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A new Python-based hacking tool called  FBot  has been uncovered targeting web servers, cloud services, content management systems (CMS), and SaaS platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft 365, PayPal, Sendgrid, and Twilio. "Key features include credential harvesting for spamming attacks, AWS account hijacking tools, and functions to enable attacks against PayPal and various SaaS accounts," SentinelOne security researcher Alex Delamotte  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. FBot is the latest addition to the list of cloud hacking tools like  AlienFox, GreenBot  (aka Maintance),  Legion , and  Predator , the latter four of which share code-level overlaps with AndroxGh0st. SentinelOne described FBot as "related but distinct from these families," owing to the fact that it does not reference any source code from AndroxGh0st, although it exhibits similarities with Legion, which first came to light last year. The end goal of...

Generative AI will enable anyone to launch sophisticated phishing attacks that only Next-generation MFA devices can stop The least surprising headline from 2023 is that ransomware again set new records for a number of incidents and the damage inflicted. We saw new headlines every week, which included a who's-who of big-name organizations. If MGM, Johnson Controls, Chlorox, Hanes Brands, Caesars Palace, and so many others cannot stop the attacks, how will anyone else? Phishing-driven ransomware is the cyber threat that looms larger and more dangerous than all others. CISA and Cisco report that 90% of data breaches are the result of phishing attacks and monetary losses that exceed $10 billion in total. A report from Splunk revealed that 96 percent of companies fell victim to at least one phishing attack in the last 12 months and 83 percent suffered two or more. Protect your organization from phishing and ransomware by learning about the benefits of Next-Generation MFA. Download th...

Cybersecurity researchers have identified an updated version of a macOS information stealer called  Atomic  (or AMOS), indicating that the threat actors behind the malware are actively enhancing its capabilities. "It looks like Atomic Stealer was updated around mid to late December 2023, where its developers introduced payload encryption in an effort to bypass detection rules," Malwarebytes' Jérôme Segura  said  in a Wednesday report. Atomic Stealer  first emerged  in April 2023 for a monthly subscription of $1,000. It's capable of harvesting sensitive information from a compromised host, including Keychain passwords, session cookies, files, crypto wallets, system metadata, and the machine's password via a fake prompt. Over the past several months, the malware has been observed propagated via  malvertising  and  compromised sites  under the guise of legitimate software and web browser updates. Malwarebytes' latest analysis shows th...

The compromise of Mandiant's X (formerly Twitter) account last week was likely the result of a "brute-force password attack," attributing the hack to a drainer-as-a-service (DaaS) group. "Normally, [two-factor authentication] would have mitigated this, but due to some team transitions and a change in X's 2FA policy , we were not adequately protected," the threat intelligence firm  said  in a post shared on X. The attack, which took place on January 3, 2023,  enabled  the threat actor to take control of the company's X account and distribute links to a phishing page hosting a cryptocurrency drainer tracked as CLINKSINK. Drainers refer to malicious scripts and smart contracts that facilitate the theft of digital assets from the victim's wallets after they are tricked into approving the transactions. According to the Google-owned subsidiary, multiple threat actors are believed to have leveraged CLINKSINK since December 2023 to siphon funds and tok...

A pair of zero-day flaws identified in Ivanti Connect Secure (ICS) and Policy Secure have been chained by suspected China-linked nation-state actors to breach less than 10 customers. Cybersecurity firm Volexity, which  identified  the activity on the network of one of its customers in the second week of December 2023, attributed it to a hacking group it tracks under the name  UTA0178 . There is evidence to suggest that the VPN appliance may have been compromised as early as December 3, 2023. The two vulnerabilities that have been exploited in the wild to achieve unauthenticated command execution on the ICS device are as follows - CVE-2023-46805  (CVSS score: 8.2) - An authentication bypass vulnerability in the web component of Ivanti Connect Secure (9.x, 22.x) and Ivanti Policy Secure allows a remote attacker to access restricted resources by bypassing control checks. CVE-2024-21887  (CVSS score: 9.1) - A command injection vulnerability in web components...

Cisco has released software updates to address a critical security flaw impacting Unity Connection that could permit an adversary to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying system. Tracked as  CVE-2024-20272  (CVSS score: 7.3), the vulnerability is an arbitrary file upload bug residing in the web-based management interface and is the result of a lack of authentication in a specific API and improper validation of user-supplied data. "An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by uploading arbitrary files to an affected system," Cisco  said  in an advisory released Wednesday. "A successful exploit could allow the attacker to store malicious files on the system, execute arbitrary commands on the operating system, and elevate privileges to root." The flaw impacts the following versions of Cisco Unity Connection. Version 15 is not vulnerable. 12.5 and earlier (Fixed in version 12.5.1.19017-4) 14 (Fixed in version 14.0.1.14006-5) Security researcher Maxim ...

