Category: Cyber Security

Every week seems to bring news of another data breach, and it’s no surprise why: securing sensitive data has become harder than ever. And it’s not just because companies are dealing with orders of magnitude more data. Data flows and user roles are constantly shifting, and data is stored across multiple technologies and cloud environments. […]

Jan 20, 2025Ravie LakshmananSupply Chain Attack / Solana Cybersecurity researchers have identified three sets of malicious packages across the npm and Python Package Index (PyPI) repository that come with capabilities to steal data and even delete sensitive data from infected systems. The list of identified packages is below – @async-mutex/mutex, a typosquat of async-mute (npm) […]

Jan 19, 2025Ravie LakshmananSocial Media / Data Privacy Popular video-sharing social network TikTok has officially gone dark in the United States, 2025, as a federal ban on the app comes into effect on January 19, 2025. “We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make […]

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions against a Chinese cybersecurity company and a Shanghai-based cyber actor for their alleged links to the Salt Typhoon group and the recent compromise of the federal agency. “People’s Republic of China-linked (PRC) malicious cyber actors continue to target U.S. government systems, including […]

Jan 17, 2025Ravie LakshmananFirmware Security / Vulnerability Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed three security flaws in Planet Technology’s WGS-804HPT industrial switches that could be chained to achieve pre-authentication remote code execution on susceptible devices. “These switches are widely used in building and home automation systems for a variety of networking applications,” Claroty’s Tomer Goldschmidt said in […]

Jan 17, 2025Ravie LakshmananWeb Security / Botnet Cybersecurity researchers have exposed a new campaign that targets web servers running PHP-based applications to promote gambling platforms in Indonesia. “Over the past two months, a significant volume of attacks from Python-based bots has been observed, suggesting a coordinated effort to exploit thousands of web apps,” Imperva researcher […]

Recent data breaches have highlighted the critical need to improve guest Wi-Fi infrastructure security in modern business environments. Organizations face increasing pressure to protect their networks while providing convenient access to visitors, contractors, temporary staff, and employees with BYOD. Implementing secure guest Wi-Fi infrastructure has become essential for authenticating access, protecting data, maintaining compliance across […]

Jan 17, 2025Ravie LakshmananInsider Threat / Cryptocurrency The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two individuals and four entities for their alleged involvement in illicit revenue generation schemes for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) by dispatching IT workers around the world to obtain employment and draw a steady source […]

Jan 17, 2025Ravie LakshmananCybersecurity / Threat Intelligence Cybersecurity researchers have detailed a new adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) phishing kit that’s capable of Microsoft 365 accounts with an aim to steal credentials and two-factor authentication (2FA) codes since at least October 2024. The nascent phishing kit has been dubbed Sneaky 2FA by French cybersecurity company Sekoia, which detected […]

Austrian privacy non-profit None of Your Business (noyb) has filed complaints accusing companies like TikTok, AliExpress, SHEIN, Temu, WeChat, and Xiaomi of violating data protection regulations in the European Union by unlawfully transferring users’ data to China. The advocacy group is seeking an immediate suspension of such transfers, stating the companies in question cannot shield […]

Jan 16, 2025Ravie LakshmananSpear Phishing / Threat Intelligence The Russian threat actor known as Star Blizzard has been linked to a new spear-phishing campaign that targets victims’ WhatsApp accounts, signaling a departure from its longstanding tradecraft in a likely attempt to evade detection. “Star Blizzard’s targets are most commonly related to government or diplomacy (both […]

Jan 16, 2025The Hacker NewsCertificate Management / Compliance The digital world is exploding. IoT devices are multiplying like rabbits, certificates are piling up faster than you can count, and compliance requirements are tightening by the day. Keeping up with it all can feel like trying to juggle chainsaws while riding a unicycle. Traditional trust management? […]

You can tell the story of the current state of stolen credential-based attacks in three numbers: Stolen credentials were the #1 attacker action in 2023/24, and the breach vector for 80% of web app attacks. (Source: Verizon). Cybersecurity budgets grew again in 2024, with organizations now spending almost $1,100 per user (Source: Forrester). Stolen credentials […]

Jan 16, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Cybersecurity Details have emerged about a now-patched security vulnerability that could allow a bypass of the Secure Boot mechanism in Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) systems. The vulnerability, assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2024-7344 (CVSS score: 6.7), resides in a UEFI application signed by Microsoft’s “Microsoft Corporation UEFI CA 2011” third-party […]

Jan 16, 2025Ravie LakshmananActive Directory / Vulnerability Cybersecurity researchers have found that the Microsoft Active Directory Group Policy that’s designed to disable NT LAN Manager (NTLM) v1 can be trivially bypassed by a misconfiguration. “A simple misconfiguration in on-premise applications can override the Group Policy, effectively negating the Group Policy designed to stop NTLMv1 authentications,” […]

