Post GandCrab, Cybercriminals Scouring the Dark Web for the Next Top Ransomware

Ransomware continues to be a top threat, with Friday’s ransomware attack on 23 Texas local government and agencies and two in June on dual Florida cities – Lake City and Riviera Beach, resulting in a decision to pay off the hackers — acting as perfect examples of just how lucrative this type of...

How to Guide Users to Better Passwords by Learning from Attackers

If you’re human, you’ve probably re-used a password or two. In fact, the majority of internet users between the ages of 18-65 have done so, and the younger you are, the more likely it is that you use just one password for all of your accounts. Article written by: Chris LaConte, Chief Strategy...

Unique Monokle Android Spyware Self-Signs Certificates

A never-before-publicized mobile spy tool, a mobile surveillanceware remote access trojan RAT for Android called Monokle, has been spotted using novel techniques to exfiltrate data. According to the Lookout researchers who discovered Monokle in the wild, the malware has the ability to self-sign...

The Future is Female: A Key to the Cybersecurity Workforce Challenge

By 2022, 2 million cybersecurity positions globally are projected to be open, even as the threat landscape accelerates and becomes more complex. To meet this growing workforce shortage, women are a crucial, largely untapped reservoir of talent that businesses should be courting. In this Threatpos...

Qualcomm Critical Flaw Exposes Private Keys For Android Devices

Researchers have uncovered a side-channel attack that enables a bad actor to extract sensitive data from Qualcomm’s secure keystore. The critical flaw impacts most modern Android devices that use Qualcomm chips. The issue stems from an issue in Qualcomm technology, dubbed the Qualcomm Secure...

Cardinal RAT Resurrected to Target FinTech Firms

A malware family called Cardinal RAT has reappeared, after two years of silence, in a series of attacks that have been targeting Israel-based financial technology firms. After Cardinal RAT was first detected in 2017, the malware disappeared for two years. But now, in this latest campaign,...

Privacy Regulations Needed for Next-Gen Cars

Driverless automobiles, long-haul trucks and military transport vehicles are on a fast track for wide deployment over the next five to 10 years. That much is clear. Vehicle manufacturers are all in, and innovation is racing forward. Meanwhile, captains of industry and political leaders are eager ...

UCL Ransomware Linked to AdGholas Malvertising Group

A ransomware attack that closed off access to personal and shared drives at University College London last week has been linked to a malvertising campaign spreading Mole, a variant of CryptoMix ransomware. Kafeine, a white-hat who works for Proofpoint and is known for his research into exploit...

EFF Blasts Microsoft Over Windows 10 Rollout

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is blasting Microsoft for its “malicious” and “annoying” tactics when it comes to prodding Windows users to update their operating system to Windows 10. The digital watchdog group says Microsoft’s strategy of pushing the Windows 10 upgrade application onto users...

Latest Microsoft Transparency Report Details Content Removal Requests

Microsoft launched a new transparency website this week that bundles reports detailing requests for data the company has received, including those from law enforcement, the government, and elsewhere. The page, which Microsoft is calling its Transparency Hub, is somewhat similar to what Apple did...

Bypass Demonstrated for Microsoft Use-After-Free Mitigation in IE

For a long time, Microsoft’s monthly Patch Tuesday security bulletins have periodically addressed use-after free vulnerabilities, the latest class of memory corruption bugs that have already found their way into a number of targeted attacks. Microsoft has implemented mitigations to address memory...

Navy Hires Contractor to Data-Mine Gaming Consoles

The U.S. Navy recently hired an outside contractor, Obscure Technologies, to develop computer forensics tools capable of analyzing network traffic and stored data on gaming consoles. The contract, valued at $177,237.50, calls on Obscure Technologies to create hardware and software tools that can ...

Microsoft to Release Emergency Fix for ASP.NET DoS Flaw

UPDATED Microsoft on Thursday plans to release an emergency out-of-band update to address a vulnerability in ASP.NET that could allow an attacker to consume all of the resources on a vulnerable server with a single specially designed HTTP request. The vulnerability affects a wide range of Web...

