Microsoft Patches Critical Remote Flaws in Word, IE and Windows

A rare critical Microsoft Word vulnerability was patched today by Microsoft, one of seven security updates pushed out repairing 11 flaws in its December security update. The Word vulnerability earned a critical rating because the Outlook email client uses Word to display documents in the Outlook...

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...

CanSecWest: Caution, community at play

CanSecWest, in beautiful Vancouver BC, is one of my favorite conferences each year. It’s a cozy little security con that brings together security researchers from all parts of the security ecosystem. Like a PhNeutral or a BlueHat, one never quite knows what to expect out of a CanSecWest, but we d...

QNAP Customers Adrift, Waiting on Fix for OpenSSL Bug

Customers of Taiwan-based QNAP Systems are in a bit of limbo, waiting until the company releases a patch for an OpenSSL bug that the company has warned affects most of its network-attached storage NAS devices. The vulnerability can trigger an infinite loop that creates a denial-of-service DoS...

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...

Financial Cybercrime: Why Cryptocurrency is the Perfect ‘Getaway Car’

This is Part I of a two-part series on how cybercrooks embrace and use cryptocurrency. To read Part II, please click here. It’s no secret: Hackers are out to make money. Over the summer, it seemed there was practically a new ransomware attack every day of the week. Whether it be Colonial Pipeline...

Black Hat: Charming Kitten Leaves More Paw Prints

LAS VEGAS – The suspected Iranian threat group that IBM Security X-Force calls ITG18 and which overlaps with the group known as Charming Kitten keeps leaving a trail of paw prints. The latest: a custom Android backdoor dubbed “LittleLooter” – used exclusively by the threat actor, as far as...

No More Ransom Saves Victims Nearly €1 billion Over 5 Years

To date, the No More Ransom repository of ransomware decryptors has helped more than 6 million victims recover their files, keeping nearly a billion euros out of the hands of cybercriminals, according to a Monday release. Launched five years ago, No More Ransom is maintained via cooperation betwe...

Linux-Focused Cryptojacking Gang Tracked to Romania

A cryptojacking gang that’s likely based in Romania is using a never-before-seen SSH brute-forcer dubbed “Diicot brute” to crack passwords on Linux-based machines with weak passwords. The point of the campaign is mainly to deploy Monero mining malware, Bitdefender researchers said in a report...

Critical, Unpatched Bug Opens GE Radiological Devices to Remote Code Execution

A pair of critical vulnerabilities have been discovered in dozens of GE Healthcare radiological devices popular in hospitals, which could allow an attacker to gain access to sensitive personal health information PHI, alter data and even shut the machine’s availability down. The flaws affect 100...

ThreatList: Pharma Mobile Phishing Attacks Turn to Malware

As pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, mobile phishing gangs are swapping up their tactics in hopes to get their hands on critical research. Cybercriminals previously targeted pharmaceutical company employee credentials. However, new research shows that...

Mac, Linux Users Now Targeted by FinSpy Variants

The FinSpy commercial spyware is back in recently observed campaigns against organizations and activists in Egypt. While the spyware previously targeted Windows, iOS and Android users, researchers have discovered these campaigns using new variants that target macOS and Linux users. FinSpy is a...

Industrial Cyberattacks Get Rarer but More Complex

Cyberattacks against the oil and gas industry inched up only slightly compared to the second half of 2019. Security experts say they are encouraged by the anemic growth, but at the same time are expressing concern that attacks are now becoming more potent, targeted and complex. According to new...

Microsoft Kills 18 Azure Accounts Tied to Nation-State Attacks

Microsoft has suspended 18 Azure Active Directory applications that were being leveraged for command-and-control C2 infrastructure by what it says is a Chinese nation-state actor. While Microsoft services like Azure Active Directory AD – its cloud-based identity and access management service – ar...

StrongPity APT Back with Kurdish-Aimed Watering Hole Attacks

The APT group known as StrongPity is back with a new watering-hole campaign, targeting mainly Kurdish victims in Turkey and Syria. The malware served offers operators the ability to search for and exfiltrate any file or document from a victim’s machine. The group a.k.a. Promethium is operating a...

WFH Alert: Critical Bug Found in Old D-Link Router Models

D-Link is urging customers to replace its now obsolete line of DIR-865L Wireless Routers in reaction to a recently discovered critical command-injection bug that leaves users open to a denial-of-service attack. The routers, first introduced in 2013, reached end-of-life support in Feb. 2016. In Au...

‘Coronavirus Report’ Emails Spread NetSupport RAT, Microsoft Warns

A recent spear-phishing campaign has been spotted spreading a weaponized NetSupport Manager remote access tool RAT, which is a legitimate tool used for troubleshooting and tech support. Attackers use the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as a lure, as well as malicious Excel documents, to convince...

