This week HP released their report The Evolution of Cybercrime: Why the Dark Web is Supercharging the Threat Landscape and How to Fight Back, exploring how cyber-criminals are increasingly operating in a quasi-professional manner, with malware and ransomware attacks being offered on a ‘software-as-a-service’ basis. The report’s findings showed how cybercrime is being supercharged through “plug and
Month: July 2022
by Paul Ducklin The phrase Office macros is a harmless-sounding, low-tech name that refers, in real life, to program code you can squirrel away inside Office files so that the code travels along with the text of a document, or the formulas of a spreadsheet, or the slides in a presentation… …and even though the
Ever hear of a crime called skimming? It may not be as dramatic a crime as assault or Ponzi schemes, but it can cause significant problems to you as your savings account can be wiped out in a flash. Picture a scrawny nerd tampering with an automated teller machine (ATM)—the machine you use with your
ESET research shows yet again that macOS is not immune to malware and why some users can benefit from Apple’s Lockdown Mode This week, ESET researchers published their findings about a piece of malware that targets Mac users. Called CloudMensis, this previously unknown backdoor spies on users of the compromised Mac devices and collects information
Network security company SonicWall on Friday rolled out fixes to mitigate a critical SQL injection (SQLi) vulnerability affecting its Analytics On-Prem and Global Management System (GMS) products. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-22280, is rated 9.4 for severity on the CVSS scoring system and stems from what the company describes is an “improper neutralization of special
Ukrainian radio stations were hacked this week by threat actors to spread fake news about President Volodymyr Zelensky’s health, according to Ukraine’s security officials. A music program on “at least one” out of TAVR Media’s stations – one of Ukraine’s largest radio networks – was interrupted by the false reports just after midday on July 21. The so-far unidentified
by Paul Ducklin LISTEN NOW Click-and-drag on the soundwaves below to skip to any point. You can also listen directly on Soundcloud. With Doug Aamoth and Paul Ducklin. Intro and outro music by Edith Mudge. You can listen to us on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and anywhere that good podcasts are found.
Sextortion is something no parent wants to think could happen to their child, nor a topic most of us would ever imagine we’d need to discuss in our homes. However, according to the latest FBI reports, sextortion is a digital threat to children that, woefully, is on the rise. According to the FBI, there has
Microsoft has officially resumed blocking Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros by default across Office apps, weeks after temporarily announcing plans to roll back the change. “Based on our review of customer feedback, we’ve made updates to both our end user and our IT admin documentation to make clearer what options you have for different
The number of ransomware victims in the second quarter was over a third lower than Q1 2022, thanks in part to the halt in operations from the prolific Conti group, according to GuidePoint Security. The firm’s quarterly ransomware report was based on data obtained from publicly available resources, including postings by threat groups on their data
by Paul Ducklin Apple has disgorged its latest patches, fixing more than 50 CVE-numbered security vulnerabilities in its range of supported products. The relevant security bulletins, update numbers, and where to find them online are as follows: APPLE-SA-2022-07-20-1: iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6, details at HT213346 APPLE-SA-2022-07-20-2: macOS Monterey 12.5, details at HT213345 APPLE-SA-2022-07-20-3: macOS
Listen to Cameron Camp, Juraj Jánošík, and Filip Mazán discuss the use of machine learning in cybersecurity, followed by Cameron’s insights into the security of medical devices At this year’s RSA Conference in San Francisco, the speakers and vendors on the expo floor often presented artificial intelligence as the solution that can help the cybersecurity
A large software development company whose software is used by different state entities in Ukraine was at the receiving end of an “uncommon” piece of malware, new research has found. The malware, first observed on the morning of May 19, 2022, is a custom variant of the open source backdoor known as GoMet and is
Russian adversaries are taking advantage of trusted cloud services, including DropBox and Google Drive to deliver malware to businesses and governments, according to new research. Cloaked Ursula – AKA the Russian government-linked APT29 or Cozy Bear – is increasingly using popular online storage services because it makes attacks difficult to detect and prevent, researchers at Palo Alto
There’s no denying that the internet fills a big part of our days. Whether playing, working, or studying, we rely on staying connected. But just as there’s a lot of good that comes with the internet, it can also make us susceptible to cybercriminals. This is especially true if you’re using your phone on public
