Security

by Naked Security writer The latest high-profile cybercrime exploits attributed to the Clop ransomware crew aren’t your traditional sort of ransomware attacks (if “traditional” is the right word for an extortion mechanism that goes back only to 1989). Conventional ransomware attacks are where your files get scrambled, your business gets totally derailed, and a message

Canada’s leading integrated energy company Suncor Energy has announced earlier this week that it experienced a cybersecurity incident resulting in technical problems at its subsidiary, Petro-Canada. As a result, more than 1500 gas stations nationwide are unable to accept credit card payments and customers cannot use rewards points. Suncor Energy, ranked as the 48th-largest public company

Threat actors using the notorious banking Trojan Anatsa have launched a new campaign targeting banks in the US, UK and the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). According to a new blog post by ThreatFabric, this ongoing campaign started around March 2023 and has witnessed over 30,000 installations of the malware so far. The security experts highlighted

A trojanized Super Mario Bros game installer has been found to contain multiple malicious components, including an XMR miner, the SupremeBot mining client and the open-source Umbral Stealer. The discovery comes from security researchers at Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs (CRIL), who described the threat in an advisory published last Friday. According to the technical

by Naked Security writer Some hacks become so notorious that they acquire a definite article, even if the word THE ends up attached to a very general technical term. For example, you can probably trot out the names of dozens of well-known internet worms amongst the millions that exist in the zoos maintained by malware

by Matt Fairbanks Ransomware – as readers here know only too well – is one of the biggest cybercrime challenges we collectively face today. That’s why Sophos has recently visited cities around the globe to dive deep into the real story behind ransomware. We captured more than 100 hours of interviews with cybercriminals, cybersecurity experts,

New versions of Chinese espionage malware have been observed spreading rapidly through infected USB drives. The malicious software tools were discovered by Check Point Research (CPR) as part of an attack against a healthcare institution in Europe and described in an advisory published on Thursday. The Check Point Incident Response Team (CPIRT) investigated the malware

by Paul Ducklin Researchers at Korean anti-malware business AhnLab are warning about an old-school attack that they say they’re seeing a lot of these days, where cybercriminals guess their way into Linux shell servers and use them as jumping-off points for further attacks, often against innocent third parties. The payloads unleashed by this crew of

Security researchers have discovered a sophisticated attack campaign that exploits custom and open-source tools to target Linux-based systems and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. According to a new blog post by Microsoft, the attackers utilized a patched version of OpenSSH to gain control of compromised devices and install cryptomining malware. Read more on this type

by Paul Ducklin The Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has apparently advised people Down Under to turn off their mobile phones once a day, for the surprisingly precise period of five minutes, as a cybersecurity measure. UK newspaper The Guardian quotes the PM as saying: We all have a responsibility. Simple things, turn your phone

Service members across the US military have reported receiving smartwatches unsolicited in the mail.  These smartwatches have Wi-Fi auto-connect capabilities and can connect to cell phones unprompted, gaining access to user data. According to the US Criminal Investigation Division (CID), the smartwatches may also contain malware granting the sender access to saved data, including banking information,

by Paul Ducklin LISTEN AND LEARN Gee Whizz BASIC (probably). Think you know ransomware? Megaupload, 11 years on. ASUS warns of critical router bugs. MOVEit mayhem Part III. No audio player below? Listen directly on Soundcloud. With Doug Aamoth and Paul Ducklin. Intro and outro music by Edith Mudge. You can listen to us on

As the UK’s largest building society, Nationwide has 18,000 users on its IT systems, 400 domains and 750 servers. The business pushes out 25,000 technology changes and updates every year. As a financial services provider, the society faces an increase in cyber-threats, as well as the need to comply with industry-specific legislation. As a result,

by Paul Ducklin Right at the start of June 2023, well-known Russian cybersecurity outfit Kaspersky reported on a previously unknown strain of iPhone malware. Most notable about the original story was its strapline: Targeted attack on [Kaspersky] management with the Triangulation Trojan. Although the company ultimately said, “We’re confident that Kaspersky was not the main

Becky Pinkard describes herself as an outsider who found her place, and was able to express her true identity, in the cybersecurity industry. Pinkard, who has worked in cybersecurity since 1996, is now managing director of global cyber operations at Barclays. She is also a speaker, diversity advocate and security trainer who says that she

