Former CIA Engineer Convicted of Leaking 'Vault 7' Hacking Secrets to WikiLeaks

Joshua Schulte, a former programmer with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency CIA, has been found guilty of leaking a trove of classified hacking tools and exploits dubbed Vault 7 to WikiLeaks. The 33-year-old engineer had been charged in June 2018 with unauthorized disclosure of classified...

State-Backed Hackers Targeting Journalists in Widespread Espionage Campaigns

Nation-state hacking groups aligned with China, Iran, North Korea, and Turkey have been targeting journalists to conduct espionage and spread malware as part of a series of campaigns since early 2021. "Most commonly, phishing attacks targeting journalists are used for espionage or to gain key...

A Simple Formula for Getting Your IT Security Budget Approved

Although there is a greater awareness of cybersecurity threats than ever before, it is becoming increasingly difficult for IT departments to get their security budgets approved. Security budgets seem to shrink each year and IT pros are constantly being asked to do more with less. Even so, the...

Microsoft Details App Sandbox Escape Bug Impacting Apple iOS, iPadOS, macOS Devices

Microsoft on Wednesday shed light on a now patched security vulnerability affecting Apple's operating systems that, if successfully exploited, could allow attackers to escalate device privileges and deploy malware. "An attacker could take advantage of this sandbox escape vulnerability to gain...

Pakistani Hackers Targeting Indian Students in Latest Malware Campaign

The advanced persistent threat APT group known as Transparent Tribe has been attributed to a new ongoing phishing campaign targeting students at various educational institutions in India at least since December 2021. "This new campaign also suggests that the APT is actively expanding its network ...

New 'Retbleed' Speculative Execution Attack Affects AMD and Intel CPUs

Security researchers have uncovered yet another vulnerability affecting numerous older AMD and Intel microprocessors that could bypass current defenses and result in Spectre-based speculative-execution attacks. Dubbed Retbleed by ETH Zurich researchers Johannes Wikner and Kaveh Razavi, the issue ...

U.S. FTC Vows to Crack Down on illegal Use and Sharing of Citizens' Sensitive Data

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission FTC warned this week that it will crack down on tech companies' illegal use and sharing of highly sensitive data and false claims about data anonymization. "While many consumers may happily offer their location data in exchange for real-time crowd-sourced advice ...

New UEFI Firmware Vulnerabilities Impact Several Lenovo Notebook Models

Consumer electronics maker Lenovo on Tuesday rolled out fixes to contain three security flaws in its UEFI firmware affecting over 70 product models. "The vulnerabilities can be exploited to achieve arbitrary code execution in the early phases of the platform boot, possibly allowing the attackers ...

Microsoft Warns of Large-Scale AiTM Phishing Attacks Against Over 10,000 Organizations

Microsoft on Tuesday disclosed that a large-scale phishing campaign targeted over 10,000 organizations since September 2021 by hijacking Office 365's authentication process even on accounts secured with multi-factor authentication MFA. "The attackers then used the stolen credentials and session...

5 Questions You Need to Ask About Your Firewall Security

Often, organizations think of firewall security as a one-and-done type of solution. They install firewalls, then assume that they are "good to go" without investigating whether or not these solutions are actually protecting their systems in the best way possible. "Set it and forget it!" Instead o...

Researchers Uncover New Variants of the ChromeLoader Browser Hijacking Malware

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered new variants of the ChromeLoader information-stealing malware, highlighting its evolving feature set in a short span of time. Primarily used for hijacking victims' browser searches and presenting advertisements, ChromeLoader came to light in January 2022 a...

Researchers Uncover New Attempts by Qakbot Malware to Evade Detection

The operators behind the Qakbot malware are transforming their delivery vectors in an attempt to sidestep detection. "Most recently, threat actors have transformed their techniques to evade detection by using ZIP file extensions, enticing file names with common formats, and Excel XLM 4.0 to trick...

