From MuddyC3 to PhonyC2: Iran's MuddyWater Evolves with a New Cyber Weapon

The Iranian state-sponsored group dubbed MuddyWater has been attributed to a previously unseen command-and-control (C2) framework called PhonyC2 that's been put to use by the actor since 2021. Evidence shows that the custom made, actively developed framework has been leveraged in the February 2023 attack on Technion, an Israeli research institute, cybersecurity firm Deep Instinct said in a

Fluhorse: Flutter-Based Android Malware Targets Credit Cards and 2FA Codes

Cybersecurity researchers have shared the inner workings of an Android malware family called Fluhorse. The malware "represents a significant shift as it incorporates the malicious components directly within the Flutter code," Fortinet FortiGuard Labs researcher Axelle Apvrille said in a report published last week. Fluhorse was first documented by Check Point in early May 2023, detailing its

The Right Way to Enhance CTI with AI (Hint: It's the Data)

Cyber threat intelligence is an effective weapon in the ongoing battle to protect digital assets and infrastructure - especially when combined with AI. But AI is only as good as the data feeding it. Access to unique, underground sources is key. Threat Intelligence offers tremendous value to people and companies. At the same time, its ability to address organizations' cybersecurity needs and the

North Korean Hacker Group Andariel Strikes with New EarlyRat Malware

The North Korea-aligned threat actor known as Andariel leveraged a previously undocumented malware called EarlyRat in phishing attacks, adding another piece to the group's wide-ranging toolset. "Andariel infects machines by executing a Log4j exploit, which, in turn, downloads further malware from the command-and-control (C2) server," Kaspersky said in a new report. Also called Silent Chollima

Android Spy App LetMeSpy Suffers Major Data Breach, Exposing Users' Personal Data

Android-based phone monitoring app LetMeSpy has disclosed a security breach that allowed an unauthorized third-party to steal sensitive data associated with thousands of Android users. "As a result of the attack, the criminals gained access to email addresses, telephone numbers and the content of messages collected on accounts," LetMeSpy said in an announcement on its website, noting the

Critical Security Flaw in Social Login Plugin for WordPress Exposes Users' Accounts

A critical security flaw has been disclosed in miniOrange's Social Login and Register plugin for WordPress that could enable a malicious actor to log in as any user-provided information about email address is already known. Tracked as CVE-2023-2982 (CVSS score: 9.8), the authentication bypass flaw impacts all versions of the plugin, including and prior to 7.6.4. It was addressed on June 14, 2023

Newly Uncovered ThirdEye Windows-Based Malware Steals Sensitive Data

A previously undocumented Windows-based information stealer called ThirdEye has been discovered in the wild with capabilities to harvest sensitive data from infected hosts. Fortinet FortiGuard Labs, which made the discovery, said it found the malware in an executable that masqueraded as a PDF file with a Russian name "CMK Правила оформления больничных листов.pdf.exe," which translates to "CMK

Alert: New Electromagnetic Attacks on Drones Could Let Attackers Take Control

Drones that don't have any known security weaknesses could be the target of electromagnetic fault injection (EMFI) attacks, potentially enabling a threat actor to achieve arbitrary code execution and compromise their functionality and safety. The research comes from IOActive, which found that it is "feasible to compromise the targeted device by injecting a specific EM glitch at the right time

CryptosLabs Scam Ring Targets French-Speaking Investors, Rakes in €480 Million

Cybersecurity researchers have exposed the workings of a scam ring called CryptosLabs that's estimated to have made €480 million in illegal profits by targeting users in French-speaking individuals in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg since April 2018. The syndicate's massive fake investment schemes primarily involve impersonating 40 well-known banks, fin-techs, asset management firms, and crypto

5 Things CISOs Need to Know About Securing OT Environments

For too long the cybersecurity world focused exclusively on information technology (IT), leaving operational technology (OT) to fend for itself. Traditionally, few industrial enterprises had dedicated cybersecurity leaders. Any security decisions that arose fell to the plant and factory managers, who are highly skilled technical experts in other areas but often lack cybersecurity training or

