Security Risks Abound in Virtualized Environments

Through 2012, 60 percent of virtualized servers will be less secure than the physical servers they replace, according to Gartner. Although they expect this figure to fall to 30 percent by the end of 2015, analysts warned that many virtualization deployment projects are being undertaken without...

Adobe under fire for poor security response

In the wake of the zero-day attacks against Adobe’s Acrobat and Reader product lines, the company is taking a lot of flack for its poor response to handling the issue — specifically around communicating the risks and providing migitation guidance for end users. Over on the ZDNet Zero Day blog, I...

Sneaky New Orbit Malware Backdoors Linux Devices

A sneaky malware for Linux is backdooring devices to steal data and can affect all the processes running on a particular machine, researchers have found. The malware, dubbed Orbit, is unlike other Linux threats in that it steals information from different commands and utilities and then stores th...

Latest Cyberattack Against Iran Part of Ongoing Campaign

Malware used in a crippling cyberattacks against an Iranian steel plants last week is connected to an attack that shut down the country’s rail system last year. In both cases, on malware strain was used to impact physical and critical infrastructure, according to a report from Check Point Researc...

Top Illicit Carding Marketplace UniCC Abruptly Shuts Down

A top underground market for buying and selling stolen credit-card details, UniCC, has announced it’s shutting down operations. The site accounted for about 30 percent of carding scam business and, since it was launched in 2013, handled about $358 million in cryptocurrency transactions, according...

1.1M Compromised Accounts Found at 17 Major Companies

There have been more than 1.1 million online accounts compromised in a series of credential-stuffing attacks against 17 different companies, according to a New York State investigation. Credential-stuffing attacks, such as last year’s attack on Spotify, use automated scripts to try high volumes o...

Java Code Repository Riddled with Hidden Log4j Bugs; Here’s Where to Look

There’s an enormous amount of software vulnerable to the Log4j bug through Java software supply chains — and administrators and security pros likely don’t even know where to look for it. About 17,000 Java packages in the Maven Central repository, the most significant collection of Java packages...

How to Defend against App Impersonation in 2021

Most users who install applications through legitimate channels such as the Google Play Store or the Apple Store do so with complete trust that their information is safe from malicious attacks. This makes sense, because they’re the official app stores for across the globe. However, despite tight...

6M Sky Routers Left Exposed to Attack for Nearly 1.5 Years

Sky, a U.K. broadband provider, left about 6 million customers’ underbellies exposed to attackers who could remotely sink their fangs into their home networks: a nice, soft attack surface left that way for nearly 18 months as the company tried to fix a DNS rebinding vulnerability in customers’...

Magecart Credit Card Skimmer Avoids VMs to Fly Under the Radar

A new Magecart threat actor is stealing people’s payment card info from their browsers using a digital skimmer that uses a unique form of evasion to bypass virtual machines VM so it targets only actual victims and not security researchers. The Malwarebytes team discovered the new campaign, which...

War-Driving Technique Allows Wi-Fi Password-Cracking at Scale

War-driving – the process of driving around mapping residential Wi-Fi networks in hopes of finding a vulnerability to exploit – can still pay off for attackers, apparently: A CyberArk researcher recently found he could easily slice open about 70 percent of Wi-Fi network passwords in one Tel Aviv...

Mandating a Zero-Trust Approach for Software Supply Chains

In the wake of the SolarWinds attack last year, President Biden issued an executive order in May advocating for mandatory software bills of materials, or SBOMs, to increase software transparency and counter supply-chain attacks. For reference, SBOMs are machine-readable documents that provide a...

Keep Attackers Out of VPNs: NSA, CISA Offer Guidance

Unsecured VPNs can be a hot mess: Just ask Colonial Pipeline which got pwned by the REvil ransomware crooks with an old VPN password or the 87,000 at least Fortinet customers whose credentials for unpatched SSL-VPNs were posted online earlier this month. Vulnerabilities in VPN servers are like...