Microsoft Releases Fix for Zero-Day Flaw in July 2022 Security Patch Rollout

Microsoft released its monthly round of Patch Tuesday updates to address 84 new security flaws spanning multiple product categories, counting a zero-day vulnerability that's under active attack in the wild. Of the 84 shortcomings, four are rated Critical, and 80 are rated Important in severity...

TikTok Postpones Privacy Policy Update in Europe After Italy Warns of GDPR Breach

Popular video-sharing platform TikTok on Tuesday agreed to pause a controversial privacy policy update that could have allowed it to serve targeted ads based on users' activity on the social video platform without their permission to do so. The reversal, reported by TechCrunch, comes a day after...

Avoiding Death by a Thousand Scripts: Using Automated Content Security Policies

Businesses know they need to secure their client-side scripts. Content security policies CSPs are a great way to do that. But CSPs are cumbersome. One mistake and you have a potentially significant client-side security gap. Finding those gaps means long and tedious hours or days in manual code...

Microsoft Windows Autopatch is Now Generally Available for Enterprise Systems

Microsoft on Monday announced the general availability of a feature called Autopatch that automatically keeps Windows and Office software up-to-date on enrolled endpoints. The launch, which comes a day before Microsoft is expected to release its monthly round of security patches, is available for...

Cloud-based Cryptocurrency Miners Targeting GitHub Actions and Azure VMs

GitHub Actions and Azure virtual machines VMs are being leveraged for cloud-based cryptocurrency mining, indicating sustained attempts on the part of malicious actors to target cloud resources for illicit purposes. "Attackers can abuse the runners or servers provided by GitHub to run an...

What It Takes to Tackle Your SaaS Security

It's not a new concept that Office 365, Salesforce, Slack, Google Workspace or Zoom, etc., are amazing for enabling the hybrid workforce and hyper-productivity in businesses today. However, there are three main challenges that have arisen stemming from this evolution: 1 While SaaS apps include a...

Hackers Used Fake Job Offer to Hack and Steal $540 Million from Axie Infinity

The $540 million hack of Axie Infinity's Ronin Bridge in late March 2022 was the consequence of one of its former employees getting tricked by a fraudulent job offer on LinkedIn, it has emerged. According to a report from The Block published last week citing two people familiar with the matter, a...

PyPI Repository Makes 2FA Security Mandatory for Critical Python Projects

The maintainers of the official third-party software repository for Python have begun imposing a new two-factor authentication 2FA condition for projects deemed "critical." "We've begun rolling out a 2FA requirement: soon, maintainers of critical projects must have 2FA enabled to publish, update,...

Hackers Exploiting Follina Bug to Deploy Rozena Backdoor

A newly observed phishing campaign is leveraging the recently disclosed Follina security vulnerability to distribute a previously undocumented backdoor on Windows systems. "Rozena is a backdoor malware that is capable of injecting a remote shell connection back to the attacker's machine," Fortine...

Researchers Warn of Raspberry Robin's Worm Targeting Windows Users

Cybersecurity researchers are drawing attention to an ongoing wave of attacks linked to a threat cluster tracked as Raspberry Robin that's behind a Windows malware with worm-like capabilities. Describing it as a "persistent" and "spreading" threat, Cybereason said it observed a number of victims ...

Researchers Detail Techniques LockBit Ransomware Using to Infect its Targets

LockBit ransomware attacks are constantly evolving by making use of a wide range of techniques to infect targets while also taking steps to disable endpoint security solutions. "The affiliates that use LockBit's services conduct their attacks according to their preference and use different tools...

Microsoft Temporarily Rolls Back Plan to Block Office VBA Macros by Default

Five months after announcing plans to disable Visual Basic for Applications VBA macros by default in the Office productivity suite, Microsoft appears to have rolled back its plans. "Based on feedback received, a rollback has started," Microsoft employee Angela Robertson said in a July 6 comment...

Why Developers Hate Changing Language Versions

Progress powers technology forward. But progress also has a cost: by adding new capabilities and features, the developer community is constantly adjusting the building blocks. That includes the fundamental languages used to code technology solutions. When the building blocks change, the code behi...

