CyberSecurity Updates

09 Oct

Mind the (air) gap: GoldenJackal gooses government guardrails

Information

ESET researchers discovered a series of attacks on a governmental organization in Europe using tools capable of targeting air-gapped systems. The campaign, which we attribute to GoldenJackal, a cyberespionage APT group that targets government and diplomatic entities, took place from May 2022 to March 2024. By analyzing the toolset deployed by the group, we were able to identify an attack GoldenJackal carried out earlier, in 2019, against a South Asian embassy in Belarus that, yet…

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08 Oct

Patch Tuesday, October 2024 Edition

Information, Insights

Microsoft today released security updates to fix at least 117 security holes in Windows computers and other software, including two vulnerabilities that are already seeing active attacks. Also, Adobe plugged 52 security holes across a range of products, and Apple has addressed a bug in its new macOS 15 “Sequoia” update that broke many cybersecurity tools. One of the zero-day flaws — CVE-2024-43573 — stems from a security weakness in MSHTML, the proprietary engine of…

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08 Oct

Microsoft Releases October 2024 Security Updates

Attacks, Insights, Malware

Microsoft released security updates to address vulnerabilities in multiple products. A cyber threat actor could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system. CISA encourages users and administrators to review the following and apply necessary updates: Microsoft Security Update Guide for October

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08 Oct

Scalability Challenges in Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning

Insights

This post is part of a series on privacy-preserving federated learning. The series is a collaboration between NIST and the UK government’s Responsible Technology Adoption Unit (RTA), previously known as the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation. Learn more and read all the posts published to date at NIST’s Privacy Engineering Collaboration Space or RTA’s blog.  Introduction In this post, we talk with Dr. Xiaowei Huang and Dr. Yi Dong (University of Liverpool), Dr. Mat Weldon (UK Office of…

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08 Oct

CISA and FBI Release Fact Sheet on Protecting Against Iranian Targeting of Accounts Associated with National Political Organizations

Attacks, Insights, Malware

Today, CISA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released joint fact sheet, How to Protect Against Iranian Targeting of Accounts Associated with National Political Organizations. This fact sheet provides information about threat actors affiliated with the Iranian Government’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeting and compromising accounts of Americans to stoke discord and undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions. IRGC actors have previously gained and continue to seek access to personal and business accounts…

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08 Oct

Avoid Scams After Disaster Strikes

Attacks, Insights, Malware

As hurricanes and other natural disasters occur, CISA urges individuals to remain on alert for potential malicious cyber activity. Fraudulent emails and social media messages—often containing malicious links or attachments—are common after major natural disasters. Exercise caution in handling emails with hurricane-related subject lines, attachments, or hyperlinks. In addition, be wary of social media pleas, texts, or door-to-door solicitations relating to severe weather events. Before responding, ensure hurricane-related guidance is from trusted sources, such as…

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05 Oct

The complexities of attack attribution – Week in security with Tony Anscombe

Information

Video As highlighted by new ESET research this week, attributing a cyberattack to a specific threat actor is a complex affair 04 Oct 2024 Attributing a cyberattack to a specific threat actor is no easy task, as highlighted by new ESET research published this week. ESET experts recently uncovered a new China-aligned APT group that they named CeranaKeeper and that takes aim at governmental institutions in Thailand, leveraging some tools previously attributed to Mustang Panda.…

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03 Oct

Separating the bee from the panda: CeranaKeeper making a beeline for Thailand

Information

ESET researchers observed several campaigns targeting governmental institutions in Thailand, starting in 2023. These attacks leveraged revamped versions of components previously attributed by other researchers to the China-aligned advanced persistent threat (APT) group Mustang Panda, and later, a new set of tools that abuse service providers such as Pastebin, Dropbox, OneDrive, and GitHub to execute commands on compromised computers and exfiltrate sensitive documents. Based on our findings, we decided to track this activity cluster as…

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03 Oct

A Single Cloud Compromise Can Feed an Army of AI Sex Bots

Information, Insights

Organizations that get relieved of credentials to their cloud environments can quickly find themselves part of a disturbing new trend: Cybercriminals using stolen cloud credentials to operate and resell sexualized AI-powered chat services. Researchers say these illicit chat bots, which use custom jailbreaks to bypass content filtering, often veer into darker role-playing scenarios, including child sexual exploitation and rape. Image: Shutterstock. Researchers at security firm Permiso Security say attacks against generative artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure…

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02 Oct

Cybersecurity Awareness Month needs a radical overhaul – it needs legislation

Information

Digital Security Despite their benefits, awareness campaigns alone are not enough to encourage widespread adoption of cybersecurity best practices Tony Anscombe 01 Oct 2024  •  , 3 min. read As we enter October, governments, non-profit organizations, cybersecurity vendors and many companies with corporate social responsibility teams are all likely gearing up to push out some useful tips on staying safe online. Without even looking at the official theme of this year’s edition of the campaign,…

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