8Base Ransomware Spikes in Activity, Threatens U.S. and Brazilian Businesses

A ransomware threat called 8Base that has been operating under the radar for over a year has been attributed to a "massive spike in activity" in May and June 2023. "The group utilizes encryption paired with 'name-and-shame' techniques to compel their victims to pay their ransoms," VMware Carbon Black researchers Deborah Snyder and Fae Carlisle said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "8Base

Critical SQL Injection Flaws Expose Gentoo Soko to Remote Code Execution

Multiple SQL injection vulnerabilities have been disclosed in Gentoo Soko that could lead to remote code execution (RCE) on vulnerable systems. "These SQL injections happened despite the use of an Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) library and prepared statements," SonarSource researcher Thomas Chauchefoin said, adding they could result in RCE on Soko because of a "misconfiguration of the database.

New Mockingjay Process Injection Technique Could Let Malware Evade Detection

A new process injection technique dubbed Mockingjay could be exploited by threat actors to bypass security solutions to execute malicious code on compromised systems. "The injection is executed without space allocation, setting permissions or even starting a thread," Security Joes researchers Thiago Peixoto, Felipe Duarte, and Ido Naor said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "The

New Ongoing Campaign Targets npm Ecosystem with Unique Execution Chain

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new ongoing campaign aimed at the npm ecosystem that leverages a unique execution chain to deliver an unknown payload to targeted systems. "The packages in question seem to be published in pairs, each pair working in unison to fetch additional resources which are subsequently decoded and/or executed," software supply chain security firm Phylum said in

Beyond Asset Discovery: How Attack Surface Management Prioritizes Vulnerability Remediation

As the business environment becomes increasingly connected, organizations’ attack surfaces continue to expand, making it challenging to map and secure both known and unknown assets. In particular, unknown assets present security challenges related to shadow IT, misconfigurations, ineffective scan coverage, among others. Given attack surface sprawl and evolving threats, many organizations are

EncroChat Bust Leads to 6,558 Criminals' Arrests and €900 Million Seizure

Europol on Tuesday announced that the takedown of EncroChat in July 2020 led to 6,558 arrests worldwide and the seizure of €900 million in illicit criminal proceeds. The law enforcement agency said that a subsequent joint investigation initiated by French and Dutch authorities intercepted and analyzed over 115 million conversations that took place over the encrypted messaging platform between no

Anatsa Banking Trojan Targeting Users in US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

A new Android malware campaign has been observed pushing the Anatsa banking trojan to target banking customers in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Austria, and Switzerland since the start of March 2023. "The actors behind Anatsa aim to steal credentials used to authorize customers in mobile banking applications and perform Device-Takeover Fraud (DTO) to initiate fraudulent transactions," ThreatFabric 

New Fortinet's FortiNAC Vulnerability Exposes Networks to Code Execution Attacks

Fortinet has rolled out updates to address a critical security vulnerability impacting its FortiNAC network access control solution that could lead to the execution of arbitrary code. Tracked as CVE-2023-33299, the flaw is rated 9.6 out of 10 for severity on the CVSS scoring system. It has been described as a case of Java untrusted object deserialization. "A deserialization of untrusted data

Researchers Find Way to Recover Cryptographic Keys by Analyzing LED Flickers

In what's an ingenious side-channel attack, a group of academics has found that it's possible to recover secret keys from a device by analyzing video footage of its power LED. "Cryptographic computations performed by the CPU change the power consumption of the device which affects the brightness of the device's power LED," researchers from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Cornell

Japanese Cryptocurrency Exchange Falls Victim to JokerSpy macOS Backdoor Attack

An unknown cryptocurrency exchange located in Japan was the target of a new attack earlier this month to deploy an Apple macOS backdoor called JokerSpy. Elastic Security Labs, which is monitoring the intrusion set under the name REF9134, said the attack led to the installation of Swiftbelt, a Swift-based enumeration tool inspired by an open-source utility called SeatBelt. JokerSky was first

