Apple Threatens to Pull iMessage and FaceTime from U.K. Amid Surveillance Demands

Apple has warned that it would rather stop offering iMessage and FaceTime services in the U.K. than bowing down to government pressure in response to new proposals that seek to expand digital surveillance powers available to state intelligence agencies. The development, first reported by BBC News, makes the iPhone maker the latest to join the chorus of voices protesting against forthcoming

Microsoft Expands Cloud Logging to Counter Rising Nation-State Cyber Threats

Microsoft on Wednesday announced that it's expanding cloud logging capabilities to help organizations investigate cybersecurity incidents and gain more visibility after facing criticism in the wake of a recent espionage attack campaign aimed at its email infrastructure. The tech giant said it's making the change in direct response to increasing frequency and evolution of nation-state cyber

How to Manage Your Attack Surface?

Attack surfaces are growing faster than security teams can keep up. To stay ahead, you need to know what's exposed and where attackers are most likely to strike. With cloud migration dramatically increasing the number of internal and external targets, prioritizing threats and managing your attack surface from an attacker's perspective has never been more important. Let's look at why it's growing

U.S. Government Blacklists Cytrox and Intellexa Spyware Vendors for Cyber Espionage

The U.S. government on Tuesday added two foreign commercial spyware vendors, Cytrox and Intellexa, to an economic blocklist for weaponizing cyber exploits to gain unauthorized access to devices and "threatening the privacy and security of individuals and organizations worldwide." This includes the companies' corporate holdings in Hungary (Cytrox Holdings Crt), North Macedonia (Cytrox AD), Greece

These 6 Questions Will Help You Choose the Best Attack Surface Management Platform

The hype around different security categories can make it difficult to discern features and capabilities from bias when researching new platforms. You want to advance your security measures, but what steps actually make sense for your business? For anyone ready to find an attack surface management (ASM) vendor, review these six questions before getting started to understand the key features to

Malicious USB Drives Targetinging Global Targets with SOGU and SNOWYDRIVE Malware

Cyber attacks using infected USB infection drives as an initial access vector have witnessed a three-fold increase in the first half of 2023,  That's according to new findings from Mandiant, which detailed two such campaigns – SOGU and SNOWYDRIVE – targeting both public and private sector entities across the world. SOGU is the "most prevalent USB-based cyber espionage attack using USB flash

U.S. Government Agencies' Emails Compromised in China-Backed Cyber Attack

An unnamed Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agency in the U.S. detected anomalous email activity in mid-June 2023, leading to Microsoft's discovery of a new China-linked espionage campaign targeting two dozen organizations. The details come from a joint cybersecurity advisory released by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation

JumpCloud Resets API Keys Amid Ongoing Cybersecurity Incident

JumpCloud, a provider of cloud-based identity and access management solutions, has swiftly reacted to an ongoing cybersecurity incident that impacted some of its clients. As part of its damage control efforts, JumpCloud has reset the application programming interface (API) keys of all customers affected by this event, aiming to protect their valuable data. The company has informed the concerned

Iranian Hackers Using POWERSTAR Backdoor in Targeted Espionage Attacks

Charming Kitten, the nation-state actor affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has been attributed to a bespoke spear-phishing campaign that delivers an updated version of a fully-featured PowerShell backdoor called POWERSTAR. "There have been improved operational security measures placed in the malware to make it more difficult to analyze and collect intelligence,"

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

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

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 

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

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

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

Why Now? The Rise of Attack Surface Management

The term "attack surface management" (ASM) went from unknown to ubiquitous in the cybersecurity space over the past few years. Gartner and Forrester have both highlighted the importance of ASM recently, multiple solution providers have emerged in the space, and investment and acquisition activity have seen an uptick. Many concepts come and go in cybersecurity, but attack surface management

Asylum Ambuscade: A Cybercrime Group with Espionage Ambitions

The threat actor known as Asylum Ambuscade has been observed straddling cybercrime and cyber espionage operations since at least early 2020. "It is a crimeware group that targets bank customers and cryptocurrency traders in various regions, including North America and Europe," ESET said in an analysis published Thursday. "Asylum Ambuscade also does espionage against government entities in Europe

