says. "There's definitely a massive realization of the threat that these devices can pose."

**About the Author(s)**

Nate Nelson is a freelance writer based in New York City. Formerly a reporter at Threatpost, he contributes to a number of cybersecurity blogs and podcasts. He writes "Malicious Life" -- an award-winning Top 20 tech podcast on Apple and Spotify -- and hosts every other episode, featuring interviews with leading voices in security. He also co-hosts "The Industrial Security Podcast," the most popular show in its field.

To Damage OT Systems, Hackers Tap USBs, Old Bugs &amp; Malware

Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile USA are being fined for sharing location data. They plan to appeal the decision, which is the culmination of a four-year investigation into how carriers sold customer data to third parties.

Source: Wavebreak Media ltd via Alamy Stock Photo

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has fined the top US wireless carriers a collective $200 million for sharing access to customers' location information without consent, the culmination of an action proposed four years ago as authorities continue to grapple with how to reel in companies' handling of sensitive personal data. For carriers, who note that the fines are based on outdated programs that no longer exist, the action represents unsettled regulatory waters as requirements for handling customer data security and privacy in the modern era continue to shake out.

Specifically, the FCC fined Sprint and T-Mobile USA, which have merged since the investigation began, more than $12 million and $80 million, respectively; AT&T more than $57 million; and Verizon almost $47 million.

The agency proposed the fines in 2020 based on an investigation that started after reports that a Missouri sheriff consistently used a "location-finding service" operated by Securus, a company that provides and monitors telecommunications service in correctional facilities, to access the location information of the wireless carriers' customers without their consent between 2014 and 2017.

The case ultimately revealed that the four telecom providers had programs in place at the time that were selling customer-location data to two data-aggregation firms, who then resold access to this data to other entities.

"This action demonstrated the carriers offloading obligations to obtain customer consent onto downstream recipients of location information," which in many instances meant customers did not actually consent to releasing their data, according to an FCC press release (PDF) on the decision. For their part, the carriers say that the data was shared with the third parties in order to enable location-based safety services such as roadside assistance.

"Our communications providers have access to some of the most sensitive information about us," said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement on the fines. "These carriers failed to protect the information entrusted to them."

This is likely not the end of the fines: The commission also said that it plans to continue to resolve these types of older privacy cases regarding customer data, holding "all carriers accountable and making sure they fulfill their obligations to their customers as stewards of this most private data," she said.

**Wireless Cos Push Back on FCC Privacy Fines**

All of the carriers confirmed to Dark Reading that they will go to court to appeal the decision, which was based on a provision of the Communications Act of 1934 that requires US wireless carriers to take reasonable steps to safeguard specific customer data, such as location information.

Generally, the companies claim the action by the FCC is based on outdated scenarios at the telecom providers that have since been remedied, and they no longer allow third parties to access sensitive customer location-based data.

Verizon spokesman Rich Young says the order concerns an old program at Verizon that required customers to opt in and was shut down more than five years ago. The program "was intended to support services like roadside assistance and medical alerts," he tells Dark Reading, and Verizon shuttered it when the company discovered it was being used fraudulently.

"Verizon is deeply committed to protecting customer privacy," Young says. "Unfortunately, the  FCC's order gets it wrong on both the facts and the law, and we plan to appeal this decision."

For its part, T-Mobile USA gave Dark Reading a statement to much the same effect: "This industry-wide third-party aggregator location-based services program was discontinued more than five years ago after we took steps to ensure that critical services like roadside assistance, fraud protection, and emergency response would not be disrupted. We take our responsibility to keep customer data secure very seriously and have always supported the FCC's commitment to protecting consumers, but this decision is wrong, and the fine is excessive. We intend to challenge it."

AT&T too plans to appeal the fines, which apply for a service that was discontinued in 2019.

"The FCC order lacks both legal and factual merit," a spokesperson says. "It unfairly holds us responsible for another company's violation of our contractual requirements to obtain consent, ignores the immediate steps we took to address that company's failures, and perversely punishes us for supporting life-saving location services like emergency medical alerts and roadside assistance that the FCC itself previously encouraged. We expect to appeal the order after conducting a legal review."

A spokesman for CTIA, a telecommunications industry trade association representing US carriers and resellers, also criticized the fines, citing a "broken enforcement process" on the part of the FCC that deserves examination by Congress.

"After touting the potential of location-based services to provide benefits like roadside assistance and emergency medical alerts, the FCC refused CTIA's request for guidance on how providers should run those programs, and is now penalizing providers for facilitating them," said CTIA senior vice president and chief communications officer Nick Ludlum, in a media statement.

