Latest Tax Scams Include Phishing Lures, Malware

Microsoft warned Monday this year’s crop of tax scams are using social engineering attacks based on fear to spread Zdowbot and Omaneat banking Trojans and collect personal info via spoofed tax sites linked to from phishing campaigns. The warning comes with less than a month before the April 18 ta...

New Collision Attacks Against 3DES, Blowfish Allow for Cookie Decryption

RC4 apparently is no longer the lone pariah among smaller cryptographic ciphers. Already broken and set for deprecation by the major browser and technology makers, RC4 could shortly have company in Triple-DES 3DES and Blowfish. Researchers are set to present new attacks against 64-bit ciphers tha...

NIST Recommends SMS Two-Factor Authentication Deprecation

A U.S. government agency said the end is nigh for SMS-based two-factor authentication, citing a lack of security around the feature. The latest draft version of the Digital Authentication Guideline issued this week by the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology NIST said the practice...

South Korean Data Breach Compromises 27 Million

A data breach in South Korea appears to have impacted as many as 27 million citizens, roughly 70 percent of the nation’s population. Authorities with the South Jeolla Provincial Police Agency announced late last week that it had apprehended a 24-year-old, known simply as Kim, in addition to 15...

New Flaw Found in Microsoft SharePoint

There is a cross-site scripting flaw in SharePoint 2007, Microsoft’s collaboration product, which could give an attacker the ability to execute arbitrary JavaScript code on a machine through a browser. High-Tech Bridge, a Swiss security firm, published an advisory about the vulnerability on...

Pirated Windows 7 builds botnet with Trojan

From eWEEK Brian Prince Attackers pushing pirated, malware-laced copies of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 7 operating system have been actively trying to build a botnet. According to researchers at Damballa, attackers hid a Trojan inside of pirated copies of the operating system and began circulati...

Microsoft: Rogue security software fastest-growing online threat

Trojan downloaders and malware that masquerades as security software are the two fastest growing threats on the Web right now, according an analysis by Microsoft’s Malware Protection Center. In its latest Software Intelligence Report, released on Wednesday, the MMPC found that a Trojan downloader...

Fancy Bear Uses Nuke Threat Lure to Exploit 1-Click Bug

Advanced persistent threat group Fancy Bear is behind a phishing campaign that uses the specter of nuclear war to exploit a known one-click Microsoft flaw. The goal is to deliver malware that can steal credentials from the Chrome, Firefox and Edge browsers. The attacks by the Russia-linked APT ar...

Living Off the Land: How to Defend Against Malicious Use of Legitimate Utilities

Living-off-the-land binaries LOLBins are no joke: Cyberattackers have been increasingly making use of them to hide their malicious work from security solutions. It’s time for threat hunters and IT security staff to familiarize themselves with how these are used in the attack chains of some of the...

Ransomware Phishing Emails Sneak Through SEGs

Secure email gateway SEG protections aren’t necessarily enough to stop phishing emails from delivering ransomware to employees, especially if the cybercrooks are using legitimate cloud services to host malicious pages. Researchers are raising the alarm over a phishing email kicking off a...

2021’s Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses

Mitre Corp. recently updated its list of the top 25 most dangerous software bugs, and it’s little surprise that a number of them have been on that list for years. The Common Weakness Enumeration CWE list represents vulnerabilities that have been widely known for years, yet are still being coded...

The True Impact of Ransomware Attacks

One of the most damaging myths about ransomware attacks is, “If your company does regular system backups, you don’t have to worry. Just restore from the backup.” While system backups are crucial — power outages, natural disasters, or even mistakes by employees can destroy data just as quickly as ...

Lexmark Printers Open to Arbitrary Code-Execution Zero Day

Lexmark printers – those ubiquitous, inky office workhorses that fill homes and offices, and are found all the way on up to the federal government – have an unpatched vulnerability that could lead to serious, easy-to-execute attacks that require neither privileges nor user interaction and which c...

