Eliana Willis

China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) is now in force, laying out ground rules around how data is collected, used, and stored. It also outlines data processing requirements for companies based outside of China, including passing a security assessment conducted by state authorities. Multinational corporations (MNCs) that move personal information out of the country also will have to obtain certification on data protection from professional institutions, according to the PIPL. The legislation was passed in August, after it went through a couple of revisions since it was first pitched in October last year. Effective from November 1, the new law was necessary to address the “chaos” data had created, with online platforms over-collecting personal data, the Chinese government then said. 

Personal information is defined as all types of data recorded either electronically or other forms, which relates to identified or identifiable persons. It does not include anonymised data.  The PIPL also applies to foreign organisations that process personal data overseas for the purpose of, amongst others, providing products and services to Chinese consumers as well as analysing the behaviours of Chinese consumers. They also will have to establish designated agencies or appoint representatives based in China to assume responsibility for matters related to the protection of personal data. The new legislation encompasses a chapter that applies specifically to cross-border data transfers, stating that companies that need to move personal information out of China must first conduct “personal information protection impact assessments”, according to Hong Kong’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD). They also will need to obtain separate consent from individuals pertaining to the transfer of their personal information and meet one of several requirements. These include agreeing to a “standard contract” issued by authorities overseeing cyberspace matters and fulfilling requirements outlined in other laws and regulations established by the authorities, the PCPD said. 

These MNCs also would have to implement necessary measures to ensure other foreign parties involved in processing the data adhere to data security standards stipulated by the PIPL. Unclear what security assessments entailLeo Xin, senior associate with law firm Pinsent Masons, described the legislation as a “milestone” in China’s data protection legal regime and urged MNCs to pay special attention to the rules on cross-border data transfers.Leo said in a post: “There are still certain areas that remain unclear and require detailed implementation rules, such as how the security assessment should be handled, what the model clauses for data transfer formulated by the China Cyberspace Administration look like, what the approval procedure shall be [if] there is request for personal information by overseas judicial organs or law enforcement agencies.”The legislation further called for the handling of personal data to be clear, reasonable, and limited to the “minimum scope necessary” to achieve their objectives of processing the information. The lawyer recommended that MNCs begin evaluating the potential impact of PIPL on their IT infrastructure and data processing activities.According to the PCPD, the new legislation also encompasses “automated decision-making” data processing, in which IT systems are used to automatically analyse and make decisions about consumer behaviours as well as consumers’ habits, interests, financial, and health. Here, companies will have to ensure such decision-making processes are transparent and fair. Consumers also must be provided with the option to opt out of receiving personalised content. Security impact assessments must be carried out and these reports retained for at least three years. Companies that breach PIPL rules may be issued an order for rectification or warnings. Chinese authorities also may confiscate any “unlawful income”, according to the PCPD. Violators that fail to comply with orders to rectify the breach will face fines of up to 1 million yuan ($150,000), while the person responsible for ensuring compliance can be fined between 10,000 yuan ($1,500) and 100,000 yuan ($15,000). For “serious” cases, Chinese authorities also dish out fines of up to 50 million yuan ($7.5 million) or 5% of the company’s annual turnover for the previous fiscal year. In addition, its business operations may be suspended or business permits and licences revoked. The Beijing administration last month told local media it would take “targeted measures” to address problems it deemed to persist within the digital economy, such as poor data management. According to South China Morning Post, the Ministry of Industry and IT was pushing ahead with its scrutiny of the internet sector as part of a six-month campaign that began in July. The ministry recently instructed 43 apps to make rectifications after they were found to have illegally transferred user data. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) in July ordered Chinese ride-sharing platform Didi to remove its app from local app stores, after it breached regulations governing the collection and use of personal data. Did was instructed to rectify “existing problems” and “effectively protect” users’ personal data. In May, the CAC called out 33 mobile apps for collecting more user data than it deemed necessary to offer their service. These companies, which included Baidu and Tencent Holdings, also were told to plug the gaps. Tencent said last month said it was forming a committee to assess its user data protection and privacy policies. This team would comprise technical, legal, and media professionals as well as members of the public, the Chinese tech giant said. The committee will make recommendations on improvements, if and where necessary, to better safeguard user privacy, the company added.RELATED COVERAGE More

Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs has discovered a new scam using the lure of an Amazon gift card generator to steal cryptocurrency from people.Researchers with FortiGuard Labs said they found a file titled “Amazon Gift Tool.exe” that was being marketed on a publicly available file repository site as a free Amazon gift card generator.When people download the file and open it, a malicious winlogin.exe is dropped and executed. “The purpose of the malware is simple. If the victim tries to add money to their anon-bitcoin wallet by copying and pasting the wallet address, the malware overwrites the victim’s wallet address on the clipboard with its own, resulting in the money potentially going to the attacker,” the researchers explained. According to FortiGuard Labs, the malware watches a user’s clipboard to search for text that is 54 characters long — the length of a cryptocurrency wallet address — and other criteria that indicate the text is related to cryptocurrency. If the text matches three different criteria, the malware puts the attacker’s Bitcoin Cash wallet address in place of the clipboard information.The malware also searches for addresses related to Ethereum, Binancecoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Ripple. 

“We also found that the malicious winlogin.exe was distributed by a number of droppers with enticing names, such as Crunchyroll Breaker.exe, Netflix Tools.exe, Multi Gift Tools.exe, etc,” FortiGuard Labs explained. “Free generators of this sort has been around and scammed people for years. But given the market power of Amazon, this new scam is especially enticing. Consumers are eager to shop as much as they can on Black Friday as a lot of goods go on sale. Free Amazon gift cards are very attractive to those who want to spend less for the holiday season. However, be careful with what you wish for and don’t fall a victim to scams like this one.”Derek Manky, chief of security insights & global threat alliances at Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs, told ZDNet that they made this research discovery through their threat hunting process while looking for specific rules/targets. FortiGuard Labs found samples collected through open repository and then did further correlation work from there as part of discovery phase, Manky said. Cryptowallet addresses are quite large, and while cryptowallet users may write their wallet in a physical location, chances are they have this stored digitally — either in a cold storage wallet or on their workstation, according to Manky.”That digital cryptowallet addresses is typically accessed when doing transactions to send/receive money during the transaction itself on the client machine. In this instance, the attacker is hoping to replace the victim wallet with theirs to divert the funds. Keep in mind there usually is MFA with these transactions, but that’s done by the client to approve. They may not notice the wallet address they pasted was actually not their own,” Manky said. “This attack attempt has been specifically designed to hijack cryptowallet addresses/transactions similar to payment diversion fraud. And specifically Bitcoin Cash.”FortiGuard Labs also found another scam related to gaming consoles, attempting to lure those interested in purchasing PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S systems.The researchers found a group of malicious PDF files with titles like, “how_much_do_xbox_one_cost_on_black_Friday.pdf” and “Walmart_black_Friday_ps5_pickup.pdf.”After victims click on the link, they are taken to phishing sites where they are asked to give out confidential information.  More

Mozilla has become the latest browser to test the waters in incorporating the Global Privacy Control in Firefox this week, calling itself “the first major web browser” to do so. The GPC — required under the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) and Europe’s Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — tells websites not to sell or share your personal data.  Mozilla said the GPC is a prerelease feature available for experimental use in Firefox Nightly.A Mozilla spokesperson said they were excited to see GPC getting traction both in California and Colorado and now that they expect sites to start honoring it, they want to start getting experience with it in the field.”Many websites present cookie consent banners that let users opt out of tracking and of having their data sold on a site by site basis. The difference here is that the user doesn’t need to opt out on every site — which we think is a better solution,” Mozilla told ZDNet. “Mozilla was one of the early supporters of the CCPA and of the CPRA and, in 2020, we became one of the founding members of the Global Privacy Control. We endorsed this concept because it gives more control to people over their data online and sets a path for the enforcement of their privacy rights. Our approach to privacy has long been to fight on different fronts which is why we launched Enhanced Tracking Protection by default back in 2019 and have since expanded our arsenal of anti-tracking tools, and have been advocating for strong privacy legislation and enforcement.”To turn Global Privacy Control on in Firefox Nightly, users can type about:config in the URL bar of their Firefox browser or type type `globalprivacycontrol` in the search box. From there, toggle `privacy.globalprivacycontrol.enabled` to true.

