Cross-site tracking cookies have a bleak future but can still cause privacy woes to unwary users For many years, privacy advocates have been sounding the alarm on the use of cookies to track, profile, and serve personalized ads to web users. The discussion has been especially acute over cookies used for cross-site tracking, in which
Month: September 2022
A threat with a North Korea nexus has been found leveraging a “novel spear phish methodology” that involves making use of trojanized versions of the PuTTY SSH and Telnet client. Google-owned threat intelligence firm Mandiant attributed the new campaign to an emerging threat cluster it tracks under the name UNC4034. “UNC4034 established communication with the
McAfee’s Mobile Research team recently analyzed new malware targeting NTT DOCOMO users in Japan. The malware which was distributed on the Google Play store pretends to be a legitimate mobile security app, but it is in fact a payment fraud malware stealing passwords and abusing reverse proxy targeting NTT DOCOMO mobile payment service users. McAfee
Threat actors are using the death of Queen Elizabeth II as a lure to phish for users’ Microsoft credentials, experts have warned. A screenshot posted by Proofpoint yesterday revealed an email spoofed to appear as if sent from the tech giant. With the headline “In Memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” it claimed that
ESET researchers have uncovered another tool in the already extensive arsenal of the SparklingGoblin APT group: a Linux variant of the SideWalk backdoor ESET researchers have discovered a Linux variant of the SideWalk backdoor, one of the multiple custom implants used by the SparklingGoblin APT group. This variant was deployed against a Hong Kong university
An ongoing espionage campaign operated by the Russia-linked Gamaredon group is targeting employees of Ukrainian government, defense, and law enforcement agencies with a piece of custom-made information stealing malware. “The adversary is using phishing documents containing lures related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Cisco Talos researchers Asheer Malhotra and Guilherme Venere said in a
Safety has a feeling all its own, and that’s what’s at the heart of McAfee+. We created McAfee+ so people can not only be safe but feel safe online, particularly in a time when there’s so much concern about identity theft and invasion of our online privacy. And those concerns have merit. Last year,
Some 80% of organizations suffered a “severe” cloud security incident over the past year, while a quarter worry they’ve suffered a cloud data breach and aren’t aware of it, according to new research from Snyk. The developer security specialist polled 400 cloud engineering and security practitioners from organizations of various sizes and sectors, to compile
by Paul Ducklin Researchers at threat intelligence company Group-IB just wrote an intriguing real-life story about an annoyingly simple but surprisingly effective phishing trick known as BitB, short for browser-in-the-browser. You’ve probably heard of several types of X-in-the-Y attack before, notably MitM and MitB, short for manipulator-in-the-middle and manipulator-in-the-browser. In a MitM attack, the attackers
Has your Wi-Fi speed slowed down to a crawl? Here are some of the possible reasons along with a few quick fixes to speed things up. Wireless internet connectivity is a wonder of the modern age. There are few more ubiquitous technology protocols than Wi-Fi, the means via which radio signals sent from our router
The operators behind the Lornenz ransomware operation have been observed exploiting a now-patched critical security flaw in Mitel MiVoice Connect to obtain a foothold into target environments for follow-on malicious activities. “Initial malicious activity originated from a Mitel appliance sitting on the network perimeter,” researchers from cybersecurity firm Arctic Wolf said in a report published
Threat actors exploited a vulnerability in a popular VoIP appliance to gain access to a victim’s corporate network, researchers have revealed. A team at Arctic Wolf said that the unnamed organization was compromised by the Lorenz ransomware variant. The group apparently targeted the Mitel Service Appliance component of MiVoice Connect, via remote code execution bug
by Paul Ducklin We’ve been waiting for iOS 16, given Apple’s recent Event at which the iPhone 14 and other upgraded hardware products were launched to the public. This morning, we did a Settings > General > Software Update, just in case… …but nothing showed up. But some time shortly before 8pm tonight UK time
Summary Pass-through authentication (PTA) is one of the Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) hybrid identity authentication methods. PTA relies on PTA agents installed on one or more on-premises servers. Azure AD uses a certificate-based authentication (CBA) to identify each agent. In May 2022, Secureworks® Counter Threat Unit™ (CTU) researchers analyzed how the protocols used by
Worok takes aim at various high-profile organizations that operate in multiple sectors and are located primarily in Asia ESET researchers have revealed their findings about a previously unknown cyberespionage group that they named Worok. This APT group takes aim at various high-profile organizations that operate in multiple sectors and are located primarily in Asia, but
Contemporary organizations understand the importance of data and its impact on improving interactions with customers, offering quality products or services, and building loyalty. Data is fundamental to business success. It allows companies to make the right decisions at the right time and deliver the high-quality, personalized products and services that customers expect. There is a
Investigators have disrupted a major organized crime gang believed to have tricked thousands of British victims into handing over money. The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and Romanian police searched two penthouse apartments in Bucharest thought to have been the nerve center for a fraud operation that targeted consumers across Europe on a “massive scale.”
