Conti Leaks Reveal Ransomware Gang's Interest in Firmware-based Attacks

An analysis of leaked chats from the notorious Conti ransomware group earlier this year has revealed that the syndicate has been working on a set of firmware attack techniques that could offer a path to accessing privileged code on compromised devices. "Control over firmware gives attackers...

Researchers Demonstrate Ransomware for IoT Devices That Targets IT and OT Networks

As ransomware infections have evolved from purely encrypting data to schemes such as double and triple extortion, a new attack vector is likely to set the stage for future campaigns. Called Ransomware for IoT or R4IoT by Forescout, it's a "novel, proof-of-concept ransomware that exploits an IoT...

ExpressVPN Removes Servers in India After Refusing to Comply with Government Order

Virtual Private Network VPN provider ExpressVPN on Thursday announced that it's removing Indian-based VPN servers in response to a new cybersecurity directive issued by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team CERT-In. "Rest assured, our users will still be able to connect to VPN servers that...

Critical UNISOC Chip Vulnerability Affects Millions of Android Smartphones

A critical security flaw has been uncovered in UNISOC's smartphone chipset that could be potentially weaponized to disrupt a smartphone's radio communications through a malformed packet. "Left unpatched, a hacker or a military unit can leverage such a vulnerability to neutralize communications in...

SideWinder Hackers Use Fake Android VPN Apps to Target Pakistani Entities

The threat actor known as SideWinder has added a new custom tool to its arsenal of malware that's being used in phishing attacks against Pakistani public and private sector entities. "Phishing links in emails or posts that mimic legitimate notifications and services of government agencies and...

DOJ Seizes 3 Web Domains Used to Sell Stolen Data and DDoS Services

The U.S. Department of Justice DoJ on Wednesday announced the seizure of three domains used by cybercriminals to trade stolen personal information and facilitate distributed denial-of-service DDoS attacks for hire. This includes weleakinfo.to, ipstress.in, and ovh-booter.com, the first of which...

New Unpatched Horde Webmail Bug Lets Hackers Take Over Server by Sending Email

A new unpatched security vulnerability has been disclosed in the open-source Horde Webmail client that could be exploited to achieve remote code execution on the email server simply by sending a specially crafted email to a victim. "Once the email is viewed, the attacker can silently take over th...

FluBot Android Spyware Taken Down in Global Law Enforcement Operation

An international law enforcement operation involving 11 countries has culminated in the takedown of a notorious mobile malware threat called FluBot. "This Android malware has been spreading aggressively through SMS, stealing passwords, online banking details and other sensitive information from...

YODA Tool Found ~47,000 Malicious WordPress Plugins Installed in Over 24,000 Sites

As many as 47,337 malicious plugins have been uncovered on 24,931 unique websites, out of which 3,685 plugins were sold on legitimate marketplaces, netting the attackers $41,500 in illegal revenues. The findings come from a new tool called YODA that aims to detect rogue WordPress plugins and trac...

New XLoader Botnet Version Using Probability Theory to Hide its C&C Servers

An enhanced version of the XLoader malware has been spotted adopting a probability-based approach to camouflage its command-and-control C&C infrastructure, according to the latest research. "Now it is significantly harder to separate the wheat from the chaff and discover the real C&C servers amon...

Chinese Hackers Begin Exploiting Latest Microsoft Office Zero-Day Vulnerability

An advanced persistent threat APT actor aligned with Chinese state interests has been observed weaponizing the new zero-day flaw in Microsoft Office to achieve code execution on affected systems. "TA413 CN APT spotted in-the-wild exploiting the Follina zero-day using URLs to deliver ZIP archives...

Latest Mobile Malware Report Suggests On-Device Fraud is on the Rise

An analysis of the mobile threat landscape in 2022 shows that Spain and Turkey are the most targeted countries for malware campaigns, even as a mix of new and existing banking trojans are increasingly targeting Android devices to conduct on-device fraud ODF. Other frequently targeted countries...