Monumental Supply-Chain Attack on Airlines Traced to State Actor

A monster cyberattack on SITA, a global IT provider for 90 percent of the world’s airline industry, is slowly unfurling to reveal the largest supply-chain attack on the airline industry in history. The enormous data breach, estimated to have already impacted 4.5 million passengers, has potentiall...

2021 Cybersecurity Trends: Bigger Budgets, Endpoint Emphasis and Cloud

After shrinking in 2020, cybersecurity budgets in 2021 climb higher than pre-pandemic limits. Authentication, cloud data protection and application monitoring will top the list of CISO budget and cybersecurity priorities. According to experts, these are just a few of the themes to dominate the ye...

GO SMS Pro Android App Exposes Private Photos, Videos and Messages

A security weakness discovered in the GO SMS Pro Android app can be exploited to publicly expose media sent using the app, according to researchers. The GO SMS Pro application is a popular messenger app with more than 100 million downloads from the Google Play store. Researchers at Trustwave...

Two Chrome Browser Updates Plug Holes Actively Targeted by Exploits

Flaws in Google’s Chrome desktop and Android-based browsers were patched Monday in an effort to prevent known exploits from being used by attackers. Two separate security bulletins issued by Google warned that it is aware of reports that exploits for both exist in the wild. Google’s Project Zero...

Bug Bounty FAQ: Top Questions, Expert Answers

Seldom does Threatpost have the privilege to tap the collective brain trust of one cybersecurity corner of the threat landscape. But last month, Threatpost brought together leading voices in the bug bounty community to participate in a webinar Five Essentials for Running a Successful Bug Bounty...

Triple-Threat Cryptocurrency RAT Mines, Steals and Harvests

A previously undocumented malware family called KryptoCibule is mounting a three-pronged cryptocurrency-related attack, while also deploying remote-access trojan RAT functionality to establish backdoors to its victims. According to researchers at ESET, the malware has been seen targeting victims...

Long Tail Analysis: A New Hope in the Cybercrime Battle

Our hyper-connected world and its ever-faster network speeds have resulted in mountains of diverse data that needs to be processed. It has also resulted in an ever-expanding attack surface, requiring cybersecurity solutions to scale like never before. These days, scale is about more than traffic...

Bluetooth Impersonation Attacks Affect Legions of Devices

Academic researchers have uncovered security vulnerabilities in Bluetooth Classic that allows attackers to spoof paired devices: They found that the bugs allow an attacker to insert a rogue device into an established Bluetooth pairing, masquerading as a trusted endpoint. This allows attackers to...

Cloudflare Axes Google reCAPTCHA Due to Privacy, Price

Cloudflare is nixing Google’s reCAPTCHA tool and replacing it with what the network services company’s CEO calls “a better CAPTCHA” service, hCaptcha. Google’s reCAPTCHA is a type of CAPTCHA an acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart” that uses...

Microsoft Warns of Critical Windows Zero-Day Flaws

Microsoft is warning of critical zero-day flaws in its Windows operating system that could enable remote code execution. The unpatched flaws are being exploited by attackers in “limited, targeted” attacks, the company said. According to Microsoft, two remote code execution vulnerabilities exist i...

Cybercriminals Fill Up on Gas Pump Transaction Scams Ahead of Oct. Deadline

Gas stations are gearing up for a major change in credit-card fraud liability in October, when they will find themselves on the hook for card-skimming attacks at the pump. In the meantime though, cybercriminals will be targeting pay-at-the-pump point-of-sale mechanisms with a vengeance, researche...

Modern Intel CPUs Plagued By Plundervolt Attack

Researchers have discovered a new attack impacting modern Intel CPUs, which could allow an attacker to extract highly-sensitive information – such as encryption keys – from affected processors by altering their voltage. The attack, dubbed “Plundervolt,” centers around Intel Software Guard...

