Top Mobile Security Stories of 2019

Top Mobile Security Stories of 2019 Cybercriminals are increasingly and successfully targeting mobile users, as our look back on the Top 10 2019 mobile security stories show. For enterprises that are embracing an ever-more-mobile workforce, escalating mobile attack vectors significantly widen the...

Google Chrome Affected By Magellan 2.0 Flaws

Researchers have disclosed five recently-patched vulnerabilities in the Google Chrome browser that could be exploited by an attacker to remotely execute code. The vulnerabilities, dubbed Magellan 2.0 by the Tencent Blade team of researchers who discovered them, exist in the SQLite database...

Facebook Security Debacles: 2019 Year in Review

Facebook Security: 2019 Year in Review Facebook spent the past year both trying to deal with the consequences of the Cambridge Analytica scandal that rocked its public relations in 2018, as well as other issues afflicting the social media platform – from data security challenges to political...

Podcast: The Roadblocks and Opportunities For Women in Cybersecurity

In 2019, diversity in the cybersecurity was thrust to the forefront with recognition from both vendors and experts. The tech industry is facing challenges around diversity in general, but women are particularly underrepresented. And with an estimated 3.5 million jobs are expected to remain unfill...

Critical Citrix Bug Puts 80,000 Corporate LANs at Risk

Digital workspace and enterprise networks vendor Citrix has announced a critical vulnerability in the Citrix Application Delivery Controller ADC and Citrix Gateway. If exploited, it could allow unauthenticated attackers to gain remote access to a company’s local network and carry out arbitrary co...

Combining AI and Playbooks to Predict Cyberattacks

When organizations invest in AI, they are not only able to automate menial tasks like patching, but they can also create an automated system that looks for and discovers attacks, not only after the fact, but even before they occur. This predictive capability becomes increasingly necessary as...

Top 10 Breaches and Leaky Server Screw Ups of 2019

Top 10 Breaches and Leaky Server Screw Ups of 2019 From massive credential spills on the Dark Web and hacked data to card-skimming and rich profiles exposed by way of cloud misconfigurations, 2019 was a notable year for data breaches. Big names like Capital One, Macy’s and Sprint were impacted, a...

Biggest Malware Threats of 2019

One out of five computer users were subject to at least one malware-class web attack in 2019. This past year cities such as New Orleans were under ransomware siege by the likes of malware Ryuk. Zero-day vulnerabilities were also in no short supply with targets such as Google Chrome and Operation...

The Case for Cyber-Risk Prospectuses

Sometimes our investments lose money. It’s not for lack of trying, indeed most investment firms make money off the growth of our investments. But despite best intentions and detailed investment plans, we sometimes end up with less than that with which we started. This can be due to outside forces...

Twitter Fixes Bug that Enabled Takeover of Android App Accounts

Twitter for Android users are being urged to update their app to avoid a security bug that allows a malicious user to access private account data and could also allow an attacker to take control of accounts to send tweets and direct messages. The warning comes from Twitter who said there are no...

Top 10 IoT Disasters of 2019

IoT Disasters 2019 Though more light was shed around insecure Internet of Things IoT devices in 2019 – consequently leading to more calls for regulation– connected devices themselves seemingly stayed just as insecure. From privacy concerns in smart home devices, to botnets evolving to launch...

Podcast: What We've Learned from the Year of the Breach

This podcast is sponsored by Arctic Wolf. Large-scale data breaches hitting organizations like Capital One and Georgia Tech in 2019 show that companies continue to be targeted in malicious cyberattacks that expose customers’ personal data and valuable records. Threatpost host Cody Hackett sat dow...

Top Zero Days, Data Breaches and Security Stories of 2019: News Wrap

From data breaches and the ransomware epidemic to new regulation and an outcry around data privacy, 2019 has been a wild ride for the infosec community. Threatpost breaks down the top news stories, trends and topics for this year. Listen to the full podcast or download direct. For a lightly-edite...

Greta Thunberg: Emotet's Person of the Year

There’s no doubt that teenage climate-change activist and Time Person of the Year Greta Thunberg inspires people around the world – and it turns out, this includes cybercriminals. More specifically, she’s inspiring as an opportunity: According to the Proofpoint Threat Insight team, a global...

It’s Time for Your SOC to Level Up

Given an ever-increasing cyberattack surface, a global security workforce shortage, as well as an increased frequency and sophistication of attacks, security operations centers SOCs need to leverage better tools – namely artificial intelligence AI – in order to manage threats. An organization’s S...

Wawa Data Breach: Malware Stole Customer Payment Card Info

Popular convenience-store chain Wawa Inc. has disclosed a data breach potentially affecting all of its 850 locations. The breach stemmed from malware on its in-store payment processing systems that collected customers’ payment card data – for almost 10 months. The popular chain of Wawa convenienc...

Apple's Bug Bounty Opens for Business, $1M Payout Included

Apple has officially opened its historically private bug-bounty program to the public, while boosting its top payout to $1 million. Bounty hunters seeking that $1 million will need to provide a working exploit for a zero-click remote chain with full kernel execution and persistence on Apple’s...

