Research Saturday

A new report examines how five related APT groups operating in the interest of the Chinese government have systematically targeted Linux servers, Windows systems and Android mobile devices while remaining undetected for nearly a decade.

The report comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Justice announcing several high-profile indictments from over 1,000 open FBI investigations into economic espionage as part of the DOJ’s China Initiative.

Joining us in this week's Research Saturday to discuss the report is Eric Cornelius of Blackberry. 

The research can be found here: 

Decade of the RATs: Novel APT Attacks Targeting Linux, Windows and Android

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Slack is a cloud-based messaging platform that is commonly used in workplace communications. Slack Incoming Webhooks allow you to post messages from your applications to Slack. Generally, Slack webhooks are considered a low risk integration. A deeper dive into webhooks shows that this is not entirely accurate. 

Joining us in this week's Research Saturday is Ashley Graves from AT&T Cybersecurity's Alien Labs to discuss her research. 

The research can be found here: 

Slack phishing attacks using webhooks

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Proactive, efficient threat mitigation and risk management require understanding adversaries’ fundamental thought processes, not just their tools and methods. Cyber threat intelligence analysts combed through 15 years (2004 to 2019) of public sources that have documented the activities of one prolific threat actor, Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU. Analysis shows that the timing, targets, and impacts of this activity mirrored Russian strategic concerns about specific events and developments. 

Joining us in this week's Research Saturday are Brad Stone & Nate Beach-Westmoreland from Booz Allen Hamilton to discuss their report and some of the 33 case studies presented in it.

The research can be found here: 

Bearing Witness: Uncovering the Logic Behind Russian Military Cyber Operations

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Earlier this year, a Virgin Media database containing the personal details of 900,000 people was discovered to be unsecured and accessible online for 10 months. The breach was discovered by researchers at the security firm TurgenSec. This breach had major implications under GDPR. 

Joining us in this week's Research Saturday are George Punter and Peter Hansen from TurgenSec to talk about the discovery of the breach. 

The research can be found here: 

Virgin Media Disclosure Statement & Resources

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Working with many different honeypot implementations, a security researcher did an experiment expanding on that setting up a simple docker image with SSH, running a guessable root password. The catch? What happened in the next 24 hours was unexpected.

Joining us in this week's Research Saturday to talk about his experiment is Larry Cashdollar of Akamai. 

The research can be found here: 

A Brief History of a Rootable Docker Image

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In December 2019, the GOLD VILLAGE threat group that operates the Maze ransomware created a public website to name and shame victims. The threat actors used the website to dump data they exfiltrated from victims' networks before they deployed the ransomware. Secureworks Counter Threat Unit (CTU) researchers have observed several ransomware operators following suit.

Joining us in this week's Research Saturday is Alex Tilley of SecureWorks' Counter Threat Unit. 

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Section 52, CyberX’s threat intelligence team, has uncovered an ongoing industrial cyberespionage campaign targeting hundreds of manufacturing and other industrial firms primarily located in South Korea. CyberX has identified more than 200 compromised systems from this campaign, including one belonging to a multi-billion dollar Korean conglomerate that manufactures critical infrastructure equipment such as heavy equipment for power transmission and distribution facilities, renewable energy, chemical plants, welding, and construction.

Joining us in this week's Research Saturday is Phil Neray, one of the authors of this report. 

The research can be found here:

Gangnam Industrial Style: APT Campaign Targets Korean Industrial Companies

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Multiple media reports have indicated that the United States’ (U.S.) 2020 general election could be targeted by foreign and domestic actors after the successful cyber and misinformation attacks during the 2016 general election. The responsibility of secure and ethical online campaigning has become a central issue in the 2020 election. In some cases, it has become part of candidate platforms.

Joining us in this week's Research Saturday is Paul Gagliardi from Security Scorecard, discussing their recent report detailing the cybersecurity of the 2020 Presidential race. 

The research can be found here:

2020 Democratic Presidential Candidates Get Smart to Cybersecurity Report

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Passwords are the traditional authentication methods for computers and networks. But passwords can be stolen. Biometric authentication seems the perfect solution for that problem.

Our guest today is Craig Williams, director of Talos outreach at Cisco. He'll be discussing and providing insights into their report which shows that fingerprints are good enough to protect the average person's privacy if they lose their phone. However, a person that is likely to be targeted by a well-funded and motivated actor should not use fingerprint authentication.

The research can be found here:

Fingerprint cloning: Myth or reality?

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Successful containment of the Coronavirus pandemic rests on the ability to quickly and reliably identify those who have been in close proximity to a contagious individual.

Mayank Varia from Boston University describes how his team suggests an approach based on using short-range communication

mechanisms, like Bluetooth, that are available in all modern cell phones.

The research can be found here:

Anonymous Collocation Discovery:

Harnessing Privacy to Tame the Coronavirus

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