5 Reasons Why Access Management is the Key to Securing the Modern Workplace

The way we work has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years. We now operate within digital ecosystems, where remote work and the reliance on a multitude of digital tools is the norm rather than the exception. This shift – as you likely know from your own life – has led to superhuman levels of productivity that we wouldn't ever want to give up. But moving fast comes at a cost. And for

Stealth Soldier: A New Custom Backdoor Targets North Africa with Espionage Attacks

A new custom backdoor dubbed Stealth Soldier has been deployed as part of a set of highly-targeted espionage attacks in North Africa. "Stealth Soldier malware is an undocumented backdoor that primarily operates surveillance functions such as file exfiltration, screen and microphone recording, keystroke logging and stealing browser information," cybersecurity company Check Point said in a

Magento, WooCommerce, WordPress, and Shopify Exploited in Web Skimmer Attack

Cybersecurity researchers have unearthed a new ongoing Magecart-style web skimmer campaign that's designed to steal personally identifiable information (PII) and credit card data from e-commerce websites. A noteworthy aspect that sets it apart from other Magecart campaigns is that the hijacked sites further serve as "makeshift" command-and-control (C2) servers, using the cover to facilitate the

Malicious PyPI Packages Using Compiled Python Code to Bypass Detection

Researchers have discovered a novel attack on the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository that employs compiled Python code to sidestep detection by application security tools. "It may be the first supply chain attack to take advantage of the fact that Python bytecode (PYC) files can be directly executed," ReversingLabs analyst Karlo Zanki said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The package

3 Challenges in Building a Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) Program and How to Beat Them

If you're a cybersecurity professional, you're likely familiar with the sea of acronyms our industry is obsessed with. From CNAPP, to CWPP, to CIEM and all of the myriad others, there seems to be a new initialism born each day. In this article, we'll look at another trending acronym – CTEM, which stands for Continuous Threat Exposure Management – and the often-surprising challenges that come

PyPI Implements Mandatory Two-Factor Authentication for Project Owners

The Python Package Index (PyPI) announced last week that every account that maintains a project on the official third-party software repository will be required to turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) by the end of the year. "Between now and the end of the year, PyPI will begin gating access to certain site functionality based on 2FA usage," PyPI administrator Donald Stufft said. "In addition

Buhti Ransomware Gang Switches Tactics, Utilizes Leaked LockBit and Babuk Code

The threat actors behind the nascent Buhti ransomware have eschewed their custom payload in favor of leaked LockBit and Babuk ransomware families to strike Windows and Linux systems. "While the group doesn't develop its own ransomware, it does utilize what appears to be one custom-developed tool, an information stealer designed to search for and archive specified file types," Symantec said in a

N. Korean Lazarus Group Targets Microsoft IIS Servers to Deploy Espionage Malware

The infamous Lazarus Group actor has been targeting vulnerable versions of Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) servers as an initial breach route to deploy malware on targeted systems. The findings come from the AhnLab Security Emergency response Center (ASEC), which detailed the advanced persistent threat's (APT) continued abuse of DLL side-loading techniques to run arbitrary payloads

Cyber Attacks Strike Ukraine's State Bodies in Espionage Operation

The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) has warned of cyber attacks targeting state bodies in the country as part of an espionage campaign. The intrusion set, attributed to a threat actor tracked by the authority as UAC-0063 since 2021, leverages phishing lures to deploy a variety of malicious tools on infected systems. The origins of the hacking crew are presently unknown. In

Bad Magic's Extended Reign in Cyber Espionage Goes Back Over a Decade

New findings about a hacker group linked to cyber attacks targeting companies in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict area reveal that it may have been around for much longer than previously thought. The threat actor, tracked as Bad Magic (aka Red Stinger), has not only been linked to a fresh sophisticated campaign, but also to an activity cluster that first came to light in May 2016. "While the

KeePass Exploit Allows Attackers to Recover Master Passwords from Memory

A proof-of-concept (PoC) has been made available for a security flaw impacting the KeePass password manager that could be exploited to recover a victim's master password in cleartext under specific circumstances. The issue, tracked as CVE-2023-32784, impacts KeePass versions 2.x for Windows, Linux, and macOS, and is expected to be patched in version 2.54, which is likely to be released early