Federal Data Privacy Bill Takes Aim at Tech Giants

A new digital privacy bill has been introduced to the the Senate, which would give the Federal Trade Commission FTC more teeth when it comes to providing oversight on tech companies’ use of consumer data. Sen. Maria Cantwell D-Wash., ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee, led the...

ENFUSE 2019: Security Regulations, Insider Threats, and IoT Privacy Risks

LAS VEGAS – From insider threats, Internet of Things insecurity, to medical device hacking, ENFUSE 2019 broke down the top privacy and security issues help desks are seeing today. It also tackle what regulatory efforts are being developed to address those threats. Threatpost editor Lindsey...

Pwn2Own Tokyo Roundup: Amazon Echo, Routers and Smart TVs Fall to Hackers

Another Pwn2Own has drawn to a close, with Team Fluoroacetate researchers Amat Cama and Richard Zhu taking home the Master of Pwn title for the third year in a row. Overall, contestants in the Tokyo 2019 event earned more than $315,000 over the two-day hacking contest, for uncovering 18 different...

A Deepfake Deep Dive into the Murky World of Digital Imitation

About a year ago, top deepfake artist Hao Li came to a disturbing realization: Deepfakes, i.e. the technique of human-image synthesis based on artificial intelligence AI to create fake content, is rapidly evolving. In fact, Li believes that in as soon as six months, deepfake videos will be...

'Narrator' Windows Utility Trojanized to Gain Full System Control

A suspected Chinese advanced persistent threat APT group has been spotted attacking tech companies using a trojanized screen-reader application, replacing the built-in Narrator “Ease of Access” feature in Windows. According to BlackBerry Cylance, the attackers also deploy a version of the...

Zebrocy Retools for New Political Attacks

The APT known as the Sednit threat group also known as Sofacy, APT28 and Fancy Bear has kicked off a fresh spearphishing campaign, that was spotted targeting government entities with the Zebrocy backdoor. The malware features a rewritten and newly-improved backdoor and downloader, indicating an...

Adobe Fixes Critical Flash Player Code Execution Flaws

Adobe has issued patches for critical vulnerabilities in Flash Player which, if exploited, could lead to arbitrary code execution. Overall, as part of its September Security Bulletin, Adobe patched three vulnerabilities, including two critical-severity flaws in Flash Player and one “important”...

Data Leak Impacts Millions of Yves Rocher Cosmetics Company Customers

UPDATE Cosmetics giant Yves Rocher is warning that a giant data leak exposed the personal data of millions of its customers and reams of sensitive internal company information to the public. The data exposure stems from a database left unprotected by a third-party consultant to the firm...

Apple Sues Corellium Over iOS 'Replica' Security Testing Software

Apple has sued startup Corellium for copyright infringement, alleging that the company has developed “exact digital replicas” of its iPhone operating system without authorization – from the code down to the graphical user interface. While details about Florida-based Corellium on its website are...

Black Hat 2019: Security's Powerful Cultural Transformation

LAS VEGAS — “Start with yes.'” That’s the advice to security teams from Dino Dai Zovi, mobile security lead at Square, giving the keynote on Wednesday at the 23rd annual Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. Taking as a first principle the idea that security teams now have the ear of company boards...

FTC Demands Broadband Providers Reveal Data Handling Practices

The Federal Trade Commission FTC is putting pressure on internet broadband providers to reveal exactly what data they’re collecting – and how they are using it. The FTC on Tuesday issued orders to seven U.S. ISPs requesting that they detail how they collect, retain, use and disclose information...

Microsoft Confirms Serious 'PrivExchange' Vulnerability

Microsoft acknowledged an elevated privilege flaw in its Exchange Server could allow a remote attacker with a simple mailbox account to gain administrator privileges. Both a Microsoft advisory and a US-CERT alert were issued on Tuesday warning users of the elevation of privilege flaw, dubbed...

JenX Botnet Has Grand Theft Auto Hook

Researchers at Radware have discovered a new botnet that uses vulnerabilities linked with the Satori botnet and is leveraging the Grand Theft Auto videogame community to infect IoT devices. Satori is a derivative of Mirai, the notorious botnet that in 2016 infamously managed to take down Dyn, a D...

