Trojanized PyCharm Software Version Delivered via Google Search Ads

A new malvertising campaign has been observed capitalizing on a compromised website to promote spurious versions of PyCharm on Google search results by leveraging Dynamic Search Ads. "Unbeknownst to the site owner, one of their ads was automatically created to promote a popular program for Python...

ShadowSyndicate: A New Cybercrime Group Linked to 7 Ransomware Families

Cybersecurity experts have shed light on a new cybercrime group known as ShadowSyndicate formerly Infra Storm that may have leveraged as many as seven different ransomware families over the past year. "ShadowSyndicate is a threat actor that works with various ransomware groups and affiliates of...

Beware of MalDoc in PDF: A New Polyglot Attack Allowing Attackers to Evade Antivirus

Cybersecurity researchers have called attention to a new antivirus evasion technique that involves embedding a malicious Microsoft Word file into a PDF file. The sneaky method, dubbed MalDoc in PDF by JPCERT/CC, is said to have been employed in an in-the-wild attack in July 2023. "A file created...

New Variant of XLoader macOS Malware Disguised as 'OfficeNote' Productivity App

A new variant of an Apple macOS malware called XLoader has surfaced in the wild, masquerading its malicious features under the guise of an office productivity app called "OfficeNote." "The new version of XLoader is bundled inside a standard Apple disk image with the name OfficeNote.dmg,"...

Over 100,000 Stolen ChatGPT Account Credentials Sold on Dark Web Marketplaces

Over 101,100 compromised OpenAI ChatGPT account credentials have found their way on illicit dark web marketplaces between June 2022 and May 2023, with India alone accounting for 12,632 stolen credentials. The credentials were discovered within information stealer logs made available for sale on t...

Over 60K Adware Apps Posing as Cracked Versions of Popular Apps Target Android Devices

Thousands of adware apps for Android have been found to masquerade as cracks or modded versions of popular applications to serve unwanted ads to users as part of a campaign ongoing since October 2022. "The campaign is designed to aggressively push adware to Android devices with the purpose to dri...

New Phishing-as-a-Service Platform Lets Cybercriminals Generate Convincing Phishing Pages

A new phishing-as-a-service PhaaS or PaaS platform named Greatness has been leveraged by cybercriminals to target business users of the Microsoft 365 cloud service since at least mid-2022, effectively lowering the bar to entry for phishing attacks. "Greatness, for now, is only focused on Microsof...

VMware Releases Critical Patches for Workstation and Fusion Software

VMware has released updates to resolve multiple security flaws impacting its Workstation and Fusion software, the most critical of which could allow a local attacker to achieve code execution. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-20869 CVSS score: 9.3, is described as a stack-based...

Israel-based Spyware Firm QuaDream Targets High-Risk iPhones with Zero-Click Exploit

Threat actors using hacking tools from an Israeli surveillanceware vendor named QuaDream targeted at least five members of civil society in North America, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. According to findings from a group of researchers from the Citizen Lab, the spyware...

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...

Core Members of DoppelPaymer Ransomware Gang Targeted in Germany and Ukraine

Law enforcement authorities from Germany and Ukraine have targeted suspected core members of a cybercrime group that has been behind large-scale attacks using DoppelPaymer ransomware. The operation, which took place on February 28, 2023, was carried out with support from the Dutch National Police...

U.S. Cybersecurity Agency Raises Alarm Over Royal Ransomware's Deadly Capabilities

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA has released a new advisory about Royal ransomware, which emerged in the threat landscape last year. "After gaining access to victims' networks, Royal actors disable antivirus software and exfiltrate large amounts of data before...

Gootkit Malware Continues to Evolve with New Components and Obfuscations

The threat actors associated with the Gootkit malware have made "notable changes" to their toolset, adding new components and obfuscations to their infection chains. Google-owned Mandiant is monitoring the activity cluster under the moniker UNC2565, noting that the usage of the malware is...