**Carrier Uncertainly: Customer-Privacy Worries Persist**

Complaints that the FCC is behind the times may indeed be justified, as the commission is not known for moving quickly on clarifying how telecom and VoIP providers handle customer privacy.

For instance, it took the FCC 16 years to update how telecom and VoIP providers report data-breaches, issuing new rules in February of this year that they must notify customers whenever there's personally identifiable information (PII) involved in a cyber incident. The new rules — which also require carriers and service providers to report breaches to the FCC, the FBI, and the Secret Service within seven days of discovery — were the first since 2007 to be issued by the commission regarding data-breach notifications.

Meanwhile, the issue of customer privacy when it comes to carriers continues to be a worry, and the fines appear to demonstrate a heavy hand by the FCC in holding communications providers accountable when private customer data leaks. Abroad, other privacy troubles concerning how carriers handle customer data also are brewing.

For example, a huge swathe of telecom customers in Namibia recently were faced with losing their phone service if they didn't hand over sensitive biometric data to the country's premier telco, Mobile Telecommunications Ltd. The potential privacy threat occurred after a well-intentioned plan to combat mobile fraud and identity theft went astray.

**About the Author(s)**

Elizabeth Montalbano is a freelance writer, journalist, and therapeutic writing mentor with more than 25 years of professional experience. Her areas of expertise include technology, business, and culture. Elizabeth previously lived and worked as a full-time journalist in Phoenix, San Francisco, and New York City; she currently resides in a village on the southwest coast of Portugal. In her free time, she enjoys surfing, hiking with her dogs, traveling, playing music, yoga, and cooking.

Wireless Carriers Face $200M FCC Fine As Data Privacy Waters Roil

President Joe Biden has updated the directives to protect US critical infrastructure against major threats, from cyberattacks to terrorism to climate change.

The Biden administration is updating the US government’s blueprint for protecting the country’s most important infrastructure from hackers, terrorists, and natural disasters.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden signed a national security memorandum overhauling a 2013 directive that lays out how agencies work together, with private companies, and with state and local governments to improve the security of hospitals, power plants, water facilities, schools, and other critical infrastructure.

Biden’s memo, which is full of updates to the Obama-era directive and new assignments for federal agencies, arrives as the US confronts an array of serious threats to the computer systems and industrial equipment undergirding daily life. In addition to foreign government hackers and cyber criminals seeking to destabilize American society by crippling vital infrastructure, extremist groups and lone actors have plotted to sabotage these systems, and climate change is fueling natural disasters that regularly overwhelm basic services.

But foreign cyber threats loom largest as a danger in the near future. “America faces an era of strategic competition, where state actors will continue to target American critical infrastructure and tolerate or enable malicious activity conducted by nonstate actors,” Caitlin Durkovich, the deputy homeland security adviser for resilience and response, told reporters during a briefing on Monday.

The memorandum has three core purposes: to formalize the role of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as the lead agency tasked with protecting infrastructure from bad actors and natural hazards; to improve partnerships with the private sector through faster, more comprehensive information sharing; and to lay out the groundwork for minimum cybersecurity requirements for sectors that currently lack them.

The regulatory push represents a dramatic shift from the government’s approach to infrastructure protection a decade ago. The Biden administration, having concluded that voluntary partnerships were not sufficiently reducing risks to essential services, has applied new cyber rules to the aviation, pipeline, railroad, maritime, and medical device industries, and the Department of Health and Human Services is working on security requirements for hospitals. Now, the administration plans to use the new memo to turbocharge efforts to apply rules to other sectors.

“It is important that we work together to set baseline security standards for the lifeline sectors on which the American way of life and our democracy depends,” Durkovich says.

The document tasks the government’s “Sector Risk Management Agencies,” or SRMAs—each of which oversees and assists one or more infrastructure sectors with cyber and physical security—with determining whether existing rules adequately address their industries’ vulnerabilities and, if not, crafting new rules. The memo includes a process to help agencies if they conclude that they lack “the tools or authorities necessary to ensure effective implementation of those requirements,” a senior administration official said during Monday’s briefing, speaking anonymously pursuant to the White House’s terms.

That process is designed to support agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, which tried to issue cyber requirements for water systems in 2023 but abandoned the effort after a legal challenge from industry groups and Republican-led states.

Anticipating further industry pushback to new rules in various sectors, the White House is promising to collaborate with companies. “These requirements … need to be developed in close coordination with the owners and operators of that infrastructure to ensure they are appropriate and proportionate to the vulnerability,” the senior administration official says.

