The Hacker News | #1 Trusted Source for Cybersecurity News — Index Page

A threat actor, presumably from Tunisia, has been linked to a new campaign targeting exposed Jupyter Notebooks in a two-fold attempt to illicitly mine cryptocurrency and breach cloud environments. Dubbed  Qubitstrike  by Cado, the intrusion set utilizes Telegram API to exfiltrate cloud service provider credentials following a successful compromise. "The payloads for the Qubitstrike campaign are all hosted on codeberg.org – an alternative Git hosting platform, providing much of the same functionality as GitHub," security researchers Matt Muir and Nate Bill  said  in a Wednesday write-up. In the attack chain documented by the cloud security firm, publicly accessible Jupyter instances are breached to execute commands to retrieve a shell script (mi.sh) hosted on Codeberg. The shell script, which acts as the primary payload, is responsible for executing a cryptocurrency miner, establishing persistence by means of a cron job, inserting an attacker-controlled key to t...

Government entities in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region are the target of a long-running cyber espionage campaign dubbed  TetrisPhantom . "The attacker covertly spied on and harvested sensitive data from APAC government entities by exploiting a particular type of secure USB drive, protected by hardware encryption to ensure the secure storage and transfer of data between computer systems," Kaspersky  said  in its APT trends report for Q3 2023. The Russian cybersecurity firm, which detected the ongoing activity in early 2023, said the USB drives offer hardware encryption and are employed by government organizations worldwide to securely store and transfer data, raising the possibility that the attacks could expand in the future to have a global footprint. The clandestine intrusion set has not been linked to any known threat actor or group, but the high-level of sophistication of the campaign points to a nation-state crew. "These operations were conducted by a highly sk...

A medium-severity flaw has been discovered in Synology's DiskStation Manager ( DSM ) that could be exploited to decipher an administrator's password and remotely hijack the account. "Under some rare conditions, an attacker could leak enough information to restore the seed of the pseudorandom number generator (PRNG), reconstruct the admin password, and remotely take over the admin account," Claroty's Sharon Brizinov  said  in a Tuesday report. The flaw, assigned the identifier CVE-2023-2729, is rated 5.9 for severity on the CVSS scoring scale. The flaw was addressed by Synology as part of  updates  released in June 2023. The problem is rooted in the fact that the software uses a weak random number generator that relies on the JavaScript  Math.random() method  to programmatically construct the admin password for the network-attached storage (NAS) device. Referred to as insecure randomness, it  arises  when a function that can produce predictab...

Taiwanese networking equipment manufacturer D-Link has confirmed a data breach that led to the exposure of what it said is "low-sensitivity and semi-public information." "The data was confirmed not from the cloud but likely originated from an old D-View 6 system, which reached its end of life as early as 2015," the company  said . "The data was used for registration purposes back then. So far, no evidence suggests the archaic data contained any user IDs or financial information." The development comes more than two weeks after an unauthorized party alleged to have stolen the personal data of many government officials in Taiwan as well as the source code for D-Link's D-View network management software in a post shared on BreachForums on October 1, 2023. D-Link, which roped in cybersecurity firm Trend Micro to probe the incident, cited numerous inaccuracies and exaggerations, stating that the breach led to the compromise of roughly 700 "outdate...

In what's the latest evolution of threat actors abusing legitimate infrastructure for nefarious ends, new findings show that nation-state hacking groups have entered the fray in leveraging the social platform for targeting critical infrastructure. Discord, in recent years, has become a lucrative target, acting as a fertile ground for  hosting malware  using its content delivery network (CDN) as well as allowing information stealers to  siphon sensitive data  off the app and  facilitating data exfiltration  by means of webhooks. "The usage of Discord is largely limited to information stealers and grabbers that anyone can buy or download from the Internet," Trellix researchers Ernesto Fernández Provecho and David Pastor Sanz  said  in a Monday report. But that may be changing, for the cybersecurity firm said it found evidence of an artifact targeting Ukrainian critical infrastructures. There is currently no evidence linking it to a known threat...

Two critical security flaws discovered in the open-source  CasaOS  personal cloud software could be successfully exploited by attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution and take over susceptible systems. The vulnerabilities, tracked as  CVE-2023-37265  and  CVE-2023-37266 , both carry a CVSS score of 9.8 out of a maximum of 10. Sonar security researcher Thomas Chauchefoin, who discovered the bugs,  said  they "allow attackers to get around authentication requirements and gain full access to the CasaOS dashboard." Even more troublingly, CasaOS' support for third-party applications could be weaponized to run arbitrary commands on the system to gain persistent access to the device or pivot into internal networks. Following responsible disclosure on July 3, 2023, the flaws were addressed in  version 0.4.4  released by its maintainers IceWhale on July 14, 2023. A brief description of the two flaws is as follows - CVE-2023-37265  ...

