Category: TheHackersNews

TikTok Goes Dark in the U.S. as Federal Ban Takes Effect January 19, 2025 Popular video-sharing social network TikTok has officially gone dark in the United States, 2025, as a federal ban on the app comes into effect on January 19, 2025. “We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January…

U.S. Sanctions Chinese Cybersecurity Firm Over Treasury Hack Tied to Silk Typhoon The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions against a Chinese cybersecurity company and a Shanghai-based cyber actor for their alleged links to the Salt Typhoon group and the recent compromise of the federal agency. “People’s Republic of…

New ‘Sneaky 2FA’ Phishing Kit Targets Microsoft 365 Accounts with 2FA Code Bypass Cybersecurity researchers have detailed a new adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) phishing kit that’s capable of Microsoft 365 accounts with an aim to steal credentials and two-factor authentication (2FA) codes since at least October 2024. The nascent phishing kit has been dubbed Sneaky 2FA by…

How to Bring Zero Trust to Wi-Fi Security with a Cloud-based Captive Portal? Recent data breaches have highlighted the critical need to improve guest Wi-Fi infrastructure security in modern business environments. Organizations face increasing pressure to protect their networks while providing convenient access to visitors, contractors, temporary staff, and employees with BYOD. Implementing secure guest…

Python-Based Bots Exploiting PHP Servers Fuel Gambling Platform Proliferation Cybersecurity researchers have exposed a new campaign that targets web servers running PHP-based applications to promote gambling platforms in Indonesia. “Over the past two months, a significant volume of attacks from Python-based bots has been observed, suggesting a coordinated effort to exploit thousands of web apps,”…

Critical Flaws in WGS-804HPT Switches Enable RCE and Network Exploitation Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed three security flaws in Planet Technology’s WGS-804HPT industrial switches that could be chained to achieve pre-authentication remote code execution on susceptible devices. “These switches are widely used in building and home automation systems for a variety of networking applications,” Claroty’s Tomer…

Ready to Simplify Trust Management? Join Free Webinar to See DigiCert ONE in Action The digital world is exploding. IoT devices are multiplying like rabbits, certificates are piling up faster than you can count, and compliance requirements are tightening by the day. Keeping up with it all can feel like trying to juggle chainsaws while…

Russian Star Blizzard Targets WhatsApp Accounts in New Spear-Phishing Campaign The Russian threat actor known as Star Blizzard has been linked to a new spear-phishing campaign that targets victims’ WhatsApp accounts, signaling a departure from its longstanding tradecraft in a likely attempt to evade detection. “Star Blizzard’s targets are most commonly related to government or…

European Privacy Group Sues TikTok and AliExpress for Illicit Data Transfers to China Austrian privacy non-profit None of Your Business (noyb) has filed complaints accusing companies like TikTok, AliExpress, SHEIN, Temu, WeChat, and Xiaomi of violating data protection regulations in the European Union by unlawfully transferring users’ data to China. The advocacy group is seeking…

New UEFI Secure Boot Vulnerability Could Allow Attackers to Load Malicious Bootkits Details have emerged about a now-patched security vulnerability that could allow a bypass of the Secure Boot mechanism in Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) systems. The vulnerability, assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2024-7344 (CVSS score: 6.7), resides in a UEFI application signed by Microsoft’s…

The $10 Cyber Threat Responsible for the Biggest Breaches of 2024 You can tell the story of the current state of stolen credential-based attacks in three numbers: Stolen credentials were the #1 attacker action in 2023/24, and the breach vector for 80% of web app attacks. (Source: Verizon). Cybersecurity budgets grew again in 2024, with…

North Korean IT Worker Fraud Linked to 2016 Crowdfunding Scam and Fake Domains Cybersecurity researchers have identified infrastructure links between the North Korean threat actors behind the fraudulent IT worker schemes and a 2016 crowdfunding scam. The new evidence suggests that Pyongyang-based threamoret groups may have pulled off illicit money-making scams that predate the use…

