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A total of 158 privacy and security issues have been identified in 58 Android stalkware apps from various vendors that could enable a malicious actor to take control of a victim's device, hijack a stalker's account, intercept data, achieve remote code execution, and even frame the victim by uploading fabricated evidence. The new findings, which come from an analysis of 86 stalkerware apps for the Android platform undertaken by Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET, highlight the unintended consequences of a practice that's not only unethical but in the process could also expose private and intimate information of the victims and leave them at risk of cyberattacks and fraud. "Since there could be a close relationship between stalker and victim, the stalker's private information could also be exposed," ESET researcher Lukas Stefanko  said  in a Monday write-up. "During our research, we identified that some stalkerware keeps information about the stalkers using ...

A financially motivated cybercrime gang has unleashed a previously undocumented banking trojan, which can steal credentials from customers of 70 banks located in various European and South American countries. Dubbed " Bizarro " by Kaspersky researchers, the Windows malware is "using affiliates or recruiting money mules to operationalize their attacks, cashing out or simply to helping [sic] with transfers." The campaign consists of multiple moving parts, chief among them being the ability to trick users into entering two-factor authentication codes in fake pop-up windows that are then sent to the attackers, as well as its reliance on social engineering lures to convince visitors of banking websites into downloading a malicious smartphone app. Bizarro, which uses compromised WordPress, Amazon, and Azure servers to host the malware, is distributed via MSI packages downloaded by victims from sketchy links in spam emails. Launching the package downloads a ZIP archiv...

Latest research has demonstrated a new exploit that enables arbitrary data to be uploaded from devices that are not connected to the Internet by simply sending "Find My" Bluetooth broadcasts to nearby Apple devices. "It's possible to upload arbitrary data from non-internet-connected devices by sending Find My [Bluetooth Low Energy] broadcasts to nearby Apple devices that then upload the data for you," Positive Security researcher Fabian Bräunlein  said  in a technical write-up disclosed last week. The study builds on a previous analysis by TU Darmstadt  published  in March 2021, which disclosed two distinct design and implementation flaws in Apple's crowdsourced Bluetooth location tracking system that could lead to a location correlation attack and unauthorized access to a user's location history of the past seven days. The investigation was augmented by the release of a framework called  OpenHaystack  that's designed to let any user create an ...

In today's digital world, password security is more important than ever. While biometrics, one-time passwords (OTP), and other emerging forms of authentication are often touted as replacements to the traditional password, today, this concept is more marketing hype than anything else. But just because  passwords aren't going anywhere anytime soon  doesn't mean that organizations don't need to modernize their approach to password hygiene right now.  The Compromised Credential Crisis As Microsoft's  security team put it , "All it takes is one compromised credential…to cause a data breach." Coupled with the rampant problem of password reuse, compromised passwords can have a significant and long-lasting impact on enterprise security. In fact, researchers from Virginia Tech University found that over 70% of users employed a compromised password for other accounts up to a year after it was initially leaked, with 40% reusing passwords that were leaked over three years a...

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered an ongoing malware campaign that heavily relies on AutoHotkey (AHK) scripting language to deliver multiple remote access trojans (RAT) such as Revenge RAT, LimeRAT, AsyncRAT, Houdini, and Vjw0rm on target Windows systems. At least four different versions of the campaign have been spotted starting February 2021, according to researchers from Morphisec Labs. "The RAT delivery campaign starts from an AutoHotKey (AHK) compiled script," the researchers  noted . "This is a standalone executable that contains the following: the AHK interpreter, the AHK script, and any files it has incorporated via the  FileInstall  command. In this campaign, the attackers incorporate malicious scripts/executables alongside a legitimate application to disguise their intentions." AutoHotkey is an open-source custom scripting language for Microsoft Windows that's meant to provide easy hotkeys for macro-creation and software automation, enablin...

Just as Colonial Pipeline  restored  all of its systems to operational status in the wake of a crippling ransomware incident a week ago, DarkSide, the cybercrime syndicate behind the attack, claimed it lost control of its infrastructure, citing a law enforcement seizure. All the dark web sites operated by the gang, including its DarkSide Leaks blog, ransom collection site, and breach data content delivery network (CDN) servers, have gone dark and remain inaccessible as of writing. In addition, the funds from their cryptocurrency wallets were allegedly exfiltrated to an unknown account, according to a note passed by DarkSide operators to its affiliates. "At the moment, these servers cannot be accessed via SSH, and the hosting panels have been blocked," the  announcement  obtained by Intel 471 read. The development comes as DarkSide closed its Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) affiliate program for good "due to the pressure from the U.S.", with the group stating th...

Threat actors are abusing Microsoft Build Engine (MSBuild) to filelessly deliver remote access trojans and password-stealing malware on targeted Windows systems. The actively ongoing campaign is said to have emerged last month, researchers from cybersecurity firm Anomali  said  on Thursday, adding the malicious build files came embedded with encoded executables and shellcode that deploy  backdoors , allowing the adversaries to take control of the victims' machines and steal sensitive information. MSBuild is an open-source build tool for .NET and Visual Studio developed by Microsoft that allows for compiling source code, packaging, testing, deploying applications. In using MSBuild to filelessly compromise a machine, the idea is to stay under the radar and thwart detection, as such malware makes use of a legitimate application to load the attack code into memory, thereby leaving no traces of infection on the system and giving attackers a high level of stealth. As of ...

Security incidents occur. It's not a matter of 'if' but of 'when.' There are security products and procedures that were implemented to optimize the IR process, so from the 'security-professional' angle, things are taken care of. However, many security pros who are doing an excellent job in handling incidents find effectively communicating the ongoing process with their management a much more challenging task. It's a little surprise — managements are typically not security savvy and don't really care about the bits and bytes in which the security pro masters. Cynet addresses this gap with the IR Reporting for Management PPT template , providing CISOs and CIOs with a clear and intuitive tool to report both the ongoing IR process and its conclusion. The IR for Management template enables CISOs and CIOs to communicate with the two key points that management cares about—assurance that the incident is under control and a clear understanding of imp...

Cybercriminals with suspected ties to Pakistan continue to rely on social engineering as a crucial component of its operations as part of an evolving espionage campaign against Indian targets, according to new research. The attacks have been linked to a group called  Transparent Tribe , also known as Operation C-Major, APT36, and Mythic Leopard, which has created fraudulent domains mimicking legitimate Indian military and defense organizations, and other fake domains posing as file-sharing sites to host malicious artifacts. "While military and defense personnel continue to be the group's primary targets, Transparent Tribe is increasingly targeting diplomatic entities, defense contractors, research organizations and conference attendees, indicating that the group is expanding its targeting," researchers from Cisco Talos  said  on Thursday. These domains are used to deliver maldocs distributing  CrimsonRAT , and ObliqueRAT, with the group incorporating new phishin...