So naturally, you can expect hackers to try to break everything.
Two reports this week shed light on the extent to which cyberattacks played a role in the incident.
- Security researchers have uncovered 16,000 scam domains using the FIFA 2022 World Cup branding, Internet company Group-IB said in a report Tuesday.
- Cybercriminals are turning to a range of scams, from selling fake World Cup-related tickets to fake crypto tokens, cybersecurity firm CloudSEK said in a report Tuesday.
“The hype and popularity of the FIFA World Cup has attracted viewers from all over the globe. This in turn has attracted a variety of cybercriminals who want to make a quick buck by exploiting different fan followings and participating organizations,” the CloudSEK report Say. “Cybercriminals are motivated by financial gain, ideology or geopolitical connections.”
The two studies reflect only part of the cybersecurity concerns associated with the World Cup. Some of the concerns are specific to this year’s host, Qatar, which has raised growing concerns among U.S. officials in recent years over its surveillance efforts. European security regulators recently warned against downloading Qatar’s World Cup apps, saying they pose significant privacy risks.
The Group-IB and CloudSEK research follows other warnings from the cybersecurity industry.
- Recorded Future warned this month that state-sponsored hackers focused on gathering intelligence “could view the 2022 FIFA World Cup as a target-rich environment for cyber espionage and surveillance, targeting foreign dignitaries and businessmen alike”. However, the company said it did not expect a disruptive attack on the campaign by foreign-backed hackers.
- Also this month, Digital Shadows drew attention to some of the same scams by Group-IB and CloudSEK. In the meantime, Kaspersky called attention to fake match-streaming services, among other threats.
- According to Trellix, the volume of malicious emails in Arab countries increased by 100% in October. “It is common practice for attackers to leverage important/popular events as part of a social engineering tactic, especially targeting organizations associated with [the] Incident and more hopeful victims[s] for the offense,” Dakshkapoor and Spash Jainism Written for the company.
Almost 3.6 billion people watched the World Cup in 2018, FIFA said. This equates to more than half of the global population aged 4 and over.
Group-IB tallied other figures. In addition to the 16,000 scam domains, the company said it found about 40 fake apps in the Google Play store, more than 90 potentially compromised accounts on Qatari fan ID app Hayya, and dozens of fake Social Media Accounts, Mobile Applications and Advertising.
Case in point: Scammers set up a fake merchandise website, purportedly selling national team t-shirts, and placed 130 ads on social media marketplaces to promote it. When a visitor enters their card details, the scammers steal the victim’s money and possibly their card details.
CloudSEK also has some math. The 2018 FIFA World Cup was hit by 25 million cyberattacks every day, the company said.
Financially motivated hackers are doing things like selling fake Hayya cards needed to get into stadiums on matchdays, or offering bogus “World Cup Tokens” and “World Cup Coins” and promoting them as limited-edition cryptocurrencies.
- The latter idea seems to be taking advantage of the fact that Crypto.com is the official event sponsor.Likewise, Binance has partnered with football stars Cristiano Ronaldo Promote football-themed non-fungible tokens.
Hacktivists are also active this yearthe company said.
“The World Cup has caught the attention of hacker groups who are using social media to rally their followers and allies to boycott the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar,” CloudSEK said. “Messages from groups such as Anonymous have also been posted on cybercrime forums calling for other threats Actors support them.”
Some hacktivists have focused on distributed denial-of-service attacks, which flood websites with fake traffic, the company’s report said. These attacks are not as destructive as other types of cyberattacks, but they can be frustrating to someone trying to access a website. Hacktivists say they are concerned about human rights abuses in Qatar.
China uses surveillance as part of crackdown on coronavirus protests
The Chinese government is using its “ubiquitous surveillance system” as it tries to suppress protests related to COVID-19, Wall Street Journal’s Reporting by Rachel Liang and Brian Spegele. Officials appear to be using cell phone data and other tools to track protesters and organizers.
According to a WeChat post by Qu Weiguo, an English professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, police in Shanghai and Beijing checked the phones of people near protest sites to see if they had the Telegram app or a virtual private network installed on them. Colleague Li Shuqing reported today. Protesters use such services to sidestep censorship.
White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said she did not have any new information on whether the administration plans to help Chinese internet users bypass China’s “Great Firewall.” In September, the Biden administration offered help to Iranian protesters seeking to evade scrutiny and surveillance.
South Dakota contractors, employees banned from using TikTok on government equipment
The ban comes from an executive order by South Dakota’s governor. Christy L Noam (R) signed Tuesday, Associated PressReporting by Stephen Groves. This comes as Washington renewed scrutiny of the short-video app over issues of surveillance and propaganda.
“The Chinese Communist Party uses information gathered on TikTok to manipulate the American people, collecting data from the devices that access the platform,” Noem said in a statement. TikTok owner ByteDance did not respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment on Noem’s statement and ban, but TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas It has previously said the company protects the data of its U.S. users, which Chinese government officials do not have access to.
The South Dakota ban comes as TikTok and a U.S. government committee with powers to block international deals are working on a potential agreement. The U.S. military has similarly banned the use of TikTok on military government equipment.
Twitter no longer enforces covid-19 misinformation policy, company says
Since the introduction of the policy against covid misinformation in 2020, Twitter Suspended over 11,000 accounts and removed over 100,000 policy violations.Now the company is ending ban, after its latest pivot Elon Musk’s Buy Twitter.
The shift has some public health experts concerned, who say it could deter some people from getting vaccinated, taylor lorenz reports. At the same time, it has been a challenge for Twitter, which has faced criticism for censoring some content that turns out to be true, to police what content violates its policies.
“However, Twitter has also struggled to accurately police misinformation, recently beginning to label some factual information about covid as misinformation and to ban scientists and researchers who seek to warn the public of covid’s long-term physical harm,” Taylor wrote. “As of last weekend, many tweets promoting anti-vaccine content and covid misinformation remained on the platform.”
No answers to Pegasus hacking scandal as Spanish spy chief stays silent (Euronews)
NHS Palantir deal draws legal threats from patient groups (Bloomberg News)
UK parliament launches inquiry into national security strategy surrounding ransomware (The Record)
TSA Considers Use of Third-Party Evaluators in Upcoming Pipeline Regulations (NextGov)
DoD Wants Cyber Apprenticeships for Contractors, But Acquisition Regulations May Remain an Obstacle (FCW)
- deputy national security adviser anne newberggovernor of maryland Larry Hogan (R), Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology Laurie Locasio and other officials spoke Wednesday and Thursday at the Quantum World Congress in Washington.
- National Network Director Chris InglisCISA Executive Director Brandon Wales and Neuberger to speak at Thursday’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee meeting at 3:30 p.m.
thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.