Lazarus Group Targets Web3 Developers with Fake LinkedIn Profiles in Operation 99 The North Korea-linked Lazarus Group has been attributed to a new cyber attack campaign dubbed Operation 99 that targeted software developers looking for freelance Web3 and cryptocurrency work to deliver malware. “The campaign begins with fake recruiters, posing on platforms like LinkedIn, luring…

Google Ads Users Targeted in Malvertising Scam Stealing Credentials and 2FA Codes Cybersecurity researchers have alerted to a new malvertising campaign that’s targeting individuals and businesses advertising via Google Ads by attempting to phish for their credentials via fraudulent ads on Google. “The scheme consists of stealing as many advertiser accounts as possible by impersonating…

The High-Stakes Disconnect For ICS/OT Security Why does ICS/OT need specific controls and its own cybersecurity budget today? Because treating ICS/OT security with an IT security playbook isn’t just ineffective—it’s high risk. In the rapidly evolving domain of cybersecurity, the specific challenges and needs for Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Operational Technology (OT) security distinctly…

Google Cloud Researchers Uncover Flaws in Rsync File Synchronization Tool As many as six security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in the popular Rsync file-synchronizing tool for Unix systems, some of which could be exploited to execute arbitrary code on a client. “Attackers can take control of a malicious server and read/write arbitrary files of any…

Critical SimpleHelp Flaws Allow File Theft, Privilege Escalation, and RCE Attacks Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed multiple security flaws in SimpleHelp remote access software that could lead to information disclosure, privilege escalation, and remote code execution. Horizon3.ai researcher Naveen Sunkavally, in a technical report detailing the findings, said the “vulnerabilities are trivial to reverse and exploit.”…

3 Actively Exploited Zero-Day Flaws Patched in Microsoft’s Latest Security Update Microsoft kicked off 2025 with a new set of patches for a total of 161 security vulnerabilities across its software portfolio, including three zero-days that have been actively exploited in attacks. Of the 161 flaws, 11 are rated Critical, and 149 are rated Important…

4 Reasons Your SaaS Attack Surface Can No Longer be Ignored What do identity risks, data security risks and third-party risks all have in common? They are all made much worse by SaaS sprawl. Every new SaaS account adds a new identity to secure, a new place where sensitive data can end up, and a…

Google OAuth Vulnerability Exposes Millions via Failed Startup Domains New research has pulled back the curtain on a “deficiency” in Google’s “Sign in with Google” authentication flow that exploits a quirk in domain ownership to gain access to sensitive data. “Google’s OAuth login doesn’t protect against someone purchasing a failed startup’s domain and using it…

Microsoft Uncovers macOS Vulnerability CVE-2024-44243 Allowing Rootkit Installation Microsoft has shed light on a now-patched security flaw impacting Apple macOS that, if successfully exploited, could have allowed an attacker running as “root” to bypass the operating system’s System Integrity Protection (SIP) and install malicious kernel drivers by loading third-party kernel extensions. The vulnerability in question…

Ransomware on ESXi: The Mechanization of Virtualized Attacks In 2024, ransomware attacks targeting VMware ESXi servers reached alarming levels, with the average ransom demand skyrocketing to $5 million. With approximately 8,000 ESXi hosts exposed directly to the internet (according to Shodan), the operational and business impact of these attacks is profound. Most of the Ransomware…

⚡ THN Weekly Recap: Top Cybersecurity Threats, Tools and Tips [13 January] The cyber world’s been buzzing this week, and it’s all about staying ahead of the bad guys. From sneaky software bugs to advanced hacking tricks, the risks are real, but so are the ways to protect yourself. In this recap, we’ll break down…

Hackers Exploit Aviatrix Controller Vulnerability to Deploy Backdoors and Crypto Miners A recently disclosed critical security flaw impacting the Aviatrix Controller cloud networking platform has come under active exploitation in the wild to deploy backdoors and cryptocurrency miners. Cloud security firm Wiz said it’s currently responding to “multiple incidents” involving the weaponization of CVE-2024-50603 (CVSS…

CISA Adds Second BeyondTrust Flaw to KEV Catalog Amid Active Attacks The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Monday added a second security flaw impacting BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) products to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, citing evidence of active exploitation in the wild. The vulnerability in…

