Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) News: 04 January 2021 -

Each business day, MSSP Alert broadcasts a quick lineup of news, analysis and chatter from across the managed security services provider ecosystem.

The Content: Written for MSSPs, SOC as a Service (SOCaaS), Managed Detection and Response (MDR), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) and MSP security providers — and those who need to partner up with such companies.
Frequency and Format: Every business morning. Typically one or two sentences for each item below.
Reaching Our Inbox: Send news, tips and rumors to [email protected].

A. Today’s MSSP News Alerts

1. Free Security Tool for Microsoft 365 and Azure Cloud: The CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) has created a free cloud security tool for detecting unusual and potentially malicious activity that threatens users and applications in Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Office 365.

2. Managed Detection and Response (MDR) Services: Granite Telecommunications has expanded its Granite Guardian end-to-end managed network services with Managed Detection and Response (MDR) security services.

3. Five Recent Ransomware Attacks: Victims include:

New York City's teacher discipline system;
the city of Cornelia, Georgia;
GenRx Pharmacy of Scottsdale, Arizona;
a healthcare provider in North Dakota; and
Nefilim ransomware attacked Whirlpool.

4. IT Outages Hit Carnival Cruise Subsidiaries: Aida Cruises and Costa Crociere, two subsidiaries of Carnival cruise lines, are suffering some sort of IT outage. The outage has forced Aida of Germany to cancel some cruises in recent days. Some IT security pundits are wondering if the IT outages involve ransomware attacks, but that speculation remains unconfirmed.

5. Firewall Backdoor Security Patch: Zyxel has released a patch to address a critical vulnerability in its firmware concerning a hardcoded, undocumented secret account that could be abused by an attacker to login with administrative privileges and compromise its networking devices, The Hacker News reports.

6. TicketMaster Fined for Alleged Hacking: Ticketmaster agreed to pay a $10 million fine to resolve charges that it repeatedly accessed without authorization the computer systems of a competitor.

7. FBI Warning: The FBI says stolen email passwords are being used to hijack smart home security systems to “swat” unsuspecting users, ThreatPost reports. The announcement comes after concerned device manufacturers alerted law enforcement about the issue. Swatting is a dangerous prank where police are called to a home with a fake emergency.

8. Hackers Attack Game Developer: Japanese game developer Koei Tecmo disclosed a data breach and took their European and American websites offline after stolen data was posted to a hacker forum, Bleeping Computer reports.

9. T-Mobile Data Breach: Details are here.

10. Partnership: OMNIQ Corp, a provider of Supply Chain and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based solutions, plans to offer Check Point’s ZoneAlarm security software in tandem with OMNIQ’s supply chain mobility solutions.