FreshRSS

🔒
❌ About FreshRSS
There are new available articles, click to refresh the page.
Before yesterdayYour RSS feeds

Complexity drives more than security risk. Secure Access can help with that too.

By Andrew Akers

Modern networks are complex, often involving hybrid work models and a mix of first- and third-party applications and infrastructure. In response, organizations have adopted security service edge… Read more on Cisco Blogs

Helping Ivanti VPN Customers

By Bill Mabon

In January 2024, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a directive (with an update in February) mandating that all U.S. Federal agencies take Ivanti systems offline… Read more on Cisco Blogs

Mitigating Lateral Movement with Zero Trust Access

By Andrew Akers

Security service edge (SSE) technology was created to protect remote and branch users with a unified, cloud-delivered security stack. To understand how SSE solutions protect organizations and their… Read more on Cisco Blogs

Drive Your Cybersecurity Platform Transformation: Lead the Way With SSE

By Bill Mabon

By shifting from point-solutions to a cybersecurity platform approach, IT and security teams significantly improve their efficiency and security outcomes. Security Service Edge (SSE) projects are… Read more on Cisco Blogs

The Real Deal About ZTNA and Zero Trust Access

By Jeff Scheaffer

ZTNA hasn’t delivered on the full promise of zero trust

Zero Trust has been all the rage for several years; it states, “never trust, always verify” and assumes every attempt to access the network or a… Read more on Cisco Blogs

Cisco Secure Access Accelerates SSE Innovation with AI, User Experience Monitoring, and Identity Intelligence

By Jeff Scheaffer

In a blog post last December, I said that the business and IT leaders with whom I meet always ask: How can I secure my highly distributed workforce, who gets more varied and decentralized all the… Read more on Cisco Blogs

NIS2 compliance for industrial networks: Are you ready?

By Fabien Maisl

Since the European Union (EU) signed the second version of the Network and Information Security (NIS2) Directive in December 2022, there has been a real frenzy all around Europe about it. NIS2 is now… Read more on Cisco Blogs

NIS2 compliance for industrial networks: Are you ready?

💾

Iran and Hezbollah Hackers Launch Attacks to Influence Israel-Hamas Narrative

By Newsroom
Hackers backed by Iran and Hezbollah staged cyber attacks designed to undercut public support for the Israel-Hamas war after October 2023. This includes destructive attacks against key Israeli organizations, hack-and-leak operations targeting entities in Israel and the U.S., phishing campaigns designed to steal intelligence, and information operations to turn public opinion against Israel. Iran

Anatsa Android Trojan Bypasses Google Play Security, Expands Reach to New Countries

By Newsroom
The Android banking trojan known as Anatsa has expanded its focus to include Slovakia, Slovenia, and Czechia as part of a new campaign observed in November 2023. "Some of the droppers in the campaign successfully exploited the accessibility service, despite Google Play's enhanced detection and protection mechanisms," ThreatFabric said in a report shared with The Hacker News.

U.S. DoJ Dismantles Warzone RAT Infrastructure, Arrests Key Operators

By Newsroom
The U.S. Justice Department (DoJ) on Friday announced the seizure of online infrastructure that was used to sell a remote access trojan (RAT) called Warzone RAT. The domains – www.warzone[.]ws and three others – were "used to sell computer malware used by cybercriminals to secretly access and steal data from victims' computers," the DoJ said. Alongside the takedown, the

New Coyote Trojan Targets 61 Brazilian Banks with Nim-Powered Attack

By Newsroom
Sixty-one banking institutions, all of them originating from Brazil, are the target of a new banking trojan called Coyote. "This malware utilizes the Squirrel installer for distribution, leveraging Node.js and a relatively new multi-platform programming language called Nim as a loader to complete its infection," Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky said in a Thursday report. What

Unified Identity – look for the meaning behind the hype!

