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Showing posts with label Threat Intelligence. Show all posts
World Leaks
Armenia Cyber Security Hunters International RaaS Group Threat Intelligence World Leaks

'Hunters International' RaaS Outfit Shuts Down Its Operation

 

Hunters International, a ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) outfit, shut down operations and will provide free decryptors to victims seeking to restore their data without paying a ransom. 

"After careful consideration and in light of recent developments, we have decided to close the Hunters International project. This decision was not made lightly, and we recognize the impact it has on the organizations we have interacted with," the ransomware outfit notes in a statement published on its dark web.

"As a gesture of goodwill and to assist those affected by our previous activities, we are offering free decryption software to all companies that have been impacted by our ransomware. Our goal is to ensure that you can recover your encrypted data without the burden of paying ransoms.”

The attackers also erased all entries from the extortion platform and stated that firms whose systems were encrypted in Hunters International ransomware assaults can access decryption tools and recovery guidance from the gang's official website. 

While the ransomware group does not specify what "recent developments" it alludes to, the latest development follows a November 17 statement stating that Hunters International will soon cease operations due to growing law enforcement scrutiny and diminishing profitability. 

In April, threat intelligence firm Group-IB also disclosed that Hunters International had started a new extortion-only operation dubbed "World Leaks" and was rebranding with plans to zero in on data theft and extortion-only attacks. 

Group-IB stated at the time that "World Leaks operates as an extortion-only group using a custom-built exfiltration tool, in contrast to Hunters International, which combined encryption with extortion." The new tool seems to be an improved version of the Storage Software exfiltration tool that Hunters International's ransomware affiliates used. 

Due to code similarities, security researchers and ransomware specialists identified Hunters International, which surfaced in late 2023, as a potential rebranding of Hive. The malware from the ransomware group supports x64, x86, and ARM architectures and targets a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, SunOS, and ESXi (VMware servers). 

Hunters International has attacked businesses of all sizes over the last two years, demanding ransoms ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, depending on the size of the compromised organisation. The ransomware group has claimed credit for around 300 attacks worldwide, making it one of the most active ransomware campaigns in recent years. 

The ransomware outfit has claimed several notable victims, including the United States Marshals Service, the Japanese optical firm Hoya, Tata Technologies, the North American car dealership AutoCanada, the United States Navy contractor Austal USA, and Integris Health, Oklahoma's largest non-profit healthcare network.
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Threat Intelligence
Business Security Cyber Security Email Bombing Microsoft Office 365 Threat Intelligence

Office 365's Microsoft Defender Now Thwarts Email Bombing Assaults

 

Microsoft claims that the cloud-based email security suite Defender for Office 365 can now automatically detect and prevent email bombing attacks. 

Defender for Office 365 (previously known as Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection or Office 365 ATP) guards organisations working in high-risk industries and dealing with sophisticated attackers from malicious threats delivered via email messages, links, or collaboration tools.

"We're introducing a new detection capability in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 to help protect your organization from a growing threat known as email bombing," Redmond notes in a Microsoft 365 message center update. "This form of abuse floods mailboxes with high volumes of email to obscure important messages or overwhelm systems. The new 'Mail Bombing' detection will automatically identify and block these attacks, helping security teams maintain visibility into real threats.”

In late June 2025, the new 'Mail Bombing' feature began to roll out, and by late July, it should be available to all organisations. All messages detected as being a part of a mail bombing operation will be automatically routed to the Junk folder, require no manual configuration, and be toggled on by default. 

Security operations analysts and administrators can now employ Mail Bombing as a new detection type in Threat Explorer, the Email entity page, the Email summary panel, and Advanced Hunting, the company announced over the weekend.

By leveraging specialised cybercrime services that can send a high number of emails or by subscribing to several newsletters, attackers can use mail bombing operations to bombard their targets' email inboxes with thousands or tens of thousands of messages in a matter of minutes.

In the majority of cases, the perpetrators' ultimate goal is to overwhelm email security systems as part of social engineering schemes, creating the way for malware or ransomware operations that can aid in the exfiltration of sensitive data from victims' compromised devices. 

