4-Step Approach to Mapping and Securing Your Organization's Most Critical Assets

You’re probably familiar with the term “critical assets”. These are the technology assets within your company's IT infrastructure that are essential to the functioning of your organization. If anything happens to these assets, such as application servers, databases, or privileged identities, the ramifications to your security posture can be severe.  But is every technology asset considered

Hackers Created Rogue VMs to Evade Detection in Recent MITRE Cyber Attack

The MITRE Corporation has revealed that the cyber attack targeting the not-for-profit company towards late December 2023 by exploiting zero-day flaws in Ivanti Connect Secure (ICS) involved the threat actor creating rogue virtual machines (VMs) within its VMware environment. "The adversary created their own rogue VMs within the VMware environment, leveraging compromised vCenter Server access,"

DevOps Dilemma: How Can CISOs Regain Control in the Age of Speed?

Introduction The infamous Colonial pipeline ransomware attack (2021) and SolarWinds supply chain attack (2020) were more than data leaks; they were seismic shifts in cybersecurity. These attacks exposed a critical challenge for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs): holding their ground while maintaining control over cloud security in the accelerating world of DevOps.

Researchers Warn of Chinese-Aligned Hackers Targeting South China Sea Countries

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a previously undocumented threat group called Unfading Sea Haze that's believed to have been active since 2018. The intrusion singled out high-level organizations in South China Sea countries, particularly military and government targets, Bitdefender said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "The investigation revealed a troubling

Rockwell Advises Disconnecting Internet-Facing ICS Devices Amid Cyber Threats

Rockwell Automation is urging its customers to disconnect all industrial control systems (ICSs) not meant to be connected to the public-facing internet to mitigate unauthorized or malicious cyber activity. The company said it's issuing the advisory due to "heightened geopolitical tensions and adversarial cyber activity globally." To that end, customers are required to take immediate

GHOSTENGINE Exploits Vulnerable Drivers to Disable EDRs in Cryptojacking Attack

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new cryptojacking campaign that employs vulnerable drivers to disable known security solutions (EDRs) and thwart detection in what's called a Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attack. Elastic Security Labs is tracking the campaign under the name REF4578 and the primary payload as GHOSTENGINE. Previous research from Chinese

QNAP Patches New Flaws in QTS and QuTS hero Impacting NAS Appliances

Taiwanese company QNAP has rolled out fixes for a set of medium-severity flaws impacting QTS and QuTS hero, some of which could be exploited to achieve code execution on its network-attached storage (NAS) appliances. The issues, which impact QTS 5.1.x and QuTS hero h5.1.x, are listed below - CVE-2024-21902 - An incorrect permission assignment for critical resource

Malware Delivery via Cloud Services Exploits Unicode Trick to Deceive Users

A new attack campaign dubbed CLOUD#REVERSER has been observed leveraging legitimate cloud storage services like Google Drive and Dropbox to stage malicious payloads. "The VBScript and PowerShell scripts in the CLOUD#REVERSER inherently involves command-and-control-like activities by using Google Drive and Dropbox as staging platforms to manage file uploads and downloads," Securonix

Kinsing Hacker Group Exploits More Flaws to Expand Botnet for Cryptojacking

The cryptojacking group known as Kinsing has demonstrated an ability to continuously evolve and adapt, proving to be a persistent threat by swiftly integrating newly disclosed vulnerabilities to the exploit arsenal and expand its botnet. The findings come from cloud security firm Aqua, which described the threat actor as actively orchestrating illicit cryptocurrency mining

SHQ Response Platform and Risk Centre to Enable Management and Analysts Alike

In the last decade, there has been a growing disconnect between front-line analysts and senior management in IT and Cybersecurity. Well-documented challenges facing modern analysts revolve around a high volume of alerts, false positives, poor visibility of technical environments, and analysts spending too much time on manual tasks. The Impact of Alert Fatigue and False Positives  Analysts

FIN7 Hacker Group Leverages Malicious Google Ads to Deliver NetSupport RAT

The financially motivated threat actor known as FIN7 has been observed leveraging malicious Google ads spoofing legitimate brands as a means to deliver MSIX installers that culminate in the deployment of NetSupport RAT. "The threat actors used malicious websites to impersonate well-known brands, including AnyDesk, WinSCP, BlackRock, Asana, Concur, The Wall

CensysGPT: AI-Powered Threat Hunting for Cybersecurity Pros (Webinar)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming cybersecurity, and those leading the charge are using it to outsmart increasingly advanced cyber threats. Join us for an exciting webinar, "The Future of Threat Hunting is Powered by Generative AI," where you'll explore how AI tools are shaping the future of cybersecurity defenses. During the session, Censys Security Researcher Aidan Holland will

The Fundamentals of Cloud Security Stress Testing

״Defenders think in lists, attackers think in graphs,” said John Lambert from Microsoft, distilling the fundamental difference in mindset between those who defend IT systems and those who try to compromise them. The traditional approach for defenders is to list security gaps directly related to their assets in the network and eliminate as many as possible, starting with the most critical.

