Hackers Have Breached U.S. Nuclear Facility Companies

According to a joint FBI and Homeland Security document obtained by the NY Times (and confirmed by security specialists responding to the attacks), hackers have been breaching nuclear and other energy facilities and manufacturing plants since May.

The report carried an amber warning, the second highest threat-level.

The hackers posed as job applicants and sent resume attachments (MS Word docs) to agencies that operate nuclear and other facilities, and when the HR department opened the attachments, their computers were infected, and the virus traveled from that computer to others connected in the agency's internal network.

Not known or not detailed in the report: What the purpose was (whether to steal secrets, cause problems, or other); what countries the hackers were based in; and whether the hackers were able to jump from their victims computers to control systems of facilities. There is no indication of evidence for anything to this effect, according to the Times.

The report used the term "advanced persistent threat actor" for the hackers, a term often meaning "backed by a government."

Google Starts Removing Private Medical Records from Search

Google updated their policy for personal info, adding 'private medical records' to the things they remove from search results.

What else have they excluded so far? National or government issued identification numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers and images of signatures.

The concern is that the information, which can be highly damaging if mistreated, can be leaked, hacked, or subject to errors.

UK Parliament Hit by Cyber Attack

A spokeswoman said from the National Cyber Security Centre said that "unauthorised attempts to access accounts of parliamentary networks users" were discovered.

"Parliament has robust measures in place to protect all of our accounts and systems, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect and secure our network. As a precaution we have temporarily restricted remote access to the network."

As part of the fix, networks were limited and MPs could not use their emails.

CIA Infecting Wi-Fi Routers for Last 10 Years

Wikileaks has released more CIA spying information as part of their Vault7 series, which earlier included the CIA hack that was used by the EternalBlue group to create the WannaCry pandemic.

According to the recent leak, 25 models of routers, including Linsys and DLinks, can be controlled by the CIA. It is suspected that small modifications would allow the tech to take control of 100 more models, too.

It's called CherryBlossom. It turns the router into a tool the CIA can use to monitor and manipulate all traffic, as well as infect all connected devices with malware (plant their own programs on computers to do what they want with them).

The documents leaked by Wikileaks date to 2007.

Windows Vulnerable to Government Hacks, They Say

"In reviewing the updates for this month, some vulnerabilities were identified that pose elevated risk of cyber attacks by government organizations, sometimes referred to as nation-state actors or other copycat organizations," Adrienne Hall, General Manager of Microsoft's Cyber Defense Operations Center, said in a blog post.

Microsoft distributed updates to protect against these types of risks in addition to this month's "Patch Tuesday," the security updates Microsoft rolls out each month. Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 and Windows Server releases after 2008 will be updated automatically. Earlier Windows will have to install the updates manually.

It isn't clear whether Microsoft was tipped off to a possible upcoming attack or not. Windows hacks has been in the spotlight since last month when the WannaCry pandemic struck, exposing Windows vulnerabilities.

Everyone Needs to Update their Windows ASAP, or Risk Being Locked Out of Their Computers, Security Experts Say

The WannaCry virus that shut down the UK health system this week is still making its rounds. It has now reached 150 countries and is continuing to spread.

It is expected that the hackers behind the ransomware will update it Monday, so it will be even more dangerous.

Computer security experts say that everyone should update their Windows OS, and back up all their data, because the virus is one that doesn't even need computer users to click anything; it is making its way around the internet searching for Windows that aren't updated. There is a known vulnerability in Windows that was exposed by an FBI data leak earlier this year. It seems hackers have based WannaCry on this known Windows vulnerability.

When a computer gets infected, all the data on it is encrypted and the owner no longer can access their files until they pay $300 in Bitcoin.

UK Hospitals Recover from Virus

Around 24 hours after being hit by the big malware attack that affected 100 countries, 97% of UK hospitals were back to normal.

There is talk that the computers were breached through a vulnerability in older Microsoft systems which was long ago identified by the NSA and which the NSA included it in its list of cyber weapons. The NSA information was leaked earlier this year.

According to the FBI, ransomware attacks are up 300% since last year.

Most computer infections have the same MO as always: a user clicks on an attachment in an email that installs the malware, or that "patches" aren't updated on systems when vulnerabilities come to light.

One way to protect computer information: Regularly back it up on an external drive or the cloud -- somewhere secure.

Huge Malware Attack Affects 70 Countries

Most prominent among the victims: The UK's National Health Service. Dozens of hospitals and medical centers had to be closed. Treatment was postponed, ambulances diverted. Appointments couldn't be made because it was too dangerous. Medical workers had no access to important information.

However, some security firms reported that most of the affected computers were in Russia.

It has been reported that the hackers may have used a tool that was a NSA secret before it was leaked to the public earlier this year.