A hacktivist collective called GhostSec has claimed credit for compromising as many as 55 Berghof programmable logic controllers (PLCs) used by Israeli organizations as part of a “Free Palestine” campaign. Industrial cybersecurity firm OTORIO, which dug deeper into the incident, said the breach was made possible owing to the fact that the PLCs were accessible
More than 10% of enterprise IT assets are missing endpoint protection and roughly 5% are not covered by enterprise patch management solutions. The figures come from new research by Sevco Security, which the company has compiled in the State of the Cybersecurity Attack Surface report. “Attackers are very adept at exploiting enterprise vulnerabilities. Security and IT
A state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) actor newly christened APT42 (formerly UNC788) has been attributed to over 30 confirmed espionage attacks against individuals and organizations of strategic interest to the Iranian government at least since 2015. Cybersecurity firm Mandiant said the group operates as the intelligence gathering arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),
Wouldn’t it be nice if, along with grades for English, Science, and Algebra this year, our child’s report card included quarterly feedback on their mental health? Recently, actor Tom Holland of Spider-Man fame reported on his mental health publicly by deleting several of his social media accounts. The actor stated that his social media accounts
On April 20, 2022, Rapid7 discovered vulnerabilities in two TCP/IP–enabled medical devices produced by Baxter Healthcare. The flaws, four in total, affected the company’s SIGMA Spectrum Infusion Pump and SIGMA WiFi Battery. Almost five months after Rapid7 first reported the issues to Baxter, the companies are now revealing they have worked together to discuss the
by Paul Ducklin Dates, times and timezones are troublesome things. Daylight saving, or “summer time” as it’s also commonly known, makes matters even worse, because many countries tweak their clocks twice a year in order to shift the apparent time of sunrise and sunset in relation to the regular working day. In the UK, for
The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday announced sanctions against Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and its Minister of Intelligence, Esmaeil Khatib, for engaging in cyber-enabled activities against the nation and its allies. “Since at least 2007, the MOIS and its cyber actor proxies have conducted malicious cyber operations targeting a range of government
It’s too bad cybercriminals don’t funnel their creativity into productive pursuits because they’re constantly coming up with nefarious new ways to eke out money and information from unsuspecting people. One of their newest schemes is called synthetic identity theft, a type of identity theft that can happen to anyone. Luckily, there are ways to lower
We are deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II who dedicated her life to service. She brought comfort, leadership and steadfastness to millions of people during her 70-year reign. On behalf of Infosecurity Magazine and our employees and customers, we send our sincerest condolences to the Royal Family and to all
by Paul Ducklin Yes, ransomware is still a thing. No, not all ransomware attacks unfold in the way you might expect. Most contemporary ransomware attacks involve two groups of criminals: a core gang who create the malware and handle the extortion payments, and “members” of a loose-knit clan of “affiliates” who actively break into networks
It pays to do some research before taking a leap into the world of internet-connected toys The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the way we live and work. From smart pacemakers to fitness trackers, voice assistants to smart doorbells, the technology is making us healthier, safer, more productive and entertained. At the same time,
A zero-day flaw in a WordPress plugin called BackupBuddy is being actively exploited, WordPress security company Wordfence has disclosed. “This vulnerability makes it possible for unauthenticated users to download arbitrary files from the affected site which can include sensitive information,” it said. BackupBuddy allows users to back up their entire WordPress installation from within the
Password protection is one of the most common security protocols available. By creating a unique password, you are both proving your identity and keeping your personal information safer. However, when every account you have requires a separate password, it can be an overwhelming task. While you should be concerned about the safety of your data,