Malicious Mozilla Firefox Extension Allows Gmail Takeover

A newly uncovered cyberattack is taking control of victims’ Gmail accounts, by using a customized, malicious Mozilla Firefox browser extension called FriarFox. Researchers say the threat campaign, observed in January and February, targeted Tibetan organizations and was tied to TA413, a known...

Microsoft: SolarWinds Attackers Downloaded Azure, Exchange Code

Threat actors downloaded some Microsoft Exchange and Azure code repositories during the sprawling SolarWinds supply-chain attack but did not use the company’s internal systems or products to attack other victims. That’s the final verdict this week by the tech giant now that it’s completed a...

Apple Outlines 2021 Security, Privacy Roadmap

Click to Register Apple released its 2021 Platform Security guide, Thursday, outlining its current and year-ahead agenda for its device hardware, software and silicon security. This year’s 192-page report is beefed-up, compared to past reports, with a wealth of new insights into how Apple is...

Lazarus Affiliate ‘ZINC’ Blamed for Campaign Against Security Researcher

Microsoft has attributed a recently discovered campaign to target security researchers with custom malware through elaborate socially-engineered attacks to an APT group affiliated with North Korea-linked Lazarus Group. Google’s Threat Analysis Group TAG on Monday already sounded a warning about t...

Google Forms Set Baseline For Widespread BEC Attacks

A threat actor has been sending thousands of emails to organizations, in what researchers warn is a reconnaissance campaign to identify targets for a possible follow-up business-email-compromise BEC attack. So far, researchers have observed thousands of messages being sent to companies since...

NSA Urges SysAdmins to Replace Obsolete TLS Protocols

The National Security Agency NSA is lighting a fire under system administrators who are dragging their feet to replace insecure and outdated Transport Layer Security TLS protocol instances. The agency this week released new guidance and tools to equip companies to update from obsolete older...

Nando's Hackers Feast on Customer Accounts

Diners at a popular chicken-dinner chain have seen hundreds of dollars siphoned out of their bank accounts, after cybercriminals were able to access their restaurant ordering credentials. The issue though is that payment-card information is not stored within Nando’s accounts, leaving some questio...

IoT Device Takeovers Surge 100 Percent in 2020

Connected cameras, refrigerators and other seemingly-mundane internet-of-things IoT devices are a cybercriminal favorite this year, with new research showing a sharp increase 100 percent in IoT infections observed on wireless networks. IoT devices are now responsible for 32.72 percent of all...

UPDATE – TikTok Ban: Security Experts Weigh in on the App's Risks

UPDATE Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat over the weekend have gotten an 11th hour reprieve from a plan to cut off access to them. As a ban on U.S. downloads loomed for Sunday, TikTok owner ByteDance reached an agreement to sell significant ownership stakes to Oracle and Walmart. While the deal is...

Researchers Warn of Active Malware Campaign Using HTML Smuggling

An active campaign has been spotted that utilizes HTML smuggling to deliver malware, effectively bypassing various network security solutions, including sandboxes, legacy proxies and firewalls. Krishnan Subramanian, security researcher with Menlo Security, told Threatpost that the campaign...

Black Hat 2020: Satellite Comms Globally Open to $300 Eavesdropping Hack

Satellite internet communications are susceptible to eavesdropping and signal interception by far-flung attackers located in a different continent or country from their victims. And all they need is $300 worth of off-the-shelf equipment to pull it off. That’s the word from James Pavur, an academi...

Notorious Hacker 'Fxmsp' Outed After Widespread Access-Dealing

“Fxmsp,” a notorious hacker who made headlines last year for allegedly stealing and selling source code and customer access from McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro, has been outed. He’s a Kazakh national named Andrey Turchin, and according to unsealed court documents, he faces hacking charges datin...

Email Sender Identity is Key to Solving the Phishing Crisis

Email is in crisis. Despite massive advancements in perimeter and endpoint defenses, email remains a cybersecurity weak link for many companies. Why? Email is at the heart of everything we do online. It’s an essential line of communication for one-on-one and group conversations, both...

Singapore’s Contact Tracing Wearable Causes Privacy Backlash

Singapore’s announcement that it is developing a wearable for contact tracing has caused citizens to voice concern for the technology’s impact on their data privacy, with more than 35,000 signing a petition against the devices. On Friday during a parliament session, Vivian Balakrishnan,...

Can Governments Defeat Nation-State Attacks on Critical Infrastructures?

For physical conflicts, we expect our government to protect us from nation-state adversaries. It turns out, though, that industrial enterprises are much better positioned to defeat most nation-state attacks on power plants, pipelines, and other critical infrastructures than governments are. For...

Sphinx Malware Returns to Riddle U.S. Targets, with Modifications

The Zeus Sphinx banking trojan has seen a recent resurgence in the United States, sporting some modifications and using COVID-19 spam as a lure. Sphinx re-emerged in December but saw a big spike in March via the use of coronavirus themes. Since April, it has been seen attacking U.S. targets with ...

Ransomware Attack Takes Down Toll Group Systems, Again

Australian transportation and logistics giant Toll Group has been hit by a ransomware attack – for the second time in three months. The company said a relatively new form of ransomware known as Nefilim had targeted its systems. Toll Group, a subsidiary of Japan Post Holdings, is a freight and...