Microsoft Urges Customers to Secure On-Premises Exchange Servers

Microsoft is urging customers to keep their Exchange servers updated as well as take steps to bolster the environment, such as enabling Windows Extended Protection and configuring certificate-based signing of PowerShell serialization payloads. "Attackers looking to exploit unpatched Exchange...

VMware Releases Patches for Critical vRealize Log Insight Software Vulnerabilities

VMware on Tuesday released software to remediate four security vulnerabilities affecting vRealize Log Insight aka Aria Operations for Logs that could expose users to remote code execution attacks. Two of the flaws are critical, carrying a severity rating of 9.8 out of a maximum of 10, the...

Gamaredon Group Launches Cyberattacks Against Ukraine Using Telegram

The Russian state-sponsored cyber espionage group known as Gamaredon has continued its digital onslaught against Ukraine, with recent attacks leveraging the popular messaging app Telegram to strike military and law enforcement sectors in the country. "The Gamaredon group's network infrastructure...

Hackers Exploiting Redis Vulnerability to Deploy New Redigo Malware on Servers

A previously undocumented Go-based malware is targeting Redis servers with the goal of taking control of the infected systems and likely building a botnet network. The attacks involve taking advantage of a critical security vulnerability in the open source, in-memory, key-value store that was...

34 Russian Cybercrime Groups Stole Over 50 Million Passwords with Stealer Malware

As many as 34 Russian-speaking gangs distributing information-stealing malware under the stealer-as-a-service model stole no fewer than 50 million passwords in the first seven months of 2022. "The underground market value of stolen logs and compromised card details is estimated around $5.8...

Researchers Find Links b/w Black Basta Ransomware and FIN7 Hackers

A new analysis of tools put to use by the Black Basta ransomware operation has identified ties between the threat actor and the FIN7 aka Carbanak group. This link "could suggest either that Black Basta and FIN7 maintain a special relationship or that one or more individuals belong to both groups,...

New TikTok Privacy Policy Confirms Chinese Staff Can Access European Users' Data

Popular short-form video-sharing service TikTok is revising its privacy policy for European users to make it explicitly clear that user data can be accessed by some employees from across the world, including China. The ByteDance-owned platform, which currently stores European user data in the U.S...

Eternity Group Hackers Offering New LilithBot Malware-as-a-Service to Cybercriminals

The threat actor behind the malware-as-a-service MaaS known as Eternity Group has been linked to new piece of malware called LilithBot. "It has advanced capabilities to be used as a miner, stealer, and a clipper along with its persistence mechanisms," Zscaler ThreatLabz researchers Shatak Jain an...

JuiceLedger Hackers Behind the Recent Phishing Attacks Against PyPI Users

More details have emerged about the operators behind the first-known phishing campaign specifically aimed at the Python Package Index PyPI, the official third-party software repository for the programming language. Connecting it to a threat actor tracked as JuiceLedger, cybersecurity firm...

Microsoft Warns About Phishing Attacks by Russia-linked Hackers

Microsoft on Monday revealed it took steps to disrupt phishing operations undertaken by a "highly persistent threat actor" whose objectives align closely with Russian state interests. The company is tracking the espionage-oriented activity cluster under its chemical element-themed moniker...

Twilio Suffers Data Breach After Employees Fall Victim to SMS Phishing Attack

Customer engagement platform Twilio on Monday disclosed that a "sophisticated" threat actor gained "unauthorized access" using an SMS-based phishing campaign aimed at its staff to gain information on a "limited number" of accounts. The social-engineering attack was bent on stealing employee...

New Linux Malware Framework Lets Attackers Install Rootkit on Targeted Systems

A never-before-seen Linux malware has been dubbed a "Swiss Army Knife" for its modular architecture and its capability to install rootkits. This previously undetected Linux threat, called Lightning Framework by Intezer, is equipped with a plethora of features, making it one of the most intricate...

