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...

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...

Protecting Against Ransomware Attacks: A Checklist

Sometimes all it takes is a malicious email to infect an entire municipality with ransomware, freezing important city systems from water utilities or websites. That was the case with the Florida city of Riviera Beach, which paid hackers $600,000 after being hit by a ransomware attack that downed...

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...

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...

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...

Office Zero Day Delivering FINSPY Spyware to Victims in Russia

Since at least January, unidentified state-sponsored attackers have been targeting victims in Russia with FINSPY spyware delivered in exploits for an Office and WordPad zero-day vulnerability patched on Tuesday by Microsoft. Separately, the same zero-day has been leveraged in financially motivate...

November 2014 Microsoft Patch Tuesday Security Bulletins

A busy Microsoft Patch Tuesday arrived today with an extra sense of urgency and a complication. Among 14 bulletins, four of which are rated critical by Microsoft, is a patch for the OLE zero-day vulnerability being used in a number of targeted attacks. The zero-day is being spread via email...

Google Fixes Six High-Risk Bugs in Chrome, Pays Out $6k in Bounties

Google has fixed seven security vulnerabilities in its Chrome browser, including six high-priority flaws. The new release of Chrome is version 12.0.742.112 and also includes an updated version of Flash. The latest version of Chrome is the third major update from the company since just the end of...

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:...

BotenaGo Botnet Code Leaked to GitHub, Impacting Millions of Devices

The BotenaGo botnet source code has been leaked to GitHub, putting millions of routers and internet-of-things IoT devices at risk, researchers said. In a Wednesday report, AT&T Alien Labs – which first discovered the difficult-to-detect malware in November – said it expects that the ready...

BillQuick Billing App Rigged to Inflict Ransomware

Threat actors have been caught exploiting a now-patched zero-day critical vulnerability in a popular timeclock and billing system, to take over vulnerable servers and inflict companies’ networks with ransomware. Discovered by Huntress Labs earlier this month, the ongoing attacks focus on an...

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,...

Kubernetes Cloud Clusters Face Cyberattacks via Argo Workflows

Kubernetes clusters are being attacked via misconfigured Argo Workflows instances, security researchers are warning. Argo Workflows is an open-source, container-native workflow engine for orchestrating parallel jobs on Kubernetes – to speed up processing time for compute-intensive jobs like machi...

Microsoft IE Browser Death March Hastens

As the death of the once dominant Internet Explorer IE draws closer, Microsoft is quickly pounding more nails into the browser’s coffin. On Monday, Microsoft hastened its IE-to-Edge browser-transition strategy and announced new controls for users and IT staff when it comes to how the lame-duck...

ReVoLTE Attack Allows Hackers to Listen in on Mobile Calls

Researchers have discovered an attack on the Voice over LTE VoLTE mobile communications protocol that can break its encryption and allow attackers to listen in on phone calls. Dubbed ReVoLTE, the attack — detailed by a group of academic researchers from Ruhr University Bochum and New York...

First-Ever Russian BEC Gang, Cosmic Lynx, Uncovered

Researchers say they have discovered the first-ever reported Russian business email compromise BEC cybercriminal ring, showing that sophisticated attackers beyond the usual Nigerian scammers are setting their sights on the email-based attack vector. The BEC gang is called Cosmic Lynx, and has bee...

Attackers Target 1M+ WordPress Sites To Harvest Database Credentials

Attackers were spotted targeting over one million WordPress websites in a campaign over the weekend. The campaign unsuccessfully attempted to exploit old cross-site scripting XSS vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins and themes, with the goal of harvesting database credentials. The attacks were...

Upgraded Cerberus Spyware Spreads Rapidly via MDM

A newly discovered variant of the Cerberus Android trojan has been spotted, with vastly expanded and more sophisticated info-harvesting capabilities, and the ability to run TeamViewer. It was spotted by researchers being used in a targeted campaign on a multinational conglomerate. Unusually, the...

Employers Beware: Microsoft Word 'Resume' Phish Delivers Malware

Employers who receive an email from someone purporting to be a job applicant, with an attached resume, could fall victim to a difficult-to-detect phishing campaign peddling a remote-access tool used often for espionage. Researchers with Cofense said they have recently spotted emails with maliciou...

Apple iOS Patch Blunder Opens Updated iPhones to Jailbreaks

Apple’s most recent operating system update, iOS 12.4, accidentally unpatched a fix that had been issued in a previous update — leaving devices vulnerable to code execution and privilege-escalation attacks. The flaw also allows phones to be jailbroken — and a public jailbreak has just been releas...

Apple Upgrades Bug Bounty Program: Adds Macs, $1M Reward

LAS VEGAS – Apple is giving its bug bounty program a much-needed makeover. The device manufacturer in a Thursday Black Hat USA 2019 session said it will open the historically private program to all researchers in the fall. In addition, it plans to drastically boost some rewards for vulnerabilitie...

Google Home Captures Porn and More, Unbeknownst to Users

Google Home smart speakers and the Google Assistant virtual assistant have been caught eavesdropping without permission — capturing and recording highly personal audio of domestic violence, confidential business calls — and even some users asking their smart speakers to play porn on their connect...

Top 5 Configuration Mistakes That Create Field Days for Hackers

Sometimes it’s the little things that lead to big consequences. When it comes to cybersecurity, hacks more often than not stem from minor missteps – or even completely preventable, obvious mistakes. Common security mistakes and overlooked misconfigurations can open the door for attackers to drop...

