TECHZONE™

VanHelsing RaaS Launch: 3 Victims, $5K Entry Fee, Multi-OS, and Double Extortion Tactics https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/vanhelsing-raas-launch-3-victims-5k.html A ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation called VanHelsing has already claimed three victims since it launched on March 7, 2025. "The RaaS model allows a wide range of participants, from experienced hackers to newcomers, to get involved with a $5,000 deposit. Affiliates keep 80% of the ransom payments, while the core operators earn 20%," Check Point said in a report published over the weekend

⚡ THN Weekly Recap: GitHub Supply Chain Attack, AI Malware, BYOVD Tactics, and More https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/thn-weekly-recap-github-supply-chain.html A quiet tweak in a popular open-source tool opened the door to a supply chain breach—what started as a targeted attack quickly spiraled, exposing secrets across countless projects. That wasn’t the only stealth move. A new all-in-one malware is silently stealing passwords, crypto, and control—while hiding in plain sight. And over 300 Android apps joined the chaos, running ad

VSCode Marketplace Removes Two Extensions Deploying Early-Stage Ransomware https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/vscode-marketplace-removes-two.html Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered two malicious extensions in the Visual Studio Code (VSCode) Marketplace that are designed to deploy ransomware that's under development to its users. The extensions, named "ahban.shiba" and "ahban.cychelloworld," have since been taken down by the marketplace maintainers. Both the extensions, per ReversingLabs, incorporate code that's designed to invoke a

How to Balance Password Security Against User Experience https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/how-to-balance-password-security.html If given the choice, most users are likely to favor a seamless experience over complex security measures, as they don’t prioritize strong password security. However, balancing security and usability doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. By implementing the right best practices and tools, you can strike a balance between robust password security and a frictionless user experience (UX). This article

Critical Next.js Vulnerability Allows Attackers to Bypass Middleware Authorization Checks https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/critical-nextjs-vulnerability-allows.html A critical security flaw has been disclosed in the Next.js React framework that could be potentially exploited to bypass authorization checks under certain conditions. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-29927, carries a CVSS score of 9.1 out of 10.0. "Next.js uses an internal header x-middleware-subrequest to prevent recursive requests from triggering infinite loops," Next.js said in an

GitHub Supply Chain Breach: Coinbase Attack Exposes 218 Repositories, Leaks CI/CD Secrets https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/github-supply-chain-breach-coinbase.html The supply chain attack involving the GitHub Action "tj-actions/changed-files" started as a highly-targeted attack against one of Coinbase's open-source projects, before evolving into something more widespread in scope. "The payload was focused on exploiting the public CI/CD flow of one of their open source projects – agentkit, probably with the purpose of leveraging it for further compromises,"

U.S. Treasury Lifts Tornado Cash Sanctions Amid North Korea Money Laundering Probe https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/us-treasury-lifts-tornado-cash.html The U.S. Treasury Department has announced that it's removing sanctions against Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer service that has been accused of aiding the North Korea-linked Lazarus Group to launder their ill-gotten proceeds. "Based on the Administration's review of the novel legal and policy issues raised by use of financial sanctions against financial and commercial activity occurring

UAT-5918 Targets Taiwan's Critical Infrastructure Using Web Shells and Open-Source Tools https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/uat-5918-targets-taiwans-critical.html Threat hunters have uncovered a new threat actor named UAT-5918 that has been attacking critical infrastructure entities in Taiwan since at least 2023. "UAT-5918, a threat actor believed to be motivated by establishing long-term access for information theft, uses a combination of web shells and open-sourced tooling to conduct post-compromise activities to establish persistence in victim

Medusa Ransomware Uses Malicious Driver to Disable Anti-Malware with Stolen Certificates https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/medusa-ransomware-uses-malicious-driver.html The threat actors behind the Medusa ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation have been observed using a malicious driver dubbed ABYSSWORKER as part of a bring your own vulnerable driver (BYOVD) attack designed to disable anti-malware tools. Elastic Security Labs said it observed a Medusa ransomware attack that delivered the encryptor by means of a loader packed using a packer-as-a-service (PaaS

China-Linked APT Aquatic Panda: 10-Month Campaign, 7 Global Targets, 5 Malware Families https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/china-linked-apt-aquatic-panda-10-month.html The China-linked advanced persistent threat (APT) group. known as Aquatic Panda has been linked to a "global espionage campaign" that took place in 2022 targeting seven organizations. These entities include governments, catholic charities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and think tanks across Taiwan, Hungary, Turkey, Thailand, France, and the United States. The activity, which took place