Expired Domains Allowed Control Over 4,000 Backdoors on Compromised Systems No less than 4,000 unique web backdoors previously deployed by various threat actors have been hijacked by taking control of abandoned and expired infrastructure for as little as $20 per domain. Cybersecurity company watchTowr Labs said it pulled off the operation by registering over 40…

WordPress Skimmers Evade Detection by Injecting Themselves into Database Tables Cybersecurity researchers are warning of a new stealthy credit card skimmer campaign that targets WordPress e-commerce checkout pages by inserting malicious JavaScript code into a database table associated with the content management system (CMS). “This credit card skimmer malware targeting WordPress websites silently injects malicious…

DoJ Indicts Three Russians for Operating Crypto Mixers Used in Cybercrime Laundering The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Friday indicted three Russian nationals for their alleged involvement in operating the cryptocurrency mixing services Blender.io and Sinbad.io. Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko and Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik were arrested on December 1, 2024, in coordination with the Netherlands’…

Microsoft Sues Hacking Group Exploiting Azure AI for Harmful Content Creation Microsoft has revealed that it’s pursuing legal action against a “foreign-based threat–actor group” for operating a hacking-as-a-service infrastructure to intentionally get around the safety controls of its generative artificial intelligence (AI) services and produce offensive and harmful content. The tech giant’s Digital Crimes Unit…

Taking the Pain Out of Cybersecurity Reporting: A Practical Guide for MSPs Cybersecurity reporting is a critical yet often overlooked opportunity for service providers managing cybersecurity for their clients, and specifically for virtual Chief Information Security Officers (vCISOs). While reporting is seen as a requirement for tracking cybersecurity progress, it often becomes bogged down with…

Google Project Zero Researcher Uncovers Zero-Click Exploit Targeting Samsung Devices Cybersecurity researchers have detailed a now-patched security flaw impacting Monkey’s Audio (APE) decoder on Samsung smartphones that could lead to code execution. The high-severity vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-49415 (CVSS score: 8.1), affects Samsung devices running Android versions 12, 13, and 14. “Out-of-bounds write in libsaped.so…

RedDelta Deploys PlugX Malware to Target Mongolia and Taiwan in Espionage Campaigns Mongolia, Taiwan, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Cambodia have been targeted by the China-nexus RedDelta threat actor to deliver a customized version of the PlugX backdoor between July 2023 and December 2024. “The group used lure documents themed around the 2024 Taiwanese presidential candidate Terry…

Hands-On Walkthrough: Microsegmentation For all Users, Workloads and Devices by Elisity Network segmentation remains a critical security requirement, yet organizations struggle with traditional approaches that demand extensive hardware investments, complex policy management, and disruptive network changes. Healthcare and manufacturing sectors face particular challenges as they integrate diverse endpoints – from legacy medical devices to IoT…

AI-Driven Ransomware FunkSec Targets 85 Victims Using Double Extortion Tactics Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a nascent artificial intelligence (AI) assisted ransomware family called FunkSec that sprang forth in late 2024, and has claimed more than 85 victims to date. “The group uses double extortion tactics, combining data theft with encryption to pressure victims…

Webinar: Learn How to Stop Encrypted Attacks Before They Cost You Millions Ransomware isn’t slowing down—it’s getting smarter. Encryption, designed to keep our online lives secure, is now being weaponized by cybercriminals to hide malware, steal data, and avoid detection.The result? A 10.3% surge in encrypted attacks over the past year and some of the…

MirrorFace Leverages ANEL and NOOPDOOR in Multi-Year Cyberattacks on Japan Japan’s National Police Agency (NPA) and National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NCSC) accused a China-linked threat actor named MirrorFace of orchestrating a persistent attack campaign targeting organizations, businesses, and individuals in the country since 2019. The primary objective of the attack…

Product Walkthrough: How Reco Discovers Shadow AI in SaaS As SaaS providers race to integrate AI into their product offerings to stay competitive and relevant, a new challenge has emerged in the world of AI: shadow AI.  Shadow AI refers to the unauthorized use of AI tools and copilots at organizations. For example, a developer…

