News

Jun 05, 2023Ravie LakshmananZero Day / Cyber Attack Microsoft has officially linked the ongoing active exploitation of a critical flaw in the Progress Software MOVEit Transfer application to a threat actor it tracks as Lace Tempest. “Exploitation is often followed by deployment of a web shell with data exfiltration capabilities,” the Microsoft Threat Intelligence team

A survey of global cybersecurity leaders through the 2023 Certified CISO Hall of Fame Report commissioned by the EC-Council identified 4 primary areas of grave concern: cloud security, data security, security governance, and lack of cybersecurity talent. EC-Council, the global leader in cybersecurity education and training, released its Certified Chief Information Security Officer Hall of

Jun 03, 2023Ravie LakshmananEndpoint Security / Linux An analysis of the Linux variant of a new ransomware strain called BlackSuit has covered significant similarities with another ransomware family called Royal. Trend Micro, which examined an x64 VMware ESXi version targeting Linux machines, said it identified an “extremely high degree of similarity” between Royal and BlackSuit.

Jun 02, 2023Ravie LakshmananBotnet / Malware Spanish-speaking users in Latin America have been at the receiving end of a new botnet malware dubbed Horabot since at least November 2020. “Horabot enables the threat actor to control the victim’s Outlook mailbox, exfiltrate contacts’ email addresses, and send phishing emails with malicious HTML attachments to all addresses

Jun 01, 2023Ravie LakshmananCyber Threat / Network Security An analysis of the “evasive and tenacious” malware known as QBot has revealed that 25% of its command-and-control (C2) servers are merely active for a single day. What’s more, 50% of the servers don’t remain active for more than a week, indicating the use of an adaptable

May 31, 2023Ravie LakshmananServer Security / Cryptocurrency A financially motivated threat actor is actively scouring the internet for unprotected Apache NiFi instances to covertly install a cryptocurrency miner and facilitate lateral movement. The findings come from the SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC), which detected a spike in HTTP requests for “/nifi” on May 19, 2023.

May 30, 2023Ravie LakshmananZero Day / Vulnerability Multiple security flaws uncovered in Sonos One wireless speakers could be potentially exploited to achieve information disclosure and remote code execution, the Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) said in a report published last week. The vulnerabilities were demonstrated by three different teams from Qrious Secure, STAR Labs, and DEVCORE

May 29, 2023Ravie LakshmananAuthentication / Mobile Security Researchers have discovered an inexpensive attack technique that could be leveraged to brute-force fingerprints on smartphones to bypass user authentication and seize control of the devices. The approach, dubbed BrutePrint, bypasses limits put in place to counter failed biometric authentication attempts by weaponizing two zero-day vulnerabilities in the

May 27, 2023Ravie LakshmananAPI Security / Vulnerability A critical security vulnerability has been disclosed in the Open Authorization (OAuth) implementation of the application development framework Expo.io. The shortcoming, assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2023-28131, has a severity rating of 9.6 on the CVSS scoring system. API security firm Salt Labs said the issue rendered services using

A new stealthy information stealer malware called Bandit Stealer has caught the attention of cybersecurity researchers for its ability to target numerous web browsers and cryptocurrency wallets. “It has the potential to expand to other platforms as Bandit Stealer was developed using the Go programming language, possibly allowing cross-platform compatibility,” Trend Micro said in a

May 26, 2023Ravie LakshmananData Safety / Cloud Security A new security flaw has been disclosed in the Google Cloud Platform’s (GCP) Cloud SQL service that could be potentially exploited to obtain access to confidential data. “The vulnerability could have enabled a malicious actor to escalate from a basic Cloud SQL user to a full-fledged sysadmin

May 25, 2023Ravie LakshmananGaming / Server Security A new botnet called Dark Frost has been observed launching distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against the gaming industry. “The Dark Frost botnet, modeled after Gafgyt, QBot, Mirai, and other malware strains, has expanded to encompass hundreds of compromised devices,” Akamai security researcher Allen West said in a new

May 24, 2023Ravie LakshmananCyber Threat / Web Security At least eight websites associated with shipping, logistics, and financial services companies in Israel were targeted as part of a watering hole attack. Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity company ClearSky attributed the attacks with low confidence to an Iranian threat actor tracked as Tortoiseshell, which is also called Crimson

May 23, 2023Ravie LakshmananCyber Threat / APT Government and diplomatic entities in the Middle East and South Asia are the target of a new advanced persistent threat actor named GoldenJackal. Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, which has been keeping tabs on the group’s activities since mid-2020, characterized the adversary as both capable and stealthy. The targeting

May 22, 2023Ravie LakshmananData Protection / Privacy Facebook’s parent company Meta has been fined a record $1.3 billion by European Union data protection regulators for transferring the personal data of users in the region to the U.S. In a binding decision taken by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), the social media giant has been

