Ransomware gang asks $42m from NY law firm, threatens to leak dirt on Trump

The REvil ransomware gang published last night 2.4 GB of Lady Gaga's legal documents.

RAMSAY, STAMINA, & US-Cert Vulnerabilities - Wrap Up - SWN #34

This week, Doug wraps up all the shows across our network, including the Show News, Bunny Lebowski's toes, STAMINA, RAMSAY, and US-Cert Vulnerabilities!

 

Show Notes: https://wiki.securityweekly.com/SWNEpisode34

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Hashes in PowerShell, (Fri, May 15th)

As a follow up to yesterday's how-to, I thought hashing might a thing to cover.  We use hashes all the time, but it's annoying that md5sum, sha1sum and sha256sum aren't part of the windows command set - or are they?  Yup, it turns out that they most definitely are part of PowerShell:

Hackers preparing to launch ransomware attacks against hospitals arrested in Romania

Hackers were planning to use COVID-19-themed emails to infect Romanian hospitals with ransomware and disrupt operations.

This Week in Security News: How Researchers Used an App Store to Demonstrate Hacks on a Factory and Microsoft Again Surpasses 100 Vulnerabilities on Patch Tuesday

Welcome to our weekly roundup, where we share what you need to know about the cybersecurity news and events that happened over the past few days. This week, read about how researchers at Trend Micro used an app store to demonstrate hacks on a manufacturing facility. Also, learn about this month’s patch activity from Microsoft.

Read on:

How Two Researchers Used an App Store to Demonstrate Hacks on a Factory

When malicious code spread through the networks of Rheinmetall Automotive, it disrupted plants on two continents, temporarily costing up to $4 million each week. While awareness of these type of threats has grown, there’s still a risk that too many organizations view such attacks as isolated incidents, rather than the work of a determined attacker. Federico Maggi, a senior researcher at Trend Micro, set out to dispel that mindset.

#LetsTalkSecurity: Hacker Adventures  

This Week, Rik Ferguson, Vice President of Security Research at Trend Micro, hosted the second episode of #LetsTalkSecurity featuring Jayson E. Street, Vice President at SphereNY. This series explores security and how it impacts our digital world. In discussion with some of the brightest and most influential minds in the community, Trend Micro explores this fascinating topic. Check out this week’s episode and follow the link to find information about upcoming episodes and guests.

Microsoft Again Surpasses 100 Vulnerabilities on Patch Tuesday

For the third consecutive month Microsoft issued a hefty list of Patch Tuesday security updates covering 111 CVEs with 16 making the critical list. This is the third month Microsoft has had more than 100 vulnerabilities listed in its monthly security rollup, but unlike the last few months, May’s list does not contain any vulnerabilities currently being exploited in the wild.

Principles of a Cloud Migration – Security W5H – The WHERE

Where do we add security in the cloud? Start by removing the thinking that security controls are tied to specific implementations. You don’t need an intrusion prevention wall that’s a hardware appliance much like you don’t need an agent installed to do anti-malware. This blog puts the focus on your configuration, permissions, and other best practices.

Securing Smart Manufacturing

Trend Micro recently published a report that surveys the Industry 4.0 attack surface, finding that within the manufacturing operation, the blending of IT and OT exposes additional attack surfaces. In the current report on rogue robots, Trend Micro collaborated with the Politecnico di Milano to analyze the range of specific attacks today’s robots face, and the potential consequences those attacks may have.

Package Delivery Giant Pitney Bowes Confirms Second Ransomware Attack in 7 Months

Package and mail delivery giant Pitney Bowes suffered its second ransomware attack in seven months. The incident came to light after a ransomware gang known as Maze published a blog post claiming to have breached and encrypted the company’s network. The Maze crew provided proof of access in the form of 11 screenshots portraying directory listings from inside the company’s computer network.

Tropic Trooper’s Back: USBferry Attack Targets Air-Gapped Environments

Trend Micro recently found that Tropic Trooper’s latest activities center around targeting Taiwanese and the Philippine military’s physically isolated networks through a USBferry attack. Trend Micro also observed targets among military/navy agencies, government institutions, military hospitals, and a national bank. The group employs USBferry, a USB malware that performs different commands on specific targets, maintains stealth in environments, and steals critical data through USB storage.

Texas Courts Won’t Pay Up in Ransomware Attack

A ransomware attack has hit the IT office that supports Texas appellate courts and judicial agencies, leading to their websites and computer servers being shut down. The office said that it will not pay the ransom requested by the cybercriminals. Specifically affected is the Office of Court Administration, which is the IT provider for the appellate courts and state judicial agencies within the Texas Judicial Branch.

