#1 Trusted Cybersecurity News Platform Followed by 4.50+ million
The Hacker News Logo
Get the Free Newsletter
SaaS Security

Malware | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Cybercrime Group TA558 Targeting Hospitality, Hotel, and Travel Organizations

Cybercrime Group TA558 Targeting Hospitality, Hotel, and Travel Organizations

Aug 19, 2022
A financially motivated cybercrime group has been linked to an ongoing wave of attacks aimed at hospitality, hotel, and travel organizations in Latin America with the goal of installing malware on compromised systems. Enterprise security firm Proofpoint, which is tracking the group under the name TA558 dating all the way back to April 2018, called it a "small crime threat actor." "Since 2018, this group has used consistent tactics, techniques, and procedures to attempt to install a variety of malware including Loda RAT, Vjw0rm, and Revenge RAT," the company's threat research team  said  in a new report. The group has been operational at a higher tempo in 2022 than usual, with intrusions mainly geared towards Portuguese and Spanish speakers in Latin America, and to a lesser extent in Western Europe and North America. Phishing campaigns mounted by the group involve sending malicious spam messages with reservation-themed lures such as hotel bookings that cont
Researchers Detail Evasive DarkTortilla Crypter Used to Deliver Malware

Researchers Detail Evasive DarkTortilla Crypter Used to Deliver Malware

Aug 18, 2022
A .NET-based evasive crypter named  DarkTortilla  has been used by threat actors to distribute a broad array of commodity malware as well as targeted payloads like Cobalt Strike and Metasploit, likely  since 2015 . "It can also deliver 'add-on packages' such as additional malicious payloads, benign decoy documents, and executables," cybersecurity firm Secureworks  said  in a Wednesday report. "It features robust anti-analysis and anti-tamper controls that can make detection, analysis, and eradication challenging." Malware delivered by the crypter includes information steakers and remote access trojans (RATs) such as Agent Tesla, AsyncRat, NanoCore, and RedLine Stealer. "DarkTortilla has versatility that similar malware does not," the researchers noted. Crypters are  software tools  that use a  combination  of encryption, obfuscation, and code manipulation of malware so as to  bypass detection  by security solutions. The delivery of DarkTortil
Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Mar 21, 2024Operational Technology / SCADA Security
When you read reports about cyber-attacks affecting operational technology (OT), it's easy to get caught up in the hype and assume every single one is sophisticated. But are OT environments all over the world really besieged by a constant barrage of complex cyber-attacks? Answering that would require breaking down the different types of OT cyber-attacks and then looking back on all the historical attacks to see how those types compare.  The Types of OT Cyber-Attacks Over the past few decades, there has been a growing awareness of the need for improved cybersecurity practices in IT's lesser-known counterpart, OT. In fact, the lines of what constitutes a cyber-attack on OT have never been well defined, and if anything, they have further blurred over time. Therefore, we'd like to begin this post with a discussion around the ways in which cyber-attacks can either target or just simply impact OT, and why it might be important for us to make the distinction going forward. Figure 1 The Pu
Hackers Using Bumblebee Loader to Compromise Active Directory Services

Hackers Using Bumblebee Loader to Compromise Active Directory Services

Aug 18, 2022
The malware loader known as Bumblebee is being increasingly co-opted by threat actors associated with BazarLoader, TrickBot, and IcedID in their campaigns to breach target networks for post-exploitation activities. "Bumblebee operators conduct intensive reconnaissance activities and redirect the output of executed commands to files for exfiltration," Cybereason researchers Meroujan Antonyan and Alon Laufer  said  in a technical write-up. Bumblebee  first came to light in March 2022 when Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) unmasked the activities of an initial access broker dubbed  Exotic Lily  with ties to the  TrickBot  and the larger  Conti  collectives. Typically delivered via initial access acquired through spear-phishing campaigns, the modus operandi has since been tweaked by eschewing macro-laced documents in favor of ISO and LNK files, primarily in response to Microsoft's decision to  block macros by default . "Distribution of the malware is done
cyber security

Automated remediation solutions are crucial for security

websiteWing SecurityShadow IT / SaaS Security
Especially when it comes to securing employees' SaaS usage, don't settle for a longer to-do list. Auto-remediation is key to achieving SaaS security.
Cybercriminals Developing BugDrop Malware to Bypass Android Security Features

