From Sam Altman and Elon Musk to ransomware gangs and state-backed hackers, these are the individuals and groups that spent this year disrupting the world we know it.
The Operation Triangulation spyware attacks targeting Apple iOS devices leveraged never-before-seen exploits that made it possible to even bypass pivotal hardware-based security protections erected by the company.
Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, which discovered the campaign at the beginning of 2023 after becoming one of the targets, described it as
A new malware loader is being used by threat actors to deliver a wide range of information stealers such as Lumma Stealer (aka LummaC2), Vidar, RecordBreaker (aka Raccoon Stealer V2), and Rescoms.
Cybersecurity firm ESET is tracking the trojan under the name Win/TrojanDownloader.Rugmi.
"This malware is a loader with three types of components: a downloader that downloads an
A new zero-day security flaw has been discovered in Apache OfBiz, an open-source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that could be exploited to bypass authentication protections.
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-51467, resides in the login functionality and is the result of an incomplete patch for another critical vulnerability (CVE-2023-49070, CVSS score: 9.8) that was released
Barracuda has revealed that Chinese threat actors exploited a new zero-day in its Email Security Gateway (ESG) appliances to deploy backdoors on a "limited number" of devices.
Tracked as CVE-2023-7102, the issue relates to a case of arbitrary code execution that resides within a third-party and open-source library named Spreadsheet::ParseExcel that's used by the Amavis scanner
Apple updated its location-tracking system in an attempt to cut down on AirTag abuse while still preserving privacy. Researchers think they’ve found a better balance.
A new Android backdoor has been discovered with potent capabilities to carry out a range of malicious actions on infected devices.
Dubbed Xamalicious by the McAfee Mobile Research Team, the malware is so named for the fact that it's developed using an open-source mobile app framework called Xamarin and abuses the operating system's accessibility permissions to fulfill its objectives.
Poorly secured Linux SSH servers are being targeted by bad actors to install port scanners and dictionary attack tools with the goal of targeting other vulnerable servers and co-opting them into a network to carry out cryptocurrency mining and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
"Threat actors can also choose to install only scanners and sell the breached IP and account credentials on
The banking malware known as Carbanak has been observed being used in ransomware attacks with updated tactics.
"The malware has adapted to incorporate attack vendors and techniques to diversify its effectiveness," cybersecurity firm NCC Group said in an analysis of ransomware attacks that took place in November 2023.
"Carbanak returned last month through new
The threat actor referred to as Cloud Atlas has been linked to a set of spear-phishing attacks on Russian enterprises.
Targets included a Russian agro-industrial enterprise and a state-owned research company, according to a report from F.A.C.C.T., a standalone cybersecurity company formed after Group-IB's formal exit from Russia earlier this year.
Cloud Atlas, active since at
Two British teens part of the LAPSUS$ cyber crime and extortion gang have been sentenced for their roles in orchestrating a string of high-profile attacks against a number of companies.
Arion Kurtaj, an 18-year-old from Oxford, has been sentenced to an indefinite hospital order due to his intent to get back to cybercrime "as soon as possible," BBC reported. Kurtaj, who is autistic, was
Threat hunters have discovered a rogue WordPress plugin that's capable of creating bogus administrator users and injecting malicious JavaScript code to steal credit card information.
The skimming activity is part of a Magecart campaign targeting e-commerce websites, according to Sucuri.
"As with many other malicious or fake WordPress plugins it contains some deceptive information at
A new phishing campaign is leveraging decoy Microsoft Word documents as bait to deliver a backdoor written in the Nim programming language.
"Malware written in uncommon programming languages puts the security community at a disadvantage as researchers and reverse engineers' unfamiliarity can hamper their investigation," Netskope researchers Ghanashyam Satpathy and Jan Michael Alcantara 
The threat actor known as UAC-0099 has been linked to continued attacks aimed at Ukraine, some of which leverage a high-severity flaw in the WinRAR software to deliver a malware strain called LONEPAGE.
"The threat actor targets Ukrainian employees working for companies outside of Ukraine," cybersecurity firm Deep Instinct said in a Thursday analysis.
