The Hacker News | #1 Trusted Cybersecurity News Site — Index Page

Google last month addressed a high-severity flaw in its OAuth client library for Java that could be abused by a malicious actor with a compromised token to deploy arbitrary payloads. Tracked as  CVE-2021-22573 , the vulnerability is rated 8.7 out of 10 for severity and relates to an authentication bypass in the library that stems from an improper verification of the cryptographic signature. Credited with discovering and reporting the flaw on March 12 is  Tamjid Al Rahat , a fourth-year Ph.D. student of Computer Science at the University of Virginia, who has been awarded $5,000 as part of Google's bug bounty program. "The vulnerability is that the IDToken verifier does not verify if the token is properly signed," an  advisory  for the flaw reads. "Signature verification makes sure that the token's payload comes from a valid provider, not from someone else. An attacker can provide a compromised token with custom payload. The token will pass the validation on

A new research published by academics from KU Leuven, Radboud University, and the University of Lausanne has revealed that users' email addresses are exfiltrated to tracking, marketing, and analytics domains before such information is submitted and without prior consent. The study  involved  crawling 2.8 million pages from the top 100 websites, and found that as many as 1,844 websites allowed trackers to capture email addresses before form submission in the European Union, a number that jumped to 2,950 when the same set of websites were visited from the U.S. "Emails (or their hashes) were sent to 174 distinct domains ( eTLD+1 ) in the U.S. crawl, and 157 distinct domains in the EU crawl," the researchers  said . Furthermore, 52 websites were determined to be collecting passwords in the same manner, an issue that has since been addressed following responsible disclosure. LiveRamp, Taboola, Adobe, Verizon, Yandex, Meta Platforms, TikTok, Salesforce, Listrak, and Oracle

It comes as no surprise that today's cyber threats are orders of magnitude more complex than those of the past. And the ever-evolving tactics that attackers use demand the adoption of better, more holistic and consolidated ways to meet this non-stop challenge. Security teams constantly look for ways to reduce risk while improving security posture, but many approaches offer piecemeal solutions – zeroing in on one particular element of the evolving threat landscape challenge – missing the forest for the trees.  In the last few years, Exposure Management has become known as a comprehensive way of reigning in the chaos, giving organizations a true fighting chance to reduce risk and improve posture. In this article I'll cover what Exposure Management is, how it stacks up against some alternative approaches and why building an Exposure Management program should be on  your 2024 to-do list. What is Exposure Management?  Exposure Management is the systematic identification, evaluation,

VMware has issued patches to contain  two security flaws  impacting Workspace ONE Access, Identity Manager, and vRealize Automation that could be exploited to backdoor enterprise networks. The first of the two flaws, tracked as CVE-2022-22972 (CVSS score: 9.8), concerns an authentication bypass that could enable an actor with network access to the UI to gain administrative access without prior authentication. CVE-2022-22973 (CVSS score: 7.8), the other bug, is a case of local privilege escalation that could enable an attacker with local access to elevate privileges to the "root" user on vulnerable virtual appliances. "It is extremely important that you quickly take steps to patch or mitigate these issues in on-premises deployments," VMware  said . The disclosure follows a  warning  from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) that advanced persistent threat (APT) groups are exploiting CVE-2022-22954 and CVE-2022-22960 — two other VMware flaws t

Ransomware  is not a new attack vector. In fact, the  first malware of its kind  appeared more than 30 years ago and was distributed via 5.25-inch floppy disks. To pay the ransom, the victim had to mail money to a P.O. Box in Panama. Fast forward to today, affordable ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) kits are available on the dark web for anyone to purchase and deploy and attackers have an infinite number of channels available to them to infiltrate organizations as a result of reliance on cloud and mobile technologies. Initiating a ransomware attack is all about discretely gaining access. And as employees can now access your data from anywhere, you have lost visibility into how they do so. To safeguard against these attacks, you're not just looking for malware, you need continuous insights into your users, the endpoints they use and the applications and data they access. Lookout , a leader in endpoint-to-cloud security, has published an interactive infographic to help you visualiz

The inner workings of a cybercriminal group known as the Wizard Spider have been exposed, shedding light on its organizational structure and motivations. "Most of Wizard Spider's efforts go into hacking European and U.S. businesses, with a special cracking tool used by some of their attackers to breach high-value targets," Swiss cybersecurity company PRODAFT  said  in a new report shared with The Hacker News. "Some of the money they get is put back into the project to develop new tools and talent." Wizard Spider, also known as Gold Blackburn, is believed to operate out of Russia and refers to a financially motivated threat actor that's been linked to the TrickBot botnet, a modular malware that was  officially discontinued  earlier this year in favor of improved malware such as BazarBackdoor. That's not all. The TrickBot operators have also extensively cooperated with  Conti , another Russia-linked cybercrime group notorious for offering ransomware-a

