New Federal Government Cybersecurity Incident and Vulnerability Response Playbooks

The White House, via Executive Order EO 14028: Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, tasked CISA, as the operational lead for federal cybersecurity, to “develop a standard set of operational procedures i.e., playbook to be used in planning and conducting cybersecurity vulnerability and incident...

Update to GLBA Security Requirements for Financial Institutions

Heads up financial institutions: the Federal Trade Commission FTC announced the first cybersecurity updates to the Gramm Leach-Bliley Act GLBA Safeguards Rule since 2003. The new rule strengthens the required security safeguards for customer information. This includes formal risk assessments,...

Keeping Up with Biden Administration Cybersecurity Mandates

With Wednesday’s sweeping cybersecurity mandates issued by the Biden administration, patching Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures CVEs are top of mind — for both federal and private-sector companies alike — to help prevent damaging intrusions. Intensifying the pressure surrounding the latest rou...

Ukraine Identifies Russian FSB Officers Hacking As Gamaredon Group

Ukraine's premier law enforcement and counterintelligence agency on Thursday disclosed the real identities of five individuals allegedly involved in digital intrusions attributed to a cyber-espionage group named Gamaredon, linking the members to Russia's Federal Security Service FSB. Calling the...

U.S. Federal Agencies Ordered to Patch Hundreds of Actively Exploited Flaws

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA has published a catalog of vulnerabilities, including from Apple, Cisco, Microsoft, and Google, that have known exploits and are being actively exploited by malicious cyber actors, in addition to requiring federal agencies to prioriti...

CISA sets two week window for patching serious vulnerabilities

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA has issued binding directive 22-01 titled Reducing the Significant Risk of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities. This directive applies to all software and hardware found on federal information systems managed on agency premises or hosted by...

Microsoft Digital Defense Report shares new insights on nation-state attacks

Microsoft is proud to promote Cybersecurity Awareness Month as part of our ongoing commitment to security for all. Year-round, Microsoft tracks nation-state threat activities to help protect organizations and individuals from these advanced persistent actors. We’re constantly improving our...

Microsoft Digital Defense Report shares new insights on nation-state attacks

Microsoft is proud to promote Cybersecurity Awareness Month as part of our ongoing commitment to security for all. Year-round, Microsoft tracks nation-state threat activities to help protect organizations and individuals from these advanced persistent actors. We’re constantly improving our...

REvil Ransomware Gang Goes Underground After Tor Sites Were Compromised

REvil, the notorious ransomware gang behind a string of cyberattacks in recent years, appears to have gone off the radar once again, a little over a month after the cybercrime group staged a surprise return following a two-month-long hiatus. The development, first spotted by Recorded Future's...

CISA Releases Guidance: TIC 3.0 Remote User Use Case

In coordination with the Office of Management and Budget OMB, the Federal Chief Information Security Officer Council FCISO Trusted Internet Connections TIC Subcommittee, and the General Services Administration, CISA has released Trusted Internet Connections 3.0 Remote User Use Case. The Remote Us...

Exploitation of Pulse Connect Secure Vulnerabilities

Summary The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA is aware of compromises affecting a number of U.S. government agencies, critical infrastructure entities, and other private sector organizations by a cyber threat actor—or actors—beginning in June 2020 or earlier related to...

Black Hat: New CISA Head Woos Crowd With Public-Private Task Force

LAS VEGAS – Just weeks after the U.S. Senate confirmed Jen Easterly to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA, the new director spoke at Black Hat USA 2021 on Thursday, albeit virtually, announcing a major public-private partnership to fight cybercrime. Called the Joint...

Auditors: Feds’ Cybersecurity Gets the Dunce Cap

Out of eight U.S. federal agencies identified two years ago with critical cybersecurity failures, seven still don’t meet basic standards, a new audit report found. The Federal government’s overall posture was given just a C-. Audited agencies included the Departments of State, Homeland Security,...

Russian Federal Agencies Were Attacked With Chinese Webdav-O Virus

An amalgam of multiple state-sponsored threat groups from China may have been behind a string of targeted attacks against Russian federal executive authorities in 2020. The latest research, published by Singapore-headquartered company Group-IB, delves into a piece of computer virus called...

Top 30 Critical Security Vulnerabilities Most Exploited by Hackers

Intelligence agencies in Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. issued a joint advisory on Wednesday detailing the most exploited vulnerabilities in 2020 and 2021, once again demonstrating how threat actors are able to swiftly weaponize publicly disclosed flaws to their advantage. "Cyber actors contin...

ID theft ghouls targeting Surfside victims is appalling, but no surprise

We’ve written at length about account compromise and identity theft, and how criminals will often hijack accounts belonging to dead people. In many ways, it’s the perfect crime for anyone indulging in social engineering. The amount of abandoned accounts due to death can only ever go up, and nobod...

Researchers: NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware Should Spark Bans, Apple Accountability

News of a zero-click zero-day in Apple’s iMessage feature being incorporated into the notorious Pegasus mobile spyware from NSO Group has drawn a variety of reactions from the security community, including concerns about the security of Apple’s closed ecosystem, and varying views on NSO Group’s...

Protecting customers from a private-sector offensive actor using 0-day exploits and DevilsTongue malware

The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center MSTIC alongside the Microsoft Security Response Center MSRC has uncovered a private-sector offensive actor, or PSOA, that we are calling SOURGUM in possession of now-patched, Windows 0-day exploits CVE-2021-31979 and CVE-2021-33771. Private-sector offensiv...

Protecting customers from a private-sector offensive actor using 0-day exploits and DevilsTongue malware

The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center MSTIC alongside the Microsoft Security Response Center MSRC has uncovered a private-sector offensive actor, or PSOA, that we are calling SOURGUM in possession of now-patched, Windows 0-day exploits CVE-2021-31979 and CVE-2021-33771. Private-sector offensiv...

16 Cybercriminals Behind Mekotio and Grandoreiro Banking Trojan Arrested in Spain

Spanish law enforcement agencies on Wednesday arrested 16 individuals belonging to a criminal network in connection with operating two banking trojans as part of a social engineering campaign targeting financial institutions in Europe. The arrests were made in Ribeira A Coruña, Madrid, Parla and...