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The Unknown Risks of The Software Supply Chain: A Deep-Dive

The Unknown Risks of The Software Supply Chain: A Deep-Dive

Jan 24, 2024 Vulnerability / Myrror Security
In a world where more & more organizations are adopting open-source components as foundational blocks in their application's infrastructure, it's difficult to consider traditional SCAs as complete protection mechanisms against open-source threats. Using open-source libraries saves tons of coding and debugging time, and by that - shortens the time to deliver our applications. But, as codebases become increasingly composed of open-source software, it's time to respect the entire attack surface - including attacks on the supply chain itself - when choosing an  SCA platform  to depend upon. The Impact of One Dependency When a company adds an open-source library, they are probably adding not just the library they intended to, but also many other libraries as well. This is due to the way open-source libraries are built: just like every other application on the planet, they aim for a speed of delivery and development and, as such, rely on code other people built - i.e., ot
Experts Warn of macOS Backdoor Hidden in Pirated Versions of Popular Software

Experts Warn of macOS Backdoor Hidden in Pirated Versions of Popular Software

Jan 19, 2024 Malware / Endpoint Security
Pirated applications targeting Apple macOS users have been observed containing a backdoor capable of granting attackers remote control to infected machines. "These applications are being hosted on Chinese pirating websites in order to gain victims," Jamf Threat Labs researchers Ferdous Saljooki and Jaron Bradley  said . "Once detonated, the malware will download and execute multiple payloads in the background in order to secretly compromise the victim's machine." The backdoored disk image (DMG) files, which have been modified to establish communications with actor-controlled infrastructure, include legitimate software like Navicat Premium, UltraEdit, FinalShell, SecureCRT, and Microsoft Remote Desktop. The unsigned applications, besides being hosted on a Chinese website named macyy[.]cn, incorporate a dropper component called "dylib" that's executed every time the application is opened. The dropper then acts as a conduit to fetch a backdoor
How to Accelerate Vendor Risk Assessments in the Age of SaaS Sprawl

How to Accelerate Vendor Risk Assessments in the Age of SaaS Sprawl

Mar 21, 2024SaaS Security / Endpoint Security
In today's digital-first business environment dominated by SaaS applications, organizations increasingly depend on third-party vendors for essential cloud services and software solutions. As more vendors and services are added to the mix, the complexity and potential vulnerabilities within the  SaaS supply chain  snowball quickly. That's why effective vendor risk management (VRM) is a critical strategy in identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks to protect organizational assets and data integrity. Meanwhile, common approaches to vendor risk assessments are too slow and static for the modern world of SaaS. Most organizations have simply adapted their legacy evaluation techniques for on-premise software to apply to SaaS providers. This not only creates massive bottlenecks, but also causes organizations to inadvertently accept far too much risk. To effectively adapt to the realities of modern work, two major aspects need to change: the timeline of initial assessment must shorte
PixieFail UEFI Flaws Expose Millions of Computers to RCE, DoS, and Data Theft

PixieFail UEFI Flaws Expose Millions of Computers to RCE, DoS, and Data Theft

Jan 18, 2024 Firmware Security / Vulnerability
Multiple security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in the TCP/IP network protocol stack of an open-source reference implementation of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface ( UEFI ) specification used widely in modern computers. Collectively dubbed  PixieFail  by Quarkslab, the  nine issues  reside in the TianoCore EFI Development Kit II ( EDK II ) and could be exploited to achieve remote code execution, denial-of-service (DoS), DNS cache poisoning, and leakage of sensitive information. UEFI firmware – which is responsible for  booting the operating system  – from AMI, Intel, Insyde, and Phoenix Technologies are impacted by the shortcomings. EDK II incorporates its own TCP/IP stack called  NetworkPkg  to enable network functionalities available during the initial Preboot eXecution Environment ( PXE , pronounced "pixie") stage, which allows for management tasks in the absence of a running operating system. In other words, it is a client-server interface to  boot a
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.
Microsoft Warns of State-Sponsored Attacks Exploiting Critical PaperCut Vulnerability

Microsoft Warns of State-Sponsored Attacks Exploiting Critical PaperCut Vulnerability

