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The threat actor tracked as Mustang Panda has refined its malware arsenal to include new tools in order to facilitate data exfiltration and the deployment of next-stage payloads, according to new findings from Trend Micro. The cybersecurity firm, which is monitoring the activity cluster under the name Earth Preta, said it observed "the propagation of PUBLOAD via a variant of the worm HIUPAN." PUBLOAD is a known downloader malware linked to Mustang Panda since early 2022, deployed as part of cyber attacks targeting government entities in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region to deliver the PlugX malware . "PUBLOAD was also used to introduce supplemental tools into the targets' environment, such as FDMTP to serve as a secondary control tool, which was observed to perform similar tasks as that of PUBLOAD; and PTSOCKET, a tool used as an alternative exfiltration option," security researchers Lenart Bermejo, Sunny Lu, and Ted Lee said. Mustang Panda's use of re...

A novel side-channel attack has been found to leverage radio signals emanated by a device's random access memory (RAM) as a data exfiltration mechanism, posing a threat to air-gapped networks. The technique has been codenamed RAMBO (short for "Radiation of Air-gapped Memory Bus for Offense") by Dr. Mordechai Guri, the head of the Offensive Cyber Research Lab in the Department of Software and Information Systems Engineering at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. "Using software-generated radio signals, malware can encode sensitive information such as files, images, keylogging, biometric information, and encryption keys," Dr. Guri said in a newly published research paper. "With software-defined radio (SDR) hardware, and a simple off-the-shelf antenna, an attacker can intercept transmitted raw radio signals from a distance. The signals can then be decoded and translated back into binary information." Over the years, Dr. Guri has conco...

The proliferation of cybersecurity tools has created an illusion of security. Organizations often believe that by deploying a firewall, antivirus software, intrusion detection systems, identity threat detection and response , and other tools, they are adequately protected. However, this approach not only fails to address the fundamental issue of the attack surface but also introduces dangerous third-party risk to the mix. The world of cybersecurity is in a constant state of flux, with cybercriminals becoming increasingly sophisticated in their tactics. In response, organizations are investing heavily in cybersecurity tools, hoping to build an impenetrable fortress around their digital assets. However, the belief that adding "just one more cybersecurity tool" will magically fix your attack surface and enhance your protection is a dangerous misconception. The limitations of cybersecurity tools Cybersecurity tools, while essential, have inherent limitations. They are designe...

The Colombian insurance sector is the target of a threat actor tracked as Blind Eagle with the end goal of delivering a customized version of a known commodity remote access trojan (RAT) referred to as Quasar RAT since June 2024. "Attacks have originated with phishing emails impersonating the Colombian tax authority," Zscaler ThreatLabz researcher Gaetano Pellegrino said in a new analysis published last week. The advanced persistent threat (APT), also known as AguilaCiega, APT-C-36, and APT-Q-98, has a track record of focusing on organizations and individuals in South America, particularly related to the government and finance sectors in Colombia and Ecuador. The attack chains, as recently documented by Kaspersky, originate with phishing emails that entice recipients into clicking on malicious links that serve as the launchpad for the infection process. The links, either embedded within a PDF attachment or directly in the email body, point to ZIP archives hosted on ...

The China-linked advanced persistent threat (APT) group known as Mustang Panda has been observed weaponizing Visual Studio Code software as part of espionage operations targeting government entities in Southeast Asia. "This threat actor used Visual Studio Code's embedded reverse shell feature to gain a foothold in target networks," Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 researcher Tom Fakterman said in a report, describing it as a "relatively new technique" that was first demonstrated in September 2023 by Truvis Thornton. The campaign is assessed to be a continuation of a previously documented attack activity aimed at an unnamed Southeast Asian government entity in late September 2023. Mustang Panda , also known by the names BASIN, Bronze President, Camaro Dragon, Earth Preta, HoneyMyte, RedDelta, Red Lich, and Stately Taurus, has been operational since 2012, routinely conducting cyber espionage campaigns targeting government and religious entities across Europe an...

