Cyber Intelligence Weekly (Aug 15, 2021): Our Take on Three Things You Need to Know
Welcome to our weekly post where I will be sharing some of the major developments on the future of cybersecurity that you need to know about. Make sure to follow my LinkedIn page as well as Echelon’s LinkedIn page to receive updates on the Future of Cybersecurity!
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Away we go!
1. Can you Hear Me Now? Potential Massive Data Breach at T-Mobile
T-Mobile, proclaimers of America’s so-called largest and fastest 5G network, and one of the largest wireless telecommunications companies in the United States is potentially dealing with a data breach of massive proportions.
Joseph Cox of Motherboard is reporting the story, where reports of over 100 million records are being sold on the dark web. The data reportedly contains social security numbers, phone numbers, names, physical addresses, unique IMEI numbers, and driver licenses information of T-Mobile customers.
T-Mobile is currently mum on the news and has not made any official statements or press releases regarding the supposed breach. This will be one to monitor as the week unfolds.
2. Update on Apple’s Privacy Nightmare
We reported here last week about Apple’s plans to scan users iCloud and other photos for Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). While no one doubts the good intentions of these measures, the backlash over privacy concerns keep on rolling in.
Most recently, Apple’s own employees are apparently up in arms and have been ‘flooding’ Apple’s Slack channels with sentiment against these measures. Apple also came out on Friday last week and mentioned and backtracked somewhat by saying that they will only review images flagged in multiple nations. Apple has also continued to state that they will not allow governments to search this database or use this data in other ways that it was not intended, citing that they will "will refuse any demands" from governments.
My main concern is that once a ‘backdoor’ to review private encrypted photos is in place, the genie is out of the bottle at that point and there are unlimited avenues that could lead to potential abuse. Apple could eventually succumb to government demands, there could be other unforeseen external pressures, the system could be abused by trusted insiders, the data could be hacked, etc. Once the backdoor is in place, there is no telling how it could be misused.
3. Patching Needed for Microsoft Patching Software
This may sound like something that is straight out of the Department of the Redundancy Department, but this is actually news from Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday from last week. Microsoft has confirmed that attackers are actively exploiting CVE-2021-36948, which is the vulnerability in the Windows Update Medic service. Update Medic is a rather new Microsoft service that lets users repair Windows Update components from a damaged state so that the device can continue to receive updates.
As always, we recommend reviewing the Patch Tuesday list and beginning triage within your environment based on criticality and potential business impacts.
