SaaS Security | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

As SaaS providers race to integrate AI into their product offerings to stay competitive and relevant, a new challenge has emerged in the world of AI: shadow AI.  Shadow AI refers to the unauthorized use of AI tools and copilots at organizations. For example, a developer using ChatGPT to assist with writing code, a salesperson downloading an AI-powered meeting transcription tool, or a customer support person using Agentic AI to automate tasks – without going through the proper channels. When these tools are used without IT or the Security team's knowledge, they often lack sufficient security controls, putting company data at risk. Shadow AI Detection Challenges Because shadow AI tools often embed themselves in approved business applications via AI assistants, copilots, and agents they are even more tricky to discover than traditional shadow IT. While traditional shadow apps can be identified through network monitoring methodologies that scan for unauthorized connections based on...

The United States Treasury Department said it suffered a "major cybersecurity incident" that allowed suspected Chinese threat actors to remotely access some computers and unclassified documents.  "On December 8, 2024, Treasury was notified by a third-party software service provider, BeyondTrust, that a threat actor had gained access to a key used by the vendor to secure a cloud-based service used to remotely provide technical support for Treasury Departmental Offices (DO) end users," the department said in a letter informing the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. "With access to the stolen key, the threat actor was able to override the service's security, remotely access certain Treasury DO user workstations, and access certain unclassified documents maintained by those users." The federal agency said it has been working with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (...

It's time once again to pay our respects to the once-famous cybersecurity solutions whose usefulness died in the past year. The cybercriminal world collectively mourns the loss of these solutions and the easy access they provide to victim organizations. These solutions, though celebrated in their prime, succumbed to the twin forces of time and advancing threats. Much like a tribute to celebrities lost in the past year, this article will look back at a few of cybersecurity's brightest stars that went dark in the past year.  1. Legacy Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Cause of Death: Compromised by sophisticated phishing, man-in-the-middle (MitM), SIM-swapping, and MFA prompt bombing attacks. The superstar of access security for more than twenty years, legacy MFA solutions enjoyed broad adoption followed by almost-universal responsibility for cybersecurity failures leading to successful ransomware attacks. These outdated solutions relied heavily on SMS or email-based codes o...

A new attack campaign has targeted known Chrome browser extensions, leading to at least 35 extensions being compromised and exposing over 2.6 million users to data exposure and credential theft. The attack targeted publishers of browser extensions on the Chrome Web Store via a phishing campaign and used their access permissions to insert malicious code into legitimate extensions in order to steal cookies and user access tokens. The first company to shed light the campaign was cybersecurity firm Cyberhaven, one of whose employees was targeted by a phishing attack on December 24, allowing the threat actors to publish a malicious version of the extension. On December 27, Cyberhaven disclosed that a threat actor compromised its browser extension and injected malicious code to communicate with an external command-and-control (C&C) server located on the domain cyberhavenext[.]pro, download additional configuration files, and exfiltrate user data. The phishing email, which purported...

BeyondTrust has disclosed details of a critical security flaw in Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) products that could potentially lead to the execution of arbitrary commands. Privileged Remote Access controls, manages, and audits privileged accounts and credentials, offering zero trust access to on-premises and cloud resources by internal, external, and third-party users. Remote Support allows service desk personnel to securely connect to remote systems and mobile devices. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-12356 (CVSS score: 9.8), has been described as an instance of command injection. "A critical vulnerability has been discovered in Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) products which can allow an unauthenticated attacker to inject commands that are run as a site user," the company said in an advisory. An attacker could exploit the flaw by sending a malicious client request, effectively leading to the execution of arbitrary...

Regain control of SaaS sprawl with Day One discovery of all SaaS and GenAI accounts along with workflows to help you mitigate security risks, curb rogue app usage, and manage SaaS spend. In today's highly distributed workplace, every employee has the ability to act as their own CIO, adopting new cloud and SaaS technologies whenever and wherever they need. While this has been a critical boon to productivity and innovation in the digital enterprise, it has upended traditional approaches to IT security and governance. Nudge Security is the world's first and only solution to bring together all facets of SaaS management in one solution: Discovery : Gain visibility into your full SaaS footprint including GenAI apps, free tools, duplicate tenants, unapproved apps, and more, all on Day One. Security: Secure new accounts as they are created, uncover and revoke risky OAuth grants, and continuously harden your SaaS security posture. Spend Management: Discover up to 2 years of historical...