APT42 Hackers Pose as Journalists to Harvest Credentials and Access Cloud Data

The Iranian state-backed hacking outfit called APT42 is making use of enhanced social engineering schemes to infiltrate target networks and cloud environments. Targets of the attack include Western and Middle Eastern NGOs, media organizations, academia, legal services and activists, Google Cloud subsidiary Mandiant said in a report published last week. "APT42 was

It Costs How Much?!? The Financial Pitfalls of Cyberattacks on SMBs

Cybercriminals are vipers. They’re like snakes in the grass, hiding behind their keyboards, waiting to strike. And if you're a small- and medium-sized business (SMB), your organization is the ideal lair for these serpents to slither into.  With cybercriminals becoming more sophisticated, SMBs like you must do more to protect themselves. But at what price? That’s the daunting question

Navigating the Threat Landscape: Understanding Exposure Management, Pentesting, Red Teaming and RBVM

It comes as no surprise that today's cyber threats are orders of magnitude more complex than those of the past. And the ever-evolving tactics that attackers use demand the adoption of better, more holistic and consolidated ways to meet this non-stop challenge. Security teams constantly look for ways to reduce risk while improving security posture, but many

Sandbox Escape Vulnerabilities in Judge0 Expose Systems to Complete Takeover

Multiple critical security flaws have been disclosed in the Judge0 open-source online code execution system that could be exploited to obtain code execution on the target system. The three flaws, all critical in nature, allow an "adversary with sufficient access to perform a sandbox escape and obtain root permissions on the host machine," Australian

10 Critical Endpoint Security Tips You Should Know

In today's digital world, where connectivity is rules all, endpoints serve as the gateway to a business’s digital kingdom. And because of this, endpoints are one of hackers' favorite targets.  According to the IDC, 70% of successful breaches start at the endpoint. Unprotected endpoints provide vulnerable entry points to launch devastating cyberattacks. With IT

Network Threats: A Step-by-Step Attack Demonstration

Follow this real-life network attack simulation, covering 6 steps from Initial Access to Data Exfiltration. See how attackers remain undetected with the simplest tools and why you need multiple choke points in your defense strategy. Surprisingly, most network attacks are not exceptionally sophisticated, technologically advanced, or reliant on zero-day tools that exploit

Unmasking the True Cost of Cyberattacks: Beyond Ransom and Recovery

Cybersecurity breaches can be devastating for both individuals and businesses alike. While many people tend to focus on understanding how and why they were targeted by such breaches, there's a larger, more pressing question: What is the true financial impact of a cyberattack? According to research by Cybersecurity Ventures, the global cost of cybercrime is projected to reach

MITRE Corporation Breached by Nation-State Hackers Exploiting Ivanti Flaws

The MITRE Corporation revealed that it was the target of a nation-state cyber attack that exploited two zero-day flaws in Ivanti Connect Secure appliances starting in January 2024. The intrusion led to the compromise of its Networked Experimentation, Research, and Virtualization Environment (NERVE), an unclassified research and prototyping network. The unknown adversary "performed reconnaissance

New Wave of JSOutProx Malware Targeting Financial Firms in APAC and MENA

Financial organizations in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are being targeted by a new version of an "evolving threat" called JSOutProx. "JSOutProx is a sophisticated attack framework utilizing both JavaScript and .NET," Resecurity said in a technical report published this week. "It employs the .NET (de)serialization feature to interact with a core

Vietnam-Based Hackers Steal Financial Data Across Asia with Malware

A suspected Vietnamese-origin threat actor has been observed targeting victims in several Asian and Southeast Asian countries with malware designed to harvest valuable data since at least May 2023. Cisco Talos is tracking the cluster under the name CoralRaider, describing it as financially motivated. Targets of the campaign include India, China, South Korea, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia,

Considerations for Operational Technology Cybersecurity

Operational Technology (OT) refers to the hardware and software used to change, monitor, or control the enterprise's physical devices, processes, and events. Unlike traditional Information Technology (IT) systems, OT systems directly impact the physical world. This unique characteristic of OT brings additional cybersecurity considerations not typically present in conventional IT security

