Antivirus software

The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) announced today having investigated together with the National Cyber Security Incident Response Team CERT-RO and the Witting Bucharest Clinical Hospital a Phobos crypto ransomware attack on the servers of the health care facility.

Bitdefender researchers have discovered a group of Romanian cyber attackers who remotely infect computers and servers across the globe, from where they then illegally mine cryptocurrencies, according to a company statement sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday.

A new mobile malware campaign targeted at Android and iOS users has been identified by experts of the National Cyber Security Incident Response Team (CERT-RO) and the Romanian Intelligence Service (Cyberint National Center).

Fairly or not, hackers put Romania on the global online map, honing their skills to strike Internet users and companies in the West, particularly the US.

But today, 30 years since the fall of communism, IT and cybersecurity firms are looking to tap the same rich vein of ambition, ingenuity and education that made Romanian hackers so feared and famous.

Romanian cybersecurity giant Bitdefender said on Friday that online attacks linked to Covid-19 "have risen by 475 per cent in March as compared to the previous month", and the numbers are expected to keep increasing until the end of the month.

"Almost one third of the Covid-19-related attacks target public authorities and healthcare institutions," Bitdefender said in a statement.

The US Department of Education has launched an investigation into Harvard and Yale universities for failing to provide information on gifts from foreign countries and their contracts with them, RIA Novosti reported.

Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Watcdog (FAS) has filed a lawsuit against US technology giant Apple following a lawsuit by Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab regarding Apple's actions in the market for applications for its iOS operating system, according to a news release from the agency, TASS and Reuters quoted.

The SRI, whose investigation into the attacks is still underway, believes the criminals behind the attacks are from China. Marincea previously told local media that "the times in which the hackers were active" and the traces they left in their messages to their victims pointed to that scenario.

Romania's biggest cybersecurity company Bitdefender said on Tuesday that it has acquired Dutch network security analytics company RedSocks, its first acquisition of a tech company in 17 years, in a move to boost its presence on the European market and expand its portfolio.

The purchase was concluded on October 11, said a press release sent to the media by Bitdefender.