New MacOS Dacls RAT Backdoor Show Lazarus’ Multi-Platform Attack Capability

Trend Micro found an application sample in April called TinkaOTP that seemed like a normal one-time password authentication tool. However, further investigation showed the application bearing a striking resemblance to Dacls remote access trojan (RAT), a Windows and Linux backdoor that 360 Netlab discovered in December 2019.

Facebook Awards Researcher $20,000 for Account Hijacking Vulnerability

Security researcher Vinoth Kumar says Facebook awarded him $20,000 after he discovered and reported a Document Object Model-based cross-site scripting (DOM XSS) vulnerability that could have been exploited to hijack accounts. The researcher says he discovered the vulnerability in the window.postMessage() method, which is meant to safely enable cross-origin communication between Window objects.

Cloud Security: Key Concepts, Threats, and Solutions

Enterprises may be migrating requirements to the cloud, starting fully in the cloud (going “cloud native”), or mastering their cloud-based security strategy. Regardless of what stage of the cloud journey a company is in, cloud administrators should be able to conduct security operations like performing vulnerability management, identifying important network events, carrying out incident response, and gathering and acting on threat intelligence — all while keeping many moving parts in compliance with relevant industry standards.

From Bugs to Zoombombing: How to Stay Safe in Online Meetings

Forced to now work, study, and socialize at home, the online digital world has become essential to our communications — and video conferencing apps have become our “face-to-face” window on the world. The problem is that as users flock to these services, the bad guys are also waiting to disrupt or eavesdrop on chats, spread malware, and steal data. In this blog, Trend Micro explores some of the key threats out there and how users can stay safe while video conferencing.

Surprised by Texas courts’ decision not to pay the ransom in its latest ransomware attack? Share your thoughts in the comments below or follow me on Twitter to continue the conversation: @JonLClay.

The post This Week in Security News: How Researchers Used an App Store to Demonstrate Hacks on a Factory and Microsoft Again Surpasses 100 Vulnerabilities on Patch Tuesday appeared first on .

Hackers target the air-gapped networks of the Taiwanese and Philippine military

Third state-sponsored malware strain disclosed this week that can jump the air gap and reach isolated networks.

Mikroceen RAT backdoors Asian government networks in new attack wave

The backdoor paved the way for the deployment of other malware including Gh0st RAT.

This new, unusual Trojan promises victims COVID-19 tax relief

QNodeService’s codebase may have helped it avoid detection by traditional antivirus solutions.

ISC Stormcast For Friday, May 15th 2020 https://isc.sans.edu/podcastdetail.html?id=6998, (Fri, May 15th)

UK electricity middleman hit by cyber-attack

Elexon said the incident only impacted its internal IT network, employee laptops, and company email server.

The Real Meat - ESW #183

This week, we talk Enterprise News, to discuss how GitHub Code Scanning aims to prevent vulnerabilities in open source software, SlashNext Integrates with Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR to Deliver Automated Phishing IR and Threat Hunting, Portshift Announces Extended Kubernetes Cluster Protection, Vigilant Ops InSight Platform V1 automatically generates device software bill of materials, and more! In our second segment, we welcome Georges Bellefontaine, Manager of Vulnerability Management at Toyota Financial, to discuss the approach to vulnerability management and the benefits of a full life-cycle approach to vulnerability management with Qualys' VMDR Solution! In our final segment, we welcome Sid Nanda, Senior Product Marketing Manager at VIAVI Solutions, to talk about Using the Network to Reduce Remediation Costs!

 

Show Notes: https://wiki.securityweekly.com/ESWEpisode183

To learn more about Qualys VMDR, visit: https://securityweekly.com/qualys

To learn more about VIAVI Solutions, visit: https://securitweekly.com/viavi

 

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Google to block ads that use too many system resources starting August 2020

New "Heavy Ad Intervention" will save battery life and network bandwidth usage on mobile data plans.

Russian hacker group using HTTP status codes to control malware implants

New Turla cyber-espionage operation targets diplomatic entities in Europe with new COMpfun malware.

Patch Tuesday Revisited - CVE-2020-1048 isn't as "Medium" as MS Would Have You Believe, (Thu, May 14th)

Looking at our patch Tuesday list, I looked a bit closer at CE-2020-1048 (Print Spooler Privilege Escalation) and Microsoft's ratings for that one.  Microsoft rated this as:

Base Conversions and Creating GUI Apps in PowerShell, (Thu, May 14th)

I don't know about you, but I find myself doing conversions from decimal to hex and binary several times per day.  For me, working out binary equivalents of decimal numbers is something I do all the time to verify subnet masks, network and broadcast addresses - also in answering "is this IP in the same subnet or in an adjacent network?"  Conversions of the same type crop up all the time in decoding constructs in packets.  Wireshark and Burp will both often anticipate what you want to do on this score, but not always.