Serious new flaw found in IIS 6.0

A new remotely-exploitable vulnerability has been found in the Microsoft IIS 6.0 Web server. The flaw is quite similar to one that was discovered eight years ago in earlier versions of IIS, and exploitation of the weakness could enable an attacker to upload content to the vulnerable server. The...

The Ryan & Roel Show Episode 7

Emergency IE Patch – Fri, January 9, 2009 Ryan and Roel dissect the latest wave of malware attacks against Microsoft Internet Explorer browser and discuss the company’s plans to ship an emergency out-of-band update. Download episode...

Sysrv-K Botnet Targets Windows, Linux

Unpatched vulnerabilities in the Spring Framework and WordPress plugins are being exploited by cybercriminals behind the Sysrv botnet to target Linux and Windows systems. The goal, according to researchers, is to infect systems with cryptomining malware. The botnet variant is being called Sysrv-K...

The Uncertain Future of IT Automation

The majority of today’s cybersecurity breaches stem from unpatched vulnerabilities and outdated systems, which means that many cyberattacks are preventable. Unfortunately, it can be challenging for IT teams to keep up with the pace of new patches every month, especially when employee devices are...

‘Long Live Log4Shell’: CVE-2021-44228 Not Dead Yet

Jen Easterly, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA, stated in a public news interview that the now-infamous Log4j flaw is the “the most serious vulnerability that she has seen in her career.” It’s not a stretch to say the whole security industry would agree...

Auditors: Feds’ Cybersecurity Gets the Dunce Cap

Out of eight U.S. federal agencies identified two years ago with critical cybersecurity failures, seven still don’t meet basic standards, a new audit report found. The Federal government’s overall posture was given just a C-. Audited agencies included the Departments of State, Homeland Security,...

FBI: Cybercriminals Eyeing Broadcast Disruption at Tokyo Olympics

The Tokyo Olympics, set to open Friday night, are already being targeted by threat actors — however, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Division has issued a chilling warning the Games’ TV broadcast is likely to be plagued by attacks, since it will be the only way to view events now that...

Nvidia Warns: Severe Security Bugs in GPU Driver, vGPU Software

Nvidia has disclosed a group of security vulnerabilities in the Nvidia graphics processing unit GPU display driver, which could subject gamers and others to privilege-escalation attacks, arbitrary code execution, denial of service DoS and information disclosure. Meanwhile, the Nvidia virtual GPU...

Adobe Patches Slew of Critical Security Bugs in Bridge, Photoshop

Adobe has released security patches tackling four critical vulnerabilities in Adobe Bridge, along with other critical and important-rated updates for bugs in Adobe Digital Editions, Adobe Photoshop and RoboHelp. In all, Adobe fixed 10 security holes in its products during its scheduled April...

Compromised Website Images Camouflage ObliqueRAT Malware

The ObliqueRAT malware is now cloaking its payloads as seemingly-innocent image files that are hidden on compromised websites. The remote access trojan RAT, which has been operating since 2019, spreads via emails, which have malicious Microsoft Office documents attached. Previously, payloads were...

Chinese Hackers Hijacked NSA-Linked Hacking Tool: Report

New research has found evidence that a Chinese-affiliated threat group APT31 has hijacked a hacking tool previously used by the Equation Group which has been tied to the U.S. National Security Agency, or NSA. The tool in question, dubbed “Jian,” is used to exploit a local privilege-escalation LPE...

WordPress Sites Open to Code Injection Attacks via Welcart e-Commerce Bug

A security vulnerability in the Welcart e-Commerce plugin opens up websites to code injection. This can lead to payment skimmers being installed, crashing of the site or information retrieval via SQL injection, researchers said. Welcart e-Commerce is a free WordPress plugin that has more than...

