Ransomware Behind Norsk Hydro Attack Takes On Wiper-Like Capabilities

LockerGoga, the malware that took down Norsk Hydro last week, has taken the industrial world by storm, as researchers race to uncover more about the mysterious ransomware that crippled several of the aluminum maker’s plants. Questions still remain about how the malware first infects the system it...

Hackers Take Down Safari, VMware and Oracle at Pwn2Own

Hackers took down Apple Safari, VMware Workstation, and Oracle VirtualBox on Wednesday, the first day of Pwn2Own, the annual hacking competition held in tandem with the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver. Contestants with the team of Fluoroacetate Amat Cama and Richard Zhu were the first to hit p...

Researcher Says NSA's Ghidra Tool Can Be Used for RCE

Ghidra, a free, open-source software reverse-engineering tool that was released by the National Security Agency at RSA, has been found to be a potential conduit to remote code-execution. Ghidra is a disassembler written in Java; software that breaks down executable files into assembly code that c...

Microsoft Considering Public-Key Pinning for Internet Explorer

Microsoft is considering adding public-key pinning–an important defense against man-in-the-middle attacks–to Internet Explorer. The feature is designed to help protect users against the types of MITM attacks that rely on forged certificates, which comprise a large portion of those attacks...

Microsoft Extends SHA-2, TLS Support for Windows

One by one, tech companies have been tossing aside the SHA-1 cryptographic algorithm like the unreliable collision-prone mess that it is. Microsoft was among the first to steer its customers away from SHA-1 and established an internal edict that its developers would no longer use it for...

Inside the 1,000 Red October Cyberespionage Malware Modules

The Red October espionage malware campaign is providing security researchers with a deep dive into the complexity of targeted attacks, which in this case made use of more than 1,000 malware modules for everything from reconnaissance on targets to exfiltration of data to command and control server...

Microsoft Tries to Boost SDL Adoption

Microsoft is trying to boost adoption of the software security practices in its Security Development Lifecycle by releasing a revised set of instructions to make implementation of the process easier and faster. At the Black Hat DC conference on Tuesday, the company announced the release of its...

The Art of Non-boring Cybersec Training–Podcast

Log4j, ransomware, cloud vulnerabilities, phishing: Cyber threats are manifold. They all pale, however, in comparison to the security black holes that walk around on two legs. Studies have shown that nearly all successful breaches stem from human error, be it failure to install security patches...

What the Log4Shell Bug Means for SMBs: Experts Weigh In

News of the Log4Shell vulnerability is everywhere, with security experts variously calling the Apache log4j logging library bug a recipe for an “internet meltdown,” as well as the “worst cybersecurity bug of the year.” Names like “Apple,” “Twitter” and “Cloudflare” are being bandied about as bein...

Cisco Issues Critical Fixes for High-End Nexus Gear

Cisco Systems released six security patches tied to its high-end 9000 series networking gear ranging in importance from critical, high and medium severity. The most serious of the bugs patched by Cisco rated 9.1 out of 10 could allow a remote and unauthenticated adversary to read or write arbitra...

Google Project Zero Cuts Bug Disclosure Timeline to a 30-Day Grace Period

Google Project Zero will now give organizations a 30-day grace period to patch zero-day flaws it discovers in a new disclosure policy revealed this week aimed at speeding up the time it takes for patches to be adopted. Known for discovering a number of high-profile zero days—in Google’s own...

COVID-19 Vaccine-Maker Hit with Cyberattack, Data Breach

COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has shut down its plants in Brazil, India, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. following a cyberattack, according to reports. The Indian company is the contractor for Russia’s “Sputinik V” COVID-19 vaccine, which is about to enter Phase 2 human...

Fake Skype, Signal Apps Used to Spread Surveillanceware

Cybercriminals are increasingly peddling booby-trapped version of popular apps such as Skype and Signal that contain surveillanceware. Apurva Kumar, security intelligence engineer at Lookout, said that one such surveillanceware family that’s been spotted using this tactic is Monokle, a...