From Bugs to Zoombombing: How to Stay Safe in Online Meetings

The COVID-19 pandemic, along with social distancing, has done many things to alter our lives. But in one respect it has merely accelerated a process begun many years ago. We were all spending more and more time online before the virus struck. But now, forced to work, study and socialize at home, the online digital world has become absolutely essential to our communications — and video conferencing apps have become our “face-to-face” window on the world.

The problem is that as users flock to these services, the bad guys are also lying in wait — to disrupt or eavesdrop on our chats, spread malware, and steal our data. Zoom’s problems have perhaps been the most widely publicized, because of its quickly rising popularity, but it’s not the only platform whose users have been potentially at risk. Cisco’s WebEx and Microsoft Teams have also had issues; while other platforms, such as Houseparty, are intrinsically less secure (almost by design for their target audience, as the name suggests).

Let’s take a look at some of the key threats out there and how you can stay safe while video conferencing.

What are the risks?

Depending on the platform (designed for work or play) and the use case (business or personal), there are various opportunities for the online attacker to join and disrupt or eavesdrop on video conferencing calls. The latter is especially dangerous if you’re discussing sensitive business information.

Malicious hackers may also look to deliver malware via chats or shared files to take control of your computer, or to steal your passwords and sensitive personal and financial information. In a business context, they could even try to hijack your video conferencing account to impersonate you, in a bid to steal info from or defraud your colleagues or company.

The bad guys may also be able to take advantage of the fact that your home PCs and devices are less well-secured than those at work or school—and that you may be more distracted at home and less alert to potential threats.

To accomplish their goals, malicious hackers can leverage various techniques at their disposal. These can include:

Exploiting vulnerabilities in the video conferencing software, particularly when it hasn’t been updated to fend off the latest threats Stealing your log-ins/meeting ID via malware or phishing attacks; or by obtaining a meeting ID or password shared on social media Hiding malware in legitimate-looking video apps, links and files Theft of sensitive data from meeting recordings stored locally or in the cloud.

Zooming in on trouble

Zoom has in many ways become the victim of its own success. With daily meeting participants soaring from 10 million in December last year to 200 million by March 2020, all eyes have been focused on the platform. Unfortunately, that also includes hackers. Zoom has been hit by a number of security and privacy issues over the past several months, which include “Zoombombing” (meetings disrupted by uninvited guests), misleading encryption claims, a waiting room vulnerability, credential theft and data collection leaks, and fake Zoom installers. To be fair to Zoom, it has responded quickly to these issues, realigning its development priorities to fix the security and privacy issues discovered by its intensive use.

And Zoom isn’t alone. Earlier in the year, Cisco Systems had its own problem with WebEx, its widely-used enterprise video conferencing system, when it discovered a flaw in the platform that could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to enter a password-protected video conferencing meeting. All an attacker needed was the meeting ID and a WebEx mobile app for iOS or Android, and they could have barged in on a meeting, no authentication necessary. Cisco quickly moved to fix the high-severity vulnerability, but other flaws (also now fixed) have cropped up in WebEx’s history, including one that could enable a remote attacker to send a forged request to the system’s server.

More recently, Microsoft Teams joined the ranks of leading business videoconferencing platforms with potentially deadly vulnerabilities. On April 27 it surfaced that for at least three weeks (from the end of February till the middle of March), a malicious GIF could have stolen user data from Teams accounts, possibly across an entire company. The vulnerability was patched on April 20—but it’s a reminder to potential video conferencing users that even leading systems such as Zoom, WebEx, and Teams aren’t fool-proof and require periodic vulnerability and security fixes to keep them safe and secure. This is compounded during the COVID-19 pandemic when workers are working from home and connecting to their company’s network and systems via possibly unsecure home networks and devices.

Video conferencing alternatives

So how do you choose the best, most secure, video conferencing software for your work-at-home needs? There are many solutions on the market today. In fact, the choice can be dizzying. Some simply enable video or audio meetings/calls, while others also allow for sharing and saving of documents and notes. Some are only appropriate for one-on-one connections or small groups, while others can scale to thousands.

In short, you’ll need to choose the video conferencing solution most appropriate to your needs, while checking if it meets a minimum set of security standards for working at home. This set of criteria should include end-to-end encryption, automatic and frequent security updates, the use of auto-generated meeting IDs and strong access controls, a program for managing vulnerabilities, and last but not least, good privacy practices by the company.