Black Lives Matter Emails Deliver TrickBot Malware

Cyberattackers are seizing upon the 24-hour news cycle again in order to capitalize on the current zeitgeist – this time with a fake Black Lives Matter malspam campaign that distributes the TrickBot malware. According to Swiss security firm Abuse.ch, threat actors are posing as government...

U.S. Nuclear Contractor Hit with Maze Ransomware, Data Leaked

A U.S. military contractor involved in the maintenance of the country’s Minuteman III nuclear arsenal has been hit by the Maze ransomware, according to reports – with the hackers making off with reams of sensitive information. The company, Westech International, has a range of contracts with the...

Ransomware Gang Arrested for Spreading Locky to Hospitals

A cybercriminal gang have been arrested for spreading the Locky ransomware among hospitals, among other crimes. In an operation spearheaded by Romania’s law enforcement department, four people have been taken into custody after their houses were raided – three in Romania and one in neighboring...

Zoom Scrutinized As Security Woes Mount

The New York attorney general, Letitia James, is demanding more information about how Zoom secures user data. The inquiry comes amidst mounting public scrutiny of the web conferencing platform’s data privacy and security policies. In a Monday letter, James questioned whether Zoom’s security...

Critical Zoho Zero-Day Flaw Disclosed

UPDATE A zero-day vulnerability has been disclosed in the IT help desk ManageEngine software made by Zoho Corp. The serious vulnerability enables an unauthenticated, remote attacker to launch attacks on affected systems. Zoho has now released a security update addressing the vulnerability. As of...

Trump, Sanders Are the Top Brands for Cybercriminals

Unwanted and malicious emails using political-themed lures has spiked as the presidential primary season cranks into high gear – with Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders representing the lion’s share of subject line themes. Since the beginning of the year, Proofpoint researchers have tracked subject...

TrickBot Adds Custom, Stealthy Backdoor to its Arsenal

The Russian-speaking cybercriminals behind the TrickBot malware have developed a stealthy backdoor dubbed “PowerTrick,” in order to infiltrate high-value targets. According to research from SentinelLabs, released on Thursday, PowerTrick is designed to execute commands and return the results in...

15 Years Later, Metasploit Still Manages to be a Menace

The popular penetration testing and hacking framework Metasploit may be getting long in the tooth, but it hasn’t lost its bite in the hands of bad actors. According to researchers, hackers are still using the tool and a highly effective technique called Shikata Ga Nai Japanese for “nothing can be...

.WAVs Hide Malware in Their Depths in Innovative Campaign

UPDATE Audio .WAV files are the latest hiding place for obfuscated malicious code; a campaign has been spotted in which malicious content was secretly woven throughout the file’s audio data. The embedded code consists of two different payloads: A XMRig/Monero CPU cryptominer and Metasploit code...

Docker Containers Riddled with Graboid Crypto-Worm

The Docker cloud containerization technology is the target for a just-discovered cryptojacking worm dubbed Graboid. According to researchers at Palo Alto’s Unit 42, the worm, which looks to mine the Monero cryptocurrency, has infected more than 2,000 unsecured Docker Engine Community Edition host...

Gamers Warned of High-Severity Intel, Nvidia Flaws

Chip giants Intel and Nvidia have stomped out high-severity flaws in two popular products, both commonly used by gamers. Impacted are the Nvidia Shield TV and Intel NUC short for Next Unit of Computing mini-PC kit. Nvidia Shield TV is a media streaming box powered by Nvidia’s Tegra X1...

Google Play Malicious Apps Racked Up 335M+ Installs In September

Despite Google’s stepped up efforts to ban malicious apps hosted on Google Play 172 harmful apps – installed 335 million times by users – have been discovered on the platform in September alone. ESET researcher Lukas Stefanko said on Tuesday that the majority of those 172 malicious apps were...