By The Hacker News
If you've listened to software vendors in the identity space lately, you will have noticed that “unified” has quickly become the buzzword that everyone is adopting to describe their portfolio. And this is great! Unified identity has some amazing benefits!  However (there is always a however, right?) not every “unified” “identity” “security” “platform” is made equal. Some vendors call the

Patchwork Using Romance Scam Lures to Infect Android Devices with VajraSpy Malware

By Newsroom
The threat actor known as Patchwork likely used romance scam lures to trap victims in Pakistan and India, and infect their Android devices with a remote access trojan called VajraSpy. Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET said it uncovered 12 espionage apps, six of which were available for download from the official Google Play Store and were collectively downloaded more than 1,400 times between

SystemBC Malware's C2 Server Analysis Exposes Payload Delivery Tricks

By Newsroom
Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on the command-and-control (C2) server workings of a known malware family called SystemBC. "SystemBC can be purchased on underground marketplaces and is supplied in an archive containing the implant, a command-and-control (C2) server, and a web administration portal written in PHP," Kroll said in an analysis published last week. The risk

Apple iOS 17.3: How to Turn on iPhone's New Stolen Device Protection

By Matt Burgess
Apple’s iOS 17.3 introduces Stolen Device Protection to iPhones, which could stop phone thieves from taking over your accounts. Here’s how to enable it right now.

Atomic Stealer Gets an Upgrade - Targeting Mac Users with Encrypted Payload

By Newsroom
Cybersecurity researchers have identified an updated version of a macOS information stealer called Atomic (or AMOS), indicating that the threat actors behind the malware are actively enhancing its capabilities. "It looks like Atomic Stealer was updated around mid to late December 2023, where its developers introduced payload encryption in an effort to bypass detection rules,"

Getting off the Attack Surface Hamster Wheel: Identity Can Help

By The Hacker News
IT professionals have developed a sophisticated understanding of the enterprise attack surface – what it is, how to quantify it and how to manage it.  The process is simple: begin by thoroughly assessing the attack surface, encompassing the entire IT environment. Identify all potential entry and exit points where unauthorized access could occur. Strengthen these vulnerable points using

New Bandook RAT Variant Resurfaces, Targeting Windows Machines

By Newsroom
A new variant of a remote access trojan called Bandook has been observed being propagated via phishing attacks with an aim to infiltrate Windows machines, underscoring the continuous evolution of the malware. Fortinet FortiGuard Labs, which identified the activity in October 2023, said the malware is distributed via a PDF file that embeds a link to a password-protected .7z archive. “

Chameleon Android Banking Trojan Variant Bypasses Biometric Authentication

By Newsroom
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,

Hackers Exploiting MS Excel Vulnerability to Spread Agent Tesla Malware

By Newsroom
Attackers are weaponizing an old Microsoft Office vulnerability as part of phishing campaigns to distribute a strain of malware called Agent Tesla. The infection chains leverage decoy Excel documents attached in invoice-themed messages to trick potential targets into opening them and activate the exploitation of CVE-2017-11882 (CVSS score: 7.8), a memory corruption vulnerability in Office's

QakBot Malware Resurfaces with New Tactics, Targeting the Hospitality Industry

By Newsroom
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

Researchers Unveil GuLoader Malware's Latest Anti-Analysis Techniques

By Newsroom
Threat hunters have unmasked the latest tricks adopted by a malware strain called GuLoader in an effort to make analysis more challenging. "While GuLoader's core functionality hasn't changed drastically over the past few years, these constant updates in their obfuscation techniques make analyzing GuLoader a time-consuming and resource-intensive process," Elastic Security Labs

New Stealthy 'Krasue' Linux Trojan Targeting Telecom Firms in Thailand

By The Hacker News
A previously unknown Linux remote access trojan called Krasue has been observed targeting telecom companies in Thailand by threat actors to main covert access to victim networks at lease since 2021. Named after a nocturnal female spirit of Southeast Asian folklore, the malware is "able to conceal its own presence during the initialization phase," Group-IB said in a report

Alert: Threat Actors Can Leverage AWS STS to Infiltrate Cloud Accounts

By Newsroom
Threat actors can take advantage of Amazon Web Services Security Token Service (AWS STS) as a way to infiltrate cloud accounts and conduct follow-on attacks. The service enables threat actors to impersonate user identities and roles in cloud environments, Red Canary researchers Thomas Gardner and Cody Betsworth said in a Tuesday analysis. AWS STS is a web service that enables

Chinese Hackers Using SugarGh0st RAT to Target South Korea and Uzbekistan

By Newsroom
A suspected Chinese-speaking threat actor has been attributed to a malicious campaign that targets the Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and South Korean users with a remote access trojan called SugarGh0st RAT. The activity, which commenced no later than August 2023, leverages two different infection sequences to deliver the malware, which is a customized variant of Gh0st RAT&nbsp

