The Hacker News - Cybersecurity News and Analysis: cybersecurity

Multiple versions of a WordPress plugin by the name of "School Management Pro" harbored a backdoor that could grant an adversary complete control over vulnerable websites. The issue, spotted in premium versions before 9.9.7, has been assigned the CVE identifier  CVE-2022-1609  and is rated 10 out of 10 for severity. The backdoor, which is believed to have existed since version 8.9, enables "an unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary PHP code on sites with the plugin installed," Jetpack's Harald Eilertsen  said  in a Friday write-up. School Management, developed by an India-based company called  Weblizar , is billed as a Wordpress add-on to "manage complete school operation." It also claims more than 340,000 customers of its premium and free WordPress themes and plugins. The WordPress security company noted that it uncovered the implant on May 4 after it was alerted to the presence of heavily obfuscated code in the license-checking code of t

A case of software supply chain attack has been observed in the Rust programming language's  crate registry  that leveraged typosquatting techniques to publish a rogue library containing malware. Cybersecurity firm SentinelOne dubbed the attack " CrateDepression ." Typosquatting attacks  take place  when an adversary mimics the name of a popular package on a public registry in hopes that developers will accidentally download the malicious package instead of the legitimate library. In this case, the crate in question is "rustdecimal," a typosquat of the real " rust_decimal " package that's been downloaded over 3.5 million times to date. The package was  flagged  earlier this month on May 3 by Askar Safin, a Moscow-based developer. According to an  advisory  published by the Rust maintainers, the crate is said to have been first pushed on March 25, 2022, attracting fewer than 500 downloads before it was permanently removed from the repository.

The  2022 SaaS Security Survey Report,  in collaboration with CSA, examines the state of SaaS security as seen in the eyes of CISOs and security professionals in today's enterprises. The report gathers anonymous responses from 340 CSA members to examine not only the growing risks in SaaS security but also how different organizations are currently working to secure themselves. Demographics The majority (71%) of respondents were located in the Americas, another 17% from Asia, and 13% from EMEA. Of these participants 49% influence the decision-making process while 39% run the process itself. The survey examined organizations from a variety of industries, such as telecommunications (25%), finance (22%), and government (9%).  While there are many takeaways from the survey, these are our top seven.  1: SaaS Misconfigurations are Leading to Security Incidents Since 2019, SaaS misconfigurations have become a top concern for organizations, with at least 43% of organizations reporting

VMware has issued patches to contain  two security flaws  impacting Workspace ONE Access, Identity Manager, and vRealize Automation that could be exploited to backdoor enterprise networks. The first of the two flaws, tracked as CVE-2022-22972 (CVSS score: 9.8), concerns an authentication bypass that could enable an actor with network access to the UI to gain administrative access without prior authentication. CVE-2022-22973 (CVSS score: 7.8), the other bug, is a case of local privilege escalation that could enable an attacker with local access to elevate privileges to the "root" user on vulnerable virtual appliances. "It is extremely important that you quickly take steps to patch or mitigate these issues in on-premises deployments," VMware  said . The disclosure follows a  warning  from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) that advanced persistent threat (APT) groups are exploiting CVE-2022-22954 and CVE-2022-22960 — two other VMware flaws t

Ransomware  is not a new attack vector. In fact, the  first malware of its kind  appeared more than 30 years ago and was distributed via 5.25-inch floppy disks. To pay the ransom, the victim had to mail money to a P.O. Box in Panama. Fast forward to today, affordable ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) kits are available on the dark web for anyone to purchase and deploy and attackers have an infinite number of channels available to them to infiltrate organizations as a result of reliance on cloud and mobile technologies. Initiating a ransomware attack is all about discretely gaining access. And as employees can now access your data from anywhere, you have lost visibility into how they do so. To safeguard against these attacks, you're not just looking for malware, you need continuous insights into your users, the endpoints they use and the applications and data they access. Lookout , a leader in endpoint-to-cloud security, has published an interactive infographic to help you visualiz

To cash in on a thriving market, a managed security service provider (MSSP) must navigate unprecedented competition and complex challenges. The good news is that demand is through the roof. 69% of organizations plan to boost spending on cybersecurity in 2022.  The bad news is that everyone wants a piece of the pie. MSSPs must outshine each other while fending off encroachments by traditional IT vendors and MSPs. As a result, some MSSPs are succumbing to the squeeze of low margins. Others are struggling to scale successfully.  The most successful MSSPs are taking action to improve their current financial position while laying a foundation for long-term growth. A new eBook, " Your 90-Day MSSP Plan: How to Improve Margins and Scale Up Service Delivery ," to help MSSPs understand the current cybersecurity landscape, their current position in it, what you they're well, and where they can improve the most.  This nine-step plan offers a clear path for MSSPs to boost profitab