SideWinder Hackers Launched Over a 1,000 Cyber Attacks Over the Past 2 Years

An "aggressive" advanced persistent threat APT group known as SideWinder has been linked to over 1,000 new attacks since April 2020. "Some of the main characteristics of this threat actor that make it stand out among the others, are the sheer number, high frequency and persistence of their attack...

Learn Raspberry Pi and Arduino with 9 Online Developer Training Courses

This is an exciting time for the Internet of Things. According to Deloitte research, the average U.S. household now has 25 connected devices — and new products are being launched every day. This rush of demand means that many tech companies are looking for developers with IoT knowledge. And even ...

Interpol Nabs 3 Nigerian Scammers Behind Malware-based Attacks

Interpol on Monday announced the arrest of three suspected global scammers in Nigeria for using remote access trojans RATs such as Agent Tesla to facilitate malware-enabled cyber fraud. "The men are thought to have used the RAT to reroute financial transactions, stealing confidential online...

Microsoft Releases Workarounds for Office Vulnerability Under Active Exploitation

Microsoft on Monday published guidance for a newly discovered zero-day security flaw in its Office productivity suite that could be exploited to achieve code execution on affected systems. The weakness, now assigned the identifier CVE-2022-30190, is rated 7.8 out of 10 for severity on the CVSS...

Is 3rd Party App Access the New Executable File?

It's no secret that 3rd party apps can boost productivity, enable remote and hybrid work and are overall, essential in building and scaling a company's work processes. An innocuous process much like clicking on an attachment was in the earlier days of email, people don't think twice when connecti...

EnemyBot Linux Botnet Now Exploits Web Server, Android and CMS Vulnerabilities

A nascent Linux-based botnet named Enemybot has expanded its capabilities to include recently disclosed security vulnerabilities in its arsenal to target web servers, Android devices, and content management systems CMS. "The malware is rapidly adopting one-day vulnerabilities as part of its...

Watch Out! Researchers Spot New Microsoft Office Zero-Day Exploit in the Wild

Cybersecurity researchers are calling attention to a zero-day flaw in Microsoft Office that could be abused to achieve arbitrary code execution on affected Windows systems. The vulnerability came to light after an independent cybersecurity research team known as naosec uncovered a Word document...

New 'GoodWill' Ransomware Forces Victims to Donate Money and Clothes to the Poor

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a new ransomware strain called GoodWill that compels victims into donating for social causes and provide financial assistance to people in need. "The ransomware group propagates very unusual demands in exchange for the decryption key," researchers from...

FBI Warns About Hackers Selling VPN Credentials for U.S. College Networks

Network credentials and virtual private network VPN access for colleges and universities based in the U.S. are being advertised for sale on underground and public criminal marketplaces. "This exposure of sensitive credential and network access information, especially privileged user accounts, cou...

New York Man Sentenced to 4 Years in Transnational Cybercrime Scheme

A 37-year-old man from New York has been sentenced to four years in prison for buying stolen credit card information and working in cahoots with a cybercrime cartel known as the Infraud Organization. John Telusma, who went by the alias "Peterelliot," had previously pleaded guilty to one count of...

Microsoft Finds Critical Bugs in Pre-Installed Apps on Millions of Android Devices

Four high severity vulnerabilities have been disclosed in a framework used by pre-installed Android System apps with millions of downloads. The issues, now fixed by its Israeli developer MCE Systems, could have potentially allowed threat actors to stage remote and local attacks or be abused as...

Experts Detail New RCE Vulnerability Affecting Google Chrome Dev Channel

Details have emerged about a recently patched critical remote code execution vulnerability in the V8 JavaScript and WebAssembly engine used in Google Chrome and Chromium-based browsers. The issue relates to a case of use-after-free in the instruction optimization component, successful exploitatio...

Nearly 100,000 NPM Users' Credentials Stolen in GitHub OAuth Breach

Cloud-based repository hosting service GitHub on Friday shared additional details into the theft of its integration OAuth tokens last month, noting that the attacker was able to access internal NPM data and its customer information. "Using stolen OAuth user tokens originating from two third-party...