N. Korean Hackers 'Mixing' macOS Malware Tactics to Evade Detection

By Newsroom
The North Korean threat actors behind macOS malware strains such as RustBucket and KANDYKORN have been observed "mixing and matching" different elements of the two disparate attack chains, leveraging RustBucket droppers to deliver KANDYKORN. The findings come from cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, which also tied a third macOS-specific malware called ObjCShellz to the RustBucket campaign

How to Handle Retail SaaS Security on Cyber Monday

By The Hacker News
If forecasters are right, over the course of today, consumers will spend $13.7 billion. Just about every click, sale, and engagement will be captured by a CRM platform. Inventory applications will trigger automated re-orders; communication tools will send automated email and text messages confirming sales and sharing shipping information.  SaaS applications supporting retail efforts

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

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

New Agent Tesla Malware Variant Using ZPAQ Compression in Email Attacks

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

SideCopy Exploiting WinRAR Flaw in Attacks Targeting Indian Government Entities

By Newsroom
The Pakistan-linked threat actor known as SideCopy has been observed leveraging the recent WinRAR security vulnerability in its attacks targeting Indian government entities to deliver various remote access trojans such as AllaKore RAT, Ares RAT, and DRat. Enterprise security firm SEQRITE described the campaign as multi-platform, with the attacks also designed to infiltrate Linux systems with a

Researchers Uncover Wiretapping of XMPP-Based Instant Messaging Service

By Newsroom
New findings have shed light on what's said to be a lawful attempt to covertly intercept traffic originating from jabber[.]ru (aka xmpp[.]ru), an XMPP-based instant messaging service, via servers hosted on Hetzner and Linode (a subsidiary of Akamai) in Germany. "The attacker has issued several new TLS certificates using Let's Encrypt service which were used to hijack encrypted STARTTLS

YoroTrooper: Researchers Warn of Kazakhstan's Stealthy Cyber Espionage Group

By Newsroom
A relatively new threat actor known as YoroTrooper is likely made up of operators originating from Kazakhstan. The assessment, which comes from Cisco Talos, is based on their fluency in Kazakh and Russian, use of Tenge to pay for operating infrastructure, and very limited targeting of Kazakhstani entities, barring the government's Anti-Corruption Agency. "YoroTrooper attempts to obfuscate the

Critical OAuth Flaws Uncovered in Grammarly, Vidio, and Bukalapak Platforms

By Newsroom
Critical security flaws have been disclosed in the Open Authorization (OAuth) implementation of popular online services such as Grammarly, Vidio, and Bukalapak, building upon previous shortcomings uncovered in Booking[.]com and Expo. The weaknesses, now addressed by the respective companies following responsible disclosure between February and April 2023, could have allowed malicious actors to

Quasar RAT Leverages DLL Side-Loading to Fly Under the Radar

By Newsroom
The open-source remote access trojan known as Quasar RAT has been observed leveraging DLL side-loading to fly under the radar and stealthily siphon data from compromised Windows hosts. "This technique capitalizes on the inherent trust these files command within the Windows environment," Uptycs researchers Tejaswini Sandapolla and Karthickkumar Kathiresan said in a report published last week,

Cyber Group 'Gold Melody' Selling Compromised Access to Ransomware Attackers

By THN
A financially motivated threat actor has been outed as an initial access broker (IAB) that sells access to compromised organizations for other adversaries to conduct follow-on attacks such as ransomware. SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit (CTU) has dubbed the e-crime group Gold Melody, which is also known by the names Prophet Spider (CrowdStrike) and UNC961 (Mandiant). "This financially motivated

Transparent Tribe Uses Fake YouTube Android Apps to Spread CapraRAT Malware

By THN
The suspected Pakistan-linked threat actor known as Transparent Tribe is using malicious Android apps mimicking YouTube to distribute the CapraRAT mobile remote access trojan (RAT), demonstrating the continued evolution of the activity. "CapraRAT is a highly invasive tool that gives the attacker control over much of the data on the Android devices that it infects," SentinelOne security

Think Your MFA and PAM Solutions Protect You? Think Again

By The Hacker News
When you roll out a security product, you assume it will fulfill its purpose. Unfortunately, however, this often turns out not to be the case. A new report, produced by Osterman Research and commissioned by Silverfort, reveals that MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) and PAM (Privileged Access Management) solutions are almost never deployed comprehensively enough to provide resilience to identity

