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Category — email security
CERT-UA Identifies Malicious RDP Files in Latest Attack on Ukrainian Entities

CERT-UA Identifies Malicious RDP Files in Latest Attack on Ukrainian Entities

Oct 26, 2024 Cyber Attack / Threat Intelligence
The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) has detailed a new malicious email campaign targeting government agencies, enterprises, and military entities. "The messages exploit the appeal of integrating popular services like Amazon or Microsoft and implementing a zero-trust architecture," CERT-UA said . "These emails contain attachments in the form of Remote Desktop Protocol ('.rdp') configuration files." Once executed, the RDP files establish a connection with a remote server, enabling the threat actors to gain remote access to the compromised hosts, steal data, and plant additional malware for follow-on attacks. Infrastructure preparation for the activity is believed to have been underway since at least August 2024, with the agency stating that it's likely to spill out of Ukraine to target other countries. CERT-UA has attributed the campaign to a threat actor it tracks as UAC-0215. Amazon Web Services (AWS), in an advisory of its own
Gophish Framework Used in Phishing Campaigns to Deploy Remote Access Trojans

Gophish Framework Used in Phishing Campaigns to Deploy Remote Access Trojans

Oct 22, 2024 Malware / Email Security
Russian-speaking users have become the target of a new phishing campaign that leverages an open-source phishing toolkit called Gophish to deliver DarkCrystal RAT (aka DCRat) and a previously undocumented remote access trojan dubbed PowerRAT. "The campaign involves modular infection chains that are either Maldoc or HTML-based infections and require the victim's intervention to trigger the infection chain," Cisco Talos researcher Chetan Raghuprasad said in a Tuesday analysis. The targeting of Russian-speaking users is an assessment derived from the language used in the phishing emails, the lure content in the malicious documents, links masquerade as Yandex Disk ("disk-yandex[.]ru"), and HTML web pages disguised as VK, a social network predominantly used in the country. Gophish refers to an open-source phishing framework that allows organizations to test their phishing defenses by leveraging easy-to-use templates and launch email-based campaigns that can the
5 SaaS Misconfigurations Leading to Major Fu*%@ Ups

5 SaaS Misconfigurations Leading to Major Fu*%@ Ups

Nov 01, 2024SaaS Security / Insider Threat
With so many SaaS applications, a range of configuration options, API capabilities, endless integrations, and app-to-app connections, the SaaS risk possibilities are endless. Critical organizational assets and data are at risk from malicious actors, data breaches, and insider threats, which pose many challenges for security teams. Misconfigurations are silent killers, leading to major vulnerabilities. So, how can CISOs reduce the noise? What misconfiguration should security teams focus on first? Here are five major SaaS configuration mistakes that can lead to security breaches. #1 Misconfiguration: HelpDesk Admins Have Excessive Privileges Risk: Help desk teams have access to sensitive account management functions making them prime targets for attackers. Attackers can exploit this by convincing help desk personnel to reset MFA for privileged users, gaining unauthorized access to critical systems. Impact: Compromised help desk accounts can lead to unauthorized changes to admin-
Bumblebee and Latrodectus Malware Return with Sophisticated Phishing Strategies

Bumblebee and Latrodectus Malware Return with Sophisticated Phishing Strategies

Oct 22, 2024 Malware / Threat Intelligence
Two malware families that suffered setbacks in the aftermath of a coordinated law enforcement operation called Endgame have resurfaced as part of new phishing campaigns. Bumblebee and Latrodectus , which are both malware loaders, are designed to steal personal data, along with downloading and executing additional payloads onto compromised hosts. Tracked under the names BlackWidow, IceNova, Lotus, or Unidentified 111, Latrodectus, is also considered to be a successor to IcedID owing to infrastructure overlaps between the two malware families. It has been used in campaigns associated with two initial access brokers (IABs) known as TA577 (aka Water Curupira) and TA578. In May 2024, a coalition of European countries said it dismantled over 100 servers linked to several malware strains such as IcedID (and, by extension, Latrodectus), SystemBC, PikaBot, SmokeLoader, Bumblebee, and TrickBot. "Although Latrodectus was not mentioned in the operation, it was also affected and its
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AWS EKS Security Best Practices [Cheat Sheet]

websiteWiz.ioCloud Security / Kubernetes
Unlock this one-stop resource for mastering EKS security best practices and safeguarding your cloud-native applications.
Hackers Exploit Roundcube Webmail XSS Vulnerability to Steal Login Credentials

