Steganography | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Inside the most innocent-looking image, a breathtaking landscape, or a funny meme, something dangerous could be hiding, waiting for its moment to strike. No strange file names. No antivirus warnings. Just a harmless picture, secretly concealing a payload that can steal data, execute malware, and take over your system without a trace. This is steganography, a cybercriminal's secret weapon for concealing malicious code inside harmless-looking files. By embedding data within images, attackers evade detection, relying on separate scripts or processes to extract and execute the hidden payload. Let's break down how this works, why it's so dangerous, and most importantly, how to stop it before it's too late. What is Steganography in Cybersecurity? Steganography is the practice of concealing data within another file or medium. Unlike encryption, which scrambles data to make it unreadable, steganography disguises malicious code inside harmless-looking images, videos, or audio files, makin...

Altered versions of legitimate Android apps associated with Spotify, WhatsApp, and Minecraft have been used to deliver a new version of a known malware loader called Necro. Kaspersky said some of the malicious apps have also been found on the Google Play Store. They have been cumulatively downloaded 11 million times. They include - Wuta Camera - Nice Shot Always (com.benqu.wuta) - 10+ million downloads Max Browser-Private & Security (com.max.browser) - 1+ million downloads As of writing, Max Browser is no longer available for download from the Play Store. Wuta Camera, on the other hand, has been updated (version 6.3.7.138) to remove the malware. The latest version of the app, 6.3.8.148, was released on September 8, 2024. It's currently not clear how both the apps were compromised with the malware in the first place, although it's believed that a rogue software developer kit (SDK) for integrating advertising capabilities is the culprit. Necro (not to be confused w...

The problem is simple: all breaches start with initial access, and initial access comes down to two primary attack vectors – credentials and devices. This is not news; every report you can find on the threat landscape depicts the same picture.  The solution is more complex. For this article, we'll focus on the device threat vector. The risk they pose is significant, which is why device management tools like Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) are essential components of an organization's security infrastructure. However, relying solely on these tools to manage device risk actually creates a false sense of security. Instead of the blunt tools of device management, organizations are looking for solutions that deliver device trust . Device trust provides a comprehensive, risk-based approach to device security enforcement, closing the large gaps left behind by traditional device management solutions. Here are 5 of those limitations and how to ov...

How safe is your comments section? Discover how a seemingly innocent 'thank you' comment on a product page concealed a malicious vulnerability, underscoring the necessity of robust security measures. Read the full real-life case study  here .  When is a 'Thank you' not a 'Thank you'? When it's a sneaky bit of code that's been hidden inside a 'Thank You' image that somebody posted in the comments section of a product page! The guilty secret hidden inside this particular piece of code was designed to let hackers bypass security controls and steal the personal identifying information of online shoppers, which could have meant big trouble for them and the company. The page in question belongs to a global retailer. User communities are often a great source of unbiased advice from fellow enthusiasts, which was why a Nikon camera owner was posting there. They were looking for the ideal 50mm lens and asked for a recommendation....

The North Korea-linked threat actor known as Lazarus Group employed its time-tested fabricated job lures to deliver a new remote access trojan called Kaolin RAT as part of attacks targeting specific individuals in the Asia region in summer 2023. The malware could, "aside from standard RAT functionality, change the last write timestamp of a selected file and load any received DLL binary from [command-and-control] server," Avast security researcher Luigino Camastra  said  in a report published last week. The RAT acts as a pathway to deliver the FudModule rootkit, which has been recently observed leveraging a now-patched  admin-to-kernel exploit  in the appid.sys driver (CVE-2024-21338, CVSS score: 7.8) to obtain a kernel read/write primitive and ultimately disable security mechanisms. The Lazarus Group's use of job offer lures to infiltrate targets is not new. Dubbed Operation Dream Job, the  long-running campaign ...

The threat actor tracked as  TA558  has been observed leveraging steganography as an obfuscation technique to deliver a wide range of malware such as Agent Tesla, FormBook, Remcos RAT, LokiBot, GuLoader, Snake Keylogger, and XWorm, among others. "The group made extensive use of steganography by sending VBSs, PowerShell code, as well as RTF documents with an embedded exploit, inside images and text files," Russian cybersecurity company Positive Technologies  said  in a Monday report. The campaign has been codenamed SteganoAmor for its reliance on steganography and the choice of file names such as greatloverstory.vbs and easytolove.vbs. A majority of the attacks have targeted industrial, services, public, electric power, and construction sectors in Latin American countries, although companies located in Russia, Romania, and Turkey have also been singled out. The development comes as TA558 has also been spotted  deploying Venom RAT  via phishing attacks ...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an intricate multi-stage attack that leverages invoice-themed phishing decoys to deliver a wide range of malware such as  Venom RAT , Remcos RAT, XWorm, NanoCore RAT, and a stealer that targets crypto wallets. The email messages come with Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file attachments that, when clicked, activate the infection sequence, Fortinet FortiGuard Labs  said  in a technical report. The modus operandi is notable for the use of the BatCloak malware obfuscation engine and ScrubCrypt to deliver the malware in the form of obfuscated batch scripts. BatCloak , offered for sale to other threat actors since late 2022, has its foundations in another tool called Jlaive. Its primary function is to load a next-stage payload in a manner that circumvents traditional detection mechanisms. ScrubCrypt, a crypter that was  first documented  by Fortinet in March 2023 in connection with a cryptojacking campaign orchestra...

