• Channels
    • #AxisOfEasy
    • Metaviews
    • Of Two Minds
    • Venture Crapital
  • Podcast
  • Our Mission
  • Contributors
  • Books
Subscribe

AxisOfEasy Subscribe

AxisOfEasy Weekly

Enter your email below to receive a concise, insightful weekly briefing and stay informed about cyberthreats and relevant tech happenings.

For the time being you do not have to be an easyDNS member to receive #AxisOfEasy, however when you subscribe we'll send you a $10 coupon in case you ever decide to try out one of our many web services.

#AxisOfEasy 285: Indigo Is The Latest Victim Of A String Of Cyber Attacks On Canadian Companies

by Mark E. Jeftovic on February 14, 2023

Weekly Axis Of Easy #285


Last Week’s Quote was “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete,”  was by by Buckminster Fuller.  Charles H Smith is our winner!

This Week’s Quote: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”  By ???

THE RULES:  No searching up the answer, must be posted at the bottom of this post, in the comments section.

The Prize: First person to post the correct answer gets their next domain or hosting renewal on us.


This is your easyDNS #AxisOfEasy Briefing for the week of February 13th, 2023 our Technology Correspondent Joann L Barnes and easyCEO Mark E. Jeftovic send out a short briefing on the state of the ‘net and how it affects your business, security and privacy.
 
In this issue:
  • Indigo is the latest victim of a string of cyber attacks on Canadian companies
  • Financial Sanctions Implemented Against Trickbot Operators by US and UK Governments
  • Bing Gains a ChatGPT Boost in Reignited Battle of the Search Engines
  • Russian National Linked to Ryuk Money-Laundering and Ransomware Pleads Guilty in US Court
  • New House Subcommittee to Hold First FBI Hearing Next Week


Elsewhere online:

  • iPhone users were not affected by Apple’s Maps privacy bug, and iPhone apps were not used without permission to access location data
  • An APT with advanced information-stealing capabilities has been discovered in the Russian Federation
  • A North Korean hacker is attacking hospitals in the United States
  • A new variant of the ESXiArgs ransomware has emerged since CISA released a decryptor tool for the malware
  • DDoS attacks impacted Tor and I2P networks

 

Indigo is the latest victim of a string of cyber attacks on Canadian companies

A cybersecurity incident has knocked Indigo Books & Music Inc.’s website and electronic payment systems offline, and the company is working with third-party experts to resolve the situation. Customers who recently purchased items online may experience delays with part or all of their order.

The attack is the latest in a string of cyberattacks experts say are increasingly targeting Canadian businesses.

“We’re going to be seeing more of these more frequently and the damage will be longer as organizations continue to struggle with the adoption of cloud technology and the explosion of artificial intelligence. Just about anybody can be a junior hacker and start creating malware.” said Robert Falzon, head of engineering at Check Point Canada.

As customers asked on Twitter about the outage, the company said it was working to restore its systems and determine if any customer data had been compromised.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is investigating the matter “to get more information, including a formal breach report, and to determine next steps,” spokesman Vito Pilieci said.

Read: https://www.cp24.com/news/indigo-latest-target-in-string-of-cyberattacks-on-canadian-businesses-1.6267274


Financial Sanctions Implemented Against Trickbot Operators by US and UK Governments

The United States and the United Kingdom have imposed financial sanctions on seven men who operate “Trickbot,” a cybercrime-as-a-service platform based in Russia that has been responsible for countless ransomware attacks and bank account takeovers since its creation in 2016. The US Treasury says that Trickbot is associated with Russian intelligence services and that the alliance led to the targeting of many US companies and government entities.

Trickbot was initially a Trojan horse program sent through email to steal passwords, but it has evolved into a highly modular malware suite that enables the Trickbot group to carry out various illegal cyber activities, including ransomware attacks. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Trickbot targeted hospitals and healthcare centers, launching a wave of ransomware attacks that disrupted the computer networks and telephones of multiple facilities and even caused a diversion of ambulances.

