Trolls-For-Hire Pave Way For Sophisticated Social Media Hacks

NEW ORLEANS – Researchers have observed the blossoming of a new type of social media nuisance they are calling Trolling-as-a-Service. They say these rabble-rousing efforts have emerged as a clever new way for hackers to launch coordinated and dangerous attacks via Facebook and Twitter. Speaking a...

Stealthy Malware Flies Under AV Radar with Advanced Obfuscation

Researchers warn hackers are putting a new spin on old injection techniques and successfully end-running endpoint protection. They are tracking a campaign, that kicked off in January, that is still going strong exploiting weaknesses in web browsers. The objective is to hide in the background of...

Stubborn Malware Targets QNAP NAS Hardware Specifically

UPDATE Top-selling network attached storage devices NAS made by QNAP Systems are being singled out by attackers, who have crafted malware specifically designed for the vendor’s hardware. Researchers at the Finland’s National Cyber Security Centre NCSC-FI reported the targeted attacks late last...

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...

New! RFP Template for Selecting EDR/EPP and APT Security

Once upon a time, only big organizations worried about Advanced Persistent Threats. But it soon became obvious that every organization could find itself under fire, regardless of size or industry, and whether as direct targets or collateral damage. Most security decision makers in these...

Democrats and Doctors Behind Latest Wave of Leaked Data

Data leakage via misconfigured Amazon storage buckets struck twice in the past few weeks. In July, almost 14,000 documents detailing patient social security numbers and medical data – such as mental illness or cancer – was exposed in a misconfigured storage bucket owned by healthcare vendor Medic...

Amazon Alexa Secretly Records Children, Lawsuits Allege

A federal lawsuit is alleging that Amazon is recording children who use its Alexa devices, without their consent or knowledge. Alexa is the built-in voice assistant shipped with devices like Amazon Echo, Amazon Dot, Fire TV and some third-party gadgets. “Alexa routinely records and voiceprints...

Exploits for Social Warfare WordPress Plugin Reach Critical Mass

UPDATE Active exploits for a recently disclosed bug in a popular WordPress plugin, Social Warfare, are snowballing in the wild – potentially putting more than 40,000 websites at risk. The vulnerability, CVE-2019-9978, tracks both a stored cross-site scripting XSS vulnerability and a remote...

Intel Patches High-Severity Flaws in Media SDK, Mini PC

Intel has released security updates addressing two high-severity vulnerabilities in its Intel Media Software Development Kit SDK and Intel NUC mini PC. Overall, the chip giant on Tuesday patched four flaws across its products; the most severe of these vulnerabilities exist in Intel’s Media Softwa...

RSA Conference 2019: How to Be Better, on Trust, AI and IoT

SAN FRANCISCO – The slogan of this year’s RSA Conference is “Better” – and accordingly, Tuesday morning’s keynotes zeroed in on reversing some of the disturbing sociological trends that have been festering of late. That includes “information warfare,” meant to undermine citizens’ trust in media a...

Separ Malware Plucks Hundreds of Companies' Credentials in Ongoing Phish

An ongoing phishing campaign is using malicious PDF documents to spread Separ malware and ultimately steal victims’ browser and email credentials. Since the attack started at the end of January, it has affected around 200 companies and over 1,000 individuals, located mainly in Southeast Asia, the...

Password Manager Firms Blast Back at ‘Leaky Password’ Revelations

Secure password firms 1Password, Dashlane, KeePass and LastPass are blasting a research report that highlights how a local adversary can crack open and steal passwords stored by the utilities. The uproar began Tuesday when lead researcher, Adrian Bednarek with Independent Security Evaluators ISE,...

Dailymotion Fights Ongoing Credential-Stuffing Attack

Dailymotion, the video-sharing platform, said Friday that it had fallen victim to a “large-scale” and ongoing credential-stuffing assault by attackers looking to harvest user data. The French YouTube competitor said in an alert that it has “successfully contained the attacks following the...

