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How much time do developers spend actually writing code? According to recent studies , developers spend more time maintaining, testing and securing existing code than they do writing or improving code. Security vulnerabilities have a bad habit of popping up during the software development process, only to surface after an application has been deployed. The disappointing part is that many of these security flaws and bugs could have been resolved in an earlier stage and there are proper methods and tools to uncover them. How much time does a developer spend on learning to write a functioning code? And how much is spent on learning about code security? Or learning how not to code?" Wouldn't it be better to eradicate the problem from the system rather than having it there, and then trying to detect and stop an ongoing attack targeting it? You can test your secure coding skills with this short  self-assessment. The true cost of bugs Everyone makes mistakes, even developers. ...

In another finding that could expose developers to increased risk of a supply chain attack, it has emerged that nearly one-third of the packages in PyPI, the Python Package Index, trigger automatic code execution upon downloading them. "A worrying feature in pip/PyPI allows code to automatically run when developers are merely downloading a package," Checkmarx researcher Yehuda Gelb  said  in a technical report published this week. "Also, this feature is alarming due to the fact that a great deal of the malicious packages we are finding in the wild use this feature of code execution upon installation to achieve higher infection rates." One of the ways by which packages can be installed for Python is by executing the " pip install " command, which, in turn, invokes a file called "setup.py" that comes bundled along with the module. "setup.py," as the name implies, is a  setup script  that's used to specify metadata associated wit...

Researchers have identified functional similarities between a malicious component used in the Raspberry Robin infection chain and a Dridex malware loader, further strengthening the operators' connections to the Russia-based Evil Corp group. The findings suggest that "Evil Corp is likely using Raspberry Robin infrastructure to carry out its attacks," IBM Security X-Force researcher Kevin Henson  said  in a Thursday analysis. Raspberry Robin (aka QNAP Worm), first  discovered  by cybersecurity company Red Canary in September 2021, has remained something of a mystery for nearly a year, partly owing to the noticeable lack of post-exploitation activities in the wild. That changed in July 2022 when Microsoft  revealed  that it observed the  FakeUpdates  (aka SocGholish) malware being delivered via existing Raspberry Robin infections, with potential connections identified between DEV-0206 and DEV-0243 (aka Evil Corp). The malware is known to be del...

A "major" security issue in the Google Chrome web browser, as well as Chromium-based alternatives, could allow malicious web pages to automatically overwrite clipboard content without requiring any user consent or interaction by simply visiting them. The clipboard poisoning attack is said to have been accidentally introduced in Chrome version 104, according to developer Jeff Johnson. While the problem exists in Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox as well, what makes the issue severe in Chrome is that the requirement for a user gesture to copy content to the clipboard is currently broken. User gestures include selecting a piece of text and pressing Control+C (or ⌘-C for macOS) or selecting "Copy" from the context menu. "Therefore, a gesture as innocent as clicking on a link or pressing the arrow key to scroll down the page gives the website permission to overwrite your system clipboard," Johnson  noted . The ability to substitute clipboard data poses se...

So far 2022 confirms that passwords are not dead yet. Neither will they be anytime soon. Even though Microsoft and Apple are championing passwordless authentication methods, most applications and websites will not remove this option for a very long time. Think about it, internal apps that you do not want to integrate with third-party identity providers, government services, legacy applications, and even SaaS providers may not want to invest in new integrations or restrict their existing authentication methods. After all, online businesses are interested in user traction, and security usually brings friction. For example, a few days ago,  Kickstarter sent out millions of password reset  emails "simplifying its login process," including for people that used social login without a password.  Though you may be able to remove passwords from many enterprise components, a large portion of third-party providers, government portals, business suppliers, and SaaS services will st...

The operators of the emerging cross-platform BianLian ransomware have increased their command-and-control (C2) infrastructure this month, a development that alludes to an increase in the group's operational tempo. BianLian, written in the Go programming language, was first discovered in mid-July 2022 and has claimed 15 victim organizations as of September 1, cybersecurity firm [redacted] said in a  report  shared with The Hacker News. It's worth noting that the double extortion ransomware family has no connection to an  Android banking trojan  of the same name, which targets mobile banking and cryptocurrency apps to siphon sensitive information. Initial access to victim networks is achieved via successful exploitation of the  ProxyShell  Microsoft Exchange Server flaws, leveraging it to either drop a web shell or an ngrok payload for follow-on activities. "BianLian has also targeted SonicWall VPN devices for exploitation, another common target for ran...

Researchers have identified 1,859 apps across Android and iOS containing hard-coded Amazon Web Services (AWS) credentials, posing a major security risk. "Over three-quarters (77%) of the apps contained valid AWS access tokens allowing access to private AWS cloud services," Symantec's Threat Hunter team, a part of Broadcom Software, said in a  report  shared with The Hacker News. Interestingly, a little more than 50% of the apps were found using the same AWS tokens found in other apps maintained by other developers and companies, highlighting a supply chain issue with serious implications. "The AWS access tokens could be traced to a shared library, third-party SDK, or other shared component used in developing the apps," the researchers said. These credentials are typically used for downloading appropriate resources necessary for the app's functions as well as accessing configuration files and authenticating to other cloud services. To make matters wors...