A new Mirai-based botnet called  NoaBot  is being used by threat actors as part of a crypto mining campaign since the beginning of 2023. "The capabilities of the new botnet, NoaBot, include a wormable self-spreader and an SSH key backdoor to download and execute additional binaries or spread itself to new victims," Akamai security researcher Stiv Kupchik said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Mirai , which had its source code leaked in 2016, has been the progenitor of a number of botnets, the most recent being  InfectedSlurs , which is capable of mounting distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. There are indications that NoaBot could be linked to another botnet campaign involving a Rust-based malware family known as  P2PInfect , which recently received an update to target routers and IoT devices. This is based on the fact that threat actors have also experimented with dropping P2PInfect in place of NoaBot in recent attacks targeting SSH servers, i...

IT professionals have developed a sophisticated understanding of the enterprise attack surface – what it is, how to quantify it and how to manage it.  The process is simple: begin by thoroughly assessing the attack surface, encompassing the entire IT environment. Identify all potential entry and exit points where unauthorized access could occur. Strengthen these vulnerable points using available market tools and expertise to achieve the desired cybersecurity posture.  While conceptually straightforward, this is an incredibly tedious task that consumes the working hours of CISOs and their organizations. Both the enumeration and the fortification pose challenges: large organizations use a vast array of technologies, such as server and endpoint platforms, network devices, and business apps. Reinforcing each of these components becomes a frustrating exercise in integration with access control, logging, patching, monitoring, and more, creating a seemingly endless list of tasks....

A decryptor for the Tortilla variant of the Babuk ransomware has been  released  by Cisco Talos, allowing victims targeted by the malware to regain access to their files. The cybersecurity firm said the threat intelligence it shared with Dutch law enforcement authorities made it possible to arrest the threat actor behind the operations. The encryption key has also been shared with Avast, which had previously  released a decryptor  for Babuk ransomware after its  source code was leaked  in September 2021. The updated decryptor can be accessed  here  [EXE file]. "A single private key is used for all victims of the Tortilla threat actor," Avast  noted . "This makes the update to the decryptor especially useful, as all victims of the campaign can use it to decrypt their files." The Tortilla campaign was  first disclosed  by Talos in November 2021, with the attacks leveraging  ProxyShell flaws in Microsoft Exchange servers ...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday prohibited data broker Outlogic , which was previously known as X-Mode Social , from sharing or selling any sensitive location data with third-parties. The ban is part of a  settlement  over allegations that the company "sold precise location data that could be used to track people's visits to sensitive locations such as medical and reproductive health clinics, places of religious worship and domestic abuse shelters." The  proposed order  also requires it to destroy all the location data it previously gathered unless it obtains consumer consent or ensures the data has been de-identified or rendered non-sensitive as well as maintain a comprehensive list of sensitive locations and develop a comprehensive privacy program with a data retention schedule to prevent abuse. The FTC accused X-Mode Social and Outlogic of failing to establish adequate safeguards to prevent the misuse of such data by downstream customers. Th...

Microsoft has addressed a total of  48 security flaws  spanning its software as part of its Patch Tuesday updates for January 2024. Of the 48 bugs, two are rated Critical and 46 are rated Important in severity. There is no evidence that any of the issues are publicly known or under active attack at the time of release, making it the second consecutive Patch Tuesday with no zero-days. The fixes are in addition to  nine security vulnerabilities  that have been resolved in the Chromium-based Edge browser since the release of  December 2023 Patch Tuesday  updates. This also includes a fix for a zero-day ( CVE-2023-7024 , CVSS score: 8.8) that Google said has been actively exploited in the wild. The most critical among the flaws patched this month are as follows - CVE-2024-20674  (CVSS score: 9.0) - Windows Kerberos Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability CVE-2024-20700  (CVSS score: 7.5) - Windows Hyper-V Remote Code Execution Vulnerability "Th...

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has  added  six security flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities ( KEV ) catalog, citing evidence of active exploitation. This includes  CVE-2023-27524  (CVSS score: 8.9), a high-severity vulnerability impacting the Apache Superset open-source data visualization software that could enable remote code execution. It was fixed in version 2.1. Details of the issue  first came to light  in April 2023, with Horizon3.ai's Naveen Sunkavally describing it as a "dangerous default configuration in Apache Superset that allows an unauthenticated attacker to gain remote code execution, harvest credentials, and compromise data." It's currently not known how the vulnerability is being exploited in the wild. Also added by CISA are five other flaws - CVE-2023-38203  (CVSS score: 9.8) - Adobe ColdFusion Deserialization of Untrusted Data Vulnerability CVE-2023-29300  (CVSS score: 9.8) - Ado...