May 09, 2023 Cyber Espionage / Vulnerability
Iranian nation-state groups have now joined financially motivated actors in actively exploiting a critical flaw in PaperCut print management software, Microsoft disclosed over the weekend. The tech giant's threat intelligence team said it observed both Mango Sandstorm (Mercury) and Mint Sandstorm (Phosphorus) weaponizing CVE-2023-27350 in their operations to achieve initial access. "This activity shows Mint Sandstorm's continued ability to  rapidly incorporate [proof-of-concept] exploits  into their operations," Microsoft  said  in a series of tweets. On the other hand, CVE-2023-27350 exploitation activity associated with Mango Sandstorm is said to be on the lower end of the spectrum, with the state-sponsored group "using tools from prior intrusions to connect to their C2 infrastructure." It's worth noting that  Mango Sandstorm  is linked to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and  Mint Sandstorm  is associated with the Islamic
Are Source Code Leaks the New Threat Software vendors Should Care About?

Are Source Code Leaks the New Threat Software vendors Should Care About?

Apr 07, 2023 DevOps / Software
Less than a month ago, Twitter indirectly acknowledged that some of its source code had been leaked on the code-sharing platform GitHub by sending a copyright infringement notice to take down the incriminated repository. The latter is now inaccessible, but according to the media, it was accessible to the public for several months. A user going by the name FreeSpeechEnthousiast committed thousands of documents belonging to the social media platform over several months.  While there is no concrete evidence to support this hypothesis, the timing of the leak and the ironic username used by the perpetrator suggest that the leak was a deliberate act aimed at causing harm to the company. Although it is still too early to measure the impact of this leak on the health of Twitter, this incident should be an opportunity for all software vendors to ask a simple question:  what if this happened to us? Protecting sensitive information in the software industry is becoming increasingly critical as
3CX Desktop App Supply Chain Attack Leaves Millions at Risk - Urgent Update on the Way!

3CX Desktop App Supply Chain Attack Leaves Millions at Risk - Urgent Update on the Way!

Mar 30, 2023 Supply Chain / Software Security
3CX said it's  working on a software update  for its desktop app after multiple cybersecurity vendors sounded the alarm on what appears to be an active supply chain attack that's using digitally signed and rigged installers of the popular voice and video conferencing software to target downstream customers. "The trojanized 3CX desktop app is the first stage in a multi-stage attack chain that pulls ICO files appended with Base64 data from GitHub and ultimately leads to a third-stage infostealer DLL," SentinelOne researchers  said . The cybersecurity firm is tracking the activity under the name SmoothOperator , stating the threat actor registered a massive attack infrastructure as far back as February 2022. There are indications that the attack may have commenced around March 22, 2023. 3CX, the company behind 3CXDesktopApp,  claims  to have more than 600,000 customers and 12 million users in 190 countries, some of which include well-known names like American Expres
Authorities Shut Down ChipMixer Platform Tied to Crypto Laundering Scheme

Authorities Shut Down ChipMixer Platform Tied to Crypto Laundering Scheme

Mar 16, 2023 Cyber Crime / Cryptocurrency
A coalition of law enforcement agencies across Europe and the U.S.  announced  the takedown of ChipMixer, an unlicensed cryptocurrency mixer that began its operations in August 2017. "The ChipMixer software blocked the blockchain trail of the funds, making it attractive for cybercriminals looking to launder illegal proceeds from criminal activities such as drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, ransomware attacks, and payment card fraud," Europol  said  in a statement. The coordinated exercise, besides dismantling the clearnet and dark web websites associated with ChipMixer, also resulted in the seizure of $47.5 million in Bitcoin and 7 TB of data. Mixers, also called tumblers,  offer full anonymity  for a fee by commingling cryptocurrency from different users – both legitimate and criminally-derived funds – in a manner that makes it hard to trace the origins. This is achieved by funneling different payments into a single pool before splitting up each amount and transmit
Warning: AI-generated YouTube Video Tutorials Spreading Infostealer Malware

Warning: AI-generated YouTube Video Tutorials Spreading Infostealer Malware

Mar 13, 2023 Cyber Threat / Social Engineering
Threat actors have been increasingly observed using AI-generated YouTube Videos to spread a variety of stealer malware such as Raccoon, RedLine, and Vidar. "The videos lure users by pretending to be tutorials on how to download cracked versions of software such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Autodesk 3ds Max, AutoCAD, and other products that are licensed products available only to paid users," CloudSEK researcher Pavan Karthick M  said . Just as the ransomware landscape comprises core developers and affiliates who are in charge of identifying potential targets and actually carrying out the attacks, the information stealer ecosystem also consists of threat actors known as  traffers  who are recruited to spread the malware using different methods. One of the popular malware distribution channels is YouTube, with CloudSEK witnessing a 200-300% month-over-month increase in videos containing links to stealer malware in the description section since November 2022. These links ar
Hackers Using Rogue Versions of KeePass and SolarWinds Software to Distribute RomCom RAT

