CyberSecure Specialist

27 Jan

Hackers abuse legitimate remote monitoring and management tools in attacks

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

Security researchers warn that an increasing number of attackers are using legitimate remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools in their attacks to achieve remote access and control over systems. These tools are commonly used by managed service providers (MSPs) and IT help desks so their presence on an organization’s network and systems might not raise suspicion. Researchers from Cisco Talos reported this week that one particular commercial RMM tool called Syncro was observed in a…

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27 Jan

Critical Vulnerability Impacts Over 120 Lexmark Printers

Information, News

Printer and imaging products manufacturer Lexmark this week published a security advisory to warn users of a critical vulnerability impacting over 120 printer models. The issue, tracked as CVE-2023-23560 (CVSS score of 9.0), is described as a server-side request forgery (SSRF) flaw in the Web Services feature of newer Lexmark devices, which could be exploited to execute arbitrary code. “Successful exploitation of this vulnerability can lead to an attacker being able to remotely execute arbitrary…

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27 Jan

BIND Updates Patch High-Severity, Remotely Exploitable DoS Flaws

Information, News

The Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) this week announced patches for multiple high-severity denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerabilities in the DNS software suite BIND. The addressed issues could be exploited remotely to cause named – the BIND daemon that acts both as an authoritative name server and as a recursive resolver – to crash, or could lead to the exhaustion of the available memory. The first of the security defects, tracked as CVE-2022-3094, can be exploited by sending…

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27 Jan

Why your data is more valuable than you may realize

Information

The data trail you leave behind whenever you’re online is bigger – and more revealing – than you may think “The lampposts are listening to me; I am sure that the adverts I see online are from a conversation I had walking down the street.” Yes, someone I know claims this is happening to them. If you are in some way related to the cybersecurity and/or privacy industries, then you will have heard similar claims,…

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27 Jan

S3 Ep119: Breaches, patches, leaks and tweaks! [Audio + Text]

Information

by Paul Ducklin BREACHES, PATCHES, LEAKS AND TWEAKS Latest epidode – listen now. Click-and-drag on the soundwaves below to skip to any point. You can also listen directly on Soundcloud. With Doug Aamoth and Paul Ducklin Intro and outro music by Edith Mudge. You can listen to us on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and anywhere that good podcasts are found. Or just drop the URL of our RSS feed into your favourite…

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27 Jan

Dutch suspect locked up for alleged personal data megathefts

Information

by Paul Ducklin The Public Prosecution Service in the Netherlands [Dutch: Openbaar Ministerie] has just released information about an unnamed suspect arrested back in December 2022 for allegedly stealing and selling personal data about tens of millions of people. The victims are said to live in countries as far apart as Austria, China, Columbia, the Netherlands itself, Thailand and the UK. Apparently, the courts have taken a strict approach to this case, effectively keeping the…

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27 Jan

Data Analytics for Small Businesses: How to Manage Privacy Risks

Insights

Perhaps you’ve been hearing about data analytics, which is being promoted as a way for even small businesses to analyze communications with customers, enhance customer experience, save money, and ultimately improve your brand. However, data analytics can have big privacy implications. You may think of managing privacy risk as protecting sensitive customer information, such as credit cards. As the Venn diagram to the right demonstrates, data security is certainly one aspect of privacy risk, but…

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27 Jan

FBI takes down Hive ransomware group in an undercover operation

Data Breaches, Malware, Social Engineering

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) along with international partners have taken down the Hive ransomware group. The operation that began in July 2022 resulted in the FBI penetrating Hive’s computer networks, capturing its decryption keys, and offering them to victims worldwide, preventing victims from having to pay the $130 million in ransom demanded, DOJ said in a release on Thursday.  “Last night, the Justice Department dismantled an international ransomware network responsible for extorting and…

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27 Jan

US Reiterates $10 Million Reward Offer After Disruption of Hive Ransomware

Information, News

Following the shutdown of the Hive ransomware operation by law enforcement, the US government has reminded the public that a reward of up to $10 million is offered for information on cybercriminals. Authorities in the United States and Europe announced on Thursday the results of a major law enforcement operation targeting the Hive ransomware. More than a dozen agencies collaborated to take down the Tor-based leak website used by the group and other parts of…

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26 Jan

JCDC Announces 2023 Planning Agenda

Attacks, Insights, Malware

Original release date: January 26, 2023 Today, the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) announced its 2023 Planning Agenda. This release marks a major milestone in the continued evolution and maturation of the collaborative’s planning efforts. JCDC’s Planning Agenda brings together government and private sector partners to develop and execute cyber defense plans that achieve specific risk reduction goals focused on systemic risk, collective cyber response, and high-risk communities. Through this effort, CISA and partners across…

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