Some video conferencing options alongside Zoom, WebEx, and Teams include:

Signal which is end-to-end encrypted and highly secure, but only supports one-to-one calls. FaceTime, Apple’s video chat tool, is easy-to-use and end-to-end encrypted, but is only available to Mac and iOS users. Jitsi Meet is a free, open-source video conferencing app that works on Android, iOS, and desktop devices, with no limit on participants beyond your bandwidth. Skype Meet Now is Microsoft’s free, popular conferencing tool for up to 50 users that can be used without an account, (in contrast to Teams, which is a paid, more business-focused platform for Office 365 users). Google Duo is a free option for video calls only, while the firm’s Hangouts platform can also be used for messaging. Hangouts Meet is a more business-focused paid version. Doxy.me is a well-known telemedicine platform used by doctors and therapists that works through your browser—so it’s up to you to keep your browser updated and to ensure the appropriate security and privacy settings are in place. Secure medical consultation with your healthcare provider is of particular concern during the shelter- and work-from-home quarantine.

How do I stay safe?

Whatever video conferencing platform you use, it’s important to bear in mind that cyber-criminals will always be looking to take advantage of any security gaps they can find — in the tool itself or your use of it. So how do you secure your video conferencing apps? Some tips listed here are Zoom-specific, but consider their equivalents in other platforms as general best-practice tips. Depending on the use case, you might choose to not enable some of the options here.

Check for end-to-end encryption before getting onboard with the app. This includes encryption for data at rest. Ensure that you generate one-off meeting IDs and passwords automatically for recurring meetings (Zoom). Don’t share any meeting IDs online. Use the “waiting room” feature in Zoom (now fixed), so the host can only allow attendees from a pre-assigned list. Lock the meeting once it’s started to stop anyone new from joining. Allow the host to put attendees on hold, temporarily removing them from a meeting if necessary. Play a sound when someone enters or leaves the room. Set screen-sharing to “host only” to stop uninvited guests from sharing disruptive content. Disable “file transfers” to block possible malware. Keep your systems patched and up-to-date so there are no bugs that hackers can target. Only download conferencing apps from official iOS/Android stores and manufacturer websites. Never click on links or open attachments in unsolicited mail. Check the settings in your video conferencing account. Switch off camera access if you don’t want to appear on-screen. Use a password manager for video conferencing app log-ins. Enhance passwords with two-factor authentication (2FA) or Single-Sign-On (SSO) to protect access, if available. Install anti-malware software from a reputable vendor on all devices and PCs. And implement a network security solution if you can.

How Trend Micro can help

Fortunately, Trend Micro has a range of capabilities that can support your efforts to stay safe while using video conferencing services.

Trend Micro Home Network Security (HNS) protects every device in your home connected to the internet. That means it will protect you from malicious links and attachments in phishing emails spoofed to appear as if sent from video conferencing firms, as well as from those sent by hackers that may have covertly entered a meeting. Its Vulnerability Check can identify any vulnerabilities in your home devices and PCs, including work laptops, and its Remote Access Protection can reduce the risk of tech support scams and unwanted remote connections to your device. Finally, it allows parents to control their kids’ usage of video conferencing applications, to limit their exposure.

Trend Micro Security also offers protection against email, file, and web threats on your devices. Note too, that Password Manager is automatically installed with Maximum Security to help users create unique, strong passwords for each application/website they use, including video conferencing sites.

Finally, Trend Micro WiFi Protection (multi-platform) / VPN Proxy One (Mac and iOS) offer VPN connections from your home to the internet, creating secure encrypted tunnels for traffic to flow down. The VPN apps work on both Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections. This could be useful for users concerned their video conferencing app isn’t end-to-end encrypted, or for those wishing to protect their identity and personal information when interacting on these apps.

The post From Bugs to Zoombombing: How to Stay Safe in Online Meetings appeared first on .

COVID-19 blamed for 238% surge in cyberattacks against banks

Disarray caused by the pandemic has become a breeding ground for financially-motivated attacks.

A cybercrime store is selling access to more than 43,000 hacked servers

The MagBo portal provides access to hacked servers, with some belonging to local and state government, hospitals, and financial organizations.

ISC Stormcast For Thursday, May 14th 2020 https://isc.sans.edu/podcastdetail.html?id=6996, (Thu, May 14th)

Microsoft adds initial support for DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) in Windows Insiders

DoH support now available in current Windows 10 Insiders Fast Ring distributions.

US formally accuses China of hacking US entities working on COVID-19 research

DHS CISA and the FBI issue joint statement on recent Chinese cyber-attacks against COVID-19-related targets.

PrintDemon vulnerability impacts all Windows versions

PrintDemon vulnerability impacts Windows versions released as far back as 1996. Patches available.

