Malware

Artificial intelligence is coming to Windows: Are your security policy settings ready?

What’s in your Windows security policy? Do you review your settings on an annual basis or more often? Do you provide education and training regarding the topics in the policy? Does it get revised when the impact of an incident showcases that an internal policy violation led to the root cause of the issue? And, importantly, do you have a security policy that includes your firm’s overall policies around the increasing race towards artificial intelligence,…

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Business email compromise scams take new dimension with multi-stage attacks

In a campaign that exploits the relationships between different organizations, attackers managed to chain business email compromise (BEC) against four or more organizations jumping from one breached organization to the next by leveraging the relationships between them. The attack, which Microsoft researchers call multi-stage adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) phishing, started with a compromise at a trusted vendor and targeted organizations from the banking and financial services sectors. “This attack shows the complexity of AitM and BEC threats,…

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To solve the cybersecurity worker gap, forget the job title and search for the skills you need

BlackBerry CISO Arvind Raman looks beyond job titles when he has open positions to fill and instead focuses on the key skills required to do the work. That mindset allows Raman to readily identify and recruit qualified professionals from outside the security field, instead of simply seeking candidates working their way up the typical chain of security roles. For example, he has hired finance professionals for risk- and compliance-related work and marketing pros for awareness…

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Cycode’s free CI/CD monitoring tool offers new DevOps visibility

Cycode’s new Cimon monitoring tool for continuous integration and continuous delivery is designed to offer a new level of visibility into the CI/CD process, securing code against data exfiltration and other malicious activity. According to the company’s announcement, Cimon — short for CI Monitor — is a runtime security agent that uses the enhanced Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) system to look directly into the CI pipeline, develop a baseline understanding of what normal behavior looks…

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Fortinet Releases Security Updates for FortiOS and FortiProxy

Fortinet has released security updates to address a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability CVE-2023-27997 in FortiOS and FortiProxy. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to take control of an affected system. CISA encourages users and administrators to review Fortinet security advisory FG-IR-23-097 and apply the necessary updates. For more information, see Fortinet’s Analysis of CVE-2023-27997 and Clarifications on Volt Typhoon Campaign.

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Threat intelligence programs poised for growth

In my last CSO article, I detailed cybersecurity professionals’ opinions on the characteristics of a mature cyber-threat intelligence (CTI) program. According to ESG research, the top attributes of a mature CTI program include dissemination of reports to a broad audience, analysis of massive amounts of threat data, and CTI integration with lots of security technologies. Alas, most CTI programs are far from mature, but this may change over the next few years as most enterprise…

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Google launches Secure AI Framework to help secure AI technology

Google has announced the launch of the Secure AI Framework (SAIF), a conceptual framework for securing AI systems. Google, owner of the generative AI chatbot Bard and parent company of AI research lab DeepMind, said a framework across the public and private sectors is essential for making sure that responsible actors safeguard the technology that supports AI advancements so that when AI models are implemented, they’re secure-by-default. Its new framework concept is an important step…

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ACT government falls victim to Barracuda’s ESG vulnerability

The Australian Capital Territory government is one of the victims of a vulnerability found in Barracuda’s email security gateway (ESG). In a press conference on 8 June, ACT government chief digital officer Bettina Konti said there is a likelihood that some personal information is involved but the harms assessment needs to completed for that to be clear. Barracuda had first identified the CVE-2023-2838 vulnerability on 19 May issuing a patch worldwide on 20 May followed…

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North Korean APT group targets email credentials in social engineering campaign

Researchers warn of a social engineering campaign by the North Korean APT group known as Kimsuky that attempts to steal email credentials and plant malware. The campaign, focused on experts in North Korean affairs, is part of this group’s larger intelligence gathering operations that target research centers, think tanks, academic institutions, and news outlets globally. “Kimsuky, a suspected North Korean advanced persistent threat (APT) group whose activities align with the interests of the North Korean…

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Google Cloud launches Cryptomining Protection Program

Google Cloud has launched its Cryptomining Protection Program for Security Command Center (SCC) Premium customers with up to $1 million to cover unauthorized Google Cloud compute expenses associated with undetected cryptomining attacks. SCC Premium customers will have access to the new product for free. SCC Premium works with a pay-as-you-go pricing, and as one-year and multi-year fixed-price subscriptions.  According to Google Cybersecurity Action Team (GCAT) September 2022 Threat Horizons Report, threat actors frequently targeted weak and default…

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