Britain has initiated a new technology security partnership with India, aiming to boost economic growth and collaboration in telecom security while fostering investment in emerging technologies. The agreement will enhance cooperation on critical technologies, including semiconductors, quantum computing, and AI.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy emphasised that this partnership would address future AI and critical minerals challenges, promoting mutual growth, innovation, job creation, and investment. Lammy made these remarks during his visit to India, where he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India’s Minister for External Affairs.
Additionally, both nations have committed to closer collaboration on tackling climate change. That includes mobilising finance and advancing partnerships in offshore wind energy and green hydrogen.
Meta Platforms announced on Wednesday that it had removed approximately 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria involved in financial sexual extortion scams, primarily targeting adult men in the United States. These Nigerian fraudsters, often called ‘Yahoo boys,’ are infamous for various scams, including posing as individuals in financial distress or as Nigerian princes.
In addition to the Instagram accounts, Meta also took down 7,200 Facebook accounts, pages, and groups that provided tips on how to scam people. Among the removed accounts, around 2,500 were part of a coordinated network linked to about 20 individuals. These scammers used fake accounts to conceal their identities and engage in sextortion, threatening victims with the release of compromising photos unless they paid a ransom.
Meta’s investigation revealed that most of the scammers’ attempts were unsuccessful. While adult men were the primary targets, there were also attempts against minors, which Meta reported to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in the US. The company employed new technical measures to identify and combat sextortion activities.
Online scams have increased in Nigeria, where economic hardships have led many to engage in fraudulent activities from various settings, including university dormitories and affluent neighbourhoods. Meta noted that some of the removed accounts were not only participating in scams but also sharing guides, scripts, and photos to assist others in creating fake accounts for similar fraudulent purposes.
CrowdStrike has issued a preliminary review of the recent issue affecting its Falcon sensor and Windows operating system. On July 19, 2024, a problematic update to CrowdStrike’s Rapid Response Content led to a system crash on Windows machines running sensor version 7.11 and above. The update was designed to gather telemetry on new threats but inadvertently caused an out-of-bounds memory read, resulting in a Windows blue screen error.
The faulty update was quickly reverted within an hour of deployment, and systems online after the fix were not affected. The issue was traced back to a bug in the Content Validator, which allowed problematic content to pass validation. CrowdStrike is now taking steps to improve its testing and validation processes to prevent similar issues in the future. That includes enhancing error handling, adding more validation checks, and implementing a staggered deployment strategy for updates.
Update: Our preliminary Post Incident Review (PIR) is available at the link below. Details include the incident overview, remediation actions, and preliminary learnings. More to come in our full Root Cause Analysis (RCA).
Automated recovery techniques, coupled with strategic…
CrowdStrike will release a detailed Root Cause Analysis later, and the impacted channel file has been deprecated to prevent further disruptions. The company is also improving its monitoring and providing customers with better control over update deployments.
Malaysia is urging social media platforms to strengthen their efforts in combating cybercrimes, including scams, cyberbullying, and child pornography. The government has seen a significant rise in harmful online content and has called on companies like Meta and TikTok to enhance their monitoring and enforcement practices.
In the first quarter of 2024 alone, Malaysia reported 51,638 cases of harmful content referred to social media platforms, surpassing the 42,904 cases from the entire previous year. Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil noted that some platforms are more cooperative than others, with Meta showing the highest compliance rates—85% for Facebook, 88% for Instagram, and 79% for WhatsApp. TikTok followed with a 76% compliance rate, while Telegram and X had lower rates.
The government has directed social media firms to address these issues more effectively, but it is up to the platforms to remove content that violates their community guidelines. Malaysia’s communications regulator continues highlighting problematic content to these firms, aiming to curb harmful online activity.
Malaysia’s digital minister has urged Microsoft and CrowdStrike to consider compensating companies affected by last week’s global tech outage. The disruption, caused by a faulty update to CrowdStrike’s security software, impacted computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating system, affecting internet services worldwide and various industries.
In Malaysia, five government agencies and nine aviation, banking, and healthcare companies were affected. Minister Gobind Singh Deo has requested a full report from Microsoft and CrowdStrike on the incident and asked them to implement measures to prevent future outages. He also emphasised the need for the companies to consider compensation claims from affected parties, with the government ready to assist where possible.
The total amount of losses has yet to be determined. Tony Fernandes, CEO of Malaysia’s Capital A, which operates AirAsia, highlighted the significant impact on airlines and other businesses, calling for appropriate compensation from the tech firms responsible.