Payment API Bungling Exposes Millions of Users’ Payment Data

App developers have once again been accused of having butterfingers when it comes to API keys, leaving millions of mobile app users at risk of exposing their personal and payment data. CloudSEK, maker of artificial intelligence- AI- enabled digital threat protection, reported last week that the...

What Ragnar Locker Got Wrong About Ransomware Negotiators – Podcast

The Ragnar Locker ransomware gang just put its victims on notice: Call for help – be it from investigators, the FBI or ransomware negotiators – and the punishment will be the publication of encrypted files. Bryce Webster-Jacobsen, director of intelligence operations at digital risk...

ProtonMail Forced to Log IP Address of French Activist

The privacy-hugging, end-to-end encryption-providing email provider ProtonMail was forced to log the IP address of a French activist and turn it over to Europol, according to a French police report that came to light over the weekend. The activist was arrested as a result. In the wake of the news...

What’s Next for T-Mobile and Its Customers? – Podcast

What’s the opposite of a resilient operation? It’s when your wireless carrier gets breached for the sixth time in a few years, you try to change your PIN online, and the site tells you “No can do.” As of Wednesday, T-Mobile had confirmed its sixth breach over the last three years. The purported...

Apple: Image-Detection Backdoor ‘Narrow’ in Scope

Apple provided additional design and security details this week about the planned rollout of a feature aimed at detecting child sexual abuse material CSAM images stored in iCloud Photos. Privacy groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that the process of flagging CSAM images...

Ransomware Payments Explode Amid ‘Quadruple Extortion’

Two reports slap hard figures on what’s already crystal clear: Ransomware attacks have skyrocketed, and ransomware payments are the comet trails that have followed them skyward. The average ransomware payment spiked 82 percent year over year: It’s now over half a million dollars, according to the...

Apple’s ‘Find My’ Network Exploited via Bluetooth

Apple’s “Find My device” function for helping people track their iOS and macOS devices can be exploited to transfer data to and from random passing devices without using the internet, a security researcher has demonstrated. Security researcher Fabian Bräunlein with Positive Security developed a...

TeaBot Trojan Targets Banks via Hijacked Android Handsets

Researchers have discovered an Android trojan that can steal victims’ SMS messages and credentials and completely take over devices. The trojan, dubbed TeaBot, is aimed at committing fraud against at least 60 banks in Europe. Join Threatpost for “Fortifying Your Business Against Ransomware, DDoS ...

Fake Chrome App Anchors Rapidly Worming ‘Smish’ Cyberattack

A new Android malware that impersonates the Google Chrome app has spread to hundreds of thousands of people in the last few weeks, according to researchers. The fake app is being used as part of a sophisticated hybrid cyberattack campaign that also uses mobile phishing to steal credentials. Join...

Emotet's Takedown: Have We Seen the Last of the Malware?

Sherrod DeGrippo, senior director of threat research and detection with Proofpoint, shares insights on the global law enforcement and private-sector takedown of the major cybercrime tools such as Emotet. Last fall, agencies targeted TrickBot’s infrastructure to disrupt the prolific malware, and...

T-Mobile Faces Yet Another Data Breach

T-Mobile USA has reported a data breach – its fourth in three years. The wireless carrier disclosed the breach last week via its website, saying that it detected and shut down “malicious, unauthorized access to some information” related to T-Mobile accounts. Specifically, that data consisted of...

Taking a Neighborhood Watch Approach to Retail Cybersecurity

Every year retailers face a heightened level of risk during the online holiday shopping season. COVID-19 drastically shifted consumer buying behaviors, forcing retailers to accelerate digital transformation efforts to support an exponentially higher number of online transactions. Projected U.S...

Microsoft Revamps ‘Invasive’ M365 Feature After Privacy Backlash

Microsoft has announced what it calls a more privacy-friendly version of its Productivity Score enterprise feature, following backlash from security experts who condemned it as a “full-fledged workplace surveillance tool.” The Productivity Score feature, which was launched as part of the Microsof...