New Banshee Stealer Variant Bypasses Antivirus with Apple’s XProtect-Inspired Encryption Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new, stealthier version of a macOS-focused information-stealing malware called Banshee Stealer. “Once thought dormant after its source code leak in late 2024, this new iteration introduces advanced string encryption inspired by Apple’s XProtect,” Check Point Research said in a new…

Major Vulnerabilities Patched in SonicWall, Palo Alto Expedition, and Aviatrix Controllers Palo Alto Networks has released software patches to address several security flaws in its Expedition migration tool, including a high-severity bug that an authenticated attacker could exploit to access sensitive data. “Multiple vulnerabilities in the Palo Alto Networks Expedition migration tool enable an attacker…

Mirai Botnet Variant Exploits Four-Faith Router Vulnerability for DDoS Attacks A Mirai botnet variant has been found exploiting a newly disclosed security flaw impacting Four-Faith industrial routers since early November 2024 with the goal of conducting distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The botnet maintains approximately 15,000 daily active IP addresses, with the infections primarily scattered across…

Top 5 Malware Threats to Prepare Against in 2025 2024 had its fair share of high-profile cyber attacks, with companies as big as Dell and TicketMaster falling victim to data breaches and other infrastructure compromises. In 2025, this trend will continue. So, to be prepared for any kind of malware attack, every organization needs to…

Researchers Expose NonEuclid RAT Using UAC Bypass and AMSI Evasion Techniques Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a new remote access trojan called NonEuclid that allows bad actors to remotely control compromised Windows systems. “The NonEuclid remote access trojan (RAT), developed in C#, is a highly sophisticated malware offering unauthorised remote access with advanced evasion…

Neglected Domains Used in Malspam to Evade SPF and DMARC Security Protections Cybersecurity researchers have found that bad actors are continuing to have success by spoofing sender email addresses as part of various malspam campaigns. Faking the sender address of an email is widely seen as an attempt to make the digital missive more legitimate…

Ivanti Flaw CVE-2025-0282 Actively Exploited, Impacts Connect Secure and Policy Secure Ivanti is warning that a critical security flaw impacting Ivanti Connect Secure, Policy Secure, and ZTA Gateways has come under active exploitation in the wild beginning mid-December 2024. The security vulnerability in question is CVE-2025-0282 (CVSS score: 9.0), a stack-based buffer overflow that affects…

CISA: No Wider Federal Impact from Treasury Cyber Attack, Investigation Ongoing The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Monday said there are no indications that the cyber attack targeting the Treasury Department impacted other federal agencies. The agency said it’s working closely with the Treasury Department and BeyondTrust to get a better understanding…

New EAGERBEE Variant Targets ISPs and Governments with Advanced Backdoor Capabilities Internet service providers (ISPs) and governmental entities in the Middle East have been targeted using an updated variant of the EAGERBEE malware framework. The new variant of EAGERBEE (aka Thumtais) comes fitted with various components that allow the backdoor to deploy additional payloads, enumerate…

Farewell to the Fallen: The Cybersecurity Stars We Lost Last Year It’s time once again to pay our respects to the once-famous cybersecurity solutions whose usefulness died in the past year. The cybercriminal world collectively mourns the loss of these solutions and the easy access they provide to victim organizations. These solutions, though celebrated in…

Researchers Uncover Major Security Flaw in Illumina iSeq 100 DNA Sequencers Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered firmware security vulnerabilities in the Illumina iSeq 100 DNA sequencing instrument that, if successfully exploited, could permit attackers to brick or plant persistent malware on susceptible devices. “The Illumina iSeq 100 used a very outdated implementation of BIOS firmware using…

CISA Flags Critical Flaws in Mitel and Oracle Systems Amid Active Exploitation The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday added three flaws impacting Mitel MiCollab and Oracle WebLogic Server to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, citing evidence of active exploitation. The list of vulnerabilities is as follows – CVE-2024-41713 (CVSS score:…