The rise of SaaS and cloud-based work environments has fundamentally altered the cyber risk landscape. With more than 90% of organizational network traffic flowing through browsers and web applications, companies are facing new and serious cybersecurity threats. These include phishing attacks, data leakage, and malicious extensions. As a result, the browser also becomes a vulnerability that needs to be protected. LayerX has released a comprehensive guide titled "Kickstarting Your Browser Security Program" This in-depth guide serves as a roadmap for CISOs and security teams looking to secure browser activities within their organization; including step-by-step instructions, frameworks, and use cases. Below, we bring its main highlights. Prioritizing Browser Security Browsers now serve as the primary interface for SaaS applications, creating new malicious opportunities for cyber adversaries. The risks include: Data leakage - Browsers can expose sensitive data by allowing empl...

An ongoing threat campaign dubbed VEILDrive has been observed taking advantage of legitimate services from Microsoft, including Teams, SharePoint, Quick Assist, and OneDrive, as part of its modus operandi. "Leveraging Microsoft SaaS services — including Teams, SharePoint, Quick Assist, and OneDrive — the attacker exploited the trusted infrastructures of previously compromised organizations to distribute spear-phishing attacks and store malware," Israeli cybersecurity company Hunters said in a new report. "This cloud-centric strategy allowed the threat actor to avoid detection by conventional monitoring systems." Hunters said it discovered the campaign in September 2024 after it responded to a cyber incident targeting a critical infrastructure organization in the United States. It did not disclose the name of the company, instead giving it the designation "Org C." The activity is believed to have commenced a month prior, with the attack culminating i...

Did you know that advanced threat actors can infiltrate the identity systems of major organizations and extract sensitive data within days? It's a chilling reality, becoming more common and concerning by the day. These attackers exploit vulnerabilities in SaaS and cloud environments, using compromised identities to move laterally within networks, causing widespread damage. Cybersecurity and IT professionals now face an uphill battle against these sophisticated threats. Traditional security measures are proving insufficient, leaving organizations vulnerable to data breaches, financial losses, and reputational harm. This webinar provides crucial insights and actionable strategies to help safeguard your organization against these evolving threats. Join us to hear from a renowned expert with firsthand experience in cyber defense. Ian Ahl, SVP of P0 Labs and former Head of Advanced Practices at Mandiant, brings extensive experience from responding to hundreds of breaches. He will shar...

With so many SaaS applications, a range of configuration options, API capabilities, endless integrations, and app-to-app connections, the SaaS risk possibilities are endless. Critical organizational assets and data are at risk from malicious actors, data breaches, and insider threats, which pose many challenges for security teams. Misconfigurations are silent killers, leading to major vulnerabilities. So, how can CISOs reduce the noise? What misconfiguration should security teams focus on first? Here are five major SaaS configuration mistakes that can lead to security breaches. #1 Misconfiguration: HelpDesk Admins Have Excessive Privileges Risk: Help desk teams have access to sensitive account management functions making them prime targets for attackers. Attackers can exploit this by convincing help desk personnel to reset MFA for privileged users, gaining unauthorized access to critical systems. Impact: Compromised help desk accounts can lead to unauthorized changes to admin-...

Identity security is front, and center given all the recent breaches that include Microsoft, Okta, Cloudflare and Snowflake to name a few. Organizations are starting to realize that a shake-up is needed in terms of the way we approach identity security both from a strategic but also a technology vantage point.  Identity security is more than just provisioning access  The conventional view of viewing identity security as primarily concerned with provisioning and de-provisioning access for applications and services, often in a piecemeal manner, is no longer sufficient. This view was reflected as a broad theme in the Permiso Security State of Identity Security Report (2024) , which finds that despite growing levels of confidence in the ability to identify security risk, nearly half of organizations (45%) remain "concerned" or "extremely concerned" about their current tools being able to detect and protect against identity security attacks.  The Permiso commissioned survey co...

It may come as a surprise to learn that 34% of security practitioners are in the dark about how many SaaS applications are deployed in their organizations. And it's no wonder—the recent AppOmni 2024 State of SaaS Security Report reveals that only 15% of organizations centralize SaaS security within their cybersecurity teams. These statistics not only highlight a critical security blind spot, they also point to the fact that organizational culture is often overlooked as a driving factor behind these risks. As SaaS environments become more decentralized, the lack of clarity around roles and responsibilities is leaving companies exposed.  Most security teams focus solely on technical matters, often overlooking how their company's culture—its everyday practices, attitudes, and default policy enforcement processes—shapes their organization's security posture. Overconfidence, unclear responsibilities, and a lack of continuous monitoring can lead to SaaS security breaches. Let's exami...