Email bombing has been used in attacks by cybercrime and ransomware outfits for more than a year. It all started with the BlackBasta gang, who employed this approach to flood their victims' mailboxes with emails just minutes before beginning their attacks.

In order to deceive overwhelmed staff members into allowing remote access to their devices via AnyDesk or the integrated Windows Quick Assist application, they would follow up with voice phishing cold calls, pretending to be their IT support teams. Before unleashing ransomware payloads, the attackers would proceed laterally through corporate networks after penetrating their systems and deploying a variety of malicious tools and malware implants.
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Threat Landscape
Business Security Cyber Security Ransomware attack Threat Intelligence Threat Landscape

Understanding the Dynamic threat Landscape of Ransomware Attacks

 

The constant expansion of cyber threats, particularly malware and ransomware, necessitates our undivided attention. Our defence strategy must evolve in tandem with the threats. So far this year, ransomware has targeted Frederick Health Medical Group, Co-op Supermarkets, and Marks & Spencer. 

This meant that critical data got into the wrong hands, supply networks were interrupted, and online transactions were halted. Almost 400,000 PCs were attacked with Lumma Stealer malware, a ClickFix malware version went viral, and a new spyware dubbed 'LOSTKEYS' appeared.

The threat landscape is always evolving, making traditional security methods ineffective. Effective protection methods are not only useful; they are also required to protect against severe data loss, financial damage, and reputational impact that these attacks can cause. Understanding the nature of these enemies is a critical first step towards developing strong defences. 

Ransomware: An ongoing and profitable menace 

Ransomware deserves special attention. It encrypts data and demands payment for its release, frequently spreading through phishing or software weaknesses. More complex ransomware variations take data before encrypting it, combining the threat with blackmail. The effects of ransomware include:

Data loss: May be permanent without backups. 

Financial costs: Includes ransom, restoration, and penalties 

Reputational damage: If publicly exposed, trust is lost. 

Ransomware's profitability makes it particularly tenacious. It does not just impact huge companies; small firms, healthcare systems, and educational institutions are all common targets. Its ease of deployment and high return on investment continue to attract cybercriminals, resulting in more aggressive campaigns.

Ransomware attacks increasingly frequently use "double extortion," in which attackers exfiltrate data before encrypting it. Victims confront two threats: inaccessible data and public exposure. This strategy not only enhances the chance of ransom payment, but also raises the stakes for organisations who are already battling to recover.

Challenges

Malware and ransomware are challenging to detect due to evasive strategies. Attackers are getting more creative, using legitimate administrative tools, zero-day vulnerabilities, and social engineering to get around defences. A multi-layered security approach that includes behavioural detection, endpoint hardening, and regular system updates is necessary to defend against these threats.

In the end, protecting against malware and ransomware involves more than just technology; it also involves mentality. Professionals in cybersecurity need to be knowledgeable, proactive, and flexible. The defenders must adapt to the ever-changing threats.
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Threat Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence Business Security Cyber Security SOC Threat Intelligence

Best Practices for SOC Threat Intelligence Integration

 

As cyber threats become more complex and widespread, Security Operations Centres (SOCs) increasingly rely on threat intelligence to transform their defensive methods from reactive to proactive. Integrating Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) into SOC procedures has become critical for organisations seeking to anticipate attacks, prioritise warnings, and respond accurately to incidents.

This transition is being driven by the increasing frequency of cyberattacks, particularly in sectors such as manufacturing and finance. Adversaries use old systems and heterogeneous work settings to spread ransomware, phishing attacks, and advanced persistent threats (APTs). 

Importance of threat intelligence in modern SOCs

Threat intelligence provides SOCs with contextualised data on new threats, attacker strategies, and vulnerabilities. SOC teams can discover patterns and predict possible attack vectors by analysing indications of compromise (IOCs), tactics, methods, and procedures (TTPs), and campaign-specific information. 

For example, the MITRE ATT&CK framework has become a key tool for mapping adversary behaviours, allowing SOCs to practice attacks and improve detection techniques. According to a recent industry research, organisations that integrated CTI into their Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems reduced mean dwell time, during which attackers went undetected, by 78%. 

