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Cybersecurity researchers are warning of a spike in suspicious login scanning activity targeting Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS GlobalProtect gateways, with nearly 24,000 unique IP addresses attempting to access these portals. "This pattern suggests a coordinated effort to probe network defenses and identify exposed or vulnerable systems, potentially as a precursor to targeted exploitation," threat intelligence firm GreyNoise said . The surge is said to have commenced on March 17, 2025, sustaining at nearly 20,000 unique IP addresses per day before dropping off on March 26. At its peak, 23,958 unique IP addresses are estimated to have participated in the activity. Of these, only a smaller subset of 154 IP addresses has been flagged as malicious. The United States and Canada have emerged as the top sources of traffic, followed by Finland, the Netherlands, and Russia. The activity has primarily targeted systems in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Russia, and Sin...

Explore how relying on CSRF tokens as a security measure against CSRF attacks is a recommended best practice, but in some cases, they are simply not enough. Introduction As per the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), CSRF vulnerabilities are recognized as a significant threat and are historically part of their top risks. The implications of CSRF attacks are far-reaching and could lead to critical security implications, such as: Unauthorized actions : Attackers can trick users into executing unwanted actions on websites where they're authenticated. For example, changing account settings, making purchases, or transferring funds. Identity exploitation : The attack works by exploiting the victim's authenticated session, making the application unable to distinguish between legitimate user requests and forged ones. Silent execution : CSRF attacks often happen without the victim's knowledge as they can be hidden in seemingly innocent links, images, or embedded c...

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a new China-linked threat actor called Earth Alux that has targeted various key sectors such as government, technology, logistics, manufacturing, telecommunications, IT services, and retail in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Latin American (LATAM) regions. "The first sighting of its activity was in the second quarter of 2023; back then, it was predominantly observed in the APAC region," Trend Micro researchers Lenart Bermejo, Ted Lee, and Theo Chen said in a technical report published Monday. "Around the middle of 2024, it was also spotted in Latin America." The primary targets of the adversarial collective span countries such as Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brazil. The infection chains begin with the exploitation of vulnerable services in internet-exposed web applications, using them to drop the Godzilla web shell for facilitating the deployment of additional payloads, including backdoors dubbed VA...

A newly released report by cybersecurity firm CTM360 reveals a large-scale scam operation utilizing fake news websites—known as Baiting News Sites (BNS)—to deceive users into online investment fraud across 50 countries. These BNS pages are made to look like real news outlets: CNN, BBC, CNBC, or regional media. They publish fake stories that feature public figures, central banks, or financial brands, all claiming to back new ways to earn passive income. The goal? Build trust quickly and steer readers toward professional-looking scam platforms like Trap10, Solara Vynex, or Eclipse Earn. Scammers use sponsored ads on Google, Meta, and blog networks to push traffic to these sites. Ads often carry clickbait headlines—"You won't believe what a prominent public figure just revealed"—paired with official photos or national flags to make them feel legit. Clicking the ad directs users to a fake article, which then redirects them to a fraudulent trading platform. Many of these scams follow a...

Apple has been hit with a fine of €150 million ($162 million) by France's competition watchdog over the implementation of its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy framework. The Autorité de la concurrence said it's imposing a financial penalty against Apple for abusing its dominant position as a distributor of mobile applications for iOS and iPadOS devices between April 26, 2021 and July 25, 2023. ATT, introduced by the iPhone maker with iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5, is a framework that requires mobile apps to seek users' explicit consent in order to access their device's unique advertising identifier (i.e., the Identifier for Advertisers or IDFA ) and track them across apps and websites for purposes targeted advertising. "Unless you receive permission from the user to enable tracking, the device's advertising identifier value will be all zeros and you may not track them," Apple notes on its website. "While you can display the AppTr...

The threat actors behind the zero-day exploitation of a recently-patched security vulnerability in Microsoft Windows have been found to deliver two new backdoors called SilentPrism and DarkWisp . The activity has been attributed to a suspected Russian hacking group called Water Gamayun , which is also known as EncryptHub and LARVA-208. "The threat actor deploys payloads primarily by means of malicious provisioning packages, signed .msi files, and Windows MSC files, using techniques like the IntelliJ runnerw.exe for command execution," Trend Micro researchers Aliakbar Zahravi and Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim said in a follow-up analysis published last week. Water Gamayun has been linked to the active exploitation of CVE-2025-26633 (aka MSC EvilTwin), a vulnerability in the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) framework, to execute malware by means of a rogue Microsoft Console (.msc) file. The attack chains involve the use of provisioning packages (.ppkg), signed Microsoft Windows...