UAC-0099 was first
Organizations in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) sector are in the crosshairs of an Iranian threat actor as part of a campaign designed to deliver a never-before-seen backdoor called FalseFont.
The findings come from Microsoft, which is tracking the activity under its weather-themed moniker Peach Sandstorm (formerly Holmium), which is also known as APT33, Elfin, and Refined Kitten.
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A new analysis of the sophisticated commercial spyware called Predator has revealed that its ability to persist between reboots is offered as an "add-on feature" and that it depends on the licensing options opted by a customer.
"In 2021, Predator spyware couldn't survive a reboot on the infected Android system (it had it on iOS)," Cisco Talos researchers Mike Gentile, Asheer Malhotra, and Vitor
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an updated version of an Android banking malware called Chameleon that has expanded its targeting to include users in the U.K. and Italy.
"Representing a restructured and enhanced iteration of its predecessor, this evolved Chameleon variant excels in executing Device Takeover (DTO) using the accessibility service, all while expanding its targeted region,
A new piece of JavaScript malware has been observed attempting to steal users' online banking account credentials as part of a campaign that has targeted more than 40 financial institutions across the world.
The activity cluster, which employs JavaScript web injections, is estimated to have led to at least 50,000 infected user sessions spanning North America, South America, Europe, and Japan.
John Hanley of IBM Security shares 4 key findings from the highly acclaimed annual Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023
What is the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report?
The IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report is an annual report that provides organizations with quantifiable information about the financial impacts of breaches. With this data, they can make data driven decisions about how they implement
Google has rolled out security updates for the Chrome web browser to address a high-severity zero-day flaw that it said has been exploited in the wild.
The vulnerability, assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2023-7024, has been described as a heap-based buffer overflow bug in the WebRTC framework that could be exploited to result in program crashes or arbitrary code execution.
Clément
Ransomware groups are increasingly switching to remote encryption in their attacks, marking a new escalation in tactics adopted by financially motivated actors to ensure the success of their campaigns.
"Companies can have thousands of computers connected to their network, and with remote ransomware, all it takes is one underprotected device to compromise the entire network," Mark Loman, vice
The Chinese-speaking threat actors behind Smishing Triad have been observed masquerading as the United Arab Emirates Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship to send malicious SMS messages with the ultimate goal of gathering sensitive information from residents and foreigners in the country.
"These criminals send malicious links to their victims' mobile devices through SMS or
A six-month-long international police operation codenamed HAECHI-IV has resulted in the arrests of nearly 3,500 individuals and seizures worth $300 million across 34 countries.
The exercise, which took place from July through December 2023, took aim at various types of financial crimes such as voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, money laundering
A new Go-based information stealer malware called JaskaGO has emerged as the latest cross-platform threat to infiltrate both Windows and Apple macOS systems.
AT&T Alien Labs, which made the discovery, said the malware is "equipped with an extensive array of commands from its command-and-control (C&C) server."
Artifacts designed for macOS were first observed in July
After an 18-month rampage, global law enforcement finally moved against the notorious Alphv/BlackCat ransomware group. Within hours, the operation faced obstacles.
Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on the inner workings of the ransomware operation led by Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev, a Russian national who was indicted by the U.S. government earlier this year for his alleged role in launching thousands of attacks across the world.
Matveev, who resides in Saint Petersburg and is known by the aliases Wazawaka, m1x, Boriselcin, Uhodiransomwar,
Threat actors are increasingly making use of GitHub for malicious purposes through novel methods, including abusing secret Gists and issuing malicious commands via git commit messages.
"Malware authors occasionally place their samples in services like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Discord to host second stage malware and sidestep detection tools," ReversingLabs researcher Karlo Zanki 
Some of you have already started budgeting for 2024 and allocating funds to security areas within your organization. It is safe to say that employee security awareness training is one of the expenditure items, too. However, its effectiveness is an open question with people still engaging in insecure behaviors at the workplace. Besides, social engineering remains one of the most prevalent attacks
The malware loader known as PikaBot is being distributed as part of a malvertising campaign targeting users searching for legitimate software like AnyDesk.
"PikaBot was previously only distributed via malspam campaigns similarly to QakBot and emerged as one of the preferred payloads for a threat actor known as TA577," Malwarebytes' Jérôme Segura said.
