The Ever-Evolving Cybersecurity Landscape: A Week in Review. 21/04/2024

Tesla Recalls Cybertrucks Over Accelerator Crash Risk

Tesla, the electric car company owned by Elon Musk, has issued a recall for thousands of its new Cybertrucks over safety concerns. The accelerator pedals risk getting trapped by the interior trim, increasing the possibility of crashes. The recall affected 3,878 Cybertrucks, which cost roughly $61,000 (£48,320), between November 2023 and April 2024.

"A trapped accelerator pedal can cause the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally, increasing the risk of a crash", the US Department of Transportation wrote in a recall notification. The problem comes from the accelerator pad, which, if pushed hard, can dislodge and then get trapped in the interior trim of the truck. Tesla will fix the problem free of charge, according to its filing with the US government.

The electric car company received two complaints about the issue from drivers on 31 March and 4 April. As of 15 April, the company wrote that it is "not aware of any collisions, injuries or deaths relating to this condition."

This recall comes at a difficult time for the company, which faces increasing competition from rival firms and cooling interest in electric vehicles. Sales fell sharply in the first three months of 2024, prompting a slump in its share price. This week, it announced laying off 10% of its workforce.

Tesla has also had to recall millions of its cars in recent months over safety defects. It recalled over 1.6 million cars in China in January because of concerns with steering software and door-locking systems. In December 2023, it recalled more than two million cars in the US after the regulator found the car's autopilot system was partly faulty. However, in both cases, a physical change was unnecessary, with Tesla instead sending an "over the air" software update to its affected cars.

Frontier Communications Shuts Down Systems Following Cyberattack

Telecom giant Frontier Communications has shut down systems to contain a cyberattack that compromised personal information. The company was forced to partially shut down some systems to prevent the threat actors from laterally moving through the network, which also led to some operational disruptions. Frontier is currently restoring its systems and normal business operations.

Frontier Communications, a leading U.S. communications provider, has been hit by a cyberattack. On April 14, 2024, the company detected unauthorized access to portions of its information technology environment. The company believes the third party was likely a cybercrime group which gained access to personally identifiable information, among other things.

Upon discovering the incident, Frontier was forced to partially shut down some systems to prevent the threat actors from laterally moving through the network. This also led to some operational disruptions. Despite this, Frontier says the attackers could access some personally identifiable information (PII) data, although it didn't disclose if it belonged to customers, employees, or both.

Frontier now believes that it has contained the breach, has since restored its core IT systems affected during the incident, and is working on restoring normal business operations. Despite the company's assurances, many customers have reported that their Internet connection has been down since and that support phone numbers are playing prerecorded messages instead of redirecting to a human operator.

The company continues investigating the incident, has engaged cybersecurity experts, and has notified law enforcement authorities. Frontier has also posted a notice on its website to inform visitors that it was experiencing “technical issues with our internal support systems”. The attack has not affected customers' internet service; assistance is only provided over the phone.

New Charging Algorithm Could Double Life of Li-ion Batteries

Researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and Humboldt University in Berlin have developed a new charging algorithm that could potentially double the life of lithium-ion batteries. The study shows that changing how the charger delivers current to electrolyte materials makes batteries more resilient and retains a higher energy capacity after hundreds of discharge-recharge cycles.

Lithium-ion batteries are compact, robust energy containers that have become ubiquitous. Electric vehicles and electronic devices rely on them, but their capacity gradually degrades as electrolytes pass through the membrane that separates the anode and cathode. The best commercial-grade lithium-ion batteries available use electrodes made of a compound known as NMC532 and graphite, and they provide a service life of up to 8 years.

Conventional charging uses a constant current (CC) of external electric energy. The study analyzed what happened to battery samples when using the CC charging and discovered that the anode's solid electrolyte interface (SEI) was "significantly thicker." Furthermore, they found more cracks in the NMC532 and graphite electrode structures. A thicker SEI and more cracks in the electrodes mean a significant loss of capacity for the Li-ion batteries.

So, the researchers developed a charging protocol based on pulsed current (PC). After charging the batteries with the new PC protocol, the team discovered that the SEI interface was much thinner, and the electrode materials underwent fewer structural changes. The team used two of Europe's leading synchrotron facilities for particle acceleration, "BESSY II" and "PETRA III," to conduct the pulsed-current recharging experiments. They discovered that PC charging promotes the "homogeneous distribution" of lithium ions in the graphite, which reduces mechanical stress and cracking in the graphite particles. The protocol can also suppress structural degradation in the NMC532 cathode.