Traditional businesses migrating to the cloud need robust information security mechanisms.  Gartner predicts  that more than 95% of new digital workloads will continue to be deployed on cloud-native platforms by 2025. Robust  cloud data security  is imperative for businesses adopting rapid digital transformation to the cloud. While a traditional hosting model could be considered more secure, not all organizations are receptive to relinquishing control over their infrastructure or applications by relying on a cloud provider at an increased risk of data theft from a cyberattack done by an outsider. Having said so, let's try to understand the vital part. What is Cloud Data Security?  Cloud data security entails securing data, whether at rest or in motion, on cloud-based infrastructure, applications, etc., against cyber threats like data breaches, unauthorized access, DDoS attacks, etc. This includes the technologies, policies, controls, and services to protect cloud-based system

The European Parliament announced a "provisional agreement" aimed at improving cybersecurity and resilience of both public and private sector entities in the European Union. The revised directive, called " NIS2 " (short for network and information systems), is expected to replace the  existing legislation  on cybersecurity that was established in July 2016. The revamp sets ground rules, requiring companies in energy, transport, financial markets, health, and digital infrastructure sectors to adhere to risk management measures and reporting obligations. Among the provisions in the new legislation are flagging cybersecurity incidents to authorities within 24 hours, patching software vulnerabilities, and readying risk management measures to secure networks, failing which can incur monetary penalties. "The directive will formally establish the European Cyber Crises Liaison Organization Network, EU-CyCLONe, which will support the coordinated management of larg

Ever thought about working full-time in  cybersecurity ? With millions of unfilled jobs around, now is a great time to get into the industry. Of course, there are many different roles in this field. But all of them require the same handful of professional certifications. The 2022 Ultimate Advanced CyberSecurity Professional Certification Bundle  helps you collect the full house, with five full-length courses working towards  key exams . The included training has a total value of $1,475. But in a special deal for readers of The Hacker News, the bundle is now available for only $69.  Special Offer  —  You can currently get five top-rated cybersecurity certification courses for only $69, with lifetime access included! Whether you want to be a  penetration tester  or a cybersecurity researcher, technical recruiters want to see proof of your security expertise. NIST is required for government projects. Meanwhile, CISSP, ISACA, and CASP+ can open doors in the private sector. In this bu

A spear-phishing campaign targeting Jordan's foreign ministry has been observed dropping a new stealthy backdoor dubbed Saitama. Researchers from Malwarebytes and Fortinet FortiGuard Labs  attributed  the campaign to an Iranian cyber espionage threat actor tracked under the moniker APT34, citing  resemblances  to past campaigns staged by the group. "Like many of these attacks, the email contained a malicious attachment," Fortinet researcher Fred Gutierrez  said . "However, the attached threat was not a garden-variety malware. Instead, it had the capabilities and techniques usually associated with advanced persistent threats (APTs)." APT34, also known as OilRig, Helix Kitten, and Cobalt Gypsy, is known to be active since at least 2014 and has a track record of striking telecom, government, defense, oil, and financial sectors in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) via targeted phishing attacks. Earlier this February, ESET  tied  the group to a long-runni

Zyxel has moved to address a critical security vulnerability affecting Zyxel firewall devices that enables unauthenticated and remote attackers to gain arbitrary code execution. "A command injection vulnerability in the CGI program of some firewall versions could allow an attacker to modify specific files and then execute some OS commands on a vulnerable device," the company  said  in an advisory published Thursday. Cybersecurity firm Rapid7, which  discovered  and reported the flaw on April 13, 2022, said that the weakness could permit a remote unauthenticated adversary to execute code as the "nobody" user on impacted appliances. Tracked as  CVE-2022-30525  (CVSS score: 9.8), the flaw impacts the following products, with patches released in version ZLD V5.30 - USG FLEX 100(W), 200, 500, 700 USG FLEX 50(W) / USG20(W)-VPN ATP series, and  VPN series Rapid 7 noted that there are at least 16,213 vulnerable Zyxel devices exposed to the internet, making it a

