data breach | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

North Korean threat actors behind the ongoing Contagious Interview campaign have been observed dropping a new JavaScript malware called OtterCookie . Contagious Interview (aka DeceptiveDevelopment ) refers to a persistent attack campaign that employs social engineering lures, with the hacking crew often posing as recruiters to trick individuals looking for potential job opportunities into downloading malware under the guise of an interview process. This involves distributing malware-laced videoconferencing apps or npm packages either hosted on GitHub or the official package registry, paving the way for the deployment of malware such as BeaverTail and InvisibleFerret. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42, which first exposed the activity in November 2023, is tracking the cluster under the moniker CL-STA-0240. It's also referred to as Famous Chollima and Tenacious Pungsan. In September 2024, Singaporean cybersecurity company Group-IB documented the first major revision to the attack c...

A Brazilian citizen has been charged in the United States for allegedly threatening to release data stolen by hacking into a company's network in March 2020. Junior Barros De Oliveira , 29, of Curitiba, Brazil has been charged with four counts of extortionate threats involving information obtained from protected computers and four counts of threatening communications, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said in an unsealed indictment earlier this week. The said victim, a Brazilian subsidiary of a New Jersey-based company, had its computers breached by the defendant, who then exploited the access to steal confidential customer information from about 300,000 customers on at least three occasions. De Oliveira is alleged to have subsequently sent the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company an email message in September 2020 using an alias, demanding a payment of 300 bitcoin (valued at about $3.2 million at the time) in return for not selling the data. A month later, the de...

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The online world never takes a break, and this week shows why. From ransomware creators being caught to hackers backed by governments trying new tricks, the message is clear: cybercriminals are always changing how they attack, and we need to keep up. Hackers are using everyday tools in harmful ways, hiding spyware in trusted apps, and finding new ways to take advantage of old security gaps. These events aren't random—they show just how clever and flexible cyber threats can be. In this edition, we'll look at the most important cyber events from the past week and share key takeaways to help you stay safe and prepared. Let's get started. ⚡ Threat of the Week LockBit Developer Rostislav Panev Charged in the U.S. — Rostislav Panev, a 51-year-old dual Russian and Israeli national, has been charged in the U.S. for allegedly acting as the developer of the now-disrupted LockBit ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation, netting about $230,000 between June 2022 and February 2024. Panev was ...

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, has been fined €251 million (around $263 million) for a 2018 data breach that impacted millions of users in the bloc, in what's the latest financial hit the company has taken for flouting stringent privacy laws. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) said the data breach impacted approximately 29 million Facebook accounts globally, of which approximately 3 million were based in the European Union and European Economic Area (EEA). It's worth noting that initial estimates from the tech giant had pegged the total number of affected accounts at 50 million. The incident, which the social media company disclosed back in September 2018, arose from a bug that was introduced to Facebook's systems in July 2017, allowing unknown threat actors to exploit the "View As" feature that lets a user see their own profile as someone else. This ultimately made it possible to obtain account ac...

Even the best companies with the most advanced tools can still get hacked. It's a frustrating reality: you've invested in the right solutions, trained your team, and strengthened your defenses. But breaches still happen. So, what's going wrong? The truth is, that attackers are constantly finding new ways to slip through cracks that often go unnoticed—even in well-prepared organizations. The good news? These cracks can be found and fixed—if you know where to look. Join John Paul Cunningham, CISO at Silverfort, for a must-attend webinar that uncovers why breaches still happen and how to close the gaps in your security. John Paul will break down complex ideas into clear, actionable steps to help you protect your company. This webinar isn't about more tools—it's about seeing the risks you've missed and learning practical ways to address them before attackers take advantage. What You'll Learn: In this webinar , you'll discover: Why breaches still happen: How attackers bypass even...

This past week has been packed with unsettling developments in the world of cybersecurity. From silent but serious attacks on popular business tools to unexpected flaws lurking in everyday devices, there's a lot that might have flown under your radar. Attackers are adapting old tricks, uncovering new ones, and targeting systems both large and small. Meanwhile, law enforcement has scored wins against some shady online marketplaces, and technology giants are racing to patch problems before they become a full-blown crisis. If you've been too busy to keep track, now is the perfect time to catch up on what you may have missed. ⚡ Threat of the Week Cleo Vulnerability Comes Under Active Exploitation — A critical vulnerability (CVE-2024-50623) in Cleo's file transfer software—Harmony, VLTrader, and LexiCom—has been actively exploited by cybercriminals , creating major security risks for organizations worldwide. The flaw enables attackers to execute code remotely without authorization...

The U.S. government on Tuesday unsealed charges against a Chinese national for allegedly breaking into thousands of Sophos firewall devices globally in 2020. Guan Tianfeng (aka gbigmao and gxiaomao), who is said to have worked at Sichuan Silence Information Technology Company, Limited, has been charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Guan has been accused of developing and testing a zero-day security vulnerability used to conduct the attacks against Sophos firewalls. "Guan Tianfeng is wanted for his alleged role in conspiring to access Sophos firewalls without authorization, cause damage to them, and retrieve and exfiltrate data from both the firewalls themselves and the computers behind these firewalls," the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said . "The exploit was used to infiltrate approximately 81,000 firewalls." The then-zero-day vulnerability in question is CVE-2020-12271 (CVSS score: 9.8), a severe S...

Users of Cleo-managed file transfer software are being urged to ensure that their instances are not exposed to the internet following reports of mass exploitation of a vulnerability affecting fully patched systems. Cybersecurity company Huntress said it discovered evidence of threat actors exploiting the issue en masse on December 3, 2024. The vulnerability, which impacts Cleo's LexiCom, VLTransfer, and Harmony software, concerns a case of unauthenticated remote code execution. The security hole is tracked as CVE-2024-50623 (CVSS score: 9.8), with Cleo noting that the flaw is the result of an unrestricted file upload that could pave the way for the execution of arbitrary code. The Illinois-based company, which has over 4,200 customers across the world, has since issued another advisory (CVE-2024-55956), warning of a separate "unauthenticated malicious hosts vulnerability that could lead to remote code execution." The development comes after Huntress said the pat...

This week's cyber world is like a big spy movie. Hackers are breaking into other hackers' setups, sneaky malware is hiding in popular software, and AI-powered scams are tricking even the smartest of us. On the other side, the good guys are busting secret online markets and kicking out shady chat rooms, while big companies rush to fix new security holes before attackers can jump in. Want to know who's hacking who, how they're doing it, and what's being done to fight back? Stick around—this recap has the scoop. ⚡ Threat of the Week Turla Hackers Hijack Pakistan Hackers' Infrastructure — Imagine one hacker group sneaking into another hacker group 's secret hideout and using their stuff to carry out their own missions. That's basically what the Russia-linked Turla group has been doing since December 2022. They broke into the servers of a Pakistani hacking team called Storm-0156 and used those servers to spy on government and military targets in Afghanistan and India. By doing th...