May 21, 2023Ravie LakshmananSoftware Security / Malware The maintainers of Python Package Index (PyPI), the official third-party software repository for the Python programming language, have temporarily disabled the ability for users to sign up and upload new packages until further notice. “The volume of malicious users and malicious projects being created on the index in

The identity of the second threat actor behind the Golden Chickens malware has been uncovered courtesy of a fatal operational security blunder, cybersecurity firm eSentire said. The individual in question, who lives in Bucharest, Romania, has been given the codename Jack. He is one of the two criminals operating an account on the Russian-language Exploit.in

May 19, 2023Ravie LakshmananOnline Privacy / Tech News Google has announced plans to officially flip the switch on its twice-delayed Privacy Sandbox initiatives as it slowly works its way to deprecate support for third-party cookies in Chrome browser. To that end, the search and advertising giant said it intends to phase out third-party cookies for

A cybercrime enterprise known as Lemon Group is leveraging millions of pre-infected Android smartphones worldwide to carry out their malicious operations, posing significant supply chain risks. “The infection turns these devices into mobile proxies, tools for stealing and selling SMS messages, social media and online messaging accounts and monetization via advertisements and click fraud,” cybersecurity

May 17, 2023Ravie LakshmananCyber Threat / Mobile Security A hacking group dubbed OilAlpha with suspected ties to Yemen’s Houthi movement has been linked to a cyber espionage campaign targeting development, humanitarian, media, and non-governmental organizations in the Arabian peninsula. “OilAlpha used encrypted chat messengers like WhatsApp to launch social engineering attacks against its targets,” cybersecurity

May 16, 2023Ravie LakshmananNetwork Security / Threat Intel The Chinese nation-state actor known as Mustang Panda has been linked to a new set of sophisticated and targeted attacks aimed at European foreign affairs entities since January 2023. An analysis of these intrusions, per Check Point researchers Itay Cohen and Radoslaw Madej, has revealed a custom

May 15, 2023Ravie LakshmananNetwork Security / SCADA Several security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in cloud management platforms associated with three industrial cellular router vendors that could expose operational technology (OT) networks to external attacks. The findings were presented by Israeli industrial cybersecurity firm OTORIO at the Black Hat Asia 2023 conference last week. The 11

May 12, 2023Ravie LakshmananNetwork Security / Malware As many as five security flaws have been disclosed in Netgear RAX30 routers that could be chained to bypass authentication and achieve remote code execution. “Successful exploits could allow attackers to monitor users’ internet activity, hijack internet connections, and redirect traffic to malicious websites or inject malware into

May 13, 2023Ravie Lakshmanan A new phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS or PaaS) platform named Greatness has been leveraged by cybercriminals to target business users of the Microsoft 365 cloud service since at least mid-2022, effectively lowering the bar to entry for phishing attacks. “Greatness, for now, is only focused on Microsoft 365 phishing pages, providing its affiliates

May 12, 2023Ravie LakshmananCyber Threat / Malware Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an ongoing phishing campaign that makes use of a unique attack chain to deliver the XWorm malware on targeted systems. Securonix, which is tracking the activity cluster under the name MEME#4CHAN, said some of the attacks have primarily targeted manufacturing firms and healthcare clinics

A previously undetected advanced persistent threat (APT) actor dubbed Red Stinger has been linked to attacks targeting Eastern Europe since 2020. “Military, transportation, and critical infrastructure were some of the entities being targeted, as well as some involved in the September East Ukraine referendums,” Malwarebytes disclosed in a report published today. “Depending on the campaign,

May 10, 2023Ravie LakshmananPrivacy / Safety / Security Google unveiled a slew of new privacy, safety, and security features today at its annual developer conference, Google I/O. The tech giant’s latest initiatives are aimed at protecting its users from cyber threats, including phishing attacks and malicious websites, while providing more control and transparency over their

May 09, 2023Ravie LakshmananCyber Crime / DDoS Attack U.S. authorities have announced the seizure of 13 internet domains that offered DDoS-for-hire services to other criminal actors. The takedown is part of an ongoing international initiative dubbed Operation PowerOFF that’s aimed at dismantling criminal DDoS-for-hire infrastructures worldwide. The development comes almost five months after a “sweep”

May 08, 2023The Hacker NewsWebinar / Ransomware Are you concerned about ransomware attacks? You’re not alone. In recent years, these attacks have become increasingly common and can cause significant damage to organizations of all sizes. But there’s good news – with the right security measures in place, such as real-time MFA and service account protection,

May 06, 2023Ravie Lakshmanan Users of Advanced Custom Fields plugin for WordPress are being urged to update version 6.1.6 following the discovery of a security flaw. The issue, assigned the identifier CVE-2023-30777, relates to a case of reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) that could be abused to inject arbitrary executable scripts into otherwise benign websites. The