Financial data is much more than just a collection of numbers; it is a crucial component of any business and a prime target for cybercriminals. It's important to understand that financial records can be a veritable treasure trove for digital pirates. A security breach not only puts customers' personal information in jeopardy but also enables fraudsters to drain company funds and exploit clients. Data threats can arise from a variety of sources, ranging from malicious actors with harmful intentions to simple mistakes, such as sending a confidential email to the wrong recipient. The methods used to compromise data are diverse and constantly evolving, including ransomware attacks and inadvertent leaks in cloud storage. Navigating this complex landscape can be daunting, but knowledge is empowering. We're excited to announce that we are hosting an exclusive webinar in collaboration with experts from Win Zip. Titled " Locking Down Financial and Accounting Data — Best Dat...

Recently, the cybersecurity landscape has been confronted with a daunting new reality – the rise of malicious Generative AI, like FraudGPT and WormGPT. These rogue creations, lurking in the dark corners of the internet, pose a distinctive threat to the world of digital security. In this article, we will look at the nature of Generative AI fraud, analyze the messaging surrounding these creations, and evaluate their potential impact on cybersecurity. While it's crucial to maintain a watchful eye, it's equally important to avoid widespread panic, as the situation, though disconcerting, is not yet a cause for alarm. Interested in how your organization can protect against generative AI attacks with an advanced email security solution?  Get an IRONSCALES demo .  Meet FraudGPT and WormGPT FraudGPT  represents a subscription-based malicious Generative AI that harnesses sophisticated machine learning algorithms to generate deceptive content. In stark contrast to ethical AI mode...

A severity flaw impacting industrial cellular routers from Milesight may have been actively exploited in real-world attacks, new findings from VulnCheck reveal. Tracked as  CVE-2023-43261  (CVSS score: 7.5), the vulnerability has been described as a case of information disclosure that affects UR5X, UR32L, UR32, UR35, and UR41 routers before version 35.3.0.7 that could enable attackers to access logs such as httpd.log as well as other sensitive credentials. As a result, this could permit remote and unauthenticated attackers to gain unauthorized access to the web interface, thereby making it possible to configure VPN servers and even drop firewall protections. "This  vulnerability  becomes even more severe as some routers allow the sending and receiving of SMS messages," security researcher Bipin Jitiya, who discovered the issue,  said  earlier this month. "An attacker could exploit this functionality for fraudulent activities, potentially causing financi...

The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) has revealed that threat actors "interfered" with at least 11 telecommunication service providers in the country between May and September 2023. The agency is tracking the activity under the name UAC-0165, stating the intrusions led to service interruptions for customers. The starting point of the attacks is a reconnaissance phase in which a telecom company's network is scanned to identify exposed RDP or SSH interfaces and potential entry points. "It should be noted that reconnaissance and exploitation activities are carried out from previously compromised servers located, in particular, in the Ukrainian segment of the internet," CERT-UA  said . "To route traffic through such nodes, Dante, SOCKS5, and other proxy servers are used." The attacks are notable for the use of two specialized programs called POEMGATE and POSEIDON that enable credential theft and remote control of the infected ho...

Cisco has warned of a critical, unpatched security flaw impacting IOS XE software that's under active exploitation in the wild. Rooted in the web UI feature, the zero-day vulnerability is tracked as  CVE-2023-20198  and has been assigned the maximum severity rating of 10.0 on the CVSS scoring system. It's worth pointing out that the shortcoming only affects enterprise networking gear that have the web UI feature enabled and when it's exposed to the internet or to untrusted networks. "This vulnerability allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to create an account on an affected system with privilege  level 15 access ," Cisco  said  in a Monday advisory. "The attacker can then use that account to gain control of the affected system." The problem impacts both physical and virtual devices running Cisco IOS XE software that also have the HTTP or HTTPS server feature enabled. As a mitigation, it's recommended to disable the HTTP server feature on internet-facin...

Pro-Russian hacking groups have exploited a recently disclosed security vulnerability in the WinRAR archiving utility as part of a phishing campaign designed to harvest credentials from compromised systems. "The attack involves the use of malicious archive files that exploit the recently discovered vulnerability affecting the WinRAR compression software versions prior to 6.23 and traced as CVE-2023-38831," Cluster25  said  in a report published last week. The archive contains a booby-trapped PDF file that, when clicked, causes a Windows Batch script to be executed, which launches PowerShell commands to open a reverse shell that gives the attacker remote access to the targeted host. Also deployed is a PowerShell script that steals data, including login credentials, from the Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers. The captured information is exfiltrated via a legitimate web service webhook[.]site. CVE-2023-38831 refers to a  high-severity flaw  in WinRAR that ...