If you visit https://globalprivacycontrol.org/, the site will tell you whether you have it enabled or not. Abine, Brave, Disconnect, DuckDuckGo, OptMeowt and Privacy Badger are listed on the GPC website as browsers that have incorporated the feature into their service. The Washington Post reported this week that the GPC is part of an effort by organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Consumer Reports to force websites into privacy compliance.But unfortunately, California is one of the few states where the GPC is considered an acceptable method for consumers to opt-out of sales. “Under law, it must be honored by covered businesses as a valid consumer request to stop the sale of personal information,” California attorney general Robert Bonta said on a website explaining the CCPA. It is unclear whether officials in Virginia and Colorado will also enforce it the same way. “CCPA requires businesses to treat a user-enabled global privacy control as a legally valid consumer request to opt out of the sale of their data. CCPA opened the door to developing a technical standard, like the GPC, which satisfies this legal requirement & protects privacy,” said former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who is now Secretary of the US Department of Health & Human Services. More

Cybersecurity firm Proofpoint has found evidence of a prolific cybercrime group using the popularity of Netflix hit “Squid Game” to spread the Dridex malware. In a blog post, Proofpoint said TA575 — a “large cybercrime actor” — has sent emails pretending to be someone working on the show, urging people to download malicious attachments or fill out forms with sensitive information. The emails come with subject lines saying things like: “Squid Game is back, watch new season before anyone else,” “Invite for Customer to access the new season,” “Squid game new season commercials casting preview,” and “Squid game scheduled season commercials talent cast schedule.”Proofpoint said it found thousands of emails using the lures that targeted a variety of industries in the US. Some of the emails try to lure victims in by saying they could be in the show if they download a document and fill it out. 
Proofpoint
“The attachments are Excel documents with macros that, if enabled, will download the Dridex banking trojan affiliate id ‘22203’ from Discord URLs,” Proofpoint researchers Axel F and Selena Larson wrote. Sherrod DeGrippo, vice president of threat detection and response at Proofpoint, told ZDNet that Dridex is a banking trojan used to siphon money directly from the victim’s bank account.”But Dridex is also used for information gathering or as a malware loader that can lead to follow-on infections such as ransomware,” DeGrippo added. 

Proofpoint has been tracking TA575 since late 2020, noting that the group typically distributes Dridex through “malicious URLs, Microsoft Office attachments, and password-protected files.” The gang uses a variety of lures to get victims to click on links or download documents, often playing off of pop culture or deploying invoice-related language in emails. “On average, TA575 sends thousands of emails per campaign impacting hundreds of organizations. TA575 also uses the Discord content delivery network (CDN) to host and distribute Dridex,” the Proofpoint researchers said, adding that Discord has become a “popular malware hosting service for cybercriminals.” Cybersecurity experts like ThreatModeler CEO Archie Agarwal said the TA575 criminal group is made up of prolific, financially-motivated opportunists who specialize in Dridex malware and operate swaths of Cobalt Strike servers. Both the Dridex malware and Cobalt Strike servers are examples of repurposing the work of others, Agarwal said, explaining that Dridex dates back as far as 2015 and was known for specializing in banking credential theft. Hank Schless, Lookout senior manager of security solutions, said that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, cybercriminals have used a variety of hooks related to the vaccine or government aid as a lure for emails with malicious attachments. Lookout data shows threat actors are heavily targeting users through mobile channels such as SMS, social media platforms, third-party messaging apps, gaming, and even dating apps. He added that one of the most interesting parts of the report is that TA575 uses the Discord CDN to host and deliver the malware. “This practice of using legitimate services as an intermediary command and control server is becoming more common. We frequently see it with data storage platforms like Dropbox as well. Attackers do this because it may help them slip by any detections more easily if the traffic looks legitimate,” Schless said.  More

