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A Spanish-speaking cybercrime group named GXC Team has been observed bundling phishing kits with malicious Android applications, taking malware-as-a-service (MaaS) offerings to the next level. Singaporean cybersecurity company Group-IB, which has been tracking the e-crime actor since January 2023, described the crimeware solution as a "sophisticated AI-powered phishing-as-a-service platform" capable of targeting users of more than 36 Spanish banks, governmental bodies and 30 institutions worldwide.  The phishing kit is priced anywhere between $150 and $900 a month, whereas the bundle including the phishing kit and Android malware is available on a subscription basis for about $500 per month. Targets of the campaign include users of Spanish financial institutions, as well as tax and governmental services, e-commerce, banks, and cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, and Brazil. As many as 288 phishing domains linked to the activity ha

A zero-day security flaw in Telegram's mobile app for Android called EvilVideo made it possible for attackers to malicious files disguised as harmless-looking videos. The exploit appeared for sale for an unknown price in an underground forum on June 6, 2024, ESET said. Following responsible disclosure on June 26, the issue was addressed by Telegram in version 10.14.5 released on July 11. "Attackers could share malicious Android payloads via Telegram channels, groups, and chat, and make them appear as multimedia files," security researcher Lukáš Štefanko said in a report. It's believed that the payload is concocted using Telegram's application programming interface ( API ), which allows for programmatic uploads of multimedia files to chats and channels. In doing so, it enables an attacker to camouflage a malicious APK file as a 30-second video.  Users who click on the video are displayed an actual warning message stating the video cannot be played and urges t

As a vCISO, you are responsible for your client's cybersecurity strategy and risk governance. This incorporates multiple disciplines, from research to execution to reporting. Recently, we published a comprehensive playbook for vCISOs, "Your First 100 Days as a vCISO – 5 Steps to Success" , which covers all the phases entailed in launching a successful vCISO engagement, along with recommended actions to take, and step-by-step examples.  Following the success of the playbook and the requests that have come in from the MSP/MSSP community, we decided to drill down into specific parts of vCISO reporting and provide more color and examples. In this article, we focus on how to create compelling narratives within a report, which has a significant impact on the overall MSP/MSSP value proposition.  This article brings the highlights of a recent guided workshop we held, covering what makes a successful report and how it can be used to enhance engagement with your cyber security clients.

A suspected pro-Houthi threat group targeted at least three humanitarian organizations in Yemen with Android spyware designed to harvest sensitive information. These attacks, attributed to an activity cluster codenamed OilAlpha , entail a new set of malicious mobile apps that come with their own supporting infrastructure, Recorded Future's Insikt Group said . Targets of the ongoing campaign include, CARE International, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and the Saudi Arabian King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre. "The OilAlpha threat group is highly likely active and executing targeted activity against humanitarian and human rights organizations operating in Yemen, and potentially throughout the Middle East," the cybersecurity company said. OilAlpha was first documented in May 2023 in connection with an espionage campaign targeting development, humanitarian, media, and non-governmental organizations in the Arabian peninsula. These attacks leveraged What

Details have emerged about a "massive ad fraud operation" that leverages hundreds of apps on the Google Play Store to perform a host of nefarious activities. The campaign has been codenamed Konfety – the Russian word for Candy – owing to its abuse of a mobile advertising software development kit (SDK) associated with a Russia-based ad network called CaramelAds . "Konfety represents a new form of fraud and obfuscation, in which threat actors operate 'evil twin' versions of 'decoy twin' apps available on major marketplaces," HUMAN's Satori Threat Intelligence Team said in a technical report shared with The Hacker News. While the decoy apps, totaling more than 250 in number, are harmless and distributed via the Google Play Store, their respective "evil twins" are disseminated through a malvertising campaign designed to facilitate ad fraud, monitor web searches, install browser extensions, and sideload APK files code onto users' d

Retail banking institutions in Singapore have three months to phase out the use of one-time passwords (OTPs) for authentication purposes when signing into online accounts to mitigate the risk of phishing attacks. The decision was announced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) on July 9, 2024. "Customers who have activated their digital token on their mobile device will have to use their digital tokens for bank account logins via the browser or the mobile banking app," the MAS said . "The digital token will authenticate customers' login without the need for an OTP that scammers can steal, or trick customers into disclosing." The MAS is also urging customers to activate their digital tokens to safeguard against attacks that are designed to steal credentials and hijack their accounts for conducting financial fraud. "This measure provides customers with further protection against unauthorized access to

