Cybersecurity

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged a 39-year-old U.K. national for perpetrating a hack-to-trade fraud scheme that netted him nearly $3.75 million in illegal profits. Robert Westbrook of London was arrested last week and is expected to be extradited to the U.S. to face charges related to securities fraud, wire fraud, and five counts of computer fraud. According to the court Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Hold onto your hats, folks, because the cybersecurity world is anything but quiet! Last week, we dodged a bullet when we discovered vulnerabilities in CUPS that could've opened the door to remote attacks. Google's switch to Rust is paying off big time, slashing memory-related vulnerabilities in Android. But it wasn't all good news – Kaspersky's forced exit from the US market left users with more Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Attackers are increasingly turning to session hijacking to get around widespread MFA adoption. The data supports this, as: 147,000 token replay attacks were detected by Microsoft in 2023, a 111% increase year-over-year (Microsoft).  Attacks on session cookies now happen in the same order of magnitude as password-based attacks (Google). But session hijacking isn’t a new technique – so Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Imagine a sophisticated cyberattack cripples your organization’s most critical productivity and collaboration tool — the platform you rely on for daily operations. In the blink of an eye, hackers encrypt your emails, files, and crucial business data stored in Microsoft 365, holding it hostage using ransomware. Productivity grinds to a halt and your IT team races to assess the damage as the clock Posted from: Click here for the full article .

The threat actor known as Storm-0501 has targeted government, manufacturing, transportation, and law enforcement sectors in the U.S. to stage ransomware attacks. The multi-stage attack campaign is designed to compromise hybrid cloud environments and perform lateral movement from on-premises to cloud environment, ultimately resulting in data exfiltration, credential theft, tampering, persistent Posted from: Click here for the full article .

In today's fast-evolving digital landscape, cybersecurity has become a cornerstone of organizational resilience. As cyber threats grow increasingly sophisticated, the demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals has never been higher. Whether you're a seasoned cyber professional or just starting your journey, signing up for the GIAC Newsletter ensures you're always informed and equipped for Posted from: Click here for the full article .

A critical security flaw has been disclosed in the NVIDIA Container Toolkit that, if successfully exploited, could allow threat actors to break out of the confines of a container and gain full access to the underlying host. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-0132, carries a CVSS score of 9.0 out of a maximum of 10.0. It has been addressed in NVIDIA Container Toolkit version v1.16.2 and Posted from: Click here for the full article .

As many as 25 websites linked to the Kurdish minority have been compromised as part of a watering hole attack designed to harvest sensitive information for over a year and a half. French cybersecurity firm Sekoia, which disclosed details of the campaign dubbed SilentSelfie, described the intrusion set as long-running, with first signs of infection detected as far back as December 2022. The Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Many businesses rely on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) to assess the severity of vulnerabilities for prioritization. While these scores provide some insight into the potential impact of a vulnerability, they don’t factor in real-world threat data, such as the likelihood of exploitation. With new vulnerabilities discovered daily, teams don’t have the time - or the budget - to Posted from: Click here for the full article .

An advanced threat actor with an India nexus has been observed using multiple cloud service providers to facilitate credential harvesting, malware delivery, and command-and-control (C2). Web infrastructure and security company Cloudflare is tracking the activity under the name SloppyLemming, which is also called Outrider Tiger and Fishing Elephant. "Between late 2022 to present, SloppyLemming Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Nation-state threat actors backed by Beijing broke into a "handful" of U.S. internet service providers (ISPs) as part of a cyber espionage campaign orchestrated to glean sensitive information, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The activity has been attributed to a threat actor that Microsoft tracks as Salt Typhoon, which is also known as FamousSparrow and GhostEmperor. "Investigators Posted from: Click here for the full article .

A now-patched security vulnerability in OpenAI's ChatGPT app for macOS could have made it possible for attackers to plant long-term persistent spyware into the artificial intelligence (AI) tool's memory. The technique, dubbed SpAIware, could be abused to facilitate "continuous data exfiltration of any information the user typed or responses received by ChatGPT, including any future chat sessions Posted from: Click here for the full article .

A now-patched security vulnerability in OpenAI's ChatGPT app for macOS could have made it possible for attackers to plant long-term persistent spyware into the artificial intelligence (AI) tool's memory. The technique, dubbed SpAIware, could be abused to facilitate "continuous data exfiltration of any information the user typed or responses received by ChatGPT, including any future chat sessions Posted from: Click here for the full article .

