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Multiple threat actors have been found taking advantage of an attack technique called Sitting Ducks to hijack legitimate domains for using them in phishing attacks and investment fraud schemes for years. The findings come from Infoblox, which said it identified nearly 800,000 vulnerable registered domains over the past three months, of which approximately 9% (70,000) have been subsequently hijacked. "Cybercriminals have used this vector since 2018 to hijack tens of thousands of domain names," the cybersecurity company said in a deep-dive report shared with The Hacker News. "Victim domains include well-known brands, non-profits, and government entities." The little-known attack vector, although originally documented by security researcher Matthew Bryant way back in 2016, didn't attract a lot of attention until the scale of the hijacks was disclosed earlier this August. "I believe there is more awareness [since then]," Dr. Renee Burton, vice pre...

The Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) has released patches to address multiple security vulnerabilities in the Berkeley Internet Name Domain ( BIND ) 9 Domain Name System (DNS) software suite that could be exploited to trigger a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. "A cyber threat actor could exploit one of these vulnerabilities to cause a denial-of-service condition," the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in an advisory. The list of four vulnerabilities is listed below - CVE-2024-4076 (CVSS score: 7.5) - Due to a logic error, lookups that triggered serving stale data and required lookups in local authoritative zone data could have resulted in an assertion failure CVE-2024-1975 (CVSS score: 7.5) - Validating DNS messages signed using the SIG(0) protocol could cause excessive CPU load, leading to a denial-of-service condition. CVE-2024-1737 (CVSS score: 7.5) - It is possible to craft excessively large numbers of resource record typ...

Vulnerability Management (VM) has long been a cornerstone of organizational cybersecurity. Nearly as old as the discipline of cybersecurity itself, it aims to help organizations identify and address potential security issues before they become serious problems. Yet, in recent years, the limitations of this approach have become increasingly evident.  At its core, Vulnerability Management processes remain essential for identifying and addressing weaknesses. But as time marches on and attack avenues evolve, this approach is beginning to show its age. In a recent report, How to Grow Vulnerability Management into Exposure Management (Gartner, How to Grow Vulnerability Management Into Exposure Management, 8 November 2024, Mitchell Schneider Et Al.), we believe Gartner® addresses this point precisely and demonstrates how organizations can – and must – shift from a vulnerability-centric strategy to a broader Exposure Management (EM) framework. We feel it's more than a worthwhile read an...

Cybersecurity researchers have shed more light on a Chinese actor codenamed SecShow that has been observed conducting Domain Name System (DNS) on a global scale since at least June 2023. The adversary, according to Infoblox security researchers Dr. Renée Burton and Dave Mitchell, operates from the China Education and Research Network ( CERNET ), a project funded by the Chinese government. "These probes seek to find and measure DNS responses at open resolvers," they said in a report published last week. "The end goal of the SecShow operations is unknown, but the information that is gathered can be used for malicious activities and is only for the benefit of the actor." That said, there is some evidence to suggest that it may have been linked to some kind of academic research related to "performing measurements using IP Address Spoofing Techniques on domains within secshow.net" modeled on the same approach as the Closed Resolver Project . This, howeve...

The threat actors behind the CatDDoS malware botnet have exploited over 80 known security flaws in various software over the past three months to infiltrate vulnerable devices and co-opt them into a botnet for conducting distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. "CatDDoS-related gangs' samples have used a large number of known vulnerabilities to deliver samples," the QiAnXin XLab team  said . "Additionally, the maximum number of targets has been observed to exceed 300+ per day." The flaws impact routers, networking gear, and other devices from vendors such as Apache (ActiveMQ, Hadoop, Log4j, and RocketMQ), Cacti, Cisco, D-Link, DrayTek, FreePBX, GitLab, Gocloud, Huawei, Jenkins, Linksys, Metabase, NETGEAR, Realtek, Seagate, SonicWall, Tenda, TOTOLINK, TP-Link, ZTE, and Zyxel, among others. CatDDoS was previously documented by  QiAnXin  and  NSFOCUS  in late 2023, describing it as a  Mirai botnet variant  capable of performing DDoS attacks using...