One of the sanctioned men, Vitaly “Bentley” Kovalev, is a 34-year-old Russian national and the alleged senior leader of the Trickbot group. Kovalev was indicted by a New Jersey grand jury in 2012 for running a massive money mule scheme that used fake job offers to trick people into laundering stolen funds from hacked small to mid-sized businesses in the US. Trickbot was heavily used by two of Russia’s most successful ransomware groups, Conti and Ryuk. In 2021, Conti extorted over $100 million from its victims, while Ryuk extorted over $150 million from its ransomware victims. Despite being sanctioned, Trickbot is still a threat to organizations and individuals around the world.

Read: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/02/u-s-u-k-sanction-7-men-tied-to-trickbot-hacking-group/


Bing Gains a ChatGPT Boost in Reignited Battle of the Search Engines

Microsoft is planning to integrate OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT software into its Bing search engine. In a bid to re-ignite the long-standing battle of the search engines between Microsoft and Google, there is renewed hope that ChatGPT’s current popularity will help pull in a new set of users for Bing. Microsoft has stated that there will be an event on Tuesday to announce the official upgrades to its search engine.

“The Bing upgrade will enable a new kind of search in which people will pose questions to the search engine in natural language and it will generate direct answers,” the report says.

Read: https://watcher.guru/news/microsoft-integrates-chatgpt-into-bing-search-engine


Russian National Linked to Ryuk Money-Laundering and Ransomware Pleads Guilty in US Court

On February 7, Russian national, Denis Mihaqlovic Dubnikov, 30, pleaded guilty in the US to money laundering charges connected to Ryuk ransomware attacks. Dubnikov was arrested in Amsterdam in November 2021 before being extradited from the Netherlands in August 2022. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said of the case: “Between at least August 2018 and August 2021, Dubnikov and his co-conspirators laundered the proceeds of Ryuk ransomware attacks on individuals and organizations throughout the United States and abroad.”

According to the DoJ, a large amount of the 250 Bitcoin ransom a U.S. company paid up in July 2019 after a Ryuk attack was sent to Dubnikov at the value of $400,000. Dubnikov’s criminal enterprise is estimated to have stolen at least $150m in ransom payments in total.

Dubnikov is also the co-founder of Coyote Crypto and Eggchange, with the latter situated in a skyscraper known to harbor money-laundering and ransomware cryptocurrency businesses. The latter, Eggchange, has received cryptocurrency valued at up to $34m from various darknet markets, fraud shops, and ransomware operators between 2019 and 2021 according to Chainalysis.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2023/02/russian-hacker-pleads-guilty-to-money.html

New House Subcommittee to Hold First FBI Hearing Next Week

Tyler Durden from ZeroHedge reports that a new House subcommittee will be holding its first hearing next week on the role of the FBI in the alleged “weaponization” of the federal US government. Durden believes that this could be one of the most significant investigations into the status of free speech in the United States to be held in decades. The FBI’s collaborations with social media agencies like Twitter to target “disinformation” online have placed it squarely in the hot seat for its alleged crimes of “censorship by surrogate,” he says.

In a damning report from the recent “Twitter files”, the true extent of the FBI’s role in censorship and monitoring social media online was revealed. According to these reports, several ex-FBI agents were revealed to be part of Twitter’s staff. Another email from August 2022, says that “long lists of newspapers, tweets, or YouTube videos” with anti-Ukrainian narratives were pegged by this system of monitoring, as were multiple satirical and comedy sites.

Although some may defend this as a genuine attempt from the government to fight rampant disinformation online, Durden writes that such a viewpoint is naïve. The US government was reported to have used several back channels to flag statements that it deemed unacceptable.

With the exposure of the Twitter Files, the social media giant seems to now admit to acting as an agent of the FBI and its interests. Though the full scale of this operation is still unknown, Durden supposes that this effort could well be the largest surveillance program the US government has ever run.

