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Update: The U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) has confirmed the takedown of LockBit infrastructure. Read here for more details . An international law enforcement operation has led to the seizure of multiple darknet domains operated by  LockBit , one of the most prolific ransomware groups, marking the latest in a long list of digital takedowns. While the full extent of the effort, codenamed  Operation Cronos , is presently unknown, visiting the group's .onion website displays a seizure banner containing the message "The site is now under the control of law enforcement." Authorities from 11 countries, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S., alongside Europol participated in the joint exercise. Malware research group VX-Underground, in a  message  posted on X (formerly Twitter), said the websites were taken down by exploiting a critical security flaw impacting PHP ( CVE-2023-3824 , CVSS score: 9.8

Efficient communication is a cornerstone of business success. Internally, making sure your team communicates seamlessly helps you avoid friction losses, misunderstandings, delays, and overlaps. Externally, frustration-free customer communication is directly correlated to a positive customer experience and higher satisfaction.  However, business communication channels are also a major target for cybercriminals. In recent years, especially since the pandemic, the number of cyberattacks has skyrocketed.  Statistics show  that last year alone, the number of hacks shot up by 38%. Worse, it still takes a business 277 days on average to identify a breach, causing a loss of $4.35 on average. So, how can businesses safeguard their communication channels against hackers, while still providing the best possible experience for customers and maintaining team productivity? Here's everything you need to know – and which  mistakes you need to avoid . Use Secure Platforms  To begin with, there is

Identities now transcend human boundaries. Within each line of code and every API call lies a non-human identity. These entities act as programmatic access keys, enabling authentication and facilitating interactions among systems and services, which are essential for every API call, database query, or storage account access. As we depend on multi-factor authentication and passwords to safeguard human identities, a pressing question arises: How do we guarantee the security and integrity of these non-human counterparts? How do we authenticate, authorize, and regulate access for entities devoid of life but crucial for the functioning of critical systems? Let's break it down. The challenge Imagine a cloud-native application as a bustling metropolis of tiny neighborhoods known as microservices, all neatly packed into containers. These microservices function akin to diligent worker bees, each diligently performing its designated task, be it processing data, verifying credentials, or

With breaches making the headlines on an almost weekly basis, the cybersecurity challenges we face are becoming visible not only to large enterprises, who have built security capabilities over the years, but also to small to medium businesses and the broader public. While this is creating greater awareness among smaller businesses of the need to improve their security posture, SMBs are often left facing a gap in the market, unable to find security tooling that is both easy for them to use and which they can afford. When we consider the needs of SMBs, we need to focus both on the development of threat intelligence, which is necessary to understand and identify the threats being faced, as well  as the tools used to provide protection . NTTSH has built a pedigree of over 20 years' experience in the research and curation of threat intelligence as well as the development of capabilities and products which leverage its threat intelligence to protect customers. After many years of focus on

The ransomware industry surged in 2023 as it saw an alarming 55.5% increase in victims worldwide, reaching a staggering 4,368 cases.  Figure 1: Year over year victims per quarter The rollercoaster ride from explosive growth in 2021 to a momentary dip in 2022 was just a teaser—2023 roared back with the same fervor as 2021, propelling existing groups and ushering in a wave of formidable newcomers. Figure 2: 2020-2023 ransomware victim count LockBit 3.0 maintained its number one spot with 1047 victims achieved through the  Boeing  attack, the Royal Mail Attack, and more.  Alphv  and  Cl0p  achieved far less success, with 445 and 384 victims attributed to them, respectively, in 2023.  Figure 3: Top 3 active ransomware groups in 2023 These 3 groups were heavy contributors to the boom in ransomware attacks in 2023, but they were not the sole groups responsible. Many attacks came from emerging ransomware gangs such as  8Base , Rhysida, 3AM, Malaslocker,  BianLian , Play,  Akira , and o

A new Android backdoor has been discovered with potent capabilities to carry out a range of malicious actions on infected devices. Dubbed  Xamalicious  by the McAfee Mobile Research Team, the malware is so named for the fact that it's developed using an open-source mobile app framework called Xamarin and abuses the operating system's accessibility permissions to fulfill its objectives. It's also capable of gathering metadata about the compromised device and contacting a command-and-control (C2) server to fetch a second-stage payload, but only after determining if it fits the bill. The second stage is "dynamically injected as an assembly DLL at runtime level to take full control of the device and potentially perform fraudulent actions such as clicking on ads, installing apps, among other actions financially motivated without user consent," security researcher Fernando Ruiz  said . The cybersecurity firm said it identified 25 apps that come with this active thr

