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Cybersecurity researchers have discovered two malicious packages uploaded to the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository that impersonated popular artificial intelligence (AI) models like OpenAI ChatGPT and Anthropic Claude to deliver an information stealer called JarkaStealer. The packages, named gptplus and claudeai-eng , were uploaded by a user named " Xeroline " in November 2023, attracting 1,748 and 1,826 downloads, respectively. Both libraries are no longer available for download from PyPI. "The malicious packages were uploaded to the repository by one author and, in fact, differed from each other only in name and description," Kaspersky said in a post. The packages purported to offer a way to access GPT-4 Turbo API and Claude AI API, but harbored malicious code that initiated the deployment of the malware upon installation. Specifically, the "__init__.py" file in these packages contained Base64-encoded data that incorporated code to download ...

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a new stealthy malware loader called BabbleLoader that has been observed in the wild delivering information stealer families such as WhiteSnake and Meduza . BabbleLoader is an "extremely evasive loader, packed with defensive mechanisms, that is designed to bypass antivirus and sandbox environments to deliver stealers into memory," Intezer security researcher Ryan Robinson said in a report published Sunday. Evidence shows that the loader is being used in several campaigns targeting both English and Russian-speaking individuals, primarily singling out users looking for generic cracked software as well as business professionals in finance and administration by passing it off as accounting software. Loaders have become an increasingly prevalent method to deliver malware, like stealers or ransomware, often acting as the first stage in an attack chain in a manner that sidesteps traditional antivirus defenses by incorporating a be...

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has begun revolutionizing Identity Access Management (IAM), reshaping how cybersecurity is approached in this crucial field. Leveraging AI in IAM is about tapping into its analytical capabilities to monitor access patterns and identify anomalies that could signal a potential security breach. The focus has expanded beyond merely managing human identities — now, autonomous systems, APIs, and connected devices also fall within the realm of AI-driven IAM, creating a dynamic security ecosystem that adapts and evolves in response to sophisticated cyber threats. The Role of AI and Machine Learning in IAM AI and machine learning (ML) are creating a more robust, proactive IAM system that continuously learns from the environment to enhance security. Let's explore how AI impacts key IAM components: Intelligent Monitoring and Anomaly Detection AI enables continuous monitoring of both human and non-human identities , including APIs, service acc...

A new phishing campaign is targeting e-commerce shoppers in Europe and the United States with bogus pages that mimic legitimate brands with the goal of stealing their personal information ahead of the Black Friday shopping season. "The campaign leveraged the heightened online shopping activity in November, the peak season for Black Friday discounts. The threat actor used fake discounted products as phishing lures to deceive victims into providing their Cardholder Data (CHD) and Sensitive Authentication Data (SAD) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII)," EclecticIQ said . The activity, first observed in early October 2024, has been attributed with high confidence to a Chinese financially motivated threat actor codenamed SilkSpecter. Some of the impersonated brands include IKEA, L.L.Bean, North Face, and Wayfare. The phishing domains have been found to use top-level domains (TLDs) such as .top, .shop, .store, and .vip, often typosquatting legitimate e-commerce organi...

In an unusually specific campaign, users searching about the legality of Bengal Cats in Australia are being targeted with the GootLoader malware. "In this case, we found the GootLoader actors using search results for information about a particular cat and a particular geography being used to deliver the payload: 'Are Bengal Cats legal in Australia?,'" Sophos researchers Trang Tang, Hikaru Koike, Asha Castle, and Sean Gallagher said in a report published last week. GootLoader , as the name implies, is a malware loader that's typically distributed using search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning tactics for initial access. Specifically, the malware is deployed onto victim machines when searching for certain terms like legal documents and agreements on search engines like Google surface booby-trapped links pointing to compromised websites that host a ZIP archive containing a JavaScript payload. Once installed, it makes way for a second-stage malware, often an...

