Mozilla Patches Firefox DLL Load Hijacking Bug

Mozilla has joined Apple in being among the first to fix the DLL load hijacking attack vector that continues to haunt hundreds of Windows applications. The open-source group released Firefox 3.6.9 with patches for a total of 15 vulnerabilities 11 rated critical, including the publicly known DLL...

Apple Plugs 48 Security Holes in Safari Browser

Apple has shipped new versions of its Safari browser with patches for at least 48 security vulnerabilities. The Safari 4.1 and 5.0 updates, considered “highly critical,” is available for both Windows and Mac OS X. Exploitation of some of these vulnerabilities could lead to drive-by download remot...

Microsoft to Share Vulnerability Details with Governments

Microsoft today announced plans to share pre-patch details on software vulnerabilities with governments around the world under a new program aimed at securing critical infrastructure and government assets from hacker attacks. The program, codenamed Omega, features a Defensive Information Sharing...

Magecart Serves Up Card Skimmers on Restaurant-Ordering Systems

Magecart campaigns have been skimming payment-card credentials of unsuspecting customers using three online restaurant-ordering systems, affecting about 300 restaurants that use the services and compromising tens of thousands of cards so far, researchers have found. Two separate ongoing Magecart...

U.S. Healthcare Orgs Targeted with Maui Ransomware

Several federal agencies are warning healthcare organizations that they are under threat of attacks from North Korean state-sponsored actors employing a unique ransomware that targets files with surgical precision, according to U.S. federal authorities. Threat actors from North Korea have been...

Old Hacks Die Hard: Ransomware, Social Engineering Top Verizon DBIR Threats – Again

Ransomware and social engineering continue to dominate challenges facing cybersecurity professionals, according to Verizon’s 15th annual Data Breach Investigations Report DBIR. In general, the results of DBIR merely confirm well-established trends, such as the growing threats of ransomware – up 1...

ChromeLoader Browser Hijacker Provides Gateway to Bigger Threats

ChromeLoader may seem on the surface like a run-of-the-mill browser hijacker that merely redirects victims to advertisement websites. However, its use of PowerShell could pose a greater risk by leading to further and advanced malicious activity, such as the propagation of ransomware or spyware or...

USB-based Wormable Malware Targets Windows Installer

Credit: Red Canary Wormable malware dubbed Raspberry Robin has been active since last September and is wriggling its way through USB drives onto Windows machines to use Microsoft Standard Installer and other legitimate processes to install malicious files, researchers have found. Researchers at...

Unpatched DNS Bug Puts Millions of Routers, IoT Devices at Risk

An unpatched Domain Name System DNS bug in a popular standard C library can allow attackers to mount DNS poisoning attacks against millions of IoT devices and routers to potentially take control of them, researchers have found. Researchers at Nozomi Networks Labs discovered the flaw affecting the...

New GootLoader Campaign Targets Accounting, Law Firms

Once prolific spreaders of REvil ransomware, the GootLoader malware gang has pivoted to actively targeting employees of law and accounting firms with malicious downloads. The Threat Response Unit from eSentire issued an alert about having over the past three weeks observed GootLoader attacks on...

Apple iPhone Malware Tactic Causes Fake Shutdowns to Enable Spying

In the world of mobile malware, simply shutting down a device can often wipe out any bad code, given that persistence after rebooting is a challenge for traditional malicious activity. But a new iPhone technique can hijack and prevent any shut-down process that a user initiates, simulating a real...

That Toy You Got for Christmas Could Be Spying on You

Many adults found it charming when Mattel upgraded its classic Fisher-Price Chatter telephone for its 60th anniversary in October with actual Bluetooth capabilities, so grownups, too, can use it — and for actual mobile phone calls. But flaws in the way the toy pairs with Bluetooth means that othe...

3 Top Tools for Defending Against Phishing Attacks

Even with the most sophisticated email scanning and phishing detection system available, phishing emails are still a very common intrusion vector for cybercriminals to use to introduce malware, including ransomware, to a business’ network. That’s because 1 increasingly, legitimate systems are use...

Designing a Proactive Ransomware Playbook for Today’s Threat Landscape

By Paul Baird, Chief Technology Security Office, Qualys Ransomware attacks are among the most significant cyber-threats facing organizations today. According to research by Gartner, ransomware is the highest priority 78 percent and most important emerging risk to track. Yet, organizations are sti...

12 New Flaws Used in Ransomware Attacks in Q3

A dozen new vulnerabilities were used in ransomware attacks this quarter, bringing the total number of bugs associated with ransomware to 278. That’s a 4.5 percent increase over Q2, according to researchers. Five of the newbies can be used to achieve remote code execution RCE, while two can be us...

Lazarus Attackers Turn to the IT Supply Chain

Lazarus – a North Korean advanced persistent threat APT group – is working on launching cyberespionage-focused attacks on supply chains with its multi-platform MATA framework. The MATA malware framework can target three operating systems: Windows, Linux and macOS. MATA has historically been used ...