A previously undocumented cyber threat dubbed  Muddling Meerkat  has been observed undertaking sophisticated domain name system (DNS) activities in a likely effort to evade security measures and conduct reconnaissance of networks across the world since October 2019. Cloud security firm Infoblox described the threat actor as likely affiliated with the People's Republic of China (PRC) with the ability to control the Great Firewall ( GFW ), which censors access to foreign websites and manipulates internet traffic to and from the country. The moniker is reference to the "bewildering" nature of their operations and the actor's abuse of DNS open resolvers – which are DNS servers that accept recursive queries from all IP addresses – to send queries from the Chinese IP space. "Muddling Meerkat demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of DNS that is uncommon among threat actors today – clearly pointing out...

Artificial intelligence (AI) holds immense potential for optimizing internal processes within businesses. However, it also comes with legitimate concerns regarding unauthorized use, including data loss risks and legal consequences. In this article, we will explore the risks associated with AI implementation and discuss measures to minimize damages. Additionally, we will examine regulatory initiatives by countries and ethical frameworks adopted by companies to regulate AI. Security risks  AI phishing attacks Cybercriminals can leverage AI in various ways to enhance their phishing attacks and increase their chances of success. Here are some ways AI can be exploited for phishing: -  Automated Phishing Campaigns:  AI-powered tools can automate the creation and dissemination of phishing emails on a large scale. These tools can generate convincing email content, craft personalized messages, and mimic the writing style of a specific individual, making phishing attempts app...

An analysis of over 70 billion DNS records has led to the discovery of a new sophisticated malware toolkit dubbed  Decoy Dog  targeting enterprise networks. Decoy Dog , as the name implies, is evasive and employs techniques like strategic domain aging and DNS query dribbling, wherein a series of queries are transmitted to the command-and-control (C2) domains so as to not arouse any suspicion. "Decoy Dog is a cohesive toolkit with a number of highly unusual characteristics that make it uniquely identifiable, particularly when examining its domains on a DNS level," Infoblox  said  in an advisory published late last month. The cybersecurity firm, which identified the malware in early April 2023 following anomalous DNS beaconing activity, said its atypical characteristics allowed it to map additional domains that are part of the attack infrastructure. That said, the usage of Decoy Dog in the wild is "very rare," with the DNS signature matching less than 0.0000027%...

As the holiday season approaches, online shopping and gift-giving are at the top of many people's to-do lists. But before you hit the "buy" button, it's important to remember that this time of year is also the peak season for cybercriminals. In fact, cybercriminals often ramp up their efforts during the holidays, taking advantage of the influx of online shoppers and the general hustle and bustle of the season Don't let cybercriminals steal your holiday cheer – follow our simple steps to protect yourself and your personal information while shopping online, completing work tasks, or simply browsing the web. Check everything twice It's common for scammers to lure people in with fake deals and offers during the holiday season. They may promise deep discounts on popular items or claim to have limited-time offers that are too good to pass up. They may also create fake websites or emails that look like they are from legitimate companies to trick people into giv...

When you are trying to get another layer of cyber protection that would not require a lot of resources, you are most likely choosing between a VPN service & a DNS Security solution. Let's discuss both.  VPN Explained VPN stands for Virtual Private Networks and basically hides your IP and provides an encrypted server by redirecting your traffic via a server run by a VPN host. It establishes a protected connection in public networks. It does protect your actions from being seen by your ISP and potential hackers, however, it does not provide full protection and can still let intrusions happen.  Worth noting, VPN does gain access to restricted resources in your region, but bear in mind, it might be collecting your personal data. This problem relates mostly to free and cheap VPN services. In addition to that, VPNs, depending on their type, can proxy requests or not. Most of the free ones do not even encrypt your data. According to Cybernews, last year 20 million emails and...

It was first the pandemic that changed the usual state of work - before, it was commuting, working in the office & coming home for most corporate employees. Then, when we had to adapt to the self-isolation rules, the work moved to home offices, which completely changed the workflow for many businesses. As the pandemic went down, we realized success never relied on where the work was done. Whether your office is your kitchen, your bedroom, a nearby cafe, or your actual workplace in an office building, it all comes down to the fact that job success has nothing to do with your location.  The role of the office in the hybrid era is also changing - according to the research conducted by  PwC , it now serves the purpose of collaborating with team members and building relationships. From an employee's side, it sounds pretty logical and obvious.  However, if we look at hybrid work with the eyes of an employer, things get complicated. How does one make sure corporate device...