Flaws Riddle Zyxel’s Network Management Software

Security researchers are warning that networking hardware vendor Zyxel and its Cloud CNM SecuManager software is chock-full of unpatched vulnerabilities that kick open the doors for hackers to exploit. In all, researchers have identified 16 vulnerabilities, ranging from multiple backdoors and...

Cryptomining Crook Steals Game Developer’s Identity to Carry Out Dirty Work

A 29-year-old cybercriminal assumed the guise of a prominent California video-game developer and eSports tournament organizer to throw authorities off his cryptomining track, according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday. Matthew Ho, a citizen of Singapore, allegedly used the developer’s stole...

Apple Tackles Over a Dozen Bugs in its Catalina 10.15 Update

Apple wasted little time snuffing out bugs in its macOS Catalina operating system. On Tuesday, Apple rolled out 16 patches addressing a wide range of Catalina bugs in components such as CoreAudio, IOGraphics and WebKit. The security fixes are exclusively for macOS 10.15; so pre-Catalina releases ...

Soaring Cryptocurrency Prices Draw Malicious Apps, Malware

The price of Bitcoin is steadily surging in May and hackers are looking to cash in on the uptick with fake cryptocurrency apps, malware and other related scams. In May 2019, Bitcoin prices climbed to their highest points this year, with the popular cryptocurrency being worth $8,300 its highest...

ThreatList: Porn-Focused Malware Triples, Dark Web Loves It

Credential-stealing malware targeting premium accounts on adult websites almost tripled in 2018, corresponding with a rise in the number of offers related to stolen porn credentials on Dark Web markets. That’s according to Thursday research from Kaspersky Lab, which found that the malware is...

Threatpost Poll: Is It Impossible to Secure Mobile Devices?

Between applications and operating systems, a slew of mobile threats continue to pop up – and when it comes to security, it’s getting harder and harder for enterprises to keep up. Just in the past week, Apple patched a massive flaw in its FaceTime allowing a bad actor to eavesdrop on victims; whi...

Wordpress Users Urged to Delete Zero-Day-Ridden Plugin

Researchers are urging WordPress site owners to delete a compromised plugin after multiple zero-day vulnerabilities were discovered being exploited by a malicious actor. Researchers at Wordfence said on Friday that flaws in the plugin, Total Donations, are being exploited by malicious actors to...

Patch Tuesday Returns; Microsoft Quiet on Postponement

Patch Tuesday returned today as expected after last month’s postponement with a giant release of fixes that includes patches for vulnerabilities disclosed and exploited since the last set of updates in January. Microsoft, however, was relatively silent on the reasons why the February updates were...

Four Zero Days Disclosed in Internet Explorer

UPDATE–As if all of the vulnerabilities in Flash and Windows discovered in the Hacking Team document cache and the 193 bugs Oracle fixed last week weren’t enough for organizations to deal with, HP’s Zero Day Initiative has released four new zero days in Internet Explorer Mobile that can lead to...

Oracle Patches 88 Vulnerabilities, Including Some that Allow Remote Exploits Without Authentication

Oracle yesterday released 88 security fixes for vulnerabilities — including several that allow for remote access without authentication — across its portfolio as part of its quarterly Critical Patch Update. “Due to the threat posed by a successful attack, Oracle strongly recommends that customers...

By Stefan Tanase

In general, a lack of user education and strong policies regarding online security often lead to undesirable events. Whether you manage an official Twitter account or a personal one, you should know how Twitter accounts get hacked so you can protect yourself. Here are some methods:...

Researcher Shows Killbit is No Defense on MsVidCtl Flaw

Ryan Smith, one of the researchers who found the bug in the Microsoft MsVidCtl DLL that the vendor is rushing to patch this week, has posted a short video demonstration of a technique that bypasses the stop-gap solution of preventing the vulnerable ActiveX control from loading. In the demo, Smith...

