Information

Apple patches everything, finally reveals mystery of iOS 16.1.2

by Paul Ducklin Apple has just published a wide range of security fixes for all its supported platforms, from the smallest watch to the biggest laptop. In other words, if you’ve got an Apple product, and it’s still officially supported, we urge you to do an update check now. Remember that even if you’ve set your iDevices to update entirely automatically, doing a manual check is still well worth it, because: It ensures that you…

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High-Severity Memory Safety Bugs Patched With Latest Chrome 108 Update

Google this week announced a Chrome update that resolves eight vulnerabilities in the popular browser, including five reported by external researchers. All five security defects are use-after-free flaws, a type of memory safety bug that has been prevalent in Chrome over the past years, and which Google has long-battled to eliminate. According to Google’s advisory, four of these issues are high-severity bugs, impacting components such as Blink Media, Mojo IPC, Blink Frames, and Aura. The…

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FBI’s Vetted Info Sharing Network ‘InfraGard’ Hacked

InfraGard, a program run by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to build cyber and physical threat information sharing partnerships with the private sector, this week saw its database of contact information on more than 80,000 members go up for sale on an English-language cybercrime forum. Meanwhile, the hackers responsible are communicating directly with members through the InfraGard portal online — using a new account under the assumed identity of a financial industry CEO…

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Pwn2Own Toronto: 54 hacks, 63 new bugs, $1 million in bounties

by Paul Ducklin You’ve probably heard of Pwn2Own, a hacking contest that started life alongside the annual CanSecWest cybersecurity event in Vancouver, Canada. Pwn2Own is now a multi-million “hackers’ brand” in its own right, having been bought up by anti-virus outfit Trend Micro and extended to cover many more types of bug than just browsers and desktop operating systems. The name, in case you’re wondering, is shorthand for “pwn it to own it”, where pwn…

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New Python-Based Backdoor Targeting VMware ESXi Servers

Security researchers with Juniper Networks’ Threat Labs warn of a new Python-based backdoor targeting VMware ESXi virtualization servers. The targeted servers were impacted by known security defects (such as CVE-2019-5544 and CVE-2020-3992) that were likely used for initial compromise, but what caught the researchers’ attention was the simplicity, persistence, and capabilities of the deployed backdoor. As part of the attack, the threat actor modified a total of four files on the target, which the system…

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Python, JavaScript Developers Targeted With Fake Packages Delivering Ransomware

Phylum security researchers warn of a new software supply chain attack relying on typosquatting to target Python and JavaScript developers. On Friday, the researchers warned that a threat actor was typosquatting popular PyPI packages to direct developers to malicious dependencies containing code to download payloads written in Golang (Go). The purpose of the attack is to infect victims with ransomware variants designed to update the desktop background with a message impersonating the CIA and instructing…

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Video: Deep Dive on PIPEDREAM/Incontroller ICS Attack Framework

In this session from SecurityWeek’s 2022 ICS Cybersecurity Conference, Mark Plemmons, Sr. Director for Threat Intelligence at Dragos, dives deep into the technical details and real-world impact on the modular ICS attack framework known as PIPEDREAM/Incontroller that can be used to disrupt and/or destruct devices in industrial environments. In April 2022, a joint advisory from the Department of Energy, CISA, NSA and the FBI warned that unidentified APT actors have created this suite of specialized…

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Xenomorph: What to know about this Android banking trojan

Xenomorph pilfers victims’ login credentials for banking, payment, social media, cryptocurrency and other apps with valuable data More than 50,000 Android devices were compromised with an Android banking trojan called Xenomorph earlier this year. First reported by ThreatFabric, Xenomorph posed as a system-optimizing app called “Fast Cleaner”. Disguising malicious software as device optimizers, battery- or performance-enhancing and other utility tools is a rather common tactic for dangerous Android malware. Xenomorph is after people’s login credentials for banking, payment,…

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Diamond industry under attack – Week in security with Tony Anscombe

ESET researchers uncover a new wiper and its execution tool, both attributed to the Iran-aligned Agrius APT group This week, ESET researchers published their findings about a new wiper, Agrius, and its execution tool, Sandals, both attributed to the Iran-aligned Agrius APT group. The researchers discovered the malicious tool while analyzing a supply-chain attack that abused an Israeli software developer. The attack probably targeted the company’s software updating mechanisms in order to deploy the wiper…

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S3 Ep112: Data breaches can haunt you more than once! [Audio + Text]

by Paul Ducklin DATA BREACHES – THE STING IN THE TAIL 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 podcatcher. READ…

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