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A hacking group dubbed  OilAlpha  with suspected ties to Yemen's  Houthi movement  has been linked to a cyber espionage campaign targeting development, humanitarian, media, and non-governmental organizations in the Arabian peninsula. "OilAlpha used encrypted chat messengers like WhatsApp to launch social engineering attacks against its targets," cybersecurity company Recorded Future  said  in a technical report published Tuesday. "It has also used URL link shorteners. Per victimology assessment, it appears a majority of the targeted entities were Arabic-language speakers and operated Android devices." OilAlpha is the new cryptonym given by Recorded Future to two overlapping clusters previously tracked by the company under the names TAG-41 and TAG-62 since April 2022. TAG-XX (short for Threat Activity Group) is the temporary moniker assigned to emerging threat groups. The assessment that the adversary is acting in the interest of the Houthi movement is...

Software is rarely a one-and-done proposition. In fact, any application available today will likely need to be updated – or patched – to fix bugs,  address vulnerabilities , and update key features at multiple points in the future. With the typical enterprise relying on a multitude of applications, servers, and end-point devices in their day-to-day operations, the acquisition of a robust  patch management platform  to identify, test, deploy, install, and document all appropriate patches are critical for ensuring systems remain stable and secure.  As with most tech tools, not all patch management solutions are created equal, and what's seen as robust by one organization may prove inadequate for another. However, an evaluation that begins with a focus on specific key criteria – essential attributes and functionality likely to be offered by many vendors but not all – will allow IT teams to narrow down their options as they work to identify the best solution for thei...

A financially motivated cyber actor has been observed abusing Microsoft Azure  Serial Console  on virtual machines (VMs) to install third-party remote management tools within compromised environments. Google-owned Mandiant attributed the activity to a threat group it tracks under the name  UNC3944 , which is also known as Roasted 0ktapus and Scattered Spider. "This method of attack was unique in that it avoided many of the traditional detection methods employed within Azure and provided the attacker with full administrative access to the VM," the threat intelligence firm  said . The emerging adversary, which first came to light late last year, is known to  leverage SIM swapping attacks  to breach telecommunications and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies since at least May 2022. Subsequently, Mandiant also  found  UNC3944 utilizing a loader named STONESTOP to install a malicious signed driver dubbed POORTRY that's designed to termin...

The second generation version of Belkin's Wemo Mini Smart Plug has been found to contain a buffer overflow vulnerability that could be weaponized by a threat actor to inject arbitrary commands remotely. The issue, assigned the identifier  CVE-2023-27217 , was discovered and reported to Belkin on January 9, 2023, by Israeli IoT security company Sternum , which reverse-engineered the device and gained firmware access. Wemo Mini Smart Plug V2 ( F7C063 ) offers convenient remote control, allowing users to turn electronic devices on or off using a companion app installed on a smartphone or tablet. The heart of the problem lies in a feature that makes it possible to rename the smart plug to a more " FriendlyName ." The default name assigned is " Wemo mini 6E9 ." "The name length is limited to 30 characters or less, but this rule is only enforced by the app itself," security researchers Amit Serper and Reuven Yakar  said  in a report shared with The Hac...

Cybersecurity researchers have unearthed previously undocumented attack infrastructure used by the prolific state-sponsored group  SideWinder  to strike entities located in Pakistan and China. This comprises a network of 55 domains and IP addresses used by the threat actor, cybersecurity companies Group-IB and Bridewell said in a joint report shared with The Hacker News. "The identified phishing domains mimic various organizations in the news, government, telecommunications, and financial sectors," researchers Nikita Rostovtsev, Joshua Penny, and Yashraj Solanki  said . SideWinder has been known to be active since at least 2012, with attack chains primarily leveraging spear-phishing as an intrusion mechanism to obtain a foothold into targeted environments. The target range of the group is widely believed to be associated with Indian espionage interests. The most frequently attacked nations include Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Phil...

A Russian national has been charged and indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) for launching ransomware attacks against "thousands of victims" in the country and across the world. Mikhail Pavlovich Matveev  (aka  Wazawaka , m1x, Boriselcin, and Uhodiransomwar), the 30-year-old individual in question, is alleged to be a "central figure" in the development and deployment of  LockBit ,  Babuk , and  Hive  ransomware variants since at least June 2020. "These victims include law enforcement and other government agencies, hospitals, and schools," DoJ  said . "Total ransom demands allegedly made by the members of these three global ransomware campaigns to their victims amount to as much as $400 million, while total victim ransom payments amount to as much as $200 million." LockBit, Babuk, and Hive operate alike, leveraging unlawfully obtained access to exfiltrate valuable data and deploy ransomware on compromised networks. The threat actor...

The Chinese nation-state actor known as  Mustang Panda  has been linked to a new set of sophisticated and targeted attacks aimed at European foreign affairs entities since January 2023. An analysis of these intrusions, per Check Point researchers Itay Cohen and Radoslaw Madej, has revealed a custom firmware implant designed explicitly for TP-Link routers. "The implant features several malicious components, including a custom backdoor named 'Horse Shell' that enables the attackers to maintain persistent access, build anonymous infrastructure, and enable lateral movement into compromised networks," the company said . "Due to its firmware-agnostic design, the implant's components can be integrated into various firmware by different vendors." The Israeli cybersecurity firm is tracking the threat group under the mythical creature name Camaro Dragon,  which  is  also known as  BASIN, Bronze President, Earth Preta, HoneyMyte, RedDelta, and Red Lich. The ...

Ransomware affiliates associated with the Qilin ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) scheme earn anywhere between 80% to 85% of each ransom payment, according to new findings from Group-IB. The cybersecurity firm said it was able to infiltrate the group in March 2023, uncovering details about the affiliates' payment structure and the inner workings of the RaaS program following a private conversation with a Qilin recruiter who goes by the online alias Haise. "Many Qilin ransomware attacks are customized for each victim to maximize their impact," the Singapore-headquartered company  said  in an exhaustive report. "To do this, the threat actors can leverage such tactics as changing the filename extensions of encrypted files and terminating specific processes and services." Qilin, also known as Agenda, was  first documented  by Trend Micro in August 2022, starting off as a Go-based ransomware before  switching to Rust  in December 2022. The adoption of Rust is...

Operational technology (OT) cybersecurity is a challenging but critical aspect of protecting organizations' essential systems and resources. Cybercriminals no longer break into systems, but instead log in – making access security more complex and also more important to manage and control than ever before. In an effort to solve the access-related challenges facing OT and critical infrastructure operators, the team at Cyolo built a zero-trust access platform designed to meet the unique safety, security, and uptime requirements of OT and industrial control systems (ICS) environments. Let's look under the hood:  The Cyolo solution is a high-powered combination of Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Identity Provider (IdP), and Privileged Access Management (PAM). What makes this approach stand out from the pack is that other ZTNA solutions do not offer IdP or PAM capabilities, while Identity and Access Management tools (IdPs and PAMs) do not extend connectivity. And unlike other pl...