QwixxRAT: New Remote Access Trojan Emerges via Telegram and Discord

By THN
A new remote access trojan (RAT) called QwixxRAT is being advertised for sale by its threat actor through Telegram and Discord platforms. "Once installed on the victim's Windows platform machines, the RAT stealthily collects sensitive data, which is then sent to the attacker's Telegram bot, providing them with unauthorized access to the victim's sensitive information," Uptycs said in a new

Webinar - Making PAM Great Again: Solving the Top 5 Identity Team PAM Challenges

By The Hacker News
Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions are widely acknowledged as the gold standard for securing critical privileged accounts. However, many security and identity teams face inherent obstacles during the PAM journey, hindering these solutions from reaching their full potential. These challenges deprive organizations of the resilience they seek, making it essential to address them

Researchers Uncover AWS SSM Agent Misuse as a Covert Remote Access Trojan

By THN
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new post-exploitation technique in Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows the AWS Systems Manager Agent (SSM Agent) to be run as a remote access trojan on Windows and Linux environments "The SSM agent, a legitimate tool used by admins to manage their instances, can be re-purposed by an attacker who has achieved high privilege access on an endpoint with

European Bank Customers Targeted in SpyNote Android Trojan Campaign

By THN
Various European customers of different banks are being targeted by an Android banking trojan called SpyNote as part of an aggressive campaign detected in June and July 2023. "The spyware is distributed through email phishing or smishing campaigns and the fraudulent activities are executed with a combination of remote access trojan (RAT) capabilities and vishing attack," Italian cybersecurity

Fruity Trojan Uses Deceptive Software Installers to Spread Remcos RAT

By THN
Threat actors are creating fake websites hosting trojanized software installers to trick unsuspecting users into downloading a downloader malware called Fruity with the goal of installing remote trojans tools like Remcos RAT. "Among the software in question are various instruments for fine-tuning CPUs, graphic cards, and BIOS; PC hardware-monitoring tools; and some other apps," cybersecurity

Hackers Abusing Windows Search Feature to Install Remote Access Trojans

By THN
A legitimate Windows search feature is being exploited by unknown malicious actors to download arbitrary payloads from remote servers and compromise targeted systems with remote access trojans such as AsyncRAT and Remcos RAT. The novel attack technique, per Trellix, takes advantage of the "search-ms:" URI protocol handler, which offers the ability for applications and HTML links to launch custom

Decoy Dog: New Breed of Malware Posing Serious Threats to Enterprise Networks

By THN
A deeper analysis of a recently discovered malware called Decoy Dog has revealed that it's a significant upgrade over the Pupy RAT, an open-source remote access trojan it's modeled on. "Decoy Dog has a full suite of powerful, previously unknown capabilities – including the ability to move victims to another controller, allowing them to maintain communication with compromised machines and remain

How to Protect Patients and Their Privacy in Your SaaS Apps

By The Hacker News
The healthcare industry is under a constant barrage of cyberattacks. It has traditionally been one of the most frequently targeted industries, and things haven’t changed in 2023. The U.S. Government’s Office for Civil Rights reported 145 data breaches in the United States during the first quarter of this year. That follows 707 incidents a year ago, during which over 50 million records were

RomCom RAT Targeting NATO and Ukraine Support Groups

By THN
The threat actors behind the RomCom RAT have been suspected of phishing attacks targeting the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius as well as an identified organization supporting Ukraine abroad. The findings come from the BlackBerry Threat Research and Intelligence team, which found two malicious documents submitted from a Hungarian IP address on July 4, 2023. RomCom, also tracked under the names

JumpCloud Resets API Keys Amid Ongoing Cybersecurity Incident

By Swati Khandelwal
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

Chinese Hackers Use HTML Smuggling to Infiltrate European Ministries with PlugX

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A Chinese nation-state group has been observed targeting Foreign Affairs ministries and embassies in Europe using HTML smuggling techniques to deliver the PlugX remote access trojan on compromised systems. Cybersecurity firm Check Point said the activity, dubbed SmugX, has been ongoing since at least December 2022, adding it's part of a broader trend of Chinese adversaries shifting their focus