India Proposes Digital Data Rules with Tough Penalties and Cybersecurity Requirements The Indian government has published a draft version of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules for public consultation. “Data fiduciaries must provide clear and accessible information about how personal data is processed, enabling informed consent,” India’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in a…

Cybercriminals Target Ethereum Developers with Fake Hardhat npm Packages Cybersecurity researchers have revealed several malicious packages on the npm registry that have been found impersonating the Nomic Foundation’s Hardhat tool in order to steal sensitive data from developer systems. “By exploiting trust in open source plugins, attackers have infiltrated these platforms through malicious npm packages,…

FireScam Android Malware Poses as Telegram Premium to Steal Data and Control Devices An Android information stealing malware named FireScam has been found masquerading as a premium version of the Telegram messaging app to steal data and maintain persistent remote control over compromised devices. “Disguised as a fake ‘Telegram Premium’ app, it is distributed through…

From $22M in Ransom to +100M Stolen Records: 2025’s All-Star SaaS Threat Actors to Watch In 2024, cyber threats targeting SaaS surged, with 7,000 password attacks blocked per second (just in Entra ID)—a 75% increase from last year—and phishing attempts up by 58%, causing $3.5 billion in losses (source: Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2024). SaaS…

⚡ THN Weekly Recap: Top Cybersecurity Threats, Tools and Tips [6 Jan] Every tap, click, and swipe we make online shapes our digital lives, but it also opens doors—some we never meant to unlock. Extensions we trust, assistants we rely on, and even the codes we scan are turning into tools for attackers. The line…

PLAYFULGHOST Delivered via Phishing and SEO Poisoning in Trojanized VPN Apps Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new malware called PLAYFULGHOST that comes with a wide range of information-gathering features like keylogging, screen capture, audio capture, remote shell, and file transfer/execution. The backdoor, according to Google’s Managed Defense team, shares functional overlaps with a known remote…

Researchers Uncover Nuclei Vulnerability Enabling Signature Bypass and Code Execution A high-severity security flaw has been disclosed in ProjectDiscovery’s Nuclei, a widely-used open-source vulnerability scanner that, if successfully exploited, could allow attackers to bypass signature checks and potentially execute malicious code. Tracked as CVE-2024-43405, it carries a CVSS score of 7.4 out of a maximum…

LDAPNightmare PoC Exploit Crashes LSASS and Reboots Windows Domain Controllers A proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit has been released for a now-patched security flaw impacting Windows Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) that could trigger a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. The out-of-bounds reads vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2024-49113 (CVSS score: 7.5). It was addressed by Microsoft as part of…

New AI Jailbreak Method ‘Bad Likert Judge’ Boosts Attack Success Rates by Over 60% Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a new jailbreak technique that could be used to get past a large language model’s (LLM) safety guardrails and produce potentially harmful or malicious responses. The multi-turn (aka many-shot) attack strategy has been codenamed Bad…

U.S. Treasury Sanctions Beijing Cybersecurity Firm for State-Backed Hacking Campaigns The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Friday issued sanctions against a Beijing-based cybersecurity company known as Integrity Technology Group, Incorporated for orchestrating several cyber attacks against U.S. victims. These attacks have been publicly attributed to a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor…

Malicious Obfuscated NPM Package Disguised as an Ethereum Tool Deploys Quasar RAT Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a malicious package on the npm package registry that masquerades as a library for detecting vulnerabilities in Ethereum smart contracts but, in reality, drops an open-source remote access trojan called Quasar RAT onto developer systems. The heavily obfuscated package,…

Cross-Domain Attacks: A Growing Threat to Modern Security and How to Combat Them In the past year, cross-domain attacks have gained prominence as an emerging tactic among adversaries. These operations exploit weak points across multiple domains – including endpoints, identity systems and cloud environments – so the adversary can infiltrate organizations, move laterally and evade…

Severe Security Flaws Patched in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Apps Web API Details have emerged about three now-patched security vulnerabilities in Dynamics 365 and Power Apps Web API that could result in data exposure. The flaws, discovered by Melbourne-based cybersecurity company Stratus Security, have been addressed as of May 2024. Two of the three…

