Matrix Botnet Exploits IoT Devices in Widespread DDoS Botnet Campaign

A threat actor named Matrix has been linked to a widespread distributed denial-of-service DDoS campaign that leverages vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in Internet of Things IoT devices to co-opt them into a disruptive botnet. "This operation serves as a comprehensive one-stop shop for...

Critical WordPress Anti-Spam Plugin Flaws Expose 200,000+ Sites to Remote Attacks

Two critical security flaws impacting the Spam protection, Anti-Spam, and FireWall plugin for WordPress could allow an unauthenticated attacker to install and enable malicious plugins on susceptible sites and potentially achieve remote code execution. The vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2024-1054...

Intruder Launches Intel: A Free Vulnerability Intelligence Platform For Staying Ahead of the Latest Threats

When CVEs go viral, separating critical vulnerabilities from the noise is essential to protecting your organization. That's why Intruder, a leader in attack surface management, built Intel now known ascvemon - a free vulnerability intelligence platform designed to help you act fast and prioritize...

RomCom Exploits Zero-Day Firefox and Windows Flaws in Sophisticated Cyberattacks

The Russia-aligned threat actor known as RomCom has been linked to the zero-day exploitation of two security flaws, one in Mozilla Firefox and the other in Microsoft Windows, as part of attacks designed to deliver the eponymous backdoor on victim systems. "In a successful attack, if a victim...

Chinese Hackers Use GHOSTSPIDER Malware to Hack Telecoms Across 12+ Countries

The China-linked threat actor known as Earth Estries has been observed using a previously undocumented backdoor called GHOSTSPIDER as part of its attacks targeting Southeast Asian telecommunications companies. Trend Micro, which described the hacking group as an aggressive advanced persistent...

CISA Urges Agencies to Patch Critical "Array Networks" Flaw Amid Active Attacks

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA on Monday added a now-patched critical security flaw impacting Array Networks AG and vxAG secure access gateways to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities KEV catalog following reports of active exploitation in the wild. The vulnerabilit...

Google's New Restore Credentials Tool Simplifies App Login After Android Migration

Google has introduced a new feature called Restore Credentials to help users restore their account access to third-party apps securely after migrating to a new Android device. Part of Android's Credential Manager API, the feature aims to reduce the hassle of re-entering the login credentials for...

PyPI Python Library "aiocpa" Found Exfiltrating Crypto Keys via Telegram Bot

The administrators of the Python Package Index PyPI repository have quarantined the package "aiocpa " following a new update that included malicious code to exfiltrate private keys via Telegram. The package in question is described as a synchronous and asynchronous Crypto Pay API client. The...

THN Recap: Top Cybersecurity Threats, Tools, and Practices (Nov 18 - Nov 24)

We hear terms like "state-sponsored attacks" and "critical vulnerabilities" all the time, but what's really going on behind those words? This week's cybersecurity news isn't just about hackers and headlines—it's about how digital risks shape our lives in ways we might not even realize. For...

Flying Under the Radar - Security Evasion Techniques

Dive into the evolution of phishing and malware evasion techniques and understand how attackers are using increasingly sophisticated methods to bypass security measures. The Evolution of Phishing Attacks "I really like the saying that 'This is out of scope' said no hacker ever. Whether it's trick...

Cybersecurity Blind Spots in IaC and PaC Tools Expose Cloud Platforms to New Attacks

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed two new attack techniques against infrastructure-as-code IaC and policy-as-code PaC tools like HashiCorp's Terraform and Styra's Open Policy Agent OPA that leverage dedicated, domain-specific languages DSLs to breach cloud platforms and exfiltrate data...

Researchers Uncover Malware Using BYOVD to Bypass Antivirus Protections

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new malicious campaign that leverages a technique called Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver BYOVD to disarm security protections and ultimately gain access to the infected system. "This malware takes a more sinister route: it drops a legitimate Avast...

Google Exposes GLASSBRIDGE: A Pro-China Influence Network of Fake News Sites

Government agencies and non-governmental organizations in the United States have become the target of a nascent China state threat actor known as Storm-2077. The adversary, believed to be active since at least January 2024, has also conducted cyber attacks against the Defense Industrial Base DIB,...