PyPI Repository Under Attack: User Sign-Ups and Package Uploads Temporarily Halted

The maintainers of Python Package Index (PyPI), the official third-party software repository for the Python programming language, have temporarily disabled the ability for users to sign up and upload new packages until further notice. "The volume of malicious users and malicious projects being created on the index in the past week has outpaced our ability to respond to it in a timely fashion,

How to Reduce Exposure on the Manufacturing Attack Surface

Digitalization initiatives are connecting once-isolated Operational Technology (OT) environments with their Information Technology (IT) counterparts. This digital transformation of the factory floor has accelerated the connection of machinery to digital systems and data. Computer systems for managing and monitoring digital systems and data have been added to the hardware and software used for

Identifying a Patch Management Solution: Overview of Key Criteria

Software is rarely a one-and-done proposition. In fact, any application available today will likely need to be updated – or patched – to fix bugs, address vulnerabilities, and update key features at multiple points in the future. With the typical enterprise relying on a multitude of applications, servers, and end-point devices in their day-to-day operations, the acquisition of a robust patch

XWorm Malware Exploits Follina Vulnerability in New Wave of Attacks

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an ongoing phishing campaign that makes use of a unique attack chain to deliver the XWorm malware on targeted systems. Securonix, which is tracking the activity cluster under the name MEME#4CHAN, said some of the attacks have primarily targeted manufacturing firms and healthcare clinics located in Germany. "The attack campaign has been leveraging rather

Solving Your Teams Secure Collaboration Challenges

In today's interconnected world, where organisations regularly exchange sensitive information with customers, partners and employees, secure collaboration has become increasingly vital. However, collaboration can pose a security risk if not managed properly. To ensure that collaboration remains secure, organisations need to take steps to protect their data. Since collaborating is essential for

How Attack Surface Management Supports Continuous Threat Exposure Management

According to Forrester, External Attack Surface Management (EASM) emerged as a market category in 2021 and gained popularity in 2022. In a different report, Gartner concluded that vulnerability management vendors are expanding their offerings to include Attack Surface Management (ASM) for a suite of comprehensive offensive security solutions. Recognition from global analysts has officially put

Twitter Finally Rolling Out Encrypted Direct Messages — Starting with Verified Users

Twitter is officially beginning to roll out support for encrypted direct messages (DMs) on the platform, more than five months after its chief executive Elon Musk confirmed plans for the feature in November 2022. The "Phase 1" of the initiative will appear as separate conversations alongside existing direct messages on users' inboxes. Encrypted chats carry a lock icon badge to visually

U.S. Government Neutralizes Russia's Most Sophisticated Snake Cyber Espionage Tool

The U.S. government on Tuesday announced the court-authorized disruption of a global network compromised by an advanced malware strain known as Snake wielded by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). Snake, dubbed the "most sophisticated cyber espionage tool," is the handiwork of a Russian state-sponsored group called Turla (aka Iron Hunter, Secret Blizzard, SUMMIT, Uroburos, Venomous Bear,

SideCopy Using Action RAT and AllaKore RAT to infiltrate Indian Organizations

The suspected Pakistan-aligned threat actor known as SideCopy has been observed leveraging themes related to the Indian military research organization as part of an ongoing phishing campaign. This involves using a ZIP archive lure pertaining to India's Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) to deliver a malicious payload capable of harvesting sensitive information, Fortinet

How to Set Up a Threat Hunting and Threat Intelligence Program

Threat hunting is an essential component of your cybersecurity strategy. Whether you're getting started or in an advanced state, this article will help you ramp up your threat intelligence program. What is Threat Hunting? The cybersecurity industry is shifting from a reactive to a proactive approach. Instead of waiting for cybersecurity alerts and then addressing them, security organizations are

Meta Uncovers Massive Social Media Cyber Espionage Operations Across South Asia

Three different threat actors leveraged hundreds of elaborate fictitious personas on Facebook and Instagram to target individuals located in South Asia as part of disparate attacks. "Each of these APTs relied heavily on social engineering to trick people into clicking on malicious links, downloading malware or sharing personal information across the internet," Guy Rosen, chief information