Apple to Pay Siri Users $20 Per Device in Settlement Over Accidental Siri Privacy Violations Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a proposed class action lawsuit that accused the iPhone maker of invading users’ privacy using its voice-activated Siri assistant. The development was first reported by Reuters. The settlement applies to U.S.-based…

Critical Deadline: Update Old .NET Domains Before January 7, 2025 to Avoid Service Disruption Microsoft has announced that it’s making an “unexpected change” to the way .NET installers and archives are distributed, requiring developers to update their production and DevOps infrastructure. “We expect that most users will not be directly affected, however, it is critical…

Iranian and Russian Entities Sanctioned for Election Interference Using AI and Cyber Tactics The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday leveled sanctions against two entities in Iran and Russia for their attempts to interfere with the November 2024 presidential election. The federal agency said the entities – a subordinate organization…

New “DoubleClickjacking” Exploit Bypasses Clickjacking Protections on Major Websites Threat hunters have disclosed a new “widespread timing-based vulnerability class” that leverages a double-click sequence to facilitate clickjacking attacks and account takeovers in almost all major websites. The technique has been codenamed DoubleClickjacking by security researcher Paulos Yibelo. “Instead of relying on a single click, it…

New U.S. DoJ Rule Halts Bulk Data Transfers to Adversarial Nations to Protect Privacy The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has issued a final rule carrying out Executive Order (EO) 14117, which prevents mass transfer of citizens’ personal data to countries of concern such as China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Cuba, Iran, North Korea,…

When Good Extensions Go Bad: Takeaways from the Campaign Targeting Browser Extensions News has been making headlines over the weekend of the extensive attack campaign targeting browser extensions and injecting them with malicious code to steal user credentials. Currently, over 25 extensions, with an install base of over two million users, have been found to…

⚡ THN Weekly Recap: Top Cybersecurity Threats, Tools and Tips Every week, the digital world faces new challenges and changes. Hackers are always finding new ways to breach systems, while defenders work hard to keep our data safe. Whether it’s a hidden flaw in popular software or a clever new attack method, staying informed is…

New HIPAA Rules Mandate 72-Hour Data Restoration and Annual Compliance Audits The United States Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has proposed new cybersecurity requirements for healthcare organizations with an aim to safeguard patients’ data against potential cyber attacks. The proposal, which seeks to modify the Health Insurance Portability…

Misconfigured Kubernetes RBAC in Azure Airflow Could Expose Entire Cluster to Exploitation Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered three security weaknesses in Microsoft’s Azure Data Factory Apache Airflow integration that, if successfully exploited, could have allowed an attacker to gain the ability to conduct various covert actions, including data exfiltration and malware deployment. “Exploiting these flaws could…

Chinese APT Exploits BeyondTrust API Key to Access U.S. Treasury Systems and Documents The United States Treasury Department said it suffered a “major cybersecurity incident” that allowed suspected Chinese threat actors to remotely access some computers and unclassified documents.  “On December 8, 2024, Treasury was notified by a third-party software service provider, BeyondTrust, that a…

16 Chrome Extensions Hacked, Exposing Over 600,000 Users to Data Theft A new attack campaign has targeted known Chrome browser extensions, leading to at least 16 extensions being compromised and exposing over 600,000 users to data exposure and credential theft. The attack targeted publishers of browser extensions on the Chrome Web Store via a phishing…

FICORA and Kaiten Botnets Exploit Old D-Link Vulnerabilities for Global Attacks Cybersecurity researchers are warning about a spike in malicious activity that involves roping vulnerable D-Link routers into two different botnets, a Mirai variant dubbed FICORA and a Kaiten (aka Tsunami) variant called CAPSAICIN. “These botnets are frequently spread through documented D-Link vulnerabilities that allow…

Palo Alto Releases Patch for PAN-OS DoS Flaw — Update Immediately Palo Alto Networks has disclosed a high-severity vulnerability impacting PAN-OS software that could cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition on susceptible devices. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2024-3393 (CVSS score: 8.7), impacts PAN-OS versions 10.X and 11.X, as well as Prisma Access running PAN-OS versions 10.2.8…

