China PLA Unit 78020 Cyberespionage Naikon APT

Chinese president Xi Jinping is supposed to have dinner this evening with U.S. president Barack Obama. Wonder if the name Ge Xing will come up? Ge Xing is the subject of a joint report published this morning by ThreatConnect and Defense Group Inc., computer and national security service providers...

Major Gaming Companies Hit with Ransomware Linked to APT27

A recent slew of related ransomware attacks on top videogame companies has been associated with the notorious Chinese-linked APT27 threat group, suggesting that the advanced persistent threat APT is swapping up its historically espionage centralized tactics to adopt ransomware, a new report says...

NVIDIA Patches Critical Bug in High-Performance Servers

NVIDIA released a patch for a critical bug in its high-performance line of DGX servers that could open the door for a remote attacker to take control of and access sensitive data on systems typically operated by governments and Fortune-100 companies. In all, NVIDIA issued nine patches, each fixin...

Microsoft Patches ‘Major’ Crypto Spoofing Bug

A major crypto-spoofing bug impacting Windows 10 users has been fixed as part of Microsoft’s January Patch Tuesday security bulletin. The vulnerability could allow an attacker to spoof a code-signing certificate, vital to validating executable programs in Windows, and make it appear as if an...

Cisco Accidentally Released Dirty CoW Exploit Code in Software

Cisco Systems revealed in a security bulletin Wednesday that it “inadvertently” shipped in-house exploit code that was used in security tests of scripts as part of its TelePresence Video Communication Server and Expressway Series software. The code exploits the Dirty Cow vulnerability...

Darkhotel Exploits Microsoft Zero-Day VBScript Flaw

Researchers have discovered that the Darkhotel APT is exploiting a recently-patched zero-day vulnerability impacting Microsoft VBScript. Researchers at Trend Micro recently disclosed the flaw in Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Engine VBScript, an active scripting language developed by Microsoft...

May Patch Tuesday Fixes Two Bugs Under Active Attack

Microsoft’s May Patch Tuesday fixes include two critical remote code-execution vulnerabilities, both of which are under active attack. The most serious of the two is tied to a Windows 10 VBScript engine and can be triggered when a victim visits a malicious website. “A user need only visit a...

Wekby APT 18 Exploiting Hacking Team Flash Zero Day

The Wekby APT group, implicated in a number of targeted attacks against health care organizations such as Community Health Systems and major pharmaceutical companies, is reportedly making use of the Adobe Flash Player zero-day found in the Hacking Team data dump. According to Virginia-based...

Windows XP End of Life Breeding FUD, Legit Concerns

For those of you anticipating the start of a Walking Dead-style malware apocalypse next Tuesday, calm yourselves. The official end of security support for Windows XP is upon us, but it’s important to check some anxiety at the door and keep some perspective. “I’ve been a forensics investigator 14...

New APT ChamelGang Targets Russian Energy, Aviation Orgs

A new APT group has emerged that’s specifically targeting the fuel and energy complex and aviation industry in Russia, exploiting known vulnerabilities like Microsoft Exchange Server’s ProxyShell and leveraging both new and existing malware to compromise networks. Researchers at security firm...

Smishing: Put Text-Based Phishing on the CISO Radar

Anyone who uses a smartphone has likely been the target of at least one smishing attack. Smishing is much like email phishing scams, but instead sends deceptive or malicious links through text messages. Like phishing, smishing tries to trick users into giving up valuable information, such as...

Cybercrooks Rake in $304M in Romance Scams

Romance scams remain the most successful fraud strategy for cybercrooks, and represents a growing sector, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Last year, romance schemes accounted for a record $304 million raked into illicit coffers, according to new data – up about 50 percent from 2019...

ADT Security Camera Flaws Open Homes to Eavesdropping

UPDATE Researchers have publicly disclosed security flaws found in ADT-owned LifeShield security cameras, which, if exploited, could have allowed a local attacker to eavesdrop on victims’ conversations or tap into a live video feed. The LifeShield brand is owned by security giant ADT. Specificall...

