Search results for malicious | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new malicious package on the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository that impersonates a software development kit (SDK) for SentinelOne, a major cybersecurity company, as part of a campaign dubbed  SentinelSneak . The package, named  SentinelOne  and now taken down, is said to have been published between December 8 and 11, 2022, with nearly two dozen versions pushed in quick succession over a period of two days. It claims to offer an easier method to access the  company's APIs , but harbors a malicious backdoor that's engineered to amass sensitive information from development systems, including access credentials, SSH keys, and configuration data. What's more, the threat actor has also been observed releasing two more packages with similar naming variations –  SentinelOne-sdk  and  SentinelOneSDK  – underscoring the  continued threats  lurking in open source repositories. "The SentinelOne ...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a malicious package uploaded to the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository that's designed to reroute trading orders placed on the MEXC cryptocurrency exchange to a malicious server and steal tokens. The package, ccxt-mexc-futures, purports to be an extension built on top of a popular Python library named ccxt (short for CryptoCurrency eXchange Trading), which is used to connect and trade with several cryptocurrency exchanges and facilitate payment processing services. The malicious package is no longer available on PyPI, but statistics on pepy.tech shows that it has been downloaded at least 1,065 times . "The authors of the malicious ccxt-mexc-futures package, claim in its README file that it extends the CCXT package to support 'futures' trade on MEXC," JFrog researcher Guy Korolevski said in a report shared with The Hacker News. However, a deeper examination of the library has revealed that it specifically overr...

Threat actors have been observed uploading malicious typosquats of legitimate npm packages such as typescript-eslint and @types/node that have racked up thousands of downloads on the package registry. The counterfeit versions, named @typescript_eslinter/eslint and types-node , are engineered to download a trojan and retrieve second-stage payloads, respectively. "While typosquatting attacks are hardly new, the effort spent by nefarious actors on these two libraries to pass them off as legitimate is noteworthy," Sonatype's Ax Sharma said in an analysis published Wednesday. "Furthermore, the high download counts for packages like "types-node" are signs that point to both some developers possibly falling for these typosquats, and threat actors artificially inflating these counts to boost the trustworthiness of their malicious components." The npm listing for @typescript_eslinter/eslint, Sonatype's analysis revealed, points to a phony GitHub repo...

I had the honor of hosting the first episode of the Xposure Podcast live from Xposure Summit 2025. And I couldn't have asked for a better kickoff panel: three cybersecurity leaders who don't just talk security, they live it. Let me introduce them. Alex Delay , CISO at IDB Bank, knows what it means to defend a highly regulated environment. Ben Mead , Director of Cybersecurity at Avidity Biosciences, brings a forward-thinking security perspective that reflects the innovation behind Avidity's targeted RNA therapeutics. Last but not least, Michael Francess , Director of Cybersecurity Advanced Threat at Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, leads the charge in protecting the franchise. Each brought a unique vantage point to a common challenge: applying Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) to complex production environments. Gartner made waves in 2023 with a bold prediction: organizations that prioritize CTEM will be three times less likely to be breached by 2026. But here's the kicker -...

Cybersecurity researchers have called attention to a software supply chain attack targeting the Go ecosystem that involves a malicious package capable of granting the adversary remote access to infected systems. The package, named github.com/boltdb-go/bolt , is a typosquat of the legitimate BoltDB database module ( github.com/boltdb/bolt ), per Socket. The malicious version (1.3.1) was published to GitHub in November 2021, following which it was cached indefinitely by the Go Module Mirror service. "Once installed, the backdoored package grants the threat actor remote access to the infected system, allowing them to execute arbitrary commands," security researcher Kirill Boychenko said in an analysis. Socket said the development marks one of the earliest instances of a malicious actor abusing the Go Module Mirror's indefinite caching of modules to trick users into downloading the package. Subsequently, the attacker is said to have modified the Git tags in the source r...

Researchers have discovered over 100 malicious nodes on the Tor anonymity network that are "misbehaving" and potentially spying on Dark Web sites that use Tor to mask the identities of their operators. Two researchers, Amirali Sanatinia and Guevara Noubir, from Northwestern University, carried out an experiment on the Tor Network for 72 days and discovered at least 110 malicious Tor Hidden Services Directories (HSDirs) on the network. The nodes, also known as the Tor hidden services directories ( HSDirs ) are servers that act as introductory points and are configured to receive traffic and direct users to hidden services (" .onion " addresses). In other words, the hidden services directory or HSDir is a crucial element needed to mask the true IP address of users on the Tor Network. But, here's the issue: HSDir can be set up by anyone. "Tor's security and anonymity is based on the assumption that the large majority of its relays are honest and...

