Go on a Psychedelic Journey of the Internet's Growth and Evolution

Security researcher Barrett Lyon, who makes visualizations of the internet's network infrastructure, is back with a new piece chronicling the rise of the IPv6 protocol.

Tell Me Your Secrets Without Telling Me Your Secrets

The title of this article probably sounds like the caption to a meme. Instead, this is an actual problem GitGuardian's engineers had to solve in implementing the mechanisms for their new HasMySecretLeaked service. They wanted to help developers find out if their secrets (passwords, API keys, private keys, cryptographic certificates, etc.) had found their way into public GitHub repositories. How

Hamas-Linked Cyberattacks Using Rust-Powered SysJoker Backdoor Against Israel

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a Rust version of a cross-platform backdoor called SysJoker, which is assessed to have been used by a Hamas-affiliated threat actor to target Israel amid the ongoing war in the region. “Among the most prominent changes is the shift to Rust language, which indicates the malware code was entirely rewritten, while still maintaining similar

Kubernetes Secrets of Fortune 500 Companies Exposed in Public Repositories

Cybersecurity researchers are warning of publicly exposed Kubernetes configuration secrets that could put organizations at risk of supply chain attacks. “These encoded Kubernetes configuration secrets were uploaded to public repositories,” Aqua security researchers Yakir Kadkoda and Assaf Morag said in a new research published earlier this week. Some of those impacted include two top blockchain

Konni Group Using Russian-Language Malicious Word Docs in Latest Attacks

A new phishing attack has been observed leveraging a Russian-language Microsoft Word document to deliver malware capable of harvesting sensitive information from compromised Windows hosts. The activity has been attributed to a threat actor called Konni, which is assessed to share overlaps with a North Korean cluster tracked as Kimsuky (aka APT43). "This campaign relies on a remote access trojan

It's Time to Log Off

There’s a devastating amount of heavy news these days. Psychology experts say you need to know your limits—and when to put down the phone.

Alert: New WailingCrab Malware Loader Spreading via Shipping-Themed Emails

Delivery- and shipping-themed email messages are being used to deliver a sophisticated malware loader known as WailingCrab. "The malware itself is split into multiple components, including a loader, injector, downloader and backdoor, and successful requests to C2-controlled servers are often necessary to retrieve the next stage," IBM X-Force researchers Charlotte Hammond, Ole Villadsen, and Kat

6 Steps to Accelerate Cybersecurity Incident Response

Modern security tools continue to improve in their ability to defend organizations’ networks and endpoints against cybercriminals. But the bad actors still occasionally find a way in. Security teams must be able to stop threats and restore normal operations as quickly as possible. That’s why it’s essential that these teams not only have the right tools but also understand how to effectively

Mirai-based Botnet Exploiting Zero-Day Bugs in Routers and NVRs for Massive DDoS Attacks

An active malware campaign is leveraging two zero-day vulnerabilities with remote code execution (RCE) functionality to rope routers and video recorders into a Mirai-based distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet. “The payload targets routers and network video recorder (NVR) devices with default admin credentials and installs Mirai variants when successful,” Akamai said in an advisory

N. Korean Hackers Distribute Trojanized CyberLink Software in Supply Chain Attack

A North Korean state-sponsored threat actor tracked as Diamond Sleet is distributing a trojanized version of a legitimate application developed by a Taiwanese multimedia software developer called CyberLink to target downstream customers via a supply chain attack. "This malicious file is a legitimate CyberLink application installer that has been modified to include malicious code that downloads,

New Flaws in Fingerprint Sensors Let Attackers Bypass Windows Hello Login

A new research has uncovered multiple vulnerabilities that could be exploited to bypass Windows Hello authentication on Dell Inspiron 15, Lenovo ThinkPad T14, and Microsoft Surface Pro X laptops. The flaws were discovered by researchers at hardware and software product security and offensive research firm Blackwing Intelligence, who found the weaknesses in the fingerprint sensors from Goodix,

185,000 Individuals Impacted By MOVEit Hack At AutoZone

Sam Altman Is Back As OpenAI CEO Just Days After Being Removed, Along With A New Board

