'ArcaneDoor' Cyberspies Hacked Cisco Firewalls to Access Government Networks

Sources suspect China is behind the targeted exploitation of two zero-day vulnerabilities in Cisco’s security appliances.

Change Healthcare Finally Admits It Paid Ransomware Hackers—and Still Faces a Patient Data Leak

The company belatedly conceded both that it had paid the cybercriminals extorting it and that patient data nonetheless ended up on the dark web.

AI-Controlled Fighter Jets Are Dogfighting With Human Pilots Now

Plus: New York’s legislature suffers a cyberattack, police disrupt a global phishing operation, and Apple removes encrypted messaging apps in China.

Hackers Linked to Russia’s Military Claim Credit for Sabotaging US Water Utilities

Cyber Army of Russia Reborn, a group with ties to the Kremlin’s Sandworm unit, is crossing lines even that notorious cyberwarfare unit wouldn’t dare to.

Change Healthcare’s New Ransomware Nightmare Goes From Bad to Worse

A cybercriminal gang called RansomHub claims to be selling highly sensitive patient information stolen from Change Healthcare following a ransomware attack by another group in February.

The US Government Has a Microsoft Problem

Microsoft has stumbled through a series of major cybersecurity failures over the past few years. Experts say the US government’s reliance on its systems means the company continues to get a free pass.

Roku Breach Hits 567,000 Users

Plus: Apple warns iPhone users about spyware attacks, CISA issues an emergency directive about a Microsoft breach, and a ransomware hacker tangles with an unimpressed HR manager named Beth.

Change Healthcare Faces Another Ransomware Threat—and It Looks Credible

Change Healthcare ransomware hackers already received a $22 million payment. Now a second group is demanding money, and it has sent WIRED samples of what they claim is the company's stolen data.

Identity Thief Lived as a Different Man for 33 Years

Plus: Microsoft scolded for a “cascade” of security failures, AI-generated lawyers send fake legal threats, a data broker quietly lobbies against US privacy legislation, and more.

A Vigilante Hacker Took Down North Korea’s Internet. Now He’s Taking Off His Mask

As “P4x,” Alejandro Caceres single-handedly disrupted the internet of an entire country. Then he tried to show the US military how it can—and should—adopt his methods.

The Mystery of ‘Jia Tan,’ the XZ Backdoor Mastermind

The thwarted XZ Utils supply chain attack was years in the making. Now, clues suggest nation-state hackers were behind the persona that inserted the malicious code.

The XZ Backdoor: Everything You Need to Know

Details are starting to emerge about a stunning supply chain attack that sent the open source software community reeling.

You Should Update Apple iOS and Google Chrome ASAP

Plus: Microsoft patches over 60 vulnerabilities, Mozilla fixes two Firefox zero-day bugs, Google patches 40 issues in Android, and more.

Yogurt Heist Reveals a Rampant Form of Online Fraud

Plus: “MFA bombing” attacks target Apple users, Israel deploys face recognition tech on Gazans, AI gets trained to spot tent encampments, and OSINT investigators find fugitive Amond Bundy.

‘Malicious Activity’ Hits the University of Cambridge’s Medical School

Multiple university departments linked to the Clinical School Computing Service have been inaccessible for a month. The university has not revealed the nature of the “malicious activity.”

Chinese Hackers Charged in Decade-Long Global Spying Rampage

US and UK officials hit Chinese hacking group APT31 with sanctions and criminal charges after they targeted thousands of businesses, politicians, and critics of China.

Hiding in Plain Sight: How Subdomain Attacks Use Your Email Authentication Against You

For years, analysts, security specialists, and security architects alike have been encouraging organizations to become DMARC compliant. This involves deploying email authentication to ensure their… Read more on Cisco Blogs

Apple Chip Flaw Leaks Secret Encryption Keys

Plus: The Biden administration warns of nationwide attacks on US water systems, a new Russian wiper malware emerges, and China-linked hackers wage a global attack spree.

Hackers Found a Way to Open Any of 3 Million Hotel Keycard Locks in Seconds

The company behind the Saflok-brand door locks is offering a fix, but it may take months or years to reach some hotels.

Automakers Are Telling Your Insurance Company How You Really Drive

Plus: The operator of a dark-web cryptocurrency “mixing” service is found guilty, and a US senator reveals that popular safes contain secret backdoors.

Russian Hackers Stole Microsoft Source Code—and the Attack Isn’t Over

Plus: An ex-Google engineer gets arrested for allegedly stealing trade secrets, hackers breach the top US cybersecurity agency, and X’s new feature exposes sensitive user data.

Meta Abandons Hacking Victims, Draining Law Enforcement Resources, Officials Say

A coalition of 41 state attorneys general says Meta is failing to assist Facebook and Instagram users whose accounts have been hacked—and they want the company to take “immediate action.”

Mitigating Lateral Movement with Zero Trust Access

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

Hackers Behind the Change Healthcare Ransomware Attack Just Received a $22 Million Payment

The transaction, visible on Bitcoin's blockchain, suggests the victim of one of the worst ransomware attacks in years may have paid a very large ransom.