A global system failure on 19 July 2024, caused by a CrowdStrike Windows update, left gate screens blue and blank at airports worldwide. The update resulted in failures with Windows servers, virtual machines, and end point systems, affecting 8.5 million devices. Experts believe the update may have skipped quality checks, leading to widespread ‘blue screens of death’ and inoperable systems.
Organisations have struggled to restore operations, with Gartner releasing guidelines for immediate and long-term measures. Security teams are advised to be vigilant for opportunistic attacks, such as phishing and ransomware, as hackers exploit the chaos. The incident underscores the importance of resilience in the face of interconnected system vulnerabilities.
Chris Morales of Netenrich warned of potential phishing attacks, credential stuffing, and brute-force breaches during the outage. Gartner also highlighted the need to manage employee burnout as help desk staff face increased workloads. Ensuring temporary measures are properly decommissioned will be crucial to avoid further issues.
Long-term recommendations include focusing on resilience through redundant systems, continuous data backup, and comprehensive supply chain oversight. Jenna Wells of Supply Wisdom emphasised the importance of proactive business continuity plans to mitigate future incidents, stating that it’s not a matter of if but when an event will occur.
Cybersecurity startup Wiz has declined a $23 billion acquisition offer from Google’s parent company, Alphabet, opting to pursue its initial plan of an initial public offering (IPO). CEO Assaf Rappaport confirmed the decision in a memo, highlighting the company’s goals of reaching $1 billion in annual recurring revenue and proceeding with the IPO.
A congressional committee requested the CEO of the security company CrowdStrike, responsible for Friday’s widespread computer outage, to testify, intensifying legislative examination of the event. The House Homeland Security Committee’s Republican leaders have requested that CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz testify on Capitol Hill by Wednesday to explain the causes of the outages and the mitigation measures being implemented.
Kurtz previously confirmed that a defective content update for Windows users caused the outages, impacting businesses and government organisations globally. Microsoft estimates that 8.5 million Windows devices were affected. Microsoft spokeswoman Kate Frischmann stated that the outages’ impact was due to CrowdStrike’s reach, not Microsoft’s. Security companies often have significant access within Windows to block attacks effectively, but this can also lead to negative escalation of issues when errors occur. Microsoft also highlighted how it must grant these companies such access due to a 2009 agreement with European antitrust authorities whereby Microsoft has to offer security companies the same powers it does to its own security products.
Why does it matter?
The global IT outage underscores the significant reliance on a limited number of software services, raising national security concerns and the lawmakers underscore the importance of learning from this event to safeguard critical infrastructure. CrowdStrike’s role in identifying malicious activities potentially also highlights the risk of international adversaries exploiting such vulnerabilities. As noted by FTC Chair Lina Khan, the incident has brought attention to the dependence on Microsoft products and the inherent fragility of concentrated systems.
The movement of illicit semiconductor chips to Russia has seen a notable decrease, according to the US Department of Commerce, driven by intensified efforts from Western nations to curb the flow of technology that could support Moscow’s military capabilities. However, China and Hong Kong continue to serve as significant transhipment hubs, enabling the ongoing, albeit reduced, supply of these critical components.
Western governments have ramped up measures to control the export of semiconductor chips and other sensitive technologies to Russia. These actions are part of broader sanctions aimed at restricting Russia’s access to advanced technology that could be used in military applications. Enhanced scrutiny and stricter enforcement of export controls have been pivotal in reducing the volume of chips reaching Russia.
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the volume of semiconductor chips illicitly reaching Russia has fallen by approximately 20% over the past six months. Despite the slowdown, China and Hong Kong remain key transhipment hubs for semiconductor chips destined for Russia. Playing a crucial role in the supply chain, they often serve as intermediary points where chips are re-exported to avoid detection.
China and Hong Kong are employing sophisticated methods to circumvent sanctions and export controls, including re-routing shipments, re-labelling products, using shell companies, misdeclaring goods, and complex supply chains.
Why does this matter?
Industry experts highlight that while the reduction in chip flows is a positive development, the continued role of China and Hong Kong as transhipment hubs poses ongoing challenges. The complex nature of global supply chains and the high demand for semiconductors make it challenging to eliminate illicit flows entirely.
Spanish police have arrested three pro-Russian hackers suspected of carrying out cyberattacks against Spain and other NATO countries. These attacks, allegedly for terrorist purposes, targeted public institutions and critical infrastructures in nations supporting Ukraine in the ongoing conflict with Russia. The suspects, whose identities have not been disclosed, were detained in Manacor, Huelva, and Seville.
The arrests are linked to the hacktivist group NoName057(16), active since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Civil Guard reported that the group’s manifesto acknowledges their intent to retaliate against Western actions perceived as anti-Russian. Police released footage showing a Soviet-era flag in one suspect’s home.
