GoldenJackal Target Embassies and Air-Gapped Systems Using Malware Toolsets

A little-known threat actor tracked as GoldenJackal has been linked to a series of cyber attacks targeting embassies and governmental organizations with an aim to infiltrate air-gapped systems using two disparate bespoke toolsets. Victims included a South Asian embassy in Belarus and a European...

The Value of AI-Powered Identity

Introduction Artificial intelligence AI deepfakes and misinformation may cause worry in the world of technology and investment, but this powerful, foundational technology has the potential to benefit organizations of all kinds when harnessed appropriately. In the world of cybersecurity, one of th...

Pro-Ukrainian Hackers Strike Russian State TV on Putin's Birthday

Ukraine has claimed responsibility for a cyber attack that targeted Russia state media company VGTRK and disrupted its operations, according to reports from Bloomberg and Reuters. The incident took place on the night of October 7, VGTRK confirmed, describing it as an "unprecedented hacker attack....

Qualcomm Urges OEMs to Patch Critical DSP and WLAN Flaws Amid Active Exploits

Qualcomm has rolled out security updates to address nearly two dozen flaws spanning proprietary and open-source components, including one that has come under active exploitation in the wild. The high-severity vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-43047 CVSS score: 7.8, has been described as a...

New Gorilla Botnet Launches Over 300,000 DDoS Attacks Across 100 Countries

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new botnet malware family called Gorilla aka GorillaBot that draws its inspiration from the leaked Mirai botnet source code. Cybersecurity firm NSFOCUS, which identified the activity last month, said the botnet "issued over 300,000 attack commands, with...

Vulnerable APIs and Bot Attacks Costing Businesses Up to $186 Billion Annually

Organizations are losing between $94 - $186 billion annually to vulnerable or insecure APIs Application Programming Interfaces and automated abuse by bots. That's according to The Economic Impact of API and Bot Attacks report from Imperva, a Thales company. The report highlights that these securi...

Modernization of Authentication: Webinar on MFA, Passwords, and the Shift to Passwordless

The interest in passwordless authentication has increased due to the rise of hybrid work environments and widespread digitization. This has led to a greater need for reliable data security and user-friendly interfaces. Without these measures, organizations are at risk of experiencing data breache...

Critical Apache Avro SDK Flaw Allows Remote Code Execution in Java Applications

A critical security flaw has been disclosed in the Apache Avro Java Software Development Kit SDK that, if successfully exploited, could allow the execution of arbitrary code on susceptible instances. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2024-47561 CVSS score: 9.3, impacts all versions of the software prior t...

THN Cybersecurity Recap: Top Threats and Trends (Sep 30 - Oct 6)

Ever heard of a "pig butchering" scam? Or a DDoS attack so big it could melt your brain? This week's cybersecurity recap has it all – government showdowns, sneaky malware, and even a dash of app store shenanigans. Get the scoop before it's too late! ⚡ Threat of the Week Double Trouble: Evil Corp&...

Google Blocks Unsafe Android App Sideloading in India for Improved Fraud Protection

Google has announced that it's piloting a new security initiative that automatically blocks sideloading of potentially unsafe Android apps in India, after similar tests in Singapore, Thailand, and Brazil. The enhanced fraud protection feature aims to keep users safe when they attempt to install...

E.U. Court Limits Meta's Use of Personal Facebook Data for Targeted Ads

Europe's top court has ruled that Meta Platforms must restrict the use of personal data harvested from Facebook for serving targeted ads even when users consent to their information being used for advertising purposes, a move that could have serious consequences for ad-driven companies operating ...

Apple Releases Critical iOS and iPadOS Updates to Fix VoiceOver Password Vulnerability

Apple has released iOS and iPadOS updates to address two security issues, one of which could have allowed a user's passwords to be read out aloud by its VoiceOver assistive technology. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-44204, has been described as a logic problem in the new Passwords app...

U.S. and Microsoft Seize 107 Russian Domains in Major Cyber Fraud Crackdown

Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice DoJ on Thursday announced the seizure of 107 internet domains used by state-sponsored threat actors with ties to Russia to facilitate computer fraud and abuse in the country. "The Russian government ran this scheme to steal Americans' sensitive...

