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U.S. Sanctions Chinese Cybersecurity Firm Over Treasury Hack Tied to Silk Typhoon

U.S. Sanctions Chinese Cybersecurity Firm Over Treasury Hack Tied to Silk Typhoon

Jan 18, 2025 Cyber Espionage / Telecom Security
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions against a Chinese cybersecurity company and a Shanghai-based cyber actor for their alleged links to the Salt Typhoon group and the recent compromise of the federal agency. "People's Republic of China-linked (PRC) malicious cyber actors continue to target U.S. government systems, including the recent targeting of Treasury's information technology (IT) systems, as well as sensitive U.S. critical infrastructure," the Treasury said in a press release. The sanctions target Yin Kecheng, who is assessed to have been a cyber actor for over a decade and affiliated with China's Ministry of State Security (MSS). Kecheng, per the Treasury, was associated with the breach of its own network that came to light earlier this month. The incident involved a hack of BeyondTrust's systems that allowed the threat actors to infiltrate some of the company's Remote Support SaaS inst...
Critical Flaws in WGS-804HPT Switches Enable RCE and Network Exploitation

Critical Flaws in WGS-804HPT Switches Enable RCE and Network Exploitation

Jan 17, 2025 Firmware Security / Vulnerability
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed three security flaws in Planet Technology's WGS-804HPT industrial switches that could be chained to achieve pre-authentication remote code execution on susceptible devices. "These switches are widely used in building and home automation systems for a variety of networking applications," Claroty's Tomer Goldschmidt said in a Thursday report. "An attacker who is able to remotely control one of these devices can use them to further exploit devices in an internal network and do lateral movement." The operational technology security firm, which carried out an extensive analysis of the firmware used in these switches using the QEMU framework, said the vulnerabilities are rooted in the dispatcher.cgi interface used to provide a web service. The list of flaws is below - CVE-2024-52558 (CVSS score: 5.3) - An integer underflow flaw that can allow an unauthenticated attacker to send a malformed HTTP request, resulting in...
Python-Based Bots Exploiting PHP Servers Fuel Gambling Platform Proliferation

Python-Based Bots Exploiting PHP Servers Fuel Gambling Platform Proliferation

Jan 17, 2025 Web Security / Botnet
Cybersecurity researchers have exposed a new campaign that targets web servers running PHP-based applications to promote gambling platforms in Indonesia. "Over the past two months, a significant volume of attacks from Python-based bots has been observed, suggesting a coordinated effort to exploit thousands of web apps," Imperva researcher Daniel Johnston said in an analysis. "These attacks appear tied to the proliferation of gambling-related sites, potentially as a response to the heightened government scrutiny ." The Thales-owned company said it has detected millions of requests originating from a Python client that includes a command to install GSocket (aka Global Socket), an open-source tool that can be used to establish a communication channel between two machines regardless of the network perimeter. It's worth noting that GSocket has been put to use in many a cryptojacking operation in recent months, not to mention even exploiting the access provi...
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Secure Your Azure: Proactive Tips for Cloud Protection

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Discover how to boost your Azure cloud security with practical steps to help you maintain control and visibility.
How to Bring Zero Trust to Wi-Fi Security with a Cloud-based Captive Portal?

How to Bring Zero Trust to Wi-Fi Security with a Cloud-based Captive Portal?

Jan 17, 2025 Threat Detection / Zero Trust
Recent data breaches have highlighted the critical need to improve guest Wi-Fi infrastructure security in modern business environments. Organizations face increasing pressure to protect their networks while providing convenient access to visitors, contractors, temporary staff, and employees with BYOD. Implementing secure guest Wi-Fi infrastructure has become essential for authenticating access, protecting data, maintaining compliance across all geographies, and ensuring business continuity. Evolved security solutions now combine zero-trust architecture with cloud-based captive portals to enhance network protection. These systems enable organizations to implement strict access controls, verify every device's security status, and maintain network separation. Through advanced features like conditional access and device registration, businesses can now offer secure guest Wi-Fi access while maintaining complete visibility and control over their network resources. Challenges in Wi-Fi Se...
New 'Sneaky 2FA' Phishing Kit Targets Microsoft 365 Accounts with 2FA Code Bypass

New 'Sneaky 2FA' Phishing Kit Targets Microsoft 365 Accounts with 2FA Code Bypass

Jan 17, 2025 Cybersecurity / Threat Intelligence
Cybersecurity researchers have detailed a new adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) phishing kit that's capable of Microsoft 365 accounts with an aim to steal credentials and two-factor authentication (2FA) codes since at least October 2024. The nascent phishing kit has been dubbed Sneaky 2FA by French cybersecurity company Sekoia, which detected it in the wild in December. Nearly 100 domains hosting Sneaky 2FA phishing pages have been identified as of this month, suggesting moderate adoption by threat actors. "This kit is being sold as phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) by the cybercrime service 'Sneaky Log,' which operates through a fully-featured bot on Telegram," the company said in an analysis. "Customers reportedly receive access to a licensed obfuscated version of the source code and deploy it independently." Phishing campaigns have been observed sending payment receipt-related emails to entice recipients into opening bogus PDF documents containing QR co...
Product Walkthrough: How Reco Discovers Shadow AI in SaaS

Future-Ready Trust: Learn How to Manage Certificates Like Never Before

WebinarTrust Management / SSL Certificate
Managing digital trust shouldn't feel impossible. Join us to discover how DigiCert ONE transforms certificate management—streamlining trust operations, ensuring compliance, and future-proofing your digital strategy.
U.S. Sanctions North Korean IT Worker Network Supporting WMD Programs