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

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

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

By The Hacker News
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

Sneaky DogeRAT Trojan Poses as Popular Apps, Targets Indian Android Users

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A new open source remote access trojan (RAT) called DogeRAT targets Android users primarily located in India as part of a sophisticated malware campaign. The malware is distributed via social media and messaging platforms under the guise of legitimate applications like Opera Mini, OpenAI ChatGPT, and Premium versions of YouTube, Netflix, and Instagram. "Once installed on a victim's device, the

New GobRAT Remote Access Trojan Targeting Linux Routers in Japan

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Linux routers in Japan are the target of a new Golang remote access trojan (RAT) called GobRAT. "Initially, the attacker targets a router whose WEBUI is open to the public, executes scripts possibly by using vulnerabilities, and finally infects the GobRAT," the JPCERT Coordination Center (JPCERT/CC) said in a report published today. The compromise of an internet-exposed router is followed by the

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

By Ravie Lakshmanan
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

Giving a Face to the Malware Proxy Service ‘Faceless’

By BrianKrebs

For the past seven years, a malware-based proxy service known as “Faceless” has sold anonymity to countless cybercriminals. For less than a dollar per day, Faceless customers can route their malicious traffic through tens of thousands of compromised systems advertised on the service. In this post we’ll examine clues left behind over the past decade by the proprietor of Faceless, including some that may help put a face to the name.

The proxy lookup page inside the malware-based anonymity service Faceless. Image: spur.us.

Riley Kilmer is co-founder of Spur.us, a company that tracks thousands of VPN and proxy networks, and helps customers identify traffic coming through these anonymity services. Kilmer said Faceless has emerged as one of the underground’s most reliable malware-based proxy services, mainly because its proxy network has traditionally included a great many compromised “Internet of Things” devices — such as media sharing servers — that are seldom included on malware or spam block lists.

Kilmer said when Spur first started looking into Faceless, they noticed almost every Internet address that Faceless advertised for rent also showed up in the IoT search engine Shodan.io as a media sharing device on a local network that was somehow exposed to the Internet.

“We could reliably look up the [fingerprint] for these media sharing devices in Shodan and find those same systems for sale on Faceless,” Kilmer said.

In January 2023, the Faceless service website said it was willing to pay for information about previously undocumented security vulnerabilities in IoT devices. Those with IoT zero-days could expect payment if their exploit involved at least 5,000 systems that could be identified through Shodan.

Notices posted for Faceless users, advertising an email flooding service and soliciting zero-day vulnerabilities in Internet of Things devices.

Recently, Faceless has shown ambitions beyond just selling access to poorly-secured IoT devices. In February, Faceless re-launched a service that lets users drop an email bomb on someone — causing the target’s inbox to be filled with tens of thousands of junk messages.

And in March 2023, Faceless started marketing a service for looking up Social Security Numbers (SSNs) that claims to provide access to “the largest SSN database on the market with a very high hit rate.”

Kilmer said Faceless wants to become a one-stop-fraud-shop for cybercriminals who are seeking stolen or synthetic identities from which to transact online, and a temporary proxy that is geographically close to the identity being sold. Faceless currently sells this bundled product for $9 — $8 for the identity and $1 for the proxy.

“They’re trying to be this one-stop shop for anonymity and personas,” Kilmer said. “The service basically says ‘here’s an SSN and proxy connection that should correspond to that user’s location and make sense to different websites.'”

MRMURZA

Faceless is a project from MrMurza, a particularly talkative member of more than a dozen Russian-language cybercrime forums over the past decade. According to cyber intelligence firm Flashpoint, MrMurza has been active in the Russian underground since at least September 2012. Flashpoint said MrMurza appears to be extensively involved in botnet activity and “drops” — fraudulent bank accounts created using stolen identity data that are often used in money laundering and cash-out schemes.

Faceless grew out of a popular anonymity service called iSocks, which was launched in 2014 and advertised on multiple Russian crime forums as a proxy service that customers could use to route their malicious Web traffic through compromised computers.

Flashpoint says that in the months before iSocks went online, MrMurza posted on the Russian language crime forum Verified asking for a serious partner to assist in opening a proxy service, noting they had a botnet that was powered by malware that collected proxies with a 70 percent infection rate.

MrMurza’s Faceless advertised on the Russian-language cybercrime forum ProCrd. Image: Darkbeast/Ke-la.com.