The study shows that high-frequency pulsing with square-wave current produced the best results. The tests show that PC charging can double the service life of commercial lithium batteries with an 80 percent capacity retention. Pulsed charging could bring many advantages in terms of the stability of the electrode materials and the interfaces and significantly extend the service life of batteries," said TU Berlin professor Dr. Julia Kowal, co-author of the study.

France's Cannes Hospital Amid Major Cyberattack.

France's Cannes Hospital is currently dealing with a major cyberattack. The hospital has been forced to shut down all IT systems and use paper and pencil to document patient services. Despite the cyberattack, the hospital continues to provide care in all fields of activity.

The Hôpital de Cannes—Simone Veil in France was the victim of a major cyberattack on Tuesday morning. The cyberattack completely cut off access to all IT systems, forcing medical staff to use handwritten kits to document patient services. The hospital posted on its website that "General cybercontainment was one of the first decisions of the crisis unit. This radical decision was taken very quickly in all sectors."

The hospital noted that there have been no ransom demands or proof of data theft so far. However, the hospital cancelled roughly a third of non-urgent operations and several consultations scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. Emergency services were still active due to help from surrounding area medical facilities and coordination with SAMU, France's national emergency organization.

Since Tuesday, hospital workers have been bound to use time-consuming “degraded procedures” described by the hospital as “paper kits.” Cannes Hospital employs 2,100 hospital personnel, including 230 doctors. The hospital comprises eight centres responsible for emergency services, surgery, medical technology, cancer care, cardiology, obstetrics, and psychiatry. Annually, the 869-bed hospital provides services for approximately 150,000 outpatients, 50,000 emergency room visits, 9,000 surgeries and 1,500 births annually.

The hospital said it happened to carry out a simulation exercise of the response plan only a few months prior, allowing a solid response to the attack. Despite the cyberattack, life continues in the departments of the Cannes hospital.

Repair Shop Reports Receiving 200 Melted RTX 4090s Per Month.

A repair shop, Northridge Fix, has reported receiving 200 melted RTX 4090s per month. The shop states that it restores around 200 GPUs in a month. The number indicates a concerning increase since last fall when the shop reported around 100 per month. The shop receives 4090s with melted connectors every day.

NorthridgeFix, a repair shop, has reported replacing hundreds of Nvidia RTX 4090 power connectors per month. More specifically, it has shown off a box of about 200 melted connectors replaced in just one month. The number indicates a concerning increase since last fall when the shop's YouTube channel reported around 100 per month.

The shop reports receiving burned RTX 4090s from customers worldwide, and repairs said GPUs "every single day." NorthridgeFix showed some damning evidence of this fact when it revealed a box full of melted 16-pin power connectors. Many RTX 4090s it receives also come from melted CableMod power adapters. These are the original adapters that CableMod officially discontinued and recalled.

Despite Nvidia rolling out GPUs with safer connectors last summer, incidents remain worryingly frequent. Custom vendor CableMod began a voluntary recall for its V1.0 and V1.1 12VHPWR 90-degree and 180-degree adapters last December. That became a mandatory recall in February after the Consumer Product Safety Commission got involved. Many of the adapters that Northridge repaired were CableMod units, but other manufacturers are also affected.

Unfortunately, this does not change the fact that there are still a plethora of RTX 4090s in the wild sporting the original 12VHPWR power connector. As a result, we will probably never stop hearing about RTX 4090 deaths until the GPU gets discontinued.

As we conclude this week’s journey through the ever-changing terrain of technology and cybersecurity, it’s clear that our digital world is both wondrous and dangerous. The advancements in specialized AI and generative AI are reshaping our defences and offences in cyberspace. Specialised AI and generative AI We must tread carefully, balancing innovation with ethical considerations and vigilance. The trends and strategies for 2024, along with the sobering reminders of data breaches, call for a cybersecurity posture that is both agile and robust. Let us move forward with the knowledge that staying informed and proactive is not just a choice but a necessity to secure our digital future. Remember, in cybersecurity, the only constant is change, and our readiness to adapt is our greatest asset.