Google Introduces Passwordless Secure Sign-In with Passkeys for Google Accounts

Almost five months after Google added support for passkeys to its Chrome browser, the tech giant has begun rolling out the passwordless solution across Google Accounts on all platforms. Passkeys, backed by the FIDO Alliance, are a more secure way to sign in to apps and websites without having to use a traditional password. This, in turn, can be achieved by simply unlocking their computer or

Chinese Hacker Group Earth Longzhi Resurfaces with Advanced Malware Tactics

A Chinese state-sponsored hacking outfit has resurfaced with a new campaign targeting government, healthcare, technology, and manufacturing entities based in Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, and Fiji after more than six months of no activity. Trend Micro attributed the intrusion set to a cyber espionage group it tracks under the name Earth Longzhi, which is a subgroup within APT41 (aka HOODOO

Why Telecoms Struggle with SaaS Security

The telecom industry has always been a tantalizing target for cybercriminals. The combination of interconnected networks, customer data, and sensitive information allows cybercriminals to inflict maximum damage through minimal effort. It’s the breaches in telecom companies that tend to have a seismic impact and far-reaching implications — in addition to reputational damage, which can be

Attention Online Shoppers: Don't Be Fooled by Their Sleek, Modern Looks — It's Magecart!

An ongoing Magecart campaign has attracted the attention of cybersecurity researchers for leveraging realistic-looking fake payment screens to capture sensitive data entered by unsuspecting users. "The threat actor used original logos from the compromised store and customized a web element known as a modal to perfectly hijack the checkout page," Jérôme Segura, director of threat intelligence at

Paperbug Attack: New Politically-Motivated Surveillance Campaign in Tajikistan

A little-known Russian-speaking cyber-espionage group has been linked to a new politically-motivated surveillance campaign targeting high-ranking government officials, telecom services, and public service infrastructures in Tajikistan. The intrusion set, dubbed Paperbug by Swiss cybersecurity company PRODAFT, has been attributed to a threat actor known as Nomadic Octopus (aka DustSquad). "The

Chinese Hackers Using MgBot Malware to Target International NGOs in Mainland China

The advanced persistent threat (APT) group referred to as Evasive Panda has been observed targeting an international non-governmental organization (NGO) in Mainland China with malware delivered via update channels of legitimate applications like Tencent QQ. The attack chains are designed to distribute a Windows installer for MgBot malware, ESET security researcher Facundo Muñoz said in a new

Modernizing Vulnerability Management: The Move Toward Exposure Management

Managing vulnerabilities in the constantly evolving technological landscape is a difficult task. Although vulnerabilities emerge regularly, not all vulnerabilities present the same level of risk. Traditional metrics such as CVSS score or the number of vulnerabilities are insufficient for effective vulnerability management as they lack business context, prioritization, and understanding of

Russian Hackers Suspected in Ongoing Exploitation of Unpatched PaperCut Servers

Print management software provider PaperCut said that it has "evidence to suggest that unpatched servers are being exploited in the wild," citing two vulnerability reports from cybersecurity company Trend Micro. "PaperCut has conducted analysis on all customer reports, and the earliest signature of suspicious activity on a customer server potentially linked to this vulnerability is 14th April 01

Blind Eagle Cyber Espionage Group Strikes Again: New Attack Chain Uncovered

The cyber espionage actor tracked as Blind Eagle has been linked to a new multi-stage attack chain that leads to the deployment of the NjRAT remote access trojan on compromised systems. "The group is known for using a variety of sophisticated attack techniques, including custom malware, social engineering tactics, and spear-phishing attacks," ThreatMon said in a Tuesday report. Blind Eagle, also

Uncovering (and Understanding) the Hidden Risks of SaaS Apps

Recent data breaches across CircleCI, LastPass, and Okta underscore a common theme: The enterprise SaaS stacks connected to these industry-leading apps can be at serious risk for compromise. CircleCI, for example, plays an integral, SaaS-to-SaaS role for SaaS app development. Similarly, tens of thousands of organizations rely on Okta and LastPass security roles for SaaS identity and access

