Summary:
International trading through the financial firm ION was hampered for several days due to an apparent ransomware attack by the group known as Lockbit. The hacker group claimed that they were paid not by ION directly but by someone oddly described as a "very rich unknown philanthropist." Allegedly that is why they delisted ION from their hacker "wall of shame", an online list of claimed recent victims.

Summary:
A year ago VMware discovered a vulnerability and issued remediation software. This year, Italy's National Cybersecurity Agency ACN announced that thousands of computer servers around the world had been "targeted" by hackers looking to exploit the vulnerability. Dozens of Italian computer systems were affected by breaches. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it as working to assess impacts and possibly to provide assistance.

Summary:
Chris Inglis, who has over four decades of government experience in national security, and who has been the White House's National Cyber Director, resigned on February 15. In December, Republican and Democratic lawmakers with interest in cybersecurity asked Inglis to finish the national cybersecurity strategy before leaving, but now it was unclear when the strategy will be completed (see below). Former Microsoft executive Kemba Eneas Walden is now acting director. The most recent activity mentioned on the OCND webpage is a roundtable on "The State of Cybersecurity in the Black Community."

Summary:

• We must rebalance the responsibility to defend cyberspace by shifting the burden for cybersecurity away from individuals, small businesses, and local governments, and onto the organizations that are most capable and best-positioned to reduce risks for all of us.
• We must realign incentives to favor long-term investments by striking a careful balance between defending ourselves against urgent threats today and simultaneously strategically planning for and investing in a resilient future.

Summary:
The French nonprofit organization, Forbidden Stories, coordinated a team of journalists to uncover the activities of an Israeli disinformation service called "Team Jorge." They have a "vast army" of false personae (avatars) on social media, some with financial accounts backed by assets like credit cards and cryptocurrencies. They can be hired as election influencers by governments and corporations. The group's leader is Tal Hanan, someone who is said to have been working in this disinformation area for two decades. He denies any "wrongdoing".

The original report from Forbidden Stories.

Summary:
Germany reports that it sees increases in cyber-attacks each time it takes an action that opposes Russia's war in Ukraine. The German government announced expansion of its Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). They have called on federal and regional sectors to repel attacks and develop new protection methods. A Google analysis indicated that Moscow was actively recruiting private hacker groups.