Ransomware Group Makes Splashy $20K Donation to Charities

The Darkside ransomware group has distinguished itself from its cybercriminal counterparts not by technical innovation, but by slapping a shiny corporate veneer on its attacks. The latest evolution in Darkside’s ransomware-as-a-corporation gimmick is a hefty $20,000 donation that the group made...

Microsoft Out-of-Band Security Update Fixes Windows Remote Access Flaws

Microsoft has released an out-of-band security update addressing two high-severity elevation-of-privilege EoP bugs. Both flaws exist in a service called Windows Remote Access, which provides remote-access capabilities to client applications on computers running Windows. Of note, both flaws were...

Advanced Obfuscation Marks Widespread Info-Stealing Campaign

A large-scale spam campaign bent on spreading info-stealing malware is applying advanced obfuscation techniques to get around security scanning and maximize infection rates. According to Lastline researchers, a large botnet is distributing malicious rich text format RTF documents that act as...

Execs Could Face Jail Time For Privacy Violations

A new data privacy bill threatens large tech firms, like Facebook, with tough penalties – including monetary fines and up to 20 years of jail time for executives – if they violate user privacy policies. The “Mind Your Own Business Act,” proposed by Sen. Ron Wyden D-Ore. on Thursday, gives the...

UNICEF Leaks Personal Data of 8,000 Users via Email Blunder

The charity organization UNICEF inadvertently leaked the personal details of thousands of people who use its online learning portal Agora by way of an errant email sent to 20,000 inboxes. The email was accidentally sent on August 26 by UNICEF and included the names, email addresses, gender and...

Norman Cryptominer Employs Sophisticated Obfuscation Tactics

A never-before-seen cryptomining variant, dubbed “Norman” after one of its executable files, has been spotted in the wild using various techniques to hide and avoid discovery. The levels of obfuscation are notable for their sheer depth, according to an analysis. Varonis uncovered an initial sampl...

New Loader Variant Behind Widespread Malware Attacks

Behind a recent wave of cyberattacks, pelting PCs with FormBook, LokiBot, SmokeLoader malware, is an updated version of a malware-loading technique called TxHollower. It is described as a new “significant threat”, according to researchers, who added, attacks using TxHollower have “spread like...

Adware-Ridden Apps in Google Play Infect 30 Million Android Users

More than 50 malicious apps have been discovered on the Google Play app marketplace, peddling adware to millions of Android victims. The 50 adware apps, which have been since removed, include fitness, photoshopping and gaming apps, and were installed a total of 30 million times, researchers at...

IoT Scale Flaws Enable Denial of Service, Privacy Issues

Here is an internet of things flaw that can tip the scales to a hacker’s advantage. Researchers have discovered a bevy of flaws in a consumer smart scale that could allow hackers to launch a variety of attacks, from man-in-the-middle to denial of service attacks. Checkmarx researchers reported th...

Microsoft Plugs Three Zero Day Holes as Part of May Patch Tuesday

Microsoft patched three zero day vulnerabilities actively under attack today as part of its May Patch Tuesday release. Researchers with FireEye who uncovered the three vulnerabilities said the bugs were actively being exploited by threat actors Turla and APT28. Two of the zero day vulnerabilities...

Microsoft Silverlight Zero Day Vulnerability Patched

Microsoft Silverlight vulnerabilities certainly don’t have the same hacker cred as bugs in Adobe Flash, for example, but nonetheless, that does not diminish their value, nor does that mean they should be ignored. Microsoft patched a critical flaw in the application framework on Tuesday, and...

Active DoS Exploits for MS15-034 Under Way

UPDATE – Microsoft’s characterization of MS15-034 as a remote code execution vulnerability certainly has a lot of Windows server admins on edge waiting for the other shoe to drop. In the three days since the bulletin was released warning of a critical vulnerability in the HTTP protocol stack,...