The Privacy Danger Lurking in Push Notifications

Plus: Apple warns about sideloading apps, a court orders NSO group to turn over the code of its Pegasus spyware, and an investigation finds widely available security cams are wildly insecure.

Here Come the AI Worms

Security researchers created an AI worm in a test environment that can automatically spread between generative AI agents—potentially stealing data and sending spam emails along the way.

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Trump Trial Ransomware Leak

The notorious LockBit gang promised a Georgia court leak "that could affect the upcoming US election.” It didn't materialize—but the story may not be over yet.

Here Are the Google and Microsoft Security Updates You Need Right Now

Plus: Mozilla patches 12 flaws in Firefox, Zoom fixes seven vulnerabilities, and more critical updates from February.

Change Healthcare Ransomware Attack: BlackCat Hackers Quickly Returned After FBI Bust

Two months ago, the FBI “disrupted” the BlackCat ransomware group. They're already back—and their latest attack is causing delays at pharmacies across the US.

How a Right-Wing Controversy Could Sabotage US Election Security

Republicans who run elections are split over whether to keep working with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to fight hackers, online falsehoods, and polling-place threats.

A Mysterious Leak Exposed Chinese Hacking Secrets

Plus: Scammers try to dupe Apple with 5,000 fake iPhones, Avast gets fined for selling browsing data, and researchers figure out how to clone fingerprints from your phone screen.

Apple iOS 17.4: iMessage Gets Post-Quantum Encryption in New Update

Useful quantum computers aren’t a reality—yet. But in one of the biggest deployments of post-quantum encryption so far, Apple is bringing the technology to iMessage.

Anne Neuberger, a Top White House Cyber Official, Sees the 'Promise and Peril' in AI

Anne Neuberger, the Biden administration’s deputy national security adviser for cyber, tells WIRED about emerging cybersecurity threats—and what the US plans to do about them.

New Report Reveals North Korean Hackers Targeting Defense Firms Worldwide

North Korean state-sponsored threat actors have been attributed to a cyber espionage campaign targeting the defense sector across the world. In a joint advisory published by Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS), the agencies said the goal of the attacks is to plunder advanced defense technologies in a "

Learn How to Build an Incident Response Playbook Against Scattered Spider in Real-Time

In the tumultuous landscape of cybersecurity, the year 2023 left an indelible mark with the brazen exploits of the Scattered Spider threat group. Their attacks targeted the nerve centers of major financial and insurance institutions, culminating in what stands as one of the most impactful ransomware assaults in recent memory.  When organizations have no response plan in place for such an

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

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

Iranian Hackers Target Middle East Policy Experts with New BASICSTAR Backdoor

The Iranian-origin threat actor known as Charming Kitten has been linked to a new set of attacks aimed at Middle East policy experts with a new backdoor called BASICSTAR by creating a fake webinar portal. Charming Kitten, also called APT35, CharmingCypress, Mint Sandstorm, TA453, and Yellow Garuda, has a history of orchestrating a wide range of social engineering campaigns that cast a

How to Not Get Scammed Out of $50,000

Plus: State-backed hackers test out generative AI, the US takes down a major Russian military botnet, and 100 hospitals in Romania go offline amid a major ransomware attack.

RustDoor macOS Backdoor Targets Cryptocurrency Firms with Fake Job Offers

Multiple companies operating in the cryptocurrency sector are the target of an ongoing malware campaign that involves a newly discovered Apple macOS backdoor codenamed RustDoor. RustDoor was first documented by Bitdefender last week, describing it as a Rust-based malware capable of harvesting and uploading files, as well as gathering information about the infected machines. It's

How Nation-State Actors Target Your Business: New Research Exposes Major SaaS Vulnerabilities

With many of the highly publicized 2023 cyber attacks revolving around one or more SaaS applications, SaaS has become a cause for genuine concern in many boardroom discussions. More so than ever, considering that GenAI applications are, in fact, SaaS applications. Wing Security (Wing), a SaaS security company, conducted an analysis of 493 SaaS-using companies in Q4 of 2023. Their study

Chinese Hackers Using Deepfakes in Advanced Mobile Banking Malware Attacks

A Chinese-speaking threat actor codenamed GoldFactory has been attributed to the development of highly sophisticated banking trojans, including a previously undocumented iOS malware called GoldPickaxe that's capable of harvesting identity documents, facial recognition data, and intercepting SMS. "The GoldPickaxe family is available for both iOS and Android platforms,"

Critical Exchange Server Flaw (CVE-2024-21410) Under Active Exploitation

Microsoft on Wednesday acknowledged that a newly disclosed critical security flaw in Exchange Server has been actively exploited in the wild, a day after it released fixes for the vulnerability as part of its Patch Tuesday updates. Tracked as CVE-2024-21410 (CVSS score: 9.8), the issue has been described as a case of privilege escalation impacting the Exchange Server. "An attacker

Microsoft, OpenAI Warn of Nation-State Hackers Weaponizing AI for Cyber Attacks

Nation-state actors associated with Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China are experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) to complement their ongoing cyber attack operations. The findings come from a report published by Microsoft in collaboration with OpenAI, both of which said they disrupted efforts made by five state-affiliated actors that used its

