As first reported by Reuters, in 2017, the U.S. Justice Department relayed national security concerns about Chinese telecom gear maker Huawei’s equipment to the Commerce Department and provided information on where the equipment was in place in the U.S.

One of the alarming incidents involving Huawei equipment, discovered by the FBI, relates to Chinese-made Huawei equipment atop cell towers near U.S. military bases in the rural Midwest. Sources say the FBI determined the equipment could capture and disrupt highly restricted Defense Department communications, including those used by U.S. Strategic Command, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons.

Those findings were a watershed moment that, unbeknownst to the public, spurred the Federal Communications Commission to initiate a rule that effectively banned small telecoms from using Huawei and a few other brands of Chinese made-equipment. However, the lack of funding for small carriers to “rip and replace” Huawei gear continues to be a problem. (Katie Bo Lillis / CNN)

Related: Chinanews.net, ThePrint, POLITICO

Klon Kitchen @klonkitchen

It’s not paranoia when they’re really out to get you.

CNN Exclusive: FBI investigation determined Chinese-made Huawei equipment could disrupt US nuclear arsenal communicationsOn paper, it looked like a fantastic deal. In 2017, the Chinese government was offering to spend $100 million to build an ornate Chinese garden at the National Arboretum in Washington DC. Complete with temples, pavilions and a 70-foot white pagoda, the project thrilled local officials, who hoped it…cnn.com

The mysterious and possibly nation-state analysts known as Intrusion Truth published two new articles they hope will damage China’s espionage and commercial data theft efforts.

The first article focuses on a front company called Chengdu 404, which contends it employs white-hat hackers offering penetration testing. Chengdu 404 has close links to both Sichuan University, which counts China’s APT 41 hackers as alumni, and the Chengdu University of Information Technology, by providing internships and teaching the next generation at these schools.

The second article points to the overlap between China’s APT 41 and APT 17 hacking groups and the code overlap among different Chinese hacking groups. (Intrusion Truth and Intrusion Truth)

Chris Bing @Bing_Chris

It is interesting how so many mercenary hacking teams market their cover companies as penetration testing firms. Seen through cases in Russia, China and India.

Intrusion Truth @intrusion_truth

Article 3: Chengdu 404, its use for APT41 activity and its connections to local universities #MSS #APT41 #Chengdu404 https://t.co/P6AKIIgegj

Gentry Lane @BadassDoGooder

Great analysis. Nation-state #cyber forces have distinct behavioral patterns. Military units or rando state-sanctioned hackers, they're people. And people are creatures of habit. #natsec

Chinese APTs: Interlinked networks and side hustlesAs FireEye pointed out on their APT41 overview, there is a high degree of malware and certificate overlaps across Chinese APTs but two in particular stand out as almost identical in their use of ma…intrusiontruth.wordpress.com

As expected, the Transportation Safety Administration updated cybersecurity requirements for big U.S. pipeline operators, giving them more flexibility over what cyber defensive measures they could take following a major ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline last year.

The new directive focuses on achieving key cybersecurity outcomes rather than dictating how to achieve them to pipelines. Pipeline operators complained about the 12-hour window within which they were required to report cyber incidents in the previous order. They now have 24 hours in a separate change that TSA made in May. (Sean Lyngaas, Pete Muntean and Greg Wallace / CNN)

Related: TSA, NextGov, Axios, FCW

T-Mobile agreed to a settlement totaling $500 million in a class-action lawsuit filed by customers after the company disclosed in August that sensitive data had been breached in a cyberattack.