Hackers Exploit Roundcube Webmail XSS Vulnerability to Steal Login Credentials

Oct 20, 2024 Vulnerability / Email Security
Unknown threat actors have been observed attempting to exploit a now-patched security flaw in the open-source Roundcube webmail software as part of a phishing attack designed to steal user credentials. Russian cybersecurity company Positive Technologies said it discovered last month an email that was sent to an unspecified governmental organization located in one of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. However, it bears noting that the message was originally sent in June 2024. "The email appeared to be a message without text, containing only an attached document," it said in an analysis published earlier this week. "However, the email client didn't show the attachment. The body of the email contained distinctive tags with the statement eval(atob(...)), which decode and execute JavaScript code." The attack chain, per Positive Technologies, is an attempt to exploit CVE-2024-37383 (CVSS score: 6.1), a stored cross-site scripting ( XSS ) v
Researchers Warn of Ongoing Attacks Exploiting Critical Zimbra Postjournal Flaw

Researchers Warn of Ongoing Attacks Exploiting Critical Zimbra Postjournal Flaw

Oct 02, 2024 Email Security / Vulnerability
Cybersecurity researchers are warning about active exploitation attempts targeting a newly disclosed security flaw in Synacor's Zimbra Collaboration. Enterprise security firm Proofpoint said it began observing the activity starting September 28, 2024. The attacks seek to exploit CVE-2024-45519 , a severe security flaw in Zimbra's postjournal service that could enable unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands on affected installations. "The emails spoofing Gmail were sent to bogus addresses in the CC fields in an attempt for Zimbra servers to parse and execute them as commands," Proofpoint said in a series of posts on X. "The addresses contained Base64 strings that are executed with the sh utility." The critical issue was addressed by Zimbra in versions 8.8.15 Patch 46, 9.0.0 Patch 41, 10.0.9, and 10.1.1 released on September 4, 2024. A security researcher named lebr0nli (Alan Li) has been credited with discovering and reporting the short
Expert Tips on How to Spot a Phishing Link

Expert Tips on How to Spot a Phishing Link

Sep 25, 2024 Cyber Awareness / Threat Detection
Phishing attacks are becoming more advanced and harder to detect, but there are still telltale signs that can help you spot them before it's too late. See these key indicators that security experts use to identify phishing links: 1. Check Suspicious URLs  Phishing URLs are often long, confusing, or filled with random characters. Attackers use these to disguise the link's true destination and mislead users.  The first step in protecting yourself is to inspect the URL carefully. Always ensure it begins with "HTTPS," as the "s" indicates a secure connection using an SSL certificate.  However, keep in mind that SSL certificates alone are not enough. Cyber attackers have increasingly used legitimate-looking HTTPS links to distribute malicious content. This is why you should be suspicious of links that are overly complex or look like a jumble of characters.  Tools like ANY.RUN's Safebrowsing allow users to check suspicious links in a secure and isolated environment w
Transportation Companies Hit by Cyberattacks Using Lumma Stealer and NetSupport Malware

Transportation Companies Hit by Cyberattacks Using Lumma Stealer and NetSupport Malware

Sep 25, 2024 Email Security / Threat Intelligence
Transportation and logistics companies in North America are the target of a new phishing campaign that delivers a variety of information stealers and remote access trojans (RATs). The activity cluster, per Proofpoint, makes use of compromised legitimate email accounts belonging to transportation and shipping companies so as to inject malicious content into existing email conversations. As many as 15 breached email accounts have been identified as used as part of the campaign. It's currently not clear how these accounts are infiltrated in the first place or who is behind the attacks. "Activity which occurred from May to July 2024 predominately delivered Lumma Stealer, StealC, or NetSupport," the enterprise security firm said in an analysis published Tuesday. "In August 2024, the threat actor changed tactics by employing new infrastructure and a new delivery technique, as well as adding payloads to deliver DanaBot and Arechclient2." The attack chains invol
Cybercriminals Exploit HTTP Headers for Credential Theft via Large-Scale Phishing Attacks

Cybercriminals Exploit HTTP Headers for Credential Theft via Large-Scale Phishing Attacks

Sep 16, 2024 Threat Detection / Email Security
Cybersecurity researchers have warned of ongoing phishing campaigns that abuse refresh entries in HTTP headers to deliver spoofed email login pages that are designed to harvest users' credentials. "Unlike other phishing webpage distribution behavior through HTML content, these attacks use the response header sent by a server, which occurs before the processing of the HTML content," Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 researchers Yu Zhang, Zeyu You, and Wei Wang said . "Malicious links direct the browser to automatically refresh or reload a web page immediately, without requiring user interaction." Targets of the large-scale activity, observed between May and July 2024, include large corporations in South Korea, as well as government agencies and schools in the U.S. As many as 2,000 malicious URLs have been associated with the campaigns. Over 36% of the attacks have singled out the business-and-economy sector, followed by financial services (12.9%), government (6.9%)
New Phishing Scam Uses Google Drawings and WhatsApp Shortened Links

