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The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned of active exploitation of a  high-severity Adobe ColdFusion vulnerability  by unidentified threat actors to gain initial access to government servers. "The vulnerability in ColdFusion (CVE-2023-26360) presents as an improper access control issue and exploitation of this CVE can result in arbitrary code execution," CISA  said , adding an unnamed federal agency was targeted between June and July 2023. The shortcoming affects ColdFusion 2018 (Update 15 and earlier versions) and ColdFusion 2021 (Update 5 and earlier versions). It has been addressed in versions Update 16 and Update 6, respectively, released on March 14, 2023. It was added by CISA to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog a day later, citing evidence of active exploitation in the wild. Adobe, in an advisory released around that time, said it's aware of the flaw being "exploited in the wild in very limited attacks."

Modern security tools continue to improve in their ability to defend organizations' networks and endpoints against cybercriminals. But the bad actors still occasionally find a way in. Security teams must be able to stop threats and restore normal operations as quickly as possible. That's why it's essential that these teams not only have the right tools but also understand how to effectively respond to an incident. Resources like an  incident response template  can be customized to define a plan with roles and responsibilities, processes and an action item checklist. But preparations can't stop there. Teams must continuously train to adapt as threats rapidly evolve. Every security incident must be harnessed as an educational opportunity to help the organization better prepare for — or even prevent — future incidents. SANS Institute defines a framework with six steps to a successful IR. Preparation Identification Containment Eradication Recovery Lessons learned While these p

Compromising the browser is a high-return target for adversaries. Browser extensions, which are small software modules that are added to the browser and can enhance browsing experiences, have become a popular browser attack vector. This is because they are widely adopted among users and can easily turn malicious through developer actions or attacks on legitimate extensions. Recent incidents like  DataSpii  and the  Nigelthorn  malware attack have exposed the extent of damage that malicious extensions can inflict. In both cases, users innocently installed extensions that compromised their privacy and security. The underlying issue lies in the permissions granted to extensions. These permissions, often excessive and lacking granularity, allow attackers to exploit them. What can organizations do to protect themselves from the risks of browser extensions without barring them from use altogether (an act that would be nearly impossible to enforce)?  A new report by LayerX, "Unveiling the

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Thursday added three security flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities ( KEV ) catalog based on evidence of active exploitation in the wild. The  vulnerabilities  are as follows - CVE-2023-36584  (CVSS score: 5.4) - Microsoft Windows Mark-of-the-Web (MotW) Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability CVE-2023-1671  (CVSS score: 9.8) - Sophos Web Appliance Command Injection Vulnerability CVE-2020-2551  (CVSS score: 9.8) - Oracle Fusion Middleware Unspecified Vulnerability CVE-2023-1671 relates to a critical  pre-auth command injection vulnerability  that allows for the execution of arbitrary code. CVE-2020-2551 is a  flaw  in the WLS Core Components that allows an unauthenticated attacker with network access to compromise the WebLogic Server. There are currently no public reports documenting in-the-wild attacks leveraging CVE-2023-1671, but Cybernews disclosed in July 2023 that it had identified a subdomain of t

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a stealthy backdoor named  Effluence  that's deployed following the successful exploitation of a recently disclosed security flaw in Atlassian Confluence Data Center and Server. "The malware acts as a persistent backdoor and is not remediated by applying patches to Confluence," Aon's Stroz Friedberg Incident Response Services  said  in an analysis published earlier this week. "The backdoor provides capability for lateral movement to other network resources in addition to exfiltration of data from Confluence. Importantly, attackers can access the backdoor remotely without authenticating to Confluence." The attack chain documented by the cybersecurity entity entailed the exploitation of  CVE-2023-22515  (CVSS score: 10.0), a critical bug in Atlassian that could be abused to create unauthorized Confluence administrator accounts and access Confluence servers. Atlassian has since disclosed a second flaw known as  CV

As cloud applications are built, tested and updated, they wind their way through an ever-complex series of different tools and teams. Across hundreds or even thousands of technologies that make up the patchwork quilt of development and cloud environments, security processes are all too often applied in only the final phases of software development.  Placing security at the very end of the production pipeline puts both devs and security on the back foot. Developers want to build and ship secure apps; security teams want to support this process by strengthening application security. However, today's security processes are legacy approaches that once worked brilliantly for the tight constraints of on-prem production, but struggle in ever-shifting cloud environments. As a result, security is an afterthought, and any attempt to squeeze siloed security into agile SDLC can  swell the cost of patching by 600% . A new cloud security operating model is long overdue. Shift-left is an appro

Software is rarely a one-and-done proposition. In fact, any application available today will likely need to be updated – or patched – to fix bugs,  address vulnerabilities , and update key features at multiple points in the future. With the typical enterprise relying on a multitude of applications, servers, and end-point devices in their day-to-day operations, the acquisition of a robust  patch management platform  to identify, test, deploy, install, and document all appropriate patches are critical for ensuring systems remain stable and secure.  As with most tech tools, not all patch management solutions are created equal, and what's seen as robust by one organization may prove inadequate for another. However, an evaluation that begins with a focus on specific key criteria – essential attributes and functionality likely to be offered by many vendors but not all – will allow IT teams to narrow down their options as they work to identify the best solution for their organization&

A majority of internet-exposed Cacti servers have not been patched against a recently patched critical security vulnerability that has come under active exploitation in the wild. That's according to attack surface management platform Censys, which  found  only 26 out of a total of 6,427 servers to be running a  patched version  of Cacti (1.2.23 and 1.3.0). The  issue  in question relates to  CVE-2022-46169  (CVSS score: 9.8), a combination of authentication bypass and command injection that enables an unauthenticated user to execute arbitrary code on an affected version of the open-source, web-based monitoring solution. Details about the flaw, which impacts versions 1.2.22 and below, were first revealed by SonarSource. The flaw was reported to the project maintainers on December 2, 2022. "A hostname-based authorization check is not implemented safely for most installations of Cacti," SonarSource researcher Stefan Schiller  noted  earlier this month, adding "uns

