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HelpSystems, the company behind the Cobalt Strike software platform, has released an out-of-band security update to address a remote code execution vulnerability that could allow an attacker to take control of targeted systems. Cobalt Strike is a commercial red-team framework that's mainly used for adversary simulation, but cracked versions of the software have been  actively   abused  by ransomware operators and espionage-focused advanced persistent threat (APT) groups alike. The  post-exploitation tool  consists of a team server, which functions as a command-and-control (C2) component, and a beacon, the default malware used to create a connection to the team server and drop next-stage payloads. The issue, tracked as  CVE-2022-42948 , affects Cobalt Strike version 4.7.1, and stems from an incomplete patch released on September 20, 2022, to rectify a cross-site scripting ( XSS ) vulnerability ( CVE-2022-39197 ) that could lead to remote code execution....

The threat actors behind the  Black Basta   ransomware family  have been observed using the Qakbot trojan to deploy the Brute Ratel C4 framework as a second-stage payload in recent attacks. The development marks the first time the  nascent adversary simulation software  is being delivered via a Qakbot infection, cybersecurity firm Trend Micro  said  in a technical analysis released last week. The intrusion, achieved using a phishing email containing a weaponized link pointing to a ZIP archive, further entailed the use of Cobalt Strike for lateral movement. While these legitimate utilities are designed for conducting penetration testing activities, their ability to offer remote access has made them a lucrative tool in the hands of attackers looking to stealthily probe the compromised environment without attracting attention for extended periods of time. This has been compounded by the fact that a  cracked version  of Brute Ratel C4 (BRc4 ...

New research has disclosed what's being called a security vulnerability in Microsoft 365 that could be exploited to infer message contents due to the use of a broken cryptographic algorithm. "The [Office 365 Message Encryption] messages are encrypted in insecure Electronic Codebook ( ECB ) mode of operation," Finnish cybersecurity company WithSecure  said  in a report published last week. Office 365 Message Encryption (OME) is a security mechanism used to send and receive encrypted email messages between users inside and outside an organization without revealing anything about the communications themselves. A consequence of the newly disclosed issue is that rogue third-parties gaining access to the encrypted email messages may be able to decipher the messages, effectively breaking confidentiality protections. Electronic Codebook is one of the simplest modes of encryption wherein each message block is encoded separately by a key, meaning identical plaintext blocks wi...

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Don't let the ongoing " crypto winter " lull you into a false sense of cybersecurity. Even as  cryptocurrencies lose value  — and some crypto companies  file for bankruptcy  —  cryptojacking  still poses an urgent threat to enterprises across industries, from financial services to healthcare to industry 4.0 and beyond.  Broadly speaking, cryptojacking is defined as the unauthorized and illegitimate use of an unwitting party's compute and/or server power by a malicious actor to mine cryptocurrencies. While everyone with an internet connection is technically vulnerable to cryptojacking, most attacks target enterprises with significant compute resources, especially those with an outsized number of third-party relationships. (More on that last part in a bit.) And if a malicious actor can breach your cybersecurity defenses for cryptojacking purposes, they can breach them for any number of nefarious reasons.  Under normal conditions, mining for crypt...

A new ransomware campaign targeted the transportation and logistics sectors in Ukraine and Poland on October 11 with a previously unknown payload dubbed  Prestige . "The activity shares victimology with recent Russian state-aligned activity, specifically on affected geographies and countries, and overlaps with previous victims of the  FoxBlade  malware (also known as HermeticWiper)," the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC)  said . The tech giant remarked the intrusions occurred within an hour of each other across all victims, attributing the infections to an unnamed cluster called DEV-0960. It did not disclose the scale of the attacks, but stated it's notifying all affected customers. The campaign is also believed to be distinct from other recent destructive attacks that have involved the use of  HermeticWiper  and  CaddyWiper , the latter of which is launched by a malware loader called  ArguePatch  (aka AprilAxe). The method o...

Zimbra has  released patches  to contain an actively exploited security flaw in its enterprise collaboration suite that could be leveraged to upload arbitrary files to vulnerable instances. Tracked as  CVE-2022-41352  (CVSS score: 9.8), the issue affects a component of the Zimbra suite called  Amavis , an open source content filter, and more specifically, the cpio utility it uses to scan and extract archives. The flaw, in turn, is said to be rooted in another underlying vulnerability ( CVE-2015-1197 ) that was first disclosed in early 2015, which  according to Flashpoint  was rectified, only to be subsequently reverted in later Linux distributions. "An attacker can use cpio package to gain incorrect access to any other user accounts," Zimbra said in an advisory published last week, adding it "recommends pax over cpio." Fixes are available in the following versions - Zimbra 9.0.0 Patch 27 Zimbra 8.8.15 Patch 34 All an adversary seeking needs ...

The International Criminal Police Organization, also called the Interpol, has announced the arrests of 75 individuals as part of a coordinated global operation against an organized cyber crime syndicate called  Black Axe . "'Black Axe' and other West African organized crime groups have developed transnational networks, defrauding victims of millions while channeling their profits into lavish lifestyles and other criminal activities, from drug trafficking to sexual exploitation," the agency  said . The law enforcement effort, codenamed Operation Jackal, involved the participation of Argentina, Australia, Côte d'Ivoire, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa, the U.A.E, the U.K., and the U.S. Black Axe, which originated as a confraternity in Nigeria around 1977 before evolving into a mafia group, has not only been linked to killing and scamming operations, but also has been accused of infiltrating the country's political s...