Molerats Hackers Hiding New Espionage Attacks Behind Public Cloud Infrastructure

An active espionage campaign has been attributed to the threat actor known as Molerats that abuses legitimate cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox to host malware payloads and for command-and-control and the exfiltration of data from targets across the Middle East. The cyber offensive is...

Hackers Planted Secret Backdoor in Dozens of WordPress Plugins and Themes

In yet another instance of software supply chain attack, dozens of WordPress themes and plugins hosted on a developer's website were backdoored with malicious code in the first half of September 2021 with the goal of infecting further sites. The backdoor gave the attackers full administrative...

Critical Bugs in Control Web Panel Expose Linux Servers to RCE Attacks

Researchers have disclosed details of two critical security vulnerabilities in Control Web Panel that could be abused as part of an exploit chain to achieve pre-authenticated remote code execution on affected servers. Tracked as CVE-2021-45467, the issue concerns a case of a file inclusion...

Chinese Hackers Spotted Using New UEFI Firmware Implant in Targeted Attacks

A previously undocumented firmware implant deployed to maintain stealthy persistence as part of a targeted espionage campaign has been linked to the Chinese-speaking Winnti advanced persistent threat group APT41. Kaspersky, which codenamed the rootkit MoonBounce, characterized the malware as the...

U.S. Sanctions 4 Ukrainians for Working with Russia to Destabilize Ukraine

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced sanctions against four current and former Ukrainian government officials for engaging in "Russian government-directed influence activities" in the country, including gathering sensitive information about its critical infrastructure. The agency sa...

Cisco Issues Patch for Critical RCE Vulnerability in RCM for StarOS Software

Cisco Systems has rolled out fixes for a critical security flaw affecting Redundancy Configuration Manager RCM for Cisco StarOS Software that could be weaponized by an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code and take over vulnerable machines. Tracked as CVE-2022-20649 CVSS scor...

Google Details Two Zero-Day Bugs Reported in Zoom Clients and MMR Servers

An exploration of zero-click attack surface for the popular video conferencing solution Zoom has yielded two previously undisclosed security vulnerabilities that could have been exploited to crash the service, execute malicious code, and even leak arbitrary areas of its memory. Natalie Silvanovic...

Interpol Busted 11 Members of Nigerian BEC Cybercrime Gang

A coordinated law enforcement operation has resulted in the arrest of 11 members allegedly belonging to a Nigerian cybercrime gang notorious for perpetrating business email compromise BEC attacks targeting more than 50,000 victims in recent years. The disruption of the BEC network is the result o...

A Trip to the Dark Site — Leak Sites Analyzed

Gone are the days when ransomware operators were happy with encrypting files on-site and more or less discretely charged their victims money for a decryption key. What we commonly find now is encryption with the additional threat of leaking stolen data, generally called Double-Extortion or, as we...

New BHUNT Password Stealer Malware Targeting Cryptocurrency Wallets

A new evasive crypto wallet stealer named BHUNT has been spotted in the wild with the goal of financial gain, adding to a list of digital currency stealing malware such as CryptBot, Redline Stealer, and WeSteal. "BHUNT is a modular stealer written in .NET, capable of exfiltrating wallet Exodus,...

Hackers Attempt to Exploit New SolarWinds Serv-U Bug in Log4Shell Attacks

Microsoft on Wednesday disclosed details of a new security vulnerability in SolarWinds Serv-U software that it said was being weaponized by threat actors to propagate attacks leveraging the Log4j flaws to compromise targets. Tracked as CVE-2021-35247 CVSS score: 5.3, the issue is an "input...

Russian Hackers Heavily Using Malicious Traffic Direction System to Distribute Malware

Potential connections between a subscription-based crimeware-as-a-service CaaS solution and a cracked copy of Cobalt Strike have been established in what the researchers suspect is being offered as a tool for its customers to stage post-exploitation activities. Prometheus, as the service is calle...