The carrier said it would pay $350 million to settle the customers’ claims and spend $150 million over the next few years bolstering its cybersecurity protection and technologies. According to the company, the breach affected 76.6 million people in the United States. It’s unclear how much those affected by the breach will receive, but the proposed agreement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, stipulates that individual payments cannot exceed $2,500. (Michael Corkery / The New York Times)

Related: The Stack, Bloomberg Law, Marketwatch, TechCrunch, CNET, Gadgets Now, IrishExaminer.com, Cybersecurity Insiders, Teiss, WRAL Tech Wire, Security Week, Android Authority

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Zoom announced that it is adding end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to more of its services, including its cloud phone system Zoom phone,

Users of that service will be able to switch on E2EE during one-on-one calls. Zoom will also make available E2EE in breakout rooms, smaller discussions that break off from group meetings. (K. Holt / Engadget)

Related: Computerworld, TechRadar, NDTV Gadgets360.com, IT PRO, I Business Standard, Zoom

Google fired Blake Lemoine, the engineer who said he believes the company’s LaMDA conversational technology is sentient.

Lemoine shared the news of his firing in a taping of Big Technology Podcast on Friday, just hours after Google dismissed him. (Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology)

Related: The Verge, New York Times, CNN, Insider, Sky News, Washington Post, BBC News

Twitter suffered a data breach after threat actors used a vulnerability to build a database of phone numbers and email addresses belonging to 5.4 million accounts. The data is now up for sale on a hacker forum for $30,000.

A threat actor known as “devil” said on a stolen data market that the database contains info about various accounts, including celebrities, companies, and random users. As first reported by Restore Privacy, the vulnerability used to collect the data is the same one disclosed to Twitter through HackerOne on January 1st and fixed on January 13th. Twitter has yet to confirm the data breach. (Lawrence Abrams / Bleeping Computer)

Related: Security Affairs, Tech-Economic Times, Teiss, IT Security Guru, Techradar, Gadgets Now, Restore Privacy

Digital security giant Entrust has confirmed that it suffered a cyberattack where threat actors breached its network and stole data from internal systems.

Depending on the data stolen, the attack could impact a large number of critical and sensitive organizations that use Entrust for identity management and authentication, including U.S. government agencies, such as the Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Health & Human Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, and many more. Although details are unclear, a well-known ransomware gang is behind the attack. (Lawrence Abrams / Bleeping Computer)

Ryan Hurst @rmhrisk

Looks like we finally have some high-level news on the Entrust breach.

Digital security giant Entrust breached by ransomware gangDigital security giant Entrust has confirmed that it suffered a cyberattack where threat actors breached their network and stole data from internal systems.bleepingcomputer.com

Pro-choice hacktivists leaked more than 74 gigabytes of data connected to evangelical organizations.

The hacktivists specifically called out a conservative religious organization called Liberty Counsel, claiming they were “[n]oticing a worrying trend of far-right and anti-abortion activists aligning themselves with the evangelical christian movement [and] hiding their funding sources behind laws that allow church ministries to keep their donations secret.” A Rolling Stone article revealed that a top official with Faith & Liberty, a ministry within the Liberty Counsel, prayed with several Supreme Court justices, even as Liberty Counsel files briefs taking sides in cases before the court. (AJ Vicens / Cyberscoop)

CyberChick @warriors_mom

OperationJane: Hackers leak huge cache of data from evangelical organization that supported Dobbs decision (pro-life under attack!) 🆘 #CyberCrimes #Doxing #cybersec #DataBreach #SCOTUS cyberscoop.com/evangelical-wm…

Hackers leak huge cache of data from evangelical organization that supported Dobbs decisionThe hack is meant to expose donors to evangelical Christian groups opposed to LGBTQ and abortion rights, a message read.cyberscoop.com

In the face of China’s strict cybersecurity and data-protection regime, a thriving cross-border underground market has grown around the trade in the data of Chinese citizens, with much of the data supplied by the country’s vast surveillance apparatus.