Attack Surface Management vs. Vulnerability Management

Attack surface management (ASM) and vulnerability management (VM) are often confused, and while they overlap, they’re not the same. The main difference between attack surface management and vulnerability management is in their scope: vulnerability management checks a list of known assets, while attack surface management assumes you have unknown assets and so begins with discovery. Let’s look at

The Golden Age of Automated Penetration Testing is Here

Network penetration testing plays a vital role in detecting vulnerabilities that can be exploited. The current method of performing pen testing is pricey, leading many companies to undertake it only when necessary, usually once a year for their compliance requirements. This manual approach often misses opportunities to find and fix security issues early on, leaving businesses vulnerable to

Linux Version of DinodasRAT Spotted in Cyber Attacks Across Several Countries

A Linux version of a multi-platform backdoor called DinodasRAT has been detected in the wild targeting China, Taiwan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan, new findings from Kaspersky reveal. DinodasRAT, also known as XDealer, is a C++-based malware that offers the ability to harvest a wide range of sensitive data from compromised hosts. In October 2023, Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET&nbsp

New Webinar: Avoiding Application Security Blind Spots with OPSWAT and F5

Considering the ever-changing state of cybersecurity, it's never too late to ask yourself, "am I doing what's necessary to keep my organization's web applications secure?" The continuous evolution of technology introduces new and increasingly sophisticated threats daily, posing challenges to organizations all over the world and across the broader spectrum of industries striving to maintain

Hackers Hit Indian Defense, Energy Sectors with Malware Posing as Air Force Invite

Indian government entities and energy companies have been targeted by unknown threat actors with an aim to deliver a modified version of an open-source information stealer malware called HackBrowserData and exfiltrate sensitive information in some cases by using Slack as command-and-control (C2). "The information stealer was delivered via a phishing email, masquerading as an invitation letter

Microsoft Edge Bug Could Have Allowed Attackers to Silently Install Malicious Extensions

A now-patched security flaw in the Microsoft Edge web browser could have been abused to install arbitrary extensions on users' systems and carry out malicious actions.  "This flaw could have allowed an attacker to exploit a private API, initially intended for marketing purposes, to covertly install additional browser extensions with broad permissions without the user's knowledge," Guardio

SASE Solutions Fall Short Without Enterprise Browser Extensions, New Report Reveals

As SaaS applications dominate the business landscape, organizations need optimized network speed and robust security measures. Many of them have been turning to SASE, a product category that offers cloud-based network protection while enhancing network infrastructure performance. However, a new report: "Better Together: SASE and Enterprise Browser Extension for the SaaS-First Enterprise" (

Alert: New Phishing Attack Delivers Keylogger Disguised as Bank Payment Notice

A new phishing campaign has been observed leveraging a novel loader malware to deliver an information stealer and keylogger called Agent Tesla. Trustwave SpiderLabs said it identified a phishing email bearing this attack chain on March 8, 2024. The message masquerades as a bank payment notification, urging the user to open an archive file attachment. The archive ("Bank Handlowy w Warszawie

N. Korea-linked Kimsuky Shifts to Compiled HTML Help Files in Ongoing Cyberattacks

The North Korea-linked threat actor known as Kimsuky (aka Black Banshee, Emerald Sleet, or Springtail) has been observed shifting its tactics, leveraging Compiled HTML Help (CHM) files as vectors to deliver malware for harvesting sensitive data. Kimsuky, active since at least 2012, is known to target entities located in South Korea as well as North America, Asia, and Europe. According

Russia Hackers Using TinyTurla-NG to Breach European NGO's Systems

The Russia-linked threat actor known as Turla infected several systems belonging to an unnamed European non-governmental organization (NGO) in order to deploy a backdoor called TinyTurla-NG (TTNG). "The attackers compromised the first system, established persistence and added exclusions to antivirus products running on these endpoints as part of their preliminary post-compromise actions," Cisco

AndroxGh0st Malware Targets Laravel Apps to Steal Cloud Credentials

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a tool referred to as AndroxGh0st that's used to target Laravel applications and steal sensitive data. "It works by scanning and taking out important information from .env files, revealing login details linked to AWS and Twilio," Juniper Threat Labs researcher Kashinath T Pattan said. "Classified as an SMTP cracker, it exploits SMTP

Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

When you read reports about cyber-attacks affecting operational technology (OT), it’s easy to get caught up in the hype and assume every single one is sophisticated. But are OT environments all over the world really besieged by a constant barrage of complex cyber-attacks? Answering that would require breaking down the different types of OT cyber-attacks and then looking back on all the

U.S. Sanctions Russians Behind 'Doppelganger' Cyber Influence Campaign

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Wednesday announced sanctions against two 46-year-old Russian nationals and the respective companies they own for engaging in cyber influence operations. Ilya Andreevich Gambashidze (Gambashidze), the founder of the Moscow-based company Social Design Agency (SDA), and Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tupikin (Tupikin), the CEO and