In addition to new cyber standards, the memo attempts to kickstart more harmonious and productive information-sharing relationships between government agencies and private companies. The private sector often complains that agencies either declassify information too slowly or keep it tightly restricted to only executives with security clearances. Many companies say that without timely access to the government’s detailed intelligence about hackers’ activities, it is difficult to stay ahead of those adversaries.

To address these tensions, Biden is directing US spy agencies to redouble their efforts to “collect, produce, and share intelligence” with infrastructure operators, Durkovich says.

The memo requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to produce a report on the state of the government’s information-sharing with the private sector. As part of that process, the senior administration official says, ODNI will work with CISA and other agencies to write procedures for better outreach to companies.

The government can look to two recent case studies for insights about the best ways to share useful information without jeopardizing the sensitive sources and methods used to gather it. As Russia began its expanded invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the intelligence community declassified and published intelligence about the Kremlin’s plans at such a rapid tempo that it stunned many former officials. And when officials wanted to warn companies about the seriousness of China’s recent cyber intrusions into US infrastructure, they convened classified briefings that starkly laid out the potential damage Beijing could do in the event of a war.

“We have a lot of instructive emerging practices and lessons learned from what has happened in the first three years of this administration,” says the senior official.

In addition to the report on information sharing, the memo also gives ODNI 180 days to produce a formal intelligence assessment on threats to America’s infrastructure, and the senior official says the government “will work to share that” with companies to the extent possible.

Beyond its major substantive changes, the new memo significantly boosts the stature of CISA, which did not exist when the previous plan was written. The memo codifies CISA’s twin roles as a government-wide coordinator for infrastructure security work and as the designated SRMA for eight of the 16 sectors.

CISA has pursued its role as the lead infrastructure protection agency in multiple ways, its director, Jen Easterly, told reporters during Monday’s briefing.

First, CISA reestablished a council of senior officials that makes major decisions about how agencies coordinate to address risks. Second, Easterly says, CISA has provided agencies with “guidance and templates” to help produce risk assessments and risk management plans for each of their sectors. Third, CISA is finalizing a list of “systemically important entities” whose operations power daily life in fundamental ways.

The government will work with the companies on the important-entities list—there are fewer than 500 of them—“to ensure they have the resources necessary to manage risk,” a second senior administration official told reporters on Monday. Those companies will also be priorities for regulation.

While it updates key parts of the government’s defensive playbook, the memo does not change the basic structure underpinning this work: the 16 sectors—each containing a collection of related industries—that together comprise the nation’s critical infrastructure. A CISA report published in late 2021 recommended that the administration consider adding new sectors for the space and bioeconomy industries, but officials decided not to do so.

“Because space is really a part of so many different sectors, it did not, at this time, make sense to break space out as a separate sector,” the second senior official says. (CISA is, however, focused on space cybersecurity.) Government leaders similarly decided that bioeconomy risks were not unique enough to merit a new sector. But both industries could receive their own sectors in the future “if there are significant changes” to the risks they face, says the second official.

In light of how quickly those risks and other conditions could change, the memo directs DHS to submit a “national risk management plan” to the White House every two years summarizing what the government is doing to prevent harm.

Biden administration officials see the new document as more than just an updated strategy. To them, it is a watershed moment in how the government organizes itself to protect Americans from poisoned water, widespread blackouts, and other infrastructure disasters.

The new memo, Durkovich says, “prepares us for the next decade—what the president calls the decisive decade—and what lies out on the horizon.”

The White House Has a New Master Plan to Stop Worst-Case Scenarios

Plus: Google holds off on killing cookies, Samourai Wallet founders get arrested, and GM stops driver surveillance program.

Controversial gunshot-detection company ShotSpotter has deployed more than 25,000 microphones across 170 cities worldwide. This week, WIRED and _South Side Weekly_ revealed the company may continue to provide gunshot data to police in cities even after contracts have ended. Internal emails seen by the publications suggest ShotSpotter sensors may have stayed online despite law enforcement deals having expired, raising questions about what will happen to 2,500 microphones in Chicago when its contract runs out at the end of the year.

Elsewhere, Change Healthcare finally admitted to paying a ransom to the AlphV hackers, also known as BlackCat, that extorted the medical company. Weeks ago, WIRED revealed the attackers were paid $22 million, one of the largest ransomware payments ever. However, in a statement this week the company admitted for the first time that it paid the ransom as part of its effort “to do all it could to protect patient data from disclosure.” Some of that data still found its way onto the dark web.

