A leading Spanish research institute has become the latest organization in the country to come under cyber-attack from Russia, after a weeks-long DDoS campaign that appears to be geopolitically motivated. Local reports claimed that prolific hacktivist group NoName057 is responsible for the DDoS blitz, which impacted at least 72 websites between July 19 and 30. Banks, telecoms
Month: August 2023
Aug 07, 2023THNCyber Attack Two different North Korean nation-state actors have been linked to a cyber intrusion against the major Russian missile engineering company NPO Mashinostroyeniya. Cybersecurity firm SentinelOne said it identified “two instances of North Korea related compromise of sensitive internal IT infrastructure,” including a case of an email server compromise and the deployment
A new malicious campaign has been found on the Python Package Index (PyPI) open-source repository involving 24 malicious packages that closely imitate three popular open-source tools: vConnector, eth-tester and databases. The campaign, dubbed VMConnect, was uncovered by ReversingLabs and started around July 28, 2023, with the continuous posting of new malicious PyPI packages daily. The
Aug 05, 2023THNLinux / Malware Threat actors are using an open-source rootkit called Reptile to target Linux systems in South Korea. “Unlike other rootkit malware that typically only provide concealment capabilities, Reptile goes a step further by offering a reverse shell, allowing threat actors to easily take control of systems,” the AhnLab Security Emergency Response
A stealthy malware has been discovered on npm, the popular package manager for JavaScript, that poses a severe threat by exposing sensitive developer data. The findings come from cybersecurity firm Phylum, who said that on July 31 2023, their automated risk detection platform raised an alert regarding suspicious activities on npm. Over the course of a
by Paul Ducklin Back in August 2016, Heather Morgan, a.k.a. Razzlekhan, a.k.a. the Crocodile of Wall Street (actually, there’s a double-barrelled expletive in front of the word ‘crocodile’, but this is a family-friendly website so we’ll leave you to extrapolate for yourself), and her husband Ilya Lichtenstein got their hands on 120,000 of your finest
Aug 05, 2023The Hacker NewsManaged Detection and Response Managed Detection and Response (MDR) has emerged as a crucial solution for organizations looking to bolster their security measures. MDR allows businesses to outsource the management of Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) products deployed across their network domain. With real-time threat-hunting capabilities, MDR services detect and mitigate
Sporting events and venues are increasingly vulnerable to cyber-attacks, a new study from Microsoft has found. The Microsoft Threat Intelligence State of Play report highlighted the growing opportunities for threat actors to target high-profile sporting events, “especially those in increasingly connected environments, introducing cyber risk for organizers, regional host facilities and attendees.” Research has demonstrated
by Paul Ducklin WEIRD BUT TRUE No audio player below? Listen directly on Soundcloud. With Doug Aamoth and Paul Ducklin. Intro and outro music by Edith Mudge. You can listen to us on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere that good podcasts are found. Or just drop the URL of our RSS feed
Aug 04, 2023THNCryptocurrency / Cyber Crime A married couple from New York City has pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in connection with the 2016 hack of cryptocurrency stock exchange Bitfinex, resulting in the theft of about 120,000 bitcoin. The development comes more than a year after Ilya Lichtenstein, 35, and his wife, Heather Morgan,
Cyber-attacks against government agencies and public sector services are up 40% in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the first. BlackBerry Cybersecurity’s second Quarterly Threat Intelligence Report, covering cyber-attacks observed from March to May 2023, was published on August 2, 2023. The firm claimed it stopped 1.5 million attacks across 90 days, 55000 of
by Paul Ducklin Another week, another BWAIN! As you’ll know if you listened to last week’s podcast (hint, hint!), BWAIN is short for Bug With An Impressive Name: It’s a nickname we apply when the finders of a new cybersecurity attack get so excited about their discovery that they give it a PR-friendly moniker, register
The frequency and complexity of cyber threats are constantly evolving. At the same time, organizations are now collecting sensitive data that, if compromised, could result in severe financial and reputational damage. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, the cost of cybercrime is predicted to hit $8 trillion in 2023 and will grow to $10.5 trillion by 2025.
Government agencies alongside education and healthcare organizations have become prime targets for ransomware operators over the past three years. According to a new report published on August 2, 2023, by data protection provider Barracuda Networks, the number of reported attacks against municipalities, education and healthcare has doubled since last year and more than quadrupled since 2021.
by Paul Ducklin The latest full new version of Firefox is out, marking the first of two “monthly” upgrades you’ll see this month. Just as there will be a blue moon in August 2023 (that’s the name applied to a second full moon in the same calendar month, rather than reference to an atmospheric phenomenon
Aug 02, 2023THNICS/SCADA Security About 34% of security vulnerabilities impacting industrial control systems (ICSs) that were reported in the first half of 2023 have no patch or remediation, registering a significant increase from 13% the previous year. According to data compiled by SynSaber, a total of 670 ICS product flaws were reported via the U.S.
An NHS trust has been reprimanded by the UK’s data protection regulator after it was discovered that staff had been sharing patient details on an unapproved app for two years. Some 26 staff at NHS Lanarkshire accessed the WhatsApp group between April 2020 and April 2022, entering sensitive patient data including names, phone numbers, addresses,
by Paul Ducklin Last week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced new and fairly strict rules about cybersecurity breach disclosures for any people or companies that fall under its regulatory remit. The SEC, by the way, was founded at the height of the US Great Depression in the 1930s, with the aim of
Aug 01, 2023THNMobile Security / Malware Various European customers of different banks are being targeted by an Android banking trojan called SpyNote as part of an aggressive campaign detected in June and July 2023. “The spyware is distributed through email phishing or smishing campaigns and the fraudulent activities are executed with a combination of remote