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The maintainers of the RubyGems package manager have addressed a critical security flaw that could have been abused to remove gems and replace them with rogue versions under specific circumstances. "Due to a bug in the yank action, it was possible for any RubyGems.org user to remove and replace certain gems even if that user was not authorized to do so," RubyGems  said  in a security advisory published on May 6, 2022. RubyGems, like npm for JavaScript and pip for Python, is a  package manager  and a gem hosting service for the Ruby programming language, offering a repository of more than 171,500 libraries. In a nutshell, the flaw in question, tracked as CVE-2022-29176, enabled anyone to pull certain gems and upload different files with the same name, same version number, and different platforms. For this to happen, however, a gem needed to have one or more dashes in its name, where the word before the dash was the name of an attacker-controlled gem, and which w...

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on an actively maintained remote access trojan called DCRat (aka DarkCrystal RAT) that's offered on sale for "dirt cheap" prices, making it accessible to professional cybercriminal groups and novice actors alike. "Unlike the well-funded, massive Russian threat groups crafting custom malware [...], this remote access Trojan (RAT) appears to be the work of a lone actor, offering a surprisingly effective homemade tool for opening backdoors on a budget," BlackBerry researchers said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "In fact, this threat actor's commercial RAT sells at a fraction of the standard price such tools command on Russian underground forums." Written in .NET by an individual codenamed "boldenis44" and "crystalcoder," DCRat is a full-featured backdoor whose functionalities can be further augmented by third-party plugins developed by affiliates using a dedicated integrated ...

Unless you are living completely off the grid, you know the horrifying war in Ukraine and the related geopolitical tensions have dramatically increased cyberattacks and the threat of even more to come. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) provides guidance to US federal agencies in their fight against cybercrime, and the agency's advice has proven so valuable that it's been widely adopted by commercial organizations too. In February, CISA responded to the current situation by issuing an unusual " SHIELDS UP! " warning and advisory. According to CISA, "Every organization—large and small—must be prepared to respond to disruptive cyber incidents." The announcement from CISA consisted of a range of recommendations to help organizations and individuals reduce the likelihood of a successful attack and limit damage in case the worst happens. It also contains general advice for C-level leaders, as well as a tip sheet on how to respond to r...

A new set of trojanized apps spread via the Google Play Store has been observed distributing the notorious Joker malware on compromised Android devices. Joker, a  repeat   offender , refers to a class of harmful apps that are used for billing and SMS fraud, while also performing a number of actions of a malicious hacker's choice, such as stealing text messages, contact lists, and device information. Despite continued attempts on the part of Google to scale up its defenses, the apps have been continually iterated to search for gaps and slip into the app store undetected. "They're usually spread on Google Play, where scammers download legitimate apps from the store, add malicious code to them and re-upload them to the store under a different name," Kaspersky researcher Igor Golovin  said  in a report published last week. The trojanized apps, taking the place of their removed counterparts, often appear as messaging, health tracking, and PDF scanner apps that, once...

The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) has warned of phishing attacks that deploy an information-stealing malware called Jester Stealer on compromised systems. The mass email campaign carries the subject line "chemical attack" and contains a link to a macro-laced Microsoft Excel file, opening which leads to computers getting infected with Jester Stealer. The attack, which requires potential victims to enable macros after opening the document, works by downloading and executing an .EXE file that is retrieved from compromised web resources, CERT-UA detailed. Jester Stealer, as documented by Cyble in February 2022, comes with features to steal and transmit login credentials, cookies, and credit card information along with data from passwords managers, chat messengers, email clients, crypto wallets, and gaming apps to the attackers. It's purchasable for $99 per month or $249 for lifetime access. "The hackers get the stolen data via Telegram usi...