Jun 07, 2023Ravie LakshmananPrivacy / Technology Microsoft has agreed to pay a penalty of $20 million to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that the company illegally collected and retained the data of children who signed up to use its Xbox video game console without their parents’ knowledge or consent. “Our proposed order makes
Cyber Security
Jun 06, 2023Ravie Lakshmanan A Chinese-speaking phishing gang dubbed PostalFurious has been linked to a new SMS campaign that’s targeting users in the U.A.E. by masquerading as postal services and toll operators, per Group-IB. The fraudulent scheme entails sending users bogus text messages asking them to pay a vehicle trip fee to avoid additional fines.
Jun 05, 2023Ravie LakshmananZero Day / Cyber Attack Microsoft has officially linked the ongoing active exploitation of a critical flaw in the Progress Software MOVEit Transfer application to a threat actor it tracks as Lace Tempest. “Exploitation is often followed by deployment of a web shell with data exfiltration capabilities,” the Microsoft Threat Intelligence team
A survey of global cybersecurity leaders through the 2023 Certified CISO Hall of Fame Report commissioned by the EC-Council identified 4 primary areas of grave concern: cloud security, data security, security governance, and lack of cybersecurity talent. EC-Council, the global leader in cybersecurity education and training, released its Certified Chief Information Security Officer Hall of
Jun 01, 2023Ravie LakshmananCyber Threat / Malware Cybersecurity researchers have offered a closer look at the RokRAT remote access trojan that’s employed by the North Korean state-sponsored actor known as ScarCruft. “RokRAT is a sophisticated remote access trojan (RAT) that has been observed as a critical component within the attack chain, enabling the threat actors
May 31, 2023Ravie LakshmananEndpoint Security / Vulnerability Microsoft has shared details of a now-patched flaw in Apple macOS that could be abused by threat actors with root access to bypass security enforcements and perform arbitrary actions on affected devices. Specifically, the flaw – dubbed Migraine and tracked as CVE-2023-32369 – could be abused to get
May 26, 2023Ravie LakshmananData Safety / Cloud Security A new security flaw has been disclosed in the Google Cloud Platform’s (GCP) Cloud SQL service that could be potentially exploited to obtain access to confidential data. “The vulnerability could have enabled a malicious actor to escalate from a basic Cloud SQL user to a full-fledged sysadmin
May 25, 2023Ravie LakshmananCyber Threat / Espionage A stealthy China-based group managed to establish a persistent foothold into critical infrastructure organizations in the U.S. and Guam without being detected, Microsoft and the “Five Eyes” nations said on Wednesday. The tech giant’s threat intelligence team is tracking the activity, which includes post-compromise credential access and network
May 24, 2023Ravie LakshmananMobile Security / Data Safety Google has removed a screen recording app named “iRecorder – Screen Recorder” from the Play Store after it was found to sneak in information stealing capabilities nearly a year after the app was published as an innocuous app. The app (APK package name “com.tsoft.app.iscreenrecorder”), which accrued over
May 24, 2023Ravie LakshmananCyber Espionage / Server Security The infamous Lazarus Group actor has been targeting vulnerable versions of Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) servers as an initial breach route to deploy malware on targeted systems. The findings come from the AhnLab Security Emergency response Center (ASEC), which detailed the advanced persistent threat’s (APT) continued
May 23, 2023Ravie LakshmananNational Security / Hardware China has banned U.S. chip maker Micron from selling its products to Chinese companies working on key infrastructure projects, citing national security risks. The development comes nearly two months after the country’s cybersecurity authority initiated a probe in late March 2023 to assess potential network security risks. “The
A cybercrime enterprise known as Lemon Group is leveraging millions of pre-infected Android smartphones worldwide to carry out their malicious operations, posing significant supply chain risks. “The infection turns these devices into mobile proxies, tools for stealing and selling SMS messages, social media and online messaging accounts and monetization via advertisements and click fraud,” cybersecurity
May 18, 2023Ravie LakshmananMobile Security / App Sec Apple has announced that it prevented over $2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions and rejected roughly 1.7 million app submissions for privacy and security violations in 2022. The computing giant said it terminated 428,000 developer accounts for potential fraudulent activity, blocked 105,000 fake developer account creations, and
May 18, 2023Ravie LakshmananCyber Crime / Payment Security A U.S. national has pleaded guilty in a Missouri court to operating a darknet carding site and selling financial information belonging to tens of thousands of victims in the country. Michael D. Mihalo, aka Dale Michael Mihalo Jr. and ggmccloud1, has been accused of setting up a
May 16, 2023Ravie LakshmananNetwork Security / Threat Intel The Chinese nation-state actor known as Mustang Panda has been linked to a new set of sophisticated and targeted attacks aimed at European foreign affairs entities since January 2023. An analysis of these intrusions, per Check Point researchers Itay Cohen and Radoslaw Madej, has revealed a custom
May 12, 2023Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Website Security A security vulnerability has been disclosed in the popular WordPress plugin Essential Addons for Elementor that could be potentially exploited to achieve elevated privileges on affected sites. The issue, tracked as CVE-2023-32243, has been addressed by the plugin maintainers in version 5.7.2 that was shipped on May 11,
May 11, 2023Ravie LakshmananEncryption / Privacy Twitter is officially beginning to roll out support for encrypted direct messages (DMs) on the platform, more than six months after its chief executive Elon Musk confirmed plans for the feature in November 2022. The “Phase 1” of the initiative will appear as separate conversations alongside existing direct messages
May 10, 2023Ravie LakshmananPrivacy / Safety / Security Google unveiled a slew of new privacy, safety, and security features today at its annual developer conference, Google I/O. The tech giant’s latest initiatives are aimed at protecting its users from cyber threats, including phishing attacks and malicious websites, while providing more control and transparency over their
May 10, 2023Ravie LakshmananZero-Day / Vulnerability Microsoft has rolled out Patch Tuesday updates for May 2023 to address 38 security flaws, including one zero-day bug that it said is being actively exploited in the wild. Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) said the volume is the lowest since August 2021, although it pointed out that
May 09, 2023Ravie LakshmananCyber Espionage / Vulnerability Iranian nation-state groups have now joined financially motivated actors in actively exploiting a critical flaw in PaperCut print management software, Microsoft said. The tech giant’s threat intelligence team said it observed both Mango Sandstorm (Mercury) and Mint Sandstorm (Phosphorus) weaponizing CVE-2023-27350 in their operations to achieve initial access.