Microsoft Windows RCE Flaw Gets Temporary Micropatch

Three unfixed Microsoft Windows vulnerabilities have been assigned unofficial, temporary micropatches – including a recently-disclosed high-severity remote code-execution flaw. The micropatches were released Tuesday by ACROS Security’s 0patch platform. 0patch, which is still in its beta stage,...

Drupalgeddon 2.0 Still Haunting 115K+ Sites

More than 115,000 sites are still vulnerable to a highly critical Drupal bug – even though a patch was released three months ago. When it was first revealed, the bug, which has been dubbed Drupalgeddon 2.0, impacted an estimated 1+ million sites running Drupal – including major U.S. educational...

Project Zero Chains Bugs for ‘aPAColypse Now’ Attack on Windows 10

Google’s Project Zero released details of a local proof-of-concept attack against a fully patched Windows 10 PC that allows an adversary to execute untrusted JavaScript outside a sandboxed environment on targeted systems. The attack is a variation of a WPAD/PAC attack. In Project Zero’s case, the...

Cisco, Netgear Readying Patches for Samba Vulnerability

Device manufacturers are combing through code again this week to determine whether their products are affected by a vulnerability tied to the SMB file-sharing protocol. The vulnerability, CVE-2017-7494 disclosed last Wednesday, affects versions of 3.5.0 onward of Samba, the free software...

Microsoft Warns of Crowti Ransomware

Researchers with Microsoft have spotted a spike in Crowti, a ransomware similar to Cryptolocker that encrypts files on victims’ machines and then asks for payment to unlock them. The malware has existed for several months but it wasn’t until mid-October that Microsoft’s Malware Protection Center...

Exploits for Two-Year-Old PHP Security Vulnerability Found

Close to two years ago, a serious vulnerability in PHP was accidentally disclosed after it was discovered months prior during a hacking contest. A patch was released in relatively short order, and one would assume that given PHP’s prevalence as a web development framework, the fix would have been...

Fake Payroll Confirmation Email Leads to Black Hole Exploit Kit

Criminal hackers launched an attack campaign earlier this week in which they sent a slew of emails purporting to come from the financial software developer Intuit. The emails contained links that led to sites hosting the Blackhole exploit kit in an apparent attempt to infect the machines of...

Chaouki Bekrar: The Man Behind the Bugs

VANCOUVER–Say what you will about Chaouki Bekrar, but the man is nothing if not frank. Bekrar, who is the public face of the VUPEN team that has been toying with the Pwn2Own contest this week, has become a lightning rod in the debate over exploit sales, and from all outward appearances, he couldn...

Microsoft Releases Workaround For Kernel Flaw Used By Duqu

Microsoft has released a workaround for the Windows kernel zero-day vulnerability exploited by the Duqu malware, and said that it is working on a permanent patch, but didn’t specify a timeline for its release. The vulnerability is a serious one that can lead to remote code execution on vulnerable...

Week in Security: More Wikileaks Fallout, Cybersecurity Buzz and Browser Updates

The words “cyber war” were in the headlines this week, as controversy and debate about the leak of confidential diplomatic cables by Wikileaks reached a fever pitch. As speculation turned to the fallout from the ongoing publication of documents, the U.S. government laid the groundwork to prevent...

MS Discovers Over 1,800 Office 2010 Bugs

Microsoft uncovered more than 1,800 bugs in Office 2010 by tapping into the unused computing horsepower of idling PCs. Office developers found the bugs by running millions of “fuzzing” tests, said Tom Gallagher, senior security test lead with Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing group. Read the full...

Watering Hole Attacks Push ScanBox Keylogger

A China-based threat actor has ramped up efforts to distribute the ScanBox reconnaissance framework to victims that include domestic Australian organizations and offshore energy firms in the South China Sea. The bait used by the advanced threat group APT is targeted messages that supposedly link...