In September 2016, MrMurza sent a message to all iSocks users saying the service would soon be phased out in favor of Faceless, and that existing iSocks users could register at Faceless for free if they did so quickly — before Faceless began charging new users registration fees between $50 and $100.

Verified and other Russian language crime forums where MrMurza had a presence have been hacked over the years, with contact details and private messages leaked online. In a 2014 private message to the administrator of Verified explaining his bona fides, MrMurza said he received years of positive feedback as a seller of stolen Italian credit cards and a vendor of drops services.

MrMurza told the Verified admin that he used the nickname AccessApproved on multiple other forums over the years. MrMurza also told the admin that his account number at the now-defunct virtual currency Liberty Reserve was U1018928.

According to cyber intelligence firm Intel 471, the user AccessApproved joined the Russian crime forum Zloy in Jan. 2012, from an Internet address in Magnitogorsk, RU. In a 2012 private message where AccessApproved was arguing with another cybercriminal over a deal gone bad, AccessApproved asked to be paid at the Liberty Reserve address U1018928.

In 2013, U.S. federal investigators seized Liberty Reserve and charged its founders with facilitating billions of dollars in money laundering tied to cybercrime. The Liberty Reserve case was prosecuted out of the Southern District of New York, which in 2016 published a list of account information (PDF) tied to thousands of Liberty Reserve addresses the government asserts were involved in money laundering.

That document indicates the Liberty Reserve account claimed by MrMurza/AccessApproved — U1018928 — was assigned in 2011 to a “Vadim Panov” who used the email address lesstroy@mgn.ru.

PANOV

Constella Intelligence, a threat intelligence firm that tracks breached databases, says lesstroy@mgn.ru was used for an account “Hackerok” at the accounting service klerk.ru that was created from an Internet address in Magnitogorsk. The password chosen by this user was “1232.”

In addition to selling access to hacked computers and bank accounts, both MrMurza and AccessApproved ran side hustles on the crime forums selling clothing from popular retailers that refused to ship directly to Russia.

On one cybercrime forum where AccessApproved had clothing customers, denizens of the forum created a lengthy discussion thread to help users identify incoming emails associated with various reshipping services advertised within their community. Reshippers tend to rely on a large number of people in the United States and Europe helping to forward packages overseas, but in many cases the notifications about purchases and shipping details would be forwarded to reshipping service customers from a consistent email account.

That thread said AccessApproved’s clothing reshipping service forwarded confirmation emails from the address panov-v@mail.ru. This address is associated with accounts on two Russian cybercrime forums registered from Magnitogorsk in 2010 using the handle “Omega^gg4u.”

This Omega^gg4u identity sold software that can rapidly check the validity of large batches of stolen credit cards. Interestingly, both Omega^gg4u and AccessApproved also had another niche: Reselling heavily controlled substances — such as human growth hormone and anabolic steroids — from chemical suppliers in China.

A search in Constella on the address panov-v@mail.ru and many variations on that address shows these accounts cycled through the same passwords, including 055752403k, asus666, 01091987h, and the relatively weak password 1232 (recall that 1232 was picked by whoever registered the lesstroy@mgn.ru account at Klerk.ru).

Constella says the email address asus666@yandex.ru relied on the passwords asus666 and 01091987h. The 01091987h password also was used by asus666@mail.ru, which also favored the password 24587256.

Constella further reports that whoever owned the much shorter address asus@mail.ru also used the password 24587256. In addition, it found the password 2318922479 was tied to both asus666@mail.ru and asus@mail.ru.

The email addresses asus@mail.ru, asus2504@mail.ru, and zaxar2504@rambler.ru were all used to register Vkontakte social media accounts for a Denis ***@VIP*** Pankov. There are a number of other Vkontakte accounts registered to asus@mail.ru and many variations of this address under a different name. But none of those other profiles appear tied to real-life identities.

A mind map simplifying the research detailed here.

PANKOV

Constella’s data shows the email addresses asus2504@mail.ru and zaxar2504@rambler.ru used the rather unique password denis250485, which was also used by the email address denispankov@yandex.ru and almost a dozen variations at other Russian-language email providers.

Russian vehicle registration records from 2016 show the email address denispankov@yandex.ru belongs to Denis Viktorovich Pankov, born on April 25, 1985. That explains the “250485” portion of Pankov’s favored password. The registration records further indicate that in 2016 Pankov’s vehicle was registered in a suburb of Moscow.