North Korean Hackers Steal $10M with AI-Driven Scams and Malware on LinkedIn

The North Korea-linked threat actor known as Sapphire Sleet is estimated to have stolen more than $10 million worth of cryptocurrency as part of social engineering campaigns orchestrated over a six-month period. These findings come from Microsoft, which said that multiple threat activity clusters...

APT-K-47 Uses Hajj-Themed Lures to Deliver Advanced Asyncshell Malware

The threat actor known as Mysterious Elephant has been observed using an advanced version of malware called Asyncshell. The attack campaign is said to have used Hajj-themed lures to trick victims into executing a malicious payload under the guise of a Microsoft Compiled HTML Help CHM file, the...

Russian Hackers Deploy HATVIBE and CHERRYSPY Malware Across Europe and Asia

Threat actors with ties to Russia have been linked to a cyber espionage campaign aimed at organizations in Central Asia, East Asia, and Europe. Recorded Future's Insikt Group, which has assigned the activity cluster the name TAG-110, said it overlaps with a threat group tracked by the Computer...

China-Linked TAG-112 Targets Tibetan Media with Cobalt Strike Espionage Campaign

A China-linked nation-state group called TAG-112 compromised Tibetan media and university websites in a new cyber espionage campaign designed to facilitate the delivery of the Cobalt Strike post-exploitation toolkit for follow-on information collection. "The attackers embedded malicious JavaScrip...

Unlocking Google Workspace Security: Are You Doing Enough to Protect Your Data?

Google Workspace has quickly become the productivity backbone for businesses worldwide, offering an all-in-one suite with email, cloud storage and collaboration tools. This single-platform approach makes it easy for teams to connect and work efficiently, no matter where they are, enabling seamles...

Microsoft, Meta, and DOJ Disrupt Global Cybercrime and Fraudulent Networks

Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and the U.S. Department of Justice DoJ have announced independent actions to tackle cybercrime and disrupt services that enable scams, fraud, and phishing attacks. To that end, Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit DCU said it seized 240 fraudulent websites associated with an...

PyPI Attack: ChatGPT, Claude Impersonators Deliver JarkaStealer via Python Libraries

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered two malicious packages uploaded to the Python Package Index PyPI repository that impersonated popular artificial intelligence AI models like OpenAI ChatGPT and Anthropic Claude to deliver an information stealer called JarkaStealer. The packages, named...

Warning: Over 2,000 Palo Alto Networks Devices Hacked in Ongoing Attack Campaign

As many as 2,000 Palo Alto Networks devices are estimated to have been compromised as part of a campaign abusing the newly disclosed security flaws that have come under active exploitation in the wild. According to statistics shared by the Shadowserver Foundation, a majority of the infections hav...

Chinese APT Gelsemium Targets Linux Systems with New WolfsBane Backdoor

The China-aligned advanced persistent threat APT actor known as Gelsemium has been observed using a new Linux backdoor dubbed WolfsBane as part of cyber attacks likely targeting East and Southeast Asia. That's according to findings from cybersecurity firm ESET based on multiple Linux samples...

10 Most Impactful PAM Use Cases for Enhancing Organizational Security

Privileged access management PAM plays a pivotal role in building a strong security strategy. PAM empowers you to significantly reduce cybersecurity risks, gain tighter control over privileged access, achieve regulatory compliance, and reduce the burden on your IT team. As an established provider...

North Korean Front Companies Impersonate U.S. IT Firms to Fund Missile Programs

Threat actors with ties to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea DPRK are impersonating U.S.-based software and technology consulting businesses in order to further their financial objectives as part of a broader information technology IT worker scheme. "Front companies, often based in China,...

Cyber Story Time: The Boy Who Cried "Secure!"

As a relatively new security category, many security operators and executives I've met have asked us "What are these Automated Security Validation ASV tools?" We've covered that pretty extensively in the past, so today, instead of covering the "What is ASV?" I wanted to address the "Why ASV?"...