Common Cloud Misconfigurations Exploited in Minutes, Report

Poorly configured cloud services can be exploit by threat actors in minutes and sometimes in under 30 seconds. Attacks include network intrusion, data theft and ransomware infections, researchers have found. Researchers at Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 used a honeypot infrastructure of 320 nodes...

Stolen Credentials Led to Data Theft at United Nations

A threat actor used stolen credentials from a United Nations employee to breach parts of the UN’s network in April and steal critical data, a spokesman for the intergovernmental organization has confirmed. That data lifted from the network can be used to target agencies within the UN, which alrea...

Zoom Settlement: An $85M Business Case for Security Investment

Ransomware isn’t the only way lax security can cost a business eight figures in damage. Zoom just lost an $85 million class-action lawsuit this week for its cybersecurity missteps, proving that even the most essential and relied-upon brands can be tripped up by inadequate security. More...

Fake Zoom App Dropped by New APT ‘Luminous Moth’

Researchers have spotted a weird one: A newly identified threat actor linked to China that’s first mass-attacking, but then cherry-picking, just a few targets to hit with malware and data exfiltration. Kaspersky researchers said in a Wednesday writeup that they’ve named the advanced threat actor...

Clop Raid: A Big Win in the War on Ransomware?

Yesterday’s noisy raid of the Clop ransomware gang in Ukraine was a major win according to most experts throughout the cybersecurity community, who said the moment marks a shift in the international war on ransomware. The raid, according to Ukrainian reports translated by eSpire analysts, include...

DoJ Charges Rhode Island Woman in Phishing Scheme Against Politicians

The Department of Justice DoJ has charged a woman in Rhode Island in a phishing campaign against candidates for political office and related associates that impersonated various individuals–including campaign workers and the Microsoft security team—in an attempt to trick victims into providing...

NanoCore RAT Scurries Past Email Defenses with .ZIPX Tactic

A spate of malicious emails with attachments delivering the NanoCore remote access trojan RAT is evading anti-malware and email scanners by abusing the .ZIPX file format. That’s according to researchers at Trustwave, who found that the campaign is effectively hiding a malicious executable by givi...

Fake Google reCAPTCHA Phishing Attack Swipes Office 365 Passwords

Microsoft users are being targeted with thousands of phishing emails, in an ongoing attack aiming to steal their Office 365 credentials. The attackers add an air of legitimacy to the campaign by leveraging a fake Google reCAPTCHA system and top-level domain landing pages that include the logos of...

Cybercriminals Ramp Up Exploits Against Serious Zyxel Flaw

Security experts are warning hackers are ramping up attempts to exploit a high-severity vulnerability that may still reside in over 100,000 Zyxel Communications products. Zyxel, a Taiwanese manufacturer of networking devices, on Dec. 23 warned of the flaw in its firmware CVE-2020-29583 and releas...

Cisco Fixes High-Severity Webex, Security Camera Flaws

Cisco has issued patches for high-severity vulnerabilities plaguing its popular Webex video-conferencing system, its video surveillance IP cameras and its Identity Services Engine network administration product. Overall, Cisco on Wednesday issued the three high-severity flaws along with 11...

OAuth Consent Phishing Ramps Up with Microsoft Office 365 Attacks

An APT known as TA2552 has been spotted using OAuth2 or other token-based authorization methods to access Office 365 accounts, in order to steal users’ contacts and mail. OAuth is an open standard for access delegation, commonly used as a way for people to sign into services without entering a...

Safari Bug Revealed After Apple Takes Nearly a Year to Patch

A security researcher disclosed details of an Apple Safari web browser security hole that could leak files with other browsers and applications and open the door to exploitation by attackers. The disclosure came only after Apple said it would delay patching the vulnerability for nearly a year. Fo...

WolfRAT Android Malware Targets WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger

UPDATE A new Android malware family has been discovered, which targets popular messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to gather intelligence on Android victims. The malware, dubbed WolfRAT, is under active development, and was recently identified in campaigns targeting Thai users...