Cybercriminals Developing BugDrop Malware to Bypass Android Security Features

Aug 17, 2022
In a sign that malicious actors continue to find ways to work around Google Play Store security protections, researchers have spotted a previously undocumented Android dropper trojan that's currently in development. "This new malware tries to abuse devices using a novel technique, not seen before in Android malware, to spread the extremely dangerous  Xenomorph  banking trojan, allowing criminals to perform On-Device Fraud on victim's devices," ThreatFabric's Han Sahin said in a statement shared with The Hacker News. Dubbed  BugDrop  by the Dutch security firm, the  dropper app  is explicitly designed to defeat new features introduced in the upcoming version of Android that aim to make it difficult for malware to request Accessibility Services privileges from victims. ThreatFabric attributed the dropper to a cybercriminal group known as "Hadoken Security," which is also behind the creation and distribution of the  Xenomorph and Gymdrop  Android malwa
Malicious Browser Extensions Targeted Over a Million Users So Far This Year

Malicious Browser Extensions Targeted Over a Million Users So Far This Year

Aug 17, 2022
More than 1.31 million users attempted to install malicious or unwanted web browser extensions at least once, new findings from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky show. "From January 2020 to June 2022, more than 4.3 million unique users were attacked by adware hiding in browser extensions, which is approximately 70% of all users affected by malicious and unwanted add-ons," the company  said . As many as 1,311,557 users fall under this category in the first half of 2022, per Kaspersky's telemetry data. In comparison, the number of such users peaked in 2020 at 3,660,236, followed by 1,823,263 unique users in 2021. The most prevalent threat is a family of adware called WebSearch, which masquerade as PDF viewers and other utilities, and comes with capabilities to collect and analyze search queries and redirect users to affiliate links. WebSearch is also notable for modifying the browser's start page, which contains a search engine and a number of links to third-party sour
North Korea Hackers Spotted Targeting Job Seekers with macOS Malware

North Korea Hackers Spotted Targeting Job Seekers with macOS Malware

Aug 17, 2022
The North Korea-backed Lazarus Group has been observed targeting job seekers with malware capable of executing on Apple Macs with Intel and M1 chipsets. Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET linked it to a campaign dubbed " Operation In(ter)ception " that was first disclosed in June 2020 and involved using social engineering tactics to trick employees working in the aerospace and military sectors into opening decoy job offer documents. The latest attack is no different in that a job description for the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange platform was used as a launchpad to drop a signed Mach-O executable. ESET's analysis comes from a sample of the binary that was uploaded to VirusTotal from Brazil on August 11, 2022. "Malware is compiled for both Intel and Apple Silicon," the company  said  in a series of tweets. "It drops three files: a decoy PDF document ' Coinbase_online_careers_2022_07.pdf ', a bundle  'FinderFontsUpdater.app ,' and a downloa
Russian State Hackers Continue to Attack Ukrainian Entities with Infostealer Malware

Russian State Hackers Continue to Attack Ukrainian Entities with Infostealer Malware

Aug 16, 2022
Russian state-sponsored actors are continuing to strike Ukrainian entities with information-stealing malware as part of what's suspected to be an espionage operation. Symantec, a division of Broadcom Software,  attributed  the malicious campaign to a threat actor tracked  Shuckworm , also known as  Actinium ,  Armageddon , Gamaredon, Primitive Bear, and Trident Ursa. The findings have been  corroborated  by the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA). The threat actor, active since at least 2013, is known for explicitly singling out public and private entities in Ukraine. The attacks have since ratcheted up in the wake of Russia's military invasion in late 2022. The latest set of attacks are said to have commenced on July 15, 2022, and ongoing as recently as August 8, with the infection chains leveraging phishing emails disguised as newsletters and combat orders, ultimately leading to the deployment of a PowerShell stealer malware dubbed  GammaLoad.PS1_v2 .
SOVA Android Banking Trojan Returns With New Capabilities and Targets