Cloud Atlas Deploys VBCloud Malware: Over 80% of Targets Found in Russia The threat actor known as Cloud Atlas has been observed using a previously undocumented malware called VBCloud as part of its cyber attack campaigns targeting “several dozen users” in 2024. “Victims get infected via phishing emails containing a malicious document that exploits a…

North Korean Hackers Deploy OtterCookie Malware in Contagious Interview Campaign North Korean threat actors behind the ongoing Contagious Interview campaign have been observed dropping a new JavaScript malware called OtterCookie. Contagious Interview (aka DeceptiveDevelopment) refers to a persistent attack campaign that employs social engineering lures, with the hacking crew often posing as recruiters to trick…

15,000+ Four-Faith Routers Exposed to New Exploit Due to Default Credentials A high-severity flaw impacting select Four-Faith routers has come under active exploitation in the wild, according to new findings from VulnCheck. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-12856 (CVSS score: 7.2), has been described as an operating system (OS) command injection bug affecting router models F3x24…

Brazilian Hacker Charged for Extorting $3.2M in Bitcoin After Breaching 300,000 Accounts A Brazilian citizen has been charged in the United States for allegedly threatening to release data stolen by hacking into a company’s network in March 2020. Junior Barros De Oliveira, 29, of Curitiba, Brazil has been charged with four counts of extortionate threats…

Iran’s Charming Kitten Deploys BellaCPP: A New C++ Variant of BellaCiao Malware The Iranian nation-state hacking group known as Charming Kitten has been observed deploying a C++ variant of a known malware called BellaCiao. Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky, which dubbed the new version BellaCPP, said it discovered the artifact as part of a “recent” investigation…

Critical SQL Injection Vulnerability in Apache Traffic Control Rated 9.9 CVSS — Patch Now The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has shipped security updates to address a critical security flaw in Traffic Control that, if successfully exploited, could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary Structured Query Language (SQL) commands in the database. The SQL injection vulnerability,…

Ruijie Networks’ Cloud Platform Flaws Could Expose 50,000 Devices to Remote Attacks Cybersecurity researchers have discovered several security flaws in the cloud management platform developed by Ruijie Networks that could permit an attacker to take control of the network appliances. “These vulnerabilities affect both the Reyee platform, as well as Reyee OS network devices,” Claroty…

CISA Adds Acclaim USAHERDS Vulnerability to KEV Catalog Amid Active Exploitation The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Monday added a now-patched high-severity security flaw impacting Acclaim Systems USAHERDS to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation in the wild. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2021-44207 (CVSS score:…

North Korean Hackers Pull Off $308M Bitcoin Heist from Crypto Firm DMM Bitcoin Japanese and U.S. authorities have formerly attributed the theft of cryptocurrency worth $308 million from cryptocurrency company DMM Bitcoin in May 2024 to North Korean cyber actors. “The theft is affiliated with TraderTraitor threat activity, which is also tracked as Jade Sleet,…

Researchers Uncover PyPI Packages Stealing Keystrokes and Hijacking Social Accounts Cybersecurity researchers have flagged two malicious packages that were uploaded to the Python Package Index (PyPI) repository and came fitted with capabilities to exfiltrate sensitive information from compromised hosts, according to new findings from Fortinet FortiGuard Labs. The packages, named zebo and cometlogger, attracted 118…

Top 10 Cybersecurity Trends to Expect in 2025 The 2025 cybersecurity landscape is increasingly complex, driven by sophisticated cyber threats, increased regulation, and rapidly evolving technology. In 2025, organizations will be challenged with protecting sensitive information for their customers while continuing to provide seamless and easy user experiences. Here’s a closer look at ten emerging…

Rockstar2FA Collapse Fuels Expansion of FlowerStorm Phishing-as-a-Service An interruption to the phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) toolkit called Rockstar 2FA has led to a rapid uptick in activity from another nascent offering named FlowerStorm. “It appears that the [Rockstar2FA] group running the service experienced at least a partial collapse of its infrastructure, with pages associated with the service…