GenAI has become a table stakes tool for employees, due to the productivity gains and innovative capabilities it offers. Developers use it to write code, finance teams use it to analyze reports, and sales teams create customer emails and assets. Yet, these capabilities are exactly the ones that introduce serious security risks. Register to our upcoming webinar to learn how to prevent GenAI data leakage When employees input data into GenAI tools like ChatGPT, they often do not differentiate between sensitive and non-sensitive data. Research by LayerX indicates that one in three employees who use GenAI tools, also share sensitive information. This could include source code, internal financial numbers, business plans, IP, PII, customer data, and more. Security teams have been trying to address this data exfiltration risk ever since ChatGPT tumultuously entered our lives in November 2022. Yet, so far the common approach has been to either "allow all" or "block all", i.e allow the use ...

Designed to be more than a one-time assessment— Wing Security's SaaS Pulse provides organizations with actionable insights and continuous oversight into their SaaS security posture—and it's free! Introducing SaaS Pulse: Free Continuous SaaS Risk Management  Just like waiting for a medical issue to become critical before seeing a doctor, organizations can't afford to overlook the constantly evolving risks in their SaaS ecosystems. New SaaS apps, shifting permissions, and emerging threats mean risks are always in motion. SaaS Pulse makes it easy to treat SaaS risk management as an ongoing practice, not just an occasional check-up. Security teams instantly get a real-time security "health" score, prioritized risks, contextualized threat insights, and the organization's app inventory—without setups or integrations. SaaS is a Moving Target SaaS stacks don't stand still. Business critical apps can easily slip into a state of vulnerability (i.e. supply chain attacks, account takeo...

Progress Software has released security updates for a maximum-severity flaw in LoadMaster and Multi-Tenant (MT) hypervisor that could result in the execution of arbitrary operating system commands. Tracked as CVE-2024-7591 (CVSS score: 10.0), the vulnerability has been described as an improper input validation bug that results in OS command injection. "It is possible for unauthenticated, remote attackers who have access to the management interface of LoadMaster to issue a carefully crafted http request that will allow arbitrary system commands to be executed," the company said in an advisory last week. "This vulnerability has been closed by sanitizing request user input to mitigate arbitrary system commands execution." The flaw affects the following versions - LoadMaster (7.2.60.0 and all prior versions) Multi-Tenant Hypervisor (7.1.35.11 and all prior versions) Security researcher Florian Grunow has been credited with discovering and reporting the flaw...

Android device users in South Korea have emerged as a target of a new mobile malware campaign that delivers a new type of threat dubbed SpyAgent . The malware "targets mnemonic keys by scanning for images on your device that might contain them," McAfee Labs researcher SangRyol Ryu said in an analysis, adding the targeting footprint has broadened in scope to include the U.K. The campaign makes use of bogus Android apps that are disguised as seemingly legitimate banking, government facilities, streaming, and utility apps in an attempt to trick users into installing them. As many as 280 fake applications have been detected since the start of the year. It all starts with SMS messages bearing booby-trapped links that urge users to download the apps in question in the form of APK files hosted on deceptive sites. Once installed, they are designed to request intrusive permissions to collect data from the devices. This includes contacts, SMS messages, photos, and other device i...

A previously undocumented threat actor with likely ties to Chinese-speaking groups has predominantly singled out drone manufacturers in Taiwan as part of a cyber attack campaign that commenced in 2024. Trend Micro is tracking the adversary under the moniker TIDRONE , stating the activity is espionage-driven given the focus on military-related industry chains. The exact initial access vector used to breach targets is presently unknown, with Trend Micro's analysis uncovering the deployment of custom malware such as CXCLNT and CLNTEND using remote desktop tools like UltraVNC. An interesting commonality observed across different victims is the presence of the same enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, raising the possibility of a supply chain attack. The attack chains subsequently go through three different stages that are designed to facilitate privilege escalation by means of a User Account Control ( UAC ) bypass, credential dumping, and defense evasion by disabling ant...