In another successful grift, researchers have found animators in North Korea creating artwork for major Hollywood studios. A misconfigured North Korea cloud server, discovered at the end of last year, contained thousands of animation files, notes, and working documents for productions of shows that stream on Amazon Prime Video and Max. The companies likely didn’t know workers from the Hermit Kingdom were creating the artwork, but it’s another example of how North Korea is using skilled workers to circumvent sanctions and make the regime money.

Meanwhile, Cisco revealed this week that some of its devices, called Adaptive Security Appliances, have been targeted by state-sponsored hackers who exploited two zero-day vulnerabilities in the systems. The attack, dubbed ArcaneDoor, is believed to have had an espionage focus and sources suspect China’s state-backed hackers may be the culprits.

The November presidential elections may still be months away, but the next US president will have increased surveillance capabilities. This week Joe Biden signed a controversial bill extending and enhancing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. FISA allows spy agencies to collect Americans’ calls, emails, and more when pursuing foreign intelligence. Critics say the changes are “a gift to any president who may wish to spy on political enemies.”

That’s not all. Each week, we round up the security and privacy news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.

**School Principal Framed Using AI Voice Deepfake**

In January, an Instagram account in Baltimore, Maryland, posted an alleged audio recording of local school principal Eric Eiswert making racist and antisemitic comments. Baltimore County Public Schools quickly opened an investigation into the incident. However, this week, a former athletic director at Pikesville High School was arrested after police said he used artificial intelligence software to create the fake audio clip of Eiswert. The audio included comments about “ungrateful Black kids” and disparaging remarks about the Jewish community.

Dazhon Darien, the former staff member, was arrested after being stopped in possession of a gun at an airport when officials saw there was an outstanding arrest warrant, the _Baltimore Banner_ reported. The media organization reports that Darien was charged with disrupting school activities and stalking. The fake clip was allegedly made in retaliation for the principal investigating Darien over irregular payments to his roommate.

Police reports, the _Banner_ says, indicate that the audio clip had a “profound” impact on the school principal. “It not only led to Eiswert’s temporary removal from the school but also triggered a wave of hate-filled messages on social media and numerous calls to the school,” police reports said.

Voice-cloning technology, which can fall under the broader banner of deepfake technology, has rapidly improved within the last year. Cloning tools can recreate someone’s voice to a relatively realistic level using just a few seconds of real audio. The systems have increasingly been used to impersonate politicians and scam people over the phone.

**General Motors Stops Driving Surveillance, Following Privacy Complaints**

Your car knows a lot about you—from where and how you drive, to your weight and how you sit. This week, following a series of revelations from _New York Times_ reporter Kashmir Hill, General Motors announced it will end its “Smart Driver” program and unenroll all customers. Until the reports from the _Times_, GM was sharing data with data brokers LexisNexis and Verisk, which shared it with insurers and led to high payments for some people. The OnStar Smart Driver program had been designed to promote safer driving, GM said. However, many people were not aware they had been enrolled in the system. Ten lawsuits have been filed so far about the Smart Driver program and how it shared data.

**Google Delays Killing Cookies—Again**

In January 2020, Google said it would remove third-party cookies from Chrome within two years—following Safari, Brave, Firefox, and other browsers in eradicating the tracking technology. It’s now April 2024 and the company has delayed the change for a third time, saying it’ll happen in 2025. Google’s proposed cookie replacement has faced scrutiny from competition and privacy regulators in the UK, with critics saying cookies are just being replaced by another form of tracking and suggesting the changes could further benefit Google’s ad business.

**Samourai Wallet Founders Arrested Over $2 Billion Unlawful Transactions**

Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, the founders of crypto-mixing service Samourai Wallet, were charged by US prosecutors this week for running an unlicensed money transfer business and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The company processed $2 billion in “unlawful transactions” and “facilitated more than $100 million in money laundering,” according to Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and other investigators. The charges can carry a maximum of 20 years each. The move comes as US prosecutors try to clampdown on crypto mixing services that may be used to hide funds or allow illicit behavior. Mixers Bitcoin Fog, Helix, and Tornado Cash have all faced action in recent years.

**Chinese Keyboard Vulnerabilities Could Reveal Typing**

New research from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab this week revealed vulnerabilities in eight Chinese keyboard apps that, if exploited, could allow everything typed to be intercepted. Up to a billion people may be impacted, the researchers say. They tested apps from major technology companies and phone makers, including Baidu, Honor, Huawei, Samsung and Tencent. “Most of the vulnerable apps can be exploited by an entirely passive network eavesdropper,” they researchers write, adding that most of the impacted companies fixed the vulnerabilities when they were reported.