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday added a critical security flaw impacting Ivanti Virtual Traffic Manager (vTM) to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2024-7593 (CVSS score: 9.8), which could be exploited by a remote unauthenticated attacker to bypass the Posted from: Click here for the full article .

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) said it's proposing a ban on the import or sale of connected vehicles that integrate software and hardware made by foreign adversaries, particularly that of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Russia. "The proposed rule focuses on hardware and software integrated into the Vehicle Connectivity System (VCS) and software integrated into the Automated Posted from: Click here for the full article .

SaaS applications contain a wealth of sensitive data and are central to business operations. Despite this, far too many organizations rely on half measures and hope their SaaS stack will remain secure. Unfortunately, this approach is lacking and will leave security teams blind to threat prevention and detection, as well as open to regulatory violations, data leaks, and significant breaches. If Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new version of an Android banking trojan called Octo that comes with improved capabilities to conduct device takeover (DTO) and perform fraudulent transactions. The new version has been codenamed Octo2 by the malware author, Dutch security firm ThreatFabric said in a report shared with The Hacker News, adding campaigns distributing the malware have Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Hold on tight, folks, because last week's cybersecurity landscape was a rollercoaster! We witnessed everything from North Korean hackers dangling "dream jobs" to expose a new malware, to a surprising twist in the Apple vs. NSO Group saga. Even the seemingly mundane world of domain names and cloud configurations had its share of drama. Let's dive into the details and see what lessons we can glean Posted from: Click here for the full article .

A critical security flaw has been disclosed in the Microchip Advanced Software Framework (ASF) that, if successfully exploited, could lead to remote code execution. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-7490, carries a CVSS score of 9.5 out of a maximum of 10.0. It has been described as a stack-based overflow vulnerability in ASF's implementation of the tinydhcp server stemming from a lack of Posted from: Click here for the full article .

An Iranian advanced persistent threat (APT) threat actor likely affiliated with the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) is now acting as an initial access facilitator that provides remote access to target networks. Google-owned Mandiant is tracking the activity cluster under the moniker UNC1860, which it said shares similarities with intrusion sets tracked by Microsoft, Cisco Talos, and Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Ivanti has revealed that a critical security flaw impacting Cloud Service Appliance (CSA) has come under active exploitation in the wild. The new vulnerability, assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2024-8963, carries a CVSS score of 9.4 out of a maximum of 10.0. It was "incidentally addressed" by the company as part of CSA 4.6 Patch 519 and CSA 5.0. "Path Traversal in the Ivanti CSA before 4.6 Patch Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Threat actors have been observed targeting the construction sector by infiltrating the FOUNDATION Accounting Software, according to new findings from Huntress. "Attackers have been observed brute-forcing the software at scale, and gaining access simply by using the product’s default credentials," the cybersecurity company said. Targets of the emerging threat include plumbing, HVAC (heating, Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Microsoft has revealed that a financially motivated threat actor has been observed using a ransomware strain called INC for the first time to target the healthcare sector in the U.S. The tech giant's threat intelligence team is tracking the activity under the name Vanilla Tempest (formerly DEV-0832). "Vanilla Tempest receives hand-offs from GootLoader infections by the threat actor Storm-0494, Posted from: Click here for the full article .

GitLab has released patches to address a critical flaw impacting Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE) that could result in an authentication bypass. The vulnerability is rooted in the ruby-saml library (CVE-2024-45409, CVSS score: 10.0), which could allow an attacker to log in as an arbitrary user within the vulnerable system. It was addressed by the maintainers last week. The Posted from: Click here for the full article .

A Chinese national has been indicted in the U.S. on charges of conducting a "multi-year" spear-phishing campaign to obtain unauthorized access to computer software and source code created by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), research universities, and private companies. Song Wu, 39, has been charged with 14 counts of wire fraud and 14 counts of aggravated identity theft. Posted from: Click here for the full article .

