Microsoft Warns of Surge in Cyber Attacks Targeting Internet-Exposed OT Devices

Microsoft has emphasized the need for securing internet-exposed operational technology OT devices following a spate of cyber attacks targeting such environments since late 2023. "These repeated attacks against OT devices emphasize the crucial need to improve the security posture of OT devices and...

Exposed and vulnerable: Recent attacks highlight critical need to protect internet-exposed OT devices

Since late 2023, Microsoft has observed an increase in reports of attacks focusing on internet-exposed, poorly secured operational technology OT devices. Internet-exposed OT equipment in water and wastewater systems WWS in the US were targeted in multiple attacks over the past months by different...

Russian APT28 Hackers Targeting High-Value Orgs with NTLM Relay Attacks

Russian state-sponsored actors have staged NT LAN Manager NTLM v2 hash relay attacks through various methods from April 2022 to November 2023, targeting high-value targets worldwide. The attacks, attributed to an "aggressive" hacking crew called APT28, have set their eyes on organizations dealing...

Iranian Hackers Masquerade as Journalists to Spy on Israel-Hamas War Experts

High-profile individuals working on Middle Eastern affairs at universities and research organizations in Belgium, France, Gaza, Israel, the U.K., and the U.S. have been targeted by an Iranian cyber espionage group called Mind Sandstorm since November 2023. The threat actor "used bespoke phishing...

Russian APT28 Hackers Targeting 13 Nations in Ongoing Cyber Espionage Campaign

The Russian nation-state threat actor known as APT28 has been observed making use of lures related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war to facilitate the delivery of a custom backdoor called HeadLace. IBM X-Force is tracking the adversary under the name ITG05, which is also known as BlueDelta, Fancy...

Microsoft shares threat intelligence at CYBERWARCON 2023

At the CYBERWARCON 2023 conference, Microsoft and LinkedIn analysts are presenting several sessions detailing analysis across multiple sets of threat actors and related activity. This blog is intended to summarize the content of the research covered in these presentations and demonstrates Microso...

Intensified Israeli Surveillance Has Put the West Bank on Lockdown

The West Bank was Israel’s surveillance laboratory. Since the Israel-Hamas war began, Palestinian residents have been locked in for days at a time...

Elon Musk Is Personally Undermining X’s Efforts to Curb Israel-Hamas War Disinformation

X’s Trust and Safety team says it’s working to remove false information related to the Israel-Hamas war. Meanwhile, Elon Musk is sharing conspiracies and chatting with QAnon promoters...