Accelerating the response to incidents 

Threat intelligence allows SOCs to move from human triage to automated response workflows. Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platforms run pre-defined playbooks for typical attack scenarios such as phishing and ransomware. When a multinational retailer automated IOC blocklisting, reaction times were cut from hours to seconds, preventing potential breaches and data exfiltration.

Furthermore, threat intelligence sharing consortiums, such as sector-specific Information Sharing and Analysis Centres (ISACs), enable organisations to pool anonymised data. This partnership has effectively disrupted cross-industry efforts, including a recent ransomware attack on healthcare providers. 

Proactive threat hunting

Advanced SOCs are taking a proactive approach, performing regular threat hunts based on intelligence-led hypotheses. Using adversary playbooks and dark web monitoring, analysts find stealthy threats that avoid traditional detection. A technology firm's SOC team recently discovered a supply chain threat by linking vendor vulnerabilities to dark web conversation about a planned hack.

Purple team exercises—simulated attacks incorporating red and blue team tactics—have also gained popularity. These drills, based on real-world threat data, assess SOC readiness for advanced persistent threats. Organisations who perform quarterly purple team exercises report a 60% increase in incident control rates. 

AI SOCs future 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform threat intelligence. Natural language processing (NLP) technologies can now extract TTPs from unstructured threat data and generate SIEM detection rules automatically. 

During beta testing, these technologies cut rule creation time from days to minutes. Collaborative defence models are also emerging. National and multinational programs, such as INTERPOL's Global Cybercrime Program, help to facilitate cross-border intelligence exchange.

A recent operation involving 12 countries successfully removed a botnet responsible for $200 million in financial fraud, demonstrating the potential of collective defence.
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zero-click
Mobile Security Spyware Threat Intelligence User Privacy Whatsapp Leak zero-click

Here's How to Safeguard Your Smartphone Against Zero-Click Attacks

 

Spyware tools have been discovered on the phones of politicians, journalists, and activists on numerous occasions over the past decade. This has prompted worries regarding the lack of protections in the tech industry and an unprecedented expansion of spyware technologies. 

Meta's WhatsApp recently stated that it has detected a hacking campaign aimed at roughly ninety users, the majority of whom were journalists and civil society activists from two dozen countries. 

According to a WhatsApp representative, the attack was carried out by the Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions, which is now controlled by the Florida-based private equity firm AE Industrial Partners. Graphite, Paragon's spyware, infiltrated WhatsApp groups by sending them a malicious PDF attachment. It can access and read messages from encrypted apps such as WhatsApp and Signal without the user's knowledge. 

What is a zero-click attack? 

A zero-click attack, such as the one on WhatsApp, compromises a device without requiring any user activity. Unlike phishing or one-click attacks, which rely on clicking a malicious link or opening an attachment, zero-click leverages a security flaw to stealthily gain complete access after the device has been infected. 

"In the case of graphite, via WhatsApp, some kind of payload, like a PDF or an image, [was sent to the victims' devices] and the underlying processes that receive and handle those packages have vulnerabilities that the attackers exploit [to] infect the phone,” Rocky Cole, co-founder of mobile threat protection company iVerify, noted.

While reports do not indicate "whether graphite can engage in privilege escalation [vulnerability] and operate outside WhatsApp or even move into the iOS kernel itself, we do know from our own detections and other work with customers, that privilege escalation via WhatsApp in order to gain kernel access is indeed possible," Cole added. 

The iVerify team believes that the malicious attacks are "potentially more widespread" than the 90 individuals who were reported to have been infected by graphite because they have discovered cases where a number of WhatsApp crashes on [mobile] devices [they're] monitoring with iVerify have seemed to be malicious in nature.

While the WhatsApp hack primarily targeted civil society activists, Cole believes mobile spyware is a rising threat to everyone since mobile exploitation is more pervasive than many people realise. Moreover, the outcome is an emerging ecosystem around mobile spyware development and an increasing number of VC-backed mobile spyware companies are under pressure to become viable organisations. This eventually increases marketing competition for spyware merchants and lowers barriers that might normally deter these attacks. 