The evolution of software always catches us by surprise. I remember betting against the IBM computer Deep Blue during its chess match against the grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997, only to be stunned when the machine claimed victory. Fast forward to today, would we have imagined just three years ago that a chatbot could write essays, handle customer support calls, and even craft commercial Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Broadcom on Tuesday released updates to address a critical security flaw impacting VMware vCenter Server that could pave the way for remote code execution. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-38812 (CVSS score: 9.8), has been described as a heap-overflow vulnerability in the DCE/RPC protocol. "A malicious actor with network access to vCenter Server may trigger this vulnerability by sending a Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Since launching ChatGPT in 2022, OpenAI has defied expectations with a steady stream of product announcements and enhancements. One such announcement came on May 16, 2024, and for most consumers, it probably felt innocuous. Titled “Improvements to data analysis in ChatGPT,” the post outlines how users can add files directly from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. It’s worth mentioning Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Since launching ChatGPT in 2022, OpenAI has defied expectations with a steady stream of product announcements and enhancements. One such announcement came on May 16, 2024, and for most consumers, it probably felt innocuous. Titled “Improvements to data analysis in ChatGPT,” the post outlines how users can add files directly from Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. It’s worth mentioning Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is warning of an "ongoing" global threat that's targeting cryptocurrency users with clipper malware with the goal of facilitating financial fraud. Clipper malware, also called ClipBankers, is a type of malware that Microsoft calls cryware, which comes with capabilities to monitor a victim's clipboard activity and steal sensitive data a user copies, including Posted from: Click here for the full article .

SolarWinds has released fixes to address two security flaws in its Access Rights Manager (ARM) software, including a critical vulnerability that could result in remote code execution. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-28991, is rated 9.0 out of a maximum of 10.0 on the CVSS scoring system. It has been described as an instance of deserialization of untrusted data. "SolarWinds Access Rights Posted from: Click here for the full article .

A now-patched critical security flaw impacting Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Composer could have been exploited to achieve remote code execution on cloud servers by means of a supply chain attack technique called dependency confusion. The vulnerability has been codenamed CloudImposer by Tenable Research. "The vulnerability could have allowed an attacker to hijack an internal software dependency Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Ivanti has revealed that a newly patched security flaw in its Cloud Service Appliance (CSA) has come under active exploitation in the wild. The high-severity vulnerability in question is CVE-2024-8190 (CVSS score: 7.2), which allows remote code execution under certain circumstances. "An OS command injection vulnerability in Ivanti Cloud Services Appliance versions 4.6 Patch 518 and before allows Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new malware campaign targeting Linux environments to conduct illicit cryptocurrency mining. The activity, which specifically singles out the Oracle Weblogic server, is designed to deliver malware dubbed Hadooken, according to cloud security firm Aqua. "When Hadooken is executed, it drops a Tsunami malware and deploys a crypto miner," security researcher Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Nearly 1.3 million Android-based TV boxes running outdated versions of the operating system and belonging to users spanning 197 countries have been infected by a new malware dubbed Vo1d (aka Void). "It is a backdoor that puts its components in the system storage area and, when commanded by attackers, is capable of secretly downloading and installing third-party software," Russian antivirus Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Iraqi government networks have emerged as the target of an "elaborate" cyber attack campaign orchestrated by an Iran state-sponsored threat actor called OilRig. The attacks singled out Iraqi organizations such as the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, cybersecurity company Check Point said in a new analysis. OilRig, also called APT34, Crambus, Cobalt Gypsy, GreenBug, Posted from: Click here for the full article .

The operators of the mysterious Quad7 botnet are actively evolving by compromising several brands of SOHO routers and VPN appliances by leveraging a combination of both known and unknown security flaws. Targets include devices from TP-LINK, Zyxel, Asus, Axentra, D-Link, and NETGEAR, according to a new report by French cybersecurity company Sekoia. "The Quad7 botnet operators appear to be Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new set of malicious Python packages that target software developers under the guise of coding assessments. "The new samples were tracked to GitHub projects that have been linked to previous, targeted attacks in which developers are lured using fake job interviews," ReversingLabs researcher Karlo Zanki said. The activity has been assessed to be part of Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Ivanti has released software updates to address multiple security flaws impacting Endpoint Manager (EPM), including 10 critical vulnerabilities that could result in remote code execution. A brief description of the issues is as follows - CVE-2024-29847 (CVSS score: 10.0) - A deserialization of untrusted data vulnerability that allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to achieve code execution. Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Shadow apps, a segment of Shadow IT, are SaaS applications purchased without the knowledge of the security team. While these applications may be legitimate, they operate within the blind spots of the corporate security team and expose the company to attackers.  Shadow apps may include instances of software that the company is already using. For example, a dev team may onboard their own Posted from: Click here for the full article .

