LilacSquid: The stealthy trilogy of PurpleInk, InkBox and InkLoader
Multiple TTPs utilized in this campaign bear some overlap with North Korean APT groups.
From Origins to Operations: Understanding Black Basta Ransomware
Explore the rise of Black Basta as a top ransomware threat, their sophisticated tactics, notable attacks, and future implications for cybersecurity.
A Catalog of Hazardous AV Sites – A Tale of Malware Hosting
In mid-April 2024, Trellix Advanced Research Center team members observed multiple fake AV sites hosting highly sophisticated malicious files such as APK, EXE and Inno setup installer that includes Spy and Stealer capabilities. Hosting malicious software through sites which look legitimate is predatory to general consumers, especially those who look to protect their devices from cyber-attacks. The hosted websites made to look legitimate are listed below.
When privacy expires: how I got access to tons of sensitive citizen data after buying cheap domains
Cybersecurity has always been transient: what is deemed to be secure today, may be considered easily hackable tomorrow. Domain names in web and e-mail addresses, such as info@inti.io, are leased in time. This means that if nobody thinks of renewing them after they expire, they will be put up for sale. It made me wonder what would happen to the graveyard of cloud accounts attached to the e-mail addresses that once belonged to these expired domains.
CVE-2023-34992: Fortinet FortiSIEM Command Injection Deep-Dive
CVE-2023-34992 Fortinet FortiSIEM Command Injection Deep-Dive and Indicators of Compromise. This blog details a command injection vulnerability which allows an unauthenticated attacker to access the FortiSIEM server as root to execute arbitrary commands.
Leveraging DNS Tunneling for Tracking and Scanning
This article presents a case study on new applications of domain name system (DNS) tunneling we have found in the wild. These techniques expand beyond DNS tunneling only for command and control (C2) and virtual private network (VPN) purposes. Malicious actors occasionally employ DNS tunneling as a covert communications channel, because it can bypass conventional network firewalls. This allows C2 traffic and data exfiltration that can remain hidden from some traditional detection methods.
New “Goldoon” Botnet Targeting D-Link Devices
FortiGuard Labs discovered the new botnet “Goldoon” targeting D-Link devices through related vulnerability CVE-2015-2051.
GuptiMiner: Hijacking Antivirus Updates for Distributing Backdoors and Casual Mining - Avast Threat Labs
Avast discovered and analyzed GuptiMiner, a malware campaign hijacking an eScan antivirus update mechanism to distribute backdoors and coinminers.
Automating Pikabot’s String Deobfuscation
ThreatLabz created an IDA plugin to automate the deobfuscation of Pikabot’s strings.
World-first “Cybercrime Index” ranks countries by cybercrime threat
Following three years of intensive research, an international team of researchers have compiled the first ever ‘World Cybercrime Index’, which identifies the globe’s key cybercrime hotspots by ranking the most significant sources of cybercrime at a national level.
Muddled Libra’s Evolution to the Cloud
Unit 42 researchers have discovered that the Muddled Libra group now actively targets software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and cloud service provider (CSP) environments. Organizations often store a variety of data in SaaS applications and use services from CSPs. The threat actors have begun attempting to leverage some of this data to assist with their attack progression, and to use for extortion when trying to monetize their work.
Bringing process injection into view(s): exploiting all macOS apps using nib files · Sector 7
In a previous blog post we described a process injection vulnerability affecting all AppKit-based macOS applications. This research was presented at Black Hat USA 2022, DEF CON 30 and Objective by the Sea v5. This vulnerability was actually the second universal process injection vulnerability we reported to Apple, but it was fixed earlier than the first. Because it shared some parts of the exploit chain with the first one, there were a few steps we had to skip in the earlier post and the presentations. Now that the first vulnerability has been fixed in macOS 13.0 (Ventura) and improved in macOS 14.0 (Sonoma), we can detail the first one and thereby fill in the blanks of the previous post. This vulnerability was independently found by Adam Chester and written up here under the name “DirtyNIB”. While the exploit chain demonstrated by Adam shares a lot of similarity to ours, our attacks trigger automatically and do not require a user to click a button, making them a lot more stealthy. Therefore we decided to publish our own version of this write-up as well.