How Generative AI Can Dupe SaaS Authentication Protocols — And Effective Ways To Prevent Other Key AI Risks in SaaS

Security and IT teams are routinely forced to adopt software before fully understanding the security risks. And AI tools are no exception. Employees and business leaders alike are flocking to generative AI software and similar programs, often unaware of the major SaaS security vulnerabilities they're introducing into the enterprise. A February 2023 generative AI survey of 1,000 executives 

Microsoft Warns of Widescale Credential Stealing Attacks by Russian Hackers

Microsoft has disclosed that it's detected a spike in credential-stealing attacks conducted by the Russian state-affiliated hacker group known as Midnight Blizzard. The intrusions, which make use of residential proxy services to obfuscate the source IP address of the attacks, target governments, IT service providers, NGOs, defense, and critical manufacturing sectors, the tech giant's threat

Chinese Hackers Using Never-Before-Seen Tactics for Critical Infrastructure Attacks

The newly discovered Chinese nation-state actor known as Volt Typhoon has been observed to be active in the wild since at least mid-2020, with the hacking crew linked to never-before-seen tradecraft to retain remote access to targets of interest. The findings come from CrowdStrike, which is tracking the adversary under the name Vanguard Panda. "The adversary consistently employed ManageEngine

U.S. Cybersecurity Agency Adds 6 Flaws to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has added a batch of six flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, citing evidence of active exploitation. This comprises three vulnerabilities that Apple patched this week (CVE-2023-32434, CVE-2023-32435, and CVE-2023-32439), two flaws in VMware (CVE-2023-20867 and CVE-2023-20887), and one shortcoming impacting Zyxel

Twitter Hacker Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for $120,000 Crypto Scam

A U.K. citizen who took part in the massive July 2020 hack of Twitter has been sentenced to five years in prison in the U.S. Joseph James O'Connor (aka PlugwalkJoe), 24, was awarded the sentence on Friday in the Southern District of New York, a little over a month after he pleaded guilty to the criminal schemes. He was arrested in Spain in July 2021. The infamous Twitter breach allowed the

Cybercrime Group 'Muddled Libra' Targets BPO Sector with Advanced Social Engineering

A threat actor known as Muddled Libra is targeting the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry with persistent attacks that leverage advanced social engineering ploys to gain initial access. "The attack style defining Muddled Libra appeared on the cybersecurity radar in late 2022 with the release of the 0ktapus phishing kit, which offered a prebuilt hosting framework and bundled templates,"

The Power of Browser Fingerprinting: Personalized UX, Fraud Detection, and Secure Logins

The case for browser fingerprinting: personalizing user experience, improving fraud detection, and optimizing login security Have you ever heard of browser fingerprinting? You should! It's an online user identification technique that collects information about a visitor's web browser and its configuration preferences to associate individual browsing sessions with a single website visitor.  With

Powerful JavaScript Dropper PindOS Distributes Bumblebee and IcedID Malware

A new strain of JavaScript dropper has been observed delivering next-stage payloads like Bumblebee and IcedID. Cybersecurity firm Deep Instinct is tracking the malware as PindOS, which contains the name in its "User-Agent" string. Both Bumblebee and IcedID serve as loaders, acting as a vector for other malware on compromised hosts, including ransomware. A recent report from Proofpoint 

NSA Releases Guide to Combat Powerful BlackLotus Bootkit Targeting Windows Systems

The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) on Thursday released guidance to help organizations detect and prevent infections of a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) bootkit called BlackLotus. To that end, the agency is recommending that "infrastructure owners take action by hardening user executable policies and monitoring the integrity of the boot partition." BlackLotus is an advanced 

New Cryptocurrency Mining Campaign Targets Linux Systems and IoT Devices

Internet-facing Linux systems and Internet of Things (IoT) devices are being targeted as part of a new campaign designed to illicitly mine cryptocurrency. "The threat actors behind the attack use a backdoor that deploys a wide array of tools and components such as rootkits and an IRC bot to steal device resources for mining operations," Microsoft threat intelligence researcher Rotem Sde-Or said.

