CyberSecure Specialist

20 Jun

Security budget hikes are missing the mark, CISOs say

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

Misguided expectations on security spend are causing problems for CISOs despite notable budget increases. That’s according to new research from risk and cybersecurity solutions provider BSS, which surveyed 150 security leaders. It found that while most CISOs are experiencing noteworthy increases in security funding, impractical expectations of budget holders are leading to significant amounts being spent on what’s hitting the headlines instead of strategic, business-centric investment in security defenses. This lack of understanding shows that…

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20 Jun

Why assessing third parties for security risk is still an unsolved problem

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

A Forbes article is making the rounds right now about America’s most cyber-secure companies, and I can already see the cybersecurity outrage machine up in arms. Full confession: I haven’t yet read the article, but I’m about to. I’m writing this in two parts: before I read the article, and after I read the article. Part I: What are the most cyber-secure companies? If you ask me to list the most cyber-secure companies (what does…

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19 Jun

Megaupload duo will go to prison at last, but Kim Dotcom fights on…

Information

by Paul Ducklin For the third time in about a week, cybersecurity law-and-order news includes a criminal case that’s been brewing for more than a decade. This time, the news is prison sentences for two of the main four original defendants in the infamous Megaupload saga. If you weren’t following cybersecurity a decade ago, we’ll recap directly from the article we published at the time of the site’s takedown by the FBI in early 2012:…

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19 Jun

Asus Patches Highly Critical WiFi Router Flaws

Information, News

Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer Asus on Monday shipped urgent firmware updates to address vulnerabilities in its WiFi router product lines and warned users of the risk of remote code execution attacks. In an advisory, Asus documented at least nine security defects and multiple security weaknesses that allow code execution, denial-of-service, information disclosure and authentication bypasses. The most serious of the nine vulnerabilities, a highly critical bug with a CVSS severity rating of 9.8/10, dates back…

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19 Jun

Romanian cybercrime gang Diicot builds DDoS botnet with Mirai variant

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

A cybercriminal group calling itself Diicot is performing mass SSH brute-force scanning and deploying a variant of the Mirai IoT botnet on compromised devices, according to researchers. The group also deploys a cryptocurrency mining payload on servers with CPUs that have more than four cores. “Although Diicot have traditionally been associated with cryptojacking campaigns, Cado Labs discovered evidence of the group deploying an off-the-shelf Mirai-based botnet agent, named Cayosin,” researchers from Cado Security said in…

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19 Jun

Trend Micro adds generative AI to Vision One for enhanced XDR

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

Trend Micro has announced the integration of generative AI into its flagship Vision One platform with the new AI tool, Companion. Companion uses advanced AI/machine learning analytics and correlated detection models to enhance extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities, according to the cybersecurity vendor. It has been designed to amplify security operations, improve accessibility and efficiency, and quicken threat hunting speeds for analysts of varying skill levels, Trend Micro claimed in a press release. The…

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19 Jun

Team Cymru launches threat-hunting tool aims to fast-forward analysis

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

Team Cymru has launched Pure Signal Scout, an external threat-hunting and malicious infrastructure analysis tool to “level up” security operations centers (SOCs). Under the promise of being the “fastest” tool available for threat insights, Pure Signal Scout is expected to save analysts’ time by providing fast answers to complex queries. “We are now achieving in one working day what used to take several,” Josh Picolet, team leader of Team Cymru’s S2 Threat Research, said in…

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19 Jun

US feds stress urgent MOVEit platform patching after attacks hit agencies

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

In the latest cyber incident affecting the US federal government, two arms of the US Department of Energy (DOE) and, according to press reports, the US Department of Agriculture and the Office of Personnel Management, have been swept up in a sprawling spree of attacks by the Russia-based Clop ransomware gang. The Clop organization is exploiting vulnerabilities in Progress Software’s MOVEit Transfer security file transfer platform to attack dozens of public and private sector organizations…

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19 Jun

BlackCat threatens to leak 80GB of Reddit data

Attacks, Data Breaches

Ransomware gang ALPHV, most commonly known as BlackCat, is allegedly responsible for the theft of 80GB of data from social media site Reddit.  The allegation comes directly from the ransomware gang, who have claimed responsibility for a data breach that happened in February of this year. In a post on the gang’s data leaks site, BlackCat claimed to have stolen 80GB of compressed data during the attack and are planning on selling it.  The malicious actors…

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19 Jun

8 notable entry-level cybersecurity career and skills initiatives in 2023

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

The cybersecurity sector has been battling a workforce shortage for years with cybersecurity training and certifications provider (ISC)2 estimating that the global skills gap currently sits at 3.4 million. There are over 600,000 current cyber-related job openings in the US alone, and the supply-to-demand ratio stands at 69%, the lowest it has been since 2010, according to Cyberseek. Security leaders in organizations large and small often cite hiring and keeping security personnel as one of…

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