Read: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/congress-set-expose-what-may-be-largest-censorship-system-us-history


Elsewhere Online:


iPhone users were not affected by Apple’s Maps privacy bug, and iPhone apps were not used without permission to access location data

Read: https://9to5mac.com/2023/02/10/apple-maps-privacy-location-bug-details/


An APT with advanced information-stealing capabilities has been discovered in the Russian Federation
Read: https://cyware.com/news/russian-nodaria-apt-adds-advanced-information-stealing-functionality-63d5fbe6/


A North Korean hacker is attacking hospitals in the United States
Read: https://www.wired.com/story/north-korea-hacking-us-hospitals/


A new variant of the ESXiArgs ransomware has emerged since CISA released a decryptor tool for the malware
Read: https://thehackernews.com/2023/02/new-esxiargs-ransomware-variant-emerges.html


DDoS attacks impacted Tor and I2P networks
Read: https://latesthackingnews.com/2023/02/11/tor-and-i2p-networks-embraced-multiple-ddos-attacks/



Previously on #AxisOfEasy

If you missed the previous issues, they can be read online here:

  • February 6th, 2023: Canada’s ‘Cybersecurity’ Bill Is A Dangerous Overreach
  • January 30th, 2023: GoTo’s Data Breach Is Even Worse Than Previously Thought
  • January 23rd, 2023: California’s Unprecedented Data Breach Highlights Need For Privacy In Public Safety
  • January 16th,2023: Hackers Unleash Chaos: Danish Central Bank And Leading Private Bank Websites Under Siege
  • January 9th, 2023: New Quantum Cybersecurity Preparedness Act Aims To Protect Agencies Against Looming “Q-Day”

 

 

 

 

 

3 responses to “#AxisOfEasy 285: Indigo Is The Latest Victim Of A String Of Cyber Attacks On Canadian Companies”

  1. Mike says:
    February 14, 2023 at 6:42 pm

    My guess for the quote is Hunter S. Thompson.

    Reply
  2. Javais Gayle says:
    February 14, 2023 at 10:18 pm

    Stephen Covey

    Reply
  3. Javais Gayle says:
    February 15, 2023 at 8:18 am

    My guess for the quote is Stephen Covey

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Be informed. Be safe. Be amused, often stunned with #AxisOfEasy Weekly Enter your email below to receive a concise, insightful weekly briefing. When you subscribe we'll send you a $10 coupon in case you ever decide to try out one of our many web services.

AxisOfEasy Weekly

Enter your email below to receive a concise, insightful weekly briefing and stay informed about cyberthreats and relevant tech happenings.

For the time being you do not have to be an easyDNS member to receive #AxisOfEasy, however when you subscribe we'll send you a $10 coupon in case you ever decide to try out one of our many web services.

#AxisOfEasy
#AxisOfEasy
Bombthrower
Bombthrower
Metaviews
Metaviews
Of Two Minds
Of Two Minds
Uncategorized
Venture Crapital
Venture Crapital
#AxisOfEasy is brought to you by....

easyDNS

Power & Freedom™ since 1998




easyDNS

Latest Headlines

  • Bull or Bear? The Ultimate Source of Market Instability
  • #AxisOfEasy 290: Microsoft AI Ethics Department Disbanded Amidst Industry Warnings
  • Welcome to the Era of Warring Elites
  • And Just Like That, The Tight Money Era Is Over
  • We’ve Forgotten That Business-Cycle Recessions Are Essential
  • Is your bank “important” enough to save? Don’t count on it.
  • Funny Things Happen on the Way to "Restoring Financial Stability"
  • #AxisOfEasy 289: Drop What You’re Doing: Update Android Edition
  • A Mismatch of Short and Long-Term Interest
  • Banks, Banks, Banks: The Elephant Nobody Even Sees

