FBI on Akira ransomware revenues and SME targeting

In this week’s show Patrick Gray and Adam Boileau discuss the week’s cybersecurity news, including:

• Anthropic says a Chinese APT orchestrated attacks using its AI
• It’s a day ending in -y, so of course there are shamefully bad Fortinet exploits in the wild
• Turns out slashing CISA was a bad idea, now it’s time for a hiring spree
• Researchers brute force entire phone number space against Whatsapp contact discovery API
• DOJ figures out how to make SpaceX turn off scam compounds’ Starlink service

This week’s episode is sponsored by Mastercard. Senior Vice President of Mastercard Cybersecurity Urooj Burney joins to talk about how the roles of fraud and cyber teams in the financial sector are starting to converge. Mastercard also recently acquired Recorded Future, and Urooj talks about how they aim to integrate cyber threat intelligence into the financial world.

This episode is also available on Youtube.

Show notes

• Full report: Disrupting the first reported AI-orchestrated cyber espionage campaign
• Researchers question Anthropic claim that AI-assisted attack was 90% autonomous - Ars Technica
• China’s ‘autonomous’ AI-powered hacking campaign still required a ton of human work | CyberScoop
• Amazon discovers APT exploiting Cisco and Citrix zero-days | AWS Security Blog
• CISA gives federal agencies one week to patch exploited Fortinet bug | The Record from Recorded Future News
• PSIRT | FortiGuard Labs
• CISA, eyeing China, plans hiring spree to rebuild its depleted ranks | Cybersecurity Dive
• This Is the Platform Google Claims Is Behind a 'Staggering’ Scam Text Operation | WIRED
• A Simple WhatsApp Security Flaw Exposed 3.5 Billion Phone Numbers | WIRED
• DOJ Issued Seizure Warrant to Starlink Over Satellite Internet Systems Used at Scam Compound | WIRED
• Multiple US citizens plead guilty to helping North Korean IT workers earn $2 million | The Record from Recorded Future News
• Cyberattack leaves Jaguar Land Rover short of £680 million | The Record from Recorded Future News
• FBI: Akira gang has received nearly $250 million in ransoms | The Record from Recorded Future News
• Operation Endgame: Police reveal takedowns of three key cybercrime tools | The Record from Recorded Future News
• Inside a Wild Bitcoin Heist: Five-Star Hotels, Cash-Stuffed Envelopes, and Vanishing Funds | WIRED