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Website of Popular Mac Software Hacked to Spread Malware

Website of Popular Mac Software Hacked to Spread Malware

May 08, 2017
If you have recently downloaded the popular open source video transcoder app HandBrake on your Mac, there are chances that your computer is infected with a notorious Remote Access Trojan (RAT). The HandBrake team issued a security alert on Saturday, warning Mac users that one of its mirror servers to download the software has been compromised by hackers. In case you aren't aware, HandBrake is an open source video transcoder app that allows Mac users to convert multimedia files from one format to another. According to the HandBrake team, an unknown hacker or group of hackers compromised the download mirror server (download.handbrake.fr) and then replaced the Mac version of the HandBrake client (HandBrake-1.0.7.dmg) with a malicious version infected with a new variant of Proton . Originally discovered in February on a Russian underground hacking forum, Proton is a Mac-based remote access trojan that gives attackers root access privileges to the infected system. The af
Wikileaks Unveils CIA's Man-in-the-Middle Attack Tool

Wikileaks Unveils CIA's Man-in-the-Middle Attack Tool

May 06, 2017
Wikileaks has published a new batch of the Vault 7 leak , detailing a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack tool allegedly created by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to target local networks. Since March, WikiLeaks has published thousands of documents and other secret tools that the whistleblower group claims came from the CIA. This latest batch is the 7th release in the whistleblowing organization's 'Vault 7' series. Dubbed Archimedes , the newly released CIA tool, dumped on Friday, purportedly used to attack computers inside a Local Area Network (LAN). According to the leaked documents, this MitM tool was previously named 'Fulcrum' but later was renamed to 'Archimedes' with several improvements on the previous version, like providing a way to "gracefully shutting down the tool on demand," and adding "support for a new HTTP injection method based on using a hidden iFrame." The leaked documents describe Archimede
How to Accelerate Vendor Risk Assessments in the Age of SaaS Sprawl

How to Accelerate Vendor Risk Assessments in the Age of SaaS Sprawl

Mar 21, 2024SaaS Security / Endpoint Security
In today's digital-first business environment dominated by SaaS applications, organizations increasingly depend on third-party vendors for essential cloud services and software solutions. As more vendors and services are added to the mix, the complexity and potential vulnerabilities within the  SaaS supply chain  snowball quickly. That's why effective vendor risk management (VRM) is a critical strategy in identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks to protect organizational assets and data integrity. Meanwhile, common approaches to vendor risk assessments are too slow and static for the modern world of SaaS. Most organizations have simply adapted their legacy evaluation techniques for on-premise software to apply to SaaS providers. This not only creates massive bottlenecks, but also causes organizations to inadvertently accept far too much risk. To effectively adapt to the realities of modern work, two major aspects need to change: the timeline of initial assessment must shorte
Explained — How Intel AMT Vulnerability Allows to Hack Computers Remotely

Explained — How Intel AMT Vulnerability Allows to Hack Computers Remotely

May 05, 2017
Earlier this week Intel announced a critical escalation of privilege bug that affects its remote management features shipping with Intel Server chipsets for past 7 years, which, if exploited, would allow a remote attacker to take control of vulnerable PCs, laptops, or servers. The vulnerability, labeled CVE-2017-5689 , affects Intel remote management technologies, including Active Management Technology (AMT), Intel Standard Manageability (ISM), and Intel Small Business Technology (SBT) software, versions 6 through 11.6. The flaw was originally discovered by Maksim Malyutin, a member of Embedi research team, in mid-February, who then responsibly disclosed it to the Intel security team. My previous article , published earlier this week, was based on the partial information shared by Maksim to The Hacker News, as the reported Intel AMT vulnerability was highly critical and can be exploited remotely, Embedi held technical details until most sysadmins update their systems with a
cyber security

Automated remediation solutions are crucial for security

websiteWing SecurityShadow IT / SaaS Security
Especially when it comes to securing employees' SaaS usage, don't settle for a longer to-do list. Auto-remediation is key to achieving SaaS security.
Beware! Don't Fall for FireFox "HoeflerText Font Wasn't Found" Banking Malware Scam

Beware! Don't Fall for FireFox "HoeflerText Font Wasn't Found" Banking Malware Scam