Over 145,000 Industrial Control Systems Across 175 Countries Found Exposed Online

New research has uncovered more than 145,000 internet-exposed Industrial Control Systems ICS across 175 countries, with the U.S. alone accounting for over one-third of the total exposures. The analysis, which comes from attack surface management company Censys, found that 38% of the devices are...

5 Scattered Spider Gang Members Indicted in Multi-Million Dollar Cybercrime Scheme

Five alleged members of the infamous Scattered Spider cybercrime crew have been indicted in the U.S. for targeting employees of companies across the country using social engineering techniques to harvest credentials and using them to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data and break into crypt...

Google's AI-Powered OSS-Fuzz Tool Finds 26 Vulnerabilities in Open-Source Projects

Google has revealed that its AI-powered fuzzing tool, OSS-Fuzz, has been used to help identify 26 vulnerabilities in various open-source code repositories, including a medium-severity flaw in the OpenSSL cryptographic library. "These particular vulnerabilities represent a milestone for automated...

NodeStealer Malware Targets Facebook Ad Accounts, Harvesting Credit Card Data

Threat hunters are warning about an updated version of the Python-based NodeStealer that's now equipped to extract more information from victims' Facebook Ads Manager accounts and harvest credit card data stored in web browsers. "They collect budget details of Facebook Ads Manager accounts of the...

Ghost Tap: Hackers Exploiting NFCGate to Steal Funds via Mobile Payments

Threat actors are increasingly banking on a new technique that leverages near-field communication NFC to cash out victim's funds at scale. The technique, codenamed Ghost Tap by ThreatFabric, enables cybercriminals to cash-out money from stolen credit cards linked to mobile payment services such a...

NHIs Are the Future of Cybersecurity: Meet NHIDR

The frequency and sophistication of modern cyberattacks are surging, making it increasingly challenging for organizations to protect sensitive data and critical infrastructure. When attackers compromise a non-human identity NHI, they can swiftly exploit it to move laterally across systems,...

Decades-Old Security Vulnerabilities Found in Ubuntu's Needrestart Package

Multiple decade-old security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in the needrestart package installed by default in Ubuntu Server since version 21.04 that could allow a local attacker to gain root privileges without requiring user interaction. The Qualys Threat Research Unit TRU, which identified...

Microsoft Launches Windows Resiliency Initiative to Boost Security and System Integrity

Microsoft has announced a new Windows Resiliency Initiative as a way to improve security and reliability, as well as ensure that system integrity is not compromised. The idea, the tech giant said, is to avoid incidents like that of CrowdStrike's earlier this July, enable more apps and users to be...

China-Backed Hackers Leverage SIGTRAN, GSM Protocols to Infiltrate Telecom Networks

A new China-linked cyber espionage group has been attributed as behind a series of targeted cyber attacks targeting telecommunications entities in South Asia and Africa since at least 2020 with the goal of enabling intelligence collection. Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike is tracking the adversa...

Apple Releases Urgent Updates to Patch Actively Exploited Zero-Day Vulnerabilities

Apple has released security updates for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS, and its Safari web browser to address two zero-day flaws that have come under active exploitation in the wild. The flaws are listed below - CVE-2024-44308 CVSS score: 8.8 - A vulnerability in JavaScriptCore that could lead to...

Oracle Warns of Agile PLM Vulnerability Currently Under Active Exploitation

Oracle is warning that a high-severity security flaw impacting the Agile Product Lifecycle Management PLM Framework has been exploited in the wild. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-21287 CVSS score: 7.5, could be exploited sans authentication to leak sensitive information. "This vulnerabili...

Ngioweb Botnet Fuels NSOCKS Residential Proxy Network Exploiting IoT Devices

The malware known as Ngioweb has been used to fuel a notorious residential proxy service called NSOCKS, as well as by other services such as VN5Socks and Shopsocks5, new findings from Lumen Technologies reveal. "At least 80% of NSOCKS bots in our telemetry originate from the Ngioweb botnet, mainl...

Hackers Hijack Unsecured Jupyter Notebooks to Stream Illegal Sports Broadcasts

Malicious actors are exploiting misconfigured JupyterLab and Jupyter Notebooks to conduct stream ripping and enable sports piracy using live streaming capture tools. The attacks involve the hijack of unauthenticated Jupyter Notebooks to establish initial access, and perform a series of actions...

