CyberSecurity Updates

28 Aug

Don’t let “back to school” become “back to (cyber)bullying”

Information

Kids Online Cyberbullying is a fact of life in our digital-centric society, but there are ways to push back Phil Muncaster 27 Aug 2025  •  , 4 min. read For better or worse, the digital world in many ways resembles its physical counterpart. Unfortunately, that means it sometimes enables, and even exacerbates, the same bad behaviors that we often see offline. According to a 2023 Microsoft study covering 17 countries, “cyberbullying harassment and abuse” is…

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27 Aug

CISA and Partners Release Joint Advisory on Countering Chinese State-Sponsored Actors Compromise of Networks Worldwide to Feed Global Espionage Systems

Attacks, Insights, Malware

CISA, along with the National Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and international partners, released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory on People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actors targeting critical infrastructure across sectors and continents to maintain persistent, long-term access to networks. This advisory builds on previous reporting and is based on real-world investigations conducted across multiple countries through July 2025. While the activity observed overlaps with industry reporting on the group known as Salt Typhoon,…

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26 Aug

DSLRoot, Proxies, and the Threat of ‘Legal Botnets’

Information, Insights

The cybersecurity community on Reddit responded in disbelief this month when a self-described Air National Guard member with top secret security clearance began questioning the arrangement they’d made with company called DSLRoot, which was paying $250 a month to plug a pair of laptops into the Redditor’s high-speed Internet connection in the United States. This post examines the history and provenance of DSLRoot, one of the oldest “residential proxy” networks with origins in Russia and…

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22 Aug

CISA Requests Public Comment for Updated Guidance on Software Bill of Materials

Attacks, Insights, Malware

CISA released updated guidance for the Minimum Elements for a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) for public comment—comment period begins today and concludes on October 3, 2025. These updates build on the 2021 version of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration SBOM Minimum Elements to reflect advancements in tooling and implementation.   An SBOM serves as a vital inventory of software components, enabling organizations to identify vulnerabilities, manage dependencies, and mitigate risks. The update refines data…

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22 Aug

Investors beware: AI-powered financial scams swamp social media

Information

Can you tell the difference between legitimate marketing and deepfake scam ads? It’s not always as easy as you may think. Phil Muncaster 18 Aug 2025  •  , 4 min. read As economic uncertainty and persistent inflation are eroding our pay checks and imperilling our pensions, it’s not surprising that many of us are looking to make our money go a bit further. Unfortunately, scammers are preying on this need with increasingly sophisticated schemes on…

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22 Aug

The need for speed: Why organizations are turning to rapid, trustworthy MDR

Information

Business Security How top-tier managed detection and response (MDR) can help organizations stay ahead of increasingly agile and determined adversaries Phil Muncaster 19 Aug 2025  •  , 5 min. read How long does it take for threat actors to move from initial access to lateral movement? Days? Hours? Unfortunately, the answer for many organizations is increasingly “minutes.” In fact, at 48 minutes, the average breakout time in 2024 was 22% shorter than the previous year,…

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22 Aug

“What happens online stays online” and other cyberbullying myths, debunked

Information

Kids Online Separating truth from fiction is the first step towards making better parenting decisions. Let’s puncture some of the most common misconceptions about online harassment. Phil Muncaster 21 Aug 2025  •  , 5 min. read Cyberbullying, unfortunately, is on the rise. Data from the Cyberbullying Research Center reveals that just over 58% of middle- and high-school students in the US have experienced online harassment of some sort in their lives. That’s compared to 37%…

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20 Aug

SIM-Swapper, Scattered Spider Hacker Gets 10 Years

Information, Insights

A 20-year-old Florida man at the center of a prolific cybercrime group known as “Scattered Spider” was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison today, and ordered to pay roughly $13 million in restitution to victims. Noah Michael Urban of Palm Coast, Fla. pleaded guilty in April 2025 to charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. Florida prosecutors alleged Urban conspired with others to steal at least $800,000 from five victims via SIM-swapping attacks that diverted…

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19 Aug

Oregon Man Charged in ‘Rapper Bot’ DDoS Service

Information, Insights

A 22-year-old Oregon man has been arrested on suspicion of operating “Rapper Bot,” a massive botnet used to power a service for launching distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against targets — including a March 2025 DDoS that knocked Twitter/X offline. The Justice Department asserts the suspect and an unidentified co-conspirator rented out the botnet to online extortionists, and tried to stay off the radar of law enforcement by ensuring that their botnet was never pointed at…

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15 Aug

Mobile Phishers Target Brokerage Accounts in ‘Ramp and Dump’ Cashout Scheme

Information, Insights

Cybercriminal groups peddling sophisticated phishing kits that convert stolen card data into mobile wallets have recently shifted their focus to targeting customers of brokerage services, new research shows. Undeterred by security controls at these trading platforms that block users from wiring funds directly out of accounts, the phishers have pivoted to using multiple compromised brokerage accounts in unison to manipulate the prices of foreign stocks. Image: Shutterstock, WhataWin. This so-called ‘ramp and dump‘ scheme borrows…

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