Mysterious Custom Malware Collects Billions of Stolen Data Points

Researchers have uncovered a 1.2-terabyte database of stolen data, lifted from 3.2 million Windows-based computers over the course of two years by an unknown, custom malware. The heisted info includes 6.6 million files and 26 million credentials, and 2 billion web login cookies – with 400 million...

Cyberattackers Exploiting Critical WordPress Plugin Bug

The Plus Addons for Elementor plugin for WordPress has a critical security vulnerability that attackers can exploit to quickly, easily and remotely take over a website. First reported as a zero-day bug, researchers said it’s being actively attacked in the wild. The plugin, which has more than...

Criminal, Domestic Violence Case Info Exposed in Cook County Leak

A non-password protected database, belonging to a county in Illinois, exposed 323,000 court records for at least four months, according to researchers. The database exposed the names of various people involved in sensitive criminal, domestic-abuse or child-custody court cases. Researchers from...

Apple Manufacturer Foxconn Confirms Cyberattack

Foxconn Technology Group confirmed Tuesday that a November cyberattack knocked some of its U.S. operations offline. The incident is reportedly a ransomware attack carried out by a cybergang attempting to extort $34 million from the global manufacturing powerhouse. “We can confirm that an...

New Android Spyware Tools Emerge in Widespread Surveillance Campaign

Researchers have uncovered a surveillance campaign, dating back to at least 2013, which has used a slew of Android surveillanceware tools to spy on the Uyghur ethnic minority group. The campaign uses three never-before-seen Android surveillanceware tools, dubbed SilkBean, GoldenEagle and...

Chris Eng: Patch Management Challenges Drive 'Security Debt'

Companies are lagging when it comes to keeping up with software security patches – causing them to fall into “security debt,” Chris Eng, chief research officer with Veracode said. Today, challenges around patch management are being worsened by applications using third-party code and open source...

Ashley Madison Breach Extortion Scam Targets Hundreds

Nearly five years after the high-profile Ashley Madison data breach, hundreds of impacted website users are being targeted by a new extortion attack this past week. The 2015 data breach of the adultery website led to 32 million accounts being publicly dumped online, including victims’ names,...

TP-Link Routers Give Cyberattackers an Open Door to Business Networks

A firmware vulnerability in TP-Link Archer C5 v4 routers used in enterprise and home environments could allow unauthorized, remote access to the device with administrative privileges. The bug CVE-2017-7405 affects models that run firmware version 3.16.0 0.9.1 v600c.0 Build 180124 Rel.28919n. Firs...

Romanian Duo Receives Jailtime For Infecting 400,000 With Malware

A Romanian duo has been sentenced to jailtime for infecting 400,000 computers with malware that stole credentials and financial information, and scammed victims out of millions of dollars. The two Romanian hackers, Bogdan Nicolescu, 37, and Radu Miclaus, 37, were sentenced to 20 years and 18 year...

News Wrap: Steam Zero Day Disclosure Drama, Unix Utility Backdoor

Why did Valve-owner Steam say it made a “mistake” turning a researcher away from its bug bounty program? Who was behind a backdoor that was purposefully introduced into a utility utilized by Unix and Linux servers? And why is Facebook coming under fire for its “Clear History” feature? Threatpost...

Citrix Confirms Password-Spraying Heist of Reams of Internal IP

UPDATE Digital workspace and enterprise networks vendor Citrix has concluded its investigation into a 6TB data heist in March, which it said was the work of international cybercriminals who exploited weak passwords on an internal network. The attackers intermittently accessed Citrix’ infrastrucur...

Mozilla Patches Firefox Critical Flaw Under Active Attack

UPDATE Mozilla has released updates for the Firefox browser addressing a critical vulnerability that is being actively exploited in targeted attacks against Coinbase employees – and potentially other cryptocurrency organizations. The critical flaw CVE-2019-11707 is a type confusion vulnerability ...