267M Facebook Users’ Phone Numbers Exposed Online

A database exposing the names, phone numbers and Facebook user IDs of millions of platform users was left unsecured on the web for nearly two weeks before it was removed. Security researcher Bob Diachenko, who along with Comparitech discovered the unsecured Elasticsearch database, believe it...

The Scammer Force is Strong with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Whenever the internet lights up in anticipation of anything, there are fraudsters and scammers waiting in the wings to take advantage of it. This week’s premiere of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is no exception, with cybercriminals eyeing one of the world’s most beloved franchises as rich fodd...

Honda Leaks Data of 26K North American Customers

An exposed database was discovered leaking the personal information of 26,000 North American Honda owners and their vehicles. The Elasticsearch database in question is owned by the American Honda Motor Co., a North American subsidiary of the Honda Motor Co. The cloud misconfiguration exposed the...

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...

Ring Plagued by Security Issues, Flood of Hacks

Serious security holes in the Ring smart doorbell have been uncovered, according to a new investigation. For instance, Ring owners aren’t notified of suspicious login alerts when devices are accessed on various IP addresses — and there are seemingly no limitations for incorrect login attempts. Th...

Microsoft Issues Out-of-Band Update for SharePoint Bug

UPDATE Microsoft has added a fresh CVE to its security portal, linking it to the existing November security updates the patch itself was already included in the updates, but not specifically named. The CVE describes a vulnerability in SharePoint Server. According to a Microsoft Security Advisory,...

TP-Link Routers Give Cyberattackers an Open Door to Business Networks

A firmware vulnerability in TP-Link Archer C5 v4 routers used in enterprise and home environments could allow unauthorized, remote access to the device with administrative privileges. The bug CVE-2017-7405 affects models that run firmware version 3.16.0 0.9.1 v600c.0 Build 180124 Rel.28919n. Firs...

LifeLabs Pays Hackers Who Accessed 15M Customers’ Lab Test Results

LifeLabs, a Canadian laboratory testing company, said it has paid hackers after they accessed the data of 15 million customers – including highly-sensitive lab test results. In a letter sent Tuesday to customers, LifeLabs said that the breach affected customer information including names,...

Rooster Teeth Attack Showcases New Magecart Approach

The online store for the Rooster Teeth video-streaming service has been hit with a malicious web redirect attack by Magecart, which allowed the cybercriminals to harvest users’ payment-card details. The attack marks a slight departure from the group’s typical tactics. Rooster Teeth, which offers...

The Best Templates for Posting Cybersecurity Jobs

The cybersecurity of a company is heavily reliant upon the skills and knowledge of the people who install, manage and operate its security products. This means that recruiting and nurturing the best security team possible should be a CISO’s top priority. Cynet’s Ultimate Cybersecurity Job Posting...

Epilepsy Foundation Bombarded with Seizure-Triggering Twitter Posts

The Epilepsy Foundation on Monday filed a criminal complaint against a number of undisclosed Twitter users after they bombarded its Twitter feed in November with a barrage of posts of flashing or strobing lights — exposing its thousands of followers to potential seizure-triggering images. The...

Alexa, Google Home Eavesdropping Hack Not Yet Fixed

Months after researchers disclosed a new way to exploit Alexa and Google Home smart speakers to spy on users, those same researchers now warn that Amazon and Google have yet to create effective ways to prevent the eavesdropping hack. The researchers who in October disclosed the “Smart Spies” hack...

Echobot IoT Botnet Casts a Wide Net with Raft of Exploit Additions

A variant of the Mirai Internet of Things IoT botnet known as “Echobot” has added 13 more vulnerability exploits to its bag of infiltration tricks, according to researchers. These target a range of devices, including routers, firewalls, IP cameras, server management utilities, a programmable logi...

N.J.'s Largest Hospital System Pays Up in Ransomware Attack

New Jersey’s largest hospital system said that it has paid hackers a ransom after a ransomware attack disrupted its services earlier this month. Hackensack Meridian Health, a $6 billion non-profit health provider system based in Edison, N.J., operates 17 hospitals, nursing homes and outpatient...

Understanding the Risk of Zero-Day Exploits

To protect your home from thieves, the easiest thing you can do is lock your windows and doors every time you leave the house. Similarly, in cybersecurity, the easiest way to protect your network is to keep your hardware and applications up to date with the latest security patches. But how do you...

GitLab Doles Out Half a Million Bucks to White Hats

GitLab has awarded a total of $565,650 in security bug bounties to 171 researchers who reported valid vulnerabilities in the past year — and has announced the winners of its latest hacking contest. GitLab, which started out as a web-based Git repository manager before moving into the DevOps...

Pairing Privacy and Security with Digital Identities in Retail

As today’s customer expectations for digital shopping continue to escalate, many online retailers are leveraging consumers’ unique digital identities to provide a seamless and secure account registration and login process. However, it’s important to recognize the security and privacy implications...