The malware family,
The threat actors associated with the 8220 Gang have been observed exploiting a high-severity flaw in Oracle WebLogic Server to propagate their malware.
The security shortcoming is CVE-2020-14883 (CVSS score: 7.2), a remote code execution bug that could be exploited by authenticated attackers to take over susceptible servers.
"This vulnerability allows remote authenticated
The threat actors behind the Play ransomware are estimated to have impacted approximately 300 entities as of October 2023, according to a new joint cybersecurity advisory from Australia and the U.S.
"Play ransomware actors employ a double-extortion model, encrypting systems after exfiltrating data and have impacted a wide range of businesses and critical infrastructure organizations in North
Technical details have emerged about two now-patched security flaws in Microsoft Windows that could be chained by threat actors to achieve remote code execution on the Outlook email service sans any user interaction.
"An attacker on the internet can chain the vulnerabilities together to create a full, zero-click remote code execution (RCE) exploit against Outlook clients," Akamai security
Over the past few years, SaaS has developed into the backbone of corporate IT. Service businesses, such as medical practices, law firms, and financial services firms, are almost entirely SaaS based. Non-service businesses, including manufacturers and retailers, have about 70% of their software in the cloud.
These applications contain a wealth of data, from minimally sensitive general
The developers of the information stealer malware known as Rhadamanthys are actively iterating on its features, broadening its information-gathering capabilities and also incorporating a plugin system to make it more customizable.
This approach not only transforms it into a threat capable of delivering "specific distributor needs," but also makes it more potent, Check Point said&
Four U.S. nationals have been charged for participating in an illicit scheme that earned them more than $80 million via cryptocurrency investment scams.
The defendants – Lu Zhang, 36, of Alhambra, California; Justin Walker, 31, of Cypress, California; Joseph Wong, 32, Rosemead, California; and Hailong Zhu, 40, Naperville, Illinois – have been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering,
On Telegram, scammers are impersonating doctors to sell fake Covid-19 vaccination certificates and other products, showing how criminals are taking advantage of conspiracy theories.
Low-code/no-code (LCNC) and robotic process automation (RPA) have gained immense popularity, but how secure are they? Is your security team paying enough attention in an era of rapid digital transformation, where business users are empowered to create applications swiftly using platforms like Microsoft PowerApps, UiPath, ServiceNow, Mendix, and OutSystems?
The simple truth is often swept under
A new wave of phishing messages distributing the QakBot malware has been observed, more than three months after a law enforcement effort saw its infrastructure dismantled by infiltrating its command-and-control (C2) network.
Microsoft, which made the discovery, described it as a low-volume campaign that began on December 11, 2023, and targeted the hospitality industry.
"Targets
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is urging manufacturers to get rid of default passwords on internet-exposed systems altogether, citing severe risks that could be exploited by malicious actors to gain initial access to, and move laterally within, organizations.
In an alert published last week, the agency called out Iranian threat actors affiliated with
MongoDB on Saturday disclosed it's actively investigating a security incident that has led to unauthorized access to "certain" corporate systems, resulting in the exposure of customer account metadata and contact information.
The American database software company said it first detected anomalous activity on December 13, 2023, and that it immediately activated its incident response
By Andy Greenberg, Lily Hay Newman — December 16th 2023 at 14:00
Plus: Apple tightens anti-theft protections, Chinese hackers penetrate US critical infrastructure, and the long-running rumor of eavesdropping phones crystallizes into more than an urban legend.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Friday unveiled draft proposals detailing its plans to tackle data security events in the country using a color-coded system.
The effort is designed to "improve the comprehensive response capacity for data security incidents, to ensure timely and effective control, mitigation and elimination of hazards and losses caused
Microsoft is warning of an uptick in malicious activity from an emerging threat cluster it's tracking as Storm-0539 for orchestrating gift card fraud and theft via highly sophisticated email and SMS phishing attacks against retail entities during the holiday shopping season.
The goal of the attacks is to propagate booby-trapped links that direct victims to adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM
A new botnet consisting of firewalls and routers from Cisco, DrayTek, Fortinet, and NETGEAR is being used as a covert data transfer network for advanced persistent threat actors, including the China-linked threat actor called Volt Typhoon.
