Functioning point-of-concept exploit code now exists for the highly critical “SMBGhost” bug that Microsoft last March patched in its Server Message Block 3.1.1 (SMBv3) protocol, and attackers are taking advantage, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has warned, citing open-source reports. Designated CVE-2020-0796 and also known as EternalDarkness, the bug can result in…
A pair of Android barcode reader apps that were downloaded more than 1 million times were found to contain ad fraud malware that tries to stay hidden by generating advertisements that instantly disappear from view. The malware, detected as AndroidOS_HiddenAd.HRXJA, can operate in the background even when infected devices aren’t actively being used, and it…
Google this week introduced multiple security fixes for the desktop edition of its Chrome browser and Mozilla has also done the same for Firefox and Firefox Extended Support Release. Google’s stable channel update to version 83.0.4103.97 for Windows, Mac, and Linux has patched six bugs, four of which were rated high in severity. The most…
Looking for new angles to socially engineer employees working from home under COVID-19 conditions, attackers have devised a new phishing campaign that distributes emails that look as if they were generated by Private Branch Exchange (PBX), a legacy technology that integrates with employees’ email clients so they can receive their voicemail recordings. In a company…
Cisco Systems on Wednesday, June 3 released a series of security advisories addressing a total of 47 vulnerabilities, including three critical bugs that were found and fixed in IOS or IOS EX software. Among the most series flaws is a privilege escalation vulnerability in the authorization controls of the IOx application hosting infrastructure in Cisco IOS XE…
Academic health research institution the University of California, San Francisco and business process services company Conduent have emerged as two of the latest prominent victims of organized ransomware attacks. UCSF was targeted by the NetWalker (aka MailTo) ransomware group, as evidenced by a post on the cyber gang’s data leak website, while it was the Maze…
Researchers have uncovered a new “enterprise-grade” backdoor malware program that they say shares code with the notorious modular banking trojan TrickBot and is used to gain unauthorized access to and compromise corporate networks. Dubbed BazarBackdoor, the malware has been distributed via spear phishing campaigns that leverage a variety of lure topics, including customer complaints, coronavirus-related…
The tactics of human-operated ransomware campaigns continue to escalate. Victims who previously feared having their their systems disrupted, their files encrypted and their data stolen and published online may now face another ultimatum: Pay up or have your data auctioned off to the highest bidder. That’s the latest threat from the Sodinokibi/REvil gang, which announced…
Apple this week issued a new security update that addresses a zero-day vulnerability enabling iOS users to jailbreak their devices. The company has patched CVE-2020-9859, a memory consumption issue that can result in arbitrary code execution with kernel privileges. The fix was made in iOS 13.5.1 and iPadOS 13.5.1 for iPhone 6s and later, iPad…
A new report issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) says federal agencies reported eight percent fewer cybersecurity incidents in fiscal year 2019, compared to 2018 — an improvement it attributes to the recent “maturation of agencies’ information security programs.” High-value IT assets (HVAs) remain a work in progress, however: In FY…
