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Behind the strategies and solutions needed to counter today's cyber threats are—dedicated cybersecurity researchers. They spend their lives dissecting code and analyzing incident reports to discover how to stop the bad guys.  But what drives these specialists? To understand the motivations for why these cybersecurity pros do what they do, we decided to talk with cybersecurity analysts from around the world. To get viewpoints from across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, we recently spoke with a team of researchers from Acronis' global network of Cyber Protection Operations Centers (CPOCs):  Candid Wüest , VP of Cyber Protection Research who is based in Switzerland;  Alexander Ivanyuk , Senior Director, Product, and Technology Positioning, who is based in Singapore; and two Cybersecurity Analysts,  Topher Tebow  and  Blake Collins , who are both based in the U.S. The conversation yielded some interesting insights into their views of the world, how they app...

The 2021 spring edition of  Pwn2Own  hacking contest concluded last week on April 8 with a three-way tie between Team Devcore, OV, and Computest researchers Daan Keuper and Thijs Alkemade. A total of $1.2 million was awarded for 16 high-profile exploits over the course of the three-day virtual event organized by the Zero Day Initiative (ZDI). Targets with successful attempts included Zoom, Apple Safari, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Teams, Parallels Desktop, Windows 10, and Ubuntu Desktop operating systems. Some of the major highlights are as follows — Using an authentication bypass and a local privilege escalation to completely take over a Microsoft Exchange server, for which the Devcore team netted $200,000 Chaining a pair of bugs to achieve code execution in Microsoft Teams, earning researcher OV $200,000 A zero-click exploit targeting Zoom that employed a three-bug chain to exploit the messenger app and gain code execution on the target system. ($200,000) The exp...

APKPure, one of the largest alternative app stores outside of the Google Play Store, was infected with malware this week, allowing threat actors to distribute Trojans to Android devices. In a supply-chain attack similar to that of German telecommunications  equipment manufacturer Gigaset , the APKPure client version 3.17.18 is said to have been tampered with in an attempt to trick unsuspecting users into downloading and installing malicious applications linked to the malicious code built into the APKpure app. The development was reported by researchers from  Doctor Web  and  Kaspersky . "This trojan belongs to the dangerous Android.Triada malware family capable of downloading, installing and uninstalling software without users' permission," Doctor Web researchers said. According to Kaspersky, the APKPure version 3.17.18 was tweaked to incorporate an advertisement SDK that acts as a Trojan dropper designed to deliver other malware to a victim's device. "This...

While phishing and ransomware dominate headlines, another critical risk quietly persists across most enterprises: exposed Git repositories leaking sensitive data. A risk that silently creates shadow access into core systems Git is the backbone of modern software development, hosting millions of repositories and serving thousands of organizations worldwide. Yet, amid the daily hustle of shipping code, developers may inadvertently leave behind API keys, tokens, or passwords in configuration files and code files, effectively handing attackers the keys to the kingdom. This isn't just about poor hygiene; it's a systemic and growing supply chain risk. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, so do compliance requirements. Security frameworks like NIS2, SOC2, and ISO 27001 now demand proof that software delivery pipelines are hardened and third-party risk is controlled. The message is clear: securing your Git repositories is no longer optional, it's essential. Below, we look at the ris...

A previously undocumented malware downloader has been spotted in the wild in phishing attacks to deploy credential stealers and other malicious payloads. Dubbed " Saint Bot ," the malware is said to have first appeared on the scene in January 2021, with indications that it's under active development. "Saint Bot is a downloader that appeared quite recently, and slowly is getting momentum. It was seen dropping stealers (i.e.  Taurus  Stealer) or further loaders ( example ), yet its design allows [it] to utilize it for distributing any kind of malware," said Aleksandra "Hasherezade" Doniec, a threat intelligence analyst at Malwarebytes . "Furthermore, Saint Bot employs a wide variety of techniques which, although not novel, indicate some level of sophistication considering its relatively new appearance." The infection chain analyzed by the cybersecurity firm begins with a phishing email containing an embedded ZIP file ("bitcoin.zip...

For organizations that deal with the defense infrastructure – cybersecurity is more than just a buzzword. Recently the US Department of Defense (DoD) created a new certification process – the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certificate (CMMC) – to ensure that all its vendors and contractors follow established best cybersecurity practices. For organizations that work along the DoD supply chain, this means adhering to a strict regulatory framework, which can be quite complex. For one, must ensure that cybersecurity processes and practices are aligned with the type and sensitivity of the information that needs to be protected. Even though the model is tiered (from "basic cybersecurity hygiene" to "advanced"), organizations will expend a significant effort to ensure they align with the compliance level appropriate for their contracts. This is why one XDR provider has created a new guide to demonstrate how it helps organizations achieve CMMC compliance ( download the whitepaper here ). T...

Networking equipment major Cisco Systems has said it does not plan to fix a critical security vulnerability affecting some of its Small Business routers, instead urging users to replace the devices. The bug, tracked as CVE-2021-1459, is rated with a CVSS score of 9.8 out of 10, and affects RV110W VPN firewall and Small Business RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers, allowing an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on an affected appliance. The flaw, which stems from improper validation of user-supplied input in the web-based management interface, could be exploited by a malicious actor to send specially-crafted HTTP requests to the targeted device and achieve remote code execution. "A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code as the root user on the underlying operating system of the affected device," Cisco  said  in its advisory. Security researcher Treck Zhou has been credited with reporting the vulnerability. Although th...

Gigaset has revealed a malware infection discovered in its Android devices was the result of a compromise of a server belonging to an external update service provider. Impacting older smartphone models — GS100, GS160, GS170, GS180, GS270 (plus), and GS370 (plus) series — the malware took the form of multiple  unwanted apps  that were downloaded and installed through a pre-installed system update app. The infections are said to have occurred starting  March 27 . The German manufacturer of telecommunications devices said it took steps to alert the update service provider of the issue, following which further infections were prevented on April 7. "Measures have been taken to automatically rid infected devices of the malware. In order for this to happen the devices must be connected to the internet (WLAN, WiFi or mobile data). We also recommend connecting the devices to their chargers. Affected devices should automatically be freed from the malware within 8 hours," the ...

An Iranian threat actor has unleashed a new cyberespionage campaign against a possible Lebanese target with a backdoor capable of exfiltrating sensitive information from compromised systems. Cybersecurity firm Check Point attributed the operation to APT34, citing similarities with previous techniques used by the threat actor as well as based on its pattern of victimology. APT34  (aka OilRig) is known for its reconnaissance campaigns aligned with the strategic interests of Iran, primarily hitting financial, government, energy, chemical, and telecommunications industries in the Middle East. The group typically resorts to targeting individuals through the use of booby-trapped job offer documents, delivered directly to the victims via LinkedIn messages. Although the latest campaign bears some of the same hallmarks, the exact mode of delivery remains unclear as yet. The Word document analyzed by Check Point — which was  uploaded  to VirusTotal from Lebanon on January 10 ...