It's no secret that keeping software up to date is one of the key best practices in cybersecurity. Software vulnerabilities are being discovered almost weekly these days. The longer it takes IT teams to apply updates issued by developers to patch these security flaws, the more time attackers have to exploit the underlying vulnerability. Once threat actors gain access to corporate IT ecosystems, they can steal or encrypt sensitive data, deploy ransomware, damage systems, and more. When there's a known exploit for a critical vulnerability, the need to deploy patches becomes critical. At the same time, while IT teams race to keep their operating systems, business applications, and web browsers up to date and fully patched, they have to exercise caution, since applying patches without proper testing can introduce more problems than it solves. The reality is, many organizations are struggling to maintain the upper hand against threats. According to Action1's  2021 Remote IT

Reality has a way of asserting itself, irrespective of any personal or commercial choices we make, good or bad. For example, just recently, the city services of Antwerp in Belgium were the victim of a highly disruptive cyberattack.  As usual, everyone cried "foul play" and suggested that proper cybersecurity measures should have been in place. And again, as usual, it all happens a bit too late. There was nothing special or unique about the attack, and it wasn't the last of its kind either. So why are we, in IT, still happily whistling into the wind and moving along as if nothing happened? Is everyone's disaster recovery plan really that good? Are all the security measures in place – and tested? Let's Do a Quick Recap (of What You Should Be Doing) First, cover the basics. Perform proper user training that includes all of the usual: password hygiene, restrictions on account sharing, and clear instructions not to open untrusted emails or to access unscrupulous w

Tech giant Microsoft released its last set of monthly security updates for 2022 with  fixes for 49 vulnerabilities  across its software products. Of the 49 bugs, six are rated Critical, 40 are rated Important, and three are rated Moderate in severity. The updates are in addition to  24 vulnerabilities  that have been addressed in the Chromium-based Edge browser since the start of the month. December's Patch Tuesday plugs two zero-day vulnerabilities, one that's actively exploited and another issue that's listed as publicly disclosed at the time of release. The former relates to  CVE-2022-44698  (CVSS score: 5.4), one of the  three security bypass issues  in Windows SmartScreen that could be exploited by a malicious actor to evade mark of the web (MotW) protections. It's worth noting that this issue, in conjunction with  CVE-2022-41091  (CVSS score: 5.4), has been observed being exploited by Magniber ransomware actors to deliver rogue JavaScript files within ZIP arc

Old technology solutions – every organization has a few of them tucked away somewhere.  It could be an old and unsupported storage system or a tape library holding the still-functional backups from over 10 years ago.  This is a common scenario with software too. For example, consider an accounting software suite that was extremely expensive when it was purchased. If the vendor eventually went under, then there's no longer any support for the software – which means that the accounting solution only works on some older operating system that isn't supplied with updates either. How valuable is it to  keep older solutions like this running ? Well, organizations don't enjoy running old legacy systems just for the pleasure of it, but they're often forced to keep them running because it's their only option, or at least the only cost-effective option available to them. If it works, it works…? From a purely functional perspective, there is usually no problem with old te

The massive Equifax data breach that exposed highly sensitive data of as many as 143 million people was caused by exploiting a flaw in Apache Struts framework, which Apache patched over two months earlier of the security incident, Equifax has confirmed. Credit rating agency Equifax is yet another example of the companies that became victims of massive cyber attacks due to not patching a critical vulnerability on time, for which patches were already issued by the respected companies. Rated critical with a maximum 10.0 score, the Apache Struts2 vulnerability (CVE-2017-5638) exploited in the Equifax breach was disclosed and fixed by Apache on March 6 with the release of Apache Struts version 2.3.32 or 2.5.10.1. This flaw is separate from CVE-2017-9805, another Apache Struts2 vulnerability that was patched earlier this month, which was a programming bug that manifests due to the way Struts REST plugin handles XML payloads while deserializing them, and was fixed in Struts versio

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has announced a "prize competition" for creating a software or hardware-based solution with the ability to auto-patch vulnerable Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Today we are surrounded by a number of Internet-connected devices. Our homes are filled with tiny computers embedded in everything from security cameras, TVs and refrigerators to thermostat and door locks. While IoT is going to improve life for many, the number of security risks due to lack of stringent security measures and encryption mechanisms in the devices have increased exponentially, giving attackers a large number of entry points to affect you in some or the other way. Remember Mirai Botnet ? A botnet of just 100,000 hijacked IoT devices was used to flood the Dyn DNS service with unwanted requests and close down the Internet for Millions of Users a few months ago. At that time, Chinese firm Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology admitted its smart products – DVRs and

Updated your PCs to Windows 10 ? Now it's time to patch your Windows 10 software. Microsoft has issued its monthly Patch Tuesday by releasing 14 security bulletins , nearly half of it address vulnerabilities in its latest operating system, Windows 10. Four of them are marked critical, affecting Windows, .Net Framework, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Lync, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Silverlight and Edge Browser . Yes, the critical update includes even Edge browser – Microsoft's newest and supposedly super-secure web browser. Windows users are advised to patch their system as soon as possible because the security flaws can be remotely exploited to execute malicious code on vulnerable systems, allowing hackers to install malware and take full control of systems. Most Critical Security Updates: MS15-079 – The critical update fixes a total of 10 privately disclosed flaws in Internet Explorer. Most of these flaws allow a hacker to execute malicious code on v