Phishing attacks remain a huge challenge for organizations in 2025. In fact, with attackers increasingly leveraging identity-based techniques over software exploits, phishing arguably poses a bigger threat than ever before.  Attackers are increasingly leveraging identity-based techniques over software exploits, with phishing and stolen credentials (a byproduct of phishing) now the primary cause of breaches. Source: Verizon DBIR Attackers are increasingly leveraging identity-based techniques over software exploits, with phishing and stolen credentials (a byproduct of phishing) now the primary cause of breaches. Source: Verizon DBIR Attackers are turning to identity attacks like phishing because they can achieve all of the same objectives as they would in a traditional endpoint or network attack, simply by logging into a victim's account. And with organizations now using hundreds of internet apps across their workforce, the scope of accounts that can be phished or targeted with s...

Multi-stage cyber attacks, characterized by their complex execution chains, are designed to avoid detection and trick victims into a false sense of security. Knowing how they operate is the first step to building a solid defense strategy against them. Let's examine real-world examples of some of the most common multi-stage attack scenarios that are active right now. URLs and Other Embedded Content in Documents Attackers frequently hide malicious links within seemingly legitimate documents, such as PDFs or Word files. Upon opening the document and clicking the embedded link, users are directed to a malicious website. These sites often employ deceptive tactics to get the victim to download malware onto their computer or share their passwords. Another popular type of embedded content is QR codes. Attackers conceal malicious URLs within QR codes and insert them into documents. This strategy forces users to turn to their mobile devices to scan the code, which then directs them to ph...

Although the number of malicious browser extensions has significantly increased in the past years, but recently a new extension of the Google Chrome is allegedly targeting Cryptocurrency users that is capable of stealing Bitcoins and other crypto coins silently. The malicious Chrome browser extension dubbed as ' Cryptsy Dogecoin (DOGE) Live Ticker ' which is available on Chrome Web store for free downloads and developed by " TheTrollBox " account. Reddit user noticed that the updated version of the extension has a malicious code, which is designed to hijack the crypto currency transactions. HOW CHROME EXTENSION STEALS CRYPTOCURRENCY It is very obvious that the kind of crypto related software extensions is downloaded only by the users who deal with the digital currency. So, once the user installed the malicious extension, the software within the extension starts monitoring users' web activity and looks for those users who go to Cryptocurrency exchange sites s...

As many as 47,337 malicious plugins have been uncovered on 24,931 unique websites, out of which 3,685 plugins were sold on legitimate marketplaces, netting the attackers $41,500 in illegal revenues. The findings come from a new tool called  YODA  that aims to detect rogue WordPress plugins and track down their origin, according to an 8-year-long study conducted by a group of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Attackers impersonated benign plugin authors and spread malware by distributing pirated plugins," the researchers  said  in a new paper titled " Mistrust Plugins You Must ." "The number of malicious plugins on websites has steadily increased over the years, and malicious activity peaked in March 2020. Shockingly, 94% of the malicious plugins installed over those 8 years are still active today." The large-scale research entailed analyzing WordPress plugins installed in 410,122 unique web servers dating all the way back to 2012...

It's not at all surprising that the Google Play Store is surrounded by a large number of malicious apps that has the ability to gain users' attention into falling victim for one, but this time, it is even worse than most people realize. Researchers at Trend Micro have detected a family of malicious apps, dubbed ' Godless ,' that has the capability of secretly rooting almost 90 percent of all Android phones. Well, that's slightly terrifying. The malicious apps are distributed via different methods and variety of app stores, including Google Play Store, which is usually considered as a safe option for downloading apps. Also Read:   Crazy hacker implants NFC Chip in his hand to hack Android phones . The malicious apps packed with Godless contain a collection of open-source or leaked Android rooting exploits that works on any device running Android 5.1 Lollipop or earlier. 90% Android Devices are Vulnerable to Godless Rooting Malware Since Android eco...

Multiple cybercriminal groups are leveraging a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) solution to carry out a wide range of malicious software distribution campaigns that result in the deployment of payloads such as Campo Loader, Hancitor,  IcedID ,  QBot ,  Buer Loader , and SocGholish against individuals in Belgium as well as government agencies, companies, and corporations in the U.S. Dubbed " Prometheus " and available for sale on underground platforms for $250 a month since August 2020, the service is a Traffic Direction System (TDS) that's designed to distribute malware-laced Word and Excel documents, and divert users to phishing and malicious sites, according to a Group-IB report shared with The Hacker News. More than 3,000 email addresses are said to have been singled out via malicious campaigns in which Prometheus TDS was used to send malicious emails, with banking and finance, retail, energy and mining, cybersecurity, healthcare, IT, and insurance e...

Security researchers have claimed to have discovered possibly the largest malware campaign on Google Play Store that has already infected around 36.5 million Android devices with malicious ad-click software. The security firm Checkpoint on Thursday published a blog post revealing more than 41 Android applications from a Korean company on Google Play Store that make money for its creators by creating fake advertisement clicks from the infected devices. All the malicious apps, developed by Korea-based Kiniwini and published under the moniker ENISTUDIO Corp, contained an adware program, dubbed Judy, that is being used to generate fraudulent clicks to generate revenue from advertisements. Moreover, the researchers also uncovered a few more apps, published by other developers on Play Store, inexplicably containing the same the malware in them. The connection between the two campaigns remains unclear, though researchers believe it is possible that one developer borrowed code from...