Microsoft on Tuesday warned that it recently spotted a malicious campaign targeting SQL Servers that leverages a built-in PowerShell binary to achieve persistence on compromised systems. The intrusions, which leverage brute-force attacks as an initial compromise vector, stand out for their use of the utility " sqlps.exe ," the tech giant  said  in a series of tweets. The ultimate goals of the campaign are unknown, as is the identity of the threat actor staging it. Microsoft is tracking the malware under the name " SuspSQLUsage ." The sqlps.exe utility, which comes by default with all versions of SQL Servers, enables an SQL Agent — a Windows service to run scheduled tasks — to run jobs using the PowerShell subsystem. "The attackers achieve fileless persistence by spawning the sqlps.exe utility, a PowerShell wrapper for running SQL-built cmdlets, to run recon commands and change the start mode of the SQL service to LocalSystem," Microsoft noted. Addi

To cash in on a thriving market, a managed security service provider (MSSP) must navigate unprecedented competition and complex challenges. The good news is that demand is through the roof. 69% of organizations plan to boost spending on cybersecurity in 2022.  The bad news is that everyone wants a piece of the pie. MSSPs must outshine each other while fending off encroachments by traditional IT vendors and MSPs. As a result, some MSSPs are succumbing to the squeeze of low margins. Others are struggling to scale successfully.  The most successful MSSPs are taking action to improve their current financial position while laying a foundation for long-term growth. A new eBook, " Your 90-Day MSSP Plan: How to Improve Margins and Scale Up Service Delivery ," to help MSSPs understand the current cybersecurity landscape, their current position in it, what you they're well, and where they can improve the most.  This nine-step plan offers a clear path for MSSPs to boost profitab

Highly skilled software and mobile app developers from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) are posing as "non-DPRK nationals" in hopes of landing freelance employment in an attempt to enable the regime's  malicious cyber intrusions . That's according to a  joint advisory  from the U.S. Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued on Monday. Targets include financial, health, social media, sports, entertainment, and lifestyle-focused companies located in North America, Europe, and East Asia, with most of the dispatched workers situated in China, Russia, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The goal, the U.S. agencies warn, is to generate a constant stream of revenue that sidesteps international sanctions imposed on the nation and help serve its economic and security priorities, including the development of nuclear and ballistic missiles. "The North Korean government withholds up to 90 perce

Microsoft is warning of an emerging threat targeting internet-connected cryptocurrency wallets, signaling a departure in the use of digital coins in cyberattacks. The tech giant dubbed the new threat "cryware," with the attacks resulting in the irreversible theft of virtual currencies by means of fraudulent transfers to an adversary-controlled wallet. "Cryware are information stealers that collect and exfiltrate data directly from non-custodial cryptocurrency wallets, also known as  hot wallets ," Berman Enconado and Laurie Kirk of the Microsoft 365 Defender Research Team  said  in a new report.  "Because hot wallets, unlike custodial wallets, are stored locally on a device and provide easier access to cryptographic keys needed to perform transactions, more and more threats are targeting them." Attacks of this kind are not theoretical. Earlier this year, Kaspersky  disclosed  a financially-motivated campaign staged by the North Korea-based Lazarus Gr

The notorious Conti ransomware gang, which last month staged an attack on Costa Rican administrative systems, has threatened to "overthrow" the new government of the country. "We are determined to overthrow the government by means of a cyber attack, we have already shown you all the strength and power," the group said on its official website. "We have our insiders in your government. We are also working on gaining access to your other systems, you have no other options but to pay us." In a further attempt to increase pressure, the Russian-speaking cybercrime syndicate has raised its ransom demand to $20 million in return for a decryption key to unlock their systems. Another message posted on its dark web portal over the weekend issued a warning stating it will delete the decryption keys in a week, a move that would make it impossible for Costa Rica to recover access to the files encrypted by the ransomware. "I appeal to every resident of Costa R

A new variant of the macOS malware tracked as UpdateAgent has been spotted in the wild, indicating ongoing attempts on the part of its authors to upgrade its functionalities. "Perhaps one of the most identifiable features of the malware is that it relies on the AWS infrastructure to host its various payloads and perform its infection status updates to the server," researchers from Jamf Threat Labs  said  in a report. UpdateAgent, first detected in late 2020, has since  evolved  into a malware dropper, facilitating the distribution of second-stage payloads such as adware while also bypassing macOS  Gatekeeper  protections. The newly discovered Swift-based dropper masquerades as Mach-O binaries named " PDFCreator " and " ActiveDirectory " that, upon execution, establish a connection to a remote server and retrieve a bash script to be executed. "The primary difference [between the two executables] is that it reaches out to a different URL from wh

