Apple Fixes Security in WebKit, SAfari

Apple updated its Mac OS X Mavericks platform yesterday with a number of security fixes for the Safari browser and WebKit layout engine. The operating system update will move users to OS X Mavericks version 10.9.1. It appears that the broad operating system release is merely a repackaging of a...

JBoss AS Attacks Up Since Exploit Code Disclosed

Attackers are exploiting a two-year-old vulnerability in JBoss Application Servers that enables a hacker to remotely get a shell on a vulnerable webserver. The number of infections has surged since exploit code called pwn.jsp was publicly disclosed Oct. 4. Researchers at Imperva said that a numbe...

Apple Patches Mass of Security Bugs in OS X and Safari

Apple has updated both OS X and its Safari browser, fixing a pile of security vulnerabilities, many of which can be used for remote code execution. The release of OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.4 includes patches for more than 30 bugs, most notably a set of fixes for vulnerabilities in Ruby, some of whi...

Microsoft Releases Updated MS13-036 Patch

Microsoft has released a new version of the MS13-036 patch that was causing some customers’ machines to crash. The company had recommended in the days after the original fix was first released that customers uninstall the MS13-036 patch while Microsoft investigated the cause of the problems. The...

Google Fixes 11 Flaws in Chrome

Google Chrome 26, the latest version of the company’s browser, is out and it contains a number of security patches, most notably a fix for a high-priority use-after-free vulnerability in the Web Audio component of the browser. That vulnerability, discovered and reported by Atte Kettunen, is the...

Microsoft Fixing 11 Vulnerabilities for December Patch Tuesday

Microsoft announced today that it plans on shipping seven bulletins, five critical, two important, for the December edition of its monthly patch Tuesday security bulletin release cycle. The year’s last scheduled batch of patches will address 11 vulnerabilities in all currently supported operating...

Security Experts Recommend Long, Hard Look at Disabling Java Browser Plug-In

Is the Java browser plug-in the IT equivalent of the human appendix? Would you miss it if it were gone? Probably not, experts say, especially now that attackers are beating the Java sandbox with a rash of zero-day exploits. “It’s simply safer to have the Java plug-in disabled in the browser knowi...

Newest Java 7 Update Still Exploitable, Researcher Says

UPDATE–Oracle last week patched the two zero-day vulnerabilities in Java that attackers had been exploiting in targeted attacks, but it didn’t take long for researchers to poke more holes in the software. A new bug that allows a complete Java sandbox escape has been identified already, the latest...

Attackers Reused Adobe Reader Exploit Code From 2009 In Extremely Targeted Hacks

The targeted attack that exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Adobe’s Reader application last month was extremely focused on defense industrial base firms, and affected just a handful of systems, according to a company spokesman. Fewer than 20 machines, spread across a number of firms ...

APEC Host Committee Spear-Phished by China

An Analysis published earlier this month by Kahu Security raises the possibility that the hack of systems used by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation host committee was the result of a spear phishing attack with links back to the Chinese mainland. As Threatpost reported yesterday, computers...

New Adobe Flash Bug Being Exploited

On the same day that it plans to release a patch for a critical flaw in Shockwave, Adobe confirmed on Thursday morning that there is a newly discovered bug in Flash that is being actively exploited already in attacks against Reader. The vulnerability affects Flash on all of the relevant platforms...

Adobe Issues Huge Patch for Reader and Acrobat

UPDATE: After announcing that it was accelerating a critical patch of its Reader program last week, Adobe pushed out a large patch on Tuesday, fixing 23 separate vulnerabilities in its Reader and Acrobat applications. The huge quarterly security update included company issued Security Bulletin...

Adobe Exploit Bypasses ASLR and DEP, Drops Signed Malicious File

Attackers are using a previously unknown exploitation technique that bypasses both ASLR and DEP to exploit the unpatched Adobe Reader bug that Adobe warned users about on Wednesday. The exploit works on machines running either Windows Vista or Windows 7 and is also dropping a file on compromised...

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...

Messaging Apps Tapped as Platform for Cybercriminal Activity

Cybercriminals are tapping the built-in services of popular messaging apps like Telegram and Discord as ready-made platforms to help them perform their nefarious activity in persistent campaigns that threaten users, researchers have found. Threat actors are tapping the multi-feature nature of...

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...

Real Big Phish: Mobile Phishing & Managing User Fallibility

According to a recent survey from Ivanti, nearly three-quarters 74 percent of IT professionals reported that their organizations have fallen victim to a phishing attack – and 40 percent of those happened in the last month alone. Increasingly, mobile phishing is the culprit. What’s more, nearly ha...

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...

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’...

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...

The Best Ransomware Response, According to the Data

Ransomware has become part of the cost of doing business, and driving down that cost can be the difference between recovery and catastrophe. A data analysis from Fox-IT, part of NCC Group, offers some best practices for how to minimize the fallout of a ransomware attack, after creating a dataset ...

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...

How to Prevent Account Takeovers in 2021

Data breaches and hacking put internet users at risk of account takeover, if cybercriminals successfully gain access to valid login credentials. There are reckoned to be in excess of 8.4 million discrete passwords currently circulating online, more than 3.5 billion of which are tied to active...

