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3CX said it's  working on a software update  for its desktop app after multiple cybersecurity vendors sounded the alarm on what appears to be an active supply chain attack that's using digitally signed and rigged installers of the popular voice and video conferencing software to target downstream customers. "The trojanized 3CX desktop app is the first stage in a multi-stage attack chain that pulls ICO files appended with Base64 data from GitHub and ultimately leads to a third-stage infostealer DLL," SentinelOne researchers  said . The cybersecurity firm is tracking the activity under the name SmoothOperator , stating the threat actor registered a massive attack infrastructure as far back as February 2022. There are indications that the attack may have commenced around March 22, 2023. 3CX, the company behind 3CXDesktopApp,  claims  to have more than 600,000 customers and 12 million users in 190 countries, some of which include well-known names like American Expres

A number of zero-day vulnerabilities that were addressed last year were exploited by commercial spyware vendors to target Android and iOS devices, Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has revealed. The two distinct campaigns were both limited and highly targeted, taking advantage of the patch gap between the release of a fix and when it was actually deployed on the targeted devices. The scale of the two campaigns and the nature of the targets are currently unknown. "These vendors are enabling the proliferation of dangerous hacking tools, arming governments that would not be able to develop these capabilities in-house," TAG's Clement Lecigne  said  in a new report. "While use of surveillance technologies may be legal under national or international laws, they are often found to be used by governments to target dissidents, journalists, human rights workers, and opposition party politicians." The first of the two operations took place in November 2022 and

Imagine a world where the software that powers your favorite apps, secures your online transactions, and keeps your digital life could be outsmarted and taken over by a cleverly disguised piece of code. This isn't a plot from the latest cyber-thriller; it's actually been a reality for years now. How this will change – in a positive or negative direction – as artificial intelligence (AI) takes on a larger role in software development is one of the big uncertainties related to this brave new world. In an era where AI promises to revolutionize how we live and work, the conversation about its security implications cannot be sidelined. As we increasingly rely on AI for tasks ranging from mundane to mission-critical, the question is no longer just, "Can AI  boost cybersecurity ?" (sure!), but also "Can AI  be hacked? " (yes!), "Can one use AI  to hack? " (of course!), and "Will AI  produce secure software ?" (well…). This thought leadership article is about the latter. Cydrill  (a

An unknown Chinese state-sponsored hacking group has been linked to a novel piece of malware aimed at Linux servers. French cybersecurity firm ExaTrack, which found three samples of the previously documented malicious software that date back to early 2022, dubbed it  Mélofée . The newest of the three artifacts is designed to drop a kernel-mode rootkit that's based on an open source project referred to as  Reptile . "According to the vermagic metadata, it is compiled for a kernel version 5.10.112-108.499.amzn2.x86_64," the company  said  in a report. "The rootkit has a limited set of features, mainly installing a hook designed for hiding itself." Both the implant and the rootkit are said to be deployed using shell commands that download an installer and a custom binary package from a remote server. The installer takes the binary package as an argument and then extracts the rootkit as well as a server implant module that's currently under active develop

However, manual lab setup and configuration can prove to be a laborious and time-consuming process. In this article, we'll look at 4 ways to create a reverse engineering lab, discuss how to save time, and, potentially, improve the detection rate using a  sandbox-as-a-service , and a recommended list of tools for a comprehensive setup. What is a malware analysis lab? In essence, a malware analysis lab provides a safe, isolated space for examining malware. The setup can range from a straightforward virtual machine using VirtualBox to a more intricate network of interconnected machines and actual networking hardware. But in this article, we'll look at building a lab tailored for static analysis, so what we will need is a secure environment where we can run disassemblers, edit binary files and debug. There are a couple of ways we can go about creating it: 1 — Virtualization Perhaps the simplest way to create a secure and isolated environment is by using a virtual machine.

The emergence of smart mobility services and applications has led to a sharp increase in the use of APIs in the automotive industry. However, this increased reliance on APIs has also made them one of the most common attack vectors. According to Gartner, APIs account for 90% of the web application attack surface areas.  With no surprise, similar trends are emerging also in the smart mobility space. A recent  Automotive and Smart Mobility Cybersecurity Report  by Upstream Security indicates that the automotive and smart mobility ecosystem has seen a 380% increase in API-based incidents in 2022, compared to 2021. Additionally, APIs accounted for 12% of total cyber incidents in 2022, up from only 2% in 2021.  When examining smart mobility applications and services, Upstream's threat intelligence team reported that black-hat actors were found to be behind 53% of incidents, indicating malicious intent as the driving force of the majority of API-related attacks. The impact of these in

Trojanized installers for the TOR anonymity browser are being used to target users in Russia and Eastern Europe with  clipper malware  designed to siphon cryptocurrencies since September 2022. "Clipboard injectors [...] can be silent for years, show no network activity or any other signs of presence until the disastrous day when they replace a crypto wallet address," Vitaly Kamluk, director of global research and analysis team (GReAT) for APAC at Kaspersky,  said . Another notable aspect of clipper malware is that its nefarious functions are not triggered unless the clipboard data meets a specific criteria, making it more evasive. It's not immediately clear how the installers are distributed, but evidence points to the use of torrent downloads or some unknown third-party source since the Tor Project's website has been  subjected  to  blockades  in  Russia  in recent years. Regardless of the method used, the installer launches the legitimate executable, while als

A new North Korean nation-state cyber operator has been attributed to a series of campaigns orchestrated to gather strategic intelligence that aligns with Pyongyang's geopolitical interests since 2018. Google-owned Mandiant, which is tracking the activity cluster under the moniker  APT43 , said the group's motives are both espionage- and financially-motivated, leveraging techniques like  credential harvesting  and social engineering to further its objectives. The monetary angle to its attack campaigns is an attempt on the part of the threat actor to generate funds to meet its "primary mission of collecting strategic intelligence." Victimology patterns suggest that targeting is focused on South Korea, the U.S., Japan, and Europe, spanning government, education, research, policy institutes, business services, and manufacturing sectors. The threat actor was also observed straying off course by striking health-related verticals and pharma companies from October 2020

Microsoft on Tuesday  unveiled   Security Copilot  in limited preview, marking its continued quest to embed AI-oriented features in an attempt to offer "end-to-end defense at machine speed and scale." Powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 generative AI and its own security-specific model, it's billed as a  security analysis tool  that enables cybersecurity analysts to quickly respond to threats, process signals, and assess risk exposure. To that end, it collates insights and data from various products like Microsoft Sentinel, Defender, and Intune to help security teams better understand their environment; determine if they are susceptible to known vulnerabilities and exploits; identify ongoing attacks, their scale, and receive remediation instructions; and summarize incidents. Users, for instance, can ask Security Copilot about suspicious user logins over a specific time period, or even employ it to create a PowerPoint presentation outlining an incident and its attack chain.

An advanced persistent threat (APT) group that has a track record of targeting India and Afghanistan has been linked to a new phishing campaign that delivers Action RAT. According to Cyble, which  attributed  the operation to  SideCopy , the activity cluster is designed to target the Defence Research and Development Organization ( DRDO ), the research and development wing of India's Ministry of Defence. Known for emulating the infection chains associated with  SideWinder  to deliver its own malware, SideCopy is a threat group of Pakistani origin that shares overlaps with  Transparent Tribe . It has been active since at least 2019. Attack sequences mounted by the group involve using spear-phishing emails to gain initial access. These messages come bearing a ZIP archive file that contains a Windows shortcut file (.LNK) masquerading as information about the  K-4 ballistic missile  developed by DRDO. Executing the .LNK file leads to the retrieval of an HTML application from a rem