MULTI#STORM Campaign Targets India and U.S. with Remote Access Trojans

A new phishing campaign codenamed MULTI#STORM has set its sights on India and the U.S. by leveraging JavaScript files to deliver remote access trojans on compromised systems. "The attack chain ends with the victim machine infected with multiple unique RAT (remote access trojan) malware instances, such as Warzone RAT and Quasar RAT," Securonix researchers Den Iuzvyk, Tim Peck, and Oleg Kolesnikov

Generative-AI apps & ChatGPT: Potential risks and mitigation strategies

Losing sleep over Generative-AI apps? You're not alone or wrong. According to the Astrix Security Research Group, mid size organizations already have, on average, 54 Generative-AI integrations to core systems like Slack, GitHub and Google Workspace and this number is only expected to grow. Continue reading to understand the potential risks and how to minimize them.  Book a Generative-AI

Alert: Million of GitHub Repositories Likely Vulnerable to RepoJacking Attack

Millions of software repositories on GitHub are likely vulnerable to an attack called RepoJacking, a new study has revealed. This includes repositories from organizations such as Google, Lyft, and several others, Massachusetts-based cloud-native security firm Aqua said in a Wednesday report. The supply chain vulnerability, also known as dependency repository hijacking, is a class of attacks that

Camaro Dragon Hackers Strike with USB-Driven Self-Propagating Malware

The Chinese cyber espionage actor known as Camaro Dragon has been observed leveraging a new strain of self-propagating malware that spreads through compromised USB drives. "While their primary focus has traditionally been Southeast Asian countries, this latest discovery reveals their global reach and highlights the alarming role USB drives play in spreading malware," Check Point said in new

Unveiling the Unseen: Identifying Data Exfiltration with Machine Learning

Why Data Exfiltration Detection is Paramount? The world is witnessing an exponential rise in ransomware and data theft employed to extort companies. At the same time, the industry faces numerous critical vulnerabilities in database software and company websites. This evolution paints a dire picture of data exposure and exfiltration that every security leader and team is grappling with. This

Critical Flaw Found in WordPress Plugin for WooCommerce Used by 30,000 Websites

A critical security flaw has been disclosed in the WordPress "Abandoned Cart Lite for WooCommerce" plugin that's installed on more than 30,000 websites. "This vulnerability makes it possible for an attacker to gain access to the accounts of users who have abandoned their carts, who are typically customers but can extend to other high-level users when the right conditions are met," Defiant's

Zero-Day Alert: Apple Releases Patches for Actively Exploited Flaws in iOS, macOS, and Safari

Apple on Wednesday released a slew of updates for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and Safari browser to address a set of flaws it said were actively exploited in the wild. This includes a pair of zero-days that have been weaponized in a mobile surveillance campaign called Operation Triangulation that has been active since 2019. The exact threat actor behind the activity is not known. CVE-2023-

ScarCruft Hackers Exploit Ably Service for Stealthy Wiretapping Attacks

The North Korean threat actor known as ScarCruft has been observed using an information-stealing malware with previously undocumented wiretapping features as well as a backdoor developed using Golang that exploits the Ably real-time messaging service. "The threat actor sent their commands through the Golang backdoor that is using the Ably service," the AhnLab Security Emergency response Center (

New Report Exposes Operation Triangulation's Spyware Implant Targeting iOS Devices

More details have emerged about the spyware implant that's delivered to iOS devices as part of a campaign called Operation Triangulation. Kaspersky, which discovered the operation after becoming one of the targets at the start of the year, said the malware has a lifespan of 30 days, after which it gets automatically uninstalled unless the time period is extended by the attackers. The Russian

Startup Security Tactics: Friction Surveys

When we do quarterly planning, my team categorizes our goals within four evergreen outcomes: Reduce the risk of information security incidents Increase trust in Vanta's information security program Reduce the friction caused by information security controls Use security expertise to support the business In this article, I'm going to focus on number three: reducing friction. Declaring your