School Employee Allegedly Framed a Principal With Racist Deepfake Rant

PRESS RELEASE

McLean, Va. & Bedford, Mass., April 25, 2024 — MITRE’s Cyber Resiliency Engineering Framework (CREF) NavigatorTM now incorporates the US Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) so cybersecurity engineers for the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) can strengthen supply chain resilience against sophisticated cybersecurity attacks. The CREF Navigator aligns with NIST SP 800-171, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) publication designed to safeguard Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and the subset of NIST SP 800-172 that aligns with the proposed CMMC Level 3 model which has 24 of the 34 security requirements that address more sophisticated cybersecurity attacks.

“Our national security depends on the security of our defense systems and the supply chains to enable that defense,” said Wen Masters, vice president, cyber technologies, MITRE. “All along the supply chain, you need accountability in following the appropriate security requirements to build a resilient system. Resilience in the face of a cyber-attack is not a quick fix. Resiliency must be engineered before an incident.”

MITRE in partnership with NIST created the original cyber resiliency framework, NIST SP 800-160, Volume 2 (Rev. 1). The CREF Navigator, which debuted in early 2023, makes that NIST framework searchable and visualized. With the tool, engineers can make educated and informed choices while designing resilient cyber solutions. Beyond pairing with CMMC, the CREF Navigator also aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK® knowledge base of tactics and techniques and Cyber Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) for cyber threat modeling.

“To allow cyber engineers to customize the tool for their individual needs, we enhanced the CREF Navigator so users can create their own scenarios and apply different parameters of threats and techniques,” said Shane Steiger, principal cybersecurity engineer, MITRE. “Regardless of how you keep your security data, you can import your data into the CREF Navigator via a .csv file, and the visualization of the data can be exported back out to a .csv file. Later this year, we’ll add enhancements for Zero Trust Architectures.”

As with many of MITRE’s resources for cyber defenders that are developed in the public interest, the CREF Navigator is freely available to the greater cyber community. See the CREF Navigator in action at https://CREFNavigator.mitre.org.

About MITRE  
MITRE’s mission-driven teams are dedicated to solving problems for a safer world. Through our public-private partnerships and as an operator of federally funded R&D centers, we work across government and in partnership with industry to tackle challenges to the safety, stability, and well-being of our nation. Learn more at mitre.org.

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MITRE's Cyber Resiliency Engineering Framework Aligns With DoD Cyber Maturity Model Cert

The business intelligence servers contain vulnerabilities that Qlik patched last year, but which Cactus actors have been exploiting since November. Swathes of organizations have not yet been patched.

Source: S. Bonaime via Shutterstock

Nearly five months after security researchers warned of the Cactus ransomware group leveraging a set of three vulnerabilities in Qlik Sense data analytics and business intelligence (BI) platform, many organizations remain dangerously vulnerable to the threat.

Qlik disclosed the vulnerabilities in August and September. The company's August disclosure involved two bugs in multiple versions of Qlik Sense Enterprise for Windows tracked as CVE-2023-41266 and CVE-2023-41265. The vulnerabilities, when chained, give a remote, unauthenticated attacker a way to execute arbitrary code on affected systems. In September, Qlik disclosed CVE-2023-48365, which turned out to be a bypass of Qlik's fix for the previous two flaws from August.

Gartner has ranked Qlik as one of the top data visualization and BI vendors in the market.

**Continued Exploitation of Qlik Security Bugs**

Two months later, Arctic Wolf reported observing operators of Cactus ransomware exploiting the three vulnerabilities to gain an initial foothold in target environments. At the time, the security vendor said it was responding to multiple instances of customers encountering attacks via the Qlik Sense vulnerabilities and warned of the Cactus group campaign as being rapidly developing.

Even so, many organization appear not to have received the memo. A scan by researchers at Fox-IT on April 17 uncovered a total of 5,205 Internet-accessible Qlik Sense servers, of which 3,143 servers were still vulnerable to Cactus group's exploits. Of that number, 396 servers appeared to be located in the US. Other countries with a relatively high number of vulnerable Qlik Sense servers include Italy with 280, Brazil with 244 and Netherlands and Germany with 241 and 175 respectively.

Fox-IT is among a group of security organizations in the Netherlands — including the Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure (DIVD) — working collaboratively under the aegis of an effort called Project Melissa, to disrupt Cactus group operations.