SOVA Android Banking Trojan Returns With New Capabilities and Targets

Aug 15, 2022
The SOVA Android banking trojan is continuing to be actively developed with upgraded capabilities to target no less than 200 mobile applications, including banking apps and crypto exchanges and wallets, up from 90 apps when it started out. That's according to the latest findings from Italian cybersecurity firm Cleafy, which found newer versions of the malware sporting functionality to intercept two-factor authentication (2FA) codes, steal cookies, and expand its targeting to cover Australia, Brazil, China, India, the Philippines, and the U.K. SOVA, meaning Owl in Russian, came to light in  September 2021  when it was observed striking financial and shopping apps from the U.S. and Spain for harvesting credentials through overlay attacks by taking advantage of Android's Accessibility services. In less than a year, the trojan has also acted as a foundation for another Android malware called  MaliBot  that's designed to target online banking and cryptocurrency wallet custo
Chinese Hackers Backdoored MiMi Chat App to Target Windows, Linux, macOS Users

Chinese Hackers Backdoored MiMi Chat App to Target Windows, Linux, macOS Users

Aug 13, 2022
A pair of reports from cybersecurity firms  SEKOIA  and  Trend Micro  sheds light on a new campaign undertaken by a Chinese threat actor named Lucky Mouse that involves leveraging a trojanized version of a cross-platform messaging app to backdoor systems. Infection chains leverage a chat application called MiMi, with its installer files compromised to download and install HyperBro samples for the Windows operating system and rshell artifacts for Linux and macOS. As many as 13 different entities located in Taiwan and the Philippines have been at the receiving end of the attacks, eight of whom have been hit with rshell. The first victim of rshell was reported in mid-July 2021. Lucky Mouse, also called  APT27 , Bronze Union, Emissary Panda, and Iron Tiger, is known to be active since 2013 and has a history of gaining access to targeted networks in pursuit of its political and military intelligence-collection objectives aligned with China. The advanced persistent threat actor (APT)
U.S. Government Offers $10 Million Reward for Information on Conti Ransomware Gang

U.S. Government Offers $10 Million Reward for Information on Conti Ransomware Gang

Aug 12, 2022
The U.S. State Department on Thursday  announced  a $10 million reward for information related to five individuals associated with the Conti ransomware group. The reward offer is also notable for the fact that it marks the first time the face of a Conti associate, known as "Target," has been unmasked. The four other alleged members have been referred to as "Tramp," "Dandis," "Professor," and "Reshaev." The government, besides seeking information about the five operators that could lead to their identification or location, is also calling on people to share details about Conti and its affiliated groups  TrickBot  and  Wizard Spider . Since its rebrand from Ryuk to Conti in 2020, the transnational organized crime group has been linked to hundreds of ransomware incidents over the past two years. As of January 2022, the Russia-based ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation is estimated to have hit over 1,000 entities, with victim payo
Conti Cybercrime Cartel Using 'BazarCall' Phishing Attacks as Initial Attack Vector

Conti Cybercrime Cartel Using 'BazarCall' Phishing Attacks as Initial Attack Vector

Aug 11, 2022
A trio of offshoots from the notorious Conti cybercrime cartel have resorted to the technique of call back phishing as an initial access vector to breach targeted networks. "Three autonomous threat groups have since adopted and independently developed their own targeted phishing tactics derived from the call back phishing methodology," cybersecurity firm AdvIntel  said  in a Wednesday report. These targeted campaigns "substantially increased" attacks against entities in finance, technology, legal, and insurance sectors, the company added. The actors in question include Silent Ransom, Quantum, and Roy/Zeon, all of which split from Conti after the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) cartel  orchestrated its shutdown  in May 2022 following its public support for Russia in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian conflict. The advanced social engineering tactic, also called  BazaCall  (aka BazarCall), came under the spotlight in 2020/2021 when it was put to use by operators of the
Cisco Confirms It's Been Hacked by Yanluowang Ransomware Gang