The threat actor tracked as Mustang Panda has refined its malware arsenal to include new tools in order to facilitate data exfiltration and the deployment of next-stage payloads, according to new findings from Trend Micro. The cybersecurity firm, which is monitoring the activity cluster under the name Earth Preta, said it observed "the propagation of PUBLOAD via a variant of the worm HIUPAN." Posted from: Click here for the full article .

The proliferation of cybersecurity tools has created an illusion of security. Organizations often believe that by deploying a firewall, antivirus software, intrusion detection systems, identity threat detection and response, and other tools, they are adequately protected. However, this approach not only fails to address the fundamental issue of the attack surface but also introduces dangerous Posted from: Click here for the full article .

The China-linked advanced persistent threat (APT) group known as Mustang Panda has been observed weaponizing Visual Studio Code software as part of espionage operations targeting government entities in Southeast Asia. "This threat actor used Visual Studio Code's embedded reverse shell feature to gain a foothold in target networks," Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 researcher Tom Fakterman said in a Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Designed to be more than a one-time assessment— Wing Security’s SaaS Pulse provides organizations with actionable insights and continuous oversight into their SaaS security posture—and it’s free! Introducing SaaS Pulse: Free Continuous SaaS Risk Management  Just like waiting for a medical issue to become critical before seeing a doctor, organizations can’t afford to overlook the constantly Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Progress Software has released security updates for a maximum-severity flaw in LoadMaster and Multi-Tenant (MT) hypervisor that could result in the execution of arbitrary operating system commands. Tracked as CVE-2024-7591 (CVSS score: 10.0), the vulnerability has been described as an improper input validation bug that results in OS command injection. "It is possible for unauthenticated, remote Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Two men have been indicted in the U.S. for their alleged involvement in managing a dark web marketplace called WWH Club that specializes in the sale of sensitive personal and financial information. Alex Khodyrev, a 35-year-old Kazakhstan national, and Pavel Kublitskii, a 37-year-old Russian national, have been charged with conspiracy to commit access device fraud and conspiracy to commit wire Posted from: Click here for the full article .

SonicWall has revealed that a recently patched critical security flaw impacting SonicOS may have come under active exploitation, making it essential that users apply the patches as soon as possible. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-40766, carries a CVSS score of 9.3 out of a maximum of 10. "An improper access control vulnerability has been identified in the SonicWall SonicOS management Posted from: Click here for the full article .

A recently disclosed security flaw in OSGeo GeoServer GeoTools has been exploited as part of multiple campaigns to deliver cryptocurrency miners, botnet malware such as Condi and JenX, and a known backdoor called SideWalk. The security vulnerability is a critical remote code execution bug (CVE-2024-36401, CVSS score: 9.8) that could allow malicious actors to take over susceptible instances. In Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Threat actors have long leveraged typosquatting as a means to trick unsuspecting users into visiting malicious websites or downloading booby-trapped software and packages. These attacks typically involve registering domains or packages with names slightly altered from their legitimate counterparts (e.g., goog1e.com vs. google.com). Adversaries targeting open-source repositories across Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered yet another critical security flaw in the LiteSpeed Cache plugin for WordPress that could allow unauthenticated users to take control of arbitrary accounts. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-44000 (CVSS score: 7.5), impacts versions before and including 6.4.1. It has been addressed in version 6.5.0.1.  "The plugin suffers from an Posted from: Click here for the full article .

A new security flaw has been addressed in the Apache OFBiz open-source enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that, if successfully exploited, could lead to unauthenticated remote code execution on Linux and Windows. The high-severity vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-45195 (CVSS score: 7.5), affects all versions of the software before 18.12.16. "An attacker with no valid Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Veeam has shipped security updates to address a total of 18 security flaws impacting its software products, including five critical vulnerabilities that could result in remote code execution. The list of shortcomings is below - CVE-2024-40711 (CVSS score: 9.8) - A vulnerability in Veeam Backup & Replication that allows unauthenticated remote code execution. CVE-2024-42024 (CVSS score: 9.1 Posted from: Click here for the full article .