Wind River ‘Security Incident’ Affects SSNs, Passport Numbers

Wind River Systems, which develops embedded system software, on Friday warned of a “security incident” that had exposed personnel records. One or more files were downloaded from the company’s network on or around September 29, it said. Affected data included information maintained within the...

Black-T Malware Emerges From Cryptojacker Group TeamTNT

Researchers have discovered the latest cryptojacking malware gambit from TeamTNT, called Black-T. The variant builds on the group’s typical approach, with a few new — and sophisticated — extras. TeamTNT is known for its targeting of Amazon Web Services AWS credentials, to break into the cloud and...

DEF CON 2019: Delta ICS Flaw Allows Total Industrial Takeover

A serious vulnerability in a commonly used Delta industrial control system has been found that could allow malicious actors on the same network complete control of the operating system. The Delta enteliBUS Manager centralizes control for various pieces of hardware often found in corporate or...

68% of Overwhelmed IT Managers Say They Can't Keep Up with Cyberattacks

IT managers feel overwhelmed by the volume of cyberattack attempts, with most of them admitting that successful hacks of their company networks are becoming the norm. That’s according to a research report The Impossible Puzzle of Cybersecurity, released Friday. In a survey of 3,100 IT managers...

A Spate of University Breaches Highlight Email Threats in Higher Ed

Oregon State University announced Friday that hackers potentially made off with 636 student records and family records of students containing personally identifiable information PII, after a successful email attack in early May. This comes on the heels of email-based breaches at Graceland...

440 Million Android Users Plagued By Extremely Obnoxious Pop-Ups

Over 440 million Android phones have been exposed to an obnoxious advertising plugin hidden within hundreds of popular applications available via Google Play, which ultimately can render phones almost unusable. Lookout Research discovered the plugin being bundled with 238 unique applications that...

Sharing Threat Intelligence: Time for an Overhaul

Most organizations don’t really have a good way of sharing threat-related data outside of their own industry verticals. Sure, there are Information Sharing and Analysis Centers ISACs; i.e. FS-ISACs for the financial-services industry. But the information still tends to stay in industry-specific...

Trickbot Malware Goes After Remote Desktop Credentials

The banking trojan known as Trickbot has resurfaced, with an updated info-stealing module that allows it to harvest remote desktop application credentials. According to Trend Micro’s Noel Anthony Llimos and Carl Maverick Pascual, a new variant has recently come on the scene, and is being spread v...

IE 12 to Support HSTS Encryption Protocol

Microsoft confirmed today it will support HTTPS Strict Transport Protocol HSTS in Internet Explorer 12, bringing its browser in line with other major vendors in its support of the protocol. Browsers supporting HSTS force any sessions sent over HTTP to be sent instead over HTTPS, encrypting...

Critical ManageEngine Desktop Server Bug Opens Orgs to Malware

A critical security vulnerability in the Zoho ManageEngine Desktop Central and Desktop Central MSP platforms could allow authentication bypass, the company has warned. The bug CVE-2021-44757 could allow a remote user to “perform unauthorized actions in the server,” according to the company’s Mond...

Conti Ransomware Gang Has Full Log4Shell Attack Chain

The Conti ransomware gang, which last week became the first professional crimeware outfit to adopt and weaponize the Log4Shell vulnerability, has now built up a holistic attack chain. The sophisticated Russia-based Conti group – which Palo Alto Networks has called “one of the most ruthless” of...

SideWalk Backdoor Linked to China-Linked Spy Group ‘Grayfly’

The novel backdoor technique called SideWalk, seen in campaigns targeting US media and retailers late last month, has been tied to an adversary that’s been around for quite a while: namely, China-linked Grayfly espionage group. ESET researchers, who named and discovered the new “SparklingGoblin”...