Previously unknown macOS malware uses cloud storage as its C&C channel and to exfiltrate documents, keystrokes, and screen captures from compromised Macs In April 2022, ESET researchers discovered a previously unknown macOS backdoor that spies on users of the compromised Mac and exclusively uses public cloud storage services to communicate back and forth with its
Kaspersky security researchers have disclosed details of a brand-new ransomware family written in Rust, making it the third strain after BlackCat and Hive to use the programming language. Luna, as it’s called, is “fairly simple” and can run on Windows, Linux, and ESXi systems, with the malware banking on a combination of Curve25519 and AES
Security researchers have found a new macOS backdoor being used in targeted attacks to steal sensitive information from victims. The threat has been named “CloudMensis” by ESET because it exclusively uses public cloud storage services to communicate with its operators. Specifically, it leverages pCloud, Yandex Disk and Dropbox to receive commands and exfiltrate files, according to
by Paul Ducklin Remember Log4Shell? It was a dangerous bug in a popular open-source Java programming toolkit called Log4j, short for “Logging for Java”, published under a liberal, free source code licence, by the Apache Software Foundation. If you’ve ever written software of any sort, from the simplest BAT file on a Windows laptop to
Cybersecurity researchers have taken the wraps off a previously undocumented spyware targeting the Apple macOS operating system. The malware, codenamed CloudMensis by Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET, is said to exclusively use public cloud storage services such as pCloud, Yandex Disk, and Dropbox for receiving attacker commands and exfiltrating files. “Its capabilities clearly show that the
The Tor Project has updated its flagship anonymizing browser to make it easier for users to evade government attempts to block its use in various regions. Tor Browser 11.5 will “transform the user experience of connecting to Tor from heavily censored regions,” according to the US-based non-profit that manages the open source software. It replaces
Your mobile phone can do so many things, thanks to the wonders of technology. One of those things is having very accurate information about your location. In fact, some apps have to know your location to work. Of course, you can’t expect Google Maps to function as it should without tracking your location. But you’re
With global cybercrime costs expected to reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, it comes as little surprise that the risk of attack is companies’ biggest concern globally. To help businesses uncover and fix the vulnerabilities and misconfigurations affecting their systems, there is an (over)abundance of solutions available. But beware, they may not give you a
This week the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the Cyber Safety Review Board’s (CSRB) first report into the December 2021 Log4j event, where a number of vulnerabilities were reported with this Java-based logging framework. The report’s methodology included a mixture of interviews and requests for information over a 90-day period, engaging with approximately 80 organizations and individuals
So much of our personal and professional lives are online — from online banking to connecting with friends and family to unwinding after a long day with our favorite movies and shows. The internet is a pretty convenient place to be! Unfortunately, it can also be a convenient place for cybercriminals and identity theft. One
Why downloading pirated video games may ultimately cost you dearly and how to stay safe while gaming online Video games can be expensive, so downloading popular games for free instead of parting with your hard-earned cash may sound like a great idea. But are you aware of the dangers that downloading pirated video games and
VoIP phones using Digium’s software have been targeted to drop a web shell on their servers as part of an attack campaign designed to exfiltrate data by downloading and executing additional payloads. “The malware installs multilayer obfuscated PHP backdoors to the web server’s file system, downloads new payloads for execution, and schedules recurring tasks to
Data generated by OnePoll from April 28 to May 3 2022 on behalf of AT&T shows that the average person happens upon a suspicious online site or social media account 6.5 times a day. The recent survey of 2000 general population Americans also found that 54% of consumers said they were unaware of the difference between active and passive
by Paul Ducklin It’s prime vacation season in the Northern Hemipshere, and in some countries, July and August aren’t just months when some people take some days off, but a period of extended family holidays, often involving weeks away from home or on the road. The good news, of course, is that if you’ve had
A virtual private network (VPN) is a tool that hides your geolocation and protects your privacy while you’re online. It does this by creating an encrypted tunnel from your home network to a VPN provider’s server. When you buy an internet plan, your internet service provider (ISP) gives your equipment (like your router and modem)