Upon discovering the vulnerable servers, Fox-IT relayed its fingerprints and scan data to DIVD, which then began contacting administrators of the vulnerable Qlik Sense servers about their organization's exposure to potential Cactus ransomware attacks. In some instances, DIVD sent the notifications out directly to potential victims while in others the organization attempted to relay the information to them via their respective country computer emergency response teams.

**Security Orgs Are Notifying Potential Cactus Ransomware Victims**

The ShadowServer Foundation is also reaching out to at-risk organizations. In a critical alert this week, the nonprofit threat intelligence service described the situation as one where a failure to remediate could leave organizations at a very high likelihood of compromise.

"If you receive an alert from us on a vulnerable instance detected in your network or constituency, please also assume compromise of your instance and possibly your network," ShadowServer said. "Compromised instances are determined remotely by checking for the presence of files with .ttf or .woff file extension."

Fox-IT said it had identified at least 122 Qlik Sense instances as likely compromised via the three vulnerabilities. Forty-nine of them were in the US; 13 in Spain; 11 in Italy; and the rest scattered across 17 other countries. "When the indicator of compromise artefact is present on a remote Qlik Sense server, it can imply various scenarios," Fox-IT said. It could for instance, suggest that the attackers executed code remotely on the server, or it could simply be an artifact from a previous security incident.

"It's crucial to understand that 'already compromised' can mean that either the ransomware has been deployed and the initial access artifacts left behind were not removed, or the system remains compromised and is potentially poised for a future ransomware attack," Fox-IT said.

**About the Author(s)**

Jai Vijayan is a seasoned technology reporter with over 20 years of experience in IT trade journalism. He was most recently a Senior Editor at Computerworld, where he covered information security and data privacy issues for the publication. Over the course of his 20-year career at Computerworld, Jai also covered a variety of other technology topics, including big data, Hadoop, Internet of Things, e-voting, and data analytics. Prior to Computerworld, Jai covered technology issues for The Economic Times in Bangalore, India. Jai has a Master's degree in Statistics and lives in Naperville, Ill.

Thousands of Qlik Sense Servers Open to Cactus Ransomware

By Waqas
In 2024, integrated residential security solutions are vital for comprehensive protection against evolving threats, safeguarding homes and families with advanced technology and seamless connectivity.
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Integrated Residential Security Solutions to Employ in 2024

As we progress through 2024, home security is rapidly advancing, with a notable shift towards integrated residential security solutions. These systems are the cornerstone of keeping your living space safe, using cutting-edge Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to provide comprehensive protection. 

Your home can now be outfitted with a suite of smart security devices, ranging from intelligent alarms to automated surveillance cameras, all working in unison to offer round-the-clock monitoring and real-time alerts.

With the increase in smart home devices, your home’s network faces many cyber threats. Robust firewalls, encrypted Wi-Fi systems, and consistent software updates are essential to safeguard your domain from potential digital breaches. 

Image: Hackread.com

Embracing these sophisticated security systems empowers you to create a safer and smarter home environment. Whether through enhanced connectivity that allows for seamless control over your security devices or via improved sensors that detect the slightest anomalies, your home security is now more reliable and intuitive. 

****Evolving Technologies in Home Security****

You’ll find now more than ever that your home’s defense is revolutionized by smart technologies that adapt and learn. These innovations are not only enhancing security but also ensuring seamless compatibility with your digital lifestyle.

****Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning****

To keep your home safe, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning are no longer just buzzwords—they are crucial components that drive modern security systems. 

Large-scale AI models in residential security mean your system can now accurately detect potential threats by distinguishing between normal and suspicious behaviors. This intelligence layer allows for proactive measures, significantly minimizing false alarms that were once a common nuisance.

****IoT and Smart Device Integration****

The intersection of IoT and home security forms a network of smart devices working in concert to safeguard your premises. 

Your security setup extends beyond traditional alarms, incorporating smart locks, cameras, and lighting to create a responsive environment. Integration with IoT devices ensures your home responds intuitively to various scenarios, such as adjusting lights and lock settings as you arrive or depart.

****Cloud and Edge Computing****

Your security system’s efficiency and scalability are vastly improved thanks to cloud computing, which provides reliable data storage and remote access to your system. Meanwhile, edge computing takes processing closer to the data source—your home’s security devices. 

This means faster responses to security triggers and less reliance on bandwidth, as data can be processed locally. The harmonious combination of cloud and edge computing improves reliability and streamlines the management of your home security infrastructure.

****Enhanced Surveillance and Monitoring Solutions****

State-of-the-art surveillance technology is key to ensuring the safety of residential spaces. These systems leverage advanced sensors and artificial intelligence to provide real-time alerts and high-quality video imaging, transforming traditional security measures.