How to Get Going with CTEM When You Don't Know Where to Start

Continuous Threat Exposure Management CTEM is a strategic framework that helps organizations continuously assess and manage cyber risk. It breaks down the complex task of managing security threats into five distinct stages: Scoping, Discovery, Prioritization, Validation, and Mobilization. Each of...

Cloudflare Thwarts Largest-Ever 3.8 Tbps DDoS Attack Targeting Global Sectors

Cloudflare has disclosed that it mitigated a record-breaking distributed denial-of-service DDoS attack that peaked at 3.8 terabits per second Tbps and lasted 65 seconds. The web infrastructure and security company said it fended off "over one hundred hyper-volumetric L3/4 DDoS attacks throughout...

WordPress LiteSpeed Cache Plugin Security Flaw Exposes Sites to XSS Attacks

A new high-severity security flaw has been disclosed in the LiteSpeed Cache plugin for WordPress that could enable malicious actors to execute arbitrary JavaScript code under certain conditions. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2024-47374 CVSS score: 7.2, has been described as a stored cross-site scripti...

Google Adds New Pixel Security Features to Block 2G Exploits and Baseband Attacks

Google has revealed the various security guardrails that have been incorporated into its latest Pixel devices to counter the rising threat posed by baseband security attacks. The cellular baseband i.e., modem refers to a processor on the device that's responsible for handling all connectivity, su...

The Secret Weakness Execs Are Overlooking: Non-Human Identities

For years, securing a company's systems was synonymous with securing its "perimeter." There was what was safe "inside" and the unsafe outside world. We built sturdy firewalls and deployed sophisticated detection systems, confident that keeping the barbarians outside the walls kept our data and...

New Perfctl Malware Targets Linux Servers for Cryptocurrency Mining and Proxyjacking

Misconfigured and vulnerable Linux servers are the target of an ongoing campaign that delivers a stealthy malware dubbed perfctl with the primary aim of running a cryptocurrency miner and proxyjacking software. "Perfctl is particularly elusive and persistent, employing several sophisticated...

North Korean Hackers Using New VeilShell Backdoor in Stealthy Cyber Attacks

Threat actors with ties to North Korea have been observed delivering a previously undocumented backdoor and remote access trojan RAT called VeilShell as part of a campaign targeting Cambodia and likely other Southeast Asian countries. The activity, dubbed SHROUDEDSLEEP by Securonix, is believed t...

INTERPOL Arrests 8 in Major Phishing and Romance Fraud Crackdown in West Africa

INTERPOL has announced the arrest of eight individuals in Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria as part of a crackdown on phishing scams and romance cyber fraud. Dubbed Operation Contender 2.0, the initiative is designed to tackle cyber-enabled crimes in West Africa, the agency said. One such threat involved...

LockBit Ransomware and Evil Corp Members Arrested and Sanctioned in Joint Global Effort

A new wave of international law enforcement actions has led to four arrests and the takedown of nine servers linked to the LockBit aka Bitwise Spider ransomware operation, marking the latest salvo against what was once a prolific financially motivated group. This includes the arrest of a suspecte...

Ivanti Endpoint Manager Flaw Actively Targeted, CISA Warns Agencies to Patch

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA on Wednesday added a security flaw impacting Ivanti Endpoint Manager EPM that the company patched in May to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities KEV catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerability, tracked as...

Fake Trading Apps Target Victims Globally via Apple App Store and Google Play

A large-scale fraud campaign leveraged fake trading apps published on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, as well as phishing sites, to defraud victims, per findings from Group-IB. The campaign is part of a consumer investment fraud scheme that's also widely known as pig butchering, in whi...

China-Linked CeranaKeeper Targeting Southeast Asia with Data Exfiltration

A previously undocumented threat actor called CeranaKeeper has been linked to a string of data exfiltration attacks targeting Southeast Asia. Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET, which observed campaigns targeting governmental institutions in Thailand starting in 2023, attributed the activity cluster ...