Mitigation tips

Cole recommends users to treat their phones as computers. Just as you use best practices to safeguard traditional endpoints like laptops from exploitation and compromise, you should do the same for phones. This includes rebooting your phone on a daily basis because most of these exploits remain in memory rather than files, and rebooting your phone should theoretically wipe out the malware as well, he said. 

If you have an Apple device, you can also enable Lockdown Mode. As indicated by Cole, "lockdown mode has the effect of reducing some functionality of internet-facing applications [which can] in some ways reduce the attack surface to some degree."

Ultimately, the only way to properly safeguard oneself from zero-click capabilities is to address the underlying flaws. Cole emphasised that only Apple, Google, and app developers may do so. "So as an end user, it's critically important that when a new security patch is available, you apply it as soon as you possibly can," the researcher added.
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Windows
Cloud Microsoft Password Technology Threat Intelligence Windows

Microsoft Alerts Users About Password-spraying Attack

Microsoft Alerts Users About Password-spraying Attack

Microsoft alerts users about password-spraying attacks

Microsoft has warned users about a new password-spraying attack by a hacking group Storm-1977 that targets cloud users. The Microsoft Threat Intelligence team reported a new warning after discovering threat actors are abusing unsecured workload identities to access restricted resources. 

According to Microsoft, “Container technology has become essential for modern application development and deployment. It's a critical component for over 90% of cloud-native organizations, facilitating swift, reliable, and flexible processes that drive digital transformation.” 

Hackers use adoption-as-a-service

Research says 51% of such workload identities have been inactive for one year, which is why attackers are exploiting this attack surface. The report highlights the “adoption of containers-as-a-service among organizations rises.” According to Microsoft, it continues to look out for unique security dangers that affect “containerized environments.” 

The password-spraying attack targeted a command line interface tool “AzureChecker” to download AES-encrypted data which revealed the list of password-spray targets after it was decoded. To make things worse, the “threat actor then used the information from both files and posted the credentials to the target tenants for validation.”

The attack allowed the Storm-1977 hackers to leverage a guest account to make a compromised subscription resource group and over 200 containers that were used for crypto mining. 

Mitigating password-spraying attacks

The solution to the problem of password spraying attacks is eliminating passwords. It can be done by moving towards passkeys, a lot of people are already doing that. 

Microsoft has suggested these steps to mitigate the issue

  • Use strong authentication while putting sensitive interfaces to the internet. 
  • Use strong verification methods for the Kubernetes API to stop hackers from getting access to the cluster even when valid credentials like kubeconfig are obtained.  
  • Don’t use the read-only endpoint of Kubelet on port 10255, which doesn’t need verification. 

Modify the Kubernetes role-based access controls for every user and service account to only retain permissions that are required. 

According to Microsoft, “Recent updates to Microsoft Defender for Cloud enhance its container security capabilities from development to runtime. Defender for Cloud now offers enhanced discovery, providing agentless visibility into Kubernetes environments, tracking containers, pods, and applications.” These updates upgrade security via continuous granular scanning. 

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War Plans
Cyber Security Data Leak Pentagon Head Signal Threat Intelligence War Plans

Pentagon Director Hegseth Revealed Key Yemen War Plans in Second Signal Chat, Source Claims

 

In a chat group that included his wife, brother, and personal attorney, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth provided specifics of a strike on Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis in March, a person familiar with the situation told Reuters earlier this week. 

Hegseth's use of an unclassified messaging system to share extremely sensitive security details is called into question by the disclosure of a second Signal chat. This comes at a particularly sensitive time for him, as senior officials were removed from the Pentagon last week as part of an internal leak investigation. 

In the second chat, Hegseth shared details of the attack, which were similar to those revealed last month by The Atlantic magazine after its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was accidentally included in a separate chat on the Signal app, in an embarrassing incident involving all of President Donald Trump's most senior national security officials.