Robot Vacuums Suck Up Sensitive Audio in ‘LidarPhone’ Hack

Researchers have uncovered a new attack that lets bad actors snoop in on homeowners’ private conversations – through their robot vacuums. The vacuums, which utilize smart sensors in order to autonomously operate, have gained traction over the past few years. The attack, called “LidarPhone” by...

Zoom Snooping: How Body Language Can Spill Your Password

You’ve heard of Zoom Bombing, but have you heard of Zoom Snooping? Researchers contend they can extract keystroke data from participants in a video call simply by tracking shoulder movements. A recently published study warns malicious actors might use the technique to decipher personal passwords...

Holiday Shopping Craze, COVID-19 Spur Retail Security Storm

As online retailers prepare for the upcoming holiday shopping season, security researchers are warning that cybercriminals will be on the prowl this year, with the added factor of the coronavirus pandemic pushing many Black Friday shoppers online. Chris Eng, chief research officer with Veracode,...

Rapper Scams $1.2M in COVID-19 Relief, Gloats with 'EDD' Video

Rapper Fontrell Antonio Baines, who goes by the stage name “Nuke Bizzle,” made his first appearance in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles on Friday after being charged with fraudulently applying for more than $1.2 million in jobless benefits under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic...

Account Takeover Fraud Losses Total Billions Across Online Retailers

Account takeover ATO attacks are on the rise, and in fact have become a go-to attack of choice cybercriminals of all stripes. In fact, in 2019 alone, ATO attacks cost consumers and e-commerce retailers a whopping $16.9 billion in losses. To be clear, ATO fraud isn’t new, it’s been a concern for...

Facebook 'SilentFade' Malware Attack Stole Credentials For Years

Facebook has detailed a wide-scale Chinese malware campaign that targeted its ad platform for years and siphoned $4 million from users’ advertising accounts. The campaign was addressed by the social media’s security teams after it first became active. Dubbed SilentFade short for “Silently running...

Android Spyware Variant Snoops on WhatsApp, Telegram Messages

Researchers say they have uncovered a new Android spyware variant with an updated command-and-control communication strategy and extended surveillance capabilities that snoops on social media apps WhatsApp and Telegram. The malware, Android/SpyC32.A, is currently being used in active campaigns...

DDoS Attacks Cresting Amid Pandemic

The number of distributed denial-of-service DDoS attacks spiked in the second quarter of 2020, researchers said. According to the latest Kaspersky quarterly DDoS attacks report, DDoS events were three times more frequent in comparison to the second quarter last year up 217 percent, and were up 30...

Fighting Cyber Attacks With Game Theory

The role of cybersecurity defenders is usually unfair. They have disadvantages — as they have to continuously build up perimeters that protect their networks and prevent intrusions. An attacker only needs to discover a single flaw, a small hole in the wall, and breach entire complex defenses. How...

Kubernetes Falls to Cryptomining via Machine-Learning Framework

A unique cyberattack campaign that targets Kubeflow, a machine-learning toolkit for Kubernetes, has affected large swathes of container clusters, according to Microsoft. The Kubeflow open-source project is a popular framework for running machine-learning ML tasks in Kubernetes. According to an...

Leaked NHS Docs Reveal Roadmap, Concerns Around Contact-Tracing App

A COVID-19 contact-tracing app to be rolled out by the UK’s National Health Service NHS has been thrust into the spotlight thanks to sensitive documents being leaked via a public Google Drive link. Contact tracing has emerged as a top idea for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and is consider...

Community Housing Nonprofit Hit with $1.2M Loss in BEC Scam

A non-profit community housing collective has been swindled out of more than $1.2 million in a business email compromise BEC campaign. Red Kite Community Housing, a coop housing association in High Wycombe, U.K. outside of London announced in a recent website notice that £932,000 of the money pai...