Cutting Through the Noise from Daily Alerts

According to a survey run on IR and SOC teams, analysts are required to keep track of an average of 6.8 threat intelligence feeds and manually handle an excessive number of alerts. The average security operations team receives over 11,000 alerts per day. Most of an analyst’s time almost 70% is...

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...

Insider Versus Outsider: Navigating Top Data Loss Threats

It’s no surprise that cloud adoption has increased considerably in the last year, as organizations sought to adapt to the rapid transition to remote work amid the pandemic. However, what’s shocking is that despite the many advantages cloud and software-as-a-service SaaS applications provide...

Bad Apple: App Store Rife with Fraud, Fleeceware

A new analysis from the Washington Post reveals just how widespread fraud is across the Apple App Store, while also offering glimpse into the revenue flowing into Cupertino generated by those malicious activities. The Apple App Store has been under heightened scrutiny for maintaining its iron gri...

Microsoft Offers Up To $30K For Teams Bugs

Microsoft wants to send the message the company is serious about the security of its popular Teams desktop application and it’s willing to put some cash behind the talk. A new bug-bounty program offers up to $30,000 for security vulnerabilities, with top payouts going to those with the most...

CopperStealer Malware Targets Facebook and Instagram Business Accounts

A malware that until now has gone undocumented has been quietly hijacking online accounts of advertisers and users of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google and other web giants since July 2019 and then using them for nefarious activity, researchers have found. Dubbed CopperStealer, the malware acts...

Ticketmaster Coughs Up $10 Million Fine After Hacking Rival Business

Ticketmaster must pay a hefty $10 million fine after several employees utilized unlawfully obtained passwords to hack a rival company’s computer systems – in attempts to “choke off” its business. The American ticket sales and distribution giant, which is owned by Live Nation, in 2013 hired an...

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...

Cryptologists Crack Zodiac Killer's 340 Cipher

A remote team of three hobbyist cryptologists have solved one of the Zodiac Killer’s cipher after a half century. And while the name of the elusive serial killer remains hidden, the breakthrough represents a triumph for cryptology and the basic building blocks of cybersecurity — access control an...

Think-Tanks Under Attack by Foreign APTs, CISA Warns

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA and the FBI have issued a warning on what they say are persistent, continued cyberattacks by advanced persistent threat APT actors targeting U.S. think-tanks. The attackers are looking to steal sensitive information, acquire user credentia...

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...

34M Records from 17 Companies Up for Sale in Cybercrime Forum

A whopping 34 million user records have materialized on an underground sales forum, which cybercriminals claim are gleaned from 17 different corporate data breaches. According to reports, the data appeared late last week, and the theft appears to be the work of a single person or group. The...

Feds: Iran Behind 'Proud Boys' Email Attacks on Democratic Voters

Federal officials claim that Iranian threat actors are behind two separate email campaigns that assailed Democratic voters this week with threats to “vote for Trump or else.” The campaigns claimed to be from violent extremist group Proud Boys. Two specific email campaigns — one on Tuesday Oct. 20...

PoetRAT Resurfaces in Attacks in Azerbaijan Amid Escalating Conflict

A new iteration of the PoetRAT spyware, sporting improvements to operational security, code efficiency and obfuscation, is making the rounds in Azerbaijan, targeting the public sector and other key organizations as the country’s conflict with Armenia over disputed territory intensifies. Threat...

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...

News Wrap: AWS Cryptojacking Worm, IBM Privacy Lawsuit and More

Threatpost editors Lindsey O’Donnell-Welch and Tara Seals discuss the top security news stories of the week ended Aug. 21, including: IBM, the owner of the Weather Channel mobile app, has reached a settlement with the Los Angeles city attorney’s office after a 2019 lawsuit alleged that the app wa...

Cisco, Zoom and Others Must Bolster Security, Say Privacy Chiefs

Global privacy commissioners issued a joint public decry against leading video conferencing companies such as Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Zoom to demand the companies beef up their security and privacy strategies. The critique was delivered via an open letter published by data protection and...

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...

NSO Group Impersonates Facebook Security Team to Spread Spyware — Report

According to an investigative journalist team, the Israeli authors of the infamous Pegasus mobile spyware, NSO Group, have been using a spoofed Facebook login page, crafted to look like an internal Facebook security team portal, to lure victims in. The news comes as Facebook alleges that NSO Grou...

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...

Hackers Leak Biopharmaceutical Firm's Data Stolen in Ransomware Attack

The Clop ransomware group attacked biopharmaceutical company ExecuPharm and reportedly leaked some of the company’s compromised data on underground forums. ExecuPharm, a Pennsylvania-based subsidiary of the U.S. biopharmaceutical giant Parexel, provides clinical trial management tools for...

PPE, COVID-19 Medical Supplies Targeted by BEC Scams

Much has been publicized about the shortage of personal protective equipment PPE and other supplies for healthcare facilities in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the FBI is warning that threat actors are taking advantage of efforts to procure PPE and critical equipment such as...

Tekya Malware Threatens Millions of Android Users via Google Play

Researchers have discovered a new family of auto-clicker malware that commits mobile ad fraud, lurking in 56 apps on the Google Play store. Collectively, they have been downloaded nearly a million times worldwide. A team from Check Point Software recently discovered the malware, dubbed Tekya, whi...