CyberSecure Specialist

21 Dec

CISA Releases Microsoft 365 Secure Configuration Baselines and SCuBAGear Tool

Attacks, Insights, Malware

CISA has published the finalized Microsoft 365 Secure Configuration Baselines, designed to bolster the security and resilience of organizations’ Microsoft 365 (M365) cloud services. This guidance release is accompanied by the updated SCuBAGear tool that assesses organizations’ M365 cloud services per CISA’s recommended baselines. Today’s release incorporates stakeholder input from last year’s public comment period and pilot effort with federal agencies. Changes to the draft Microsoft 365 Secure Configuration Baselines were integrated with the SCuBAGear…

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20 Dec

ESET Research Podcast: Neanderthals, Mammoths and Telekopye

Information

ESET Research ESET researchers discuss the dynamics within and between various groups of scammers who use a Telegram bot called Telekopye to scam people on online marketplaces ESET Research 18 Dec 2023  •  , 1 min. read In this episode of our podcast, ESET malware researchers talk about the dynamics within and between various Neanderthal groups, the techniques that this horde of scammers uses to find and select the best Mammoths for hunting, and especially…

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19 Dec

BlackCat Ransomware Raises Ante After FBI Disruption

Information, Insights

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) disclosed today that it infiltrated the world’s second most prolific ransomware gang, a Russia-based criminal group known as ALPHV and BlackCat. The FBI said it seized the gang’s darknet website, and released a decryption tool that hundreds of victim companies can use to recover systems. Meanwhile, BlackCat responded by briefly “unseizing” its darknet site with a message promising 90 percent commissions for affiliates who continue to work with…

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19 Dec

CISA and FBI Release Advisory on ALPHV Blackcat Affiliates

Attacks, Insights, Malware

Today, CISA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), #StopRansomware: ALPHV Blackcat, to disseminate known ALPHV Blackcat affiliates’ tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs) identified through FBI investigations as recently as Dec. 6, 2023. The advisory also provides updates to the FBI FLASH BlackCat/ALPHV Ransomware Indicators of Compromise released April 19, 2022. ALPHV Blackcat affiliates have extensive networks and experience with ransomware and data extortion operations.…

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18 Dec

FBI, CISA, and ASD’s ACSC Release Advisory on Play Ransomware

Attacks, Insights, Malware

Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), #StopRansomware: Play Ransomware, to disseminate Play ransomware group’s tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs) identified through FBI investigations as recently as October 2023. Play ransomware actors employ a double-extortion model, encrypting systems after exfiltrating data and have impacted a wide range…

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16 Dec

New iOS feature to thwart eavesdropping – Week in security with Tony Anscombe

Information

Video Your iPhone has just received a new feature called iMessage Contact Key Verification that is designed to help protect your messages from prying eyes 15 Dec 2023 Apple has shipped iOS 17.2 to all users and it includes a new feature that is intended to protect users from attackers who could be misusing the company’s iMessage server infrastructure. Called iMessage Contact Key Verification, the feature “automatically verifies that you’re messaging with the person that…

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15 Dec

CISA Releases Advisory on Cyber Resilience for the HPH Sector

Attacks, Insights, Malware

Today, CISA released a Cybersecurity Advisory, Enhancing Cyber Resilience: Insights from the CISA Healthcare and Public Health Sector Risk and Vulnerability Assessment, that details findings from our risk and vulnerability assessments of a Health and Public Health (HPH) Sector organization. CISA encourages all critical infrastructure organizations as well as software manufacturers to review the advisory and apply recommendations. The recommendations detail how organizations can harden networks to improve cyber resilience and reduce the likelihood of domain…

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15 Dec

CISA Secure by Design Alert Urges Manufacturers to Eliminate Default Passwords

Attacks, Insights, Malware

Today, CISA published guidance on How Manufacturers Can Protect Customers by Eliminating Default Passwords as a part of our new Secure by Design (SbD) Alert series. This SbD Alert urges technology manufacturers to proactively eliminate the risk of default password exploitation by implementing principles one and three of the joint guidance, Shifting the Balance of Cybersecurity Risk: Principles and Approaches for Secure by Design Software: Take ownership of customer security outcomes. Build organizational structure and…

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15 Dec

OilRig’s persistent attacks using cloud service-powered downloaders

Information

ESET researchers analyzed a growing series of OilRig downloaders that the group has used in several campaigns throughout 2022, to maintain access to target organizations of special interest – all located in Israel. These lightweight downloaders, which we named SampleCheck5000 (SC5k v1-v3), OilCheck, ODAgent, and OilBooster, are notable for using one of several legitimate cloud service APIs for C&C communication and data exfiltration: the Microsoft Graph OneDrive or Outlook APIs, and the Microsoft Office Exchange…

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14 Dec

Ten Years Later, New Clues in the Target Breach

Information, Insights

On Dec. 18, 2013, KrebsOnSecurity broke the news that U.S. retail giant Target was battling a wide-ranging computer intrusion that compromised more than 40 million customer payment cards over the previous month. The malware used in the Target breach included the text string “Rescator,” which also was the handle chosen by the cybercriminal who was selling all of the cards stolen from Target customers. Ten years later, KrebsOnSecurity has uncovered new clues about the real-life…

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