Privileged Accounts, Hidden Threats: Why Privileged Access Security Must Be a Top Priority

Privileged accounts are well-known gateways for potential security threats. However, many organizations focus solely on managing privileged access—rather than securing the accounts and users entrusted with it. This emphasis is perhaps due to the persistent challenges of Privileged Access Manageme...

New 'Helldown' Ransomware Variant Expands Attacks to VMware and Linux Systems

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a Linux variant of a relatively new ransomware strain called Helldown, suggesting that the threat actors are broadening their attack focus. "Helldown deploys Windows ransomware derived from the LockBit 3.0 code," Sekoia said in a report shared with The...

Chinese Hackers Exploit T-Mobile and Other U.S. Telecoms in Broader Espionage Campaign

U.S. telecoms giant T-Mobile has confirmed that it was also among the companies that were targeted by Chinese threat actors to gain access to valuable information. The adversaries, tracked as Salt Typhoon, breached the company as part of a "monthslong campaign" designed to harvest cellphone...

Warning: VMware vCenter and Kemp LoadMaster Flaws Under Active Exploitation

Now-patched security flaws impacting Progress Kemp LoadMaster and VMware vCenter Server have come under active exploitation in the wild, it has emerged. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA on Monday added CVE-2024-1212 CVSS score: 10.0, a maximum-severity security...

New Stealthy BabbleLoader Malware Spotted Delivering WhiteSnake and Meduza Stealers

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a new stealthy malware loader called BabbleLoader that has been observed in the wild delivering information stealer families such as WhiteSnake and Meduza. BabbleLoader is an "extremely evasive loader, packed with defensive mechanisms, that is designed...

The Problem of Permissions and Non-Human Identities - Why Remediating Credentials Takes Longer Than You Think

According to research from GitGuardian and CyberArk, 79% of IT decision-makers reported having experienced a secrets leak, up from 75% in the previous year's report. At the same time, the number of leaked credentials has never been higher, with over 12.7 million hardcoded credentials in public...

THN Recap: Top Cybersecurity Threats, Tools, and Practices (Nov 11 - Nov 17)

What do hijacked websites, fake job offers, and sneaky ransomware have in common? They're proof that cybercriminals are finding smarter, sneakier ways to exploit both systems and people. This week makes one thing clear: no system, no person, no organization is truly off-limits. Attackers are...

Gmail's New Shielded Email Feature Lets Users Create Aliases for Email Privacy

Google appears to be readying a new feature called Shielded Email that allows users to create email aliases when signing up for online services and better combat spam. The feature was first reported by Android Authority last week following a teardown of the latest version of Google Play Services...

Beyond Compliance: The Advantage of Year-Round Network Pen Testing

IT leaders know the drill—regulators and cyber insurers demand regular network penetration testing to keep the bad guys out. But here's the thing: hackers don't wait around for compliance schedules. Most companies approach network penetration testing on a set schedule, with the most common...

Fake Discount Sites Exploit Black Friday to Hijack Shopper Information

A new phishing campaign is targeting e-commerce shoppers in Europe and the United States with bogus pages that mimic legitimate brands with the goal of stealing their personal information ahead of the Black Friday shopping season. "The campaign leveraged the heightened online shopping activity in...

NSO Group Exploited WhatsApp to Install Pegasus Spyware Even After Meta's Lawsuit

Legal documents released as part of an ongoing legal tussle between Meta's WhatsApp and NSO Group have revealed that the Israeli spyware vendor used multiple exploits targeting the messaging app to deliver Pegasus, including one even after it was sued by Meta for doing so. They also show that NSO...

Urgent: Critical WordPress Plugin Vulnerability Exposes Over 4 Million Sites

A critical authentication bypass vulnerability has been disclosed in the Really Simple Security formerly Really Simple SSL plugin for WordPress that, if successfully exploited, could grant an attacker to remotely gain full administrative access to a susceptible site. The vulnerability, tracked as...