CyberSecure Specialist

30 Aug

‘Earth Estries’ Cyberespionage Group Targets Government, Tech Sectors

Information, News

A cyberespionage group possibly linked to China has targeted government-related organizations and technology companies in various parts of the world. Trend Micro, which tracks it as Earth Estries, says the group has been around since at least 2020.  While the cybersecurity firm has not directly attributed Earth Estries to any particular country, it did point out that there are some overlaps in tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) with an APT named FamousSparrow. FamousSparrow, which in…

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30 Aug

CISA and FBI Publish Joint Advisory on QakBot Infrastructure

Attacks, Insights, Malware

Today, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), Identification and Disruption of QakBot Infrastructure, to help organizations detect and protect against newly identified QakBot-related activity and malware. QakBot—also known as Qbot, Quackbot, Pinkslipbot, and TA570—is responsible for thousands of malware infections globally.  Originally used as a banking trojan to steal banking credentials for account compromise, QakBot—in most cases—was delivered via phishing campaigns containing…

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29 Aug

Mom’s Meals issues “Notice of Data Event”: What to know and what to do

Information

by Paul Ducklin US food delivery compeny PurFoods, which trades as Mom’s Meals, has just admitted to a cyberintrusion that took place from 2023-01-16 to 2023-02-22. The company stated officially that: [The] cyberattack […] included the encryption of certain files in our network. Because the investigation identified the presence of tools that could be used for data exfiltration (the unauthorized transfer of data), we can’t rule out the possibility that data was taken from one…

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29 Aug

U.S. Hacks QakBot, Quietly Removes Botnet Infections

Information, Insights

The U.S. government today announced a coordinated crackdown against QakBot, a complex malware family used by multiple cybercrime groups to lay the groundwork for ransomware infections. The international law enforcement operation involved seizing control over the botnet’s online infrastructure, and quietly removing the Qakbot malware from tens of thousands of infected Microsoft Windows computers. Dutch authorities inside a data center with servers tied to the botnet. Image: Dutch National Police. In an international operation announced…

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29 Aug

New ‘MMRat’ Android Trojan Targeting Users in Southeast Asia

Information, News

A newly identified Android trojan targeting users in Southeast Asia is allowing attackers to control devices remotely and perform bank fraud, Trend Micro reports. Dubbed MMRat and active since June, the malware can capture user input and take screenshots, and uses a customized command-and-control (C&C) protocol based on Protobuf, which improves its performance when transferring large amounts of data. The malware has been distributed via websites masquerading as official application stores, and which were tailored…

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29 Aug

CISA Releases IOCs Associated with Malicious Barracuda Activity

Attacks, Insights, Malware

CISA has released additional indicators of compromise (IOCs) associated with exploitation of CVE-2023-2868. CVE-2023-2868 is a remote command injection vulnerability affecting Barracuda Email Security Gateway (ESG) Appliance, versions 5.1.3.001-9.2.0.006. Malicious threat actors exploited this vulnerability as a zero day as early as October 2022 to gain access to ESG appliances.  Download the newly released IOCs associated with this activity: IOCs Associated with Exploitation of Barracuda ESG Vulnerability CVE-2023-2868 (JSON, 85.34 KB ) Review the following…

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28 Aug

Acquisition Chatter Swirls Around SentinelOne, BlackBerry

Information, News

Prominent anti-malware vendors SentinelOne and BlackBerry have been separately named in public acquisition chatter, underscoring a clear signal of impending consolidation in cybersecurity. According to published reports, private equity firm Veritas Capital is in early talks to acquire BlackBerry, the venerable tech firm that acquired Cylance and reinvented itself as a cybersecurity vendor. Neither Veritas or BlackBerry has commented on the reports, which say Veritas is interested in acquiring all of the Canadian company, while…

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