TA551 Shifts Tactics to Install Sliver Red-Teaming Tool

The criminal threat group known as TA551 has added the Sliver red-teaming tool to its bag of tracks – a move that may signal ramped up ransomware attacks ahead, researchers said. According to Proofpoint researchers, TA551 aka Shathak has been mounting cyberattacks that start with email thread...

Gigabyte Allegedly Hit by AvosLocker Ransomware

The AvosLocker ransomware gang is claiming that it breached tech giant Gigabyte and has leaked a sample of what it claims are files stolen from the Taiwanese company’s network. It’s offering to sell the rest. On Wednesday, the gang posted a “press release” announcing that it had purportedly gutte...

Podcast: Could the Zoho Flaw Trigger SolarWinds 2.0?

A month ago, the FBI, CISA and the U.S. Coast Guard Cyber Command CGCYBER warned that state-backed advanced persistent threat APT actors are likely among those who’d been actively exploiting a critical flaw in a Zoho-owned single sign-on and password management tool since early August. At issue w...

Brute-Force Attacks Target Inboxes for Gift Card Data

Threat actors are compromising up to 100,000 inboxes daily in a campaign that targets gift card and customer-loyalty program data in hopes of reselling it or cashing in on freebies, a security researcher has found. The actors behind the scam—outlined in a post by Brian Krebs on Krebs on...

US Media, Retailers Targeted by New SparklingGoblin APT

An emerging international cybergang is broadening its targets to include North American media firms, universities and one computer retailer. The advanced persistent threat APT group is new, according to researchers who dubbed it SparklingGoblin. Also new is a novel backdoor technique, called...

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...

Apps Built Better: DevSecOps, a Security Silver Bullet

Security should never be an afterthought when developing software and applications. However, as technological advances continue to take hold, the security tools many rely on are changing in real-time, and combatting potential breaches or hacks of your wares before they arise now requires new...

BIOPASS RAT Uses Live Streaming Steal Victims’ Data

Online gambling companies in China are being targeted by a new remote access trojan RAT which, in addition to its predictable features — like file assessment and exfiltration — takes the novel approach of using live streaming to spy on the screens of its victims. The malware was identified by a...

Kids’ Apps on Google Play Rife with Privacy Violations

About 20 percent of the Top 500 kids’ mobile apps in the Google Play store are collecting data on users in a way that likely violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act COPPA. These have been downloaded by a collective 492 million users, researchers said. That’s according to an analysis...

Application Layer is Still the Front Door for Data Breaches

By Terry Ray, SVP and Fellow, Imperva Each year, the number of data breaches grows by 30% while the number of records compromised increases by an average of 224%. 2021 is far from over, but we’re already on pace for another record-setting year. In fact, Imperva research finds that more records we...

Bose Admits Ransomware Hit: Employee Data Accessed

High-end audio-tech specialist Bose has disclosed a ransomware attack, which it said rippled “across Bose’s environment” and resulted in the possible exfiltration of employee data. The incident began on March 7, according to a disclosure letter sent to the Attorney General’s Office in New...

GitHub Prepares to Move Beyond Passwords

GitHub, the ubiquitous host for software development and version control and unfortunate target of a steady pitter-patter of attacks targeting the same, is now supporting security keys when using Git over SSH. In a post on Monday, GitHub security engineer Kevin Jones said that this is the next st...

Experian API Leaks Most Americans’ Credit Scores

A researcher is claiming that the credit scores of almost every American were exposed through an API tool used by the Experian credit bureau, that he said was left open on a lender site without even basic security protections. Experian, for its part, refuted concerns from the security community...

RTM Cybergang Adds New Quoter Ransomware to Crime Spree

The Russian-speaking group behind the infamous RTM banking trojan is now packing a trifecta of threats as it turns up the heat – part of a massive new money-grab campaign. Beyond the banking malware it is known for, attackers have enlisted a recently-discovered ransomware family called Quoter as...

Malware Gangs Partner Up in Double-Punch Security Threat

Cybergangs are joining forces under the guise of affiliate groups and “as-a-service” models, warns Maya Horowitz, the director of threat intelligence research with Check Point Research. She said the trend is driving a new and thriving cybercriminal underground economy. Several malware gangs have...

U.S. Accuses DPRK Hackers of Stealing Millions

The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted three North Korean computer programmers for their alleged participation in widespread, destructive cyberattacks as part of the advanced persistent threat APT known as Lazarus Group. The indictment broadens the scope of crimes that the DoJ has linked to...

Valentine’s Day Malware Attack Mimics Flower Store

With Valentine’s Day approaching this weekend, several people have received “recent order” email confirmations for flowers or lingerie. These emails are actually part of a spear-phishing attack, which ultimately leads recipients to a malicious document that executes the BazaLoader malware. The...

Industrial Gear at Risk from Fuji Code-Execution Bugs

Industrial control software ICS from Fuji Electric is vulnerable to several high-severity arbitrary code-execution security bugs, according to a federal warning. Authorities are warning the flaws could allow physical attacks on factory and critical-infrastructure equipment. Fuji Electric’s Tellus...

