Microsoft's legal team used a clause in the Lanham trademark act to seize counterfeit goods and help with the takedown of CNC servers. The legal argument was that these servers contained spam templates falsely claiming to be from Microsoft and Pfizer, constituting trademark infringement.
The NSA worked with Microsoft to patch a Windows 10 security flaw, a cryptographic API bug, to prevent foreign governments from pilfering Americans' trusted information. The collaboration may signal a shift in NSA policy, indicating that they will work with vendors to protect the country from new risks as the world changes.
The malware EternalBlue exploited a vulnerability in Windows' server message block, leading to a rise in ransomware attacks and the spread of the worm WannaCry. The worm could easily spread to other computers by stealing usernames and passwords and using them to log in and infect other systems.
The speaker shares their experience in identifying and investigating a cyberattack that was being carried out by a set of hackers across a variety of targets and expanding in scope every day, ultimately leading to the identification of a vulnerability.
APT10, an advanced persistent threat (APT) group, stole personal confidential information, such as social security numbers and dates of birth, from over 100,000 US Navy personnel. The group targeted a Managed Services Provider (MSP) that stores, processes, and protects commercial data, including intellectual property and confidential business information, on behalf of its clients.
Publicly available exploits for recently disclosed vulnerabilities can help ensure that security measures are actually functioning as intended, as otherwise nobody can protect themselves from undisclosed threats.