Unveiling the Fallout: Operation Cronos' Impact on LockBit Following Landmark Disruption
- On Feb. 19, 2024, Operation Cronos, a targeted law enforcement action, caused outages on LockBit-affiliated platforms, significantly disrupting the notorious ransomware group's operations. LockBit’s downtime was quickly followed by a takeover of its leak site by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), spotlighting the concerted international effort against cybercrime. Authorities leveraged the compromised LockBit leak site to distribute information about the group and its operations, announce arrests, sanctions, cryptocurrency seizure, and more. This demonstrated support for affected businesses and cast doubt on LockBit's promises regarding data deletion post-ransom payment — emphasizing that paying ransoms is not the best course of action. Trend Micro analyzed LockBit-NG-Dev, an in-development version of the ransomware. Key findings indicated a shift to a .NET core, which allows it to be more platform-agnostic and emphasizes the need for new security detection techniques. The leak of LockBit's back-end information offered a glimpse into its internal workings and disclosed affiliate identities and victim data, potentially leading to a drop in trust and collaboration within the cybercriminal network. The sentiments of the cybercrime community to LockBit's disruption ranged from satisfaction to speculation about the group’s future, hinting at the significant impact of the incident on the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) industry. Businesses can expect shifts in RaaS tactics and should enhance preparedness against potential reformations of the disrupted group and its affiliates. Contrary to what the group themselves have stated, activities observed post-disruption would indicate that Operation Chronos has a significant impact on the group’s activities.
Earth Krahang Exploits Intergovernmental Trust to Launch Cross-Government Attacks | Trend Micro (US)
Since early 2022, we have been monitoring an APT campaign that targets several government entities worldwide, with a strong focus in Southeast Asia, but also seen targeting Europe, America, and Africa.
CVE-2024-27198 and CVE-2024-27199: JetBrains TeamCity Multiple Authentication Bypass Vulnerabilities (FIXED)
In February 2024, Rapid7’s vulnerability research team identified two new vulnerabilities affecting JetBrains TeamCity CI/CD server: CVE-2024-27198 is an authentication bypass vulnerability in the web component of TeamCity that arises from an alternative path issue (CWE-288) and has a CVSS base score of 9.8 (Critical). CVE-2024-27199 is an authentication bypass vulnerability in the web component of TeamCity that arises from a path traversal issue (CWE-22) and has a CVSS base score of 7.3 (High).
Gold Rush is back to APAC: Group-IB unveils first iOS trojan stealing your face
Group-IB, a leading creator of cybersecurity technologies to investigate, prevent, and fight digital crime, has uncovered a new iOS Trojan designed to steal users’ facial recognition data, identity documents, and intercept SMS. The Trojan, dubbed GoldPickaxe.iOS by Group-IB’s Threat Intelligence unit, has been attributed to a Chinese-speaking threat actor codenamed GoldFactory, responsible for developing a suite of highly sophisticated banking Trojans that also includes the earlier discovered GoldDigger and newly identified GoldDiggerPlus, GoldKefu, and GoldPickaxe for Android. To exploit the stolen biometric data, the threat actor utilizes AI face-swapping services to create deepfakes by replacing their faces with those of the victims. This method could be used by cybercriminals to gain unauthorized access to the victim’s banking account – a new fraud technique, previously unseen by Group-IB researchers. The GoldFactory Trojans target the Asia-Pacific region, specifically — Thailand and Vietnam impersonating local banks and government organizations. Group-IB’s discovery also marks a rare instance of malware targeting Apple’s mobile operating system. The detailed technical description of the Trojans, analysis of their technical capabilities, and the list of relevant indicators of compromise can be found in Group-IB’s latest blog post.
CVE-2024-21412: Water Hydra Targets Traders with Microsoft Defender SmartScreen Zero-Day
The APT group Water Hydra has been exploiting the Microsoft Defender SmartScreen vulnerability CVE-2024-21412 in its campaigns targeting financial market traders. This vulnerability, which has now been patched by Microsoft, was discovered and disclosed by the Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative.
Kasseika Ransomware Deploys BYOVD Attacks Abuses PsExec and Exploits Martini Driver
In this blog, we detail our investigation of the Kasseika ransomware and the indicators we found suggesting that the actors behind it have acquired access to the source code of the notorious BlackMatter ransomware.