Google on Wednesday took to its annual developer conference to announce a host of privacy and security updates, including support for virtual credit cards on Android and Chrome. "When you use autofill to enter your payment details at checkout, virtual cards will add an additional layer of security by replacing your actual card number with a distinct, virtual number," Google's Jen Fitzpatrick  said  in a statement. The goal, the search giant, said to keep payment information safe and secure during online shopping and protect users from  skimming attacks  wherein threat actors inject malicious JavaScript code to plunder credit card numbers and sell them on the black market. The feature is expected to roll out in the U.S. for Visa, American Express, Mastercard, and Capital One cards starting this summer. Interestingly, while Apple offers an option to mask email addresses via  Hide My Email , which enables users to create unique, random email addresses to use with apps

Multiple cybersecurity authorities from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. on Wednesday released a  joint advisory  warning of threats targeting managed service providers (MSPs) and their customers. Key among the recommendations include identifying and disabling accounts that are no longer in use, enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) on MSP accounts that access customer environments, and ensuring transparency in ownership of security roles and responsibilities. MSPs have emerged as an attractive attack route for cybercriminals to scale their attacks, as a vulnerable provider can be weaponized as an initial access vector to breach several downstream customers at once. The spillover effects of such intrusions, as witnessed in the wake of high-profile breaches aimed at  SolarWinds  and  Kaseya  in recent years, have once again underlined the need to secure the software supply chain. The targeting of MSPs by malicious cyber actors in an effort to "expl

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has  added  the recently disclosed F5 BIG-IP flaw to its  Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog  following reports of  active abuse  in the wild. The flaw, assigned the identifier  CVE-2022-1388  (CVSS score: 9.8), concerns a  critical bug  in the BIG-IP iControl REST endpoint that provides an unauthenticated adversary with a method to execute arbitrary system commands. "An attacker can use this vulnerability to do just about anything they want to on the vulnerable server," Horizon3.ai  said  in a report. "This includes making configuration changes, stealing sensitive information and moving laterally within the target network." Patches and mitigations for the flaw were announced by F5 on May 4, but it has been  subjected  to  in-the-wild   exploitation  over the past week, with attackers attempting to install a web shell that grants backdoor access to the targeted systems. "Due to the ease

An espionage-focused threat actor known for targeting China, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia has expanded to set its sights on Bangladeshi government organizations as part of an ongoing campaign that commenced in August 2021. Cybersecurity firm Cisco Talos attributed the activity with moderate confidence to a hacking group dubbed the  Bitter APT  based on overlaps in the command-and-control (C2) infrastructure with that of prior campaigns mounted by the same actor. "Bangladesh fits the profile we have defined for this threat actor, previously targeting Southeast Asian countries including  China , Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia," Vitor Ventura, lead security researcher at Cisco Talos for EMEA and Asia, told The Hacker News. "And now, in this latest campaign, they have widened their reach to Bangladesh. Any new country in southeast Asia being targeted by Bitter APT shouldn't be of surprise." Bitter (aka APT-C-08 or T-APT-17) is suspected to be a South Asian hacking

Security and IT teams are losing sleep as would-be intruders lay siege to the weakest link in any organization's digital defense: employees. By preying on human emotion, social engineering scams inflict billions of dollars of damage with minimal planning or expertise. Cybercriminals find it easier to manipulate people before resorting to technical "hacking" tactics. Recent research reveals that social engineering is leveraged in 98% of attacks. As the rapid, ongoing acceleration of remote work raises the stakes, security leaders are fighting back with education and awareness. Resources developed by experts, like this new white paper — " Social Engineering: What You Need to Know to Stay Resilient " — identify the most common tactics, track how these types of attacks are evolving, and provide tips to protect organizations and their end-users. These insights not only inform security practitioners of the latest tactics and emerging threats, but help employees unde

The Five Eyes nations comprising  Australia ,  Canada ,  New Zealand ,  the U.K. , and  the U.S. , along with Ukraine and the European Union, formally pinned Russia for masterminding an attack on an international satellite communication ( SATCOM ) provider that had "spillover" effects across Europe. The  cyber offensive , which took place one hour before the Kremlin's military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, targeted the KA-SAT satellite network operated by telecommunications company Viasat, crippling the operations of wind farms and internet users in central Europe. Viasat, in late March,  disclosed  that it had shipped nearly 30,000 modems to distributors to restore service to customers whose modems were rendered unusable. "This cyberattack had a significant impact causing indiscriminate communication outages and disruptions across several public authorities, businesses and users in Ukraine, as well as affecting several E.U. Member States," the Counci