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A Chinese threat actor has developed new capabilities to target air-gapped systems in an attempt to exfiltrate sensitive data for espionage, according to a newly published research by Kaspersky yesterday. The APT, known as Cycldek, Goblin Panda, or Conimes, employs an extensive toolset for lateral movement and information stealing in victim networks, including previously unreported custom tools, tactics, and procedures in attacks against government agencies in Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. "One of the newly revealed tools is named USBCulprit and has been found to rely on USB media in order to exfiltrate victim data," Kaspersky said. "This may suggest Cycldek is trying to reach air-gapped networks in victim environments or relies on physical presence for the same purpose." First observed by CrowdStrike in 2013, Cycldek has a long history of singling out defense, energy, and government sectors in Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam, using decoy documents th

Hey! Wait! Wait! Wait! Don't plug in that USB stick into your laptop. It could infect your computer with malware and viruses. Australia's Victoria Police Force has issued a warning regarding unmarked USB flash drives containing harmful malware being dropped inside random people's letterboxes in the Melbourne suburb of Pakenham. It seems to one of the latest tactics of cyber criminals to target people by dropping malware-laden USB sticks into their mailboxes, in the hope unsuspecting users will plug the infected devices into their personal or home computers. The warning, published on the official website of the Victoria Police, one of Australia's state police departments, reads: "Members of the public are allegedly finding unmarked USB drives in their letterboxes. Upon inserting the USB drives into their computers victims have experienced fraudulent media streaming service offers, as well as other serious issues [malware]. The USB drives are belie

It comes as no surprise that today's cyber threats are orders of magnitude more complex than those of the past. And the ever-evolving tactics that attackers use demand the adoption of better, more holistic and consolidated ways to meet this non-stop challenge. Security teams constantly look for ways to reduce risk while improving security posture, but many approaches offer piecemeal solutions – zeroing in on one particular element of the evolving threat landscape challenge – missing the forest for the trees.  In the last few years, Exposure Management has become known as a comprehensive way of reigning in the chaos, giving organizations a true fighting chance to reduce risk and improve posture. In this article I'll cover what Exposure Management is, how it stacks up against some alternative approaches and why building an Exposure Management program should be on  your 2024 to-do list. What is Exposure Management?  Exposure Management is the systematic identification, evaluation,

Last year, a white hat hacker developed a cheap Arduino-based device that looked and functioned just like a generic USB mobile charger, but covertly logged, decrypted and reported back all keystrokes from Microsoft wireless keyboards. Dubbed KeySweeper , the device included a web-based tool for live keystroke monitoring and was capable of sending SMS alerts for typed keystrokes, usernames, or URLs, and work even after the nasty device is unplugged because of its built-in rechargeable battery. Besides the proof-of-concept attack platform, security researcher Samy Kamkar, who created KeySweeper, also released instructions on how to build your own USB wall charger. Now, it seems like hackers and criminal minds find this idea smart. The FBI has issued a warning advisory for private industry partners to look out for highly stealthy keyloggers that quietly sniff passwords and other input data from wireless keyboards. According to the advisory, blackhat hackers have developed their

Remember Killer USB ?? In March, a Russian security researcher devised a weird USB stick that is capable of destroying sensitive components of a computer when plugged-in. Now, the same researcher, nicknamed Dark Purple , has launched a new version of his computer-frying USB Killer pendrive – USB Killer version 2.0 . USB Killer 2.0 is much more powerful than the previous version and is able to "kill" more than just a PC it is plugged in. USB Killer 2.0 is More Powerful to Damage any Computer The first version of USB Killer was consist of a DC/DC converter, a few caps and an FET. When plugged into a system, the converter in the USB Killer would charge the caps up to -110V , apply that voltage to signal lines of the USB interface, and repeat the entire process until everything possible in the computer is broken down. However, the second version of USB Killer dump -220V directly onto the signal lines of the USB interface, which is powerful enough to