****Advanced Camera Technologies****

Modern security cameras come equipped with intelligent noise reduction and superior imaging capabilities. 

This ensures you receive clear videos, reducing false alarms due to poor image quality. Enhanced low-light performance is now a standard feature, providing better surveillance, even in dim conditions.

****AI-Driven Surveillance****

Surveillance systems have grown smarter, incorporating AI technology to analyze video feeds in real time. This means your cameras can distinguish between routine movements and potential security threats, allowing for accurate alarms and alerts. 

AI-driven multi-family residential security camera solutions can aid in recognizing suspicious activities quickly, bolstering the security of private residences.

****Real-Time Monitoring and Alerts****

Your security solution can offer real-time monitoring, with the ability to automatically notify you or dispatch personnel when an incident occurs. 

Cameras and remote monitoring services provide constant vigilance for your property. Should an incident occur, you will be immediately informed with a detailed alert, enabling swift response and ensuring your peace of mind.

****Security Systems Implementation****

When choosing the optimal security system for your home, it’s essential to understand the installation process, recognize the significance of digital identity and authentication, and ensure the solution is tailored to meet your specific needs.

****Professional vs. DIY Installation****

The decision between professional installation and DIY solutions depends largely on your comfort level with technology and specific security needs. 

With professional installation, you’re guaranteed expert setup and continued professional monitoring. 

On the other hand, DIY installation provides a more hands-on approach and may be cost-effective if you have technical proficiency.

****Digital Identity and Authentication****

Incorporating digital identity and authentication into your residential security system adds a robust layer of protection. Reflecting on FTX’s downfall, it’s evident how vital stringent security measures are in any technology-dependent system, preventing unauthorized access and ensuring the integrity of sensitive information. 

Such systems usually involve biometric scanners or advanced code encryption, providing a more personalized and secure method for access control.

****Customization for Specific Needs****

Your home’s security system should be as unique as your household’s. Customization can range from selecting cameras with advanced motion detection to installing smart locks that integrate with your entire home automation system. Identify your specific needs to determine the features that will best secure your residence.

****Innovative Access Control Systems****

Innovative access control systems have evolved to offer not only enhanced security but also user convenience and system efficiency. 

From unlocking doors with a simple facial scan to managing access rights via sophisticated digital models, these systems are transforming residential security.

****Biometric and Facial Recognition****

Biometric security systems utilize your unique physical characteristics to ensure that only authorized individuals can access your home. 

Facial recognition technology, an integral part of this security approach, provides a touchless, fast, and secure method to manage entry. The security industry has embraced this technology for its ability to combine convenience with robust security.

****Smart Lock Technologies****

Smart locks represent a revolutionary step in home security, offering you the ability to control and monitor your door locks remotely. 

Characterized by home Wi-Fi connectivity or Bluetooth, these locks can integrate with your smart home systems, allowing real-time alerts and remote access management. They contribute significantly to your security and sustainability by reducing the need for physical keys and waste.

****Digital Twin Access Management****

The application of digital twin technology in access control refers to a virtual representation of your physical security system. You can visualize and manage the flow of people within your home in a secure digital environment. 

By layering this technology onto access point systems (APS), you gain a comprehensive view that enhances financial security and physical safety. Digital twins in security may also integrate with blockchain technology, offering a decentralized approach that can bolster security protocols.

****Conclusion****

With enhanced connectivity and smarter algorithms, your home security system in 2024 integrates flawlessly across devices. Your standard video systems are upgraded to advanced sensors and high-definition video capabilities, providing you with crisp imagery and precise detection of events.

Cybersecurity is no longer an afterthought in your connected home. Employing strong firewalls, encrypted Wi-Fi systems, and consistent software updates will help safeguard your digital assets on top of the physical ones. Moreover, cloud technology brings a new layer of convenience and efficiency. Your security feeds, storage, and real-time alerts are accessible anytime, anywhere, providing a seamless user experience.

By incorporating these integrated security solutions, your home remains a sanctuary, fortified against potential threats and giving you the peace of mind you deserve.

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Integrated Residential Security Solutions to Employ in 2024

Eight out of nine apps that people use to input Chinese characters into mobile devices have weakness that allow a passive eavesdropper to collect keystroke data.

Source: badboydt7 via Shutterstock

Nearly all keyboard apps that allow users to enter Chinese characters into their Android, iOS, or other mobile devices are vulnerable to attacks that allow an adversary to capture the entirety of their keystrokes.