Cisco Confirms It's Been Hacked by Yanluowang Ransomware Gang

Aug 11, 2022
Networking equipment major Cisco on Wednesday confirmed it was the victim of a cyberattack on May 24, 2022 after the attackers got hold of an employee's personal Google account that contained passwords synced from their web browser. "Initial access to the Cisco VPN was achieved via the successful compromise of a Cisco employee's personal Google account," Cisco Talos  said  in a detailed write-up. "The user had enabled password syncing via Google Chrome and had stored their Cisco credentials in their browser, enabling that information to synchronize to their Google account." The disclosure comes as cybercriminal actors associated with the Yanluowang ransomware gang  published a list of files  from the breach to their data leak site on August 10. The exfiltrated information, according to Talos, included the contents of a Box cloud storage folder that was associated with the compromised employee's account and is not believed to have included any valuabl
Hackers Behind Cuba Ransomware Attacks Using New RAT Malware

Hackers Behind Cuba Ransomware Attacks Using New RAT Malware

Aug 11, 2022
Threat actors associated with the Cuba ransomware have been linked to previously undocumented tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), including a new remote access trojan called ROMCOM RAT on compromised systems. The  new findings  come from Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 threat intelligence team, which is tracking the double extortion ransomware group under the  constellation-themed moniker   Tropical Scorpius . Cuba ransomware (aka  COLDDRAW ), which was first detected in December 2019, reemerged on the threat landscape in November 2021 and has been attributed to attacks against 60 entities in five critical infrastructure sectors, amassing at least $43.9 million in ransom payments. Of the 60 victims listed on its data leak site, 40 are located in the U.S., indicating a not as global distribution of targeted organizations as other ransomware gangs. "Cuba ransomware is distributed through Hancitor malware, a loader known for dropping or executing stealers, such as Remote
GitHub Dependabot Now Alerts Developers On Vulnerable GitHub Actions

GitHub Dependabot Now Alerts Developers On Vulnerable GitHub Actions

Aug 11, 2022
Cloud-based code hosting platform GitHub has announced that it will now start sending Dependabot alerts for vulnerable GitHub Actions to help developers fix security issues in CI/CD workflows. "When a security vulnerability is reported in an action, our team of security researchers will create an advisory to document the vulnerability, which will trigger an alert to impacted repositories," GitHub's Brittany O'Shea and Kate Catlin  said . GitHub Actions  is a continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) solution that enables users to automate the software build, test, and deployment pipeline. Dependabot  is part of the Microsoft-owned subsidiary's continued efforts to secure the  software supply chain  by  notifying  users that their source code depends on a package with a security vulnerability and helping keep all the dependencies up-to-date. The latest move entails receiving alerts on GitHub Actions and vulnerabilities impacting developer code,
Experts Uncover Details on Maui Ransomware Attack by North Korean Hackers

Experts Uncover Details on Maui Ransomware Attack by North Korean Hackers

Aug 10, 2022
The first ever incident possibly involving the ransomware family known as Maui occurred on April 15, 2021, aimed at an unnamed Japanese housing company. The disclosure from Kaspersky arrives a month after U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies issued an  advisory  about the use of the ransomware strain by North Korean government-backed hackers to target the healthcare sector since at least May 2021. Much of the data about its modus operandi came from incident response activities and industry analysis of a Maui sample that revealed a lack of "several key features" typically associated with ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operations. Not only is Maui designed to be manually executed by a remote actor via a command-line interface, it's also notable for not including a ransom note to provide recovery instructions. Subsequently, the Justice Department  announced  the seizure of $500,000 worth of Bitcoin that were extorted from several organizations, including two he
New Orchard Botnet Uses Bitcoin Founder’s Account Info to Generate Malicious Domains

New Orchard Botnet Uses Bitcoin Founder's Account Info to Generate Malicious Domains

Aug 08, 2022
A new botnet named Orchard has been observed using Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto's account transaction information to generate domain names to conceal its command-and-control (C2) infrastructure. "Because of the uncertainty of Bitcoin transactions, this technique is more unpredictable than using the common time-generated [ domain generation algorithms ], and thus more difficult to defend against," researchers from Qihoo 360's Netlab security team said in a Friday write-up. Orchard is said to have undergone three revisions since February 2021, with the botnet primarily used to deploy additional payloads onto a victim's machine and execute commands received from the C2 server. It's also designed to upload device and user information as well as infect USB storage devices to propagate the malware. Netlab's analysis shows that over 3,000 hosts have been enslaved by the malware to date, most of them located in China. Orchard has also been subjected to
Cybersecurity Resources