U.S. Universities Get Failing Grades for DMARC Adoption

The U.S. higher education system is lagging when it comes to implementing email security – even though the segment remains a top target for phishing and spam campaigns. According to an analysis from Red Sift shared with Threatpost, only 3 percent of the top 200 schools in the 2020 WSJ/THE College...

Mozilla Firefox 65 Ups the Ante on Privacy with Anti-Tracking Efforts

Mozilla has unveiled new anti-tracking policies and redesigned privacy controls in tandem with the release of Firefox 65 on Tuesday. The company announced a new set of redesigned controls for the Content Blocking section, where users can choose their desired level of privacy protection. These are...

Adobe Flash Zero-Day Leveraged Via Office Docs in Campaign

An Adobe Flash Player zero-day exploit has been spotted in the wild as part of a widespread campaign, researchers said on Wednesday. Adobe has just issued a patch for the previously unknown critical flaw. The vulnerability, CVE-2018-15982, is a use-after-free flaw enabling arbitrary code executio...

Foxit PDF Reader Fixes High-Severity Remote Code Execution Flaws

Foxit Software has patched over 100 vulnerabilities in its popular Foxit PDF Reader. Many of the bugs tackled by the company include a wide array of high severity remote code execution vulnerabilities. Foxit on Friday released fixes for Foxit Reader 9.3 and Foxit PhantomPDF 9.3, which addressed a...

Microsoft Flaw Allows Full Multi-Factor Authentication Bypass

A vulnerability in Microsoft’s Active Directory Federation Services ADFS has been uncovered that would allow malicious actors to bypass multi-factor authentication MFA safeguards. Many organizations rely on ADFS to manage identities and resources across their entire enterprise, and ADFS functions...

Adobe Patch Tuesday: Fixes for Critical Acrobat and Reader Flaws

Adobe has released 11 total fixes for an array of products during today’s Patch Tuesday release, including two critical patches for Acrobat and Reader. This month’s release comes on the heels of Adobe fixing a whopping 112 vulnerabilities in its July Patch Tuesday release last month, including...

Sizing Up The Scourge of Credential Stuffing

Last year, 2.3 billion credentials were stolen from 51 different organizations, including Ancestry.com, Imgur and Virgin America. Where do all those user names go? In Shape Security’s second annual Credential Spill Report, it found that billions of stolen digital IDs are contributing to an epidem...

Malicious Docker Containers Earn Cryptomining Criminals $90K

UPDATE Seventeen malicious Docker containers earned cryptomining criminals $90,000 in 30 days in what could be a harbinger of things to come. The figure may seem tame compared to some of the larger paydays that cryptojackers have earned. But, researchers at Kromtech Security Center warn container...

Bug In Git Opens Developer Systems Up to Attack

UPDATE Git repository hosting services GitHub, GitLab and Microsoft VSTS each patched a serious vulnerability on Tuesday that could lead to arbitrary code execution when a developer uses a malicious repository. Developers behind the open-source development Git tool pushed out Git 2.17.1, addressi...

Ransomware Attack Hits Ukrainian Energy Ministry, Exploiting Drupalgeddon2

The Ukrainian Energy Ministry has been hit by a ransomware attack – and for once it looks like this is the work of amateurs, not nation-state attackers bent on making a geopolitical point. However, the bad actors appear to have made use of the recently patched Drupal vulnerability, pointing out y...

Satori Author Linked to New Mirai Variant Masuta

Researchers at NewSky Security say the hacker behind a Mirai malware variant called Satori, also known as Mirai Okiru, is the same hacker behind two new Mirai variants called Masuta and PureMasuta. Based on source code for Masuta malware recently found on the dark web, researchers at NewSky...

Google Patches Critical Encryption Bug Impacting Pixel, Nexus Phones

Google patched a critical encryption bug found on its Pixel, Pixel 2 and Nexus phones this week along with delivering 49 other fixes, part of its December Pixel / Nexus Security Bulletin. Five of the patches relate to vulnerabilities rated high. One of the patches CVE-2017-13167 is for an elevati...