Oops: DanaBot Malware Devs Infected Their Own PCs

The U.S. government today unsealed criminal charges against 16 individuals accused of operating and selling DanaBot , a prolific strain of information-stealing malware that has been sold on Russian cybercrime forums since 2018. The FBI says a newer version of DanaBot was used for espionage, and...

FBI Dismantles Chinese-Linked Botnet of 260,000 IoT Devices

The FBI, in collaboration with U.S. government agencies, dismantled a Chinese state-backed botnet known as Flax Typhoon, comprising…...

We can try to bridge the cybersecurity skills gap, but that doesn’t necessarily mean more jobs for defenders

I have written about the dreaded " cybersecurity skills gap" more times than I can remember in this newsletter, but I feel like it's time to revisit this topic again. That's because the White House announced a new initiative last week for the U.S. government called the " Service for America"...

BlackByte Ransomware Exploits VMware ESXi Flaw in Latest Attack Wave

The threat actors behind the BlackByte ransomware group have been observed likely exploiting a recently patched security flaw impacting VMware ESXi hypervisors, while also leveraging various vulnerable drivers to disarm security protections. "The BlackByte ransomware group continues to leverage...

Crickets from Chirp Systems in Smart Lock Key Leak

The U.S. government is warning that "smart locks" securing entry to an estimated 50,000 dwellings nationwide contain hard-coded credentials that can be used to remotely open any of the locks. The locks maker Chirp Systems remains unresponsive, even though it was first notified about the critical...

Alert: New Stealthy "RustDoor" Backdoor Targeting Apple macOS Devices

Apple macOS users are the target of a new Rust-based backdoor that has been operating under the radar since November 2023. The backdoor, codenamed RustDoor by Bitdefender, has been found to impersonate an update for Microsoft Visual Studio and target both Intel and Arm architectures. The exact...

Swedish Data Protection Authority Warns Companies Against Google Analytics Use

The Swedish data protection watchdog has warned companies against using Google Analytics due to risks posed by U.S. government surveillance, following similar moves by Austria, France, and Italy last year. The development comes in the aftermath of an audit initiated by the Swedish Authority for...

Threat Actors Exploit Progress Telerik Vulnerabilities in Multiple U.S. Government IIS Servers

SUMMARY From November 2022 through early January 2023, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA and authoring organizations identified the presence of indicators of compromise IOCs at a federal civilian executive branch FCEB agency. Analysts determined that multiple cyber threat...

Volt Typhoon Chinese Espionage Group Targets U.S. Government

Threat Level Actor Report For a detailed threat advisory, download the pdf file here Summary Volt Typhoon, a state-sponsored threat group from China, employs stealthy techniques, exploits vulnerabilities, and focuses on espionage in cyber operations targeting critical infrastructure organizations...

Threat Source newsletter (May 4, 2023) — Recapping the biggest headlines to come out of RSA

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. I didnt attend the RSA Conference in person, and on top of that, I was at the NFL Draft while the conference was going on. Im behind on the biggest talks, panels and presentations that came out during the annual security conference, s...

LockBit 3.0 Ransomware: Inside the Cyberthreat That's Costing Millions

U.S. government agencies have released a joint cybersecurity advisory detailing the indicators of compromise IoCs and tactics, techniques, and procedures TTPs associated with the notorious LockBit 3.0 ransomware. "The LockBit 3.0 ransomware operations function as a Ransomware-as-a-Service RaaS...

Why FedRAMP High Authorization Can Ensure High Cybersecurity Maturity

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program FedRAMP is a U.S. government initiative that promotes the adoption of secure cloud services across the U.S. federal government by providing a standardized approach to security and risk assessment for cloud technologies. FedRAMP reduces...

U.S. Govt. Apps Bundled Russian Code With Ties to Mobile Malware Developer

A recent scoop by Reuters revealed that mobile apps for the U.S. Army and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC were integrating software that sends visitor data to a Russian company called Pushwoosh, which claims to be based in the United States. But that story omitted an important...

British Hacker Charged for Operating "The Real Deal" Dark Web Marketplace

A 34-year-old U.K. national has been arraigned in the U.S. for operating a dark web marketplace called The Real Deal that specialized in the sales of hacking tools and stolen login credentials. Daniel Kaye, who went by a litany of pseudonyms Popopret, Bestbuy, UserL0ser, and Spdrman, has been...

When Your Smart ID Card Reader Comes With Malware

Millions of U.S. government employees and contractors have been issued a secure smart ID card that enables physical access to buildings and controlled spaces, and provides access to government computer networks and systems at the cardholders appropriate security level. But many government employe...

E.U. Officials Reportedly Targeted with Israeli Pegasus Spyware

Senior officials in the European Union were allegedly targeted with NSO Group's infamous Pegasus surveillance tool, according to a new report from Reuters. At least five individuals, including European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, are said to have been singled out in total, the news agen...

Six Key Takeaways from the OMB Memo

In May 2021, following a number of high-profile security incidents, U.S. President Biden issued an executive order that set out a high-level agenda to modernize and improve the government’s cyber resilience. This January, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget OMB issued a memo to the heads of...

iPhones of 9 State Dept officials hijacked by NSO Pegasus spyware

By Deeba Ahmed It has been revealed that NSO Group's Pegasus malware was used to spy on U.S. government officials over the past few months. This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: iPhones of 9 State Dept officials hijacked by NSO Pegasus spyware...

Microsoft, Google to Invest $30 Billion in Cybersecurity Over Next 5 Years

Google and Microsoft said they are pledging to invest a total of $30 billion in cybersecurity advancements over the next five years, as the U.S. government partners with private sector companies to address threats facing the country in the wake of a string of sophisticated malicious cyber activit...

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...