Cisco Warns of High-Severity SD-WAN Flaws

Cisco Systems has fixed three high-severity vulnerabilities in its software-defined networking for wide-area network SD-WAN solutions for business users. If exploited, the flaws could enable bad actors to execute commands with root privileges on affected systems. To exploit the vulnerabilities...

Bruce Schneier Proposes 'Hacking Society' for a Better Tomorrow

SAN FRANCISCO – Cybersecurity experts have long stayed in their problem-solving lane when it comes to finding vulnerabilities, patching bugs and keeping networks safe. But maybe it is time they applied their defensive skillsets and adversarial understanding of cyberthreats to help solve some of...

Ransomware Attack Hinders Toll Group Operations

Australian transportation and logistics giant Toll Group said a ransomware attack is to blame for several key services being debilitated and delivery operations being delayed over the past week. Toll Group, a subsidiary of Japan Post Holdings, is a freight and delivery service company operating...

Medtronic Patches Implanted Device, CareLink Programmer Bugs

Medtronic has released updates to address known vulnerabilities in its line of connected medical devices that were initially disclosed last year and in 2018. The vendor has addressed two sets of bugs. The first group, disclosed in March of last year, is found in a range of Medtronic implanted...

Twitter Fixes Bug that Enabled Takeover of Android App Accounts

Twitter for Android users are being urged to update their app to avoid a security bug that allows a malicious user to access private account data and could also allow an attacker to take control of accounts to send tweets and direct messages. The warning comes from Twitter who said there are no...

Amazon Fixes Ring Video Doorbell Flaw That Leaked Wi-Fi Credentials

UPDATE Amazon has patched a vulnerability in its Ring smart doorbell device that could allow attackers to access the owner’s Wi-Fi network credentials and potentially reconfigure the device to launch an attack on the home network, researchers have found. Researchers discovered the problem in...

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...

Apple Removes 17 Malicious iOS Apps From App Store

Researchers have uncovered 17 apps on Apple’s official App Store infected with malware. Apple has since removed the apps from the App Store – but a “significant” number of iOS users could have installed them, researchers said. Once downloaded, the malicious apps infect victims with a trojan...

Survey Finds People are Privacy Hypocrites

Even while people remain concerned about their own privacy in the workplace and online, most still admit to violations of their coworkers’ privacy by “creeping” on PC screens and “peeking” at documents found in printer trays, a new survey has found. The survey—commissioned by HP as part of Nation...

Asus, Lenovo and Other Routers Riddled with Remotely Exploitable Bugs

More than a hundred vulnerabilities have been found in small office/home office SOHO routers and network-attached storage devices NAS from vendors that include Asus, Zyxel, Lenovo, Netgear and other top names, which open them up to remote attackers. That’s according to Independent Security...

Adwind Spyware-as-a-Service Attacks Utility Grid Operators

A phishing campaign that spoofs a PDF attachment to deliver Adwind spyware has been taking aim at national grid utilities infrastructure. Adwind, a.k.a. JRAT or SockRat, is being used in a malware-as-a-service model in this campaign, researchers said. It offers a full cadre of info-gathering...

4 Dating Apps Pinpoint Users' Precise Locations – and Leak the Data

Four popular dating apps that together can claim 10 million users have been found to leak precise locations of their members. “By simply knowing a person’s username we can track them from home, to work,” explained Alex Lomas, researcher at Pen Test Partners, in a blog on Sunday. “We can find out...

Airbnb Superhost Secretly Recorded Guests with Hidden Bedroom Camera

An Airbnb “superhost” in China has been arrested after a guest staying in his house found a hidden camera recording her in the bedroom. The guest, an unnamed woman who was staying in the Airbnb in eastern China last week, said she discovered the camera after spotting a light that looked unusual i...

Google Touts Android Q's New Security Update Process and Better Privacy Controls for Apps

Google said its next-generation mobile operating system, Android Q, revamps the way it delivers direct over-the-air updates and will bolster individual app privacy controls. Google detailed Android Q 10.0 at the Google I/O 2019 developer conference on Tuesday. There it touted almost 50 changes to...

Facial Recognition is Here: But Are We Ready?

When MacKenzie Fegan was boarding her morning flight to Mexico City last Wednesday, she noticed something odd at her gate at the JFK International Airport. Instead of a JetBlue employee scanning her boarding pass or taking a look at her passport, she – and other passengers at the gate – was...

Lazarus Group Widens Tactics in Cryptocurrency Attacks

North Korea-linked APT Lazarus Group has been spotted targeting the cryptocurrency business again, adding Apple users to the mix by using PowerShell scripts to control macOS malware, and honing its Windows strategy. The campaign has been active since at least November 2018, according to an analys...