It’s been a decade since the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) introduced its Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 1.0. Created following a 2013 Executive Order, NIST was tasked with designing a voluntary cybersecurity framework that would help organizations manage cyber risk, providing guidance based on established standards and best practices. While this version was originally Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Threat actors are likely employing a tool designated for red teaming exercises to serve malware, according to new findings from Cisco Talos. The program in question is a payload generation framework called MacroPack, which is used to generate Office documents, Visual Basic scripts, Windows shortcuts, and other formats for penetration testing and social engineering assessments. It was developed Posted from: Click here for the full article .

The Chinese-speaking threat actor known as Earth Lusca has been observed using a new backdoor dubbed KTLVdoor as part of a cyber attack targeting an unnamed trading company based in China. The previously unreported malware is written in Golang, and thus is a cross-platform weapon capable of targeting both Microsoft Windows and Linux systems. "KTLVdoor is a highly obfuscated malware that Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Google has released its monthly security updates for the Android operating system to address a known security flaw that it said has come under active exploitation in the wild. The high-severity vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-32896 (CVSS score: 7.8), relates to a case of privilege escalation in the Android Framework component. According to the description of the bug in the NIST National Posted from: Click here for the full article .

A new supply chain attack technique targeting the Python Package Index (PyPI) registry has been exploited in the wild in an attempt to infiltrate downstream organizations. It has been codenamed Revival Hijack by software supply chain security firm JFrog, which said the attack method could be used to hijack 22,000 existing PyPI packages and result in "hundreds of thousands" of malicious package Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Account takeover attacks have emerged as one of the most persistent and damaging threats to cloud-based SaaS environments. Yet despite significant investments in traditional security measures, many organizations continue to struggle with preventing these attacks. A new report, "Why Account Takeover Attacks Still Succeed, and Why the Browser is Your Secret Weapon in Stopping Them" argues that the Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Zyxel has released software updates to address a critical security flaw impacting certain access point (AP) and security router versions that could result in the execution of unauthorized commands. Tracked as CVE-2024-7261 (CVSS score: 9.8), the vulnerability has been described as a case of operating system (OS) command injection. "The improper neutralization of special elements in the Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Account takeover attacks have emerged as one of the most persistent and damaging threats to cloud-based SaaS environments. Yet despite significant investments in traditional security measures, many organizations continue to struggle with preventing these attacks. A new report, "Why Account Takeover Attacks Still Succeed, and Why the Browser is Your Secret Weapon in Stopping Them" argues that the Posted from: Click here for the full article .

A new malware campaign is spoofing Palo Alto Networks' GlobalProtect VPN software to deliver a variant of the WikiLoader (aka WailingCrab) loader by means of a search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. The malvertising activity, observed in June 2024, is a departure from previously observed tactics wherein the malware has been propagated via traditional phishing emails, Unit 42 researchers Posted from: Click here for the full article .

A hacktivist group known as Head Mare has been linked to cyber attacks that exclusively target organizations located in Russia and Belarus. "Head Mare uses more up-to-date methods for obtaining initial access," Kaspersky said in a Monday analysis of the group's tactics and tools. "For instance, the attackers took advantage of the relatively recent CVE-2023-38831 vulnerability in WinRAR, which Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Cybersecurity researchers have unpacked the inner workings of a new ransomware variant called Cicada3301 that shares similarities with the now-defunct BlackCat (aka ALPHV) operation. "It appears that Cicada3301 ransomware primarily targets small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), likely through opportunistic attacks that exploit vulnerabilities as the initial access vector," cybersecurity Posted from: Click here for the full article .

Eight vulnerabilities have been uncovered in Microsoft applications for macOS that an adversary could exploit to gain elevated privileges or access sensitive data by circumventing the operating system's permissions-based model, which revolves around the Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) framework. "If successful, the adversary could gain any privileges already granted to the affected Posted from: Click here for the full article .

A 57-year-old man from the U.S. state of Missouri has been arrested in connection with a failed data extortion campaign that targeted his former employer. Daniel Rhyne of Kansas City, Missouri, has been charged with one count of extortion in relation to a threat to cause damage to a protected computer, one count of intentional damage to a protected computer, and one count of wire fraud. He was Posted from: Click here for the full article .

The world of cybersecurity is in a constant state of flux. New vulnerabilities emerge daily, and attackers are becoming more sophisticated. In this high-stakes game, security leaders need every advantage they can get. That's where Artificial Intelligence (AI) comes in. AI isn't just a buzzword; it's a game-changer for vulnerability management. AI is poised to revolutionize vulnerability Posted from: Click here for the full article .