What I'm Reading 4/8/2020 - China Gets Hacked, US Military Deploys Cyber-Defenders, and Coronavirus

BankInfo Security - Hackers Target Chinese Government Agencies Via VPNs: Report -

This ongoing campaign appears to have started in March, the researchers say. The hackers are probing for security weaknesses as government workers in China work remotely and rely on VPNs during the COVID-19 pandemic, they say.

The hackers are exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Sangfor SSL VPN servers, according to the researchers' report. The attackers then attempt to plant a backdoor on devices belonging to government workers, the report notes.

Fifth Domain - Cyber operators deploy to the Pacific with USS America -

Defensive cyber operators with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed for the first time with the USS America in the Pacific, according to an April 5 news release from 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

The Defensive Cyberspace Operations-Internal Defensive Measures (DCO-IDM) with 31st MEU will ensure that the Marine Corps and Navy networks are securely integrated and defended against enemy probing and malicious activity, said 2nd Lt. Adam Kosianowski, officer in charge of the 31st MEU DCO-IDM. The team’s goal is also to establish a framework for future teams to take over and provide cybersecurity.

ZDNet -  Accenture acquires cybersecurity startup Revolutionary Security -

Accenture is acquiring Philadelphia-based startup Revolutionary Security as it works to expand its cybersecurity practice. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Revolutionary Security's portfolio includes services for risk assessment, breach and attack simulation testing, and designing and building security programs. The company's breach and attack simulation testing service is called LiveFire and is meant to help enterprises find gaps in their security and monitoring processes. The company employs 90 cybersecurity professionals across the US, Accenture said. 

Schneier on Security - RSA-250 Factored -

The team of computer scientists from France and the United States set a new record by factoring the largest integer of this form to date, the RSA-250 cryptographic challenge. This integer is the product of two prime numbers, each with 125 decimal digits. In total, it took 2700 years of running powerful computer cores to carry out the computation, which was done on tens of thousands of machines around the world over the course of a few months.

The key broken with this record computation is smaller than keys that would typically be used in practice by modern cryptographic applications: it has 829 binary bits, where current practice dictates that RSA keys should be at least 2048 binary bits long. Researchers use these types of computations to choose key strength recommendations that will remain secure for the foreseeable future.

Naked Security - As if the world couldn’t get any weirder, this AI toilet scans your anus to identify you -

What more really needs to be said?

Infosec Institute - Web server security: Infrastructure components -

This article in the web server protection series has covered the major infrastructure components that can be used to help harden your organization’s network security through one of potentially the most vulnerable parts of it. However, no single method or even a combination of methods can guarantee that your web server and the online presence that it enables will be defended against a determined attacker, now or in the future. 

But by understanding how all the different web server protection components work together, including their individual strengths and drawbacks, organizations can take the needed steps to reduce the chances that they will fall victim to a cyber attack. Or, at the very least, frustrating an attacker long enough so they look for a more vulnerable target.

Reuters - U.S. coronavirus death projection lowered but official warns of 'second wave' -

An influential university model on the U.S. coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday scaled back its projected death toll by 26% to 60,000 but a federal health official warned of a second wave of infections if Americans relax “social distancing” practices. 

BBC - Coronavirus: 'Drop in global trade to be worse than 2008 crisis' -

In a new report the WTO forecasts a contraction of between 13% and 32% this year.

The wide range of possibilities reflects the uncertainties about the health crisis.

It says the impact on trade is likely to exceed the slump caused by the financial crisis just over a decade ago.