May 05, 2017
The malicious scam campaign, " The 'HoeflerText' font wasn't found ," is back, which was previously targeting Google Chrome users to trick them into installing Spora ransomware on their computers. This time the campaign has been re-designed to target Mozilla Firefox users with a banking trojan, called Zeus Panda , says   Kafeine , a security researcher at Proofpoint. Interestingly, the attackers behind this new campaign are so stupid that they forgot to change the name of the font, i.e. HoeflerText, due to which can be easily spotted. As I previously warned — Next time when you accidentally land up on a suspicious website with jumbled content prompting to update the Firefox or Chrome font pack by downloading a missing text font to read the article… Just don't download it. It's obviously a trap. Just like the previous one, the latest Firefox 'HoeflerText font wasn't found scam is also very convincing and easy to fall for. The attack in
An Army of Thousands of Hacked Servers Found Mining Cryptocurrencies

An Army of Thousands of Hacked Servers Found Mining Cryptocurrencies

May 05, 2017
A new botnet consisting of more than 15,000 compromised servers has been used to mine various cryptocurrencies, earning its master around $25,000 per month. Mining cryptocurrencies can be a costly investment, as it requires an enormous amount of computing power, but cybercriminals have found an easy money-making solution. Dubbed BondNet, the botnet was first spotted in December 2016 by GuardiCore researchers, who traced back the botnet malware developer, using online handle Bond007.01, to China. According to the GuardiCore researchers, Bond007.01 is currently using BondNet for mining cryptocurrencies — primarily Monero, but also ByteCoin, RieCoin, and ZCash — but they warn that the hacker could easily take full control of compromised servers for malicious purposes, like mounting Mirai-style DDoS attacks. BondNet Attacks only Windows Server Machines Since mining cryptocurrencies require large amounts of CPU/GPU power, the botnet master goes after Windows Server machin
Unpatched Wordpress Flaw Could Allow Hackers To Reset Admin Password

Unpatched Wordpress Flaw Could Allow Hackers To Reset Admin Password

May 04, 2017
WordPress, the most popular CMS in the world, is vulnerable to a logical vulnerability that could allow a remote attacker to reset targeted users' password under certain circumstances. The vulnerability (CVE-2017-8295) becomes even more dangerous after knowing that it affects all versions of WordPress — including the latest 4.7.4 version. The WordPress flaw was discovered by Polish security researcher Dawid Golunski of Legal Hackers last year in July and reported it to the WordPress security team, who decided to ignore this issue, leaving millions of websites vulnerable. "This issue has been reported to WordPress security team multiple times with the first report sent back in July 2016. It was reported both directly via security contact email, as well as via HackerOne website," Golunski wrote in an advisory published today. "As there has been no progress, in this case, this advisory is finally released to the public without an official patch." Golunski
Real-World SS7 Attack — Hackers Are Stealing Money From Bank Accounts

Real-World SS7 Attack — Hackers Are Stealing Money From Bank Accounts

May 04, 2017
Security researchers have been warning for years about critical security holes in the Signaling System 7 (SS7) that could allow hackers to listen in private phone calls and read text messages on a potentially vast scale, despite the most advanced encryption used by cellular networks. Cellular networks, on the other hand, have consistently been ignoring this serious issue, saying that it is a very low risk for most people, as the exploitation of the SS7 flaws requires significant technical and financial investment. But some unknown hackers have just proved them wrong by recently exploiting the design flaws in the SS7 to drain victims' bank accounts, according to a report published Wednesday by German-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. SS7 is a telephony signaling protocol created in the 1980s by telcos and powered more than 800 telecom operators across the world, including AT&T and Verizon, to interconnect and exchange data, like routing calls and texts with one a
Warning! Don't Click that Google Docs Link You Just Received in Your Email

