Tech Talk

Cybersecurity Awareness Month is an ideal time to refresh your cybersecurity awareness training. Here is one example of a security terms you should be familiar with:

Malware

Malware refers to malicious software developed to damage, disrupt, and infiltrate a computer, smartphone, server, or computer network. Malware is also used to open gateways or backdoors in a system or computer network to enable attackers to remotely plant other malicious software without requiring authentications from the user or system admin. Malware typically stays hidden and causes damage without the knowledge of the user.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI have recently become aware of vulnerability scanning activities carried out by an advanced persistent threat (APT) group associated with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Based on the information CISA and the FBI have available at this time, this scanning activity was carried out against, at least, US state-level and national-level political party web domains as well as general and election-specific state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) networks.

This scanning is considered network reconnaissance and potentially an early warning sign of future attempts by the APT group to conduct initial network exploitation activities that could lead to additional malicious cyber activity. While no school has been identified as a target to date, we need to remain vigilant.

If you notice anything suspicious, please let me know ASAP.

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