Google Assistant Audio Privacy Controls Updated After Outcry

Google is unveiling new privacy controls for the Google Assistant virtual assistant, after the company came under fire earlier this year for eavesdropping on users’ personal audio snippets – without their permission. The tech giant on Monday promised more transparency around the audio data that i...

Malicious App on Google Play Tallies 100 Million Downloads

Call it the case of a good app gone bad! For some time, a handy PDF creator and optical character recognition OCR app available via Google Play offered users utility and convenience. The app, downloaded more than 100 million times, is called CamScanner and allows Android phone owners to snap a...

Lenovo High-Severity Bug Found in Pre-Installed Software

Another flaw has been found in Lenovo’s decommissioned Lenovo Solution Centre software, preinstalled on millions of older-model PCs made by the world’s leading computer maker. The vulnerability is a privilege escalation flaw that can be used to execute arbitrary code on a targeted system, giving ...

Adult Content Site Exposed Personal Data of 1M Users

The personal information more than a million users of popular adult website Luscious, including email addresses that sometimes indicated full names, were found exposed in an unsecured Elasticsearch database. The website, which focuses on anime-themed, user-uploaded adult content, has over 1 milli...

VLC Media Player Allows Desktop Takeover Via Malicious Video Files

Two high-risk vulnerabilities in the VLC media player could allow an adversary to craft a malicious .MKV video file that could be used in an attack to gain control of the victim’s PC. The flaws were made public Monday by the developer of the open-source VLC media player, VideoLAN project, who als...

Popular Samsung, LG Android Phones Open to 'Spearphone' Eavesdropping

A new way to eavesdrop on people’s mobile phone calls has come to light in the form of Spearphone – an attack that makes use of Android devices’ on-board accelerometers motion sensors to infer speech from the devices’ speakers. An acronym for “Speech privacy exploit via accelerometer-sensed...

Large-Scale Government Hacks Hit Russia, Bulgaria

A pair of notable hacks on government targets have come to light: One, an attack affecting nearly the entire country of Bulgaria; and two, a hack of Russia’s main security agency FSB that represents the largest data heist ever experienced there. In Bulgaria, cybercriminals were able to infiltrate...

How to Model Risk in an Apex Predator Cyber-World

The threat-intelligence researchers at Alphabet’s Chronicle have borrowed the apex predator concept from ecology to describe today’s multi-organizational, multinational threat actors — the evolution of which could provoke an overhaul of risk analysis and management. However, it’s important to kee...

POS Malware Found at 102 Checkers Restaurant Locations

The popular Checkers and Rally’s drive-through restaurant chain was attacked by Point of Sale POS malware impacting 15 percent of its stores across the U.S. Checkers is one of the largest drive-through restaurants in the U.S., operating in 28 states and headquartered in Tampa, Florida. The securi...

Windows 10 Update Bricks PCs, Microsoft Offers Workarounds

Microsoft has acknowledged that a Windows 10 bug is causing some users’ systems to freeze after using their System Restore feature. The issue arose after users complained that when they updated Windows 10 and attempted to restart their system, they were met with a “Stop error” that blocked them...

Researchers: Facebook's Data-Leveraging Scandal Puts Users on Notice

On the heels of reports that Facebook leveraged its users’ data in its relationships with other companies, researchers say that the tech space needs to re-assess the value of data as it relates to user privacy measures. However, they also said that users need to take steps themselves to safeguard...

RSA Conference 2019: How to Defend Against an AI vs AI Flash War

SAN FRANCISCO – As perimeter cyber defenses adopt new strategies such artificial intelligence and machine learning, security experts predict adversaries will adopt similar techniques when it comes to an attack chain. Derek Manky, chief of security insights at Fortinet, said that “black-hat...

Ever-Changing Emotet Evolves Again with Fresh Evasion Tactic

The Emotet trojan has seen a spike in activity in the last month, with a campaign that once again showcases its ability to evolve quickly: It’s now employing a different delivery mechanism than has previously been seen, in what appears to be an effective tactic for evasion. Emotet, which has beco...