Warning! Don't Click that Google Docs Link You Just Received in Your Email

May 03, 2017
Did someone just share a random Google Doc with you? First of all — Do not click on that Google Doc link you might have just received in your email and delete it immediately — even if it's from someone you know. I, my colleagues at The Hacker News, and even people all around the Internet, especially journalists, are receiving a very convincing OAuth phishing email, which says that the person [sender] " has shared a document on Google Docs with you. " Once you clicked the link, you will be redirected to a page which says, " Google Docs would like to read, send and delete emails, as well access to your contacts, " asking your permission to "allow" access. If you allow the access, the hackers would immediately get permission to manage your Gmail account with access to all your emails and contacts, without requiring your Gmail password. Beware! New GoogleDocs Phishing Email Scam Spreading Across the World — Here's Everything You Need to K
Hundreds of Apps Using Ultrasonic Signals to Silently Track Smartphone Users

Hundreds of Apps Using Ultrasonic Signals to Silently Track Smartphone Users

May 03, 2017
Your smartphone may have some apps that are continuously listening inaudible, high-frequency ultrasonic sounds from your surroundings and they know where you go, what you like and dislike — all without your knowledge. Ultrasonic Cross-Device Tracking is a new technology that some marketers and advertising companies are currently using to track users across multiple devices and have access to more information than ever before for ad targeting. For example, retail stores you visit, a commercial on TV or an advertisement on a web page can emit a unique "ultrasonic audio beacon" that can be picked up by your device's mobile application containing a receiver. This information helps advertisers to create your personalized profile and collect your interests by figuring out that both devices probably belongs to you, allowing them to target you with interest-based advertisements. More & More Apps Have Started Using Ultrasonic Tracking Technology In fact, while presen
Google Patches 6 Critical Android Mediaserver Bugs in May Security Update

Google Patches 6 Critical Android Mediaserver Bugs in May Security Update

May 03, 2017
In Brief Google has released its monthly security patches for Android this week, addressing 17 critical vulnerabilities, 6 of which affect Android Mediaserver component that could be used to execute malicious code remotely. Besides patches for Mediaserver, Google also fixed 4 critical vulnerabilities related to Qualcomm components discovered in Android handsets, including Google's Nexus 6P, Pixel XL, and Nexus 9 devices. According to the Google security bulletin for Android  published Monday, this month's security update is one of the largest security fixes the company ever compiled in a single month. Google has split Android's monthly security bulletin into security "patch levels": Partial security patch level (2017-05-01) covers patches for vulnerabilities that are common to all Android devices. Complete security patch level (2017-05-05) includes additional fixes for hardware drivers as well as kernel components that are present only in some d
Malware Hunter — Shodan's new tool to find Malware C&C Servers

Malware Hunter — Shodan's new tool to find Malware C&C Servers

May 02, 2017
Rapidly growing, insecure internet-connected devices are becoming albatross around the necks of individuals and organizations with malware authors routinely hacking them to form botnets that can be further used as weapons in DDoS and other cyber attacks. But now finding malicious servers, hosted by attackers, that control botnet of infected machines gets a bit easier. Thanks to Shodan and Recorded Future. Shodan and Recorded Future have teamed up and launched Malware Hunter – a crawler that scans the Internet regularly to identify botnet command and control (C&C) servers for various malware and botnets. Command-and-control servers ( C&C servers ) are centralized machines that control the bots ( computers, smart appliances or smartphones ), typically infected with Remote Access Trojans or data-stealing malware, by sending commands and receiving data. Malware Hunter results have been integrated into Shodan – a search engine designed to gather and list information abo
PCs with Intel Server Chipsets, Launched Since 2010, Can be Hacked Remotely

PCs with Intel Server Chipsets, Launched Since 2010, Can be Hacked Remotely

May 02, 2017
Updated: Since the below-reported vulnerability is highly critical and it would take a few weeks for sysadmins to protect their enterprise network, the research team has not yet disclosed the technical details of the vulnerability. Meanwhile, I have talked with Maksim Malyutin, a member of Embedi research team who discovered the vulnerability in March, and updated my article based on the information provided by him. A critical vulnerability has been discovered in the remote management features on computers shipped with Intel processors for past seven years (and not decade), which could allow attackers to take control of the computers remotely, affecting all Intel systems, including PC, laptops, and servers, with AMT feature enabled. As reported earlier, this critical flaw (CVE-2017-5689) is not a remote code execution, rather Malyutin confirmed to The Hacker News that it's a logical vulnerability that also gives remote attackers an opportunity to exploit this bug using add
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