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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is one of the standard-bearers in global cybersecurity. The U.S.-based institute's cybersecurity framework helps organizations of all sizes understand, manage, and reduce their cyber-risk levels and better protect their data. Its importance in the fight against cyberattacks can't be overstated. While NIST hasn't directly developed standards related to securing the SaaS ecosystem, they are instrumental in the way we approach SaaS security. NIST recently released its  Guide to a Secure Enterprise Network Landscape . In it, they discuss the transformation from on-premise networks to multiple cloud servers. Access to these servers, and the accompanying SaaS apps, is through both secure and unsecured devices and locations across disparate geography. The move to the cloud has effectively obliterated the network perimeter. As a result, companies have increased their attack surface and are experiencing an escalation of attacks that

Threat actors have been increasingly observed using AI-generated YouTube Videos to spread a variety of stealer malware such as Raccoon, RedLine, and Vidar. "The videos lure users by pretending to be tutorials on how to download cracked versions of software such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Autodesk 3ds Max, AutoCAD, and other products that are licensed products available only to paid users," CloudSEK researcher Pavan Karthick M  said . Just as the ransomware landscape comprises core developers and affiliates who are in charge of identifying potential targets and actually carrying out the attacks, the information stealer ecosystem also consists of threat actors known as  traffers  who are recruited to spread the malware using different methods. One of the popular malware distribution channels is YouTube, with CloudSEK witnessing a 200-300% month-over-month increase in videos containing links to stealer malware in the description section since November 2022. These links ar

Identities now transcend human boundaries. Within each line of code and every API call lies a non-human identity. These entities act as programmatic access keys, enabling authentication and facilitating interactions among systems and services, which are essential for every API call, database query, or storage account access. As we depend on multi-factor authentication and passwords to safeguard human identities, a pressing question arises: How do we guarantee the security and integrity of these non-human counterparts? How do we authenticate, authorize, and regulate access for entities devoid of life but crucial for the functioning of critical systems? Let's break it down. The challenge Imagine a cloud-native application as a bustling metropolis of tiny neighborhoods known as microservices, all neatly packed into containers. These microservices function akin to diligent worker bees, each diligently performing its designated task, be it processing data, verifying credentials, or

More than a dozen security flaws have been disclosed in E11, a smart intercom product made by Chinese company Akuvox . "The vulnerabilities could allow attackers to execute code remotely in order to activate and control the device's camera and microphone, steal video and images, or gain a network foothold," Claroty security researcher Vera Mens  said  in a technical write-up. Akuvox E11 is described by the company on its website as a " SIP  [Session Initiation Protocol] video doorphone specially designed for villas, houses, and apartments." The  product listing , however, has been taken down from the website, displaying an error message: "Page does not exist." A  snapshot  captured by Google shows that the page was live as recently as March 12, 2023, 05:59:51 GMT. The attacks can manifest either through remote code execution within the local area network (LAN) or remote activation of the E11's camera and microphone, allowing the adversary to c

The  Dark Pink  advanced persistent threat (APT) actor has been linked to a fresh set of attacks targeting government and military entities in Southeast Asian countries with a malware called KamiKakaBot. Dark Pink, also called Saaiwc, was extensively profiled by Group-IB earlier this year, describing its use of custom tools such as TelePowerBot and KamiKakaBot to run arbitrary commands and exfiltrate sensitive information. The threat actor is suspected to be of Asia-Pacific origin and has been active since at least mid-2021, with an increased tempo observed in 2022. "The latest attacks, which took place in February 2023, were almost identical to previous attacks," Dutch cybersecurity company EclecticIQ  disclosed  in a new report published last week. "The main difference in the February campaign is that the malware's obfuscation routine has improved to better evade anti-malware measures." The attacks play out in the form of social engineering lures that

The malware downloader known as BATLOADER has been observed  abusing Google Ads  to deliver secondary payloads like Vidar Stealer and Ursnif. According to cybersecurity company  eSentire , the malicious ads are used to spoof a wide range of legitimate apps and services such as Adobe, OpenAPI's ChatGPT, Spotify, Tableau, and Zoom. BATLOADER , as the name suggests, is a loader that's responsible for distributing next-stage malware such as information stealers, banking malware, Cobalt Strike, and even ransomware. One of the key traits of the BATLOADER operations is the use of software impersonation tactics for malware delivery. This is achieved by setting up lookalike websites that host Windows installer files masquerading as legitimate apps to trigger the infection sequence when a user searching for the software clicks a rogue ad on the Google search results page. These MSI installer files, when launched, execute Python scripts that contain the BATLOADER payload to retrie

An updated version of a botnet malware called  Prometei  has infected more than 10,000 systems worldwide since November 2022. The infections are both geographically indiscriminate and opportunistic, with a majority of the victims reported in Brazil, Indonesia, and Turkey. Prometei, first observed in 2016, is a modular botnet that features a large repertoire of components and several proliferation methods, some of which also include the  exploitation  of ProxyLogon Microsoft Exchange Server flaws. It's also notable for avoiding striking Russia, suggesting that the threat actors behind the operation are likely based in the country. The cross-platform botnet's motivations are financial, primarily leveraging its pool of infected hosts to mine cryptocurrency and harvest credentials. The latest variant of Prometei (called v3) improves upon its existing features to challenge forensic analysis and further burrow its access on victim machines, Cisco Talos  said  in a report share

A suspecting China-linked hacking campaign has been observed targeting unpatched SonicWall  Secure Mobile Access (SMA) 100 appliances  to drop malware and establish long-term persistence. "The malware has functionality to steal user credentials, provide shell access, and persist through firmware upgrades," cybersecurity company Mandiant  said  in a technical report published this week. The Google-owned incident response and threat intelligence firm is tracking the activity under its uncategorized moniker  UNC4540 . The malware – a collection of bash scripts and a single ELF binary identified as a TinyShell backdoor – is engineered to grant the attacker privileged access to SonicWall devices. The overall objective behind the custom toolset appears to be credential theft, with the malware permitting the adversary to siphon cryptographically hashed credentials from all logged-in users. It further provides shell access to the compromised device. Mandiant also called out th

A coordinated international law enforcement exercise has taken down the online infrastructure associated with a cross-platform remote access trojan (RAT) known as NetWire . Coinciding with the seizure of the sales website www.worldwiredlabs[.]com, a Croatian national who is suspected to be the website's administrator has been arrested. While the suspect's name was not released, investigative journalist Brian Krebs  identified  Mario Zanko as the owner of the domain. "NetWire is a licensed commodity RAT offered in underground forums to non-technical users to carry out their own criminal activities," Europol's European Cybercrime Center (EC3)  said  in a tweet. Advertised  since   at least 2012 , the malware is typically distributed via  malspam campaigns  and gives a remote attacker complete control over a Windows, macOS, or Linux system. It also comes with password-stealing and keylogging capabilities. The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ)  said  an investiga

Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) has long ago become a standard security practice. With a wide consensus on its ability to fend off more than 99% percent of account takeover attacks, it's no wonder why security architects regard it as a must-have in their environments. However, what seems to be less known are the inherent coverage limitations of traditional MFA solutions. While compatible with RDP connection and local desktop logins,  they offer no protection to remote command line access tools like PsExec, Remote PowerShell and their likes. In practice, it means that workstations and servers remain as vulnerable to lateral movement, ransomware spread and other identity threats despite having a fully functioning MFA solution on. For the adversary it's just a matter of taking the command line path instead of the RDP to log in as if there was not protection installed at all. In this article we'll explore this blind spot, understand its root cause and implications, and view