DNS Tunneling | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

A new Google malvertising campaign is leveraging a cluster of domains mimicking a legitimate IP scanner software to deliver a previously unknown backdoor dubbed  MadMxShell . "The threat actor registered multiple look-alike domains using a typosquatting technique and leveraged Google Ads to push these domains to the top of search engine results targeting specific search keywords, thereby luring victims to visit these sites," Zscaler ThreatLabz researchers Roy Tay and Sudeep Singh  said . As many as 45 domains are said to have been registered between November 2023 and March 2024, with the sites masquerading as port scanning and IT management software such as Advanced IP Scanner, Angry IP Scanner, IP scanner PRTG, and ManageEngine. While this is  not the first time  threat actors are  banking  on  malvertising techniques  to serve malware via lookalike sites, the development marks the first time the delivery vehicle is being used to propagate a sophisticated Windows backdoo

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%

Imagine a world where the software that powers your favorite apps, secures your online transactions, and keeps your digital life could be outsmarted and taken over by a cleverly disguised piece of code. This isn't a plot from the latest cyber-thriller; it's actually been a reality for years now. How this will change – in a positive or negative direction – as artificial intelligence (AI) takes on a larger role in software development is one of the big uncertainties related to this brave new world. In an era where AI promises to revolutionize how we live and work, the conversation about its security implications cannot be sidelined. As we increasingly rely on AI for tasks ranging from mundane to mission-critical, the question is no longer just, "Can AI  boost cybersecurity ?" (sure!), but also "Can AI  be hacked? " (yes!), "Can one use AI  to hack? " (of course!), and "Will AI  produce secure software ?" (well…). This thought leadership article is about the latter. Cydrill  (a