Elegant sLoad Carries Out Spying, Payload Delivery in BITS

A fresh analysis of the trojan sLoad sheds light on the growing trend of advanced malware “living off the land” of a targeted system and successfully evading detection and carrying out malicious activities. SLoad is a PowerShell downloader type of malware and is known for its impressive...

Critical Bug in WordPress Plugins Open Sites to Hacker Takeovers

UPDATE Security researchers are warning users of two WordPress plugins – made by Brainstorm Force – that they need to patch a “major” vulnerability that could allow hackers to gain administrative access to any website using the plugins. According to Brainstorm Force, it is only aware of one...

FIN8 Targets Card Data at Fuel Pumps

The notorious FIN8 cybercrime group has a new target when it comes to skimming payment-card details from consumers: Point-of-sale PoS systems used at fuel pumps at gas stations. Visa warned this week in a public alert posted online that its Payment Fraud Disruption PFD department has seen at leas...

Critical Remote Code-Execution Bugs Threaten Global Power Plants

Siemens industrial equipment commonly found in fossil-fuel and large-scale renewable power plants are riddled with multiple security vulnerabilities, the most severe of which are critical bugs allowing remote code-execution. The affected product is SPPA-T3000, a distributed control system used fo...

All in the (Ransomware) Family: 10 Ways to Take Action

In a world where everything is an “as-a-service,” it’s no surprise that ransomware-as-a-service RaaS is a hot ticket on the Dark Web. FortiGuard Labs has observed at least two significant ransomware families – Sodinokibi and Nemty – now being deployed as RaaS solutions. Meanwhile, cybercriminals...

Maze Ransomware Behind Pensacola Attack, Data Breach Looms

The Maze ransomware is likely the culprit behind the recently reported cyberattack on Pensacola, Fla. that occurred earlier this week, which downed systems citywide. In an email sent to county commissioners, IT administrators said that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said that the...

Your Smart Christmas Lights Are Safer Than They Were Last Year

Thinking about putting up smart Christmas lights but worried about your internet of things IoT security? You can rest a bit easier this year because at least one festive light option is a bit safer than it used to be, new research has found. Manufacturers of the Twinkly smart lights have taken in...

Retail Org Cyberattacks Set to Soar 20% in 2019 Holiday Season

As cybercriminals grow more sophisticated and holiday shoppers continue to flock online, researchers warn internet-based retailers could face a 20 percent uptick in cyberattacks this holiday season compared to last year. In the report titled “Holiday Season Cyber Heists”, released Thursday mornin...

Smart Krampus-3PC Malware Targets iPhone Users Online

A malicious web redirect campaign affecting iPhone users has impacted more than 100 publisher websites, including online newspapers and international weekly news magazines. According to The Media Trust’s Digital Security & Operations DSO team, iPhone users visiting any of the impacted websites we...

Serious Security Flaws Found in Children's Connected Toys

Various connected toys for children – hot off the shelves from this holiday shopping season – have been found with deep-rooted security issues, including missing authentication for device pairing and a lack of encryption for connected online accounts. The research, formed by a partnership between...

Apple Fixes ‘AirDoS’ Bug That Cripples Nearby iPhones, iPads

Apple fixed a bug in its file-swapping feature AirDrop, Tuesday, which allows nearby hackers to render iPhones and iPads inoperable. The bug opens the door for a type of denial-of-service attack, allowing an attacker to infinitely spam all nearby iPhones and iPads with AirDrop share popup...

Signal Tests Upgraded Cryptography for Groups Function

Signal, the encrypted messaging platform, is planning to launch an upgraded secure group messaging and communities function. Signal’s groups are private, meaning that the service itself doesn’t keep a record of a user’s group memberships, group titles, group avatars or group attributes. But the w...

Modern Intel CPUs Plagued By Plundervolt Attack

Researchers have discovered a new attack impacting modern Intel CPUs, which could allow an attacker to extract highly-sensitive information – such as encryption keys – from affected processors by altering their voltage. The attack, dubbed “Plundervolt,” centers around Intel Software Guard...

Lazarus APT Collaborates with Trickbot's Anchor Project

Researchers have found evidence of a link between global crimeware organization Trickbot and North Korean APT group Lazarus, observing direct collaboration via an all-in-one attack framework developed by Trickbot called Anchor Project. The move appears to be the first time an APT group has aligne...

Microsoft Zaps Actively Exploited Zero-Day Bug

Microsoft has issued fixes for 36 CVEs for December 2019 Patch Tuesday across a range of products, with seven of them rated critical in severity – and one that’s already being exploited in the wild as a zero-day bug. The computing giant’s scheduled security update this month is relatively light,...

Cyberattack Downs Pensacola's City Systems

The city of Pensacola, Fla., said it has been hit by a cyberattack that shut down the city’s computer networks and affected its systems. The attack occurs just days after a shooting occurred Friday at U.S. military base Naval Air Station Pensacola, leaving three dead. Pensacola’s mayor, Grover...