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Microsoft on Friday said it will disable its much-criticized artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Recall feature by default and make it an opt-in. Recall , currently in preview and coming exclusively to Copilot+ PCs on June 18, 2024, functions as an "explorable visual timeline" by capturing screenshots of what appears on users' screens every five seconds, which are subsequently analyzed and parsed to surface relevant information. But the feature, meant to serve as some sort of an AI-enabled photographic memory, was met with instantaneous backlash from the security and privacy community, which excoriated the company for having not thought through enough and implementing adequate safeguards that could prevent malicious actors from easily gaining a window into a victim's digital life. The recorded information could include screenshots of documents, emails, or messages containing sensitive details that may have been deleted or shared temporarily using disappearing ...

2023 was a year of unprecedented cyberattacks. Ransomware crippled businesses, DDoS attacks disrupted critical services, and data breaches exposed millions of sensitive records. The cost of these attacks? Astronomical. The damage to reputations? Irreparable. But here's the shocking truth: many of these attacks could have been prevented with basic cyber hygiene . Are you ready to transform your cybersecurity strategy? Join us for an exclusive webinar, " Better Basics Win the Cybersecurity Threat War: Defend, Deter, and Save ," where we'll reveal how to optimize your cyber hygiene and compliance costs. What you'll learn: The latest trends shaping the cybersecurity landscape: Get ahead of the curve and understand the evolving tactics of cybercriminals. How the CIS Controls and CIS Benchmarks can simplify your security efforts: Discover the power of these proven security best practices and how they can fortify your defenses. How a CIS SecureSuite Membership...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed that the LightSpy spyware recently identified as targeting Apple iOS users is in fact a previously undocumented macOS variant of the implant. The findings come from both Huntress Labs and ThreatFabric , which separately analyzed the artifacts associated with the cross-platform malware framework that likely possesses capabilities to infect Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, and routers from NETGEAR, Linksys, and ASUS. "The Threat actor group used two publicly available exploits ( CVE-2018-4233 ,  CVE-2018-4404 ) to deliver implants for macOS," ThreatFabric said in a report published last week. "Part of the CVE-2018-4404 exploit is likely borrowed from the Metasploit framework. macOS version 10 was targeted using those exploits." LightSpy was first publicly reported in 2020, although subsequent reports from Lookout and the Dutch mobile security firm have revealed possible connections between the spyware and an Android s...

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...

Traditional SCAs Are Broken: Did You Know You Are Missing Critical Pieces? Application Security professionals face enormous challenges securing their software supply chains, racing against time to beat the attacker to the mark.  Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools have become a basic instrument in the application security arsenal in the last 7 years. Although essential, many platforms end up creating more mess and driving the key pain in the industry - alert fatigue, leaving your supply chain exposed to critical vulnerabilities and malicious code attacks. Fortunately, alongside the black hat hackers making their best efforts to find new attack vectors and surfaces, innovative security tools are breaking new ground, helping organizations stay secure despite emerging threats. Myrror Security 's latest resource, "Your SCA is Broken Guide - The Missing Pieces In Your Software Composition Analysis Platform," offers application security professionals a view into the tra...

Google is urging third-party Android app developers to incorporate generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) features in a responsible manner. The new guidance from the search and advertising giant is an effort to combat problematic content, including sexual content and hate speech, created through such tools. To that end, apps that generate content using AI must ensure they don't create Restricted Content , have a mechanism for users to report or flag offensive information , and market them in a manner that accurately represents the app's capabilities. App developers are also being recommended to rigorously test their AI models to ensure they respect user safety and privacy. "Be sure to test your apps across various user scenarios and safeguard them against prompts that could manipulate your generative AI feature to create harmful or offensive content," Prabhat Sharma, director of trust and safety for Google Play, Android, and Chrome, said . The development com...

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has disclosed that it's in possession of more than 7,000 decryption keys associated with the LockBit ransomware operation to help victims get their data back at no cost. "We are reaching out to known LockBit victims and encouraging anyone who suspects they were a victim to visit our Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov," FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran said in a keynote address at the 2024 Boston Conference on Cyber Security (BCCS). LockBit, which was once a prolific ransomware gang, has been linked to over 2,400 attacks globally, with no less than 1,800 impacting entities in the U.S. Earlier this February, an international law enforcement operation dubbed Cronos led by the U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) dismantled its online infrastructure. Last month, a 31-year-old Russian national named Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev was outed by authorities as the group's administrator and developer, a ...

The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) has warned of cyber attacks targeting defense forces in the country with a malware called SPECTR as part of an espionage campaign dubbed SickSync. The agency attributed the attacks to a threat actor it tracks under the moniker UAC-0020, which is also called Vermin and is assessed to be associated with security agencies of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). LPR was declared a sovereign state by Russia days prior to its military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Attack chains commence with spear-phishing emails containing a RAR self-extracting archive file containing a decoy PDF file, a trojanized version of the SyncThing application that incorporates the SPECTR payload, and a batch script that activates the infection by launching the executable. SPECTR serves as an information stealer by grabbing screenshots every 10 seconds, harvesting files, gathering data from removable USB drives, and stealing credentials and ...

The threat actor known as Commando Cat has been linked to an ongoing cryptojacking attack campaign that leverages poorly secured Docker instances to deploy cryptocurrency miners for financial gain. "The attackers used the cmd.cat/chattr docker image container that retrieves the payload from their own command-and-control (C&C) infrastructure," Trend Micro researchers Sunil Bharti and Shubham Singh said in a Thursday analysis. Commando Cat, so named for its use of the open-source Commando project to generate a benign container, was first documented earlier this year by Cado Security. The attacks are characterized by the targeting of misconfigured Docker remote API servers to deploy a Docker image named cmd.cat/chattr, which is then used as a basis to instantiate a container and break out of its confines using the chroot command, and gain access to the host operating system. The final step entails retrieving the malicious miner binary using a curl or wget command fr...

Muhstik botnet exploits a critical Apache RocketMQ flaw (CVE-2023-33246) for remote code execution , targeting Linux servers and IoT devices for DDoS attacks and cryptocurrency mining . Infection involves executing a shell script from a remote IP, downloading the Muhstik malware binary ("pty3") , and ensuring persistence by copying to multiple directories and editing system files. With over 5,000 vulnerable Apache RocketMQ instances still exposed, organizations must update to the latest version to mitigate risks, while securing MS-SQL servers against brute-force attacks and ensuring regular password changes. The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet known as Muhstik has been observed leveraging a now-patched security flaw impacting Apache RocketMQ to co-opt susceptible servers and expand its scale. "Muhstik is a well-known threat targeting IoT devices and Linux-based servers, notorious for its ability to infect devices and utilize the...