Cyber Threat Protection — It All Starts with Visibility

Just as animals use their senses to detect danger, cybersecurity depends on sensors to identify signals in the computing environment that may signal danger. The more highly tuned, diverse and coordinated the senses, the more likely one is to detect important signals that indicate danger. This,...

FIN8 Hackers Spotted Using New 'White Rabbit' Ransomware in Recent Attacks

The financially motivated FIN8 actor, in all likelihood, has resurfaced with a never-before-seen ransomware strain called "White Rabbit" that was recently deployed against a local bank in the U.S. in December 2021. That's according to new findings published by Trend Micro, calling out the malware...

DDoS IRC Bot Malware Spreading Through Korean WebHard Platforms

An IRC Internet Relay Chat bot strain programmed in GoLang is being used to launch distributed denial-of-service DDoS attacks targeting users in Korea. "The malware is being distributed under the guise of adult games," researchers from AhnLab's Security Emergency-response Center ASEC said in a ne...

Ukraine: Recent Cyber Attacks Part of Wider Plot to Sabotage Critical Infrastructure

The coordinated cyberattacks targeting Ukrainian government websites and the deployment of a data-wiper malware called WhisperGate on select government systems are part of a broader wave of malicious activities aimed at sabotaging critical infrastructure in the country. The Secret Service of...

Researchers Bypass SMS-based Multi-Factor Authentication Protecting Box Accounts

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a now-patched bug in Box's multi-factor authentication MFA mechanism that could be abused to completely sidestep SMS-based login verification. "Using this technique, an attacker could use stolen credentials to compromise an organization's Box...

Europol Shuts Down VPNLab, Cybercriminals' Favourite VPN Service

VPNLab.net, a VPN provider that was used by malicious actors to deploy ransomware and facilitate other cybercrimes, was taken offline following a coordinated law enforcement operation. Europol said it took action against the misuse of the VPN service by grounding 15 of its servers on January 17 a...

Don't Use Public Wi-Fi Without DNS Filtering

Providing public Wi-Fi is a great service to offer your customers as it becomes more and more standard in today's society. I like the fact that I do not have to worry about accessing the Internet while I am away, or spending a lot of money on an international connection, or just staying offline...

Earth Lusca Hackers Aimed at High-Value Targets in Government and Private Sectors

An elusive threat actor called Earth Lusca has been observed striking organizations across the world as part of what appears to be simultaneously an espionage campaign and an attempt to reap monetary profits. "The list of its victims includes high-value targets such as government and educational...

Zoho Releases Patch for Critical Flaw Affecting ManageEngine Desktop Central

Enterprise software maker Zoho on Monday issued patches for a critical security vulnerability in Desktop Central and Desktop Central MSP that a remote adversary could exploit to perform unauthorized actions in affected servers. Tracked as CVE-2021-44757, the shortcoming concerns an instance of...

Chrome Limits Websites' Direct Access to Private Networks for Security Reasons

Google Chrome has announced plans to prohibit public websites from directly accessing endpoints located within private networks as part of an upcoming major security shakeup to prevent intrusions via the browser. The proposed change is set to be rolled out in two phases consisting of releases...

Dark Web's Largest Marketplace for Stolen Credit Cards is Shutting Down

UniCC, the biggest dark web marketplace for stolen credit and debit cards, has announced that it's shuttering its operations after earning $358 million in purchases since 2013 using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether, and Dash. "Don't build any conspiracy theories about us leaving,...

High-Severity Vulnerability in 3 WordPress Plugins Affected 84,000 Websites

Researchers have disclosed a security shortcoming affecting three different WordPress plugins that impact over 84,000 websites and could be abused by a malicious actor to take over vulnerable sites. "This flaw made it possible for an attacker to update arbitrary site options on a vulnerable site,...

Ukrainian Government Officially Accuses Russia of Recent Cyberattacks

The government of Ukraine on Sunday formally accused Russia of masterminding the attacks that targeted websites of public institutions and government agencies this past week. "All the evidence points to the fact that Russia is behind the cyber attack," the Ministry of Digital Transformation said ...