10 Critical Network Pentest Findings IT Teams Overlook https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/10-critical-network-pentest-findings-it.html After conducting over 10,000 automated internal network penetration tests last year, vPenTest has uncovered a troubling reality that many businesses still have critical security gaps that attackers can easily exploit. Organizations often assume that firewalls, endpoint protection, and SIEMs are enough to keep them secure. But how effective are these defenses when put to the test? That’s where

Kaspersky Links Head Mare to Twelve, Targeting Russian Entities via Shared C2 Servers https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/kaspersky-links-head-mare-to-twelve.html Two known threat activity clusters codenamed Head Mare and Twelve have likely joined forces to target Russian entities, new findings from Kaspersky reveal. "Head Mare relied heavily on tools previously associated with Twelve. Additionally, Head Mare attacks utilized command-and-control (C2) servers exclusively linked to Twelve prior to these incidents," the company said. "This suggests

Ongoing Cyber Attacks Exploit Critical Vulnerabilities in Cisco Smart Licensing Utility https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/ongoing-cyber-attacks-exploit-critical.html Two now-patched security flaws impacting Cisco Smart Licensing Utility are seeing active exploitation attempts, according to SANS Internet Storm Center. The two critical-rated vulnerabilities in question are listed below -  CVE-2024-20439 (CVSS score: 9.8) - The presence of an undocumented static user credential for an administrative account that an attacker could exploit to log in to an

YouTube Game Cheats Spread Arcane Stealer Malware to Russian-Speaking Users https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/youtube-game-cheats-spread-arcane.html YouTube videos promoting game cheats are being used to deliver a previously undocumented stealer malware called Arcane likely targeting Russian-speaking users. "What's intriguing about this malware is how much it collects," Kaspersky said in an analysis. "It grabs account information from VPN and gaming clients, and all kinds of network utilities like ngrok, Playit, Cyberduck, FileZilla, and

Veeam and IBM Release Patches for High-Risk Flaws in Backup and AIX Systems https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/veeam-and-ibm-release-patches-for-high.html Veeam has released security updates to address a critical security flaw impacting its Backup & Replication software that could lead to remote code execution. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-23120, carries a CVSS score of 9.9 out of 10.0. It affects 12.3.0.310 and all earlier version 12 builds. "A vulnerability allowing remote code execution (RCE) by authenticated domain users," the

How to Protect Your Business from Cyber Threats: Mastering the Shared Responsibility Model https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/how-to-protect-your-business-from-cyber.html Cybersecurity isn't just another checkbox on your business agenda. It's a fundamental pillar of survival. As organizations increasingly migrate their operations to the cloud, understanding how to protect your digital assets becomes crucial. The shared responsibility model, exemplified through Microsoft 365's approach, offers a framework for comprehending and implementing effective cybersecurity

Six Governments Likely Use Israeli Paragon Spyware to Hack IM Apps and Harvest Data https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/six-governments-likely-use-israeli.html The governments of Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, and Singapore are likely customers of spyware developed by Israeli company Paragon Solutions, according to a new report from The Citizen Lab. Paragon, founded in 2019 by Ehud Barak and Ehud Schneorson, is the maker of a surveillance tool called Graphite that's capable of harvesting sensitive data from instant messaging applications

Why Continuous Compliance Monitoring Is Essential For IT Managed Service Providers https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/why-continuous-compliance-monitoring-is.html Regulatory compliance is no longer just a concern for large enterprises. Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are increasingly subject to strict data protection and security regulations, such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, CMMC, GDPR, and the FTC Safeguards Rule. However, many SMBs struggle to maintain compliance due to limited IT resources, evolving regulatory requirements, and complex security challenges

CISA Adds NAKIVO Vulnerability to KEV Catalog Amid Active Exploitation https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/cisa-adds-nakivo-vulnerability-to-kev.html The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added a high-severity security flaw impacting NAKIVO Backup & Replication software to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, citing evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2024-48248 (CVSS score: 8.6), an absolute path traversal bug that could allow an unauthenticated attacker to

CERT-UA Warns: Dark Crystal RAT Targets Ukrainian Defense via Malicious Signal Messages https://thehackernews.com/2025/03/cert-ua-warns-dark-crystal-rat-targets.html The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) is warning of a new campaign that targets the defense sectors with Dark Crystal RAT (aka DCRat). The campaign, detected earlier this month, has been found to target both employees of enterprises of the defense-industrial complex and individual representatives of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. The activity involves