TECHZONE™

North Korean Hackers Steal $10M with AI-Driven Scams and Malware on LinkedIn https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/north-korean-hackers-steal-10m-with-ai.html The North Korea-linked threat actor known as Sapphire Sleet is estimated to have stolen more than $10 million worth of cryptocurrency as part of social engineering campaigns orchestrated over a six-month period. These findings come from Microsoft, which said that multiple threat activity clusters with ties to the country have been observed creating fake profiles on LinkedIn, posing as both

APT-K-47 Uses Hajj-Themed Lures to Deliver Advanced Asyncshell Malware https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/apt-k-47-uses-hajj-themed-lures-to.html The threat actor known as Mysterious Elephant has been observed using an advanced version of malware called Asynshell. The attack campaign is said to have used Hajj-themed lures to trick victims into executing a malicious payload under the guise of a Microsoft Compiled HTML Help (CHM) file, the Knownsec 404 team said in an analysis published today. Mysterious Elephant, which is also known as

Russian Hackers Deploy HATVIBE and CHERRYSPY Malware Across Europe and Asia https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/russian-hackers-deploy-hatvibe-and.html Threat actors with ties to Russia have been linked to a cyber espionage campaign aimed at organizations in Central Asia, East Asia, and Europe. Recorded Future's Insikt Group, which has assigned the activity cluster the name TAG-110, said it overlaps with a threat group tracked by the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) as UAC-0063, which, in turn, overlaps with APT28. The

Unlocking Google Workspace Security: Are You Doing Enough to Protect Your Data? https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/the-importance-of%20having-a-google-workspace-backup-solution.html Google Workspace has quickly become the productivity backbone for businesses worldwide, offering an all-in-one suite with email, cloud storage and collaboration tools. This single-platform approach makes it easy for teams to connect and work efficiently, no matter where they are, enabling seamless digital transformation that’s both scalable and adaptable. As companies shift from traditional,

Microsoft, Meta, and DOJ Disrupt Global Cybercrime and Fraudulent Networks https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/microsoft-meta-and-doj-disrupt-global.html Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) have announced independent actions to tackle cybercrime and disrupt services that enable scams, fraud, and phishing attacks. To that end, Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) said it seized 240 fraudulent websites associated with an Egypt-based cybercrime facilitator named Abanoub Nady (aka MRxC0DER and mrxc0derii), who

PyPI Attack: ChatGPT, Claude Impersonators Deliver JarkaStealer via Python Libraries https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/pypi-attack-chatgpt-claude.html Cybersecurity researchers have discovered two malicious packages uploaded to the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository that impersonated popular artificial intelligence (AI) models like OpenAI ChatGPT and Anthropic Claude to deliver an information stealer called JarkaStealer. The packages, named gptplus and claudeai-eng, were uploaded by a user named "Xeroline" in November 2023, attracting

Warning: Over 2,000 Palo Alto Networks Devices Hacked in Ongoing Attack Campaign https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/warning-over-2000-palo-alto-networks.html As many as 2,000 Palo Alto Networks devices are estimated to have been compromised as part of a campaign abusing the newly disclosed security flaws that have come under active exploitation in the wild. According to statistics shared by the Shadowserver Foundation, a majority of the infections have been reported in the U.S. (554) and India (461), followed by Thailand (80), Mexico (48), Indonesia

Chinese APT Gelsemium Targets Linux Systems with New WolfsBane Backdoor https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/chinese-apt-gelsemium-targets-linux.html The China-aligned advanced persistent threat (APT) actor known as Gelsemium has been observed using a new Linux backdoor dubbed WolfsBane as part of cyber attacks likely targeting East and Southeast Asia. That's according to findings from cybersecurity firm ESET based on multiple Linux samples uploaded to the VirusTotal platform from Taiwan, the Philippines, and Singapore in March 2023.

10 Most Impactful PAM Use Cases for Enhancing Organizational Security https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/10-most-impactful-pam-use-cases-for.html Privileged access management (PAM) plays a pivotal role in building a strong security strategy. PAM empowers you to significantly reduce cybersecurity risks, gain tighter control over privileged access, achieve regulatory compliance, and reduce the burden on your IT team.  As an established provider of a PAM solution, we’ve witnessed firsthand how PAM transforms organizational security. In

North Korean Front Companies Impersonate U.S. IT Firms to Fund Missile Programs https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/north-korean-front-companies.html Threat actors with ties to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) are impersonating U.S.-based software and technology consulting businesses in order to further their financial objectives as part of a broader information technology (IT) worker scheme. "Front companies, often based in China, Russia, Southeast Asia, and Africa, play a key role in masking the workers' true origins and