Latest Comments

  • Glen A. Pearce on #AxisOfEasy 290: Microsoft AI Ethics Department Disbanded Amidst Industry Warnings: “SerpentZA over on Youtube actually did a good episode on the Pig Butchering scam back in Dec. 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZMboyepBK4 He…”
  • Tom Arkin on #AxisOfEasy 290: Microsoft AI Ethics Department Disbanded Amidst Industry Warnings: “was this week’s quote by Thomas Jefferson?”
  • Scott Dunston on #AxisOfEasy 290: Microsoft AI Ethics Department Disbanded Amidst Industry Warnings: “Plato is my guess for the this week’s quote.”

Behold The Axis

  • Epsilon Theory
  • Guerrilla Capitalism
  • James Kunstler
  • Metaviews
  • OfTwoMinds
  • Peak Prosperity
  • TTMYGH
  • Venture Crapital
  • Zerohedge

Tags

  • Bing
  • ChatGPT
  • Check Point Canada
  • Coyote Crypto
  • Denis Mihaqlovic Dubnikov
  • Eggchange
  • ESXiArgs
  • Indigo
  • Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
  • OpenAI
  • Robert Falzon
  • Ryuk
  • Trickbot
  • Tyler Durden
  • Vitaly "Bentley" Kovalev
  • Vito Pilieci
  • Zerohedge

Latest Headlines

Bull or Bear? The Ultimate Source of Market Instability

0 Comments

#AxisOfEasy 290: Microsoft AI Ethics Department Disbanded Amidst Industry Warnings

3 Comments

Welcome to the Era of Warring Elites

0 Comments

And Just Like That, The Tight Money Era Is Over

0 Comments

We’ve Forgotten That Business-Cycle Recessions Are Essential

0 Comments

Is your bank “important” enough to save? Don’t count on it.

0 Comments
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 190
  • Next »

Latest comments

Bull or Bear? The Ultimate Source of Market Instability

0 Comments

#AxisOfEasy 290: Microsoft AI Ethics Department Disbanded Amidst Industry Warnings

3 Comments

Welcome to the Era of Warring Elites

0 Comments

And Just Like That, The Tight Money Era Is Over

0 Comments

We’ve Forgotten That Business-Cycle Recessions Are Essential

0 Comments

Is your bank “important” enough to save? Don’t count on it.

0 Comments
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 190
  • Next »

Latest tweets

  • Microsoft AI ethics department disbanded amidst warnings FBI Analyst violates rules in Congress member search, re… https://t.co/ekwRpRdYzs2 days ago
  • The weekly #AxisOfEasy (289) featuring @JoeyTweeets and @TheBTCPriceBot is now up - and in your fave podcast feeds.… https://t.co/PI3q2Upxl56 days ago
  • RT @keyvandavani: Blowing Up The Clown World with Mark Jeftovic @StuntPope https://t.co/lkbaIymPAm7 days ago
  • Drop what you’re doing: Update Android edition Lazarus Group employs BYOVD attack & fileless execution in South K… https://t.co/zYj0SSHteU9 days ago

Plug into the #AxisOfEasy on....

Enter your email below to receive a concise, insightful weekly briefing

AxisOfEasy Weekly

Enter your email below to receive a concise, insightful weekly briefing and stay informed about cyberthreats and relevant tech happenings.

For the time being you do not have to be an easyDNS member to receive #AxisOfEasy, however when you subscribe we'll send you a $10 coupon in case you ever decide to try out one of our many web services.

  • Channels
    • #AxisOfEasy
    • Metaviews
    • Of Two Minds
    • Venture Crapital
  • Podcast
  • Our Mission
  • Contributors
  • Books

(c) 2017 - 2020 AxisOfEasy Media

  • Channels
    • #AxisOfEasy
    • Metaviews
    • Of Two Minds
    • Venture Crapital
  • Podcast
  • Our Mission
  • Contributors
  • Books