Over reliance on security certifications can lead to a less diverse and less innovative workforce, and processes designed to satisfy auditors rather than improve security, according to a CISO panel. Speaking at Infosecurity Europe, Munawar Valji, CISO of Trainline, Dr Emma Philpott, CEO at the IASME Consortium and Helen Rabe, CISO at the BBC asked

by Paul Ducklin ASUS is a well-known maker of popular electronics products, ranging from laptops and phones to home routers and graphics cards. This week, the company published firmware updates for a wide range of its home routers, along with a strong warning that if you aren’t willing or able to update your firmware right

by Paul Ducklin For the third time in about a week, cybersecurity law-and-order news includes a criminal case that’s been brewing for more than a decade. This time, the news is prison sentences for two of the main four original defendants in the infamous Megaupload saga. If you weren’t following cybersecurity a decade ago, we’ll

The use of connected devices in healthcare is driving innovation, offering new ways to assist medical staff. However, the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) has expanded the attack surface IT decision-makers in the healthcare industry have to deal with. A new report by Armis found that many cybersecurity leaders in UK National Health Service

The Shuckworm espionage group (aka Gamaredon, Armageddon), believed to be linked to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), has been observed intensifying its cyber-attacks on Ukraine. Discovered by the Symantec Threat Hunter Team, the new Shuckworm campaign focused on acquiring military and security intelligence to support potential invading forces. In particular, it aimed to gain

An updated version of the Android GravityRAT spyware targeting WhatsApp backups has been discovered by security researchers at ESET. In an advisory published by the firm on Thursday, ESET malware researcher Lukas Stefanko said the new variant of the malware is being distributed via two messaging apps called BingeChat and Chatico. GravityRAT is a remote

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced the arrest and charges filed against a Russian national accused of participating in cyber-attacks using the LockBit ransomware. Ruslan Magomedovich Astamirov, a 20-year-old from the Chechen Republic, allegedly targeted computer systems in the United States, Asia, Europe and Africa. Astamirov is the second individual arrested in connection

by Paul Ducklin DON’T GET INTO THE HABIT OF A BAD HABIT Magnetic core memory. Patch Tuesday and SketchUp shenanigans. More MOVEit mitigations. Mt. Gox back in the news. Gozi malware criminal imprisoned at last. Are password rules like running through rain? No audio player below? Listen directly on Soundcloud. With Doug Aamoth and Paul

by Paul Ducklin Yet more MOVEit mayhem! “Disable HTTP and HTTPS traffic to MOVEit Transfer,” says Progress Software, and the timeframe for doing so is “immediately”, no ifs, no buts. Progress Software is the maker of file-sharing software MOVEit Transfer, and the hosted MOVEit Cloud alternative that’s based on it, and this is its third

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) have released joint guidance on hardening Baseboard Management Controllers (BMCs). Published on Wednesday, the document aims to address the overlooked vulnerabilities in BMCs, which can serve as potential entry points for malicious actors seeking to compromise critical infrastructure systems. Read more

by Paul Ducklin Yesterday, we wrote about cybercrime charges that were finally unsealed for a massive cryptocurrency heist that was allegedly conducted over a three-year period starting back in 2011. Today’s long-term cybercrime justice story concerns the last member of the so-called Gozi Troika, three men who were originally charged in January 2013 for malware-related

A series of malicious GitHub repositories masquerading as legitimate security research projects have been discovered. VulnCheck researcher Jacob Baines shared the findings in a new advisory published today, saying the repositories claim to contain exploits for well-known products such as Chrome, Exchange and Discord. “In early May, VulnCheck came across a malicious GitHub repository that

by Paul Ducklin No zero-days this month, if you ignore the Edge RCE hole patched last week (make sure you’ve got that update, by the way): For a full list of this month’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday fixes, take a look at our sister site Sophos News, where SophosLabs analysts have collated complete lists of the

Network security solution provider Fortinet has patched a critical bug in its FortiOS and FortiProxy SSL-VPN software that could be exploited to hijack equipment. The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2023-27997 with a CVSS score of 9.2, reportedly allowed remote code execution and was first discovered by a security analyst at Lexfo. The security fixes were included

The US and UK have reached an agreement to create a ‘data bridge’ to enable the free flow of data between the two regions. The ‘commitment in principle’ represents a UK extension to the Data Privacy Framework agreed between the EU and US in 2022. This means that US companies who are approved to join