Hackers Using Rogue Versions of KeePass and SolarWinds Software to Distribute RomCom RAT

Nov 03, 2022
The operators of RomCom RAT malware are continuing to evolve their campaigns by distributing rogue versions of software such as SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor, KeePass password manager, and PDF Reader Pro via fake copycat websites. Targets of the operation consist of victims in Ukraine and select English-speaking countries like the U.K. To be noted, the malicious software in question is not related to any product developed or released by SolarWinds, and is instead an unlicensed, "cracked" version of an old product. "Given the geography of the targets and the current geopolitical situation, it's unlikely that the RomCom RAT threat actor is cybercrime-motivated," the BlackBerry Threat Research and Intelligence Team  said  in a new analysis. The latest findings  come  a week after the Canadian cybersecurity company disclosed a spear-phishing campaign aimed at Ukrainian entities to deploy a remote access trojan called RomCom RAT. The unknown threat ac
Want More Secure Software? Start Recognizing Security-Skilled Developers

Want More Secure Software? Start Recognizing Security-Skilled Developers

Oct 05, 2022
Professional developers want to do the right thing, but in terms of security, they are rarely set up for success. Organizations must support their upskilling with precision training and incentives if they want secure software from the ground up. The cyber threat landscape grows more complex by the day, with our data widely considered highly desirable "digital gold". Attackers are constantly scanning networks for vulnerable applications, programs, cloud instances, and the latest flavor of the month is APIs, with Gartner  correctly predicting  that they would become the most common attack vector in 2022, and that is in no small part thanks to their often lax security controls.  Threat actors are so persistent that new apps can sometimes be compromised and exploited within hours of deployment. The  Verizon 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report  reveals that errors and misconfigurations were the cause of 13% of breaches, with the human element responsible overall for 82% of the 23,000
CISA Orders Federal Agencies to Regularly Track Network Assets and Vulnerabilities

CISA Orders Federal Agencies to Regularly Track Network Assets and Vulnerabilities

Oct 04, 2022
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued a new Binding Operational Directive (BOD) that directs federal agencies in the country to keep track of assets and vulnerabilities on their networks six months from now. To that end, Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) enterprises have been tasked with two sets of activities: Asset discovery and vulnerability enumeration, which are seen as essential steps to gain "greater visibility into risks facing federal civilian networks." This  involves  carrying out automated asset discovery every seven days and initiating vulnerability enumeration across those discovered assets every 14 days by April 3, 2023, in addition to having the capabilities to do so on an on-demand basis within 72 hours of receiving a request from CISA. Similar baseline vulnerability enumeration obligations have also been put in place for Android and iOS devices as well as other devices that reside outside of agency on-premise
Two Key Ways Development Teams Can Increase Their Security Maturity

Two Key Ways Development Teams Can Increase Their Security Maturity

Aug 01, 2022
Now more than ever, organizations need to enable their development teams to build and grow their security skills. Today organizations face a threat landscape where individuals, well-financed syndicates, and state actors are actively trying to exploit errors in software. Yet, according to recent global research, 67% of developers that were interviewed said they were still shipping code they knew contained vulnerabilities.  Helping your development teams progress to achieve security maturity is possible, and ultimately beneficial. It will help ensure secure software development at every stage of the software development lifecycle. But how can you help your development teams reach security maturity? We dug deep and leveraged insights from over 400 of our customers to identify traits and behaviors that occur when a development team increases its security maturity. Here we share two of them: #1: A deep understanding of your gaps Before creating any maturity program, we first need to u
New Netwrix Auditor Bug Could Let Attackers Compromise Active Directory Domain