Zoom Bombing Attack Hits U.S. Government Meeting

A U.S. House Oversight Committee meeting was the most recent victim of a Zoom bombing attack, after the meeting was disrupted at least three different times by uninvited attendees. The incident was disclosed in a recent internal letter from Jim Jordan R-Ohio to Carolyn Maloney R-NY, chairwoman fo...

Domain Name Security: Important Measures You Need to Know

Whether you are an individual, a large commercial business, or a small non-profit organization, the creation and protection of your online presence are essential. While many individuals and businesses use social media platforms to connect with followers, customers, or organization members, a doma...

Hackers Actively Exploited 0-Day in CCTV Camera Hardware

Multiple zero-day vulnerabilities were actively being exploited in CCTV security cameras manufactured by Taiwan-based LILIN, researchers found. The company, an IP video solution provider, was being targeted by hackers hijacking the company’s DVR hardware. Once commandeered, hackers then planted...

News Wrap, Coronavirus Edition: WFH Security Woes, Pwn2Own

For the week ended March 20, Threatpost editors break down the top security stories, including: The various cybercriminal activities – malware, phishing and other scams – tapping into the coronavirus pandemic The security risks of businesses working from home due to the virus’ spread Privacy...

Download The Ultimate ‘Security for Management’ Presentation Template

There is a person in every organization that is the direct owner of breach protection. His or her task is to oversee and govern the process of design, build, maintain and continuously enhance the security level of the organization. Title-wise, this person is most often either the CIO, CISO or...

Why Cloud, Collaboration Breed Insider Threats

When it comes to facing insider threats, many enterprises seem to be suffering from a type of organizational cognitive dissonance – as in, they hold two, seemingly contradictory beliefs when it comes to the cloud and the collaboration tools that they use. Specifically, business leaders and...

DHS Plans to Expand Facial Recognition Border Checks

The Department of Homeland Security plans to extend facial recognition checks to all travelers entering and leaving the U.S. – including previously-exempt U.S. citizens. The proposed ruling, outlined in a recent filing that was first reported this week by TechCrunch, signifies a rapid expansion o...

ThreatList: Google's Advertising Network Dominates Global Data Collection

When it comes to data collection, Google’s combined arsenal of advertising tools and services continue to help it dominate at a global level. Close behind are AOL Advertising, Moat and AppNexus. Each are singled out by researchers in new report that brings to mind the privacy-busting quote, “If...

Feds: Cyberattack on NASA's JPL Threatened Mission-Control Data

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL may know how to send delicate equipment to Mars, but basic cybersecurity best practices appear to pose an issue for it. A comprehensive federal review has detailed an April 2018 security incident that compromised mission systems – stemming from multiple IT...

Infosecurity Europe: Easing the Clash Between IT and Industrial Worlds

LONDON, UK – Information technology and operational technology are like two sides of the same coin. Their objectives are the same, but too often they don’t see eye-to-eye when it comes to priorities, according to cybersecurity experts. Information technology IT teams are tasked with securing and...

RSAC 2019: For Domestic Abuse, IoT Devices Pose New Threat

SAN FRANCISCO – The influx of connected products in the home – from smart thermometers to connected locks – presents a disturbing new threat surface for victims of domestic abuse. That’s what Lisa Green, senior director of operations at Independent Security Evaluators, is warning conference-goers...

Samba Patches Two Critical Vulnerabilities in Server Software

Two critical patches for the free networking software Samba were released Tuesday, addressing vulnerabilities that could allow an unprivileged remote attacker to launch a denial of service attack against servers running the software or allow an adversary to change user passwords, including the...

Cisco Issues New Patches for Critical Firewall Software Vulnerability

Cisco has released new patches for a critical vulnerability in its Adaptive Security Appliance software after further investigation revealed additional attack vectors. The company first announced the vulnerability, CVE-2018-0101, on Jan. 29. It received a Common Vulnerability Scoring System base...

PHPMailer, SwiftMailer Updates Resolve Critical Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities

Critical remote code execution vulnerabilities in two different libraries used to send emails via PHP were patched this week. An issue in PHPMailer, thought fixed, was resolved with an update, version 5.2.21, pushed late Wednesday. Developers with another mailing library for PHP, SwiftMailer,...

Google Fixes 48 Bugs, Sandbox Escape, in Chrome

Google has patched a high-risk vulnerability in its Chrome browser that allows an attacker to escape the Chrome sandbox. That vulnerability is one of 48 bugs fixed in version 52 of Chrome released Wednesday. Four dozen of those flaws are rated as high risks and Google paid out more than $22,000 i...

LizardStresser IoT Botnets Part of 400Gbps DDoS Attacks

LizardStresser, a distributed denial of service botnet, has found new life leveraging hundreds of internet-based webcams in attacks against Brazilian-based banks, government agencies as well as a handful of U.S.-based gaming companies. Researchers at the Arbor’s Security Engineering and Response...

