Malvertising Leads to Magnitude Exploit Kit, Ransomware Infection

Criminals are injecting malicious redirect code into advertisements in order to route user traffic toward sites hosting the Magnitude exploit kit, which, in turn, infects those users with strains of file-encrypting ransomware. Magnitude predominately relies on drive-by-download attacks in which i...

TeslaCrypt Ransomware Taking a Toll on Victims

The attackers behind the TeslaCrypt ransomware, which is one of the newer entries on the scene, may not be making as much money yet as some of their more experienced competitors, but researchers say that their malware is having a profound effect on victims. Like many other pieces of ransomware,...

Angler Exploit Kit Pushing New, Unnamed Ransomware

Attackers are using the infamous Angler exploit kit to disseminate a new, yet unnamed variant of the TeslaCrypt and AlphaCrypt ransomware, according to Rackspace security researcher Brad Duncan. Duncan analyzed the threat on the SANS Internet Storm Center, saying that the malware presents its...

Threat Outbreak Alert RuleID13722: Email Messages Distributing Malicious Software on May 10, 2015

Medium Alert ID: 38769 First Published: 2015 May 11 13:42 GMT Version: 1 Summary Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam email messages distributing malicious software. Email messages that are related to this threat RuleID13722 may contain the following files: Name | Size...

New Spam Campaign Pushing CTB-Locker Ransomware

A new run of spam messages this week has been spotted dropping CTB-Locker ransomware. CTB-Locker, also known as Critroni, is a fairly new piece of crypto ransomware that encrypts hard drives and demands a ransom paid in Bitcoin to the attackers in exchange for the decryption key. Two days ago,...

New Utility Decrypts Files Lost to TeslaCrypt Ransomware

Crypto-ransomware variants have enterprises on edge because of the threat of irreversibly damaged files. Some organizations, including most recently the Tewksbury, Ma., police department have gone as far as to pay hundreds of dollars in ransom for the recovery key. Some technology companies are...

Ransomware Teslacrypt Still Targeting Gamers

Teslacrypt, the fairly new strain of ransomware that’s been targeting gamers, is continuing to make the rounds online. Researchers have spotted exploit kits like Sweet Orange and Angler dropping the malware on machines over the past few months. This week, Brad Duncan, a handler over at the SANS...

As Ransomware Attacks Evolve, More Potential Victims Are at Risk

In early December, as most people were dealing with the stress of looking for the perfect holiday gifts and planning out their upcoming celebrations, police officers in a small New England town were under a different sort of pressure. The vital files and data the Tewksbury Police Department neede...

CoinVault Ransomware Decryption Tool Released

Are you one of those Windows users who have found themselves as victims of the CoinVault Ransomware? If Yes, then we have a Good news for you: Victims of CoinVault ransomware can now decrypt their files encrypted by malware using a free tool released by Kaspersky Lab. With the Help of The Nationa...

Why You Should Enroll In Cyber Security Awareness Training

When it comes to cyber security, even big organizations lack the basic knowledge of how to protect company’s data from the outside. Everyday businesses are facing the threat of phishing, ransomware, data breaches and malware attacks that not only results in millions of dollars losses, but also...

Beebone Botnet Taken Down By International Cybercrime Taskforce

U.S. and European law enforcement agencies have shut down a highly sophisticated piece of the botnet that had infected more than 12,000 computers worldwide, allowing hackers to steal victims’ banking information and other sensitive data. The law enforcement agencies from the United States, United...

Beebone Botnet Takedown Carried Out

A relatively small yet troublesome botnet has been shut down in a joint operation between U.S. and European law enforcement and a number of private security companies, including Kaspersky Lab. The takedown of Beebone was carried out on Wednesday by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security,...

CryptoLocker Variant Coming After Gamers

Gamers may soon be feeling the pain of crypto-ransomware. A variant of CryptoLocker is in the wild that goes after data files associated with 20 different online games, locking downloadable content in an attempt to target younger computer users. Researchers at Bromium today said an unnamed...

Obama Administration Seeks More Legal Power to Disrupt Botnets

The federal government is seeking more legal power to step in and shut down botnets through an amendment to the existing criminal law, which would allow the Department of Justice to obtain injunctions to disrupt these malicious networks. The Obama administration has proposed an amendment to...

Ransomware Looming As Major Long-Term Threat

On May 30, 2014, law enforcement officials from the FBI and Europol seized a series of servers that were being used to help operate the GameOver Zeus botnet, an especially pernicious and troublesome piece of malware. The authorities also began an international manhunt for a Russian man they said...

FBI Offers $3 Million Reward For Arrest Of Russian Hacker

The US State Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday a $3 Million reward for the information leading to the direct arrest or conviction of Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev, one of the most wanted hacking suspects accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars with h...

Chicago Police Department Pays $600 Cryptoware Ransom to Cybercriminals

Cyber criminals have started targeting government enforcement of the Ransomware in an attempt to extort money. Recently, the police department of the Midlothian Village in Illinois has paid a ransom of over $600 in Bitcoins to an unknown hacker after being hit by a popular ransomware attack. The...

Rig Exploit Kit Source Code Leaked

A spitting match between developers of the Rig Exploit Kit and one of its resellers resulted in a partial leak of the kit’s source code in a hacker forum. Rig is less than a year old and is spread primarily in malvertising campaigns, pushing Flash, Java and Microsoft Silverlight exploits; some...

Cryptowall 3.0 Slims Down, Removes Exploits From Dropper

A slimmed down version of Cryptowall is in circulation, and this one contains no built-in exploits, confirming a growing trend that most ransomware will be spread almost exclusively via exploit kits. Kits such as Angler, Nuclear, and most recently Hanjuan, have been busy incorporating Flash...

Hanjuan Exploit Kit, Malvertising Dangers in Flash Zero Days

The recent trio of Flash zero days has not only caused a lot of scrambling at Adobe—which yesterday released a patch for the last in that line of vulnerabilities—but also shined light on a fairly unknown exploit kit, exposed the evolving danger associated with malvertising, and made clear the pai...