The individual familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, stated that the second chat, which comprised around a dozen people, was set up during his confirmation process to discuss administrative concerns rather than real military planning. According to the insider, the chat included details about the air attack schedule. 

Jennifer, Hegseth's wife and a former Fox News producer, has attended classified meetings with foreign military counterparts, according to photographs released by the Pentagon. During a meeting with his British colleague at the Pentagon in March, Hegseth's wife was found sitting behind him. Hegseth's brother serves as a Department of Homeland Security liaison to the Pentagon.

The Trump administration has aggressively pursued leaks, which Hegseth has warmly supported in the Pentagon. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said, without evidence, that the media was "enthusiastically taking the grievances of disgruntled former employees as the sole sources for their article.” 

Hegeseth'S tumultuous moment 

Democratic lawmakers stated Hegseth could no longer continue in his position. "We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a post to X. "But Trump is still too weak to fire him. Pete Hegseth must be fired.”

Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran who was severely injured in combat in 2004, stated that Hegseth "must resign in disgrace.” 

The latest disclosure comes just days after Dan Caldwell, one of Hegseth's top aides, was taken from the Pentagon after being identified during an investigation into leaks at the Department of Defence. Although Caldwell is not as well-known as other senior Pentagon officials, he has played an important role for Hegseth and was chosen the Pentagon's point of contact by the Secretary during the first Signal chat.
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Viral Tend
Barbie Doll Trend Cyber Security Generative AI Threat Intelligence User Privacy Viral Tend

Security Analysts Express Concerns Over AI-Generated Doll Trend

 

If you've been scrolling through social media recently, you've probably seen a lot of... dolls. There are dolls all over X and on Facebook feeds. Instagram? Dolls. TikTok?

You guessed it: dolls, as well as doll-making techniques. There are even dolls on LinkedIn, undoubtedly the most serious and least entertaining member of the club. You can refer to it as the Barbie AI treatment or the Barbie box trend. If Barbie isn't your thing, you can try AI action figures, action figure starter packs, or the ChatGPT action figure fad. However, regardless of the hashtag, dolls appear to be everywhere. 

And, while they share some similarities (boxes and packaging resembling Mattel's Barbie, personality-driven accessories, a plastic-looking smile), they're all as unique as the people who post them, with the exception of one key common feature: they're not real. 

In the emerging trend, users are using generative AI tools like ChatGPT to envision themselves as dolls or action figures, complete with accessories. It has proven quite popular, and not just among influencers.

Politicians, celebrities, and major brands have all joined in. Journalists covering the trend have created images of themselves with cameras and microphones (albeit this journalist won't put you through that). Users have created renditions of almost every well-known figure, including billionaire Elon Musk and actress and singer Ariana Grande. 

The Verge, a tech media outlet, claims that it started on LinkedIn, a professional social networking site that was well-liked by marketers seeking interaction. Because of this, a lot of the dolls you see try to advertise a company or business. (Think, "social media marketer doll," or even "SEO manager doll." ) 

Privacy concerns

From a social perspective, the popularity of the doll-generating trend isn't surprising at all, according to Matthew Guzdial, an assistant professor of computing science at the University of Alberta.

"This is the kind of internet trend we've had since we've had social media. Maybe it used to be things like a forwarded email or a quiz where you'd share the results," Guzdial noted. 

But as with any AI trend, there are some concerns over its data use. Generative AI in general poses substantial data privacy challenges. As the Stanford University Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (Stanford HAI) points out, data privacy concerns and the internet are nothing new, but AI is so "data-hungry" that it magnifies the risk. 

Safety tips 

As we have seen, one of the major risks of participating in viral AI trends is the potential for your conversation history to be compromised by unauthorised or malicious parties. To stay safe, researchers recommend taking the following steps: 

Protect your account: This includes enabling 2FA, creating secure and unique passwords for each service, and avoiding logging in to shared computers.

Minimise the real data you give to the AI model: Fornés suggests using nicknames or other data instead. You should also consider utilising a different ID solely for interactions with AI models.

Use the tool cautiously and properly: When feasible, use the AI model in incognito mode and without activating the history or conversational memory functions.
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