Hackers Distributing Password Cracking Tool for PLCs and HMIs to Target Industrial Systems

Industrial engineers and operators are the target of a new campaign that leverages password cracking software to seize control of Programmable Logic Controllers PLCs and co-opt the machines to a botnet. The software "exploited a vulnerability in the firmware which allowed it to retrieve the...

Ex-Canadian Government Employee Pleads Guilty Over NetWalker Ransomware Attacks

A former Canadian government employee this week agreed to plead guilty in the U.S. to charges related to his involvement with the NetWalker ransomware syndicate. Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins, who was extradited to the U.S. on March 10, 2022, is accused of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and wi...

Cybersecurity Experts Warn of Emerging Threat of "Black Basta" Ransomware

The Black Basta ransomware-as-a-service RaaS syndicate has amassed nearly 50 victims in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand within two months of its emergence in the wild, making it a prominent threat in a short window. "Black Basta has been observed targeting a range of...

Researchers Disclose Critical Flaws in Industrial Access Controllers from HID Mercury

As many as four zero-day security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in the HID Mercury access controller system that's used widely in healthcare, education, transportation, and government facilities. "The vulnerabilities uncovered allowed us to demonstrate the ability to remotely unlock and loc...

New Variant of Russian Cyclops Blink Botnet Targeting ASUS Routers

ASUS routers have emerged as the target of a nascent botnet called Cyclops Blink, almost a month after it was revealed the malware abused WatchGuard firewall appliances as a stepping stone to gain remote access to breached networks. According to a new report published by Trend Micro, the botnet's...

New Vulnerability in CRI-O Engine Lets Attackers Escape Kubernetes Containers

A newly disclosed security vulnerability in the Kubernetes container engine CRI-O called cr8escape could be exploited by an attacker to break out of containers and obtain root access to the host. "Invocation of CVE-2022-0811 can allow an attacker to perform a variety of actions on objectives,...

Researchers Uncover New Coexistence Attacks On Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Chips

Cybersecurity researchers have demonstrated a new attack technique that makes it possible to leverage a device's Bluetooth component to directly extract network passwords and manipulate traffic on a Wi-Fi chip, putting billions of electronic devices at risk of stealthy attacks. The novel attacks...

3 Former U.S. Intelligence Officers Admit to Hacking for UAE Company

The U.S. Department of Justice DoJ on Tuesday disclosed it fined three intelligence community and military personnel $1.68 million in penalties for their role as cyber-mercenaries working on behalf of a U.A.E.-based cybersecurity company. The trio in question — Marc Baier, 49, Ryan Adams, 34, and...

Reduce End-User Password Change Frustrations

Organizations today must give attention to their cybersecurity posture, including policies, procedures, and technical solutions for cybersecurity challenges. This often results in a greater burden on the IT service desk staff as end-users encounter issues related to security software, policies, a...

US and Global Allies Accuse China of Massive Microsoft Exchange Attack

The U.S. government and its key allies, including the European Union, the U.K., and NATO, formally attributed the massive cyberattack against Microsoft Exchange email servers to state-sponsored hacking crews working affiliated with the People's Republic of China's Ministry of State Security MSS. ...

Crafting a Custom Dictionary for Your Password Policy

Modern password policies are comprised of many different elements that contribute to its effectiveness. One of the components of an effective current password policy makes use of what is known as a custom dictionary that filters out certain words that are not allowed as passwords in the...

Magecart Hackers Hide Stolen Credit Card Data Into Images for Evasive Exfiltration

Cybercrime actors part of the Magecart group have latched on to a new technique of obfuscating the malware code within comment blocksBlockcomment and encoding stolen credit card data into images and other files hosted on the server, once again demonstrating how the attackers are continuously...

DMARC: The First Line of Defense Against Ransomware

There has been a lot of buzz in the industry about ransomware lately. Almost every other day, it's making headlines. With businesses across the globe holding their breath, scared they might fall victim to the next major ransomware attack, it is now time to take action. The FBI IC3 report of 2020...

