Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Government agencies, emergency clinics, and others in Australia, New Zealand, and Tonga have had serious run-ins with the prolific ransomware outfit.

PLUS: ASUS gets into healthcare gadgets; Vietnam’s first fab; Australia's child social ban takes out 4.7 million accounts; And more! Asia In Brief Microsoft is hiring senior managers to ensure its datacenters in Asia can access the energy they need.…

‘Elite teams’ are pondering cyber-attacks to turn off energy supply or telecoms networks The head of Australia’s Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has warned that authoritarian regimes “are growing more willing to disrupt or destroy critical infrastructure”, using cyber-sabotage.…

Also: F5 Revenue Dips, Swedish Utility Operator BreachedThis week, critical infrastructure breaches in Canada, a Swedish grid operator breached, an Australian guilty of selling cyber exploits, Gmail wasn't breached, F5 projected a revenue dip, PhantomRaven targeted developers, a Pakistan-linked actor targeted India and Dentsu confirmed a data breach.

Workers on joint US/UK/Australia nuclear submarine program are painting a target on themselves The Director-General of Security at the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) has lamented the fact that many people list their work in the intelligence community or on sensitive military projects in their LinkedIn profiles.…

Group's Advisory Follows an Updated Joint Alert from US, Australian AgenciesThe American Hospital Association is warning hospitals and other healthcare sector organizations of rising double-extortion attack threats involving the Play ransomware group. The AHA alert follows an updated joint government advisory issued last week about Play's latest tactics.

Australian Human Rights Commission Detected Leak of 670 Online Forms After a MonthThe Australian Human Rights Commission said unprotected online complaint forms exposed the personal, healthcare and demographic information of Australians to the public internet for over a month. The data leak exposed 670 complaints and nominations online.

​The Termite ransomware gang has claimed responsibility for breaching and stealing sensitive healthcare data belonging to Genea patients, one of Australia's largest fertility services providers. [...]

The continent faces "relentless" military espionage, and increased cyber sabotage at the hands of authoritarian regimes, according to a high-ranking intelligence director.

New Law Calls for Better Reporting, Securing Devices and Critical InfrastructureThe Australian government's proposed cybersecurity legislation passed both houses of the Parliament on Monday, formalizing the government's strategy to boost ransomware payment reporting, mandate basic cybersecurity standards for connected devices and enhance critical infrastructure security.

Australian Government Warns of Nation-State Actors' Plans to Weaponize MalwareThe Australian government is alerting critical infrastructure providers that state-sponsored actors are positioning malware in their networks that can be weaponized to disrupt operations during major crises or a military conflict. The hackers employ living-off-the-land technique to avoid detection.

Cybersecurity and intelligence agencies from Australia, Canada, and the U.S. have warned about a year-long campaign undertaken by Iranian cyber actors to infiltrate critical infrastructure organizations via brute-force attacks

IT and OT Teams Rarely Talk and When They Do, They Rarely Agree On AnythingAustralian critical infrastructure organizations must enable greater convergence between their information technology and operational technology teams to better respond to cybersecurity threats to their OT infrastructure, according to a new study by Palo Alto Networks.

Throw another healthcare biz on the barby, mate Australian prescriptions provider MediSecure is the latest healthcare org to fall victim to a ransomware attack, with crooks apparently stealing patients' personal and health data.…

The Black Basta ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation has targeted more than 500 private industry and critical infrastructure entities in North America, Europe, and Australia since its emergence in April 2022

Threat actors behind the Akira ransomware group have extorted approximately $42 million in illicit proceeds after breaching the networks of more than 250 victims as of January 1, 2024

Government proposes more modern and comprehensive cybersecurity regulations for businesses, government, and critical infrastructures providers Down Under.

And accuses a former Australian politician of having 'sold out their country' The director general of security at Australia's Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has delivered his annual threat assessment, revealing ongoing attempts by adversaries to map digital infrastructure with a view to disrupting important services at delicate moments.…

The threat actors behind the Play ransomware are estimated to have impacted approximately 300 entities as of October 2023, according to a new joint cybersecurity advisory from Australia and the U.S

Professors at the University of South Australia and Charles Sturt University have developed an algorithm to detect and intercept man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks on unmanned military robots. [...]