Kinsing Malware Exploits Critical Apache ActiveMQ Flaw To Mine Crypto

Windows Hello Fingerprint Authentication Bypassed On Popular Laptops

USB Worm Unleashed By Russian State Hackers Spreads Worldwide

Netflix Bug That Opened Smart TVs To Attacks Is Detailed, 4 Years Later

North Korean Hackers Pose as Job Recruiters and Seekers in Malware Campaigns

North Korean threat actors have been linked to two campaigns in which they masquerade as both job recruiters and seekers to distribute malware and obtain unauthorized employment with organizations based in the U.S. and other parts of the world. The activity clusters have been codenamed Contagious Interview and Wagemole, respectively, by Palo Alto Networks Unit 42. While the first set of attacks

AI Solutions Are the New Shadow IT

Ambitious Employees Tout New AI Tools, Ignore Serious SaaS Security RisksLike the SaaS shadow IT of the past, AI is placing CISOs and cybersecurity teams in a tough but familiar spot.  Employees are covertly using AI with little regard for established IT and cybersecurity review procedures. Considering ChatGPT’s meteoric rise to 100 million users within 60 days of launch, especially with little

ClearFake Campaign Expands to Target Mac Systems with Atomic Stealer

The macOS information stealer known as Atomic is now being delivered to target via a bogus web browser update chain tracked as ClearFake. "This may very well be the first time we see one of the main social engineering campaigns, previously reserved for Windows, branch out not only in terms of geolocation but also operating system," Malwarebytes' Jérôme Segura said in a Tuesday analysis. Atomic

LockBit Ransomware Exploiting Critical Citrix Bleed Vulnerability to Break In

Multiple threat actors, including LockBit ransomware affiliates, are actively exploiting a recently disclosed critical security flaw in Citrix NetScaler application delivery control (ADC) and Gateway appliances to obtain initial access to target environments. The joint advisory comes from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),

DOJ Charges Binance With Vast Money-Laundering Scheme and Sanctions Violations

From Russia to Iran, the feds have charged Binance with conducting well over $1 billion in transactions with sanctioned countries and criminal actors.

SEC's 4-Day Breach Disclosure Rule Hits Opposition In Congress

LummaC2 4.0 Infostealer Uses Trigonometry To Avoid Sandboxes

Tor Network Removes Risky Relays Associated With Crypto Scheme

Canadian Military, Police Impacted By Data Breach

Play Ransomware Goes Commercial - Now Offered as a Service to Cybercriminals

The ransomware strain known as Play is now being offered to other threat actors "as a service," new evidence unearthed by Adlumin has revealed. "The unusual lack of even small variations between attacks suggests that they are being carried out by affiliates who have purchased the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) and are following step-by-step instructions from playbooks delivered with it," the

New Agent Tesla Malware Variant Using ZPAQ Compression in Email Attacks

A new variant of the Agent Tesla malware has been observed delivered via a lure file with the ZPAQ compression format to harvest data from several email clients and nearly 40 web browsers. "ZPAQ is a file compression format that offers a better compression ratio and journaling function compared to widely used formats like ZIP and RAR," G Data malware analyst Anna Lvova said in a Monday analysis.

How Multi-Stage Phishing Attacks Exploit QRs, CAPTCHAs, and Steganography

Phishing attacks are steadily becoming more sophisticated, with cybercriminals investing in new ways of deceiving victims into revealing sensitive information or installing malicious software. One of the latest trends in phishing is the use of QR codes, CAPTCHAs, and steganography. See how they are carried out and learn to detect them. Quishing Quishing, a phishing technique resulting from the

Kinsing Hackers Exploit Apache ActiveMQ Vulnerability to Deploy Linux Rootkits

The Kinsing threat actors are actively exploiting a critical security flaw in vulnerable Apache ActiveMQ servers to infect Linux systems with cryptocurrency miners and rootkits. "Once Kinsing infects a system, it deploys a cryptocurrency mining script that exploits the host's resources to mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, resulting in significant damage to the infrastructure and a negative

Malicious Apps Disguised as Banks and Government Agencies Targeting Indian Android Users

Android smartphone users in India are the target of a new malware campaign that employs social engineering lures to install fraudulent apps that are capable of harvesting sensitive data. “Using social media platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, attackers are sending messages designed to lure users into installing a malicious app on their mobile device by impersonating legitimate organizations,

Secretive White House Surveillance Program Gives Cops Access to Trillions of US Phone Records

A WIRED analysis of leaked police documents verifies that a secretive government program is allowing federal, state, and local law enforcement to access phone records of Americans who are not suspected of a crime.