Facebook Alleges Two Ukrainians Scraped Data From 63K Profiles

Facebook has sued two Ukrainian men that it says used quiz apps and malicious browser extensions to scoop up private data from 63,000 platform users, and then use that data for advertising purposes. A lawsuit filed Friday by Facebook alleged that the two men, Gleb Sluchevsky and Andrey Gorbachov,...

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...

Airbus Data Takes Flight; and Billions of Credentials Dumped on Dark Web

French airplane and military aircraft behemoth Airbus SE has become the latest victim of a cyberattack leading to a data breach, with an incident detected on its “commercial aircraft business” information systems. It is only the latest high-profile data exposure to come to light in recent days, a...

Zero-Day Bug Patched by Microsoft, Part of December Patch TuesdZero-Day Bug Fixed by Microsoft in December Patch Tuesdayay

Microsoft has patched a zero-day vulnerability actively being used against older versions of the Windows operating system, as part of its December Patch Tuesday updates. According to the software giant, the vulnerability CVE-2018-8611 is an elevation-of-privilege EoP bug that affects Windows 7...

Major OS Players Misinterpret Intel Docs, and Now Kernels Can Be Hijacked

Multiple operating system vendors issued coordinated patches this week to address a common vulnerability across their platforms, which was introduced thanks to widespread misinterpretation of Intel developer documentation. According to the CERT/CC team, most major players including Apple, FreeBSD...

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...

Issue with SWFUploader Could Lead to XSS Vulnerabilities, Content Spoofing

UPDATED Many versions of SWFUpload – an applet that combines Flash and JavaScript that’s used in millions of websites, including WordPress sites– are vulnerable to content spoofing and a cross-site scripting vulnerability that could lead to the takeover of accounts, according to reports this week...

Oracle Releases 86 Patches in its January Critical Patch Update

This week’s relentless onslaught of security patches continued late Tuesday afternoon when Oracle released its quarterly Critical Patch Update, a healthy dose of 86 security updates across all major product lines including Oracle Database and MySQL Server. The most serious may be a critical...

Volume of Malware Targeting Java CVE-2012-1723 Flaw Spikes

It’s been nearly two months since Oracle patched the CVE-2012-1723 Java vulnerability, a serious remote pre-authentication flaw that’s present in the Java Runtime Environment. It’s taken a little time, but the attacker community has decided that this bug deserves some serious attention, and as a...

New Linux Distro Promoted as Anonymous-OS

A new Ubuntu Linux distribution is being marketed as “Anonymous-OS” and comes pre-loaded with tools for hacking and protecting anonymity online. However, it is unclear whether the new operating system was created by the anarchic hacking group, or even has its endorsement. Anonymous-OS Version 0.1...

Microsoft Says No to Paying Bug Bounties

Microsoft has no plans to follow in the footsteps of Mozilla and Google and pay researchers cash rewards for the bugs that they find in Microsoft’s products. In the wake of both Mozilla and Google significantly increasing their bug bounties to the $3,000 range, there have been persistent rumors i...

Microsoft Scrambling to Close Stubborn Security Hole

From Washington Post Brian Krebs Microsoft may soon be taking the unusual step of issuing an out-of-band security update to address multiple weaknesses that stem from a Windows security flaw that the software giant tried to fix earlier this month. Read the full story washingtonpost.com See more...

Microsoft issues PowerPoint zero-day warning

Microsoft has issued an advisory to warn about an under-attack zero-day vulnerability affecting its PowerPoint software. According to the pre-patch advisory, the flaw allows remote code execution if a user opens a booby-trapped PowerPoint file. The company described the attacks as “limited and...

Critical Flaws in Popular ICS Platform Can Trigger RCE

Critical flaws in a popular platform used by industrial control systems ICS that allow for unauthorized device access, remote code execution RCE or denial of service DoS could threaten the security of critical infrastructure. OAS—offered by a company of the same name–makes it easy to transfer dat...

Cyberattackers Put the Pedal to the Medal: Podcast

Cyber-defenders have a lot on their plates: Rapid vulnerability exploitation. Ransomware-apalooza. Botnet infestations on the order never seen in the past. How can IT security teams effectively deal with the escalating volume of threats, especially as those threats become more sophisticated and...

Top 3 Attack Trends in API Security – Podcast

In late July 2021, online retailers got hit with a jaw-dropping 2,800 percent increase in attack takeovers. Dead-set on gift card fraud via “scrape for resale” and other types of fraud, the attacks spiraled up to the rate of 700,000 attacks per day. In a separate case – of a loan application frau...

Ubiquitous Linux Bug: ‘An Attacker’s Dream Come True’

UPDATE Every major Linux distribution has an easily exploited memory-corruption bug that’s been lurking for 12 years – a stunning revelation that’s likely to be followed soon by in-the-wild exploits, researchers warn. Successful exploitation gives full root access to any unprivileged user. The...