Security

Database provider MongoDB has alerted customers to a data breach in which some account and contact information was compromised. An email from MongoDB CISO, Lena Smart, sent to customers late last week was republished on X (formerly Twitter) by the vx-underground account. “MongoDB is investigating a security incident involving unauthorized access to certain MongoDB corporate

The UK government has proposed new rules designed to regulate the datacenter sector, in a bid to improve baseline cybersecurity and resilience. It’s seeking industry feedback on a new consultation document, Protecting and enhancing the security and resilience of UK data infrastructure, which will be open until February 22 2024. Under the current proposals, datacenter providers

Four US residents have been charged with a series of money laundering offenses connected to a major “pig butchering” fraud syndicate. Lu Zhang, 36, of Alhambra, California; Justin Walker, 31, of Cypress, California; Joseph Wong, 32, of Rosemead, California; and Hailong Zhu, 40, of Naperville, Illinois, are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, concealment

Tens of thousands of current and former employees of a leading US cybersecurity and nuclear research laboratory were impacted by a major data breach discovered in November, it has been revealed. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) said in an updated notice published this week that it first became aware of the incident on November 20.

Microsoft has gone after a prolific Vietnam-based threat group it describes as “the number one seller and creator” of fake accounts. Storm-1152 has made millions from the creation of an estimated 750 million fraudulent Microsoft accounts that play a key role in the cybercrime ecosystem, the Redmond giant said. “With companies able to quickly identify

Ukraine has claimed a major scalp in the ongoing cyber-war with Russia, saying it has effectively crippled the Kremlin’s tax system. The country’s Ministry of Defense said its Defence Intelligence unit (GUR) conducted a “special operation” leading to the compromise of central servers of Russia’s Federal Taxation service (FTS), and over 2300 regional servers. These

Apache has warned customers of a critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in its popular Struts 2 framework. Apache Struts 2 is an open-source web application framework for developing Java EE web applications. The new vulnerability, CVE-2023-50164, has been given a maximum severity rating and affects Struts 2.0.0-2.3.37 (EOL), Struts 2.5.0-2.5.32, and Struts 6.0.0-6.3.0. “An

Organizations are still exposed to critical vulnerabilities in Log4j, two years after a maximum severity bug was found in the popular utility, according to Veracode. The application security vendor analyzed data from software scans over 90 days between August 15 and November 15 2023. These covered 38,278 unique applications running Log4j versions 1.1 to 3.0.0-alpha1 across

Europe’s cybersecurity agency has warned that geopolitics is fueling a current increase in denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. ENISA analyzed 310 publicly reported DoS attacks between January 2022 and August 2023, to compile its ENISA Threat Landscape for DoS Attacks report. It claimed that two-thirds (66%) were motivated by political reasons or activist agendas, with half (50%)

The UK’s privacy regulator has warned of falling public trust in AI and said any use of the technology which breaks data protection law would be met with strong enforcement action. Speaking at techUK’s Digital Ethics Summit 2023 on Wednesday, information commissioner, John Edwards, pointed to organizations using AI for “nefarious purposes” in order to

A recent report has revealed that 40.2% of files stored on Google Drive contain sensitive data. The findings come from the latest research from data security firm Metomic, which analyzed roughly 6.5 million Google Drive files. The report, published on Wednesday, also suggested that 34.2% of the scrutinized files were shared with external contacts outside

A substantial 78% of CISOs have expressed concerns about the current unmanageability of application security (AppSec) attack surfaces, emphasizing the need for improvement. The figure comes from Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) firm Cycode’s inaugural The State of ASPM 2024 report.  The research, drawn from a survey of 500 US CISOs, AppSec Directors and DevSecOps team members,

Brand impersonation in cyber-attacks has reached new levels of sophistication, a recent research article by Abnormal Security has highlighted.  Traditionally observed in financial institutions and social media sites, threat actors are now employing multi-stage attacks with a high degree of personalization. A study published by Abnormal CISO, Mike Britton, revealed a case where attackers impersonated the

A recent cybersecurity report by Kaspersky has highlighted a 53% surge in daily cyber-threats targeting Microsoft Office during 2023.  The report also revealed an average detection of 411,000 malicious files per day this year, indicating an overall uptick of almost 3% compared to the previous year. Kaspersky’s research signals a shift in cybercriminals’ tactics, emphasizing

The UK government has signed what it claims to be a “world-first” charter with some of the biggest technology companies on the planet, which will see the latter commit to blocking and removing fraudulent content from their platforms. Announced late yesterday, the Online Fraud Charter is a voluntary agreement for technology firms to better police fraud