Every week, someone somewhere slips up—and threat actors slip in. A misconfigured setting, an overlooked vulnerability, or a too-convenient cloud tool becomes the perfect entry point. But what happens when the hunters become the hunted? Or when old malware resurfaces with new tricks? Step behind the curtain with us this week as we explore breaches born from routine oversights—and the unexpected cracks they reveal in systems we trust. ⚡ Threat of the Week Google Patches Actively Exploited Chrome 0-Day — Google has addressed a high-severity security flaw in its Chrome browser for Windows that has been exploited by unknown actors as part of a sophisticated attack aimed at Russian entities. The flaw, CVE-2025-2783 (CVSS score: 8.3), is said to have been combined with another exploit to break out of the browser's sandbox and achieve remote code execution. The attacks involved distributing specially crafted links via phishing emails that, when clicked and launched using Chrome, trig...

Threat actors are using the "mu-plugins" directory in WordPress sites to conceal malicious code with the goal of maintaining persistent remote access and redirecting site visitors to bogus sites. mu-plugins, short for must-use plugins , refers to plugins in a special directory ("wp-content/mu-plugins") that are automatically executed by WordPress without the need to enable them explicitly via the admin dashboard. This also makes the directory an ideal location for staging malware. "This approach represents a concerning trend, as the mu-plugins (Must-Use plugins) are not listed in the standard WordPress plugin interface, making them less noticeable and easier for users to ignore during routine security checks," Sucuri researcher Puja Srivastava said in an analysis. In the incidents analyzed by the website security company, three different kinds of rogue PHP code have been discovered in the directory - "wp-content/mu-plugins/redirect.php," ...

If you're using AWS, it's easy to assume your cloud security is handled - but that's a dangerous misconception. AWS secures its own infrastructure, but security within a cloud environment remains the customer's responsibility. Think of AWS security like protecting a building: AWS provides strong walls and a solid roof, but it's up to the customer to handle the locks, install the alarm systems, and ensure valuables aren't left exposed. In this blog, we'll clarify what AWS doesn't secure, highlight real-world vulnerabilities, and how cloud security scanners like Intruder can help. Understanding the AWS Shared Responsibility Model AWS operates on a Shared Responsibility Model . In simple terms: AWS is responsible for securing the underlying infrastructure (e.g., hardware, networking, data centers) - the "walls and roof." The customer is responsible for securing their data, applications, and configurations within AWS - the "locks and al...

Entities in Ukraine have been targeted as part of a phishing campaign designed to distribute a remote access trojan called Remcos RAT . "The file names use Russian words related to the movement of troops in Ukraine as a lure," Cisco Talos researcher Guilherme Venere said in a report published last week. "The PowerShell downloader contacts geo-fenced servers located in Russia and Germany to download the second stage ZIP file containing the Remcos backdoor." The activity has been attributed with moderate confidence to a Russian hacking group known as Gamaredon , which is also tracked under the monikers Aqua Blizzard, Armageddon, Blue Otso, BlueAlpha, Hive0051, Iron Tilden, Primitive Bear, Shuckworm, Trident Ursa, UAC-0010, UNC530, and Winterflounder.  The threat actor, assessed to be affiliated with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), is known for its targeting of Ukrainian organizations for espionage and data theft. It's operational since at least ...

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has shed light on a new malware called RESURGE that has been deployed as part of exploitation activity targeting a now-patched security flaw in Ivanti Connect Secure (ICS) appliances. "RESURGE contains capabilities of the SPAWNCHIMERA malware variant, including surviving reboots; however, RESURGE contains distinctive commands that alter its behavior," the agency said . "The file contains capabilities of a rootkit, dropper, backdoor, bootkit, proxy, and tunneler." The security issue associated with the deployment of the malware is CVE-2025-0282 , a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability affecting Ivanti Connect Secure, Policy Secure, and ZTA Gateways that could result in remote code execution. It impacts the following versions - Ivanti Connect Secure before version 22.7R2.5 Ivanti Policy Secure before version 22.7R1.2, and  Ivanti Neurons for ZTA gateways before version 22.7R2.3 According...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new Android banking malware called Crocodilus that's primarily designed to target users in Spain and Turkey. "Crocodilus enters the scene not as a simple clone, but as a fully-fledged threat from the outset, equipped with modern techniques such as remote control, black screen overlays, and advanced data harvesting via accessibility logging," ThreatFabric said . As with other banking trojans of its kind, the malware is designed to facilitate device takeover ( DTO ) and ultimately conduct fraudulent transactions. An analysis of the source code and the debug messages reveals that the malware author is Turkish-speaking. The Crocodilus artifacts analyzed by the Dutch mobile security company masquerade as Google Chrome (package name: "quizzical.washbowl.calamity"), which act as a dropper capable of  bypassing Android 13+ restrictions .  Once installed and launched, the app requests permission to Android's access...