Ransomware groups are increasingly switching to remote encryption in their attacks, marking a new escalation in tactics adopted by financially motivated actors to ensure the success of their campaigns. "Companies can have thousands of computers connected to their network, and with remote ransomware, all it takes is one underprotected device to compromise the entire network," Mark Loman, vice president of threat research at Sophos,  said .  "Attackers know this, so they hunt for that one' weak spot' — and most companies have at least one. Remote encryption is going to stay a perennial problem for defenders." Remote encryption  (aka remote ransomware), as the name implies, occurs when a compromised endpoint is used to encrypt data on other devices on the same network. In October 2023, Microsoft  revealed  that around 60% of ransomware attacks now involve malicious remote encryption in an effort to minimize their footprint, with more than 80% of all compr

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Friday  unveiled draft proposals  detailing its plans to tackle data security events in the country using a color-coded system. The effort is designed to "improve the comprehensive response capacity for data security incidents, to ensure timely and effective control, mitigation and elimination of hazards and losses caused by data security incidents, to protect the lawful rights and interests of individuals and organizations, and to safeguard national security and public interests," the department said. The 25-page document encompasses all incidents in which data has been illegally accessed, leaked, destroyed, or tampered with, categorizing them into four hierarchical tiers based on the scope and the degree of harm caused -  Red:  Level I ("especially significant"), which applies to widespread shutdowns, substantial loss of business processing capability, interruptions arising due to serious a

Ransomware attacks  have become a significant and pervasive threat in the ever-evolving realm of cybersecurity. Among the various iterations of ransomware, one trend that has gained prominence is Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS). This alarming development has transformed the cybercrime landscape, enabling individuals with limited technical expertise to carry out devastating attacks. Traditional and double extortion ransomware attacks Traditionally, ransomware refers to a type of malware that encrypts the victim's files, effectively blocking access to data and applications until a ransom is paid to the attacker. However, more contemporary attackers often employ an additional strategy. The bad actors create copies of the compromised data and leverage the threat of publishing sensitive information online unless their demands for ransom are met. This dual approach adds an extra layer of complexity and potential harm to the victims. A new model for ransomware RaaS is the latest busin

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned of active exploitation of a  high-severity Adobe ColdFusion vulnerability  by unidentified threat actors to gain initial access to government servers. "The vulnerability in ColdFusion (CVE-2023-26360) presents as an improper access control issue and exploitation of this CVE can result in arbitrary code execution," CISA  said , adding an unnamed federal agency was targeted between June and July 2023. The shortcoming affects ColdFusion 2018 (Update 15 and earlier versions) and ColdFusion 2021 (Update 5 and earlier versions). It has been addressed in versions Update 16 and Update 6, respectively, released on March 14, 2023. It was added by CISA to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog a day later, citing evidence of active exploitation in the wild. Adobe, in an advisory released around that time, said it's aware of the flaw being "exploited in the wild in very limited attacks."

If forecasters are right, over the course of today, consumers will spend  $13.7 billion . Just about every click, sale, and engagement will be captured by a CRM platform. Inventory applications will trigger automated re-orders; communication tools will send automated email and text messages confirming sales and sharing shipping information.  SaaS applications supporting retail efforts will host nearly all of this behind-the-scenes activity. While retailers are rightfully focused on sales during this time of year, they need to ensure that the SaaS apps supporting their business operations are secure. No one wants a repeat of one of the biggest retail cyber-snafus in history, like when one U.S.-based national retailer had 40 million credit card records stolen.  The attack surface is vast and retailers must remain vigilant in protecting their entire SaaS app stack. For example, many often use multiple instances of the same application. They may use a different Salesforce tenant for eve

The threat actors behind the  Rhysida ransomware  engage in opportunistic attacks targeting organizations spanning various industry sectors. The advisory comes courtesy of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC). "Observed as a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model, Rhysida actors have compromised organizations in education, manufacturing, information technology, and government sectors and any ransom paid is split between the group and affiliates," the agencies  said . " Rhysida actors leverage external-facing remote services, such as virtual private networks (VPNs), Zerologon vulnerability (CVE-2020-1472), and phishing campaigns to gain initial access and persistence within a network." First detected in May 2023,  Rhysida  makes use of the time-tested tactic of double extortion, demanding a ransom payment to decrypt victim