Jan 16, 2025Ravie LakshmananMalware / Ransomware Threat actors have been observed concealing malicious code in images to deliver malware such as VIP Keylogger and 0bj3ctivity Stealer as part of separate campaigns. “In both campaigns, attackers hid malicious code in images they uploaded to archive[.]org, a file-hosting website, and used the same .NET loader to install […]

Jan 16, 2025Ravie LakshmananEndpoint Security / Ransomware Cybersecurity researchers have detailed an attack that involved a threat actor utilizing a Python-based backdoor to maintain persistent access to compromised endpoints and then leveraged this access to deploy the RansomHub ransomware throughout the target network. According to GuidePoint Security, initial access is said to have been facilitated […]

Jan 16, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Endpoint Security Ivanti has rolled out security updates to address several security flaws impacting Avalanche, Application Control Engine, and Endpoint Manager (EPM), including four critical bugs that could lead to information disclosure. All the four critical security flaws, rated 9.8 out of 10.0 on the CVSS scale, are rooted in […]

Jan 15, 2025Ravie LakshmananMalvertising / Malware Cybersecurity researchers have alerted to a new malvertising campaign that’s targeting individuals and businesses advertising via Google Ads by attempting to phish for their credentials via fraudulent ads on Google. “The scheme consists of stealing as many advertiser accounts as possible by impersonating Google Ads and redirecting victims to […]

Jan 15, 2025Ravie LakshmananCryptocurrency / Malware The North Korea-linked Lazarus Group has been attributed to a new cyber attack campaign dubbed Operation 99 that targeted software developers looking for freelance Web3 and cryptocurrency work to deliver malware. “The campaign begins with fake recruiters, posing on platforms like LinkedIn, luring developers with project tests and code […]

Jan 15, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Software Update As many as six security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in the popular Rsync file-synchronizing tool for Unix systems, some of which could be exploited to execute arbitrary code on a client. “Attackers can take control of a malicious server and read/write arbitrary files of any connected client,” the […]

Why does ICS/OT need specific controls and its own cybersecurity budget today? Because treating ICS/OT security with an IT security playbook isn’t just ineffective—it’s high risk. In the rapidly evolving domain of cybersecurity, the specific challenges and needs for Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Operational Technology (OT) security distinctly stand out from traditional IT security. […]

Jan 15, 2025Ravie LakshmananBlockchain / Cryptocurrency Cybersecurity researchers have identified infrastructure links between the North Korean threat actors behind the fraudulent IT worker schemes and a 2016 crowdfunding scam. The new evidence suggests that Pyongyang-based threamoret groups may have pulled off illicit money-making scams that predate the use of IT workers, SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit […]

Jan 15, 2025Ravie LakshmananMalware / Threat Intelligence The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Tuesday disclosed that a court-authorized operation allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to delete PlugX malware from over 4,250 infected computers as part of a “multi-month law enforcement operation.” PlugX, also known as Korplug, is a remote access trojan (RAT) […]

Microsoft kicked off 2025 with a new set of patches for a total of 161 security vulnerabilities across its software portfolio, including three zero-days that have been actively exploited in attacks. Of the 161 flaws, 11 are rated Critical, and 149 are rated Important in severity. One other flaw, a non-Microsoft CVE related to a […]

Jan 15, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Server Security Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed multiple security flaws in SimpleHelp remote access software that could lead to information disclosure, privilege escalation, and remote code execution. Horizon3.ai researcher Naveen Sunkavally, in a technical report detailing the findings, said the “vulnerabilities are trivial to reverse and exploit.” The list of identified […]

Jan 14, 2025Ravie LakshmananEndpoint Security / Vulnerability Microsoft has shed light on a now-patched security flaw impacting Apple macOS that, if successfully exploited, could have allowed an attacker running as “root” to bypass the operating system’s System Integrity Protection (SIP) and install malicious kernel drivers by loading third-party kernel extensions. The vulnerability in question is […]

Jan 14, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Data Privacy New research has pulled back the curtain on a “deficiency” in Google’s “Sign in with Google” authentication flow that exploits a quirk in domain ownership to gain access to sensitive data. “Google’s OAuth login doesn’t protect against someone purchasing a failed startup’s domain and using it to re-create […]

Jan 14, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Network Security Threat hunters are calling attention to a new campaign that has targeted Fortinet FortiGate firewall devices with management interfaces exposed on the public internet. “The campaign involved unauthorized administrative logins on management interfaces of firewalls, creation of new accounts, SSL VPN authentication through those accounts, and various other […]

Russia-linked threat actors have been attributed to an ongoing cyber espionage campaign targeting Kazakhstan as part of the Kremlin’s efforts to gather economic and political intelligence in Central Asia. The campaign has been assessed to be the work of an intrusion set dubbed UAC-0063, which likely shares overlap with APT28, a nation-state group affiliated with […]