Experts Uncover 350 Browser Extension Variants Used in ABCsoup Adware Campaign

A malicious browser extension with 350 variants is masquerading as a Google Translate add-on as part of an adware campaign targeting Russian users of Google Chrome, Opera, and Mozilla Firefox browsers. Mobile security firm Zimperium dubbed the malware family ABCsoup, stating the "extensions are...

TrickBot Gang Shifted its Focus on "Systematically" Targeting Ukraine

In what's being described as an "unprecedented" twist, the operators of the TrickBot malware have resorted to systematically targeting Ukraine since the onset of the war in late February 2022. The group is believed to have orchestrated at least six phishing campaigns aimed at targets that align...

North Korean Maui Ransomware Actively Targeting U.S. Healthcare Organizations

In a new joint cybersecurity advisory, U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies have warned about the use of Maui ransomware by North Korean government-backed hackers to target the healthcare sector since at least May 2021. "North Korean state-sponsored cyber actors used Maui ransomware in...

Over 1,200 NPM Packages Found Involved in "CuteBoi" Cryptomining Campaign

Researchers have disclosed what they say could be an attempt to kick-off a new large-scale cryptocurrency mining campaign targeting the NPM JavaScript package repository. The malicious activity, attributed to a software supply chain threat actor dubbed CuteBoi, involves an array of 1,283 rogue...

Apple's New "Lockdown Mode" Protects iPhone, iPad, and Mac Against Spyware

Apple on Wednesday announced it plans to introduce an enhanced security setting called Lockdown Mode in iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura to safeguard high-risk users against "highly targeted cyberattacks." The "extreme, optional protection" feature, now available for preview in beta versions ...

The Age of Collaborative Security: What Tens of Thousands of Machines Witness

Disclaimer: This article is meant to give insight into cyber threats as seen by the community of users of CrowdSec. What can tens of thousands of machines tell us about illegal hacker activities? Do you remember that scene in Batman - The Dark Knight, where Batman uses a system that aggregates...

Researchers Warn of New OrBit Linux Malware That Hijacks Execution Flow

Cybersecurity researchers have taken the wraps off a new and entirely undetected Linux threat dubbed OrBit, signally a growing trend of malware attacks geared towards the popular operating system. The malware gets its name from one of the filenames that's utilized to temporarily store the output ...

Cisco and Fortinet Release Security Patches for Multiple Products

Cisco on Wednesday rolled out patches for 10 security flaws spanning multiple products, one of which is rated Critical in severity and could be weaponized to conduct absolute path traversal attacks. The issues, tracked as CVE-2022-20812 and CVE-2022-20813, affect Cisco Expressway Series and Cisco...

NIST Announces First Four Quantum-Resistant Cryptographic Algorithms

The U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST has chosen the first set of quantum-resistant encryption algorithms that are designed to "withstand the assault of a future quantum computer." The post-quantum cryptography PQC technologies include the...

OpenSSL Releases Patch for High-Severity Bug that Could Lead to RCE Attacks

The maintainers of the OpenSSL project have released patches to address a high-severity bug in the cryptographic library that could potentially lead to remote code execution under certain scenarios. The issue, now assigned the identifier CVE-2022-2274, has been described as a case of heap memory...

Hackers Abusing BRc4 Red Team Penetration Tool in Attacks to Evade Detection

Malicious actors have been observed abusing legitimate adversary simulation software in their attacks in an attempt to stay under the radar and evade detection. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 said a malware sample uploaded to the VirusTotal database on May 19, 2022, contained a payload associated wit...

The End of False Positives for Web and API Security Scanning?

July may positively disrupt and adrenalize the old-fashioned Dynamic Application Security Scanning DAST market, despite the coming holiday season. The pathbreaking innovation comes from ImmuniWeb, a global application security company, well known for, among other things, its free Community Editio...

Bitter APT Hackers Continue to Target Bangladesh Military Entities

Military entities located in Bangladesh continue to be at the receiving end of sustained cyberattacks by an advanced persistent threat tracked as Bitter. "Through malicious document files and intermediate malware stages the threat actors conduct espionage by deploying Remote Access Trojans,"...