Generative AI Security - Secure Your Business in a World Powered by LLMs

Did you know that 79% of organizations are already leveraging Generative AI technologies? Much like the internet defined the 90s and the cloud revolutionized the 2010s, we are now in the era of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI. The potential of Generative AI is immense, yet it brings significant challenges, especially in security integration. Despite their powerful capabilities,

From Deepfakes to Malware: AI's Expanding Role in Cyber Attacks

Large language models (LLMs) powering artificial intelligence (AI) tools today could be exploited to develop self-augmenting malware capable of bypassing YARA rules. "Generative AI can be used to evade string-based YARA rules by augmenting the source code of small malware variants, effectively lowering detection rates," Recorded Future said in a new report shared with The Hacker News.

New Phishing Attack Uses Clever Microsoft Office Trick to Deploy NetSupport RAT

A new phishing campaign is targeting U.S. organizations with the intent to deploy a remote access trojan called NetSupport RAT. Israeli cybersecurity company Perception Point is tracking the activity under the moniker Operation PhantomBlu. "The PhantomBlu operation introduces a nuanced exploitation method, diverging from NetSupport RAT’s typical delivery mechanism by leveraging OLE (Object

New DEEP#GOSU Malware Campaign Targets Windows Users with Advanced Tactics

A new elaborate attack campaign has been observed employing PowerShell and VBScript malware to infect Windows systems and harvest sensitive information. Cybersecurity company Securonix, which dubbed the campaign DEEP#GOSU, said it's likely associated with the North Korean state-sponsored group tracked as Kimsuky (aka Emerald Sleet, Springtail, or Velvet Chollima). "The malware payloads used in

Hackers Using Cracked Software on GitHub to Spread RisePro Info Stealer

Cybersecurity researchers have found a number of GitHub repositories offering cracked software that are used to deliver an information stealer called RisePro. The campaign, codenamed gitgub, includes 17 repositories associated with 11 different accounts, according to G DATA. The repositories in question have since been taken down by the Microsoft-owned subsidiary. "The repositories look

PixPirate Android Banking Trojan Using New Evasion Tactic to Target Brazilian Users

The threat actors behind the PixPirate Android banking trojan are leveraging a new trick to evade detection on compromised devices and harvest sensitive information from users in Brazil. The approach allows it to hide the malicious app’s icon from the home screen of the victim’s device, IBM said in a technical report published today. “Thanks to this new technique, during PixPirate reconnaissance

Microsoft's March Updates Fix 61 Vulnerabilities, Including Critical Hyper-V Flaws

Microsoft on Tuesday released its monthly security update, addressing 61 different security flaws spanning its software, including two critical issues impacting Windows Hyper-V that could lead to denial-of-service (DoS) and remote code execution. Of the 61 vulnerabilities, two are rated Critical, 58 are rated Important, and one is rated Low in severity. None of the flaws are listed as

Proof-of-Concept Exploit Released for Progress Software OpenEdge Vulnerability

Technical specifics and a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit have been made available for a recently disclosed critical security flaw in Progress Software OpenEdge Authentication Gateway and AdminServer, which could be potentially exploited to bypass authentication protections. Tracked as CVE-2024-1403, the vulnerability has a maximum severity rating of 10.0 on the CVSS scoring system. It

Cisco Issues Patch for High-Severity VPN Hijacking Bug in Secure Client

Cisco has released patches to address a high-severity security flaw impacting its Secure Client software that could be exploited by a threat actor to open a VPN session with that of a targeted user. The networking equipment company described the vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-20337 (CVSS score: 8.2), as allowing an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct a carriage return line feed (CRLF

Human vs. Non-Human Identity in SaaS

In today's rapidly evolving SaaS environment, the focus is on human users. This is one of the most compromised areas in SaaS security management and requires strict governance of user roles and permissions, monitoring of privileged users, their level of activity (dormant, active, hyperactive), their type (internal/ external), whether they are joiners, movers, or leavers, and more.  Not

Ex-Google Engineer Arrested for Stealing AI Technology Secrets for China

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced the indictment of a 38-year-old Chinese national and a California resident for allegedly stealing proprietary information from Google while covertly working for two China-based tech companies. Linwei Ding (aka Leon Ding), a former Google engineer who was arrested on March 6, 2024, "transferred sensitive Google trade secrets and other confidential

U.S. Cracks Down on Predatory Spyware Firm for Targeting Officials and Journalists