Morgan Stanley Fined $6.5 Million For Exposing Customer Info

Most OpenAI Staff Threaten To Quit After Microsoft Hires Sam Altman

Details Emerge Of Surprise Board Coup That Ousted CEO Sam Altman At OpenAI

Rhysida Ransomware Gang Attacked The British Library

Product Walkthrough: Silverfort's Unified Identity Protection Platform

In this article, we will provide a brief overview of Silverfort's platform, the first (and currently only) unified identity protection platform on the market. Silverfort’s patented technology aims to protect organizations from identity-based attacks by integrating with existing identity and access management solutions, such as AD (Active Directory) and cloud-based services, and extending secure

Why Defenders Should Embrace a Hacker Mindset

Today’s security leaders must manage a constantly evolving attack surface and a dynamic threat environment due to interconnected devices, cloud services, IoT technologies, and hybrid work environments. Adversaries are constantly introducing new attack techniques, and not all companies have internal Red Teams or unlimited security resources to stay on top of the latest threats. On top of that,

LummaC2 Malware Deploys New Trigonometry-Based Anti-Sandbox Technique

The stealer malware known as LummaC2 (aka Lumma Stealer) now features a new anti-sandbox technique that leverages the mathematical principle of trigonometry to evade detection and exfiltrate valuable information from infected hosts. The method is designed to "delay detonation of the sample until human mouse activity is detected," Outpost24 security researcher Alberto Marín said in a technical

Randstorm Exploit: Bitcoin Wallets Created b/w 2011-2015 Vulnerable to Hacking

Bitcoin wallets created between 2011 and 2015 are susceptible to a new kind of exploit called Randstorm that makes it possible to recover passwords and gain unauthorized access to a multitude of wallets spanning several blockchain platforms. "Randstorm() is a term we coined to describe a collection of bugs, design decisions, and API changes that, when brought in contact with each other, combine

Indian Hack-for-Hire Group Targeted U.S., China, and More for Over 10 Years

An Indian hack-for-hire group targeted the U.S., China, Myanmar, Pakistan, Kuwait, and other countries as part of a wide-ranging espionage, surveillance, and disruptive operation for over a decade. The Appin Software Security (aka Appin Security Group), according to an in-depth analysis from SentinelOne, began as an educational startup offering offensive security training programs, while

Cybersecurity Industry Baffled by FBI’s Lack of Action on Ransomware Gang

Plus: Hackers reveal flaws in crypto wallets holding $1 billion, a massive breach of Danish electric utilities, and more.

Inside the Race to Secure the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Beyond the blinding speeds and sharp turns on new terrain, the teams at this weekend’s big F1 race are preparing for another kind of danger.

8Base Group Deploying New Phobos Ransomware Variant via SmokeLoader

The threat actors behind the 8Base ransomware are leveraging a variant of the Phobos ransomware to conduct their financially motivated attacks. The findings come from Cisco Talos, which has recorded an increase in activity carried out by the cybercriminals. “Most of the group’s Phobos variants are distributed by SmokeLoader, a backdoor trojan," security researcher Guilherme Venere said in an

Russian Cyber Espionage Group Deploys LitterDrifter USB Worm in Targeted Attacks

Russian cyber espionage actors affiliated with the Federal Security Service (FSB) have been observed using a USB propagating worm called LitterDrifter in attacks targeting Ukrainian entities. Check Point, which detailed Gamaredon's (aka Aqua Blizzard, Iron Tilden, Primitive Bear, Shuckworm, and Winterflounder) latest tactics, branded the group as engaging in large-scale campaigns that are

The Bin Laden Letter Is Being Weaponized by the Far Right

Far-right influencers and right-wing lawmakers are using the spread of Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” to call for a TikTok ban and boost decades old conspiracies.