Military personnel from Middle East countries are the target of an ongoing surveillanceware operation that delivers an Android data-gathering tool called GuardZoo . The campaign , believed to have commenced as early as October 2019, has been attributed to a Houthi-aligned threat actor based on the application lures, command-and-control (C2) server logs, targeting footprint, and the attack infrastructure location, according to Lookout. More than 450 victims have been impacted by the malicious activity, with targets located in Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the U.A.E., and Yemen. Telemetry data indicates that most of the infections have been recorded in Yemen. GuardZoo is a modified version of an Android remote access trojan (RAT) named Dendroid RAT that was first discovered by Broadcom-owned Symantec in March 2014. The entire source code associated with the crimeware solution was leaked later that August. Originally marketed as a commodity malware for a one-off price

Cloud communications provider Twilio has revealed that unidentified threat actors took advantage of an unauthenticated endpoint in Authy to identify data associated with Authy accounts, including users' cell phone numbers. The company said it took steps to secure the endpoint to no longer accept unauthenticated requests. The development comes days after an online persona named ShinyHunters published on BreachForums a database comprising 33 million phone numbers allegedly pulled from Authy accounts. Authy, owned by Twilio since 2015, is a popular two-factor authentication (2FA) app that adds an additional layer of account security. "We have seen no evidence that the threat actors obtained access to Twilio's systems or other sensitive data," it said in a July 1, 2024, security alert. But out of an abundance of caution, it's recommending that users upgrade their Android (version 25.1.0 or later) and iOS (version 26.1.0 or later) apps to the latest version. It

A trio of security flaws has been uncovered in the CocoaPods dependency manager for Swift and Objective-C Cocoa projects that could be exploited to stage software supply chain attacks, putting downstream customers at severe risks. The vulnerabilities allow "any malicious actor to claim ownership over thousands of unclaimed pods and insert malicious code into many of the most popular iOS and macOS applications," E.V.A Information Security researchers Reef Spektor and Eran Vaknin said in a report published today. The Israeli application security firm said the three issues have since been patched by CocoaPods as of October 2023. The project maintainers also reset all user sessions at the time in response to the disclosures. One of the vulnerabilities is CVE-2024-38368 (CVSS score: 9.3), which makes it possible for an attacker to abuse the " Claim Your Pods " process and take control of a package, effectively allowing them to tamper with the source code and int

The threat actor known as Transparent Tribe has continued to unleash malware-laced Android apps as part of a social engineering campaign to target individuals of interest. "These APKs continue the group's trend of embedding spyware into curated video browsing applications, with a new expansion targeting mobile gamers, weapons enthusiasts, and TikTok fans," SentinelOne security researcher Alex Delamotte said in a new report shared with The Hacker News. The campaign, dubbed CapraTube, was first outlined by the cybersecurity company in September 2023, with the hacking crew employing weaponized Android apps impersonating legitimate apps like YouTube to deliver a spyware called CapraRAT, a modified version of AndroRAT with capabilities to capture a wide range of sensitive data. Transparent Tribe, suspected to be of Pakistan origin, has leveraged CapraRAT for over two years in attacks targeting the Indian government and military personnel. The group has a history of lea

Apple has released a firmware update for AirPods that could allow a malicious actor to gain access to the headphones in an unauthorized manner. Tracked as CVE-2024-27867, the authentication issue affects AirPods (2nd generation and later), AirPods Pro (all models), AirPods Max, Powerbeats Pro, and Beats Fit Pro. "When your headphones are seeking a connection request to one of your previously paired devices, an attacker in Bluetooth range might be able to spoof the intended source device and gain access to your headphones," Apple said in a Tuesday advisory. In other words, an adversary in physical proximity could exploit the vulnerability to eavesdrop on private conversations. Apple said the issue has been addressed with improved state management. Jonas Dreßler has been credited with discovering and reporting the flaw. It has been patched as part of AirPods Firmware Update 6A326, AirPods Firmware Update 6F8, and Beats Firmware Update 6F8. The development comes two week

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an updated version of an Android banking trojan called Medusa that has been used to target users in Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, the U.K., and the U.S. The new fraud campaigns, observed in May 2024 and active since July 2023, manifested through five different botnets operated by various affiliates, cybersecurity firm Cleafy said in an analysis published last week. The new Medusa samples feature a "lightweight permission set and new features, such as the ability to display a full-screen overlay and remotely uninstall applications," security researchers Simone Mattia and Federico Valentini said. Medusa, also known as TangleBot, is a sophisticated Android malware first discovered in July 2020 targeting financial entities in Turkey. It comes with capabilities to read SMS messages, log keystrokes, capture screenshots, record calls, share the device screen in real-time, and perform unauthorized fund transfers using overlay a