⚡ THN Weekly Recap: Top Cybersecurity Threats, Tools and Tips The online world never takes a break, and this week shows why. From ransomware creators being caught to hackers backed by governments trying new tricks, the message is clear: cybercriminals are always changing how they attack, and we need to keep up. Hackers are using…

AI Could Generate 10,000 Malware Variants, Evading Detection in 88% of Case Cybersecurity researchers have found that it’s possible to use large language models (LLMs) to generate new variants of malicious JavaScript code at scale in a manner that can better evade detection. “Although LLMs struggle to create malware from scratch, criminals can easily use…

Apache Tomcat Vulnerability CVE-2024-56337 Exposes Servers to RCE Attacks The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has released a security update to address an important vulnerability in its Tomcat server software that could result in remote code execution (RCE) under certain conditions. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-56337, has been described as an incomplete mitigation for CVE-2024-50379 (CVSS…

LockBit Developer Rostislav Panev Charged for Billions in Global Ransomware Damages A dual Russian and Israeli national has been charged in the United States for allegedly being the developer of the now-defunct LockBit ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation since its inception in or around 2019 through at least February 2024. Rostislav Panev, 51, was arrested in Israel…

Sophos Issues Hotfixes for Critical Firewall Flaws: Update to Prevent Exploitation Sophos has released hotfixes to address three security flaws in Sophos Firewall products that could be exploited to achieve remote code execution and allow privileged system access under certain conditions. Of the three, two are rated Critical in severity. There is currently no evidence…

Rspack npm Packages Compromised with Crypto Mining Malware in Supply Chain Attack The developers of Rspack have revealed that two of their npm packages, @rspack/core and @rspack/cli, were compromised in a software supply chain attack that allowed a malicious actor to publish malicious versions to the official package registry with cryptocurrency mining malware. Following the…

Lazarus Group Spotted Targeting Nuclear Engineers with CookiePlus Malware The Lazarus Group, an infamous threat actor linked to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), has been observed leveraging a “complex infection chain” targeting at least two employees belonging to an unnamed nuclear-related organization within the span of one month in January 2024. The attacks,…

Thousands Download Malicious npm Libraries Impersonating Legitimate Tools Threat actors have been observed uploading malicious typosquats of legitimate npm packages such as typescript-eslint and @types/node that have racked up thousands of downloads on the package registry. The counterfeit versions, named @typescript_eslinter/eslint and types-node, are engineered to download a trojan and retrieve second-stage payloads, respectively. “While…

CISA Adds Critical Flaw in BeyondTrust Software to Exploited Vulnerabilities List The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Thursday added a critical security flaw impacting BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access (PRA) and Remote Support (RS) products to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, citing evidence of active exploitation in the wild. The vulnerability, tracked…

Hackers Exploiting Critical Fortinet EMS Vulnerability to Deploy Remote Access Tools A now-patched critical security flaw impacting Fortinet FortiClient EMS is being exploited by malicious actors as part of a cyber campaign that installed remote desktop software such as AnyDesk and ScreenConnect.  The vulnerability in question is CVE-2023-48788 (CVSS score: 9.3), an SQL injection bug…

Juniper Warns of Mirai Botnet Targeting SSR Devices with Default Passwords Juniper Networks is warning that Session Smart Router (SSR) products with default passwords are being targeted as part of a malicious campaign that deploys the Mirai botnet malware. The company said it’s issuing the advisory after “several customers” reported anomalous behavior on their Session…

Fortinet Warns of Critical FortiWLM Flaw That Could Lead to Admin Access Exploits Fortinet has issued an advisory for a now-patched critical security flaw impacting Wireless LAN Manager (FortiWLM) that could lead to disclosure of sensitive information. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-34990, carries a CVSS score of 9.6 out of a maximum of 10.0. It…

APT29 Hackers Target High-Value Victims Using Rogue RDP Servers and PyRDP The Russia-linked APT29 threat actor has been observed repurposing a legitimate red teaming attack methodology as part of cyber attacks leveraging malicious Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) configuration files. The activity, which has targeted governments and armed forces, think tanks, academic researchers, and Ukrainian entities,…