New Ramsay malware can steal sensitive documents from air-gapped networks

Ramsay can infect air-gapped computers, collect Word, PDF, and ZIP files in a hidden folder, and then wait for exfiltration.

Adobe issues patches for 36 vulnerabilities in DNG, Reader, Acrobat

May’s patch round includes fixes for remote code execution flaws.

Double Decker - SCW #28

This week, we welcome Jake Williams, Founder and Principal Consultant at Rendition Infosec, to talk about Security vs. Compliance: Where are the overlaps? Where are the differences?

 

Show Notes: https://wiki.securityweekly.com/SCWEpisode28

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Windows 10 to get PUA/PUP protection feature

PUA/PUP-blocking option to be added in Windows 10 May 2020 update.

DHS CISA and FBI share list of top 10 most exploited vulnerabilities

Office is the most exploited technology, followed by Apache Struts.

ISC Stormcast For Wednesday, May 13th 2020 https://isc.sans.edu/podcastdetail.html?id=6994, (Wed, May 13th)

Huawei denies involvement in buggy Linux kernel patch proposal

Huawei says employee submitted code as part of a personal project, not on behalf of the company.

Malspam with links to zip archives pushes Dridex malware, (Wed, May 13th)

Introduction

Stay Vigilant & Educate - BSW #173

This week, we welcome back Dr. Mike Lloyd, CTO at RedSeal, to talk about Lessons for Cybersecurity From a Pandemic! In the leadership and communications section, Top 5 Tactical Steps for a New CISO, Good Leadership Is About Communicating Why , 5, ok maybe only 4, CISO Priorities During the COVID-19 Response, and more!

 

Show Notes: https://wiki.securityweekly.com/BSWEpisode173

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Hacking COVID Research, ThunderSpy, & GDPR Fines - SWN #33

This week in the Security Weekly News, DEFCON 28 is indeed cancelled, Paying Ransomware may double the recovery cost, ThunderSpy evil maid attack on thunderbolt devices, FBI to release a warning about Chinese hackers targeting virus research, and more! Jason Wood returns for the Expert Commentary to talk about Four GDPR Violations that multiple companies have been fined for!

 

Show Notes: https://wiki.securityweekly.com/SWNEpisode33

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Google removed 813 creepware apps from the Android Play Store

The applications were discovered with a new algorithm called CreepRank, developed by a team of academics.

Microsoft May 2020 Patch Tuesday fixes 111 vulnerabilities

Third-largest Patch Tuesday in Microsoft's history started rolling out earlier today.

Microsoft May 2020 Patch Tuesday, (Tue, May 12th)

This month we got an average Patch Tuesday with patches for 111 vulnerabilities total. Sixteen of them are critical and, according to Microsoft, none of them was previously disclosed or are being exploited.

On the three-year anniversary of WannaCry, US exposes new North Korean malware

US cyber-security officials expose today three new North Korean malware strains named COPPERHEDGE, TAINTEDSCRIBE, and PEBBLEDASH.

Texas courts slammed by ransomware attack

Officials say they will not bow to any blackmail or ransom demands.

WordPress plugin Page Builder by SiteOrigin patched against code execution attacks

The vulnerabilities impacted over one million websites.

Android app promised to serve news updates, served ESET with a DDoS attack instead

The app managed to slither into Google Play and was downloaded at least 50,000 times.

Astaroth malware hides command servers in YouTube channel descriptions

Astaroth continues to evolve into a dangerous threat. Luckily, it's only spreading in Brazil only, right now.

ISC Stormcast For Tuesday, May 12th 2020 https://isc.sans.edu/podcastdetail.html?id=6992, (Tue, May 12th)

A Perfect Ten - ASW #107

This week, we welcome back Joe Garcia, DevOps Security Engineer at CyberArk, to discuss How Can Security Work TOGETHER, Not Against, Developers! In the Application Security News, Cloud servers hacked via critical SaltStack vulnerabilities, Samsung Confirms Critical Security Issue For Millions: Every Galaxy After 2014 Affected, Mitigating vulnerabilities in endpoint network stacks, Microsoft Shells Out $100K for IoT Security, and Secure your team s code with code scanning and secret scanning!

 

Show Notes: https://wiki.securityweekly.com/ASWEpisode107

To learn more about CyberArk, visit: https://securityweekly.com/cyberark

 

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Excel 4 Macro Analysis: XLMMacroDeobfuscator, (Mon, May 11th)

Malicious Excel 4 macro documents become more prevalent. They are so obfuscated now, that analysis requires calculations of many formulas.

Iran reports failed cyber-attack on Strait of Hormuz port

Iranian officials said hackers infiltrated and damaged a small number of computers at the port of Shahid Rajaei in the city of Bandar Abbas.

