RSAC 2019: Most Consumers Say ‘No’ to Cumbersome Data Privacy Practices

Despite high-profile headlines about companies such as Facebook and Google abusing consumers’ personal information, it turns out that the average American is still not implementing a full cadre of best practices for keeping data safe. According to survey findings from research released at the RSA...

Google Pulls Data-Chugging App From iOS Devices

Google has found itself in hot water for a research app that may have violated Apple’s policies by collecting user data in exchange for gift cards. The tech giant said it has now disabled Screenwise Meter“audience measurement” app – which voluntarily collects data from users’ phones, browsers and...

2019 and Beyond: The (Expanded) RSAC Advisory Board Weighs in on What’s Next

Just when we thought we’d escaped 2018 without an attack on the scale of WannaCry, NotPetya or Equifax, we were struck by Marriott’s November news of a breach affecting 500 million guests and once again reminded that complacency is the enemy of cybersecurity. We were also reminded that predicting...

Up to 35 Million 2018 Voter Records For Sale on Hacking Forum

Up to 35 million voter records have been found up for sale on a popular hacking forum from 19 states, researchers discovered. Researchers at Anomali Labs and Intel 471 on Monday said that they discovered Dark Web communications offering a large quantity of voter databases for sale – including...

Slideshow: Intel from Virus Bulletin 2018

This year’s Virus Bulletin 2018, held in Montreal Oct. 3-5, featured a keynote from Microsoft’s John Lambert and a range of threat intelligence research from BAE Systems, Check Point, Cisco Talos, Citizens Lab, Digita Security, ESET, GoSecure, Kaspersky Lab, Malwarebytes, Sophos Security and more...

Multiple Bugs Found in QNAP Q’Center Web Console

Researchers found an array of high severity vulnerabilities in network storage vendor QNAP’s web console, which could enable an authenticated attacker to gain privileges and execute arbitrary commands on the system. The web-based platform, Q’center, allows users to manage network attached storage...

Drupal Issues Highly Critical Patch: Over 1M Sites Vulnerable

Drupal released a patch for a “highly critical” flaw in versions 6, 7 and 8 of its CMS platform that could allow an attacker to take control of an affected site simply by visiting it. Drupal also warned an unprivileged and untrusted attacker could modify or delete data hosted on affected CMS...

Adobe Flash Player Zero-Day Spotted in the Wild

The South Korean Computer Emergency Response Team issued a warning Wednesday of a new Adobe Flash Player zero-day spotted in the wild. The security bulletin warns that the attacks are focused on South Koreans and involve malicious Microsoft Word documents. According to the South Korean Computer...

Mark Dowd on Exploit Mitigation Development

Mark Dowd, fresh off his 2017 Security Analyst Summit keynote, discusses why certain exploit mitigations have been so successful in driving up the cost of exploit development for attackers...

Attackers Exploiting Windows OLE Vulnerability

Attackers are using a zero day vulnerability in nearly all supported versions of Windows in a series of targeted attacks. The flaw is in the OLE technology in Windows and can be used for remote code execution is a targeted user opens a rigged Office file. Microsoft is warning customers that there...

April Patch Tuesday Fixes 11 Vulnerabilities, Last Updates for XP

As expected, Microsoft issued its final epitaph for Windows XP today, pushing out four security bulletins for 11 vulnerabilities, including the last updates for the oft-maligned, thirteen-year-old operating system. Despite it being XP’s last gasp from a security standpoint, it’s actually a...

Exploit Code Surfaces for CVE-2012-1875 Internet Explorer Bug

Less than a week after Microsoft released a patch for a critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer, attack code has become publicly available in the form of a module for the Metasploit Framework. The bug is serious one that enables an attacker to bypass both ASLR and DEP, the two main anti-explo...

Cyber Criminal Underground: The Comics Edition

The criminal underworld is an insular community shrouded in secrecy. That’s helped lend an air of mystique to cyber crime. See also: Bruce Willis in “Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard.”. But it turns out that, like so much else, real life cyber crime is… well… pretty dull. How dull? Comic artist...

Microsoft's Threat Management Gateway is a mixed bag

Microsoft’s initial move into the security products market, the ISA Server, has evolved well beyond its firewall roots. Now known as the Threat Management Gateway, the product is being positioned as a comprehensive Web security gateway. But as Eric Ogren writes in his review of the Threat...

Google: 2021 was a Banner Year for Exploited 0-Day Bugs

Google Project Zero reported 58 exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in 2021, a record in the short time the team of security researchers has been keeping tabs. In a year-in-review report on the number instances a zero-day bug has been exploited in the wild, researchers noted the number a twofold...

URL Parsing-Library Bugs Allow DoS, RCE, Spoofing & More

Eight different security vulnerabilities arising from inconsistencies among 16 different URL parsing libraries could allow denial-of-service DoS conditions, information leaks and remote code execution RCE in various web applications, researchers are warning. The bugs were found in third-party web...

Human Fraud: Detecting Them Before They Detect You

This is Part II of a two-part blog series taking readers inside the criminal enterprise that is account-takeover fraud. For part I, please click here. In my last blog, we focused on the initial phases of the account-takeover ATO kill chain – recon, weaponization and delivery – and how attackers...