New Netwrix Auditor Bug Could Let Attackers Compromise Active Directory Domain

Jul 16, 2022
Researchers have disclosed details about a security vulnerability in the Netwrix Auditor application that, if successfully exploited, could lead to arbitrary code execution on affected devices.  "Since this service is typically executed with extensive privileges in an Active Directory environment, the attacker would likely be able to compromise the Active Directory domain," Bishop Fox  said  in an advisory published this week. Auditor  is an auditing and visibility platform that enables organizations to have a consolidated view of their IT environments, including Active Directory, Exchange, file servers, SharePoint, VMware, and other systems—all from a single console. Netwrix, the company behind the software, claims more than 11,500 customers across over 100 countries, such as Airbus, Virgin, King's College Hospital, and Credissimo, among others. The flaw, which impacts all supported versions prior to 10.5, has been described as an  insecure object deserialization
Hackers Abusing BRc4 Red Team Penetration Tool in Attacks to Evade Detection

Hackers Abusing BRc4 Red Team Penetration Tool in Attacks to Evade Detection

Jul 06, 2022
Malicious actors have been observed abusing legitimate adversary simulation software in their attacks in an attempt to stay under the radar and evade detection. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 said a  malware sample  uploaded to the VirusTotal database on May 19, 2022, contained a payload associated with Brute Ratel C4, a relatively new sophisticated toolkit "designed to avoid detection by endpoint detection and response (EDR) and antivirus (AV) capabilities." Authored by an Indian security researcher named  Chetan Nayak , Brute Ratel (BRc4) is analogous to Cobalt Strike and is  described  as a "customized command-and-control center for red team and adversary simulation." The commercial software was first released in late 2020 and has since gained over 480 licenses across 350 customers. Each license is offered at $2,500 per user for a year, after which it can be renewed for the same duration at the cost of $2,250. BRc4 is equipped with a wide variety of features,
Google Improves Its Password Manager to Boost Security Across All Platforms

Google Improves Its Password Manager to Boost Security Across All Platforms

Jul 01, 2022
Google on Thursday announced a slew of improvements to its  password manager  service aimed at creating a more consistent look and feel across different platforms. Central to the changes is a "simplified and unified management experience that's the same in Chrome and Android settings," Ali Sarraf, Google Chrome product manager,  said  in a blog post. The updates are also expected to automatically group multiple passwords for the same sites as well as introduce an option to manually add passwords. Although Google appears to be not ready yet to make Password Manager as a standalone app, users on Android can now add a shortcut to it on the homescreen. In a related change on iOS, should users opt for Chrome as the  default autofill provider , Password Manager now comes with the ability to generate unique, strong passwords. The built-in Password Checkup feature on Android is receiving an upgrade of its own too. Beyond checking for hacked credentials, it can further hig
New Zimbra Email Vulnerability Could Let Attackers Steal Your Login Credentials

New Zimbra Email Vulnerability Could Let Attackers Steal Your Login Credentials

Jun 14, 2022
A new high-severity vulnerability has been disclosed in the Zimbra email suite that, if successfully exploited, enables an unauthenticated attacker to steal cleartext passwords of users sans any user interaction. "With the consequent access to the victims' mailboxes, attackers can potentially escalate their access to targeted organizations and gain access to various internal services and steal highly sensitive information," SonarSource  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. Tracked as  CVE-2022-27924  (CVSS score: 7.5), the issue has been characterized as a case of "Memcached poisoning with unauthenticated request," leading to a scenario where an adversary can inject malicious commands and siphon sensitive information. This is made possible by poisoning the IMAP route cache entries in the Memcached server that's used to look up Zimbra users and forward their HTTP requests to appropriate backend services. Memcached is an in-memory key-value sto
Popular PyPI Package 'ctx' and PHP Library 'phpass' Hijacked to Steal AWS Keys

Popular PyPI Package 'ctx' and PHP Library 'phpass' Hijacked to Steal AWS Keys

May 24, 2022
Two trojanized Python and PHP packages have been uncovered in what's yet another instance of a software supply chain attack targeting the open source ecosystem. One of the packages in question is "ctx," a Python module available in the PyPi repository. The other involves "phpass," a PHP package that's been forked on GitHub to distribute a rogue update. "In both cases the attacker appears to have taken over packages that have not been updated in a while," the SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC)  said , one of whose volunteer incident handlers, Yee Ching, analyzed the ctx package. It's worth noting that ctx, prior to the latest release on May 21, 2022, was last published to PyPi on December 19, 2014. On the other hand, phpass hasn't received an update since it was uploaded to Packagist on August 31, 2012. Both the libraries have been removed from PyPi and GitHub . At its core, the modifications are designed to exfiltrate AWS credentials t
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