Apple Unpatched VPN Bypass Bug Impacts iOS 13, Warn Researchers

An unpatched bug in the latest version of Apple’s iOS is blocking virtual private network VPN applications from cloaking some private data transmitted between a device and the servers they are requesting data from. While the bug remains unpatched, Apple is suggesting steps users can take to reduc...

200K WordPress Sites Vulnerable to Plugin Flaw

A high-severity vulnerability exists in a popular WordPress plugin, potentially opening up 200,000 websites to takeover. The WordPress plugin in question in Code Snippets, which allows users to run small chunks of PHP code on their websites. This can be used to extend the functionality of the...

Coronavirus Campaigns Spread Emotet, Malware

As the coronavirus originating in the Wuhan province of China continues to stir widespread fears about a global public health crisis, some see an opportunity in the outbreak. A recent spate of malicious, botnet-driven emails is using the coronavirus as a theme, according to telemetry from IBM...

Ring Doorbell App for Android Caught Sharing User Data with Facebook, Data-Miners

UPDATE Amazon’s Ring Doorbell app for Android is a nexus for data-harvesting, according to an investigation by the Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF. Privacy advocates allege Ring goes so far as to silently deliver updates on Ring customer usage to Facebook, even if the Ring owner doesn’t have a...

Intel Fixes High-Severity Flaw in Performance Analysis Tool

Intel is warning of a high-severity vulnerability in its performance analysis tool called Intel VTune Profiler. If exploited the flaw allows an adversary to perform a privilege escalation attack, giving them elevated and unauthorized system access to a targeted system. The VTune Profiler, formerl...

Google Ditches Patch-Time Bug Disclosure in Favor of 90-Day Policy

Google’s Project Zero bug-hunting team is making a big change to its vulnerability disclosure policies. Full details on any vulnerability will be made public 90 days after discovery, regardless of when the bug is fixed. That means that whether it’s patched on Day 20 or Day 120, bug details will g...

Understanding the Risk of Zero-Day Exploits

To protect your home from thieves, the easiest thing you can do is lock your windows and doors every time you leave the house. Similarly, in cybersecurity, the easiest way to protect your network is to keep your hardware and applications up to date with the latest security patches. But how do you...

News Wrap: Authorities Target Evil Corp., Imminent Monitor, Money Mules

In this week’s Threatpost news wrap, editors Tara Seals and Lindsey O’Donnell break down the top infosec news, including: Authorities crack down on cybercrime group Evil Corp. with sanctions and charges against its leader, known for his lavish lifestyle. The developers behind a commodity...

Iran Targets Mideast Oil with ZeroCleare Wiper Malware

A freshly-discovered wiper malware dubbed “ZeroCleare” has been deployed to target the energy and industrial sectors in the Middle East. According to IBM’s X-Force Incident Response and Intelligence Services IRIS, ZeroCleare so-named because of the program database pathname of its binary file was...

Pipka Card Skimmer Removes Itself After Infecting eCommerce Sites

A new JavaScript payment card skimmer, dubbed Pipka, has been identified on at least seventeen merchant websites attempting to target site visitors’ payment data. Unlike other skimmers, Pipka removes itself from the HTML code of compromised websites after exfiltrating payment card data – a...

Alexa, Siri, Google Smart Speakers Hacked Via Laser Beam

Researchers have discovered a new way to hack Alexa and Siri smart speakers merely by using a laser light beam. No physical access of the victims’ device, or owner interaction, is needed to launch the hack, which allows attackers to send voice assistants inaudible commands such as unlocking doors...

New Adwind Variant Targets Windows, Chromium Credentials

A new version of the Adwind remote access trojan RAT has been discovered taking aim at new targets. Adwind a.k.a. JRAT or SockRat is a Java-based remote access trojan that sniffs out data – mainly login credentials – from victims’ machines. While Adwind has historically been platform-agnostic,...