Fake Job Applications Deliver Dangerous More_eggs Malware to HR Professionals

A spear-phishing email campaign has been observed targeting recruiters with a JavaScript backdoor called Moreeggs, indicating persistent efforts to single out the sector under the guise of fake job applications. "A sophisticated spear-phishing lure tricked a recruitment officer into downloading a...

Alert: Over 700,000 DrayTek Routers Exposed to Hacking via 14 New Vulnerabilities

A little over a dozen new security vulnerabilities have been discovered in residential and enterprise routers manufactured by DrayTek that could be exploited to take over susceptible devices. "These vulnerabilities could enable attackers to take control of a router by injecting malicious code,...

Alert: Adobe Commerce and Magento Stores Under Attack from CosmicSting Exploit

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed that 5% of all Adobe Commerce and Magento stores have been hacked by malicious actors by exploiting a security vulnerability dubbed CosmicSting. Tracked as CVE-2024-34102 CVSS score: 9.8, the critical flaw relates to an improper restriction of XML external...

5 Must-Have Tools for Effective Dynamic Malware Analysis

Dynamic malware analysis is a key part of any threat investigation. It involves executing a sample of a malicious program in the isolated environment of a malware sandbox to monitor its behavior and gather actionable indicators. Effective analysis must be fast, in-depth, and precise. These five...

Andariel Hacking Group Shifts Focus to Financial Attacks on U.S. Organizations

Three different organizations in the U.S. were targeted in August 2024 by a North Korean state-sponsored threat actor called Andariel as part of a likely financially motivated attack. "While the attackers didn't succeed in deploying ransomware on the networks of any of the organizations affected,...

Researchers Warn of Ongoing Attacks Exploiting Critical Zimbra Postjournal Flaw

Cybersecurity researchers are warning about active exploitation attempts targeting a newly disclosed security flaw in Synacor's Zimbra Collaboration. Enterprise security firm Proofpoint said it began observing the activity starting September 28, 2024. The attacks seek to exploit CVE-2024-45519, a...

PyPI Repository Found Hosting Fake Crypto Wallet Recovery Tools That Steal User Data

A new set of malicious packages has been unearthed in the Python Package Index PyPI repository that masqueraded as cryptocurrency wallet recovery and management services, only to siphon sensitive data and facilitate the theft of valuable digital assets. "The attack targeted users of Atomic, Trust...

AI-Powered Rhadamanthys Stealer Targets Crypto Wallets with Image Recognition

The threat actors behind the Rhadamanthys information stealer have added new advanced features to the malware, including using artificial intelligence AI for optical character recognition OCR as part of what's called "Seed Phrase Image Recognition." "This allows Rhadamanthys to extract...

5 Actionable Steps to Prevent GenAI Data Leaks Without Fully Blocking AI Usage

Since its emergence, Generative AI has revolutionized enterprise productivity. GenAI tools enable faster and more effective software development, financial analysis, business planning, and customer engagement. However, this business agility comes with significant risks, particularly the potential...

Free Sniper Dz Phishing Tools Fuel 140,000+ Cyber Attacks Targeting User Credentials

More than 140,000 phishing websites have been found linked to a phishing-as-a-service PhaaS platform named Sniper Dz over the past year, indicating that it's being used by a large number of cybercriminals to conduct credential theft. "For prospective phishers, Sniper Dz offers an online admin pan...

New Cryptojacking Attack Targets Docker API to Create Malicious Swarm Botnet

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new cryptojacking campaign targeting the Docker Engine API with the goal of co-opting the instances to join a malicious Docker Swarm controlled by the threat actor. This enabled the attackers to "use Docker Swarm's orchestration features for...

U.K. Hacker Charged in $3.75 Million Insider Trading Scheme Using Hacked Executive Emails

The U.S. Department of Justice DoJ has charged a 39-year-old U.K. national for perpetrating a hack-to-trade fraud scheme that netted him nearly $3.75 million in illegal profits. Robert Westbrook of London was arrested last week and is expected to be extradited to the U.S. to face charges related ...