New Unpatched Apple Safari Browser Bug Allows Cross-Site User Tracking

A software bug introduced in Apple Safari 15's implementation of the IndexedDB API could be abused by a malicious website to track users' online activity in the web browser and worse, even reveal their identity. The vulnerability, dubbed IndexedDB Leaks, was disclosed by fraud protection software...

A New Destructive Malware Targeting Ukrainian Government and Business Entities

Cybersecurity teams from Microsoft on Saturday disclosed they identified evidence of a new destructive malware operation dubbed "WhisperGate" targeting government, non-profit, and information technology entities in Ukraine amid brewing geopolitical tensions between the country and Russia. "The...

Russia Arrests REvil Ransomware Gang Responsible for High-Profile Cyber Attacks

In an unprecedented move, Russia's Federal Security Service FSB, the country's principal security agency, on Friday disclosed that it arrested several members belonging to the notorious REvil ransomware gang and neutralized its operations. The surprise takedown, which it said was carried out at t...

Get Lifetime Access to Cybersecurity Certification Prep Courses

You can't go far in professional IT without being asked for some key certifications. In particular, most large companies today require new hires to be well versed in the fundamentals of cybersecurity. Adding the likes of CISSP, CISM, and CompTIA CASP+ to your résumé can open the door to many...

Massive Cyber Attack Knocks Down Ukrainian Government Websites

No fewer than 70 websites operated by the Ukrainian government went offline on Friday for hours in what appears to be a coordinated cyber attack amid heightened tensions with Russia. "As a result of a massive cyber attack, the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a number of other...

North Korean Hackers Stole Millions from Cryptocurrency Startups Worldwide

Operators associated with the Lazarus sub-group BlueNoroff have been linked to a series of cyberattacks targeting small and medium-sized companies worldwide with an aim to drain their cryptocurrency funds, in what's yet another financially motivated operation mounted by the prolific North Korean...

U.K. Hacker Jailed for Spying on Children and Downloading Indecent Images

A man from the U.K. city of Nottingham has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for illegally breaking into the phones and computers of a number of victims, including women and children, to spy on them and amass a collection of indecent images. Robert Davies, 32, is said to have...

Husband-Wife Arrested in Ukraine for Ransomware Attacks on Foreign Companies

Ukrainian police authorities have nabbed five members of a gang that's believed to have helped orchestrate attacks against more than 50 companies across Europe and the U.S and caused losses to the tune of more than $1 million. The special operation, which was carried out in assistance with law...

Cisco Releases Patch for Critical Bug Affecting Unified CCMP and Unified CCDM

Cisco Systems has rolled out security updates for a critical security vulnerability affecting Unified Contact Center Management Portal Unified CCMP and Unified Contact Center Domain Manager Unified CCDM that could be exploited by a remote attacker to take control of an affected system. Tracked as...

GootLoader Hackers Targeting Employees of Law and Accounting Firms

Operators of the GootLoader campaign are setting their sights on employees of accounting and law firms as part of a fresh onslaught of widespread cyberattacks to deploy malware on infected systems, an indication that the adversary is expanding its focus to other high-value targets. "GootLoader is...

Researchers Decrypted Qakbot Banking Trojan's Encrypted Registry Keys

Cybersecurity researchers have decoded the mechanism by which the versatile Qakbot banking trojan handles the insertion of encrypted configuration data into the Windows Registry. Qakbot, also known as QBot, QuackBot and Pinkslipbot, has been observed in the wild since 2007. Although mainly...

Iranian Hackers Exploit Log4j Vulnerability to Deploy PowerShell Backdoor

An Iranian state-sponsored actor has been observed scanning and attempting to abuse the Log4Shell flaw in publicly-exposed Java applications to deploy a hitherto undocumented PowerShell-based modular backdoor dubbed "CharmPower" for follow-on post-exploitation. "The actor's attack setup was...

Meeting Patching-Related Compliance Requirements with TuxCare

Cybersecurity teams have many demands competing for limited resources. Restricted budgets are a problem, and restricted staff resources are also a bottleneck. There is also the need to maintain business continuity at all times. It's a frustrating mix of challenges – with resources behind tasks su...