An ongoing phishing campaign is employing copyright infringement-related themes to trick victims into downloading a newer version of the Rhadamanthys information stealer since July 2024. Cybersecurity firm Check Point is tracking the large-scale campaign under the name CopyRh(ight)adamantys . Targeted regions include the United States, Europe, East Asia, and South America. "The campaign impersonates dozens of companies, while each email is sent to a specific targeted entity from a different Gmail account, adapting the impersonated company and the language per targeted entity," the company said in a technical analysis. "Almost 70% of the impersonated companies are from the Entertainment /Media and Technology/Software sectors." The attacks are notable for the deployment of version 0.7 of the Rhadamanthys stealer, which, as detailed by Recorded Future's Insikt Group early last month, incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) for optical character recognition ...

The Dutch National Police, along with international partners, have announced the disruption of the infrastructure powering two information stealers tracked as RedLine and MetaStealer . The takedown, which took place on October 28, 2024, is the result of an international law enforcement task force codenamed Operation Magnus that involved authorities from the U.S., the U.K., Belgium, Portugal, and Australia. Eurojust, in a statement published today, said the operation led to the shut down of three servers in the Netherlands and the confiscation of two domains (fivto[.]online and spasshik[.]xyz). In total, over 1,200 servers in dozens of countries are estimated to have been used to run the malware. As part of the efforts, one administrator has been charged by the U.S. authorities and two people have been arrested by the Belgian police, the Politie said , adding one of them has since been released, while the other remains in custody. The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has charge...

A government entity and a religious organization in Taiwan were the target of a China-linked threat actor known as Evasive Panda that infected them with a previously undocumented post-compromise toolset codenamed CloudScout. "The CloudScout toolset is capable of retrieving data from various cloud services by leveraging stolen web session cookies," ESET security researcher Anh Ho said . "Through a plugin, CloudScout works seamlessly with MgBot, Evasive Panda's signature malware framework." The use of the .NET-based malware tool, per the Slovak cybersecurity company, was detected between May 2022 and February 2023. It incorporates 10 different modules, written in C#, out of which three are meant for stealing data from Google Drive, Gmail, and Outlook. The purpose of the remaining modules remains unknown. Evasive Panda, also tracked as Bronze Highland, Daggerfly, and StormBamboo, is a cyber espionage group that has a track record of striking various entitie...

Threat actors are leveraging fake Google Meet web pages as part of an ongoing malware campaign dubbed ClickFix to deliver infostealers targeting Windows and macOS systems. "This tactic involves displaying fake error messages in web browsers to deceive users into copying and executing a given malicious PowerShell code, finally infecting their systems," French cybersecurity company Sekoia said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Variations of the ClickFix (aka ClearFake and OneDrive Pastejacking) campaign have been reported widely in recent months , with threat actors employing different lures to redirect users to bogus pages that aim to deploy malware by urging site visitors to run an encoded PowerShell code to address a supposed issue with displaying content in the web browser. These pages are known to masquerade as popular online services, including Facebook, Google Chrome, PDFSimpli, and reCAPTCHA, and now Google Meet as well as potentially Zoom - meet.googl...

Cybersecurity researchers are warning about an unpatched vulnerability in Nice Linear eMerge E3 access controller systems that could allow for the execution of arbitrary operating system (OS) commands. The flaw, assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2024-9441 , carries a CVSS score of 9.8 out of a maximum of 10.0, according to VulnCheck . "A vulnerability in the Nortek Linear eMerge E3 allows remote unauthenticated attackers to cause the device to execute arbitrary command," SSD Disclosure said in an advisory for the flaw released late last month, stating the vendor has yet to provide a fix or a workaround. The flaw impacts the following versions of Nortek Linear eMerge E3 Access Control: 0.32-03i, 0.32-04m, 0.32-05p, 0.32-05z, 0.32-07p, 0.32-07e, 0.32-08e, 0.32-08f, 0.32-09c, 1.00.05, and 1.00.07. Proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits for the flaw have been released following public disclosure, raising concerns that it could be exploited by threat actors. It's worth noting ...

Ukraine has claimed responsibility for a cyber attack that targeted Russia state media company VGTRK and disrupted its operations, according to reports from Bloomberg and Reuters . The incident took place on the night of October 7, VGTRK confirmed , describing it as an "unprecedented hacker attack." However, it said "no significant damage" was caused and that everything was working normally despite attempts to interrupt radio and TV broadcasts. That said, Russian media outlet Gazeta.ru reported that the hackers wiped "everything" from the company's servers, including backups, citing an anonymous source. A source told Reuters that "Ukrainian hackers 'congratulated' Putin on his birthday by carrying out a large-scale attack on the all-Russian state television and radio broadcasting company." The attack is believed to be the work of a pro-Ukrainian hacker group called Sudo rm-RF . The Russian government has since said an investi...