Multiple threat actors, including cyber espionage groups, are employing an open-source Android remote administration tool called Rafel RAT to meet their operational objectives by masquerading it as Instagram, WhatsApp, and various e-commerce and antivirus apps. "It provides malicious actors with a powerful toolkit for remote administration and control, enabling a range of malicious activities from data theft to device manipulation," Check Point said in an analysis published last week. It boasts a wide range of features, such as the ability to wipe SD cards, delete call logs, siphon notifications, and even act as ransomware. The use of Rafel RAT by DoNot Team (aka APT-C-35, Brainworm, and Origami Elephant) was previously highlighted by the Israeli cybersecurity company in cyber attacks that leveraged a design flaw in Foxit PDF Reader to trick users into downloading malicious payloads. The campaign, which took place in April 2024, is said to have utilized military-them

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has announced the extradition of two men from Malaysia for their alleged involvement in a mobile malware campaign targeting citizens in the country since June 2023. The unnamed individuals, aged 26 and 47, engaged in scams that tricked unsuspecting users into downloading malicious apps onto their Android devices via phishing campaigns with the aim of stealing their personal data and banking credentials. The stolen information was subsequently used to initiate fraudulent transactions on the victims' banking accounts, resulting in financial losses. Following a seven-months-long investigation that was launched in November 2023 in partnership with the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) and the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP), the SPF said it found evidence linking the two men to a syndicate responsible for carrying out malware-enabled scams. "The two men [...] allegedly operated servers for the purposes of infecting victims' Android mobile phones w

The threat actor known as Arid Viper has been attributed to a mobile espionage campaign that leverages trojanized Android apps to deliver a spyware strain dubbed AridSpy. "The malware is distributed through dedicated websites impersonating various messaging apps, a job opportunity app, and a Palestinian Civil Registry app," ESET researcher Lukáš Štefanko said in a report published today. "Often these are existing applications that had been trojanized by the addition of AridSpy's malicious code." The activity is said to have spanned as many as five campaigns since 2022, with prior variants of AridSpy documented by Zimperium and 360 Beacon Labs . Three out of the five campaigns are still active. Arid Viper, a suspected Hamas-affiliated actor which is also called APT-C-23, Desert Falcon, Grey Karkadann, Mantis, and Two-tailed Scorpion, has a long track record of using mobile malware since its emergence in 2017. "Arid Viper has historically targeted mil

Google has warned that a security flaw impacting Pixel Firmware has been exploited in the wild as a zero-day. The high-severity vulnerability, tagged as CVE-2024-32896 , has been described as an elevation of privilege issue in Pixel Firmware. The company did not share any additional details related to the nature of attacks exploiting it, but noted "there are indications that CVE-2024-32896 may be under limited, targeted exploitation." The June 2024 security update addresses a total of 50 security vulnerabilities, five of which relate to various components in Qualcomm chipsets. Some of the notable issues patched include denial-of-service (DoS) issue impacting Modem, and numerous information disclosure flaws affecting GsmSs, ACPM, and Trusty.  The updates are available for supported Pixel devices , such as Pixel 5a with 5G, Pixel 6a, Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8a, and Pixel Fold. Earlier this April, Google resolved

Arm is warning of a security vulnerability impacting Mali GPU Kernel Driver that it said has been actively exploited in the wild. Tracked as CVE-2024-4610 , the use-after-free issue impacts the following products - Bifrost GPU Kernel Driver (all versions from r34p0 to r40p0) Valhall GPU Kernel Driver (all versions from r34p0 to r40p0) "A local non-privileged user can make improper GPU memory processing operations to gain access to already freed memory," the company said in an advisory last week. The vulnerability has been addressed in Bifrost and Valhall GPU Kernel Driver r41p0. It's worth noting that this version was released on November 24, 2022. The current version of the drivers is r49p0, which was shipped in April 2024. When reached for comment, Arm told The Hacker News that while it was addressed in 2022, it was provided additional information that reclassified the problem as a security vulnerability. "In 2022 Arm fixed a weakness in the r41p0 re

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed that the LightSpy spyware recently identified as targeting Apple iOS users is in fact a previously undocumented macOS variant of the implant. The findings come from both Huntress Labs and ThreatFabric , which separately analyzed the artifacts associated with the cross-platform malware framework that likely possesses capabilities to infect Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, and routers from NETGEAR, Linksys, and ASUS. "The Threat actor group used two publicly available exploits ( CVE-2018-4233 ,  CVE-2018-4404 ) to deliver implants for macOS," ThreatFabric said in a report published last week. "Part of the CVE-2018-4404 exploit is likely borrowed from the Metasploit framework. macOS version 10 was targeted using those exploits." LightSpy was first publicly reported in 2020, although subsequent reports from Lookout and the Dutch mobile security firm have revealed possible connections between the spyware and an Android s