Thunderclap Flaws Shatter Peripheral Security

UPDATE A set of vulnerabilities collectively dubbed “Thunderclap” is putting computers at risk from weaponized peripheral devices think network cards, storage and graphics cards, and even chargers and video projectors. The flaws reside in the Thunderbolt hardware interface developed by Intel in...

“Unbreakable” Smart Lock Tapplock Issues Critical Security Patch

Tapplock, a smart padlock that received positive reviews and media hype when it was released earlier this year, has issued a critical patch after researchers discovered several security issues enabling them to easily hack into and unlock the device. The $100 lock is Bluetooth-based and can be...

Researchers Investing in EMET Bypasses More than Hackers

Exploits bypassing Microsoft’s Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit, or EMET, are quickly becoming a parlor game for security researchers. With increasing frequency, white hats are poking holes in EMET, and to its credit, Microsoft has been quick to not only address those issues but challenge a...

Black Hole Exploit Kit Targeting Java CVE-2012-1723 Flaw

A new fork of the Black Hole exploit kit is making quick work of a recently patched Java vulnerability and security researchers say that the attackers are registering new sites quickly to exploit users with vulnerable browsers. The CVE-2012-1723 Java vulnerability that the Black Hole exploit kit ...

Microsoft Pushes Emergency Patch For ASP.NET Flaw

Microsoft has released the emergency out-of-band patch for the ASP.NET padding oracle attack, less than two weeks after a pair of researchers discussed the flaw and a reliable attack against it at a security conference in Argentina. The patch for the ASP.NET bug is only available through...

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...

Firewall Bug Under Active Attack Triggers CISA Warning

Software running Palo Alto Networks’ firewalls is under attack, prompting U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA to issue a warning to public and federal IT security teams to apply available fixes. Federal agencies urged to patch the bug by September 9. Earlier this month, Pal...

Apple Fixes 2 Zero-Day Security Bugs, One Exploited in the Wild

Apple on Wednesday released 13 patches for serious security bugs in macOS and 10 for flaws in iOS/iPadOS. They include fixes for two zero-day bugs, one of which may have been exploited by attackers in the wild. The first zero-day CVE-2022-22587 is a memory-corruption issue that could be exploited...

MacOS Malware ‘DazzleSpy’ Used in Watering-Hole Attacks

A new family of cyber-espionage malware targeting macOS and delivered via a Safari exploit was used against politically active, pro-democracy residents of Hong Kong, in August watering-hole attacks initially discovered by Google TAG, researchers said on Tuesday. The watering-hole attacks – which...

Apple Patches 3 More Zero-Days Under Active Attack

Apple has patched three actively exploited zero-day security vulnerabilities in updates to iOS and macOS, one of which can allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Apple released two updates on Thursday: iOS 12.5.5, which patches three zero-days that affect older versio...

Cisco Patches Critical Flaw After PoC Exploit Code Release

A day after proof-of-concept PoC exploit code was published for a critical flaw in Cisco Security Manager, Cisco has hurried out a patch. Cisco Security Manager is an end-to-end security management application for enterprise administrators, which gives them the ability to enforce various security...

WhatsApp Discloses 6 Bugs via Dedicated Security Site

Facebook-owned WhatsApp has fixed six previously undisclosed vulnerabilities in its chat platform, revealing the move on a new dedicated security advisory site aimed at informing its more than 2 million users about bugs and keeping them updated on app security. The site is part of an effort by...

Building for Billions: Addressing Security Concerns for Platforms at Scale

Security operations once consisted of a multitude of manual operations based around alerts, thresholds and severity levels. As systems scale and platforms continue to grow, how do you keep up with the growing requirements to secure these transactions and the networks they are built upon?...

Tokyo Olympics Postponed, But 5G Security Lessons Shine

The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were officially postponed this week amid the ongoing, pandemic spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The Games will be moved to 2021, but in the meantime, technological innovation around the event will continue. More specifically, postponed or not, the...

Podcast: NSA Reports Major Crypto-Spoofing Bug to Microsoft

A major Microsoft crypto-spoofing bug impacting Windows 10 made waves this Patch Tuesday, particularly as the flaw was found and reported by the U.S. National Security Agency NSA. Microsoft’s January Patch Tuesday security bulletin disclosed the “important”-severity vulnerability, which could all...

TikTok Banned By U.S. Army Over China Security Concerns

With backlash swelling around TikTok’s relationship with China, the United States Army this week announced that U.S. soldiers can no longer have the social media app on government-owned phones. TikTok, a social media app used to create and share short form videos, is owned by Beijing-based parent...

Critical Bug in WordPress Plugins Open Sites to Hacker Takeovers

UPDATE Security researchers are warning users of two WordPress plugins – made by Brainstorm Force – that they need to patch a “major” vulnerability that could allow hackers to gain administrative access to any website using the plugins. According to Brainstorm Force, it is only aware of one...

The Unhappiest Subscribers on Earth? Disney+ Accounts Hacked & Hijacked

The highly anticipated Disney+ streaming service launched last week – and was promptly targeted by hackers looking to compromise users’ accounts. Around 4,000 customer account credentials have shown up for sale on hacking forums for around $3 each, according to reports. An investigation by ZDNet...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Chinese Spy Group Mixes Up Its Malware Arsenal with Brand-New Loaders

The Chinese-language cyber-espionage group known as APT10 has apparently added to its malware bag of tricks, with two never-before-seen malware loader variants used in April campaigns against government and private organizations in Southeast Asia. Also, the campaigns featured modified versions of...

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...