Qualys TRU Discovers Important Vulnerabilities in GNU C Library’s syslog()
The Qualys Threat Research Unit (TRU) has recently unearthed four significant vulnerabilities in the GNU C Library, a cornerstone for countless applications in the Linux environment. Before diving into the specific details of the vulnerabilities discovered by the Qualys Threat Research Unit in the GNU C Library, it’s crucial to understand these findings’ broader impact and importance. The GNU C Library, or glibc, is an essential component of virtually every Linux-based system, serving as the core interface between applications and the Linux kernel. The recent discovery of these vulnerabilities is not just a technical concern but a matter of widespread security implications.
Volt Typhoon Compromises 30% of Cisco RV320/325 Devices in 37 Days
SecurityScorecard has discovered the threat actor group Volt Typhoon has compromised 30% of Cisco RV320/325 Devices in 37 Days. Learn more.
Anthropic researchers find that AI models can be trained to deceive
A study co-authored by researchers at Anthropic finds that AI models can be trained to deceive -- and that this deceptive behavior is difficult to combat.
Using AI to Automatically Jailbreak GPT-4 and Other LLMs in Under a Minute
It’s been one year since the launch of ChatGPT, and since that time, the market has seen astonishing advancement of large language models (LLMs). Despite the pace of development continuing to outpace model security, enterprises are beginning to deploy LLM-powered applications. Many rely on guardrails implemented by model developers to prevent LLMs from responding to sensitive prompts. However, even with the considerable time and effort spent by the likes of OpenAI, Google, and Meta, these guardrails are not resilient enough to protect enterprises and their users today. Concerns surrounding model risk, biases, and potential adversarial exploits have come to the forefront.
InfectedSlurs Botnet Spreads Mirai via Zero-Days
Akamai SIRT has uncovered two zero-day vulnerabilities that are being actively exploited to spread a Mirai variant in the wild. Read on for details and mitigation.
Telekopye: Chamber of Neanderthals’ secrets
ESET research shares insights about groups operating Telekopye, Telegram bots that scam people in online marketplaces, their internal onboarding process, different tricks of trade that Neanderthals use, and more.
InfectedSlurs Botnet Spreads Mirai via Zero-Days
Akamai SIRT has uncovered two zero-day vulnerabilities that are being actively exploited to spread a Mirai variant in the wild.
Uncovering thousands of unique secrets in PyPI packages
Security Researcher Tom Forbes worked with the GitGuardian team to analyze all the code committed to PyPi packages and surfaced thousands of hardcoded credentials.
A Closer Look at ChatGPT's Role in Automated Malware Creation
As the use of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) technologies becomes more widespread, it is important to consider the possible risks associated with their use. One of the main concerns surrounding these technologies is the potential for malicious use, such as in the development of malware or other harmful software. Our recent reports discussed how cybercriminals are misusing the large language model’s (LLM) advanced capabilities: We discussed how ChatGPT can be abused to scale manual and time-consuming processes in cybercriminals’ attack chains in virtual kidnapping schemes. We also reported on how this tool can be used to automate certain processes in harpoon whaling attacks to discover “signals” or target categories.
Raising Online Defenses Through Transparency and Collaboration | Meta
We're sharing a look into our defense strategy and the latest news on how we build it into our products. A recent study shows that de-platforming hate networks reduces consumption and production of hateful content on Facebook and diminishes the ability of these hate networks to operate online. We’re sharing new threat research on two of the largest known covert influence operations in the world from China and Russia, targeting 50+ apps and countries, including the US. * We added new transparency features to Threads, including state-controlled media labels to help people know exactly who they interact with on the new app.
#FuckStalkerware pt. 3 - ownspy got, well, owned
we continue our series on stalkerware with a write-up and batch of data sent to me by a source last night. this time it is the brazilian ownspy (aka webdetective and saferspy, by mobileinnova) that has been completely hacked. among other things ownspy claims to be the #1 most privacy focused "parental control app" allegedly featuring E2E encryption, if this sounds too good to be true that's because it mostly is, but more on that later.
The New Frontline of Geopolitics | Understanding the Rise of State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks
Understanding the complex threat landscape facing businesses today from state-sponsored cyber attacks is crucial to effective cyber defense.