Cyber Story Time: The Boy Who Cried "Secure!" https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/cyber-story-time-boy-who-cried-secure.html As a relatively new security category, many security operators and executives I’ve met have asked us “What are these Automated Security Validation (ASV) tools?” We’ve covered that pretty extensively in the past, so today, instead of covering the “What is ASV?” I wanted to address the “Why ASV?” question. In this article, we’ll cover some common use cases and misconceptions of how people misuse

Over 145,000 Industrial Control Systems Across 175 Countries Found Exposed Online https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/over-145000-industrial-control-systems.html New research has uncovered more than 145,000 internet-exposed Industrial Control Systems (ICS) across 175 countries, with the U.S. alone accounting for over one-third of the total exposures. The analysis, which comes from attack surface management company Censys, found that 38% of the devices are located in North America, 35.4% in Europe, 22.9% in Asia, 1.7% in Oceania, 1.2% in South America,

5 Scattered Spider Gang Members Indicted in Multi-Million Dollar Cybercrime Scheme https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/5-scattered-spider-gang-members.html Five alleged members of the infamous Scattered Spider cybercrime crew have been indicted in the U.S. for targeting employees of companies across the country using social engineering techniques to harvest credentials and using them to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data and break into crypto accounts to steal digital assets worth millions of dollars. All of the accused parties have been

Google's AI-Powered OSS-Fuzz Tool Finds 26 Vulnerabilities in Open-Source Projects https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/googles-ai-powered-oss-fuzz-tool-finds.html Google has revealed that its AI-powered fuzzing tool, OSS-Fuzz, has been used to help identify 26 vulnerabilities in various open-source code repositories, including a medium-severity flaw in the OpenSSL cryptographic library. "These particular vulnerabilities represent a milestone for automated vulnerability finding: each was found with AI, using AI-generated and enhanced fuzz targets,"

NodeStealer Malware Targets Facebook Ad Accounts, Harvesting Credit Card Data https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/nodestealer-malware-targets-facebook-ad.html Threat hunters are warning about an updated version of the Python-based NodeStealer that's now equipped to extract more information from victims' Facebook Ads Manager accounts and harvest credit card data stored in web browsers. "They collect budget details of Facebook Ads Manager accounts of their victims, which might be a gateway for Facebook malvertisement," Netskope Threat Labs researcher

Ghost Tap: Hackers Exploiting NFCGate to Steal Funds via Mobile Payments https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/ghost-tap-hackers-exploiting-nfcgate-to.html Threat actors are increasingly banking on a new technique that leverages near-field communication (NFC) to cash out victim's funds at scale. The technique, codenamed Ghost Tap by ThreatFabric, enables cybercriminals to cash-out money from stolen credit cards linked to mobile payment services such as Google Pay or Apple Pay and relaying NFC traffic. "Criminals can now misuse Google Pay and Apple

NHIs Are the Future of Cybersecurity: Meet NHIDR https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/nhis-are-future-of-cybersecurity-meet.html The frequency and sophistication of modern cyberattacks are surging, making it increasingly challenging for organizations to protect sensitive data and critical infrastructure. When attackers compromise a non-human identity (NHI), they can swiftly exploit it to move laterally across systems, identifying vulnerabilities and compromising additional NHIs in minutes. While organizations often take

Decades-Old Security Vulnerabilities Found in Ubuntu's Needrestart Package https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/decades-old-security-vulnerabilities.html Multiple decade-old security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in the needrestart package installed by default in Ubuntu Server (since version 21.04) that could allow a local attacker to gain root privileges without requiring user interaction. The Qualys Threat Research Unit (TRU), which identified and reported the flaws early last month, said they are trivial to exploit, necessitating that

Microsoft Launches Windows Resiliency Initiative to Boost Security and System Integrity https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/microsoft-launches-windows-resiliency.html Microsoft has announced a new Windows Resiliency Initiative as a way to improve security and reliability, as well as ensure that system integrity is not compromised. The idea, the tech giant said, is to avoid incidents like that of CrowdStrike's earlier this July, enable more apps and users to be run without admin privileges, add controls surrounding the use of unsafe apps and drivers, and offer

China-Backed Hackers Leverage SIGTRAN, GSM Protocols to Infiltrate Telecom Networks https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/china-backed-hackers-leverage-sigtran.html A new China-linked cyber espionage group has been attributed as behind a series of targeted cyber attacks targeting telecommunications entities in South Asia and Africa since at least 2020 with the goal of enabling intelligence collection. Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike is tracking the adversary under the name Liminal Panda, describing it as possessing deep knowledge about telecommunications