The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two individuals and five entities associated with the Intellexa Alliance for their role in “developing, operating, and distributing” commercial spyware designed to target government officials, journalists, and policy experts in the country. “The proliferation of commercial spyware poses distinct and growing

Alert: GhostSec and Stormous Launch Joint Ransomware Attacks in Over 15 Countries

The cybercrime group called GhostSec has been linked to a Golang variant of a ransomware family called GhostLocker. “TheGhostSec and Stormous ransomware groups are jointly conducting double extortion ransomware attacks on various business verticals in multiple countries,” Cisco Talos researcher Chetan Raghuprasad said in a report shared with The Hacker News. “GhostLocker and

New APT Group 'Lotus Bane' Behind Recent Attacks on Vietnam's Financial Entities

A financial entity in Vietnam was the target of a previously undocumented threat actor called Lotus Bane as part of a cyber attack that was first detected in March 2023. Singapore-headquartered Group-IB described the hacking outfit as an advanced persistent threat group that's believed to have been active since at least 2022. The exact specifics of the infection chain remain unknown

Hackers Exploit ConnectWise ScreenConnect Flaws to Deploy TODDLERSHARK Malware

North Korean threat actors have exploited the recently disclosed security flaws in ConnectWise ScreenConnect to deploy a new malware called TODDLERSHARK. According to a report shared by Kroll with The Hacker News, TODDLERSHARK overlaps with known Kimsuky malware such as BabyShark and ReconShark. “The threat actor gained access to the victim workstation by exploiting the exposed setup wizard

Cybercriminals Using Novel DNS Hijacking Technique for Investment Scams

A new DNS threat actor dubbed Savvy Seahorse is leveraging sophisticated techniques to entice targets into fake investment platforms and steal funds. “Savvy Seahorse is a DNS threat actor who convinces victims to create accounts on fake investment platforms, make deposits to a personal account, and then transfers those deposits to a bank in Russia,” Infoblox said in a report

Critical JetBrains TeamCity On-Premises Flaws Could Lead to Server Takeovers

A new pair of security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in JetBrains TeamCity On-Premises software that could be exploited by a threat actor to take control of affected systems. The flaws, tracked as CVE-2024-27198 (CVSS score: 9.8) and CVE-2024-27199 (CVSS score: 7.3), have been addressed in version 2023.11.4. They impact all TeamCity On-Premises versions through 2023.11.3. “The

Over 100 Malicious AI/ML Models Found on Hugging Face Platform

As many as 100 malicious artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) models have been discovered in the Hugging Face platform. These include instances where loading a pickle file leads to code execution, software supply chain security firm JFrog said. "The model's payload grants the attacker a shell on the compromised machine, enabling them to gain full control over victims'

Iran-Linked UNC1549 Hackers Target Middle East Aerospace & Defense Sectors

An Iran-nexus threat actor known as UNC1549 has been attributed with medium confidence to a new set of attacks targeting aerospace, aviation, and defense industries in the Middle East, including Israel and the U.A.E. Other targets of the cyber espionage activity likely include Turkey, India, and Albania, Google-owned Mandiant said in a new analysis. UNC1549 is said to overlap with&nbsp

From Alert to Action: How to Speed Up Your SOC Investigations

Processing alerts quickly and efficiently is the cornerstone of a Security Operations Center (SOC) professional's role. Threat intelligence platforms can significantly enhance their ability to do so. Let's find out what these platforms are and how they can empower analysts. The Challenge: Alert Overload The modern SOC faces a relentless barrage of security alerts generated by SIEMs and EDRs.

New IDAT Loader Attacks Using Steganography to Deploy Remcos RAT

Ukrainian entities based in Finland have been targeted as part of a malicious campaign distributing a commercial remote access trojan known as Remcos RAT using a malware loader called IDAT Loader. The attack has been attributed to a threat actor tracked by the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) under the moniker UAC-0184. "The attack, as part of the IDAT Loader, used

Microsoft Releases PyRIT - A Red Teaming Tool for Generative AI

Microsoft has released an open access automation framework called PyRIT (short for Python Risk Identification Tool) to proactively identify risks in generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The red teaming tool is designed to "enable every organization across the globe to innovate responsibly with the latest artificial intelligence advances," Ram Shankar Siva Kumar, AI red team

Researchers Detail Apple's Recent Zero-Click Shortcuts Vulnerability

Details have emerged about a now-patched high-severity security flaw in Apple's Shortcuts app that could permit a shortcut to access sensitive information on the device without users' consent. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-23204 (CVSS score: 7.5), was addressed by Apple on January 22, 2024, with the release of iOS 17.3, iPadOS 17.3, macOS Sonoma 14.3, and