Package delivery giant Pitney Bowes confirms second ransomware attack in 7 months

Pitney Bowes network infected with Maze ransomware, after the company got hit by the Ryuk gang in October last year.

Securing Smart Manufacturing

“Alexa, turn on the TV.”

”Get it yourself.”

This nightmare scenario could play out millions of times unless people take steps to protect their IoT devices. The situation is even worse in industrial settings. Smart manufacturing, that is, Industry 4.0, relies on tight integration between IT systems and OT systems. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software has evolved into supply chain management (SCM) systems, reaching across organizational and national boundaries to gather all forms of inputs, parting out subcomponent development and production, and delivering finished products, payments, and capabilities across a global canvas.

Each of these synergies fulfills a rational business goal: optimize scarce resources across diverse sources; minimize manufacturing, shipping, and warehousing expense across regions; preserve continuity of operations by diversifying suppliers; maximize sales among multiple delivery channels. The supply chain includes not only raw materials for manufacturing, but also third party suppliers of components, outsourced staff for non-core business functions, open source software to optimize development costs, and subcontractors to fulfill specialized design, assembly, testing, and distribution tasks. Each element of the supply chain is an attack surface.

Software development has long been a team effort. Not since the 1970s have companies sought out the exceptional talented solo developer whose code was exquisite, flawless, ineffable, undocumented, and impossible to maintain.  Now designs must be clear across the team, and testing requires close collaboration between architects, designers, developers, and production. Teams identify business requirements, then compose a solution from components sourced from publically shared libraries. These libraries may contain further dependencies on yet other third-party code of unknown provenance. Simplified testing relies on the quality of the shared libraries, but shared library routines may have latent (or intentionally hidden) defects that do not come to life until in a vulnerable production environment. Who tests GitHub? The scope of these vulnerabilities is daunting. Trend Micro just published a report, “Attacks on Smart Manufacturing Systems: A Forward-looking Security Analysis,” that surveys the Industry 4.0 attack surface.

Within the manufacturing operation, the blending of IT and OT exposes additional attack surfaces. Industrial robots provide a clear example. Industrial robots are tireless, precision machines programmed to perform exacting tasks rapidly and flawlessly. What did industry do before robots? Factories either relied on hand-built products or on non-programmable machines that had to be retooled for any change in product specifications. Hand-built technology required highly skilled machinists, who are expensive and require time to deliver. See Figure 1 for an example.

Non-programmable robots require factory down time for retooling, a process that can take weeks. Before programmable industrial robots, automobile factories would deliver a single body style across multiple years of production. Programmable robots can produce different configurations of materials with no down time. They are used everywhere in manufacturing, warehousing, distribution centers, farming, mining, and soon guiding delivery vehicles. The supply chain is automated.

However, the supply chain is not secure. The protocols industrial robots depend on assumed the environment was isolated. One controller would govern the machines in one location. Since the connection between the controller and the managed robots was hard-wired, there was no need for operator identification or message verification. My controller would never see your robot. My controller would only connect to my robot, so the messages they exchanged needed no authentication. Each device assumed all its connections were externally verified. Even the safety systems assumed the network was untainted and trustworthy. No protocols included any security or privacy controls. Then Industry 4.0 adopted wireless communications.

The move, which saved the cost of laying cable in the factory, opened those networks to eavesdropping and attacks. Every possible attack against industrial robots is happening now. Bad guys are forging commands, altering specifications, changing or suppressing error alerts, modifying output statistics, and rewriting logs. The consequences can be vast yet nearly undetectable. In the current report on Rogue Robots, our Forward-looking Threat Research team, collaborating with the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI), analyzes the range of specific attacks today’s robots face, and the potential consequences those attacks may have.

Owners and operators of programmable robots should heed the warnings of this research, and consider various suggested remedies. Forewarned is forearmed.

The Rogue Robots research is here: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/internet-of-things/rogue-robots-testing-industrial-robot-security.

The new report, Attacks on Smart Manufacturing Systems: A Forward-looking Security Analysis, is here: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/threat-intelligence-center/internet-of-things/threats-and-consequences-a-security-analysis-of-smart-manufacturing-systems.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below, or @WilliamMalikTM.

The post Securing Smart Manufacturing appeared first on .

Zeus Sphinx revamped as coronavirus relief payment attack wave continues

The financial malware has been upgraded with new C2 setups and encryption keys.

Data leak, phishing security flaws disclosed in Oracle iPlanet Web Server

Security patches will not be issued to fix the problems.

ISC Stormcast For Monday, May 11th 2020 https://isc.sans.edu/podcastdetail.html?id=6990, (Mon, May 11th)

Microsoft and Intel project converts malware into images before analyzing it

Microsoft and Intel Labs work on STAMINA, a new deep learning approach for detecting and classifying malware.

