Hello all, do not fear, for not just I but we have returned - bigger and better! Let us not waste time and get right into the all-time hit blog, Positive Security News!
1. European Union Will Pay For Finding Bugs In Open Source Software
The European Commission Open Source Program Office, or EC OSPO for short to save us all a mouthful, is offering a bounty for bugs in certain open-source software. Namely LibreOffice, Mastodon, ActivityPub, Odoo, Cryptpad and LEOS - all of which EU institutions rely on heavily. And as an additional bonus, EC OSPO offers a supplementary 20% bonus for providing a fix - what more could you ask for! In essence, you get paid to exploit!
Source: I Programmer
2. Google sees 50% security boost for 150M users after 2FA enroll
As if 2FA wasn't preached about enough yet still neglected as a valuable asset in data protection, now, after a mandatory 2 step verification rollout in over 150 million users, Google's Director, Guemmy Kim, proudly says "As a result of this effort, we have seen a 50% decrease in accounts being compromised compared to those not enrolled". Two-step verification is one of, if not the easiest and cheapest methods of protecting your data and I cannot recommend it enough as the first line of defence against malicious attacks.
Source: BleepingComputer
3. DOJ arrests New York couple and seizes $3.6b in bitcoin related to 2016 hack
Now if this story doesn't put a smile on your face, I don't know what will! The Justice Department apprehended a lovely couple, Ilya "Dutch" Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, after a 5 year-long investigation relating to the hack of Bitfinex back in 2016 in which they not so successfully, now, stole 120,000 bitcoin worth $3.6 billion with today's inflation.
Fortunately, not even cryptocurrency is a safe haven for hackers with investigators managing to trace and track the stolen bitcoin through "thousands of transactions to over a dozen accounts held in the name of Lichtenstein, Morgan or their businesses."
Source: NPR
And so that does it for this week's Positive Security News, be sure to stick around for next week's edition! Until then!