Insights

Alleged Extortioner of Psychotherapy Patients Faces Trial

Prosecutors in Finland this week commenced their criminal trial against Julius Kivimäki, a 26-year-old Finnish man charged with extorting a once popular and now-bankrupt online psychotherapy practice and thousands of its patients. In a 2,200-page report, Finnish authorities laid out how they connected the extortion spree to Kivimäki, a notorious hacker who was convicted in 2015 of perpetrating tens of thousands of cybercrimes, including data breaches, payment fraud, operating a botnet and calling in bomb…

Read More

FBI and CISA Release Advisory on Scattered Spider Group

Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) on Scattered Spider—a cybercriminal group targeting commercial facilities sectors and subsectors. The advisory provides tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) obtained through FBI investigations as recently as November 2023. Scattered Spider threat actors typically engage in data theft for extortion using multiple social engineering techniques and have recently leveraged BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware alongside their usual TTPs.…

Read More

CISA Requests Comment on Draft Secure Software Development Attestation Form

CISA has opened a 30-day Federal Register notice to receive public comment on the draft Secure Software Development Attestation Form. CISA developed this form in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget. With the Secure Software Development Attestation Form, federal departments and agencies will be able to obtain attestation of product security from a software producer before using the software on government systems. This form will establish a standardized process for the federal government…

Read More

Citrix Releases Security Updates for Citrix Hypervisor

Citrix has released security updates addressing vulnerabilities in Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 CU1 LTSR. A cyber threat actor could exploit these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system. CISA encourages users and administrators to review Citrix Hypervisor Security Bulletin for CVE-2023-23583 and CVE-2023-46835 and apply the necessary updates.                                        

Read More

CISA, FBI, and MS-ISAC Release Advisory on Rhysida Ransomware

Today, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), #StopRansomware: Rhysida Ransomware, to disseminate known Rhysida ransomware indicators of compromise (IOCs), detection methods, and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) identified through investigations as recently as September 2023. Observed as a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model, Rhysida actors have compromised organizations in education, manufacturing, information technology, and government…

Read More

Microsoft Patch Tuesday, November 2023 Edition

Microsoft today released updates to fix more than five dozen security holes in its Windows operating systems and related software, including three “zero day” vulnerabilities that Microsoft warns are already being exploited in active attacks. The zero-day threats targeting Microsoft this month include CVE-2023-36025, a weakness that allows malicious content to bypass the Windows SmartScreen Security feature. SmartScreen is a built-in Windows component that tries to detect and block malicious websites and files. Microsoft’s security…

Read More

VMware Releases Security Update for Cloud Director Appliance

VMware has released a security advisory addressing a vulnerability in VMWare Cloud Director Appliance. Cyber threat actors may exploit this vulnerability to take control of an affected system. CISA encourages users and administrators to review the following VMware security advisory and apply the recommended updates: VMSA-2023-0026: VMware Cloud Director Appliance contains an authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2023-34060)

Read More

Microsoft Releases November 2023 Security Updates

Microsoft has released updates addressing multiple vulnerabilities in Microsoft software. A cyber threat actor can exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system. CISA encourages users and administrators to review Microsoft’s November 2023 Security Update Guide and apply the necessary updates.

Read More

Fortinet Releases Security Updates for FortiClient and FortiGate

Fortinet has released security advisories addressing vulnerabilities in FortiClient and FortiGate. Cyber threat actors may exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system. CISA encourages users and administrators to review the following Fortinet security advisories and apply the recommended updates: FG-IR-22-299: FortiClient (Windows) – Arbitrary file deletion from unprivileged users FG-IR-23-274: FortiClient (Windows) – DLL Hijacking via openssl.cnf FG-IR-23-385: curl and libcurl CVE-2023-38545 and CVE-2023-38546 vulnerabilities

Read More

CISA Releases Update to Royal Ransomware Advisory

Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released an update to joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) #StopRansomware: Royal Ransomware. The updated advisory provides network defenders with additional information on tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs) associated with Royal ransomware variants. FBI investigations identified these TTPs and IOCs as recently as June 2023. Royal ransomware attacks have spread across numerous critical infrastructure sectors including, but not…

Read More