Bogus Android Clubhouse App Drops Credential-Swiping Malware

Researchers are warning of a fake version of the popular audio chat app Clubhouse, which delivers malware that steals login credentials for more than 450 apps. Clubhouse has burst on the social media scene over the past few months, gaining hype through its audio-chat rooms where participants can...

TrickBot Attack Exploits COVID-19 Fears with DocuSign-Themed Ploy

Threat actors are using people’s interest in the Department of Labor’s Family and Medical Leave Act FMLA to spread what appears to be the TrickBot trojan in a new spam campaign that security researchers discovered recently. Recent analysis from spam honeypots set by IBM X-Force discovered actors...

Magecart Groups Attack Simultaneous Sites in Card-Theft Frenzy

In an interesting development on the financial cybercrime scene, different Magecart groups have been spotting stepping over each other and attacking the same sites. Magecart is an umbrella term encompassing several different threat groups who all use the same modus operandi: They compromise...

Foxit PDF Reader Vulnerable to 8 High-Severity Flaws

Patches are available for eight high-severity flaws impacting the popular PDF software Foxit Reader. The bugs, which exist on Windows versions of the software, enable a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable systems. This week, Foxit Software, the company behind Foxit Reader,...

DEF CON 2019: New Class of SQLite Exploits Open Door to iPhone Hack

LAS VEGAS – Researchers at Check Point have identified a new class of vulnerabilities targeting SQLite, outside the context of a browser for the first time. The new attack techniques exploit memory-corruption issues in the SQLite engine itself — leading to a host of new hacks, including code...

Data Breach Exposes 100K U.S. Traveler Photos, License Plates

UPDATE The U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that a recent data breach exposed photos of the faces and license plates for more than 100,000 travelers driving in and out of the country. The department said Monday that the breach stemmed from an attack on a federal subcontractor. Customs and...

Facebook Boots 74 Cybercrime Groups From Platform

Facebook has booted more than 70 cybercrime groups off its platform that were peddling illicit services – from email spamming tools to stolen credentials and payment information sales – in plain sight. Researchers said a simple search on Facebook for keywords like “spam,” “CVV” or more returned...

Microsoft Zero-Day Patch for JET Bug Incomplete, Claims Firm

UPDATE Microsoft patched a zero-day in its JET Database Engine this week – but the patch was incomplete, according to researchers at 0patch. The company has developed a micropatch that corrects that hole, it said Friday. The memory corruption vulnerability CVE-2018-8423 could allow remote...

Fortune Favors the Bold? Man Steals Microsoft Founder's Identity, Credit Card

When one Pennsylvanian man couldn’t foot his bills, he opted to steal the identity of someone that could – one of the world’s richest men, Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen. An AWOL solider from Pittsburgh swiped Allen’s Citibank credit card account information earlier this year to...

Deep Dive: Protecting Against Container Threats in the Cloud

Containers are self-contained pods representing complete, portable application environments. They contain everything an application needs to run, including binaries, libraries, configuration files and dependencies Docker and Amazon Elastic, for instance, are two of the more well-known offerings...

How MikroTik Routers Became a Cybercriminal Target

The routers leveraged by the Mēris botnet in a massive distributed denial-of-service DDoS attack against Russia’s internet giant Yandex have also been the unwitting platform for numerous cyberattacks, researchers have found. This is due to a persistent vulnerable state that’s difficult for...

Critical Citrix DDoS Bug Shuts Down Network, Cloud App Access

A critical security bug in the Citrix Application Delivery Controller ADC and Citrix Gateway could allow cyberattackers to crash entire corporate networks without needing to authenticate. The two affected Citrix products formerly the NetScaler ADC and Gateway are used for application-aware traffi...

Apple Hurries Patches for Safari Bugs Under Active Attack

Apple issued two out-of-band security fixes for its Safari web browser, fixing zero-day vulnerabilities that “may have been actively exploited,” according to a Monday security bulletin by the company. The bugs affect sixth-generation Apple iPhones, iPads and iPod touch model hardware, released...