The threat actors behind the Rhadamanthys information stealer have added new advanced features to the malware, including using artificial intelligence (AI) for optical character recognition (OCR) as part of what's called "Seed Phrase Image Recognition." "This allows Rhadamanthys to extract cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases from images, making it a highly potent threat for anyone dealing in cryptocurrencies," Recorded Future's Insikt Group said in an analysis of version 0.7.0 of the malware. "The malware can recognize seed phrase images on the client side and send them back to the command-and-control (C2) server for further exploitation." First discovered in the wild in September 2022, Rhadamanthys has emerged as one of the most potent information stealers that are advertised under the malware-as-a-service (MaaS) model, alongside Lumma and others. The malware continues to have an active presence despite suffering bans from underground forum...

Since its emergence, Generative AI has revolutionized enterprise productivity. GenAI tools enable faster and more effective software development, financial analysis, business planning, and customer engagement. However, this business agility comes with significant risks, particularly the potential for sensitive data leakage. As organizations attempt to balance productivity gains with security concerns, many have been forced to choose between unrestricted GenAI usage to banning it altogether. A new e-guide by LayerX titled 5 Actionable Measures to Prevent Data Leakage Through Generative AI Tools is designed to help organizations navigate the challenges of GenAI usage in the workplace. The guide offers practical steps for security managers to protect sensitive corporate data while still reaping the productivity benefits of GenAI tools like ChatGPT. This approach is intended to allow companies to strike the right balance between innovation and security. Why Worry About ChatGPT? The e...

Imagine trying to find a needle in a haystack, but the haystack is on fire, and there are a million other needles you also need to find. That's what dealing with security alerts can feel like. SIEM was supposed to make this easier, but somewhere along the way, it became part of the problem. Too many alerts, too much noise, and not enough time to actually stop threats. It's time for a change. It's time to reclaim control. Join Zuri Cortez and Seth Geftic for an insightful webinar as they navigate the complexities of " Solving the SIEM Problem: A Hard Reset on Legacy Solutions ."  They'll share insider knowledge, battle-tested strategies, and a clear path to taming the SIEM beast in this informative session. Here's what we'll cover: SIEM 101: A quick refresher on what SIEM is, why it's important, and the challenges it faces today The Problem with Legacy SIEM: We'll pull back the curtain and reveal why traditional solutions are struggl...

As many as 25 websites linked to the Kurdish minority have been compromised as part of a watering hole attack designed to harvest sensitive information for over a year and a half. French cybersecurity firm Sekoia, which disclosed details of the campaign dubbed SilentSelfie, described the intrusion set as long-running, with first signs of infection detected as far back as December 2022. The strategic web compromises are designed to deliver four different variants of an information-stealing framework, it added. "These ranged from the simplest, which merely stole the user's location, to more complex ones that recorded images from the selfie camera and led selected users to install a malicious APK, i.e an application used on Android," security researchers Felix Aimé and Maxime A said in a Wednesday report. Targeted websites include Kurdish press and media, Rojava administration and its armed forces, those related to revolutionary far-left political parties, and organizatio...

Transportation and logistics companies in North America are the target of a new phishing campaign that delivers a variety of information stealers and remote access trojans (RATs). The activity cluster, per Proofpoint, makes use of compromised legitimate email accounts belonging to transportation and shipping companies so as to inject malicious content into existing email conversations. As many as 15 breached email accounts have been identified as used as part of the campaign. It's currently not clear how these accounts are infiltrated in the first place or who is behind the attacks. "Activity which occurred from May to July 2024 predominately delivered Lumma Stealer, StealC, or NetSupport," the enterprise security firm said in an analysis published Tuesday. "In August 2024, the threat actor changed tactics by employing new infrastructure and a new delivery technique, as well as adding payloads to deliver DanaBot and Arechclient2." The attack chains invol...