ESET Research, a Slovak security research company, discovered a cyberattack launched in Ukraine on January 25, 2023, that deployed a new type of wiper malware. Written in the Go programming language, Russia is believed to be behind the attack and the malware, which ESET has dubbed “SwiftSlicer”. 

In case you haven’t noticed, everyone’s been talking about AI lately. Over the last year, the technology seems to have improved by leaps and bounds. If you want to create a beautiful (often kind of weird) image, you’ve got the likes of DALL·E 2 to help you, or if you want to create a line of code or some kind of prose, there’s the chatbot, ChatGPT. With the improvement has come a whole host of debates. While many think it’s the future, many fear it will steal jobs from creatives. Some academics even worry students will start using ChatGPT to write all their college essays. 

European law enforcement agencies from several countries teamed up to shut down a multi-country network of organized crime groups committing online investment fraud. According to Europol, the network operated through call centers, tricking victims into investing in fake cryptocurrency schemes. Authorities believe they stole millions of euros from victims. 

Ransomware attacks are on the rise globally, and the UK is no exception, according to new data from Avast. Infosecurity Magazine reports that the security vendor surveyed 1000 IT departments of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in October 2022, aiming to determine the cybersecurity risks they faced over the previous 12 months. 

In “how the heck did that happen” news, German security researchers got more than they bargained for after purchasing a biometric capture device off eBay. The device, which was created to capture fingerprints and perform iris scans, was initially listed on the e-commerce auction website eBay for $149.95. But security researcher Matthias Marx managed to wrangle it for the lower price of $68. 

Being secure online often requires putting some amount of trust into companies that claim to have our best interests at heart. While these security companies may indeed have their users’ best interests at heart, that’s not enough to prevent security breaches. When a breach then occurs, it can shake people’s trust in what was once considered a foolproof element of security. 

Mozilla, Microsoft, and Google have removed certificates and root certificates by TrustCor Systems’ from their trust stores following an investigation from The Washington Post revealing the company’s apparent links to companies within the US intelligence community. While there has been no concrete evidence of wrongdoing, many points raised worried users and tech companies alike.