New Frontiers, Old Tactics: Chinese Espionage Group Targets Africa & Caribbean Govts

The China-linked threat actor known as Sharp Panda has expanded their targeting to include governmental organizations in Africa and the Caribbean as part of an ongoing cyber espionage campaign. "The campaign adopts Cobalt Strike Beacon as the payload, enabling backdoor functionalities like C2 communication and command execution while minimizing the exposure of their custom tools," Check Point

Inside Operation Diplomatic Specter: Chinese APT Group's Stealthy Tactics Exposed

Governmental entities in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia are the target of a Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) group as part of an ongoing cyber espionage campaign dubbed Operation Diplomatic Specter since at least late 2022. "An analysis of this threat actor’s activity reveals long-term espionage operations against at least seven governmental entities," Palo Alto Networks

New 'Cuckoo' Persistent macOS Spyware Targeting Intel and Arm Macs

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new information stealer targeting Apple macOS systems that's designed to set up persistence on the infected hosts and act as a spyware. Dubbed Cuckoo by Kandji, the malware is a universal Mach-O binary that's capable of running on both Intel- and Arm-based Macs. The exact distribution vector is currently unclear, although there are

Ex-NSA Employee Sentenced to 22 Years for Trying to Sell U.S. Secrets to Russia

A former employee of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has been sentenced to nearly 22 years (262 months) in prison for attempting to transfer classified documents to Russia. "This sentence should serve as a stark warning to all those entrusted with protecting national defense information that there are consequences to betraying that trust," said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

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

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

Fortra Patches Critical RCE Vulnerability in FileCatalyst Transfer Tool

Fortra has released details of a now-patched critical security flaw impacting its FileCatalyst file transfer solution that could allow unauthenticated attackers to gain remote code execution on susceptible servers. Tracked as CVE-2024-25153, the shortcoming carries a CVSS score of 9.8 out of a maximum of 10. "A directory traversal within the 'ftpservlet' of the FileCatalyst Workflow

Fortinet Warns of Severe SQLi Vulnerability in FortiClientEMS Software

Fortinet has warned of a critical security flaw impacting its FortiClientEMS software that could allow attackers to achieve code execution on affected systems. "An improper neutralization of special elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability [CWE-89] in FortiClientEMS may allow an unauthenticated attacker to execute unauthorized code or commands via specifically crafted

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

Microsoft Confirms Russian Hackers Stole Source Code, Some Customer Secrets

Microsoft on Friday revealed that the Kremlin-backed threat actor known as Midnight Blizzard (aka APT29 or Cozy Bear) managed to gain access to some of its source code repositories and internal systems following a hack that came to light in January 2024. "In recent weeks, we have seen evidence that Midnight Blizzard is using information initially exfiltrated from our

TimbreStealer Malware Spreading via Tax-themed Phishing Scam Targets IT Users

Mexican users have been targeted with tax-themed phishing lures at least since November 2023 to distribute a previously undocumented Windows malware called TimbreStealer. Cisco Talos, which discovered the activity, described the authors as skilled and that the "threat actor has previously used similar tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) to distribute a banking trojan known

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

Stealthy Zardoor Backdoor Targets Saudi Islamic Charity Organization

An unnamed Islamic non-profit organization in Saudi Arabia has been targeted as part of a stealthy cyber espionage campaign designed to drop a previously undocumented backdoor called Zardoor. Cisco Talos, which discovered the activity in May 2023, said the campaign has likely persisted since at least March 2021, adding it has identified only one compromised target to date, although it's

Playbook: Your First 100 Days as a vCISO - 5 Steps to Success

In an increasingly digital world, no organization is spared from cyber threats. Yet, not every organization has the luxury of hiring a full-time, in-house CISO. This gap in cybersecurity leadership is where you, as a vCISO, come in. You are the person who will establish, develop, and solidify the organization's cybersecurity infrastructure, blending strategic guidance with actionable

New PoC Exploit for Apache ActiveMQ Flaw Could Let Attackers Fly Under the Radar

Cybersecurity researchers have demonstrated a new technique that exploits a critical security flaw in Apache ActiveMQ to achieve arbitrary code execution in memory. Tracked as CVE-2023-46604 (CVSS score: 10.0), the vulnerability is a remote code execution bug that could permit a threat actor to run arbitrary shell commands. It was patched by Apache in ActiveMQ versions 5.15.16, 5.16.7, 5.17.6,

Guide: How vCISOs, MSPs and MSSPs Can Keep their Customers Safe from Gen AI Risks

Download the free guide, "It's a Generative AI World: How vCISOs, MSPs and MSSPs Can Keep their Customers Safe from Gen AI Risks." ChatGPT now boasts anywhere from 1.5 to 2 billion visits per month. Countless sales, marketing, HR, IT executive, technical support, operations, finance and other functions are feeding data prompts and queries into generative AI engines. They use these tools to write

Critical Flaws Discovered in Veeam ONE IT Monitoring Software – Patch Now

Veeam has released security updates to address four flaws in its ONE IT monitoring and analytics platform, two of which are rated critical in severity. The list of vulnerabilities is as follows - CVE-2023-38547 (CVSS score: 9.9) - An unspecified flaw that can be leveraged by an unauthenticated user to gain information about the SQL server connection Veeam ONE uses to access its configuration