Samsung UK Discloses Year-Long Breach, Leaked Customer Data

Over A Dozen Exploitable Vulnerabilities Found In AI/ML Tools

Hacker Group Files SEC Complaint Against Its Own Victim

Zimbra Zero-Day Exploited To Hack Government Emails

Beware: Malicious Google Ads Trick WinSCP Users into Installing Malware

Threat actors are leveraging manipulated search results and bogus Google ads that trick users who are looking to download legitimate software such as WinSCP into installing malware instead. Cybersecurity company Securonix is tracking the ongoing activity under the name SEO#LURKER. “The malicious advertisement directs the user to a compromised WordPress website gameeweb[.]com, which redirects the

FCC Enforces Stronger Rules to Protect Customers Against SIM Swapping Attacks

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is adopting new rules that aim to protect consumers from cell phone account scams that make it possible for malicious actors to orchestrate SIM-swapping attacks and port-out fraud. “The rules will help protect consumers from scammers who target data and personal information by covertly swapping SIM cards to a new device or porting phone numbers to

Discover 2023's Cloud Security Strategies in Our Upcoming Webinar - Secure Your Spot

In 2023, the cloud isn't just a technology—it's a battleground. Zenbleed, Kubernetes attacks, and sophisticated APTs are just the tip of the iceberg in the cloud security warzone. In collaboration with the esteemed experts from Lacework Labs, The Hacker News proudly presents an exclusive webinar: 'Navigating the Cloud Attack Landscape: 2023 Trends, Techniques, and Tactics.' Join us for an

27 Malicious PyPI Packages with Thousands of Downloads Found Targeting IT Experts

An unknown threat actor has been observed publishing typosquat packages to the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository for nearly six months with an aim to deliver malware capable of gaining persistence, stealing sensitive data, and accessing cryptocurrency wallets for financial gain. The 27 packages, which masqueraded as popular legitimate Python libraries, attracted thousands of downloads,

U.S. Cybersecurity Agencies Warn of Scattered Spider's Gen Z Cybercrime Ecosystem

U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies have released a joint advisory about a cybercriminal group known as Scattered Spider that's known to employ sophisticated phishing tactics to infiltrate targets. "Scattered Spider threat actors typically engage in data theft for extortion using multiple social engineering techniques and have recently leveraged BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware alongside their

CISA Adds Three Security Flaws with Active Exploitation to KEV Catalog

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Thursday added three security flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog based on evidence of active exploitation in the wild. The vulnerabilities are as follows - CVE-2023-36584 (CVSS score: 5.4) - Microsoft Windows Mark-of-the-Web (MotW) Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability CVE-2023-1671 (CVSS score: 9.8) -

Alleged Extortioner of Psychotherapy Patients Faces Trial

Prosecutors in Finland this week commenced their criminal trial against Julius Kivimäki, a 26-year-old Finnish man charged with extorting a once popular and now-bankrupt online psychotherapy practice and thousands of its patients. In a 2,200-page report, Finnish authorities laid out how they connected the extortion spree to Kivimäki, a notorious hacker who was convicted in 2015 of perpetrating tens of thousands of cybercrimes, including data breaches, payment fraud, operating a botnet and calling in bomb threats.

In November 2022, Kivimäki was charged with attempting to extort money from the Vastaamo Psychotherapy Center. In that breach, which occurred in October 2020, a hacker using the handle “Ransom Man” threatened to publish patient psychotherapy notes if Vastaamo did not pay a six-figure ransom demand.

Vastaamo refused, so Ransom Man shifted to extorting individual patients — sending them targeted emails threatening to publish their therapy notes unless paid a 500-euro ransom. When Ransom Man found little success extorting patients directly, they uploaded to the dark web a large compressed file containing all of the stolen Vastaamo patient records.