Apple has been forced to patch yet another pair of zero-day vulnerabilities, bringing the total for the year to 20. The tech giant said that the two bugs in its WebKit browser engine were being actively exploited in the wild. The first vulnerability, CVE-2023-42916, is found in a range of Apple products: iPhone XS and

The UK’s security agency has urged the nation’s water sector to apply best practice security measures after a US operator was breached via its industrial control systems. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) revealed earlier this week that an unnamed facility had been taken offline and switched to manual operation after its Unitronics

North Korean hackers have reportedly stolen a total of $3bn in cryptocurrency since 2017, as revealed in a recent report by Recorded Future’s Insikt Group.  The revelation underscores the prolonged engagement of the regime in the cryptocurrency sector, transitioning from targeting financial institutions through the SWIFT network to a broader strategy during the 2017 cryptocurrency

Threat actors have been observed exploiting a critical vulnerability, CVE-2023-46604, in Apache systems.  Over the past few weeks, Fortiguard Labs identified multiple threat actors leveraging this vulnerability to unleash several malware strains. Among the discoveries is the emergence of a newly discovered Golang-based botnet named GoTitan. This sophisticated botnet has raised concerns due to its ability

Security researchers have uncovered the continuation and expansion of an Android mobile banking Trojan campaign targeting major Iranian banks.  Initially discovered in July 2023, the campaign has not only persisted but has also evolved with enhanced capabilities, according to a new report by Zimperium malware analysts Aazim Bill SE Yaswant and Vishnu Pratapagiri. A prior

Fidelity National Financial (FNF) has disclosed a cybersecurity incident that prompted the company to take down certain systems. The company made the announcement in a recent Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dated November 19 2023. A prominent player in the real estate and mortgage industry, FNF said it initiated an immediate

Security researchers have warned of triple-digit increase in the volume of phishing emails designed to trick shoppers, ahead of the Black Friday online sales bonanza which starts today. For the past few years, the Amazon-inspired event has signaled the unofficial start of the busy shopping season running through to the end of December. However, it

Security researchers have found a way to bypass the popular Windows Hello fingerprint authentication technology, after discovering multiple vulnerabilities. Microsoft’s Offensive Research and Security Engineering (MORSE) asked Blackwing Intelligence to evaluate the security of the top three fingerprint sensors embedded in laptops. The firm studied a Dell Inspiron 15, a Lenovo ThinkPad T14 and a Microsoft

House sales and purchases across the UK have been disrupted by a cyber-attack affecting multiple conveyancing firms. CTS, a legal sector specialist infrastructure service provider, confirmed in a statement that it has experienced a service outage caused by a cyber-incident. The firm said the cyber-attack has impacted a portion of the services it delivers to

The Akamai Security Incident Response Team (SIRT) has detected increased activity targeting a rarely used TCP port across its global honeypots.  The investigation conducted in late October 2023 revealed a specific HTTP exploit path, identifying two zero-day exploits being actively leveraged in the wild.  The first exploit targeted network video recorders (NVRs) used in CCTV

A critical vulnerability in Apache ActiveMQ, identified as CVE-2023-46604, has been exposed, revealing an active exploitation scenario by the notorious Kinsing malware.  According to an advisory published by Trend Micro on Monday, the discovery underscores the implications for Linux systems, as the vulnerability allows for remote code execution (RCE) due to inadequate validation of throwable

Security researchers have detected a Russian-language Word document carrying a malicious macro in the ongoing Konni campaign.  Despite its September 2023 creation date, FortiGuard Labs’ internal telemetry revealed continued activity on the campaign’s command-and-control (C2) server.  This long-running campaign utilizes a remote access Trojan (RAT) capable of extracting information and executing commands on compromised devices, employing

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released a Mitigation Guide specifically tailored for the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector. The new guide outlines defensive mitigation strategies and best practices to counteract prevalent cyber-threats targeting critical infrastructure in the healthcare domain. The paper, published on Friday, emphasizes the importance of vulnerability management,

Royal Mail has revealed a multimillion-pound cost attached to a serious ransomware breach it suffered earlier this year. The British postal service company was hit by a LockBit affiliate, in an incident which caused “severe service disruption” for items sent abroad. It later transpired that the ransomware actors were demanding nearly $80m from the firm

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have released a detailed cybersecurity advisory on the sophisticated Scattered Spider threat group, urging critical infrastructure (CNI) firms to implement its mitigation recommendations. The group (also known as 0ktapus, Starfraud, UNC3944, Scatter Swine, Octo Tempest and Muddled Libra) is thought to be responsible for big-name