U.S. and U.K. Warn of Russian Hackers Exploiting Cisco Router Flaws for Espionage

U.K. and U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies have warned of Russian nation-state actors exploiting now-patched flaws in networking equipment from Cisco to conduct reconnaissance and deploy malware against select targets. The intrusions, per the authorities, took place in 2021 and targeted a small number of entities in Europe, U.S. government institutions, and about 250 Ukrainian victims

Google Launches New Cybersecurity Initiatives to Strengthen Vulnerability Management

Google on Thursday outlined a set of initiatives aimed at improving the vulnerability management ecosystem and establishing greater transparency measures around exploitation. "While the notoriety of zero-day vulnerabilities typically makes headlines, risks remain even after they're known and fixed, which is the real story," the company said in an announcement. "Those risks span everything from

"It's The Service Accounts, Stupid": Why Do PAM Deployments Take (almost) Forever To Complete?

Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions are regarded as the common practice to prevent identity threats to administrative accounts. In theory, the PAM concept makes absolute sense: place admin credentials in a vault, rotate their passwords, and closely monitor their sessions. However, the harsh reality is that the vast majority of PAM projects either become a years-long project, or even

Winter Vivern APT Targets European Government Entities with Zimbra Vulnerability

The advanced persistent threat (APT) actor known as Winter Vivern is now targeting officials in Europe and the U.S. as part of an ongoing cyber espionage campaign. "TA473 since at least February 2023 has continuously leveraged an unpatched Zimbra vulnerability in publicly facing webmail portals that allows them to gain access to the email mailboxes of government entities in Europe," Proofpoint 

Cyberstorage: Leveraging the Multi-Cloud to Combat Data Exfiltration

Multi-cloud data storage, once merely a byproduct of the great cloud migration, has now become a strategy for data management. "Multi-cloud by design," and its companion the supercloud, is an ecosystem in which several cloud systems work together to provide many organizational benefits, including increased scale and overall resiliency.And now, even security teams who have long been the holdout

North Korean APT43 Group Uses Cybercrime to Fund Espionage Operations

A new North Korean nation-state cyber operator has been attributed to a series of campaigns orchestrated to gather strategic intelligence that aligns with Pyongyang's geopolitical interests since 2018. Google-owned Mandiant, which is tracking the activity cluster under the moniker APT43, said the group's motives are both espionage- and financially-motivated, leveraging techniques like credential

Malicious Python Package Uses Unicode Trickery to Evade Detection and Steal Data

A malicious Python package on the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository has been found to use Unicode as a trick to evade detection and deploy an info-stealing malware. The package in question, named onyxproxy, was uploaded to PyPI on March 15, 2023, and comes with capabilities to harvest and exfiltrate credentials and other valuable data. It has since been taken down, but not before attracting

Researchers Uncover Chinese Nation State Hackers' Deceptive Attack Strategies

A recent campaign undertaken by Earth Preta indicates that nation-state groups aligned with China are getting increasingly proficient at bypassing security solutions. The threat actor, active since at least 2012, is tracked by the broader cybersecurity community under Bronze President, HoneyMyte, Mustang Panda, RedDelta, and Red Lich. Attack chains mounted by the group commence with a

Chinese Hackers Exploit Fortinet Zero-Day Flaw for Cyber Espionage Attack

The zero-day exploitation of a now-patched medium-severity security flaw in the Fortinet FortiOS operating system has been linked to a suspected Chinese hacking group. American cybersecurity company Mandiant, which made the attribution, said the activity cluster is part of a broader campaign designed to deploy backdoors onto Fortinet and VMware solutions and maintain persistent access to victim

Winter Vivern APT Group Targeting Indian, Lithuanian, Slovakian, and Vatican Officials

The advanced persistent threat known as Winter Vivern has been linked to campaigns targeting government officials in India, Lithuania, Slovakia, and the Vatican since 2021. The activity targeted Polish government agencies, the Ukraine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italy Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and individuals within the Indian government, SentinelOne said in a report shared with The