Researcher Builds Parler Archive Amid Amazon Suspension

A security researcher said she has scraped and is archiving 99 percent of Parler’s public posts, as the social-media network goes offline following suspensions from Amazon, Apple and Google. Archived content includes public posts from the social-media site. These posts reportedly included Parler...

New Year, New Ransomware: Babuk Locker Targets Large Corporations

Only a few days into the new year, one of the first new ransomware strains of 2021 has been discovered. Dubbed Babuk Locker, the ransomware appears to have successfully compromised five companies thus far, according to new research. The research author, Chuong Dong, a computer science student at...

Dark Web Pricing Skyrockets for Microsoft RDP Servers, Payment-Card Data

Cybercriminals are vying for Remote Desktop Protocol RDP access, stolen payment cards and DDoS-for-Hire services, based on a recent analysis of underground marketplace pricing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, cybercriminals have profited with “increasingly advantageous positions to benefit from the...

Microsoft Caught Up in SolarWinds Spy Effort, Joining Federal Agencies

UPDATE Microsoft has become the latest victim of the ever-widening SolarWinds-driven cyberattack that has impacted rafts of federal agencies and tech targets. Its president, Brad Smith, warned late Thursday to expect many more victims to come to light as investigations continue. Adversaries were...

Nuclear Weapons Agency Hacked in Widening Cyberattack

The Energy Department and its National Nuclear Security Administration NNSA, which is the agency that maintains the U.S. nuclear stockpile, have been compromised as part of the widespread cyberattack uncovered this week stemming from the massive SolarWinds hack. An exclusive report by Politico...

Crippling Cyberattacks, Disinformation Top Concerns for Election Day

What keeps researchers up at night leading up to Nov. 3 isn’t election-day winners and losers. Most cite possible attacks on local infrastructure, crippling ransomware incidents and disinformation campaigns. There are also many concerned voters this year. Election-related cybersecurity attacks ha...

Facebook Small Business Grants Spark Identity-Theft Scam

Cybercriminals are exploiting a $100 million Facebook grant program designed for small businesses impacted by the pandemic, to phish personal information and take over Facebook accounts. The perpetrators are trying to dupe people into thinking that the social network is handing out free money to...

Telehealth Poll: How Risky Are Remote Doctor Visits?

Telemedicine is enjoying a healthy boom, as more doctors, clinics and hospitals reduce in-person risks associated with COVID-19. Pre-pandemic, .01 percent of healthcare visits were virtual. The percentage today has leveled off to 21 percent, after peaking at 69 percent earlier this year, accordin...

Stubborn WooCommerce Plugin Bugs Gets Third Patch

E-commerce sites using the WordPress plugin Discount Rules for WooCommerce are being urged to patch two high-severity cross-site scripting flaws that could allow an attacker to hijack a targeted site. Two fixes for the flaws, first available on Aug. 22 and second on Sept. 2, failed to patch the...

Data Breaches Expose Vets, COVID-19 Patients

A pair of healthcare-related data breaches at high-profile government agencies has impacted tens of thousands of people. First, a cyberattack at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs VA has impacted about 46,000 veterans, exposing their financial information. And another incident, at the U.K.’s...

Sharp Spike in Ransomware in U.S. as Pandemic Inspires Attackers

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to shape the face of cybercrime in 2020, with ransomware and attacks on internet of things IoT devices seeing sharp increases in the U.S. for the first half of the year. According to SonicWall’s 2020 Cyber Threat Report ransomware attacks are up, particularly in th...

Leaked Details of 142 Million MGM Hotel Guests Found for Sale Online

Researchers have found 142 million personal details from former guests at the MGM Resorts hotels for sale on the dark web, evidence that a data leak from the hotel chain last summer may be far bigger in scope than previously thought. An advertisement on a hacker forum has put 142,479,937 details...

Popular TP-Link Family of Kasa Security Cams Vulnerable to Attack

A popular consumer-grade security camera made by TP-Link and sold under the Kasa brand has bevy of bugs that open the hardware to remote attacks, such as giving hackers access to private video feeds and the ability to change device settings. The researcher Jason Kent, with Cequence Security,...

Phishing Campaign Targeting Office 365, Exploits Brand Names

Researchers have discovered a sophisticated new phishing campaign that uses recognized brand names to bypass security filters as well as to trick victims into giving up Microsoft Office 365 credentials to gain access to corporate networks. A new report from Check Point Software first observed the...

Microsoft Outlook Users Targeted By Gamaredon's New VBA Macro

The Gamaredon threat group has given its post-compromise toolset a facelift with the addition of a new Visual Basic for Applications VBA macro. The VBA macro leverages compromised victims’ Microsoft Outlook email accounts to send spear-phishing emails to their contacts – rapidly widening the...

Podcast: Would You Use A Contact-Tracing Coronavirus App?

As a world afflicted by the coronavirus pandemic begins to re-open restaurants, retail stores and more, public-health officials remain concerned about the spread of the virus. Technology for contact-tracing apps, intended to help citizens trace whether they were exposed to someone who has tested...