Critical 'nOAuth' Flaw in Microsoft Azure AD Enabled Complete Account Takeover

A security shortcoming in Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AD) Open Authorization (OAuth) process could have been exploited to achieve full account takeover, researchers said. California-based identity and access management service Descope, which discovered and reported the issue in April 2023, dubbed it nOAuth. "nOAuth is an authentication implementation flaw that can affect Microsoft Azure AD

Chinese Hacker Group 'Flea' Targets American Ministries with Graphican Backdoor

Foreign affairs ministries in the Americas have been targeted by a Chinese state-sponsored actor named Flea as part of a recent campaign that spanned from late 2022 to early 2023. The cyber attacks, per Broadcom's Symantec, involved a new backdoor codenamed Graphican. Some of the other targets included a government finance department and a corporation that markets products in the Americas as

New Condi Malware Hijacking TP-Link Wi-Fi Routers for DDoS Botnet Attacks

A new malware called Condi has been observed exploiting a security vulnerability in TP-Link Archer AX21 (AX1800) Wi-Fi routers to rope the devices into a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet. Fortinet FortiGuard Labs said the campaign has ramped up since the end of May 2023. Condi is the work of a threat actor who goes by the online alias zxcr9999 on Telegram and runs a Telegram channel

Alert! Hackers Exploiting Critical Vulnerability in VMware's Aria Operations Networks

VMware has flagged that a recently patched critical command injection vulnerability in Aria Operations for Networks (formerly vRealize Network Insight) has come under active exploitation in the wild. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2023-20887, could allow a malicious actor with network access to the product to perform a command injection attack, resulting in remote code execution. It impacts VMware

Researchers Expose New Severe Flaws in Wago and Schneider Electric OT Products

Three security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in operational technology (OT) products from Wago and Schneider Electric. The flaws, per Forescout, are part of a broader set of shortcomings collectively called OT:ICEFALL, which now comprises a total of 61 issues spanning 13 different vendors. "OT:ICEFALL demonstrates the need for tighter scrutiny of, and improvements to, processes related to

Zyxel Releases Urgent Security Updates for Critical Vulnerability in NAS Devices

Zyxel has rolled out security updates to address a critical security flaw in its network-attached storage (NAS) devices that could result in the execution of arbitrary commands on affected systems. Tracked as CVE-2023-27992 (CVSS score: 9.8), the issue has been described as a pre-authentication command injection vulnerability. "The pre-authentication command injection vulnerability in some Zyxel

SaaS in the Real World: How Global Food Chains Can Secure Their Digital Dish

The Quick Serve Restaurant (QSR) industry is built on consistency and shared resources. National chains like McDonald's and regional ones like Cracker Barrel grow faster by reusing the same business model, decor, and menu, with little change from one location to the next.  QSR technology stacks mirror the consistency of the front end of each store. Despite each franchise being independently

Experts Uncover Year-Long Cyber Attack on IT Firm Utilizing Custom Malware RDStealer

A highly targeted cyber attack against an East Asian IT company involved the deployment of a custom malware written in Golang called RDStealer. "The operation was active for more than a year with the end goal of compromising credentials and data exfiltration," Bitdefender security researcher Victor Vrabie said in a technical report shared with The Hacker News. Evidence gathered by the Romanian

ASUS Releases Patches to Fix Critical Security Bugs Impacting Multiple Router Models

Taiwanese company ASUS on Monday released firmware updates to address, among other issues, nine security bugs impacting a wide range of router models. Of the nine security flaws, two are rated Critical and six are rated High in severity. One vulnerability is currently awaiting analysis. The list of impacted products are GT6, GT-AXE16000, GT-AX11000 PRO, GT-AXE11000, GT-AX6000, GT-AX11000,

Over 100,000 Stolen ChatGPT Account Credentials Sold on Dark Web Marketplaces

Over 101,100 compromised OpenAI ChatGPT account credentials have found their way on illicit dark web marketplaces between June 2022 and May 2023, with India alone accounting for 12,632 stolen credentials. The credentials were discovered within information stealer logs made available for sale on the cybercrime underground, Group-IB said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "The number of