Remote workplace trend is getting the upper hand in 2022. A recent survey by IWG (the International Workplace Group) determined that 70% of the world's professionals work remotely at least one day a week, with 53% based outside their workplace at least half of the week. Taking this into consideration, organizations have started looking for reliable partners that can deliver services and support consistently, for example, to install new hybrid infrastructure solutions while trusting them with the everyday functioning of their IT. So far, MSPs have been meeting this demand by offering multiple solutions that help employees work remotely without any problems. What are the main cybersecurity solutions remote workers need? Multi-Factor Authentication Virtual Private Network DNS Filtering to secure DNS traffic Why is a web filtering important and what are the main features necessary for MSPs? Managed service providers have been struggling with finding the right web filtering ...

Providing public Wi-Fi is a great service to offer your customers as it becomes more and more standard in today's society. I like the fact that I do not have to worry about accessing the Internet while I am away, or spending a lot of money on an international connection, or just staying offline while I am away. With public Wi-Fi, modern life has become a constant connection to the Internet, whether we are on the bus, on the way to school or work, waiting for our flight in the airport or during the flight itself, or doing our homework or working on our projects in a café. We do business and communicate online in a variety of ways. We check our work emails, chat with our friends, and even take business calls online through the service. According to recent statistics, there are about 410,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots in the United States alone, in public places such as parks, libraries, public transportation, and train stations. Cons of using public Wi-Fi Despite the many benefits t...

Researchers have demonstrated yet another variant of the SAD DNS cache poisoning attack that leaves about 38% of the domain name resolvers vulnerable, enabling attackers to redirect traffic originally destined to legitimate websites to a server under their control. "The  attack  allows an off-path attacker to inject a malicious DNS record into a DNS cache," University of California researchers Keyu Man, Xin'an Zhou, and Zhiyun Qian  said . "SAD DNS attack allows an attacker to redirect any traffic (originally destined to a specific domain) to his own server and then become a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacker, allowing eavesdropping and tampering of the communication." The latest flaw affects Linux kernels as well as popular DNS software, including BIND, Unbound, and dnsmasq running on top of Linux, but not when run on other operating systems FreeBSD or Windows. From Kaminsky Attack to SAD DNS DNS cache poisoning, also called DNS spoofing, is a  technique  i...

Security researchers Thursday disclosed a new critical vulnerability affecting Domain Name System (DNS) resolvers that could be exploited by adversaries to carry out reflection-based denial-of-service attacks against authoritative nameservers. The flaw, called  'TsuNAME ,' was discovered by researchers from SIDN Labs and InternetNZ, which manage the national top-level internet domains '.nl' and '.nz' for the Netherlands and New Zealand, respectively. "TsuNAME occurs when domain names are misconfigured with cyclic dependent DNS records, and when vulnerable resolvers access these misconfigurations, they begin looping and send DNS queries rapidly to authoritative servers and other resolvers," the researchers said. A recursive DNS resolver is one of the core components involved in  DNS resolution , i.e., converting a hostname such as www.google.com into a computer-friendly IP address like 142.250.71.36. To achieve this, it responds to a client's r...

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered multiple vulnerabilities in Dnsmasq, a popular open-source software used for caching Domain Name System (DNS) responses, thereby potentially allowing an adversary to mount DNS  cache poisoning attacks  and remotely execute malicious code. The seven flaws, collectively called " DNSpooq " by Israeli research firm JSOF, echoes previously disclosed weaknesses in the DNS architecture, making Dnsmasq servers powerless against a range of attacks. "We found that Dnsmasq is vulnerable to DNS cache poisoning attack by an off-path attacker (i.e., an attacker that does not observe the communication between the DNS forwarder and the DNS server)," the researchers noted in a report published today. "Our attack allows for poisoning of multiple domain names at once, and is a result of several vulnerabilities found. The attack can be completed successfully under seconds or few minutes, and have no special requirements. We also found ...