May 2016 Microsoft Patch Tuesday Security Bulletins

Microsoft released a hefty load of security bulletins today, which included a patch for a JScript and VBScript scripting engine vulnerability being publicly exploited. The flaw is addressed in its own bulletin, MS16-053, but users need to pay attention to, and apply MS16-051 as well since the...

November 2015 Android Security Bulletin

The Stagefright vulnerabilities are the gifts that keep on giving. Months after the potentially devastating security flaws in the mobile OS were publicly disclosed, Google continues to send out patches addressing vulnerabilities related to the initial reports. Today’s monthly Android security...

Flawed TLS Implementations Leak RSA Keys

A number of TLS software implementations contain vulnerabilities that allow hackers with minimal computational expense to learn RSA keys. Florian Weimer, a researcher with Red Hat, last week published a paper called “Factoring RSA Keys With TLS Perfect Forward Secrecy” that demonstrated...

Android Factory Reset Improper Sanitization Exposes Data

The churn of Android devices, whether older smartphones being traded in or sold online, makes device sanitization imperative. The native feature in the OS, however, may not be doing as thorough a job as advertised. A paper, “Security Analysis of Android Factory Resets” pdf, published by Ross...

NTP Symmetric Key Authentication Security Vulnerabilities Patched

NTP, the much maligned protocol abused in a number of high volume DDoS attacks a year ago, is suffering from newly patched vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to send unauthenticated packets to a client that would be executed. The Department of Homeland Security and CERT at the Software...

March 2015 Microsoft Patch Tuesday Security Bulletins

Windows IT shops figure to be in for some scrambling today. Not only was it revealed that a five-year-old patch for a vulnerability exploited by Stuxnet was incomplete and machines have been exposed since 2010, but today is also Patch Tuesday and the updated Stuxnet patch is one of 14 bulletins...

OpenVPN vulnerable to Shellshock Bash vulnerability

OpenVPN wasn’t immune to the Heartbleed vulnerability in OpenSSL, and it’s not going to sidestep Shellshock either. Fredrick Stromberg, cofounder of Mullvad, a Swedish VPN company, reported that OpenVPN servers are vulnerable to Shellshock , the vulnerability in Bash plaguing Linux, UNIX and Mac ...

Pinkie Pie Linux Kernel Patch Available

Several vulnerabilities have been patched in the Linux kernel that could have led to a denial of service or privilege escalation. Debian, which distributes versions of Linux for personal computers and network servers, warned about the vulnerabilities yesterday in a security update. The most...

Volume of NTP Amplification Attacks Getting Louder

No security arena is better representative of the cat and mouse game between hackers and defenders than DDoS attacks and prevention/mitigation. Enterprises and service providers have invested heavily in DDoS mitigations in order to keep critical services available. That’s forced hackers to crank ...

TIFF Zero Day Patch Among December 2013 Microsoft updates

Microsoft will, next week, patch a zero-day vulnerability in its GDI+ graphics component being exploited in targeted attacks in the Middle East and Asia. The zero day has sat unpatched since it was made public Nov. 5; Microsoft did release a FixIt tool as a temporary mitigation. The patch is one ...

Blackhole and Cool Exploit Kits Nearly Extinct

When authorities in Russia arrested Paunch, the alleged creator of the Blackhole exploit kit, last month, security researchers and watchers of the malware underground predicted that taking him off the board would put a dent in the use of Blackhole and force its customers onto other platforms. Six...

Many Flash, Java Users Running Older, Vulnerable Versions

It’s long been known that Java and Flash are favored targets of attackers, thanks to their huge install bases and numerous security issues. And the users who are targeted by these attacks aren’t doing themselves any favors either, as new research shows that 19 percent of business users are runnin...

Attackers Targeting MS13-055 IE Vulnerability

Attackers are using an Internet Explorer vulnerability, which Microsoft patched yesterday, in targeted attacks that also employ a malicious Flash file installed through a drive-by download launched by compromised Web pages. The exploit that’s being used is capable of bypassing both ASLR and DEP...

Attackers Beat Java Default Security Settings with Social Engineering

Oracle’s new security model for Java, in place since the release of Java 7 update 11, is under serious fire now that attackers have demonstrated in the wild how to bypass the updated controls with the help of social engineering. In 7U11, Oracle changed the default security setting in Java from...

MiniDuke Espionage Malware Hits Governments in Europe Using Adobe Exploits

New espionage malware has been discovered that targets a patched sandbox-bypass vulnerability in Adobe Reader. The attacks have hit a relatively small number of government victims in 23 countries, primarily in Europe, and rely on a string of unusual tactics, including the use of steganography to...

Oracle Patch Update to Include 109 Patches

Buckle up Oracle administrators for 109 patches coming your way tomorrow. Oracle’s quarterly Critical Patch Update is due, and the company is releasing fixes for security vulnerabilities across most of its enterprise products, addressing a host of remotely exploitable flaws. This comes a little...

Large-Scale Water Holing Attack Campaigns Hitting Key Targets

A new APT-style espionage campaign launched this summer targeting organizations tied to financial services, government agencies and the defense industry used a technique dubbed water holing to entice victims and silently redirect them to sites hosting zero-day exploits. Researchers at RSA Securit...