Russian incorporation records show that denispankov@yandex.com is tied to IP Pankov Denis Viktorovich, a now-defunct transportation company in the Volograd Oblast, a region in southern Russia that shares a long border with western Kazazkhstan.

More recent records for IP Pankov Denis Viktorovich show a microenterprise with this name in Omsk that described its main activity as “retail sale by mail or via the Internet.” Russian corporate records indicate this entity was liquidated in 2021.

A reverse password search on “denis250485” via Constella shows this password was used by more than 75 email addresses, most of which are some variation of gaihnik@mail.ru — such as gaihnik25@mail.ru, or gaihnik2504@rambler.ru.

In 2012, someone posted answers to a questionnaire on behalf of Denis Viktorovich Pankov to a Russian-language discussion forum on Chinese crested dog breeds. The message said Pankov was seeking a puppy of a specific breed and was a resident of Krasnogorsk, a city that is adjacent to the northwestern boundary of Moscow.

The message said Pankov was a then 27-year-old manager in an advertising company, and could be reached at the email address gaihnik@mail.ru.

GAIHNIK

Constella Intelligence shows gaihnik@mail.ru registered at the now-defunct email marketing service Smart Responder from an address in Gagarin, which is about 115 miles west of Moscow.

Back in 2015, the user Gaihnik25 was banned from the online game World of Tanks for violating the game’s terms that prohibit “bot farming,” or the automated use of large numbers of player accounts to win some advantage that is usually related to cashing out game accounts or inventory.

For the past few years, someone using the nickname Gaihnik25 has been posting messages to the Russian-language hacking forum Gerki[.]pw, on discussion threads regarding software designed to “brute force” or mass-check online accounts for weak or compromised passwords.

A new member of the Russian hacking forum Nohide[.]Space using the handle Gaihnik has been commenting recently about proxy services, credential checking software, and the sale of hacked mailing lists. Gaihnik’s first post on the forum concerned private software for checking World of Tanks accounts.

The address gaihnik@mail.ru shows how so many email addresses tied to Pankov were also connected to apparently misleading identities on Vkontakte and elsewhere. Constella found this address was tied to a Vkontakte account for a Dmitriy Zakarov.

Microsoft’s Bing search engine says gaihnik@mail.ru belongs to 37-year-old Denis Pankov, yet clicking the Mail.ru profile for that user brings up a profile for a much older man by the name Gavril Zakarov. However, when you log in to a Mail.ru account and view that profile, it shows that most of the account’s profile photos are of a much younger man.

Many of those same photos show up in an online dating profile at dating.ru for the user Gaihnik, a.k.a “Denchik,” who says he is a 37-year-old Taurus from Gagarin who enjoys going for walks in nature, staying up late, and being on the Internet.

Mr. Pankov did not respond to multiple requests for comment sent to all of the email addresses mentioned in this story. However, some of those addresses produced detailed error responses; Mail.ru reported that the users panov-v@mail.ru, asus666@mail.ru, and asus2504@mail.ru were terminated, and that gaihnik25@mail.ru is now disabled.

Messages sent to many other email addresses connected via passwords to Pankov and using some variation of asus####@mail.ru also returned similar account termination messages.

Iranian Hackers Using SimpleHelp Remote Support Software for Persistent Access

By Ravie Lakshmanan
The Iranian threat actor known as MuddyWater is continuing its time-tested tradition of relying on legitimate remote administration tools to commandeer targeted systems. While the nation-state group has previously employed ScreenConnect, RemoteUtilities, and Syncro, a new analysis from Group-IB has revealed the adversary's use of the SimpleHelp remote support software in June 2022. MuddyWater,

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

By The Hacker News
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

Stealthy DBatLoader Malware Loader Spreading Remcos RAT and Formbook in Europe

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A new phishing campaign has set its sights on European entities to distribute Remcos RAT and Formbook via a malware loader dubbed DBatLoader. "The malware payload is distributed through WordPress websites that have authorized SSL certificates, which is a common tactic used by threat actors to evade detection engines," Zscaler researchers Meghraj Nandanwar and Satyam Singh said in a report

International Law Enforcement Takes Down Infamous NetWire Cross-Platform RAT

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A coordinated international law enforcement exercise has taken down the online infrastructure associated with a cross-platform remote access trojan (RAT) known as NetWire. Coinciding with the seizure of the sales website www.worldwiredlabs[.]com, a Croatian national who is suspected to be the website's administrator has been arrested. While the suspect's name was not released, investigative

All in for Security: Cisco Secure at Cisco Live EMEA 2023

By Tom Gillis

Cisco Live is the premier destination for Cisco customers and partners to gain knowledge and build community. Our teams work hard to deliver education and inspiration, ignite creativity, deliver practical know-how, and accelerate the connections that fuel your digital future.