U.S. Sanctions North Korean IT Worker Network Supporting WMD Programs

Jan 17, 2025 Insider Threat / Cryptocurrency
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two individuals and four entities for their alleged involvement in illicit revenue generation schemes for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by dispatching IT workers around the world to obtain employment and draw a steady source of income for the regime in violation of international sanctions. "These IT workers obfuscate their identities and locations to fraudulently obtain freelance employment contracts from clients around the world for IT projects, such as software and mobile application development," the Treasury Department said . "The DPRK government withholds up to 90% of the wages earned by these overseas workers, thereby generating annual revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars for the Kim regime's weapons programs to include weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs." The action represents the latest salvo in the U.S. g...
European Privacy Group Sues TikTok and AliExpress for Illicit Data Transfers to China

European Privacy Group Sues TikTok and AliExpress for Illicit Data Transfers to China

Jan 17, 2025 Privacy / Data Protection
Austrian privacy non-profit None of Your Business (noyb) has filed complaints accusing companies like TikTok, AliExpress, SHEIN, Temu, WeChat, and Xiaomi of violating data protection regulations in the European Union by unlawfully transferring users' data to China. The advocacy group is seeking an immediate suspension of such transfers, stating the companies in question cannot shield user data from being potentially accessed by the Chinese government. The complaints have been filed in Austria, Belgium, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands. "Given that China is an authoritarian surveillance state, it is crystal clear that China doesn't offer the same level of data protection as the E.U.," Kleanthi Sardeli, data protection lawyer at noyb, said . "Transferring Europeans' personal data is clearly unlawful – and must be terminated immediately." Noyb noted that the companies have no choice but to comply with Chinese authorities' requests for access to d...
Russian Star Blizzard Targets WhatsApp Accounts in New Spear-Phishing Campaign

Russian Star Blizzard Targets WhatsApp Accounts in New Spear-Phishing Campaign

Jan 16, 2025 Spear Phishing / Threat Intelligence
The Russian threat actor known as Star Blizzard has been linked to a new spear-phishing campaign that targets victims' WhatsApp accounts, signaling a departure from its longstanding tradecraft in a likely attempt to evade detection. "Star Blizzard's targets are most commonly related to government or diplomacy (both incumbent and former position holders), defense policy or international relations researchers whose work touches on Russia, and sources of assistance to Ukraine related to the war with Russia," the Microsoft Threat Intelligence team said in a report  shared with The Hacker News. Star Blizzard (formerly SEABORGIUM) is a Russia-linked threat activity cluster known for its credential harvesting campaigns. Active since at least 2012, it's also tracked under the monikers Blue Callisto, BlueCharlie (or TAG-53), Calisto (alternately spelled Callisto), COLDRIVER, Dancing Salome, Gossamer Bear, Iron Frontier, TA446, and UNC4057. Previously observed attack ...
Ready to Simplify Trust Management? Join Free Webinar to See DigiCert ONE in Action

Ready to Simplify Trust Management? Join Free Webinar to See DigiCert ONE in Action

Jan 16, 2025 Certificate Management / Compliance
The digital world is exploding. IoT devices are multiplying like rabbits, certificates are piling up faster than you can count, and compliance requirements are tightening by the day. Keeping up with it all can feel like trying to juggle chainsaws while riding a unicycle. Traditional trust management? Forget it. It's simply not built for today's fast-paced, hybrid environments. You need a solution that can handle the chaos, not add to it. Introducing DigiCert ONE : a revolutionary platform designed to simplify and automate your entire trust ecosystem. But seeing is believing, right? That's why we're hosting a free webinar to show you DigiCert ONE in action. In this can't-miss event, you'll discover how to: Centralized Control, Simplified Operations: Tired of juggling certificate chaos? Discover how DigiCert ONE makes it easy to manage certificates for devices, users, and workloads—all in one place. Automate and Secure Your Hybrid Environment: Complexity ...
The $10 Cyber Threat Responsible for the Biggest Breaches of 2024

The $10 Cyber Threat Responsible for the Biggest Breaches of 2024

Jan 16, 2025 Identity Protection / SaaS Security
You can tell the story of the current state of stolen credential-based attacks in three numbers: Stolen credentials were the #1 attacker action in 2023/24, and the breach vector for 80% of web app attacks . (Source: Verizon). Cybersecurity budgets grew again in 2024, with organizations now spending almost $1,100 per user (Source: Forrester).  Stolen credentials on criminal forums cost as little as $10 (Source: Verizon). Something doesn't add up. So, what's going on? In this article, we'll cover: What's contributing to the huge rise in account compromises linked to stolen creds and why existing approaches aren't working.  The world of murky intelligence on stolen credentials, and how to cut through the noise to find the true positives. Recommendations for security teams to stop attackers from using stolen creds to achieve account takeover. Stolen credential-based attacks are on the rise There's clear evidence that identity attacks are now the #1 cyber threat f...
New UEFI Secure Boot Vulnerability Could Allow Attackers to Load Malicious Bootkits

New UEFI Secure Boot Vulnerability Could Allow Attackers to Load Malicious Bootkits

Jan 16, 2025 Vulnerability / Cybersecurity
Details have emerged about a now-patched security vulnerability that could allow a bypass of the Secure Boot mechanism in Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) systems. The vulnerability, assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2024-7344 (CVSS score: 6.7), resides in a UEFI application signed by Microsoft's "Microsoft Corporation UEFI CA 2011" third-party UEFI certificate, according to a new report from ESET shared with The Hacker News. Successful exploitation of the flaw can lead to the execution of untrusted code during system boot, thereby enabling attackers to deploy malicious UEFI bootkits on machines that have Secure Boot on, irrespective of the operating system installed. Secure Boot is a firmware security standard that prevents malware from loading when a computer starts up by ensuring that the device boots using only software that is trusted by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). The feature leverages digital signatures to validate the authenticity,...
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