News Wrap: Infosecurity Europe Highlights and BlueKeep Anxiety

This week, the focus was on Infosecurity Europe, which took place in London and showcased a myriad of sessions, threat research and trends in the cybersecurity space. During the Threatpost news wrap for the week ended June 7, the team breaks down the top news from the show, as well as other...

Extinguishing the IoT Insecurity Dumpster Fire

It’s no secret IoT security has been a dumpster fire. Last week, it was reported two million IP security cameras, baby monitors and smart doorbells have serious IoT flaws with no known patches. The list, of course, is added to a long list of IoT nightmares that have been reported over the past fi...

Medical Weed Dispensary Exposes Health Data for Thousands

A data breach at a medical marijuana dispensary company operating in Canada has sent the personal health privacy of about 34,000 patients up in smoke. An electronic medical record system used by Natural Health Services – a self-described “cannabinoid medical clinic that specializes in cannabis...

Cybercriminals Have a Heyday with WinRAR Bug in Fresh Campaigns

A recently discovered vulnerability in the WinRAR file archival utility has been exploited in a slew of new campaigns, including one with a never-before-seen payload. The flurry of activity shows no sign of waning as cybercriminals continue to find success exploiting the bug. The campaigns take...

Three Ways DNS is Weaponized and How to Mitigate the Risk

In the early stages of the “Net” each computer system participating in this network could only be contacted by knowing it’s unique 32bit IP address. As the Net grew into the Internet that we know today, some changes had to be made to allow this system of interconnected computers to communicate wi...

Word-based Malware Attack Doesn’t Use Macros

Typically, inbox-based attacks that include malicious Microsoft Office attachments require adversaries to trick users into enabling macros. But researchers say they have identified a new malicious email campaign that uses booby-trapped Office attachments that are macro-free. The attacks do not...

Microsoft Data Shows Drop in Remote Code Execution Bugs Being Exploited

SAN FRANCISCO–One of the downsides to being a software company with a huge customer base is that your products are going to be prime targets for attackers. But the flip side to that coin is that you’re going to gather a lot of data about vulnerabilities and attacks. Microsoft has been collecting...

Microsoft's SDL Expands Beyond Redmond

It’s been more than 10 years now since Microsoft began the initiative that would eventually become Trustworthy Computing, and while the effects it’s had inside the company have been well documented, the utility and adoption of the Security Development Lifecycle by outside organizations and...

Microsoft Publishes New FixIt Tool For DLL Bug

Microsoft has released some updated guidance on the recent DLL-hijacking bug, including a new FixIt tool that enables the workaround for the vulnerability that Microsoft shipped late last month. The new guidance includes a detailed explanation of the bug itself as well as how potential attacks...

Attackers Use Event Logs to Hide Malware

Researchers have discovered a malicious campaign utilizing a never-before-seen technique for quietly planting fileless malware on target machines. The technique involves injecting shellcode directly into Windows event logs. This allows adversaries to use the Windows event logs as a cover for...

Squirrel Bug Lets Attackers Execute Code in Games, Cloud Services

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the Squirrel programming language lets attackers break out of sandbox restrictions and execute arbitrary code within a Squirrel virtual machine VM, thus giving a malicious actor complete access to the underlying machine. Given where Squirrel lives – in games...

Adobe Snuffs Critical Bugs in Acrobat, Experience Manager

Adobe is urging its throngs of Acrobat Reader users to update their software to fix critical vulnerabilities that could allow adversaries to execute arbitrary code on unpatched versions. The warnings are part of the firm’s September monthly security update, which this month addresses 59 bugs foun...

A Cyber 'Vigilante' is Sabotaging Emotet's Return

The banking trojan Emotet has returned after a five-month hiatus. But, in an amusing twist, one cyber vigilante is thwarting the malware’s comeback. Researchers say a mysterious vigilante is fighting the threat actors behind the malware’s comeback by replacing malicious Emotet payloads with...