Operation Soft Cell: A Worldwide Campaign Against Telecommunications Providers

June 25, 2019
17 min read

Written by: Cybereason Nocturnus

Research by: Mor Levi, Assaf Dahan, and Amit Serper

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In 2018, the Cybereason Nocturnus team identified an advanced, persistent attack targeting global telecommunications providers carried out by a threat actor using tools and techniques commonly associated with the Chinese-affiliated threat actor APT10. This multi-wave attacks focused on obtaining data of specific, high-value targets and resulted in a complete takeover of the network.

- Earlier this year, Cybereason identified an advanced, persistent attack targeting telecommunications providers that has been underway for years, soon after deploying into the environment.

- Cybereason spotted the attack and later supported the telecommunications provider through four more waves of the advanced persistent attack over the course of 6 months.

- Based on the data available to us, Operation Soft Cell has been active since at least 2017, though some evidence suggests even earlier activity by the threat actor against telecommunications providers.

- The attack was aiming to obtain CDR records of a large telecommunications provider.


more
https://www.cybereason.com/blog/operation-soft-cell-a-worldwide-campaign-against-telecommunications-providers

June 13, 2019

By Bob Brigham

. . . The renewal of the license was challenged over whether Trump was fit to be owner. The Trump Organization sought to have the complaint dismissed, but the District of Columbia Alcoholic Beverage Control board denied the request.

The board allowed the group contesting the license to protest on the grounds of character, as the law requires the owner to be “of good character and generally fit for the responsibilities of the licensure.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/06/alcohol-beverage-control-board-rules-against-trump-he-may-lose-liquor-license-for-trump-dc-hotel/

At the Trump Doral outside Miami, payday lenders celebrated the potential death of a rule intended to protect their customers. They couldn’t have done it without President Donald Trump and his latest deregulator, Kathleen Kraninger.

by Anjali Tsui, ProPublica, and Alice Wilder, WNYC June 5, 4 a.m. EDT

In mid-March, the payday lending industry held its annual convention at the Trump National Doral hotel outside Miami. Payday lenders offer loans on the order of a few hundred dollars, typically to low-income borrowers, who have to pay them back in a matter of weeks. The industry has long been reviled by critics for charging stratospheric interest rates — typically 400% on an annual basis — that leave customers trapped in cycles of debt.

The industry had felt under siege during the Obama administration, as the federal government moved to clamp down. A government study found that a majority of payday loans are made to people who pay more in interest and fees than they initially borrow. Google and Facebook refuse to take the industry’s ads.

On the edge of the Doral’s grounds, as the payday convention began, a group of ministers held a protest “pray-in,” denouncing the lenders for having a “feast” while their borrowers “suffer and starve.”

But inside the hotel, in a wood-paneled bar under golden chandeliers, the mood was celebratory. Payday lenders, many dressed in golf shirts and khakis, enjoyed an open bar and mingled over bites of steak and coconut shrimp.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-payday-lenders-spent-1-million-at-a-trump-resort-and-cashed-in


Grrrrrrrrrrr.