Dozens of websites and services reported issues late last month thanks to the expiration of a root certificate provided by Let’s Encrypt, one of the largest providers of HTTPS certificates.

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Let’s Encrypt and other researchers had long warned that the IdentTrust DST Root CA X3 would expire on September 30, and many platforms did heed the calls and updated their systems. But a few did not, causing a minor kerfuffle as users questioned why some of their favorite sites were not working as well as they should. Scott Helme, the founder of Security Headers, told ZDNet that he confirmed issues with Palo Alto, Bluecoat, Cisco Umbrella, Catchpoint, Guardian Firewall, Monday.com, PFsense, Google Cloud Monitoring, Azure Application Gateway, OVH, Auth0, Shopify, Xero, QuickBooks, Fortinet, Heroku, Rocket League, InstaPage, Ledger, Netlify and Cloudflare pages, but noted that there may have been more that went unreported.Millions of websites rely on the services provided by Let’s Encrypt, which operates as a free non-profit that makes sure the connections between your device and the internet are secure and encrypted.Without them, some older devices will no longer be able to verify certain certificates. Josh Aas, executive director of the Internet Security Research Group at Let’s Encrypt, told ZDNet that he was frustrated with how some outlets covered the September outages, with some implying it was a mistake or an accident. “We didn’t forget that it was going to expire or anything. We’ve been planning for this for years. We knew that this was going to happen, and we’ve been literally planning for this for years. Because we’ve been planning this for years, a lot less stuff broke,” Aas said. 

