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Threat actors have been observed deploying a malware called NiceRAT to co-opt infected devices into a botnet. The attacks, which target South Korean users, are designed to propagate the malware under the guise of cracked software, such as Microsoft Windows, or tools that purport to offer license verification for Microsoft Office. "Due to the nature of crack programs, information sharing amongst ordinary users contributes to the malware's distribution independently from the initial distributor," the AhnLab Security Intelligence Center (ASEC) said . "Because threat actors typically explain ways to remove anti-malware programs during the distribution phase, it is difficult to detect the distributed malware." Alternate distribution vectors involve the use of a botnet comprising zombie computers that are infiltrated by a remote access trojan (RAT) known as NanoCore RAT , mirroring prior activity that leveraged the Nitol DDoS malware for propagating another malware ...

Law enforcement authorities have allegedly arrested a key member of the notorious cybercrime group called Scattered Spider. The individual, a 22-year-old man from the United Kingdom, was arrested this week in the Spanish city of Palma de Mallorca as he attempted to board a flight to Italy. The move is part of a joint effort between the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Spanish National Police that began last May. News of the arrest was first reported by Murcia Today on June 14, 2024, with vx-underground subsequently revealing that the apprehended party is "associated with several other high profile ransomware attacks performed by Scattered Spider." The malware research group further said the individual was a SIM swapper who operated under the alias "Tyler." SIM swapping attacks work by calling the telecom provider to transfer a target's phone number to a SIM under their control with the goal of intercepting their messages, including one-...

Pakistan has become the latest target of a threat actor called the Smishing Triad, marking the first expansion of its footprint beyond the E.U., Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., and the U.S. "The group's latest tactic involves sending malicious messages on behalf of Pakistan Post to customers of mobile carriers via iMessage and SMS," Resecurity said in a report published earlier this week. "The goal is to steal their personal and financial information." The threat actors, believed to be Chinese-speaking , are known to leverage stolen databases sold on the dark web to send bogus SMS messages, enticing recipients into clicking on links under the pretext of informing them of a failed package delivery and urging them to update their address. Users who end up clicking on the URLs are directed to fake websites that prompt them to enter their financial information as part of a supposed service fee charged for redelivery. "Besides Pakistan Post, the group was also ...

A suspected Pakistan-based threat actor has been linked to a cyber espionage campaign targeting Indian government entities in 2024. Cybersecurity company Volexity is tracking the activity under the moniker UTA0137, noting the adversary's exclusive use of a malware called DISGOMOJI that's written in Golang and is designed to infect Linux systems. "It is a modified version of the public project Discord-C2, which uses the messaging service Discord for command and control (C2), making use of emojis for its C2 communication," it said . It's worth noting that DISGOMOJI is the same "all-in-one" espionage tool that BlackBerry said it discovered as part of an infrastructure analysis in connection with an attack campaign mounted by the Transparent Tribe actor, a Pakistan-nexus hacking crew The attack chains commence with spear-phishing emails bearing a Golang ELF binary delivered within a ZIP archive file. The binary then downloads a benign lure document wh...

Meta on Friday said it's delaying its efforts to train the company's large language models ( LLMs ) using public content shared by adult users on Facebook and Instagram in the European Union following a request from the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). The company expressed disappointment at having to put its AI plans on pause, stating it had taken into account feedback from regulators and data protection authorities in the region. At issue is Meta's plan to use personal data to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models without seeking users' explicit consent, instead relying on the legal basis of ' Legitimate Interests ' for processing first and third-party data in the region. These changes were expected to come into effect on June 26, before when the company said users could opt out of having their data used by submitting a request "if they wish." Meta is already utilizing user-generated content to train its AI in other markets such ...

Google's plans to deprecate third-party tracking cookies in its Chrome web browser with Privacy Sandbox has run into fresh trouble after Austrian privacy non-profit noyb (none of your business) said the feature can still be used to track users. "While the so-called 'Privacy Sandbox' is advertised as an improvement over extremely invasive third-party tracking, the tracking is now simply done within the browser by Google itself," noyb said . "To do this, the company theoretically needs the same informed consent from users. Instead, Google is tricking people by pretending to 'Turn on an ad privacy feature.'" In other words, by making users agree to enable a privacy feature, they are still being tracked by consenting to Google's first-party ad tracking, the Vienna-based non-profit founded by activist Max Schrems alleged in a complaint filed with the Austrian data protection authority. Privacy Sandbox is a set of proposals put forth by the i...

Data is growing faster than ever. Remember when petabytes (that's 1,000,000 gigabytes!) were only for tech giants? Well, that's so last decade! Today, businesses of all sizes are swimming in petabytes. But this isn't just about storage anymore. This data is ALIVE—it's constantly accessed, analyzed, shared, and even used to train the next wave of AI. This creates a huge challenge: how do you secure such a vast, ever-changing landscape? That's why we've brought together a powerhouse panel of industry experts who have not only faced these challenges but conquered them. Join us for an exclusive webinar, " Data Security at the Petabyte Scale ," and gain insights from the best in the field: Shaun Marion: Former CISO of McDonald's, a global brand with data security demands on a massive scale. Robert Bigman: Former CISO at the CIA, where protecting classified information at the highest levels is paramount. Asaf Kochan: Former head of Unit 8200 ...

As cyber threats loom large and data breaches continue to pose increasingly significant risks. Organizations and industries that handle sensitive information and valuable assets make prime targets for cybercriminals seeking financial gain or strategic advantage.  Which is why many highly regulated sectors, from finance to utilities, are turning to military-grade cyber defenses to safeguard their operations. Regulatory Pressures Impacting Cyber Decisions Industries such as finance, healthcare, and government are subject to strict regulatory standards, governing data privacy, security, and compliance. Non-compliance with these regulations can result in severe penalties, legal repercussions, and damage to reputation. To meet regulatory requirements and mitigate the ever-increasing risk, organizations are shifting to adopt more robust cybersecurity measures. Understanding the Increase of Threats Attacks on regulated industries have increased dramatically over the past 5 years, wi...

An analysis of a hybrid biometric access system from Chinese manufacturer ZKTeco has uncovered two dozen security flaws that could be used by attackers to defeat authentication, steal biometric data, and even deploy malicious backdoors. "By adding random user data to the database or using a fake QR code, a nefarious actor can easily bypass the verification process and gain unauthorized access," Kaspersky said . "Attackers can also steal and leak biometric data, remotely manipulate devices, and deploy backdoors." The 24 flaws span six SQL injections, seven stack-based buffer overflows, five command injections, four arbitrary file writes, and two arbitrary file reads. A brief description of each vulnerability type is below - CVE-2023-3938 (CVSS score: 4.6) - An SQL injection flaw when displaying a QR code into the device's camera by passing a specially crafted request containing a quotation mark, thereby allowing an attacker to authenticate as any user in th...