Ubuntu 'command-not-found' Tool Could Trick Users into Installing Rogue Packages

Cybersecurity researchers have found that it's possible for threat actors to exploit a well-known utility called command-not-found to recommend their own rogue packages and compromise systems running Ubuntu operating system. "While 'command-not-found' serves as a convenient tool for suggesting installations for uninstalled commands, it can be inadvertently manipulated by attackers through the

Bumblebee Malware Returns with New Tricks, Targeting U.S. Businesses

The infamous malware loader and initial access broker known as Bumblebee has resurfaced after a four-month absence as part of a new phishing campaign observed in February 2024. Enterprise security firm Proofpoint said the activity targets organizations in the U.S. with voicemail-themed lures containing links to OneDrive URLs. "The URLs led to a Word file with names such as "

Glupteba Botnet Evades Detection with Undocumented UEFI Bootkit

The Glupteba botnet has been found to incorporate a previously undocumented Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) bootkit feature, adding another layer of sophistication and stealth to the malware. "This bootkit can intervene and control the [operating system] boot process, enabling Glupteba to hide itself and create a stealthy persistence that can be extremely difficult to

PikaBot Resurfaces with Streamlined Code and Deceptive Tactics

The threat actors behind the PikaBot malware have made significant changes to the malware in what has been described as a case of "devolution." "Although it appears to be in a new development cycle and testing phase, the developers have reduced the complexity of the code by removing advanced obfuscation techniques and changing the network communications," Zscaler ThreatLabz researcher Nikolaos

The Hidden Injustice of Cyberattacks

Cyberattacks and criminal scams can impact anyone. But communities of color and other marginalized groups are often disproportionately impacted and lack the support to better protect themselves.

Why Are Compromised Identities the Nightmare to IR Speed and Efficiency?

Incident response (IR) is a race against time. You engage your internal or external team because there's enough evidence that something bad is happening, but you’re still blind to the scope, the impact, and the root cause. The common set of IR tools and practices provides IR teams with the ability to discover malicious files and outbound network connections. However, the identity aspect - namely

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

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

How 3 Million ‘Hacked’ Toothbrushes Became a Cyber Urban Legend

Plus: China’s Volt Typhoon hackers lurked in US systems for years, the Biden administration’s crackdown on spyware vendors ramps up, and a new pro-Beijing disinformation campaign gets exposed.

Hands-on Review: Myrror Security Code-Aware and Attack-Aware SCA

Introduction The modern software supply chain represents an ever-evolving threat landscape, with each package added to the manifest introducing new attack vectors. To meet industry requirements, organizations must maintain a fast-paced development process while staying up-to-date with the latest security patches. However, in practice, developers often face a large amount of security work

I Stopped Using Passwords. It's Great—and a Total Mess

Passkeys are here to replace passwords. When they work, it’s a seamless vision of the future. But don’t ditch your old logins just yet.

HijackLoader Evolves: Researchers Decode the Latest Evasion Methods

The threat actors behind a loader malware called HijackLoader have added new techniques for defense evasion, as the malware continues to be increasingly used by other threat actors to deliver additional payloads and tooling. "The malware developer used a standard process hollowing technique coupled with an additional trigger that was activated by the parent process writing to a pipe,"

After FBI Takedown, KV-Botnet Operators Shift Tactics in Attempt to Bounce Back

The threat actors behind the KV-botnet made "behavioral changes" to the malicious network as U.S. law enforcement began issuing commands to neutralize the activity. KV-botnet is the name given to a network of compromised small office and home office (SOHO) routers and firewall devices across the world, with one specific cluster acting as a covert data transfer system for other Chinese

Ransomware Payments Hit a Record $1.1 Billion in 2023

After a slowdown in payments to ransomware gangs in 2022, last year saw total ransom payouts jump to their highest level yet, according to a new report from crypto-tracing firm Chainalysis.

Critical Boot Loader Vulnerability in Shim Impacts Nearly All Linux Distros

The maintainers of shim have released version 15.8 to address six security flaws, including a critical bug that could pave the way for remote code execution under specific circumstances. Tracked as CVE-2023-40547 (CVSS score: 9.8), the vulnerability could be exploited to achieve a Secure Boot bypass. Bill Demirkapi of the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) has been&

Hackers Exploit Job Boards, Stealing Millions of Resumes and Personal Data

Employment agencies and retail companies chiefly located in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region have been targeted by a previously undocumented threat actor known as ResumeLooters since early 2023 with the goal of stealing sensitive data. Singapore-headquartered Group-IB said the hacking crew's activities are geared towards job search platforms and the theft of resumes, with as many as 65

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

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

New Mispadu Banking Trojan Exploiting Windows SmartScreen Flaw

The threat actors behind the Mispadu banking Trojan have become the latest to exploit a now-patched Windows SmartScreen security bypass flaw to compromise users in Mexico. The attacks entail a new variant of the malware that was first observed in 2019, Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 said in a report published last week. Propagated via phishing mails, Mispadu is a Delphi-based information stealer