What’s Next for REvil’s Victims?

Last week, the servers of ransomware giant REvil vanished. Many applauded as dark-web and clear-web sites used to support the backend infrastructure of REvil, aka Sodinokibi, as well as to leak victims’ data, slipped offline early Tuesday morning. Not REvil’s victims, though. They’re now stuck,...

Windows Hello Bypass Fools Biometrics Safeguards

A vulnerability in Microsoft’s Windows 10 password-free authentication system has been uncovered that could allow an attacker to spoof an image of a person’s face to trick the facial-recognition system and take control of a device. Windows Hello is a feature in Windows 10 that allows users to...

Feds Shut Down Fake COVID-19 Vaccine Phishing Website

Federal law enforcement in Maryland has shut down a fraudulent website targeting immigrant communities that claimed to be for a company developing a COVID-19 vaccine. Instead, the site was stealing information from people with the purpose of using it for future cybercriminal activity. The U.S...

PYSA Ransomware Pillages Education Sector, Feds Warn

The FBI has issued a warning about an uptick in cyberattacks on the education sector that are delivering the PYSA ransomware. In a “Flash” alert to the cybersecurity community issued on Tuesday, the Feds said that PYSA has been seen in attacks on schools in 12 U.S. states and in the United Kingdo...

Apple’s Device Location-Tracking System Could Expose User Identities

Two vulnerabilities in a crowdsourced location-tracking system that helps users find Apple devices even when they’re offline could expose the identity of users, research claim. Offline Finding, a proprietary app introduced by Apple in 2019 for its iOS, macOS and watchOS platforms, enables the...

Ransomware Attackers Publish 4K Private Scottish Gov Agency Files

On the heels of a ransomware attack against the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency SEPA, attackers have now reportedly published more than 4,000 files stolen from the agency – including contracts and strategy documents. After hitting SEPA on Christmas Eve with the attack, cybercriminals...

NVIDIA Gamers Face DoS, Data Loss from Shield TV Bugs

NVIDIA has newly disclosed three security vulnerabilities in the NVIDIA Shield TV, which could allow denial of service, escalation of privileges and data loss. The NVIDIA Shield TV is a set-top gadget that acts as a hub for the smart home, streams PC games from a gaming PC to a TV; and allows loc...

U.S. Offers Reward of $10M for Info Leading to Discovery of Election Meddling

The U.S. government is concerned about foreign interference in the 2020 election, so much so that it will offer a reward of up to $10 million for anyone providing information that could lead to tracking down potential cybercriminals aiming to sabotage the November vote. The U.S. Department of...

NSA Urgently Warns on Industrial Cyberattacks, Triconex Critical Bug

The U.S. National Security Agency NSA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA have issued an alert warning that adversaries could be targeting critical infrastructure across the U.S. Separately, ICS-CERT issued an advisory on a critical security bug in the Schneider Electric...

Adobe Patches 18 Critical Flaws in Out-Of-Band Update

Adobe patched 18 critical vulnerabilities Tuesday impacting key products Adobe After Effects, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Premiere Rush and Audition. The out-of-band fixes address vulnerabilities allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code, if bugs are exploited. In its security bulletin Adobe...

Hackers Hijack Routers to Spread Malware Via Coronavirus Apps

Cybercriminals are hijacking routers and changing Domain Name System DNS settings, in order to redirect victims to attacker controlled sites promoting fake coronavirus information apps. If victims download these apps, they are infected with information-stealing Oski malware. This latest attack...

Akamai Talks Massive Uptick in Credential-Stuffing Attacks Against Bank APIs

Cybercriminals continue to firehose financial services companies with new and innovative cyberattacks. Research from Akamai recently found that up to 75 percent of all credential abuse attacks against the financial services industry in 2019 targeted APIs directly rather than user-facing login...

Akamai Talks Massive Uptick in Credential-Stuffing Attacks Against Bank APIs

Cybercriminals continue to firehose financial services companies with new and innovative cyberattacks. Research from Akamai recently found that up to 75 percent of all credential abuse attacks against the financial services industry in 2019 targeted APIs directly rather than user-facing login...

RSAC 2020: Smart Baby Monitor Vulnerable to Remote Hackers

SAN FRANCISCO – Researchers have discovered a slew of security vulnerabilities in a popular baby monitor, which if exploited allows attackers to remotely access the camera’s video footage. The vulnerabilities were discovered in the iBaby Monitor M6S connected baby camera by researchers with...

Huawei Controversy Highlights 5G Security Implications

The controversy over Huawei’s involvement in the 5G telecom gear market ratcheted up a notch this week. U.S. officials said they have evidence that the Chinese equipment giant has had access to backdoors inside mobile carrier networks for more than 10 years. Officials are trying to make the case...

Estée Lauder Exposes 440M Records, with Email Addresses, Network Info

A non-password protected cloud database containing hundreds of millions of customer records and internal logs for cosmetic giant Estée Lauder has been found exposed online, according to researchers. In all, 440,336,852 individual data pieces were exposed, according to researcher Jeremiah Fowler a...