YARA v4.0.0: BASE64 Strings, (Sun, May 10th)

YARA version 4.0.0 was released.

Nmap Basics - The Security Practitioner's Swiss Army Knife, (Sat, May 9th)

To elaborate on Xavier's and Bojan's excellent nmap diaries over the last few days, I thought that today might be a good day to go back to basics on nmap and demonstrate why nmap really is a security practitioner’s swiss army knife and should be in each of our testing toolkits.

Microsoft adds protection against Reply-All email storms in Office 365

Redmond adds protection against massive "Reply-All" email storms after suffering two internal incidents in 2019 and 2020.

A hacker group is selling more than 73 million user records on the dark web

Hacker group "ShinyHunters" is selling the data of 10 companies on a dark web cybercrime marketplace.

VMWare vRealize Critical vulnerabilities due to SaltStack - VMSA-2020-0009, (Sat, May 9th)

VMWare has announced two vulnerabiliities in their vRealize product related to their integration of the popular open source server management software SaltStack, for which vulnerabilities were disclosed by F-Secure late last week.

Black Hat and DEF CON security conferences to take place in a virtual format

"Defcon is canceled" meme becomes reality.

US Marshals Service exposed prisoner details in security breach

UPDATE: More than 387,000 former and current inmates had data exposed in a December 2019 incident.

Principles of a Cloud Migration – Security W5H – The WHERE

“Wherever I go, there I am” -Security

I recently had a discussion with a large organization that had a few workloads in multiple clouds while assembling a cloud security focused team to build out their security policy moving forward.  It’s one of my favorite conversations to have since I’m not just talking about Trend Micro solutions and how they can help organizations be successful, but more so on how a business approaches the creation of their security policy to achieve a successful center of operational excellence.  While I will talk more about the COE (center of operational excellence) in a future blog series, I want to dive into the core of the discussion – where do we add security in the cloud?

We started discussing how to secure these new cloud native services like hosted services, serverless, container infrastructures, etc., and how to add these security strategies into their ever-evolving security policy.

Quick note: If your cloud security policy is not ever-evolving, it’s out of date. More on that later.

A colleague and friend of mine, Bryan Webster, presented a concept that traditional security models have been always been about three things: Best Practice Configuration for Access and Provisioning, Walls that Block Things, and Agents that Inspect Things.  We have relied heavily on these principles since the first computer was connected to another. I present to you this handy graphic he presented to illustrate the last two points.

But as we move to secure cloud native services, some of these are outside our walls, and some don’t allow the ability to install an agent.  So WHERE does security go now?

Actually, it’s not all that different – just how it’s deployed and implemented. Start by removing the thinking that security controls are tied to specific implementations. You don’t need an intrusion prevention wall that’s a hardware appliance much like you don’t need an agent installed to do anti-malware. There will also be a big focus on your configuration, permissions, and other best practices.  Use security benchmarks like the AWS Well-Architected, CIS, and SANS to help build an adaptable security policy that can meet the needs of the business moving forward.  You might also want to consider consolidating technologies into a cloud-centric service platform like Trend Micro Cloud One, which enables builders to protect their assets regardless of what’s being built.  Need IPS for your serverless functions or containers?  Try Cloud One Application Security!  Do you want to push security further left into your development pipeline? Take a look at Trend Micro Container Security for Pre-Runtime Container Scanning or Cloud One Conformity for helping developers scan your Infrastructure as Code.

Keep in mind – wherever you implement security, there it is. Make sure that it’s in a place to achieve the goals of your security policy using a combination of people, process, and products, all working together to make your business successful!

This is part of a multi-part blog series on things to keep in mind during a cloud migration project.  You can start at the beginning which was kicked off with a webinar here: https://resources.trendmicro.com/Cloud-One-Webinar-Series-Secure-Cloud-Migration.html.

Also, feel free to give me a follow on LinkedIn for additional security content to use throughout your cloud journey!

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Digital Ocean says it exposed customer data after it left an internal document online

Digital Ocean says no customer servers were accessed following this security lapse.

This Week in Security News: 7 Tips for Security Pros Patching in a Pandemic and Coinminer, DDoS Bot Attack Docker Daemon Ports

Welcome to our weekly roundup, where we share what you need to know about the cybersecurity news and events that happened over the past few days. This week, read about a malicious cryptocurrency miner and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) bot that targets open Docker daemon ports. Also, learn about tips for IT and security pros struggling to patch properly throughout the pandemic.