“The internet is a huge place. How many millions or billions of devices and servers and things like that are out there? Any time you change anything, stuff’s going to break. I don’t want to minimize any disruption that was frustrating to people, but all in all, it could have been worse.”Aas explained that there are three levels of certificates on the internet. There are certificates that websites have called end-entity certificates. Then there are two certificates issued by certificate authorities like Let’s Encrypt: root certificates and intermediate certificates. Root certificates are the main things that browsers trust, and intermediate certificates are what organizations like Let’s Encrypt use to issue to the websites. Aas said, end-entity certificates are valid for about 90 days: the intermediate certificates are valid for about five years, and root certificates last for about 20 years. When one is set to expire, organizations like Let’s Encrypt introduce a new one and ask websites to adopt it before the old one expires. “There’s really nothing you can do about avoiding certificate expiration. Certificates expire; that is an intended thing. That’s just what happens and that happens for a number of different reasons. We can’t prevent it. It’s designed to expire in that way. Every certificate authority works that way,” Aas said.Let’s Encrypt worked with hundreds of websites to get them switched over. Still, the internet has grown significantly, making it difficult to get every website, phone, browser, laptop, and device changed over. Aas added that there were always going to be some number of devices and browsers that were not able to make the switch when the old certificate expired. “We try to keep that number as low as possible through outreach and giving people tools on how to be ready. But it doesn’t get to everybody. The internet is too big for that,” Aas explained. “We did our best to try to give advice and tell people what they can do to move to the new certificate. And it seems like a lot of people did that. A lot of stuff was fixed relatively quickly.”Aas noted that certificates are designed to expire to protect the set of cryptographic keys behind them. “There are two keys that are essentially just really long numbers that are related to each other, and that’s how the cryptography behind certificates works. And one of those keys, called a private key, needs to be protected at all times. You don’t tell other people. So websites have the private key for their own identity certificates, but certificate authorities like Let’s Encrypt hold the private keys for root and intermediate certificates,” Aas explained. “We have to make sure that nobody else ever finds out what those keys are. They are very heavily protected and guarded by us. But it’s possible that somebody could have gotten a copy of the key, and we don’t know. As a general safeguard in the industry, we rotate keys every certain amount of time depending on the risk profile and things like that. So, certificate expiration is essentially a mechanism for rotating cryptographic keys on the internet over a certain time to ensure that these keys are never compromised. The longer a key is in use, the more likely it is that there’s an issue.”One of Let’s Encrypt’s root certificates was issued in 2015, and a second one was issued in 2020. The next expiration for these root certificates will be in 15 years and 20 years, respectively. The root that expired last month — IdentTrust DST Root CA X3 — was issued in 2000. Aas noted that the certificate authority industry started in the late 90s and early 2000s, meaning many of the certificates issued back then are starting to expire. “They are sort of clustered in that time period when all these CAs started, so I think we’re going to see more and more of these. Every time one of these things expires and causes some issues on the internet, we as a community of people who operate these devices and certificate authorities get a little better at managing the problem,” Aas said. While users and websites dealt with issues last month, Aas said the silver lining is that it was practice for the next time a certificate expires. He urged anyone with more questions about the topic to head to Let’s Encrypt’s Community Support Forum. Other experts echoed what Aas said, explaining that root expirations are a rare but normal occurrence and a necessity in the certificate authority ecosystem.Ed Giaquinto, CIO of Sectigo and an expert in digital certificates, said outages caused by root expirations are simply results of poor certificate lifecycle management. “If an enterprise does not have an accurate inventory of its certificates, including their chains to trusted roots, then outages due to expirations are inevitable. This is another example of how good certificate hygiene prevents outages,” Giaquinto said.  “A proper lifecycle management tool inventories and displays all relevant certificate information, including their expiration dates. Then, using automation, it replaces those certificates prior to expiration, enabling IT teams to be ahead of the game. We no longer exist in a world where we simply manage a few certificates for web front ends. PKI integrations have put certificates everywhere (ephemeral compute services, containers, program-to-program, B2B, and B2C communications, etc.), and proper management of the certificate lifecycle is crucial to preventing business outages.”Keyfactor chief security officer Chris Hickman echoed Giaquinto’s comments, telling ZDNet that in most cases, the greatest issue is a lack of automation to distribute the new root CA certificate to those devices that need to trust it. In many organizations, the root CA certificate stores are not managed universally, Hickman explained, adding that this can lead to situations like only updating parts of the network but not the entity of all devices that need to trust the new root. Hickman suggested organizations bring all of their keys and certificates into a single inventory by integrating directly with network endpoints, key stores and CA databases for comprehensive visibility. He noted that the first signs of trouble emerged when the AddTrust CA expired in May 2020, causing widespread outages for streaming and payment services like Roku, Stripe and Spreedly. Now, products are being designed to manage Roots of Trust out of band to software updates — but that process doesn’t extend to legacy products, he added. “If you don’t update your legacy roots, you can’t push updates, resulting in potential device failure. With multiple root CAs set to expire in 2021, it’s essential to ensure that updates can be sent efficiently and effectively to embedded and non-traditional operating systems, recognizing that many legacy devices may be unable to receive these updates,” Hickman said. “Another wrinkle in all of this is UNIX-based systems, as these devices cannot accept certificates with expirations beyond the year 2038. This situation is poised to be a very big problem without a clear solution that has not received much attention to date.”  More

