Information

U.S. Govt. Apps Bundled Russian Code With Ties to Mobile Malware Developer

A recent scoop by Reuters revealed that mobile apps for the U.S. Army and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were integrating software that sends visitor data to a Russian company called Pushwoosh, which claims to be based in the United States. But that story omitted an important historical detail about Pushwoosh: In 2013, one of its developers admitted to authoring the Pincer Trojan, malware designed to surreptitiously intercept and forward text messages from Android mobile devices.…

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Virginia County Confirms Personal Information Stolen in Ransomware Attack

Southampton County in Virginia last week started informing individuals that their personal information might have been compromised in a ransomware attack. The incident was identified in September, when a threat actor accessed a server at Southampton and encrypted the data that was stored on it. The county says that it took steps to contain the attack immediately after identifying it, and that it launched an investigation into the incident, to determine the type of data…

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Chrome fixes 8th zero-day of 2022 – check your version now

by Paul Ducklin Google has just patched Chrome’s eighth zero-day hole of the year so far. Zero-days are bugs for which there were zero days you could have updated proactively… …because cybercriminals not only found the bug first, but also figured out how to exploit it for nefarious purposes before a patch was prepared and published. So, the quick version of this article is: go to Chrome’s Three-dot menu (⋮), choose Help > About Chrome,…

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Know your payment options: How to shop and pay safely this holiday season

‘Tis the season for shopping and if you too are scouting for bargains, make sure to keep your money safe when snapping up those deals The day has come: it’s Black Friday, and once-in-a-year promotions, discounts and deals are everywhere. The rush to grab a bargain has started in earnest, and in times of soaring inflation many deal-hungry shoppers are ready to make big purchases, perhaps the kinds of purchases they didn’t get to make…

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Spyware posing as VPN apps – Week in security with Tony Anscombe

The Bahamut APT group distributes at least eight malicious apps that pilfer victims’ data and monitor their messages and conversations This week, ESET researchers published their analysis of a malicious campaign where the Bahamut APT group targets Android users via trojanized versions of two legitimate VPN apps – SoftVPN and OpenVPN. Since January 2022, Bahamut has distributed at least eight malicious apps in order to pilfer sensitive user data and actively spy on victims’ messaging…

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Voice-scamming site “iSpoof” seized, 100s arrested in massive crackdown

by Naked Security writer These days, most of us have telephones that display the number that’s calling before we answer. This “feature” actually goes right back to the 1960s, and it’s known in North American English as Caller ID, although it doesn’t actually identify the caller, just the caller’s number. Elsewhere in the English-speaking world, you’ll see the name CLI used instead, short for Calling Line Identification, which seems at first glance to be a…

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US Bans Huawei, ZTE Telecoms Gear Over Security Risk

US authorities announced a ban Friday on the import or sale of communications equipment deemed “an unacceptable risk to national security” — including gear from Chinese giants Huawei Technologies and ZTE. Both firms have been on a roster of companies listed as a threat by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the new rules bar future authorizations of their equipment. The move is the latest in a series of actions to limit the access of…

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Bahamut cybermercenary group targets Android users with fake VPN apps

Malicious apps used in this active campaign exfiltrate contacts, SMS messages, recorded phone calls, and even chat messages from apps such as Signal, Viber, and Telegram ESET researchers have identified an active campaign targeting Android users, conducted by the Bahamut APT group. This campaign has been active since January 2022 and malicious apps are distributed through a fake SecureVPN website that provides only Android apps to download. Note that although the malware employed throughout this…

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10 tips to avoid Black Friday and Cyber Monday scams

It pays not to let your guard down during the shopping bonanza – watch out for some of the most common scams doing the rounds this holiday shopping season Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just around the corner, and scammers are also turning up their efforts in order to cash in on unsuspecting victims during what is traditionally the busiest bargain-hunting period of the year. In 2021, consumers spent a whopping US$8.9 billion on…

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S3 Ep110: Spotlight on cyberthreats – an expert speaks [Audio + Text]

by Paul Ducklin SPOTLIGHT ON CYBERTHREATS Security specialist John Shier tells you the “news you can really use” – how to boost your cybersecurity based on real-world advice from the 2023 Sophos Threat Report. Click-and-drag on the soundwaves below to skip to any point. You can also listen directly on Soundcloud. With Paul Ducklin and John Shier. Intro and outro music by Edith Mudge. You can listen to us on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts,…

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