CyberSecure Specialist

22 May

GAO Tells Federal Agencies to Fully Implement Key Cloud Security Practices

Information, News

A new US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report shows that the Departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security (DHS), Labor, and the Treasury have not fully implemented six key cloud security practices for their systems. According to the 60-page GAO report (PDF), only one agency fully implemented four practices for most of its systems, while three other agencies fully implemented three practices for their systems. The remaining practices, GAO says, were either partially implemented or not implemented…

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22 May

Mapping out our Destination: Responsible Innovation via the NIST Identity Roadmap

Insights

RSA Conference week is always a whirlwind. NIST was there front and center last month, and we learned a lot, shared a lot, and made a big announcement during the festivities… We were excited to announce that NIST’s DRAFT Identity and Access Management Roadmap was released for public comment on Friday, April 14th and that the comment period will be extended to June 16th. What is the Roadmap? The Roadmap provides a consolidated view of…

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22 May

Samsung Smartphone Users Warned of Actively Exploited Vulnerability

Information, News

Samsung smartphone users have been warned by the vendor and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) about a recently patched vulnerability being exploited in attacks. The flaw in question is CVE-2023-21492, described as a kernel pointer exposure issue related to log files. The security hole can allow a privileged local attacker to bypass the ASLR exploit mitigation technique. This indicates that it has likely been chained with other bugs. Samsung patched CVE-2023-21492 with…

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22 May

What cybersecurity professionals can learn from the humble ant

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

When an ant colony is threatened, individual ants release pheromones to warn of the impending danger. Each ant picking up the warning broadcasts it further, passing it from individual to individual until the full defenses of the colony are mobilized. Instead of a single ant facing the danger alone, thousands of defenders with a single purpose swiftly converge on the threat. This all happens without the need for direction from a central authority or guidance…

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21 May

US government seizes 13 domains linked to DDoS attacks

Attacks, Data Breaches

The United States (US) federal government has seized 13 domains linked to ‘booter’ websites that offered distributed denial of service (DDoS)-attacks-for-hire services.   So-called ‘booter’ sites allow people to pay malicious actors to launch DDoS attacks against people or organizations of their choice. DDoS attacks disrupt sites by overwhelming their infrastructure with a large amount of internet traffic, which overwhelms the site’s bandwidth and prevents users from accessing it.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized…

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20 May

The real cost of a free lunch – Week in security with Tony Anscombe

Information

Don’t download software from non-reputable websites and sketchy links – you might be in for more than you bargained for Chances are good that you have, at some point, searched for free stuff online, including software, movies, TV shows, or live streams of sports matches. But the truth is that this search for “free” may ultimately come at a high cost, especially if it involves the promise of effortlessly downloading a free version of what’s…

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19 May

Legitimate looking npm packages found hosting TurkoRat infostealer

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

Despite efforts taken in recent years to proactively monitor public software repositories for malicious code, packages that bundle malware continue to routinely pop up in such places. Researchers recently identified two legitimate looking packages that remained undetected for over two months and deployed an open-source information stealing trojan called TurkoRat. Effective use of typosquatting on malicious npm packages Attackers attempt to trick users into downloading malicious packages in several ways, and typosquatting is one of…

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19 May

US Teenager Indicted for Credential Stuffing Attack on Fantasy Sports Website

Data Breaches, Information, News

A Wisconsin teenager has been charged with accessing tens of thousands of user accounts at a fantasy sports and betting website after launching a credential stuffing attack on the site. According to a six-count criminal complaint (PDF), the teenager, Joseph Garrison, of Wisconsin, launched the attack on the betting website on November 18, 2022, accessing roughly 60,000 accounts without authorization. In some cases, the defendant and others added a new payment method to the compromised…

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19 May

Pimcore Platform Flaws Exposed Users to Code Execution

Information, News

Security researchers are warning that vulnerabilities patched in the open-source Pimcore platform could have led to the execution of arbitrary code when clicking on a link. A digital experience platform, Pimcore provides data and user experience management capabilities to over 100,000 organizations worldwide. In March 2023, version 10.5.19 of the Pimcore platform resolved two issues that could have been used together to achieve arbitrary code execution, open source software security company Sonar Source says. The…

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19 May

Guerrilla malware is preinfected on 8.9 million Android devices, Trend Micro says

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

Cybercrime gang Lemon Group has managed to get malware known as Guerrilla preinstalled on about 8.9 million Android-based smartphones, watches, TVs, and TV boxes globally, according to Trend Micro.  The Guerilla malware can load additional payloads, intercept one-time passwords (OTPs) from SMS texts, set up a reverse proxy from the infected device, and infiltrate WhatsApp sessions.  “The infection turns these devices into mobile proxies, tools for stealing and selling SMS messages, social media and online…

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