Dubbed KV-botnet by the Black Lotus Labs team at Lumen Technologies, the malicious network is an amalgamation of two complementary activity
Crypto hardware wallet maker Ledger published a new version of its "@ledgerhq/connect-kit" npm module after unidentified threat actors pushed malicious code that led to the theft of more than $600,000 in virtual assets.
The compromise was the result of a former employee falling victim to a phishing attack, the company said in a statement.
This allowed the attackers to gain
Web Application Security consists of a myriad of security controls that ensure that a web application:
Functions as expected.
Cannot be exploited to operate out of bounds.
Cannot initiate operations that it is not supposed to do.
Web Applications have become ubiquitous after the expansion of Web 2.0, which Social Media Platforms, E-Commerce websites, and email clients saturating the internet
Multiple security vulnerabilities have been discovered in the open-source Netgate pfSense firewall solution called pfSense that could be chained by an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on susceptible appliances.
The issues relate to two reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) bugs and one command injection flaw, according to new findings from Sonar.
"Security inside a local network is often
A novel multi-platform threat called NKAbuse has been discovered using a decentralized, peer-to-peer network connectivity protocol known as NKN (short for New Kind of Network) as a communications channel.
"The malware utilizes NKN technology for data exchange between peers, functioning as a potent implant, and equipped with both flooder and backdoor capabilities," Russian
Kytch, the company that tried to fix McDonald’s broken ice cream machines, has unearthed a 3-year-old email it says proves claims of an alleged plot to undermine their business.
Ten years in, Microsoft’s DCU has honed its strategy of using both unique legal tactics and the company’s technical reach to disrupt global cybercrime and state-backed actors.
Cybersecurity researchers have identified a set of 116 malicious packages on the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository that are designed to infect Windows and Linux systems with a custom backdoor.
"In some cases, the final payload is a variant of the infamous W4SP Stealer, or a simple clipboard monitor to steal cryptocurrency, or both," ESET researchers Marc-Etienne M.Léveillé and Rene
A pro-Hamas threat actor known as Gaza Cyber Gang is targeting Palestinian entities using an updated version of a backdoor dubbed Pierogi.
The findings come from SentinelOne, which has given the malware the name Pierogi++ owing to the fact that it's implemented in the C++ programming language unlike its Delphi- and Pascal-based predecessor.
"Recent Gaza Cybergang activities show
The Iranian state-sponsored threat actor known as OilRig deployed three different downloader malware throughout 2022 to maintain persistent access to victim organizations located in Israel.
The three new downloaders have been named ODAgent, OilCheck, and OilBooster by Slovak cybersecurity company ESET. The attacks also involved the use of an updated version of a known OilRig downloader
Network penetration testing plays a crucial role in protecting businesses in the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity. Yet, business leaders and IT pros have misconceptions about this process, which impacts their security posture and decision-making.
This blog acts as a quick guide on network penetration testing, explaining what it is, debunking common myths and reimagining its role in
A previously unknown hacker outfit called GambleForce has been attributed to a series of SQL injection attacks against companies primarily in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region since at least September 2023.
"GambleForce uses a set of basic yet very effective techniques, including SQL injections and the exploitation of vulnerable website content management systems (CMS) to steal sensitive
A hacker group calling itself Solntsepek—previously linked to Russia’s notorious Sandworm hackers—says it carried out a disruptive breach of Kyivstar, a major Ukrainian mobile and internet provider.
The threat actors behind the BazaCall call back phishing attacks have been observed leveraging Google Forms to lend the scheme a veneer of credibility.
The method is an "attempt to elevate the perceived authenticity of the initial malicious emails," cybersecurity firm Abnormal Security said in a report published today.
BazaCall (aka BazarCall), which was first
Microsoft on Wednesday said it obtained a court order to seize infrastructure set up by a group called Storm-1152 that peddled roughly 750 million fraudulent Microsoft accounts and tools through a network of bogus websites and social media pages to other criminal actors, netting the operators millions of dollars in illicit revenue.
"Fraudulent online accounts act as the gateway to a host of
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