Latest Cybersecurity News and Articles

---

Critical OpenWrt Vulnerability Exposes Devices to Malicious Firmware Injection

A security flaw has been disclosed in OpenWrt's Attended Sysupgrade (ASU) feature that, if successfully exploited, could have been abused to distribute malicious firmware packages. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-54143, carries a CVSS score of 9.3 out of a maximum of 10, indicating critical severity. Flatt Security researcher RyotaK has been credited with discovering and reporting the

---

DoJ Indicts 14 North Koreans for $88M IT Worker Fraud Scheme Over Six Years

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has indicted 14 nationals belonging to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) for their alleged involvement in a long-running conspiracy to violate sanctions and commit wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft by illegally seeking employment in U.S. companies and non-profit organizations. "The conspirators, who worked for

---

Iran-Linked IOCONTROL Malware Targets SCADA and Linux-Based IoT Platforms

Iran-affiliated threat actors have been linked to a new custom malware that's geared toward IoT and operational technology (OT) environments in Israel and the United States. The malware has been codenamed IOCONTROL by OT cybersecurity company Claroty, highlighting its ability to attack IoT and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) devices such as IP cameras, routers, programmable

---

How to Generate a CrowdStrike RFM Report With AI in Tines

Run by the team at orchestration, AI, and automation platform Tines, the Tines library contains pre-built workflows shared by real security practitioners from across the community, all of which are free to import and deploy via the Community Edition of the platform.  Their bi-annual “You Did What with Tines?!” competition highlights some of the most interesting workflows submitted by their

---

70% of cybersecurity leaders influenced by personal liability concerns

70% of respondents believe incidents of CISOs being held liable for cybersecurity events has negatively influenced their perception of the role. 

---

New Linux Rootkit PUMAKIT Uses Advanced Stealth Techniques to Evade Detection

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new Linux rootkit called PUMAKIT that comes with capabilities to escalate privileges, hide files and directories, and conceal itself from system tools, while simultaneously evading detection. "PUMAKIT is a sophisticated loadable kernel module (LKM) rootkit that employs advanced stealth mechanisms to hide its presence and maintain communication with

---

FBI Busts Rydox Marketplace with 7,600 PII Sales, Cryptocurrency Worth $225K Seized

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday announced the shutdown of an illicit marketplace called Rydox ("rydox.ru" and "rydox[.]cc") for selling stolen personal information, access devices, and other tools for conducting cybercrime and fraud. In tandem, three Kosovo nationals and administrators of the service, Ardit Kutleshi, Jetmir Kutleshi, and Shpend Sokoli, have been arrested. Ardit

---

Over 300K Prometheus Instances Exposed: Credentials and API Keys Leaking Online

Cybersecurity researchers are warning that thousands of servers hosting the Prometheus monitoring and alerting toolkit are at risk of information leakage and exposure to denial-of-service (DoS) as well as remote code execution (RCE) attacks. "Prometheus servers or exporters, often lacking proper authentication, allowed attackers to easily gather sensitive information, such as credentials and API

---

Gamaredon Deploys Android Spyware "BoneSpy" and "PlainGnome" in Former Soviet States

The Russia-linked state-sponsored threat actor tracked as Gamaredon has been attributed to two new Android spyware tools called BoneSpy and PlainGnome, marking the first time the adversary has been discovered using mobile-only malware families in its attack campaigns. "BoneSpy and PlainGnome target former Soviet states and focus on Russian-speaking victims," Lookout said in an analysis. "Both

---

Researchers Uncover Symlink Exploit Allowing TCC Bypass in iOS and macOS

Details have emerged about a now-patched security vulnerability in Apple's iOS and macOS that, if successfully exploited, could sidestep the Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) framework and result in unauthorized access to sensitive information. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2024-44131 (CVSS score: 5.3), resides in the FileProvider component, per Apple, and has been addressed with improved

---

SaaS Budget Planning Guide for IT Professionals

SaaS services are one of the biggest drivers of OpEx (operating expenses) for modern businesses. With Gartner projecting $247.2 billion in global SaaS spending this year, it’s no wonder SaaS budgets are a big deal in the world of finance and IT. Efficient SaaS utilization can significantly affect both the bottom line and employee productivity.  In this article, we’ll break down this topic

---

WordPress Hunk Companion Plugin Flaw Exploited to Silently Install Vulnerable Plugins

Malicious actors are exploiting a critical vulnerability in the Hunk Companion plugin for WordPress to install other vulnerable plugins that could open the door to a variety of attacks. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2024-11972 (CVSS score: 9.8), affects all versions of the plugin prior to 1.9.0. The plugin has over 10,000 active installations. "This flaw poses a significant security risk, as it

---

Report: New cyber scam campaign targets job seekers

Research reveals a new cyber scam campaign targeting job seekers.

---

Europol Dismantles 27 DDoS Attack Platforms Across 15 Nations; Admins Arrested

A global law enforcement operation has failed 27 stresser services that were used to conduct distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and took them offline as part of a multi-year international exercise called PowerOFF. The effort, coordinated by Europol and involving 15 countries, dismantled several booter and stresser websites, including zdstresser.net, orbitalstress.net, and

---

How Cryptocurrency Turns to Cash in Russian Banks

A financial firm registered in Canada has emerged as the payment processor for dozens of Russian cryptocurrency exchanges and websites hawking cybercrime services aimed at Russian-speaking customers, new research finds. Meanwhile, an investigation into the Vancouver street address used by this company shows it is home to dozens of foreign currency dealers, money transfer businesses, and cryptocurrency exchanges -- none of which are physically located there.

---

Secret Blizzard Deploys Kazuar Backdoor in Ukraine Using Amadey Malware-as-a-Service

The Russian nation-state actor tracked as Secret Blizzard has been observed leveraging malware associated with other threat actors to deploy a known backdoor called Kazuar on target devices located in Ukraine. The new findings come from the Microsoft threat intelligence team, which said it observed the adversary leveraging the Amadey bot malware to download custom malware onto "specifically

---

Top 5 sectors targeted with subject customization techniques

Research has revealed the 5 industries most frequently targeted with subject customization techniques. 

---

New Malware Technique Could Exploit Windows UI Framework to Evade EDR Tools

A newly devised technique leverages a Windows accessibility framework called UI Automation (UIA) to perform a wide range of malicious activities without tipping off endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions. "To exploit this technique, a user must be convinced to run a program that uses UI Automation," Akamai security researcher Tomer Peled said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "

---

Microsoft MFA AuthQuake Flaw Enabled Unlimited Brute-Force Attempts Without Alerts

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a "critical" security vulnerability in Microsoft's multi-factor authentication (MFA) implementation that allows an attacker to trivially sidestep the protection and gain unauthorized access to a victim's account. "The bypass was simple: it took around an hour to execute, required no user interaction and did not generate any notification or provide the

---

ZLoader Malware Returns With DNS Tunneling to Stealthily Mask C2 Comms

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new version of the ZLoader malware that employs a Domain Name System (DNS) tunnel for command-and-control (C2) communications, indicating that the threat actors are continuing to refine the tool after resurfacing a year ago. "Zloader 2.9.4.0 adds notable improvements including a custom DNS tunnel protocol for C2 communications and an interactive shell