Rogue Android Apps Target Pakistani Individuals in Sophisticated Espionage Campaign

Individuals in the Pakistan region have been targeted using two rogue Android apps available on the Google Play Store as part of a new targeted campaign. Cybersecurity firm Cyfirma attributed the campaign with moderate confidence to a threat actor known as DoNot Team, which is also tracked as APT-C-35 and Viceroy Tiger. The espionage activity involves duping Android smartphone owners into

New Mystic Stealer Malware Targets 40 Web Browsers and 70 Browser Extensions

A new information-stealing malware called Mystic Stealer has been found to steal data from about 40 different web browsers and over 70 web browser extensions. First advertised on April 25, 2023, for $150 per month, the malware also targets cryptocurrency wallets, Steam, and Telegram, and employs extensive mechanisms to resist analysis. "The code is heavily obfuscated making use of polymorphic

Researchers Discover New Sophisticated Toolkit Targeting Apple macOS Systems

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a set of malicious artifacts that they say is part of a sophisticated toolkit targeting Apple macOS systems. "As of now, these samples are still largely undetected and very little information is available about any of them," Bitdefender researchers Andrei Lapusneanu and Bogdan Botezatu said in a preliminary report published on Friday. The Romanian firm's

Introducing AI-guided Remediation for IaC Security / KICS

While the use of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has gained significant popularity as organizations embrace cloud computing and DevOps practices, the speed and flexibility that IaC provides can also introduce the potential for misconfigurations and security vulnerabilities.  IaC allows organizations to define and manage their infrastructure using machine-readable configuration files, which are

State-Backed Hackers Employ Advanced Methods to Target Middle Eastern and African Governments

Governmental entities in the Middle East and Africa have been at the receiving end of sustained cyber-espionage attacks that leverage never-before-seen and rare credential theft and Exchange email exfiltration techniques. "The main goal of the attacks was to obtain highly confidential and sensitive information, specifically related to politicians, military activities, and ministries of foreign

LockBit Ransomware Extorts $91 Million from U.S. Companies

The threat actors behind the LockBit ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) scheme have extorted $91 million following hundreds of attacks against numerous U.S. organizations since 2020. That's according to a joint bulletin published by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC

Chinese Hackers Exploit VMware Zero-Day to Backdoor Windows and Linux Systems

The Chinese state-sponsored group known as UNC3886 has been found to exploit a zero-day flaw in VMware ESXi hosts to backdoor Windows and Linux systems. The VMware Tools authentication bypass vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-20867 (CVSS score: 3.9), "enabled the execution of privileged commands across Windows, Linux, and PhotonOS (vCenter) guest VMs without authentication of guest credentials

Severe Vulnerabilities Reported in Microsoft Azure Bastion and Container Registry

Two "dangerous" security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in Microsoft Azure Bastion and Azure Container Registry that could have been exploited to carry out cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. "The vulnerabilities allowed unauthorized access to the victim's session within the compromised Azure service iframe, which can lead to severe consequences, including unauthorized data access,

New Golang-based Skuld Malware Stealing Discord and Browser Data from Windows PCs

A new Golang-based information stealer called Skuld has compromised Windows systems across Europe, Southeast Asia, and the U.S. "This new malware strain tries to steal sensitive information from its victims," Trellix researcher Ernesto Fernández Provecho said in a Tuesday analysis. "To accomplish this task, it searches for data stored in applications such as Discord and web browsers; information

Where from, Where to — The Evolution of Network Security

For the better part of the 90s and early aughts, the sysadmin handbook said, "Filter your incoming traffic, not everyone is nice out there" (later coined by Gandalf as "You shall not pass"). So CIOs started to supercharge their network fences with every appliance they could get to protect against inbound (aka INGRESS) traffic. In the wake of the first mass phishing campaigns in the early 2010s,