Zoom Fixed Flaw Opening Meetings to Hackers

NEW ORLEANS – Enterprise video conferencing firm Zoom has issued a bevy of security fixes after researchers said the company’s platform used weak authentication that made it possible for adversaries to join active meetings. The issue stems from Zoom’s conference meetings not requiring a “meeting...

Vimeo Slapped With Lawsuit Over Biometrics Privacy Policy

Vimeo, the popular ad-free video platform, is facing a lawsuit that alleges it stored people’s facial biometrics without their consent or knowledge. The lawsuit, which was filed on Sept. 20, claims Vimeo violated the Illinois Biometrics Information Privacy Act BIPA. This is a law that imposes...

Feds Indict 281 People for Involvement in Massive Email Fraud Scheme

Federal authorities have arrested 281 people and seized nearly $3.7 million in a coordinated effort between multiple agencies to disrupt a massive email-fraud scheme. Perpetrators of a global business email compromise BEC scheme were the target of a four-month investigation that began in May call...

Hackers Favor Weekdays for Attacks, Share Resources Often

Do threat actors carry out phases of their attack on different days of the week? Do threats use the same infrastructure for exploitation and control? These may not be the sort of questions that cybersecurity professional usually think about, but their implications can actually have an important...

Cynet Provides Security Responders with Free IR Tool to Validate and Respond to Active Threats

Organizations that suspect an active threat or breach have two options: calling an external incident response provider to manage the investigation and response or trying to handle it internally with their own resources. Cynet is now introducing a free IR offering that caters to both scenarios – a...

RSA Conference 2019: The Sky's the Limit For Satellite Hacks

SAN FRANCISCO – The satellites orbiting the world are rife with vulnerabilities – and as more satellites go up, and antenna equipment becomes cheaper, they are becoming a lucrative target for threat actors back on earth, according to researchers. William Malik, vice president of infrastructure...

Argentinian Teen Becomes First to Earn $1M in Bug Bounties with HackerOne

A 19-year-old that goes by the handle “@trytohack” became the first white hat hacker to surpass $1 million in bounty awards on the HackerOne platform. The Argentinian researcher, whose real name is Santiago Lopez, started reporting security weaknesses to companies in 2015 on HackerOne, when he wa...

Threatpost Data: Password Managers Are Worth the Risk, Readers Say

Despite a high-profile memory-related vulnerability in password managers capturing headlines last week, a recent Threatpost poll found that 84 percent of respondents use password managers – while only 10 percent said they don’t due to security risks. There have been vulnerabilities found before i...

ThreatList: APT Adversaries Up the Ante on Speed, Target Telecom

Despite law-enforcement wins in the form of several high-profile arrests and indictments during 2018, nation-state adversaries have upped their games when it comes to speed. That’s according to CrowdStrike’s 2019 Global Threat Report, which found that when analyzing how long it takes to go from...

Threatpost News Wrap Podcast For Feb. 1

Data privacy dominated the week of news ending Feb. 1. News headlines included both Facebook and Google finding themselves in hot water over distributing data-sucking apps on iOS devices. A severe flaw was also found in kid-tracking IoT smartwatches that could expose sensitive information for...

2019 Already Marred By Slew of Data Breach Incidents

It has been a busy year for data breaches already, and January isn’t even officially over. This past week has been no exception. In past seven days, in addition to the Airbus news that we previously reported, Discover Financial, IT management giant Rubrik, the City of St. John in New Brunswick,...

“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...

NFL Players and Agents Targeted in Database Extortion Attempt

A misconfigured database containing records belonging to 1,133 National Football League players and their agents was exposed via an unsecured Elasticsearch server. The database belongs to the NFL Players Association and includes the home address, phone numbers and IP addresses for hundreds of...

October Patch Tuesday Fixes Critical IE Bugs, 28 Vulnerabilities

As expected, Microsoft began shipping its latest batch of Patch Tuesday patches earlier this afternoon. However, while it was heavily presumed the update would fix at least one Internet Explorer zero day, the update actually fixes two critical vulnerabilities in the browser. Eight bulletins — fou...

65 Sites Compromised in ZeroAccess Trojan Attacks

As many as 65 websites have been compromised in an attack that has snared another Washington, D.C.-area media website as well as a number of travel and leisure sites. While the sites aren’t topically related, they’re all hosting advertisements injected with malicious code hosted on...

Malicious Npm Packages Tapped Again to Target Discord Users

Threat actors once again are using the node package manager npm repository to hide malware that can steal Discord tokens to monitor user sessions and steal data on the popular chat and collaboration platform, researchers have found. A campaign discovered this week by Kaspersky researchers is hidi...

Office 365 Config Loophole Opens OneDrive, SharePoint Data to Ransomware Attack

Researchers are warning attackers can abuse Microsoft Office 365 functionality to target files stored on SharePoint and OneDrive in ransomware attacks. Those files, stored via “auto-save” and backed-up in the cloud, typically leave end users with the impression data is shielded from a ransomware...