Malware

Comments Wednesday were the most coordinated and forceful the White House has been about Russia allowing cybercrime within its borders. Cybersecurity leaders see this as progress toward more formidable moves from the administration.

Some saw Colonial Pipeline as a typical ransomware attack, albeit on a vulnerable target. Others saw this as reflective of weaknesses in the security posture of the nation’s critical infrastructure. And others felt the incident showcased inadequacies in the existing framework for public-private partnership. Here we offer a rundown of some notable characteristics and outcomes.

Using a hijacked Constant Contact email marketing account of USAID, the adversaries sent phishing emails to roughly 3,000 accounts at more than 150 different organizations. About 25 percent of these targets were international development, humanitarian and human rights organizations.

The TSA order marks the first mandatory cybersecurity practices for pipelines, and what some expect will be the first of more standards that the government puts in place to regulate how critical infrastructure operators protect networks and systems.