12/1/23: RETVec, Ransomware, ReadySetCyber 2024 & more!

After a holiday hiatus -- here are this week's security updates!

Disruptive new wave of ransomware hits critical infrastructure

Several critical infrastructure organizations are responding to ransomware this week:

• Some hospitals across the U.S. had to divert ambulances from their emergency rooms and cancel elective procedures throughout the week due to a ransomware attack.
• The North Texas Municipal Water District is investigating a suspected ransomware attack this week.
• Ransomware hit Fidelity National Financial , a real estate services company, last week — making it impossible for some customers to pay their mortgages for several days.

Experts Urge Congress to Establish Clear SBOM Guidance

While the National Telecommunications and Information Administration published guidance on the minimum elements required for SBOMs, "current and proposed government requirements leave too many unanswered questions and ambiguities," according to Roger Waldron , president of The Coalition for Government Procurement .

"Current proposals would require an SBOM and attestation for major updates to existing software," Waldron said when testifying before the House subcommittee on cybersecurity, information technology and government innovation. "What is a major update? What about frequent, but small, updates? What is the role of open source and third-party software?"

CISA plans to launch ReadySetCyber tool in early 2024

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency provided a sneak peek into launching a new way for organizations to understand their cyber risk and receive targeted, straightforward guidance built around the agency’s Cybersecurity Performance Goals (CPGs). Set to debut in early 2024, the new tool called ReadySetCyber will simplify the process of incorporating cybersecurity into an organization’s business decisions, regardless of the level of expertise or the number of personnel on staff.

“Instead of making cybersecurity a daunting challenge, with the ever-present question of where to invest next, prioritization decisions become a guided, step-by-step process on a user-friendly interface accessible to organizations of all sizes,” Sandy Radesky , associate director for vulnerability management wrote in a CISA blog post. “By providing tailored resources and insights in a streamlined format, ReadySetCyber will empower users to align scarce resources with the most impactful cybersecurity measures for their organization.”

Okta delays product updates & internal projects as it works on security

“The stakes are high, and we will do whatever it takes to protect our current and future customers,” Chief Executive Todd McKinnon said in an earnings call Wednesday evening. “Bolstering our security environment is by far the highest priority for Okta. No other project or product-development area is more important,” he said.

Earlier Wednesday, Okta admitted that an October hack of its customer support system resulted in a far more significant data breach than previously thought, showing how challenging prompt cybersecurity disclosures can be, just weeks before new regulations that require many companies to do just that go into effect.

Google’s RETVec to help with malicious email detection

谷歌 revealed that a new text vectorizer developed by its researchers significantly boosts efficiency in detecting malicious emails in Gmail inboxes.

The new text vectorizer, called RETVec (Resilient & Efficient Text Vectorizer), has been described by Google as “an efficient, resilient, and multilingual text vectorizer designed for neural-based text processing.”?

The internet giant has been leveraging text classification models to identify phishing attacks, scams, inappropriate comments, and other harmful content on services such as YouTube and Gmail.

Subscribe for weekly security updates :)