Microsoft: Attackers Exploiting ‘ZeroLogon’ Windows Flaw

Microsoft warned on Wednesday that malicious hackers are exploiting a particularly dangerous flaw in Windows Server systems that could be used to give attackers the keys to the kingdom inside a vulnerable corporate network. Microsofts warning comes just days after the U.S. Department of Homeland...

DHS Issues Dire Patch Warning for ‘Zerologon’

Federal agencies that haven’t patched their Windows Servers against the ‘Zerologon’ vulnerability by Monday Sept. 21 at 11:59 pm EDT are in violation of a rare emergency directive issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security. With only hours until the deadline for the directive, issued on Friday,...

E-Verify’s “SSN Lock” is Nothing of the Sort

One of the most-read advice columns on this site is a 2018 piece called "Plant Your Flag, Mark Your Territory," which tried to impress upon readers the importance of creating accounts at websites like those at the Social Security Administration, the IRS and others before crooks do it for you. A k...

Examining the US Cyber Budget

Jason Healey takes a detailed look at the US federal cybersecurity budget and reaches an important conclusion: the US keeps saying that we need to prioritize defense, but in fact we prioritize attack. To its credit, this budget does reveal an overall growth in cybersecurity funding of about 5...

Zyxel Flaw Powers New Mirai IoT Botnet Strain

In February, hardware maker Zyxel fixed a zero-day vulnerability in its routers and VPN firewall products after KrebsOnSecurity told the company the flaw was being abused by attackers to break into devices. This week, security researchers said they spotted that same vulnerability being exploited ...

ACLU Sues Over U.S. Airport Facial-Recognition Technology

The American Civil Liberties Union ACLU has filed suit the Department of Homeland Security DHS over its use of facial recognition technology in airports, decrying the government’s “extraordinarily dangerous path” to normalize facial surveillance as well as its secrecy in making specific details o...

DHS Releases NTAS Bulletin

Today, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf reissued the NTAS bulletin pertaining to the terror threat to the U.S. homeland. Upfront, you should know that: “At this time there is no specific, credible threat against the homeland.” You can read the new, entire bulletin at National...

Ransomware at IT Services Provider Synoptek

Synoptek, a California business that provides cloud hosting and IT management services to more than a thousand customers nationwide, suffered a ransomware attack this week that has disrupted operations for many of its clients, according to sources. The company has reportedly paid a ransom demand ...

DHS Plans to Expand Facial Recognition Border Checks

The Department of Homeland Security plans to extend facial recognition checks to all travelers entering and leaving the U.S. – including previously-exempt U.S. citizens. The proposed ruling, outlined in a recent filing that was first reported this week by TechCrunch, signifies a rapid expansion o...

Talos takes home top research honors at Virus Bulletin conference

By Jon Munshaw Researchers from Cisco Talos brought up the top award at this year’s Virus Bulletin conference. Talos received the Péter Ször Award — named for the prolific security researcher who was a longtime contributor to Virus Bulletin and passed away in 2013 — for our research into several...

Secret Service Investigates Breach at U.S. Govt IT Contractor

The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a breach at a Virginia-based government technology contractor that saw access to several of its systems put up for sale in the cybercrime underground, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. The contractor claims the access being auctioned off was to old test systems...

DHS Warns Small Airplanes Vulnerable to Flight Data Manipulation Attacks

What could be more horrifying than knowing that a hacker can trick the plane's electronic systems into displaying false flight data to the pilot, which could eventually result in loss of control? Of course, the attacker would never wish to be on the same flight, so in this article, we are going t...

DHS Warning: Small Aircraft are Ripe for Hacking

The Department of Homeland Security issued an alert Tuesday warning that small aircraft are vulnerable to hackers that can gain physical access to a plane. It warned that a hacker can easily manipulate aircraft telemetry data, which can result in loss of control of the airplane. The bulletin was...

Fearing WannaCry-Level Danger, Enterprises Wrestle with BlueKeep

The nightmare vision of a “mega-worm” global BlueKeep infection could be closer to becoming reality as working exploits are now becoming available to the public, and there’s evidence that adversaries are actively scanning for the vulnerability. Researchers weighed in with Threatpost about how...

Science Fiction Writers Helping Imagine Future Threats

The French army is going to put together a team of science fiction writers to help imagine future threats. Leaving aside the question of whether science fiction writers are better or worse at envisioning nonfictional futures, this isn't new. The US Department of Homeland Security did the same thi...

Threat Source newsletter (June 20, 2019)

Newsletter compiled by Jonathan Munshaw. Welcome to this week’s Threat Source newsletter — the perfect place to get caught up on all things Talos from the past week. This week, we disclosed two vulnerabilities in KCodes’ NetUSB kernel module contains that could allow an attacker to inappropriatel...

Beers with Talos Ep. #53: Shiny happy election security (and ninjas)

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast Ep. 53 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. Recorded May 10, 2019 — Election security has been a dominant headline for some time, so it’s high time we take a look at what th...

DHS Shortens Deadline For Gov Agencies to Fix Critical Flaws

A Department of Homeland Security DHS order now requires agencies to remediate critical vulnerabilities discovered on their systems in 15 days – cutting in half the previous deadline of 30 days. That’s according to a Tuesday binding directive, which is a compulsory order for federal, executive...

Coalfire participates in cybersecurity disaster exercise at the 2019 HSCC Spring Summit

The Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council HSCC conducted their biannual Joint Cybersecurity Working Group JCWG All-Hands Meeting on April 3-4, 2019. As a member of HSCC, Coalfire participated in the JCWG meeting with other security leaders from across the healthcare industry an...

North Korea's Hidden Cobra Strikes U.S. Targets with HOPLIGHT

A never-before-seen spyware variant called HOPLIGHT is targeting U.S. companies and government agencies in active attacks, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In an advisory this week, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team US-CERT said that there are nine differen...