Traditional businesses migrating to the cloud need robust information security mechanisms.  Gartner predicts  that more than 95% of new digital workloads will continue to be deployed on cloud-native platforms by 2025. Robust  cloud data security  is imperative for businesses adopting rapid digital transformation to the cloud. While a traditional hosting model could be considered more secure, not all organizations are receptive to relinquishing control over their infrastructure or applications by relying on a cloud provider at an increased risk of data theft from a cyberattack done by an outsider. Having said so, let's try to understand the vital part. What is Cloud Data Security?  Cloud data security entails securing data, whether at rest or in motion, on cloud-based infrastructure, applications, etc., against cyber threats like data breaches, unauthorized access, DDoS attacks, etc. This includes the technologies, policies, controls, and services to protect cloud-based system

The U.S. Justice Department on Monday accused a 55-year-old cardiologist from Venezuela of being the mastermind behind  Thanos ransomware , charging him with the use and sale of the malicious tool and entering into profit sharing arrangements. Moises Luis Zagala Gonzalez, also known by the monikers Nosophoros, Aesculapius, and Nebuchadnezzar, is alleged to have both developed and marketed the ransomware to other cybercriminals to facilitate the intrusions and get a share of the bitcoin payment. If convicted, Zagala faces up to five years' imprisonment for attempted computer intrusion, and five years' imprisonment for conspiracy to commit computer intrusions.  "The multi-tasking doctor treated patients, created and  named his cyber tool after death , profited from a global ransomware ecosystem in which he sold the tools for conducting ransomware attacks, trained the attackers about how to extort victims, and then boasted about successful attacks, including by malicious

Microsoft is warning of a new variant of the Sysrv botnet that's exploiting multiple security flaws in web applications and databases to install coin miners on both Windows and Linux systems. The tech giant, which has called the new version Sysrv-K , is said to weaponize an  array of exploits  to gain control of web servers. The cryptojacking botnet first emerged in December 2020. "Sysrv-K scans the internet to find web servers with various vulnerabilities to install itself," the company  said  in a series of tweets. "The vulnerabilities range from path traversal and remote file disclosure to arbitrary file download and remote code execution vulnerabilities." This also includes  CVE-2022-22947  (CVSS score: 10.0), a code injection vulnerability in Spring Cloud Gateway that could be exploited to allow arbitrary remote execution on a remote host via a maliciously crafted request. It's worth noting that the abuse of CVE-2022-22947 has prompted the U.S. Cy

More than 200 Android apps masquerading as fitness, photo editing, and puzzle apps have been observed distributing spyware called Facestealer to siphon user credentials and other valuable information.  "Similar to  Joker , another piece of mobile malware, Facestealer changes its code frequently, thus spawning many variants," Trend Micro analysts Cifer Fang, Ford Quin, and Zhengyu Dong  said  in a new report. "Since its discovery, the spyware has continuously beleaguered Google Play." Facestealer, first  documented  by Doctor Web in July 2021, refers to a group of fraudulent apps that invade the official app marketplace for Android with the goal of plundering sensitive data such as Facebook login credentials. Of the 200 apps, 42 are VPN services, followed by a camera (20) and photo editing applications (13). In addition to harvesting credentials, the apps are also designed to collect Facebook cookies and personally identifiable information associated with a vic

Image source: z3r00t The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Monday  added  two security flaws, including the recently disclosed remote code execution bug affecting Zyxel firewalls, to its  Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog , citing evidence of active exploitation. Tracked as  CVE-2022-30525 , the vulnerability is rated 9.8 for severity and relates to a command injection flaw in select versions of the Zyxel firewall that could enable an unauthenticated adversary to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system. Impacted devices include - USG FLEX 100, 100W, 200, 500, 700 USG20-VPN, USG20W-VPN ATP 100, 200, 500, 700, 800, and VPN series The issue, for which patches were released by the Taiwanese firm in late April (ZLD V5.30), became public knowledge on May 12 following a coordinated disclosure process with Rapid7. Source: Shadowserver Merely a day later, the Shadowserver Foundation  said  it began detecting exploitation attempts,

A first-of-its-kind security analysis of iOS Find My function has identified a novel attack surface that makes it possible to tamper with the firmware and load malware onto a Bluetooth chip that's executed while an iPhone is "off." The mechanism takes advantage of the fact that wireless chips related to Bluetooth, Near-field communication ( NFC ), and ultra-wideband ( UWB ) continue to operate while iOS is shut down when entering a "power reserve" Low Power Mode (LPM). While this is done so as to enable features like  Find My  and facilitate  Express Card transactions , all the three wireless chips have direct access to the secure element, academics from the Secure Mobile Networking Lab ( SEEMOO ) at the Technical University of Darmstadt  said  in a paper entitled "Evil Never Sleeps." "The Bluetooth and UWB chips are hardwired to the Secure Element (SE) in the NFC chip, storing secrets that should be available in LPM," the researchers sa