The Android banking trojan known as  SpyNote  has been dissected to reveal its diverse information-gathering features. Typically spread via SMS phishing campaigns, attack chains involving the spyware trick potential victims into installing the app by clicking on the embedded link, according to F-Secure. Besides requesting invasive permissions to access call logs, camera, SMS messages, and external storage, SpyNote is known for hiding its presence from the Android home screen and the  Recents screen  in a bid to make it difficult to avoid detection. "The SpyNote malware app can be launched via an external trigger," F-Secure researcher Amit Tambe  said  in an analysis published last week. "Upon receiving the intent, the malware app launches the main activity." But most importantly, it seeks accessibility permissions, subsequently leveraging it to grant itself additional permissions to record audio and phone calls, log keystrokes, as well as capture scre...

SaaS Security's roots are in configuration management. An astounding 35% of all security breaches begin with security settings that were misconfigured. In the past 3 years, the initial access vectors to SaaS data have widened beyond misconfiguration management. " SaaS Security on Tap " is a new video series that takes place in Eliana V's bar making sure that the only thing that leaks is beer (maximum), and not SaaS data. This series takes a look at the key concepts within SaaS security and educates organizations on what new threat vectors need to be addressed. The Annual SaaS Security Survey Report: 2024 Plans and Priorities With the increase in SaaS application use, it's no surprise that incidents are up. The SaaS Security on Tap series covers this year's SaaS Security report which found that 55% of organizations have experienced a SaaS security incident within the last two years, including data leaks, data breaches, ransomware attacks, and malicious applications.  The r...

Encrypted messaging app Signal has pushed back against "viral reports" of an alleged zero-day flaw in its software, stating it found no evidence to support the claim. "After responsible investigation *we have no evidence that suggests this vulnerability is real* nor has any additional info been shared via our official reporting channels," it  said  in a series of messages posted in X (formerly Twitter). Signal said it also checked with the U.S. government and that it found no information to suggest "this is a valid claim." It's also urging those with legitimate information to send reports to security@signal[.]org. The development comes as  reports   circulated  over the  weekend  about a zero-day vulnerability in Signal that could be exploited to gain complete access to a targeted mobile device. As a security precaution, it's been advised to turn off  link previews  in the app. The feature can be disabled by going to Signal Settings >...

Threat actors have been observed serving malicious code by utilizing Binance's Smart Chain (BSC) contracts in what has been described as the "next level of bulletproof hosting." The campaign, detected two months ago, has been codenamed  EtherHiding  by Guardio Labs. The novel twist marks the latest iteration in an ongoing malware campaign that leverages compromised WordPress sites to serve unsuspecting visitors a fake warning to update their browsers before the sites can be accessed, ultimately leading to the deployment of information stealer malware such as Amadey, Lumma, or RedLine. "While their initial method of hosting code on abused Cloudflare Worker hosts was taken down, they've quickly pivoted to take advantage of the decentralized, anonymous, and public nature of blockchain," security researchers Nati Tal and Oleg Zaytsev  said . "This campaign is up and harder than ever to detect and take down." It's no surprise that threat act...

Microsoft has announced that it  plans  to eliminate NT LAN Manager ( NTLM ) in Windows 11 in the future, as it pivots to alternative methods for authentication and bolster security. "The focus is on strengthening the Kerberos authentication protocol, which has been the default since 2000, and reducing reliance on NT LAN Manager (NTLM)," the tech giant said. "New features for Windows 11 include Initial and Pass Through Authentication Using Kerberos (IAKerb) and a local Key Distribution Center ( KDC ) for Kerberos." IAKerb enables clients to authenticate with Kerberos across a diverse range of network topologies. The second feature, a local Key Distribution Center (KDC) for Kerberos, extends Kerberos support to local accounts. First introduced in the 1990s, NTLM is a  suite of security protocols  intended to provide authentication, integrity, and confidentiality to users. It is a single sign-on (SSO) tool that relies on a challenge-response protocol that proves ...

European Union military personnel and political leaders working on gender equality initiatives have emerged as the target of a new campaign that delivers an updated version of RomCom RAT called  PEAPOD . Cybersecurity firm Trend Micro attributed the attacks to a threat actor it tracks under the name  Void Rabisu , which is also known as Storm-0978, Tropical Scorpius, and UNC2596, and is also believed to be associated with Cuba ransomware. The adversarial collective is something of an unusual group in that it conducts both financial motivated and espionage attacks, blurring the line between their modes of operation. It's also exclusively linked to the use of RomCom RAT. Attacks  involving the use of the backdoor  have singled out Ukraine and countries that support Ukraine in its war against Russia over the past year. Earlier this July, Microsoft implicated Void Rabisu to the exploitation of  CVE-2023-36884 , a remote code execution flaw in Office and Window...