Cybersecurity Executive Order 2021: What It Means for Cloud and SaaS Security

In response to malicious actors targeting US federal IT systems and their supply chain, the President released the "Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity Executive Order." Although directed at Federal departments and agencies, the Executive Order will likely have a ripple effect...

EBook – Creating a Large Company Security Stack on a Lean Company Budget

The speed at which malicious actors have improved their attack tactics and continue to penetrate security systems has made going bigger the major trend in cybersecurity. Facing an evolving threat landscape, organizations have responded by building bigger security stacks, adding more tools and...

U.S. Recovers $2.3 Million Ransom Paid to Colonial Pipeline Hackers

In a major blow, the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday said it has recovered 63.7 bitcoins currently valued at $2.3 million paid by Colonial Pipeline to the DarkSide ransomware extortionists on May 8, pursuant to a seizure warrant that was authorized by the Northern District of California. The...

Experts Uncover Yet Another Chinese Spying Campaign Aimed at Southeast Asia

An ongoing cyber-espionage operation with suspected ties to China has been found targeting a Southeast Asian government to deploy spyware on Windows systems while staying under the radar for more than three years. "In this campaign, the attackers utilized the set of Microsoft Office exploits and...

Four Plead Guilty to Aiding Cyber Criminals with Bulletproof Hosting

Four Eastern European nationals face 20 years in prison for Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization RICO charges after pleading guilty to providing bulletproof hosting services between 2008 and 2015, which were used by cybercriminals to distribute malware to financial entities across the U.S. T...

6 Unpatched Flaws Disclosed in Remote Mouse App for Android and iOS

As many as six zero-days have been uncovered in an application called Remote Mouse, allowing a remote attacker to achieve full code execution without any user interaction. The unpatched flaws, collectively named 'Mouse Trap,' were disclosed on Wednesday by security researcher Axel Persinger, who...

Iranian Hackers Utilize ScreenConnect to Spy On UAE, Kuwait Government Agencies

UAE and Kuwait government agencies are targets of a new cyberespionage campaign potentially carried out by Iranian threat actors, according to new research. Attributing the operation to be the work of Static Kitten aka MERCURY or MuddyWater, Anomali said the "objective of this activity is to...

Sigma Rules to Live Your Best SOC Life

Security Operations is a 24 x 7 job. It does not stop for weekends or holidays or even that much-needed coffee break after the first hour of the shift is complete. We all know this. Every SOC engineer is hoping for some rest at some point. One of my favorite jokes when talking about Security...

Sharing eBook With Your Kindle Could Have Let Hackers Hijack Your Account

Amazon has addressed a number of flaws in its Kindle e-reader platform that could have allowed an attacker to take control of victims' devices by simply sending them a malicious e-book. Dubbed "KindleDrip," the exploit chain takes advantage of a feature called "Send to Kindle" to send a...

Missing Link in a 'Zero Trust' Security Model—The Device You're Connecting With!

Like it or not, 2020 was the year that proved that teams could work from literally anywhere. While terms like "flex work" and "WFH" were thrown around before COVID-19 came around, thanks to the pandemic, remote working has become the defacto way people work nowadays. Today, digital-based work...

Zenscrape: A Simple Web Scraping Solution for Penetration Testers

Did you ever try extracting any information from any website? Well, if you have then you have surely enacted web scraping functions without even knowing it! To put in simpler terms, Web scraping, or also known as web data extraction, is the process of recouping or sweeping data from web-pages. It...

Spies Can Listen to Your Conversations by Watching a Light Bulb in the Room

You might not believe it, but it's possible to spy on secret conversations happening in a room from a nearby remote location just by observing a light bulb hanging in there—visible from a window—and measuring the amount of light it emits. A team of cybersecurity researchers has developed and...