New Phishing Scam Uses Google Drawings and WhatsApp Shortened Links

Aug 08, 2024 Network Security / Cloud Security
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a novel phishing campaign that leverages Google Drawings and shortened links generated via WhatsApp to evade detection and trick users into clicking on bogus links designed to steal sensitive information. "The attackers chose a group of the best-known websites in computing to craft the threat, including Google and WhatsApp to host the attack elements, and an Amazon look-alike to harvest the victim's information," Menlo Security researcher Ashwin Vamshi said . "This attack is a great example of a Living Off Trusted Sites ( LoTS ) threat." The starting point of the attack is a phishing email that directs the recipients to a graphic that appears to be an Amazon account verification link. This graphic, for its part, is hosted on Google Drawings, in an apparent effort to evade detection. Abusing legitimate services has obvious benefits for attackers in that they're not only a low-cost solution, but more importantly,
Roundcube Webmail Flaws Allow Hackers to Steal Emails and Passwords

Roundcube Webmail Flaws Allow Hackers to Steal Emails and Passwords

Aug 07, 2024 Email Security / Vulnerability
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of security flaws in the Roundcube webmail software that could be exploited to execute malicious JavaScript in a victim's web browser and steal sensitive information from their account under specific circumstances. "When a victim views a malicious email in Roundcube sent by an attacker, the attacker can execute arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser," cybersecurity company Sonar said in an analysis published this week. "Attackers can abuse the vulnerability to steal emails, contacts, and the victim's email password as well as send emails from the victim's account." Following responsible disclosure on June 18, 2024, the three vulnerabilities have been addressed in Roundcube versions 1.6.8 and 1.5.8 released on August 4, 2024. The list of vulnerabilities is as follows - CVE-2024-42008 - A cross-site scripting flaw via a malicious email attachment served with a dangerous Content-Type head
INTERPOL Recovers $41 Million in Largest Ever BEC Scam in Singapore

INTERPOL Recovers $41 Million in Largest Ever BEC Scam in Singapore

Aug 06, 2024 Email Security / Financial Fraud
INTERPOL said it devised a "global stop-payment mechanism" that helped facilitate the largest-ever recovery of funds defrauded in a business email compromise ( BEC ) scam.  The development comes after an unnamed commodity firm based in Singapore fell victim to a BEC scam in mid-July 2024. It refers to a type of cybercrime where a malicious actor poses as a trusted figure and uses email to trick targets into sending money or divulging confidential company information. Such attacks can take place in myriad ways, including gaining unauthorized access to a finance employee or a law firm's email account to send fake invoices or impersonating a third-party vendor to email a phony bill. "On 15 July, the firm had received an email from a supplier requesting that a pending payment be sent to a new bank account based in Timor-Leste," INTERPOL said in a press statement. "The email, however, came from a fraudulent account spelled slightly different to the supplier
Cybercriminals Abusing Cloudflare Tunnels to Evade Detection and Spread Malware

Cybercriminals Abusing Cloudflare Tunnels to Evade Detection and Spread Malware

Aug 02, 2024 Malware / Network Security
Cybersecurity companies are warning about an uptick in the abuse of Clouflare's TryCloudflare free service for malware delivery. The activity, documented by both eSentire and Proofpoint , entails the use of TryCloudflare to create a rate-limited tunnel that acts as a conduit to relay traffic from an attacker-controlled server to a local machine through Cloudflare's infrastructure. Attack chains taking advantage of this technique have been observed delivering a cocktail of malware families such as AsyncRAT, GuLoader, PureLogs Stealer, Remcos RAT, Venom RAT, and XWorm. The initial access vector is a phishing email containing a ZIP archive, which includes a URL shortcut file that leads the message recipient to a Windows shortcut file hosted on a TryCloudflare-proxied WebDAV server. The shortcut file, in turn, executes next-stage batch scripts responsible for retrieving and executing additional Python payloads, while simultaneously displaying a decoy PDF document hosted on
How To Get the Most From Your Security Team’s Email Alert Budget

How To Get the Most From Your Security Team's Email Alert Budget

Jul 31, 2024 Email Security / Data Protection
We'll TL;DR the FUDdy introduction: we all know that phishing attacks are on the rise in scale and complexity, that AI is enabling more sophisticated attacks that evade traditional defenses, and the never-ending cybersecurity talent gap means we're all struggling to keep security teams fully staffed.  Given that reality, security teams need to be able to monitor and respond to threats effectively and efficiently. You obviously can't let real threats slip past unnoticed, but you also can't afford to waste time chasing false positives.  In this post, we're going to look at some of the ways Material Security 's unique approach to email security and data protection can dramatically–and quantifiably–save your security teams hours each week while improving the effectiveness of your security program.  What's Your Alert Budget? Before we dive into the "how," let's take a moment to look at why efficiency is critical in security operations. To do that, let's think about how many alerts can
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