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Cybersecurity researchers disclosed details of what they say is the "largest botnet" observed in the wild in the last six years, infecting over 1.6 million devices primarily located in China, with the goal of launching distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and inserting advertisements into HTTP websites visited by unsuspecting users. Qihoo 360's Netlab security team dubbed the botnet " Pink " based on a sample obtained on November 21, 2019, owing to a large number of function names starting with "pink." Mainly targeting MIPS-based fiber routers, the botnet leverages a combination of third-party services such as GitHub, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, and central command-and-control (C2) servers for its bots to controller communications, not to mention completely encrypting the transmission channels to prevent the victimized devices from being taken over. "Pink raced with the vendor to retain control over the infected devices, while vendor...

12 people have been detained as part of an international law enforcement operation for orchestrating ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure and large organizations that hit over 1,800 victims across 71 countries since 2019, marking the latest action against cybercrime groups. The arrests were made earlier this week on October 26 in Ukraine and Switzerland, resulting in the seizure of cash worth $52,000, five luxury vehicles, and a number of electronic devices that the agencies said are being examined to uncover new forensic evidence of their malicious activities and pursue new investigative leads. The suspects have been primarily linked to LockerGoga, MegaCortex, and Dharma ransomware, in addition to being in charge of  laundering the ransom payments  by funneling the ill-gotten Bitcoin proceeds through mixing services and cashing them out. "The targeted suspects all had different roles in these professional, highly organised criminal organisations," Europol  ...

An unidentified threat actor has been linked to a new Android malware strain that features the ability to root smartphones and take complete control over infected smartphones while simultaneously taking steps to evade detection. The malware has been named " AbstractEmu " owing to its use of code abstraction and anti-emulation checks undertaken to thwart analysis right from the moment the apps are opened. Notably, the global mobile campaign is engineered to target and infect as many devices as possible indiscriminately. Lookout Threat Labs said it found a total of 19 Android applications that posed as utility apps and system tools like password managers, money managers, app launchers, and data saving apps, seven of which contained the rooting functionality. Only one of the rogue apps, called Lite Launcher, made its way to the official Google Play Store, attracting a total of 10,000 downloads before it was purged. The apps are said to have been prominently distributed via...

SaaS Adoption is Skyrocketing, Resilience Hasn't Kept Pace SaaS platforms have revolutionized how businesses operate. They simplify collaboration, accelerate deployment, and reduce the overhead of managing infrastructure. But with their rise comes a subtle, dangerous assumption: that the convenience of SaaS extends to resilience. It doesn't. These platforms weren't built with full-scale data protection in mind . Most follow a shared responsibility model — wherein the provider ensures uptime and application security, but the data inside is your responsibility. In a world of hybrid architectures, global teams, and relentless cyber threats, that responsibility is harder than ever to manage. Modern organizations are being stretched across: Hybrid and multi-cloud environments with decentralized data sprawl Complex integration layers between IaaS, SaaS, and legacy systems Expanding regulatory pressure with steeper penalties for noncompliance Escalating ransomware threats and inside...

Microsoft on Thursday disclosed details of a new vulnerability that could allow an attacker to bypass security restrictions in macOS and take complete control of the device to perform arbitrary operations on the device without getting flagged by traditional security solutions. Dubbed " Shrootless " and tracked as  CVE-2021-30892 , the "vulnerability lies in how Apple-signed packages with post-install scripts are installed," Microsoft 365 Defender Research Team's Jonathan Bar Or  said  in a technical write-up. "A malicious actor could create a specially crafted file that would hijack the installation process." System Integrity Protection ( SIP ) aka "rootless" is a  security feature  introduced in OS X El Capitan that's designed to protect the macOS operating system by restricting a  root user  from executing unauthorized code or performing operations that may compromise system integrity. Specifically, SIP allows modification of prote...

Winter is Coming for CentOS 8—but here is how you can enjoy your holidays after all. The server environment is complex and if you're managing thousands of Linux servers, the last thing you want is for an operating system vendor to do something completely unexpected. That is exactly what Red Hat, the parent company of the CentOS Project, did when it suddenly announced a  curtailment of support for CentOS 8  – sending thousands of organizations scrambling for an alternative. In this article, we'll review what happened with CentOS 8 and what it means for users who have already upgraded from CentOS release 7 to release 8. We'll also look at your alternatives for replacing CentOS 8. Finally, we'll do a review of your other option: choosing extended support. Extended lifecycle support (ELS) can reduce the pressure to decide on alternative distribution and it may well be the most practical route for many CentOS 8 users. Official support is critical The difficulties arou...

A Russian national, who was arrested in South Korea last month and extradited to the U.S. on October 20, appeared in a federal court in the state of Ohio on Thursday to face charges for his alleged role as a member of the infamous TrickBot group. Court documents showed that Vladimir Dunaev , 38, along with other members of the transnational, cybercriminal organization, stole money and confidential information from unsuspecting victims, including individuals, financial institutions, school districts, utility companies, government entities, and private businesses. Starting its roots as a banking trojan in 2016, TrickBot has  evolved  into a modular, multi-stage Windows-based crimeware solution capable of pilfering valuable personal and financial information, and even dropping ransomware and post-exploitation toolkits on compromised devices. The malware is also  notorious  for its  resilience , having survived at least two takedowns spearheaded by Microsof...

Google on Thursday rolled out an emergency update for its Chrome web browser, including fixes for two zero-day vulnerabilities that it says are being actively exploited in the wild. Tracked as  CVE-2021-38000  and  CVE-2021-38003 , the weaknesses relate to insufficient validation of untrusted input in a feature called Intents as well as a case of inappropriate implementation in V8 JavaScript and WebAssembly engine. The internet giant's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has been credited with discovering and reporting the two flaws on September 15, 2021, and October 26, 2021, respectively. "Google is aware that exploits for CVE-2021-38000 and CVE-2021-38003 exist in the wild," the company  noted  in an advisory without delving into technical specifics about how the two vulnerabilities were used in attacks or the threat actors that may have weaponized them. Also addressed as part of this stable channel update is a  use-after-free  vulnerability in the Web...