This includes data such as login credentials, financial information, and messages that would otherwise be end-to-end encrypted, a new study by Toronto University's Citizen Lab has uncovered.

**Ubiquitous Problem**

For the study, researchers at the lab considered cloud-based Pinyin apps (which render Chinese characters into words spelled with roman letters) from nine vendors selling to users in China: Baidu, Samsung, Huawei, Tencent, Xiaomi, Vivo, OPPO, iFlytek, and Honor. Their investigation showed all but the app from Huawei to be transmitting keystroke data to the cloud in a manner that enabled a passive eavesdropper to read the contents in clear text and with little difficulty. Citizen Lab researchers, who have earned a reputation over the years for exposing multiple cyber espionage, surveillance, and other threats targeted at mobile users and civil society, said each of them contain at least one exploitable vulnerability in how they handle transmissions of user keystrokes to the cloud.

The scope of vulnerabilities should not be underestimated, Citizen Lab researchers Jeffrey Knockel, Mona Wang and Zoe Reichert wrote in a report summarizing their findings this week: The researchers from Citizen Lab found that 76% of keyboard app users in mainland China, in fact, use a Pinyin keyboard to input Chinese characters.

"All of the vulnerabilities that we covered in this report can be exploited entirely passively without sending any additional network traffic," the researchers said. And to boot, the vulnerabilities were easy to discover and do not require any technological sophistication to exploit, they noted.  "As such, we might wonder, are these vulnerabilities actively under mass exploitation?"

Each of the vulnerable Pinyin keyboard apps that Citizen Lab examined had both a local, on-device component and a cloud-based prediction service for handling long strings of syllables and particularly complex characters. Of the nine apps they looked at, three were from mobile software developers — Tencent, Baidu, and iFlytek. The remaining five were apps that Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, and Honor — all mobile device manufacturers — had either developed on their own or had integrated into their devices from a third-party developer.

**Exploitable via Active & Passive Methods**

Methods of exploitation differ for each app. Tencent's QQ Pinyin app for Android and Windows for instance had a vulnerability that allowed the researchers to create a working exploit for decrypting keystrokes via active eavesdropping methods. Baidu's IME for Windows contained a similar vulnerability, for which Citizen Lab created a working exploit for decrypting keystroke data via both active and passive eavesdropping methods.

The researchers found other encrypted related privacy and security weaknesses in the Baidu's iOS and Android versions but did not develop exploits for them. iFlytek's app for Android had a vulnerability that allowed a passive eavesdropper to recover in plaintext keyboard transmissions because of insufficient mobile encryption.

On the hardware vendor side, Samsung's homegrown keyboard app offered no encryption at all and instead sent keystroke transmissions in the clear. Samsung also offers users the option of either using Tencent's Sogou app or an app from Baidu on their devices. Of the two apps, Citizen Lab identified Baidu's keyboard app as being vulnerable to attack.

The researchers were unable to identify any issue with Vivo's internally developed Pinyin keyboard app but had a working exploit for a vulnerability they discovered in a Tencent app that is also available on Vivo's devices.

The third-party Pinyin apps (from Baidu, Tencent, and iFlytek) that are available with devices from the other mobile device makers all had exploitable vulnerabilities as well.

These are not uncommon issues, it turns out. Last year, Citizen Labs had conducted a separate investigation in Tencent's Sogou — used by some 450 million people in China — and found vulnerabilities that exposed keystrokes to eavesdropping attacks.

"Combining the vulnerabilities discovered in this and our previous report analyzing Sogou's keyboard apps, we estimate that up to one billion users are affected by these vulnerabilities," Citizen Lab said.

The vulnerabilities could enable mass surveillance of Chinese mobile device users — including by signals intelligence services belonging to the so-called Five Eyes nations — US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand — Citizen Lab said; the vulnerabilities in the keyboard apps that Citizen Lab discovered in its new research are very similar to vulnerabilities in the China-developed UC browser that intelligence agencies from these countries exploited for surveillance purposes, the report noted.

**About the Author(s)**

Jai Vijayan is a seasoned technology reporter with over 20 years of experience in IT trade journalism. He was most recently a Senior Editor at Computerworld, where he covered information security and data privacy issues for the publication. Over the course of his 20-year career at Computerworld, Jai also covered a variety of other technology topics, including big data, Hadoop, Internet of Things, e-voting, and data analytics. Prior to Computerworld, Jai covered technology issues for The Economic Times in Bangalore, India. Jai has a Master's degree in Statistics and lives in Naperville, Ill.

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