The Cisco Secure team is excited to share our expertise to help power the strategies – and safety – of your organization.

If it’s connected, it’s protected

Executive Q&A Panel at Cisco Live EMEA

In 2023, the threat landscape will evolve to one that sees attacks on every surface, from criminals who are opportunistic, yet laser-focused on their goal. The attacks themselves could be email-borne, directly targeted, socially based, or a mix of all three.

Criminals will target vulnerabilities, operational deficiencies, suppliers, and business partners, as a means of accomplishing their goals. They will use the target’s own environment and take advantage of existing people and technology problems, including alert fatigue and staffing shortages.

To face this reality and address the needs of organizations both large and small, Cisco will continue to focus on education and innovation in the areas of preventing insider threats, providing consistent and informed alerts, enabling actionable intelligence, and delivering solutions to implement a zero-trust security framework.

As the organization that pioneered networking, we are driven to secure every connection, providing end-to-end protection for users and devices across multiple clouds and networks with a seamless experience.

Innovating to enable a more resilient organization

As our vision for the integrated Cisco Security Cloud evolves, we’re continuing to challenge existing models and unify security and networking, with foundational elements that execute on this vision. From verified push – which protects organizations from MFA-focused phishing attacks – to Wi-Fi Fingerprint, and Remembered Devices, the performance enhancements with Enterprise Single Sign-on and Cisco+ Secure Connect, we continue to meet our customers where they are, offering true zero trust, with frictionless experiences for the hybrid workforce.

We’re excited to celebrate the following innovations and updates announced at Cisco Live EMEA:

Risk-Based Authentication

Finding the balance between usability and security is now easier than ever. With Risk-Based Authentication, users have the access they need, secured by real-time contextual signals. Organizations can increase security efficacy by dynamically adjusting authentication ​requirements based on risk levels and by enabling safer end-user behavior. Risk-based authentication now includes wi-fi fingerprint, remembered device, and verified push features, which work together to reduce risk while preserving user experience ​by only requesting additional interaction for suspicious logins or a change in risk.

Single Sign-On

Our Enterprise Ready Single Sign-on expands Duo SSO with three new capabilities to easily connect single sign-on to modern apps and empower end users. By adding major protocol support, improved admin tooling, and SSO on demand password resets, organizations enable easier and more secure access from anywhere.

Cisco+ Secure Connect

Cisco SD-WAN customers can now enjoy all the benefits of a turnkey, single-vendor SASE solution that brings together industry-leading networking with security:​ Cisco+ Secure Connect. This new integration gives Cisco SD-WAN (powered by Viptela) customers fast, secure private application and internet access, enabling them to deliver a secure experience, anywhere work happens.

Application Security

We are also announcing the introduction of industry-first Business Risk Observability, an enhancement of our Full-Stack Observability application security solution. Available through Cisco Secure Application, which is integrated into Cisco AppDynamics, it provides a business risk scoring solution which brings together Kenna Risk Meter score distribution and Business Transactions from Cisco AppDynamics and integrates with Panoptica for API security and Talos for threat intelligence.

Cybersecurity Readiness Index report

The initial findings from our first Cybersecurity Readiness Index reveal that while technology to devices is widely adopted, more progress is needed to protect identity, networks and applications. The report assessed the preparedness of companies around the world to safeguard against cyber threats in the current environment. See our key findings and security readiness trends, with the full report launching in the coming weeks.

As we navigate 2023, we will continue to face uncertainties and challenges. We are fully committed to our customers and partners in the journey to provide security resilience, supporting a frictionless user experience, and solutions threat intelligence that work to continually minimize risk.

 


We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with Cisco Secure on social!

Cisco Secure Social Channels

Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

❌