The Myths of Ransomware Attacks and How To Mitigate Risk

Today's modern companies are built on data, which now resides across countless cloud apps. Therefore preventing data loss is essential to your success. This is especially critical for mitigating against rising ransomware attacks — a threat that 57% of security leaders expect to be compromised by...

Attackers Can Use Electromagnetic Signals to Control Touchscreens Remotely

Researchers have demonstrated what they call the "first active contactless attack against capacitive touchscreens." GhostTouch, as it's called, "uses electromagnetic interference EMI to inject fake touch points into a touchscreen without the need to physically touch it," a group of academics from...

Zyxel Issues Patches for 4 New Flaws Affecting AP, API Controller, and Firewall Devices

Zyxel has released patches to address four security flaws affecting its firewall, AP Controller, and AP products to execute arbitrary operating system commands and steal select information. The list of security vulnerabilities is as follows - CVE-2022-0734 - A cross-site scripting XSS...

Critical 'Pantsdown' BMC Vulnerability Affects QCT Servers Used in Data Centers

Quanta Cloud Technology QCT servers have been identified as vulnerable to the severe "Pantsdown" Baseboard Management Controller BMC flaw, according to new research published today. "An attacker running code on a vulnerable QCT server would be able to 'hop' from the server host to the BMC and mov...

Experts Warn of Rise in ChromeLoader Malware Hijacking Users' Browsers

A malvertising threat is witnessing a new surge in activity since its emergence earlier this year. Dubbed ChromeLoader, the malware is a "pervasive and persistent browser hijacker that modifies its victims' browser settings and redirects user traffic to advertisement websites," Aedan Russell of R...

Hackers Increasingly Using Browser Automation Frameworks for Malicious Activities

Cybersecurity researchers are calling attention to a free-to-use browser automation framework that's being increasingly used by threat actors as part of their attack campaigns. "The framework contains numerous features which we assess may be utilized in the enablement of malicious activities,"...

The Added Dangers Privileged Accounts Pose to Your Active Directory

In any organization, there are certain accounts that are designated as being privileged. These privileged accounts differ from standard user accounts in that they have permission to perform actions that go beyond what standard users can do. The actions vary based on the nature of the account but...

Tails OS Users Advised Not to Use Tor Browser Until Critical Firefox Bugs are Patched

The maintainers of the Tails project have issued a warning that the Tor Browser that's bundled with the operating system is unsafe to use for accessing or entering sensitive information. "We recommend that you stop using Tails until the release of 5.1 May 31 if you use Tor Browser for sensitive...

Twitter Fined $150 Million for Misusing Users' Data for Advertising Without Consent

Twitter, which is in the process of being acquired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has agreed to pay $150 million to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission FTC to settle allegations that it abused non-public information collected for security purposes to serve targeted ads. In addition to the monetary penalty...

Interpol Arrests Leader of SilverTerrier Cybercrime Gang Behind BEC Attacks

A year-long international investigation has resulted in the arrest of the suspected head of the SilverTerrier cybercrime group by the Nigeria Police Force. "The suspect is alleged to have run a transnational cybercrime syndicate that launched mass phishing campaigns and business email compromise...

Lumos System Can Find Hidden Cameras and IoT Devices in Your Airbnb or Hotel Room

A group of academics has devised a system that can be used on a phone or a laptop to identify and locate Wi-Fi-connected hidden IoT devices in unfamiliar physical spaces. With hidden cameras being increasingly used to snoop on individuals in hotel rooms and Airbnbs, the goal is to be able to...

How Secrets Lurking in Source Code Lead to Major Breaches

If one word could sum up the 2021 infosecurity year well, actually three, it would be these: "supply chain attack". A software supply chain attack happens when hackers manipulate the code in third-party software components to compromise the 'downstream' applications that use them. In 2021, we hav...