An associate degree in cybersecurity gives you the knowledge and skills to work on the front lines of electronic data safety while taking home a lucrative salary.The degree also allows you to pursue additional education to increase your earning potential. 
Because so many daily activities rely on technology, an associate degree in cybersecurity opens the door to entry-level positions across industries. As a two-year degree, an associate degree prepares you to work as a computer support specialist, data analyst, information security associate, and more. Below, we’ve rounded up what you need to know about associate degree in cybersecurity salary and job options.Jobs for a cybersecurity associate degreeCybersecurity, defined as the practice of keeping electronic information safe, extends into private and public sectors, through business and education, and across professions. Cybersecurity jobs include entry-level positions such as penetration testers and advanced roles like cybersecurity engineers. Cybersecurity job salaries vary by location and job title, as well as your experience, degree level, and other qualifications. Here are some common jobs for individuals with an associate degree in cybersecurity.
Computer support specialistMedian salary (2020): $55,510

Description: Computer support specialists, also known as technical support specialists, provide assistance when technology-related problems arise. They help users and organizations by analyzing, troubleshooting, and fixing problems. Computer support specialists also carry out tests to evaluate system functionality, perform maintenance, and train others how to use software and hardware. Next steps: Network and computer systems administrator, software developer, information security specialistCybersecurity analystMedian salary (2020): $76,623Description: Cybersecurity analysts assess security measures used to ensure the safety of an organization’s data. Cybersecurity analysts collect information about security access, intrusion attempts, and potential threats to present to colleagues and other information security professionals. They evaluate threats and help develop processes and standards for protecting networks, systems, and databases.Next steps: Information security analyst, cybersecurity engineer, information security managerInformation security analystMedian salary (2020): $103,590Description: Information security analysts develop and implement security processes and practices to keep an organization’s data safe. They monitor networks, systems, and databases for threats, weaknesses, and security violations. Information security analysts look for ways to improve information safety, install and carry out upgrades, and research new standards of practice.Next steps: Information security manager, database administratorNetwork and computer system administratorMedian salary (2020): $84,810Description: These professionals oversee the daily computer operations of an organization. Network and computer system administrators install, maintain, and evaluate networks and computer systems. They assess computer and network systems’ functionality and efficiency, implement upgrades to increase performance, and solve problems. Network and computer systems administrators often supervise computer support staff and train colleagues how to use software and hardware.Next steps: Computer network architect, computer and information systems manager, computer hardware engineerPenetration testerMedian salary (2020): $92,870Description: Penetration testers evaluate electronic data security by carrying out tests to expose weaknesses in existing technologies. They conduct mock cyberattacks to help organizations identify and address potential vulnerabilities. Penetration testers may perform security tests on computer systems, networks, and web-based applications.Next steps: Information security manager, computer software engineer, senior penetration testerHow can I make more money in cybersecurity?To advance in the field of cybersecurity, you benefit from experience and education. An associate degree in cybersecurity prepares you to pursue a bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, or a related discipline. Other cybersecurity training options include pursuit of industry certifications. To employers, cybersecurity certifications demonstrate your expertise and continued dedication to your position. 
Can you get a cybersecurity job with an associate’s degree?

You can get an entry-level cybersecurity job with an associate degree. Common positions include computer support specialist and cybersecurity analyst. 

Is a two-year degree in cyber security worth it?

A two-year degree in cybersecurity is one way to enter the field of cybersecurity. An associate degree builds fundamental knowledge and skills to work as a cybersecurity professional. 

What can I do with an associate in cybersecurity?

With an associate in cybersecurity, you can find an entry-level position in the field. You are also equipped to pursue a bachelor’s degree and cybersecurity certifications.

This article was reviewed by Brian NicholsBorn and raised in upstate New York, Brian Nichols began his IT education through a vocational high school where he focused on computer science, IT fundamentals, and networking. Brian then went to his local community college, where he received his associate of science in computer information science. He then received his bachelor of science in applied networking and system administration from a private college. Brian now lives in Kansas City, where he works full-time as a DevOps engineer. Brian is also a part-time instructor in cybersecurity. He’s passionate about cybersecurity and helping students succeed. Brian Nichols is a paid member of the Red Ventures Education freelance review network. 

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