Earlier this month, an anonymous user on a popular online cybercrime forum put up for sale data of an estimated 1 billion Chinese citizens stolen from the Shanghai police. Still, dozens of other databases are available online, many free. Tens of thousands more databases in China remain exposed on the internet with no security, totaling over 700 terabytes of data, the most significant volume of any country, according to LeakIX, a service that tracks such databases. (Karen Hao / Wall Street Journal)

JMDavis @JessMarinDavis

China & surveillance: When you have so much information and mass surveillance, "Amassing so much data in a single place inherently increases the risk it will escape into the wild,"

China Has a Problem With Data Leaks. One Reason Is Its Surveillance State.Cybersecurity researchers say the Chinese government’s mass collection of personal information aids in social control but undermines national security.wsj.com

A malicious governance proposal (Proposal #85) requesting the transfer of 18 million Audius’ in-house AUDIO tokens worth $6.1 million was approved via an exploit.

The attacker created the malicious proposal wherein they were “able to call initialize() and set himself as the sole guardian of the governance contract.” Blockchain security firm Peckshield narrowed down the fault to Audius’ storage layout inconsistencies. Investors have yet to receive clarity on the stolen funds. (Arijit Sarkar / Cointelegraph)

Related: BeInCrypto, UsetheBitcoin

PeckShield Inc. @peckshield

The issue of @AudiusProject lies in inconsistent storage layout between its proxy and impl. In particular, the collision of Audius Community Treasury contract results in an equivalence of disabling the initializer modifier. The proxyAdmin addr (0x..abac) plays a role here.

Indian online insurer Policybazaar said it was subject to an unspecified security incident with some customer data exposed.

The company did not identify what customer data had been exposed, whether there was a data breach by an attacker, or how many times the vulnerabilities were exploited. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Manish Singh / TechCrunch)

Related: Livemint, Telangana Today, MediaNama, News9Live, IBTimes India, The Tech Outlook

The Port of Los Angeles’ executive director Gene Seroka said that cyberattacks on the port have nearly doubled since the start of the Covid pandemic.

The threats are believed to come mainly from Europe and Russia and aim to disrupt the US economy. (Sam Fenwick / BBC News)

Robert Morton @Robert4787

U. S. intelligence says #cyberattacks against the Port of Los Angeles is now around 40 million per month, and the #threats come mainly from #Europe and #Russia, and are meant to disrupt the US #economy. #cybercrime #homelandsecurity #DHS #LosAngeles

Cyber-attacks on Port of Los Angeles have doubled since pandemicThe threats to the Port of Los Angeles are believed to come mainly from Europe and Russia.bbc.com

Ride-hailing giant Uber accepted responsibility for covering up a 2016 data breach that affected 57 million passengers and drivers as part of a settlement with U.S. prosecutors to avoid criminal charges.

Uber admitted that its personnel failed to report the November 2016 hacking to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, even though the agency had been investigating the ride-sharing company's data security. (Jonathan Stempel / Reuters)

Related: DOJ, Bloomberg Law

Researchers at Sekoia say that a mobile threat campaign by financially motivated Chinese hackers tracked as Roaming Mantis has been linked to a new wave of compromises directed against French mobile phone users, months after it expanded its targeting to include European countries.

Around 70,000 Android devices have been infected as part of the active malware operation. Sekoia also assessed that the amassed data gathered during the campaign could be used to facilitate extortion schemes or even sold to other threat actors for profit. (Ravie Lakshmanan / The Hacker News)

Related: Cyberintel Magazine, Sekoia

The White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director has named Google executive Camille Stewart Gloster as a deputy national cyber director focused on workforce programs and supply chain security issues, according to an official familiar with the hire.

She starts on August 1 as the deputy national cyber director for technology and ecosystem security. Most recently, she was the global head of product security strategy at Google. Stewart Gloster was also a senior policy adviser at the Department of Homeland Security during the last few years of the Obama administration. (Sam Sabin / Axios)

Tarah M. Wheeler @tarah

OMG @CamilleEsq is brilliant and a wonderful choice for the National Cyber Director's deputy role on workforce & supply chain!

Axios @axios

Exclusive: The White House has named Google executive Camille Stewart Gloster as deputy national cyber director focused on workforce programs and supply chain security issues. https://t.co/nRTq7CgWX7

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CORRECTED HEADLINE: FBI's Discovery of Huawei…