Hive Ransomware Upgrades to Rust for More Sophisticated Encryption Method

The operators of the Hive ransomware-as-a-service RaaS scheme have overhauled their file-encrypting software to fully migrate to Rust and adopt a more sophisticated encryption method. "With its latest variant carrying several major upgrades, Hive also proves it's one of the fastest evolving...

Researchers Uncover Malicious NPM Packages Stealing Data from Apps and Web Forms

A widespread software supply chain attack has targeted the NPM package manager at least since December 2021 with rogue modules designed to steal data entered in forms by users on websites that include them. The coordinated attack, dubbed IconBurst by ReversingLabs, involves no fewer than two doze...

Pro-China Group Uses Dragonbridge Campaign to Target Rare Earth Mining Companies

A pro-China influence campaign singled out rare earth mining companies in Australia, Canada, and the U.S. with negative messaging in an unsuccessful attempt to manipulate public discourse to China's benefit. Targeted firms included Australia's Lynas Rare Earths Ltd, Canada's Appia Rare Earths &...

As New Clues Emerges, Experts Wonder: Is REvil Back?

Change is a part of life, and nothing stays the same for too long, even with hacking groups, which are at their most dangerous when working in complete silence. The notorious REvil ransomware gang, linked to the infamous JBS and Kaseya, has resurfaced three months after the arrest of its members ...

Researchers Share Techniques to Uncover Anonymized Ransomware Sites on Dark Web

Cybersecurity researchers have detailed the various measures ransomware actors have taken to obscure their true identity online as well as the hosting location of their web server infrastructure. "Most ransomware operators use hosting providers outside their country of origin such as Sweden,...

Update Google Chrome Browser to Patch New Zero-Day Exploit Detected in the Wild

Google on Monday shipped security updates to address a high-severity zero-day vulnerability in its Chrome web browser that it said is being exploited in the wild. The shortcoming, tracked as CVE-2022-2294, relates to a heap overflow flaw in the WebRTC component that provides real-time audio and...

Ukrainian Authorities Arrested Phishing Gang That Stole 100 Million UAH

The Cyber Police of Ukraine last week disclosed that it apprehended nine members of a criminal gang that embezzled 100 million hryvnias via hundreds of phishing sites that claimed to offer financial assistance to Ukrainian citizens as part of a campaign aimed at capitalizing on the ongoing...

Some Worms Use Their Powers for Good

Gardeners know that worms are good. Cybersecurity professionals know that worms are bad. Very bad. In fact, worms are literally the most devasting force for evil known to the computing world. The MyDoom worm holds the dubious position of most costly computer malware ever – responsible for some $5...

HackerOne Employee Caught Stealing Vulnerability Reports for Personal Gains

Vulnerability coordination and bug bounty platform HackerOne on Friday disclosed that a former employee at the firm improperly accessed security reports submitted to it for personal gain. "The person anonymously disclosed this vulnerability information outside the HackerOne platform with the goal...

TikTok Assures U.S. Lawmakers it's Working to Safeguard User Data From Chinese Staff

Following heightened worries that U.S. users' data had been accessed by TikTok engineers in China between September 2021 and January 2022, the company sought to assuage U.S. lawmakers that it's taking steps to "strengthen data security." The admission that some China-based employees can access...

Microsoft Warns About Evolving Capabilities of Toll Fraud Android Malware Apps

Microsoft has detailed the evolving capabilities of toll fraud malware apps on Android, pointing out its "complex multi-step attack flow" and an improved mechanism to evade security analysis. Toll fraud belongs to a category of billing fraud wherein malicious mobile applications come with hidden...

Google Improves Its Password Manager to Boost Security Across All Platforms

Google on Thursday announced a slew of improvements to its password manager service aimed at creating a more consistent look and feel across different platforms. Central to the changes is a "simplified and unified management experience that's the same in Chrome and Android settings," Ali Sarraf,...