Threat actors have been leveraging fake websites advertising popular video conferencing software such as Google Meet, Skype, and Zoom to deliver a variety of malware targeting both Android and Windows users since December 2023. "The threat actor is distributing Remote Access Trojans (RATs) including  SpyNote RAT  for Android platforms, and  NjRAT  and  DCRat  for Windows systems," Zscaler ThreatLabz researchers  said . The spoofed sites are in Russian and are hosted on domains that closely resemble their legitimate counterparts, indicating that the attackers are using typosquatting tricks to lure prospective victims into downloading the malware. They also come with options to download the app for Android, iOS, and Windows platforms. While clicking on the button for Android downloads an APK file, clicking on the Windows app button triggers the download of a batch script. The malicious batch script is responsible for executing a PowerShell script, ...

Ukrainian entities based in Finland have been targeted as part of a malicious campaign distributing a commercial remote access trojan known as Remcos RAT using a malware loader called IDAT Loader. The attack has been attributed to a threat actor tracked by the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) under the moniker UAC-0184. "The attack, as part of the IDAT Loader, used steganography as a technique," Morphisec researcher Michael Dereviashkin said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "While steganographic, or 'Stego' techniques are well-known, it is important to understand their roles in defense evasion, to better understand how to defend against such tactics." IDAT Loader , which overlaps with another loader family called Hijack Loader, has been used to serve additional payloads like DanaBot, SystemBC, and RedLine Stealer in recent months. It has also been used by a threat actor tracked as TA544 to distribute Remcos RAT and SystemBC...

Attackers are weaponizing an old Microsoft Office vulnerability as part of phishing campaigns to distribute a strain of malware called  Agent Tesla . The infection chains leverage decoy Excel documents attached in invoice-themed messages to trick potential targets into opening them and activate the exploitation of CVE-2017-11882 (CVSS score: 7.8), a memory corruption vulnerability in Office's Equation Editor that could result in code execution with the privileges of the user. The findings, which come from Zscaler ThreatLabz, build on prior reports from Fortinet FortiGuard Labs, which detailed a  similar phishing campaign  that exploited the security flaw to deliver the malware. "Once a user downloads a malicious attachment and opens it, if their version of Microsoft Excel is vulnerable, the Excel file initiates communication with a malicious destination and proceeds to download additional files without requiring any further user interaction," security researcher Kaiva...

Threat hunters have unmasked the latest tricks adopted by a malware strain called  GuLoader  in an effort to make analysis more challenging. "While GuLoader's core functionality hasn't changed drastically over the past few years, these constant updates in their obfuscation techniques make analyzing GuLoader a time-consuming and resource-intensive process," Elastic Security Labs researcher Daniel Stepanic  said  in a report published this week. First spotted in late 2019, GuLoader (aka CloudEyE) is an advanced shellcode-based malware downloader that's used to distribute a wide range of payloads, such as information stealers, while incorporating a bevy of sophisticated anti-analysis techniques to dodge traditional security solutions. A  steady stream  of  open-source reporting  into the malware in recent months has revealed the threat actors behind it have continued to improve its ability to bypass existing or new security features alongside oth...

Phishing attacks are steadily becoming more sophisticated, with cybercriminals investing in new ways of deceiving victims into revealing sensitive information or installing malicious software. One of the latest trends in phishing is the use of QR codes, CAPTCHAs, and steganography. See how they are carried out and learn to detect them. Quishing Quishing, a phishing technique resulting from the combination of "QR" and "phishing," has become a popular weapon for cybercriminals in 2023. By concealing malicious links within QR codes, attackers can evade traditional spam filters, which are primarily geared towards identifying text-based phishing attempts. The inability of many security tools to decipher the content of QR codes further makes this method a go-to choice for cybercriminals. An email containing a QR code with a malicious link Analyzing a QR code with an embedded malicious link in a safe environment is easy with  ANY.RUN : Simply open  this task  in th...

An unknown threat actor has been observed publishing typosquat packages to the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository for nearly six months with an aim to deliver malware capable of gaining persistence, stealing sensitive data, and accessing cryptocurrency wallets for financial gain. The 27 packages, which masqueraded as popular legitimate Python libraries, attracted thousands of downloads, Checkmarx said in a new report. A majority of the downloads originated from the U.S., China, France, Hong Kong, Germany, Russia, Ireland, Singapore, the U.K., and Japan. "A defining characteristic of this attack was the utilization of steganography to hide a malicious payload within an innocent-looking image file, which increased the stealthiness of the attack," the software supply chain security firm  said . Some of the packages are pyefflorer, pyminor, pyowler, pystallerer, pystob, and pywool, the last of which was planted on May 13, 2023. A common denominator to these packages is t...

A recently discovered cyber espionage group dubbed  Worok  has been found hiding malware in seemingly innocuous image files, corroborating a crucial link in the threat actor's infection chain. Czech cybersecurity firm Avast said the purpose of the PNG files is to conceal a payload that's used to facilitate information theft. "What is noteworthy is data collection from victims' machines using Dropbox repository, as well as attackers using Dropbox API for communication with the final stage," the company  said . The development comes a little over two months after ESET disclosed details of attacks carried out by  Worok  against high-profile companies and local governments located in Asia and Africa. Worok is believed to share tactical overlaps with a Chinese threat actor tracked as  TA428 . The Slovak cybersecurity company also documented Worok's compromise sequence, which makes use of a C++-based loader called CLRLoad to pave the way for an unknown Pow...