Learn How Hackers Can Hijack Your Online Accounts Even Before You Create Them

Malicious actors can gain unauthorized access to users' online accounts via a new technique called "account pre-hijacking," latest research has found. The attack takes aim at the account creation process that's ubiquitous in websites and other online platforms, enabling an adversary to perform a...

Researchers Find New Malware Attacks Targeting Russian Government Entities

An unknown advanced persistent threat APT group has been linked to a series of spear-phishing attacks targeting Russian government entities since the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war in late February 2022. "The campaigns ... are designed to implant a Remote Access Trojan RAT that can be used to...

[Template] Incident Response for Management Presentation

Security incidents occur. It's not a matter of "if," but of "when." That's why you implemented security products and procedures to optimize the incident response IR process. However, many security pros who are doing an excellent job in handling incidents find effectively communicating the ongoing...

New Zoom Flaws Could Let Attackers Hack Victims Just by Sending them a Message

Popular video conferencing service Zoom has resolved as many as four security vulnerabilities, which could be exploited to compromise another user over chat by sending specially crafted Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol XMPP messages and execute malicious code. Tracked from CVE-2022-2278...

Popular PyPI Package 'ctx' and PHP Library 'phpass' Hijacked to Steal AWS Keys

Two trojanized Python and PHP packages have been uncovered in what's yet another instance of a software supply chain attack targeting the open source ecosystem. One of the packages in question is "ctx," a Python module available in the PyPi repository. The other involves "phpass," a PHP package...

SIM-based Authentication Aims to Transform Device Binding Security to End Phishing

Let's face it: we all use email, and we all use passwords. Passwords create inherent vulnerability in the system. The success rate of phishing attacks is skyrocketing, and opportunities for the attack have greatly multiplied as lives moved online. All it takes is one password to be compromised fo...

New Chaos Ransomware Builder Variant "Yashma" Discovered in the Wild

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of the latest version of the Chaos ransomware line, dubbed Yashma. "Though Chaos ransomware builder has only been in the wild for a year, Yashma claims to be the sixth version v6.0 of this malware," BlackBerry research and intelligence team said in...

Malware Analysis: Trickbot

In this day and age, we are not dealing with roughly pieced together, homebrew type of viruses anymore. Malware is an industry, and professional developers are found to exchange, be it by stealing one's code or deliberate collaboration. Attacks are multi-layer these days, with diverse sophisticat...

Conti Ransomware Operation Shut Down After Splitting into Smaller Groups

Even as the operators of Conti threatened to overthrow the Costa Rican government, the notorious cybercrime gang officially took down its attack infrastructure in favor of migrating their malicious cyber activities to other ancillary operations, including Karakurt and BlackByte. "From the...

Microsoft Warns of Web Skimmers Mimicking Google Analytics and Meta Pixel Code

Threat actors behind web skimming campaigns are leveraging malicious JavaScript code that mimics Google Analytics and Meta Pixel scripts in an attempt to sidestep detection. "It's a shift from earlier tactics where attackers conspicuously injected malicious scripts into e-commerce platforms and...

Yes, Containers Are Terrific, But Watch the Security Risks

Containers revolutionized the development process, acting as a cornerstone for DevOps initiatives, but containers bring complex security risks that are not always obvious. Organizations that don't mitigate these risks are vulnerable to attack. In this article, we outline how containers contribute...

Fronton: Russian IoT Botnet Designed to Run Social Media Disinformation Campaigns

Fronton, a distributed denial-of-service DDoS botnet that came to light in March 2020, is much more powerful than previously thought, per the latest research. "Fronton is a system developed for coordinated inauthentic behavior on a massive scale," threat intelligence firm Nisos said in a report...

New Unpatched Bug Could Let Attackers Steal Money from PayPal Users

A security researcher claims to have discovered an unpatched vulnerability in PayPal's money transfer service that could allow attackers to trick victims into unknowingly completing attacker-directed transactions with a single click. Clickjacking, also called UI redressing, refers to a technique...