Security experts soon discovered Ransom Man had mistakenly included an entire copy of their home folder, where investigators found many clues pointing to Kivimäki’s involvement. By that time, Kivimäki was no longer in Finland, but the Finnish government nevertheless charged Kivimäki in absentia with the Vastaamo hack. The 2,200-page evidence document against Kivimäki suggests he enjoyed a lavish lifestyle while on the lam, frequenting luxury resorts and renting fabulously expensive cars and living quarters.

But in February 2023, Kivimäki was arrested in France after authorities there responded to a domestic disturbance call and found the defendant sleeping off a hangover on the couch of a woman he’d met the night before. The French police grew suspicious when the 6′ 3″ blonde, green-eyed man presented an ID that stated he was of Romanian nationality.

Finnish prosecutors showed that Kivimäki’s credit card had been used to pay for the virtual server that hosted the stolen Vastaamo patient notes. What’s more, the home folder included in the Vastaamo patient data archive also allowed investigators to peer into other cybercrime projects of the accused, including domains that Ransom Man had access to as well as a lengthy history of commands he’d executed on the rented virtual server.

Some of those domains allegedly administered by Kivimäki were set up to smear the reputations of different companies and individuals. One of those was a website that claimed to have been authored by a person who headed up IT infrastructure for a major bank in Norway which discussed the idea of legalizing child sexual abuse.

Another domain hosted a fake blog that besmirched the reputation of a Tulsa, Okla. man whose name was attached to blog posts about supporting the “white pride” movement and calling for a pardon of the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

Kivimäki appears to have sought to sully the name of this reporter as well. The 2,200-page document shows that Kivimäki owned and operated the domain krebsonsecurity[.]org, which hosted various hacking tools that Kivimäki allegedly used, including programs for mass-scanning the Internet for systems vulnerable to known security flaws, as well as scripts for cracking database server usernames and passwords, and downloading databases.

Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer at WithSecure (formerly F-Secure), said the Finnish authorities have done “amazing work,” and that “it’s rare to have this much evidence for a cybercrime case.”

Petteri Järvinen is a respected IT expert and author who has been following the trial, and he said the prosecution’s case so far has been strong.

“The National Bureau of Investigation has done a good job and Mr Kivimäki for his part some elementary mistakes,” Järvinen wrote on LinkedIn. “This sends an important message: online crime does not pay. Traces are left in the digital world too, even if it is very tedious for the police to collect them from servers all around the world.”

Antti Kurittu is an information security specialist and a former criminal investigator. In 2013, Kurittu worked on an investigation involving Kivimäki’s use of the Zbot botnet, among other activities Kivimäki engaged in as a member of the hacker group Hack the Planet (HTP). Kurittu said it remains to be seen if the prosecution can make their case, and if the defense has any answers to all of the evidence presented.

“Based on the public pretrial investigation report, it looks like the case has a lot of details that seem very improbable to be coincidental,” Kurittu told KrebsOnSecurity. “For example, a full copy of the Vastaamo patient database was found on a server that belonged to Scanifi, a company with no reasonable business that Kivimäki was affiliated with. The leaked home folder contents were also connected to Kivimäki and were found on servers that were under his control.”

The Finnish daily yle.fi reports that Kivimäki’s lawyers sought to have their client released from confinement for the remainder of his trial, noting that the defendant has already been detained for eight months.

The court denied that request, saying the defendant was still a flight risk. Kivimäki’s trial is expected to continue until February 2024, in part to accommodate testimony from a large number of victims. Prosecutors are seeking a seven-year sentence for Kivimäki.

US Congress Report Calls for Privacy Reforms After FBI Surveillance 'Abuses'

A new report by an oversight committee in the US House of Representatives says the FBI has routinely violated rules governing FISA’s Section 702 surveillance program and must be reined in.

Zero-Day Flaw in Zimbra Email Software Exploited by Four Hacker Groups

A zero-day flaw in the Zimbra Collaboration email software was exploited by four different groups in real-world attacks to pilfer email data, user credentials, and authentication tokens. "Most of this activity occurred after the initial fix became public on GitHub," Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2023-37580 (CVSS score:

Running Signal Will Soon Cost $50 Million a Year

Signal’s president reveals the cost of running the privacy-preserving platform—not just to drum up donations, but to call out the for-profit surveillance business models it competes against.