Critical Code Execution Flaw Patched in PeopleSoft Core Engine

Organizations that have their PeopleSoft installations exposed to the internet should pay special attention to a remote code execution vulnerability patched on Tuesday as part of Oracle’s massive quarterly Critical Patch Update. The flaw, CVE-2017-10366, allows an attacker to gain remote code...

FDA Recalls 465K Pacemakers Tied to MedSec Research

The United States Federal Drug Administration is recalling 465,000 pacemakers that attackers can gain unauthorized access to issue commands, change settings and maliciously disrupt. Affected are four models manufactured by Abbott Laboratories. According to the FDA, the recalls of affected...

Charney on Trustworthy Computing: 'I Was the Architect of These Changes'

Scott Charney, the head of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing efforts, said that he was the one who decided it was time to move the TwC group in a new direction and integrate the security functions more deeply into the company as a whole. “I was the architect of these changes. This is not about th...

Researchers Uncover Polymorphic AutoRun Worm

W32/Autorun.worm.aaeb-h is an evolved, virtual machine-aware AutoRun worm that makes use of obfuscation and polymorphic techniques in order to evade detection and infect removable media and mounted network shares, according to McAfee. Researchers have seen an increase in samples for the year-old...

New Apache Reverse Proxy Issue Uncovered

A new reverse proxy issue affecting Apache HTTP server can be used by attackers to access internal systems if certain rules are improperly configured, a security researcher said. Prutha Parikh, vulnerability signature engineer at Qualys, blogged that she uncovered the issue while creating a...

Critical Cisco Bugs Open VPN Routers to Cyberattacks

UPDATE Critical security vulnerabilities in Cisco’s Small Business RV Series routers could allow privilege escalation, remote code execution RCE with root privileges on the devices and more. The RV series is a set of affordable VPN appliances that enable remote workers to connect to a company...

Purple Fox Rootkit Dropped by Malicious Telegram Installers

A malicious Telegram instant-messaging app installer scurries past a slew of antivirus AV engines to deliver Purple Fox malware, evading detection by separating the attack into bite-sized morsels that fly under the radar. In a Monday report, Minerva Labs said that the attack evades detection by A...

Google Emergency Update Fixes Two Chrome Zero Days

Google has pushed out an emergency Chrome update to fix yet another pair of zero days – the second pair this month – that are being exploited in the wild. This hoists this year’s total number of zero days found in the browser up to a dozen. “Google is aware the exploits for CVE-2021-37975 and...

SAS 2021: FinSpy Surveillance Kit Re-Emerges Stronger Than Ever

The FinSpy surveillance kit has been driven from its hiding place following an eight-month investigation by Kaspersky researchers. Detections of the spyware trojan have dwindled since 2018, but it turns out that it hasn’t gone away – it’s simply been hiding behind various first-stage implants tha...

Unpatched, Critical RCE Bug Allows Utility Takeovers

A critical remote code-execution RCE vulnerability in Schneider Electric programmable logic controllers PLCs has come to light, which allows unauthenticated cyberattackers to gain root-level control over PLCs used in manufacturing, building automation, healthcare and enterprise environments. If...

Akamai’s DDoS Mitigation Service Triggers Outages

UPDATE Major financial institutions, airlines and the Hong Kong stock exchange were knocked offline by a backfiring distributed denial-of-service DDoS mitigation service Thursday. The hour-long outage, which was triggered at approximately 1 a.m. EST Thursday, is tied to Akamai Technology’s...

The Gig Economy Creates Novel Data-Security Risks

As businesses strive to move faster and faster, many are adopting a “just-in-time” strategy of spinning up human resources on demand – a phenomenon known as the gig economy, familiar to most via Uber, Instacart or DoorDash. But it’s a concept that enterprises are embracing too – inadvertently...