US Cyber Command Links 'MuddyWater' Hacking Group to Iranian Intelligence

The U.S. Cyber Command USCYBERCOM on Wednesday officially confirmed MuddyWater's ties to the Iranian intelligence apparatus, while simultaneously detailing the various tools and tactics adopted by the espionage actor to burrow into victim networks. "MuddyWater has been seen using a variety of...

Apple Releases iPhone and iPad Updates to Patch HomeKit DoS Vulnerability

Apple on Wednesday rolled out software updates for iOS and iPadOS to remediate a persistent denial-of-service DoS issue affecting the HomeKit smart home framework that could be potentially exploited to launch ransomware-like attacks targeting the devices. The iPhone maker, in its release notes fo...

Hackers Use Cloud Services to Distribute Nanocore, Netwire, and AsyncRAT Malware

Threat actors are actively incorporating public cloud services from Amazon and Microsoft into their malicious campaigns to deliver commodity remote access trojans RATs such as Nanocore, Netwire, and AsyncRAT to siphon sensitive information from compromised systems. The spear-phishing attacks, whi...

New SysJoker Espionage Malware Targeting Windows, macOS, and Linux Users

A new cross-platform backdoor called "SysJoker" has been observed targeting machines running Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems as part of an ongoing espionage campaign that's believed to have been initiated during the second half of 2021. "SysJoker masquerades as a system update and...

XDR: Redefining the game for MSSPs serving SMBs and SMEs

SMBs and SMEs are increasingly turning to MSSPs to secure their businesses because they simply do not have the resources to manage an effective security technology stack. However, it's also challenging for MSSPs to piece together an effective but manageable security technology stack to protect...

FBI, NSA and CISA Warns of Russian Hackers Targeting Critical Infrastructure

Amid renewed tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine and Kazakhstan, American cybersecurity and intelligence agencies on Tuesday released a joint advisory on how to detect, respond to, and mitigate cyberattacks orchestrated by Russian state-sponsored actors. To that end, the Cybersecuri...

First Patch Tuesday of 2022 Brings Fix for a Critical 'Wormable' Windows Vulnerability

Microsoft on Tuesday kicked off its first set of updates for 2022 by plugging 96 security holes across its software ecosystem, while urging customers to prioritize patching for what it calls a critical "wormable" vulnerability. Of the 96 vulnerabilities, nine are rated Critical and 89 are rated...

How Can You Leave Log4J in 2021?

With the last month of 2021 dominated by the log4J vulnerabilities discovery, publication, and patches popping up in rapid succession, odds are you have patched your system against Log4J exploitation attempts. At least some systems, if not all. You might even have installed the latest patch – at...

New KCodes NetUSB Bug Affect Millions of Routers from Different Vendors

Cybersecurity researchers have detailed a high severity flaw in KCodes NetUSB component that's integrated into millions of end-user router devices from Netgear, TP-Link, Tenda, EDiMAX, D-Link, and Western Digital, among others. KCodes NetUSB is a Linux kernel module that enables devices on a loca...

Signal CEO Resigns, WhatsApp Co-Founder Takes Over as Interim CEO

Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of the popular encrypted instant messaging service Signal, has announced that he is stepping down as the chief executive of the non-profit in a move that has been underway over the last few months. "In other words, after a decade or more, it's difficult to overstate...

2022 Cybersecurity Predictions from Lookout: Work From Anywhere Ends On-Premises Security

Lookout, an endpoint-to-cloud cyber security company, have put together their cyber security predictions for 2022. 1 — Cloud connectivity and cloud-to-cloud connectivity will amplify supply-chain breaches One area organizations need to continue to monitor in 2022 is the software supply chain. We...

Microsoft Details macOS Bug That Could Let Attackers Gain Access to User Data

Microsoft on Monday disclosed details of a recently patched security vulnerability in Apple's macOS operating system that could be weaponized by a threat actor to expose users' personal information. Tracked as CVE-2021-30970, the flaw concerns a logic issue in the Transparency, Consent and Contro...