 

Read on:

#Let’sTalkSecurity: Bounty Smarter Not Harder

This Week, Rik Ferguson, Vice President of Security Research at Trend Micro, hosted the first episode of #Let’sTalkSecurity featuring Katie Moussouris, Founder and CEO of Luta Security. This series explores security and how it impacts our digital world. In discussion with some of the brightest and most influential minds in the community, Trend Micro explores this fascinating topic. Check out this week’s episode and follow the link to find information about upcoming episodes and guests.

Teaming Up with INTERPOL to Combat COVID-19 Threats

Partnerships matter in times of a crisis. Specifically, public-private partnerships matter in cybersecurity, which is why Trend Micro is always happy to reach out across industry, academia, and law enforcement to collaborate. Trend Micro is delighted to be working with long-time partner, INTERPOL, over the coming weeks on a new awareness campaign to help businesses and remote workers stay safe from an influx of COVID-19 threats.

7 Tips for Security Pros Patching in a Pandemic

Patch management has historically been a challenge for IT and security teams, which are under pressure to create strong programs and deploy fixes as they are released. Now, their challenges are intensified as a global shift to remote work forces companies to rethink patching strategies. In this article, experts in vulnerability and patch management share their advice for IT and security pros struggling to patch properly throughout the pandemic.

Principles of a Cloud Migration – Security W5H – The When

Security is as important to your cloud migration as the actual workload you are moving to the cloud. It is essential to plan and integrate security at every single layer of both architecture and implementation. If you are doing a disaster recovery migration, you need to make sure that security is ready for the infrastructure, your shiny new cloud space, as well as the operations supporting it.

Samsung Patches 0-click Vulnerability Impacting All Smartphones Sold Since 2014

This week Samsung released a security update to fix a critical vulnerability impacting all smartphones sold since 2014. The security flaw resides in how the Android OS flavor running on Samsung devices handles the custom Qmage image format (.qmg), which Samsung smartphones started supporting on all devices released since late 2014.

Security 101: How Fileless Attacks Work and Persist in Systems

As security measures get better at identifying and blocking malware and other threats, modern adversaries are constantly crafting sophisticated techniques to evade detection. One of the most persistent evasion techniques involves fileless attacks, which do not require malicious software to break into a system. Instead of relying on executables, these threats misuse tools that are already in the system to initiate attacks.

Zoom Acquires Keybase to Bring End-to-End Encryption to Video Platform

Popular communications platform provider Zoom Video announced on Thursday that it has acquired secure messaging and file-sharing service Keybase for an undisclosed sum. The move is the latest by the company as it attempts to bolster the security of its offerings and build in end-to-end encryption that can scale to the company’s massive user base.

Phishing, Other Threats Target Email and Video App Users

Trend Micro has seen several threats abusing tools utilized in work from home (WFH) setups. Cybercriminals are using credential phishing sites to trick users into entering their credentials into fake login pages of email and collaboration platforms and videoconferencing apps.

Firefox 76 Delivers New Password Security Features and Security Fixes

Just in time for this year’s World Password Day, Mozilla has released new Firefox Lockwise features. Starting with Firefox 76, users will be able to check whether any of the passwords they use are vulnerable (e.g., identical to a password that has been breached) and be alerted when their login and password is involved in a breach.

Excel Files with Hidden Sheets Target Users in Italy

A spam campaign using emails that have Excel file (.xls) attachments has been seen circulating and targeting users in Italy, Germany and other countries. The attachment appears blank when opened, but it has a sheet set to “hidden” that attempts to connect to a URL and download a file. Setting sheets to hidden is a documented feature. Some of the subjects of the spam emails written in Italian involve topics like free services, correcting information, invoice details, order completion and service assistance.

Coinminer, DDoS Bot Attack Docker Daemon Ports

Researchers found an open directory containing malicious files, which was first reported in a series of Twitter posts by MalwareHunterTeam. Analyzing some of the files, Trend Micro found a malicious cryptocurrency miner and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) bot that targets open Docker daemon ports. The attack starts with the shell script named mxutzh.sh, which scans for open ports (2375, 2376, 2377, 4243, 4244) and then creates an Alpine Linux container that will host the coinminer and DDoS bot.

Naikon APT Hid Five-Year Espionage Attack Under Radar

After five years under the radar, the Naikon APT group has been unmasked in a long-term espionage campaign against several governments in the Asia-Pacific region. The Chinese APT group was first uncovered by Kaspersky researchers in 2015. A recently discovered widespread campaign reveals the group has spent the past five years quietly developing their skills and introducing the “Aria-body” RAT into their arsenal of weapons.

What do you think about Firefox’s new Lockwise password security features? Share your thoughts in the comments below or follow me on Twitter to continue the conversation: @JonLClay.

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