THN Cybersecurity Recap: Last Week's Top Threats and Trends (September 23-29)

Hold onto your hats, folks, because the cybersecurity world is anything but quiet! Last week, we dodged a bullet when we discovered vulnerabilities in CUPS that could've opened the door to remote attacks. Google's switch to Rust is paying off big time, slashing memory-related vulnerabilities in...

Critical Flaws in Tank Gauge Systems Expose Gas Stations to Remote Attacks

Critical security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in six different Automatic Tank Gauge ATG systems from five manufacturers that could expose them to remote attacks. "These vulnerabilities pose significant real-world risks, as they could be exploited by malicious actors to cause widespread...

Session Hijacking 2.0 — The Latest Way That Attackers are Bypassing MFA

Attackers are increasingly turning to session hijacking to get around widespread MFA adoption. The data supports this, as: 147,000 token replay attacks were detected by Microsoft in 2023, a 111% increase year-over-year Microsoft. Attacks on session cookies now happen in the same order of magnitud...

A Hacker's Era: Why Microsoft 365 Protection Reigns Supreme

Imagine a sophisticated cyberattack cripples your organization's most critical productivity and collaboration tool — the platform you rely on for daily operations. In the blink of an eye, hackers encrypt your emails, files, and crucial business data stored in Microsoft 365, holding it hostage usi...

Meta Fined €91 Million for Storing Millions of Facebook and Instagram Passwords in Plaintext

The Irish Data Protection Commission DPC has fined Meta €91 million $101.56 million as part of a probe into a security lapse in March 2019, when the company disclosed that it had mistakenly stored users' passwords in plaintext in its systems. The investigation, launched by the DPC the next month,...

Crypto Scam App Disguised as WalletConnect Steals $70K in Five-Month Campaign

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a malicious Android app on the Google Play Store that enabled the threat actors behind it to steal approximately $70,000 in cryptocurrency from victims over a period of nearly five months. The dodgy app, identified by Check Point, masqueraded as the...

U.S. Charges Three Iranian Nationals for Election Interference and Cybercrimes

U.S. federal prosecutors on Friday unsealed criminal charges against three Iranian nationals who are allegedly employed with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC for their targeting of current and former officials to steal sensitive data. The Department of Justice DoJ accused Masoud Jalili,...

Progress Software Releases Patches for 6 Flaws in WhatsUp Gold – Patch Now

Progress Software has released another round of updates to address six security flaws in WhatsUp Gold, including two critical vulnerabilities. The issues, the company said, have been resolved in version 24.0.1 released on September 20, 2024. The company has yet to release any details about what t...

Critical Linux CUPS Printing System Flaws Could Allow Remote Command Execution

A new set of security vulnerabilities has been disclosed in the OpenPrinting Common Unix Printing System CUPS on Linux systems that could permit remote command execution under certain conditions. "A remote unauthenticated attacker can silently replace existing printers' or install new ones IPP ur...

How to Plan and Prepare for Penetration Testing

As security technology and threat awareness among organizations improves so do the adversaries who are adopting and relying on new techniques to maximize speed and impact while evading detection. Ransomware and malware continue to be the method of choice by big game hunting BGH cyber criminals, a...

Microsoft Identifies Storm-0501 as Major Threat in Hybrid Cloud Ransomware Attacks

The threat actor known as Storm-0501 has targeted government, manufacturing, transportation, and law enforcement sectors in the U.S. to stage ransomware attacks. The multi-stage attack campaign is designed to compromise hybrid cloud environments and perform lateral movement from on-premises to...

Cybersecurity Certifications: The Gateway to Career Advancement

In today's fast-evolving digital landscape, cybersecurity has become a cornerstone of organizational resilience. As cyber threats grow increasingly sophisticated, the demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals has never been higher. Whether you're a seasoned cyber professional or just startin...

New HTML Smuggling Campaign Delivers DCRat Malware to Russian-Speaking Users

Russian-speaking users have been targeted as part of a new campaign distributing a commodity trojan called DCRat aka DarkCrystal RAT by means of a technique known as HTML smuggling. The development marks the first time the malware has been deployed using this method, a departure from previously...