The Hacker News

"AT&T confirms data breach affecting nearly all customers."

Views expressed in this cybersecurity, cyber crime update are those of the reporters and correspondents.  Accessed on 13 July 2024, 2300 UTC.

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Russ Roberts (https://www.hawaiicybersecurityjournal.net).

AT&T Confirms Data Breach Affecting Nearly All Wireless Customers

Jul 13, 2024 Data Breach / Network Security

American telecom service provider AT&T has confirmed that threat actors managed to access data belonging to "nearly all" of its wireless customers as well as customers of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) using AT&T's wireless network. "Threat actors unlawfully accessed an AT&T workspace on a third-party cloud platform and, between April 14 and April 25, 2024, exfiltrated files containing AT&T records of customer call and text interactions that occurred between approximately May 1 and October 31, 2022, as well as on January 2, 2023," it said . This comprises telephone numbers with which an AT&T or MVNO wireless number interacted – including telephone numbers of AT&T landline customers and customers of other carriers, counts of those interactions, and aggregate call duration for a day or month. A subset of these records also contained one or more cell site identification numbers , potentially allowing the threat actors to triang

DarkGate Malware Exploits Samba File Shares in Short-Lived Campaign

Jul 12, 2024 Malware / Cyber Attack

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a short-lived DarkGate malware campaign that leveraged Samba file shares to initiate the infections. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 said the activity spanned the months of March and April 2024, with the infection chains using servers running public-facing Samba file shares hosting Visual Basic Script (VBS) and JavaScript files. Targets included North America, Europe, and parts of Asia. "This was a relatively short-lived campaign that illustrates how threat actors can creatively abuse legitimate tools and services to distribute their malware," security researchers Vishwa Thothathri, Yijie Sui, Anmol Maurya, Uday Pratap Singh, and Brad Duncan said . DarkGate, which first emerged in 2018, has evolved into a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) offering used by a tightly controlled number of customers. It comes with capabilities to remotely control compromised hosts, execute code, mine cryptocurrency, launch reverse shells, and drop addit

ITDR: Addressing the Protection Gap of the Identity Attack Surface

SilverfortThreat Detection / Identity Protection

Learn how security teams evaluate and choose an Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) solution to deliver real-time protection against identity threats.

Australian Defence Force Private and Husband Charged with Espionage for Russia

Jul 12, 2024 Cyber Crime / Online Safety

Two Russian-born Australian citizens have been arrested and charged in the country for spying on behalf of Russia as part of a "complex" law enforcement operation codenamed BURGAZADA . This includes a 40-year-old woman, an Australian Defence Force (ADF) Army Private, and her husband, a 62-year-old self-employed laborer. Media reports have identified them as Kira Korolev and Igor Korolev, respectively, noting that they had been in Australia for over a decade. The married couple were arrested at their home in the Brisbane suburb of Everton Park on July 11, 2024, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a statement. They have been charged with one count each of preparing for an espionage offense, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment. "It is the first time an espionage offense has been laid in Australia since new laws were introduced by the Commonwealth in 2018," the AFP said . The federal law enforcement agency has alleged the pair

Ever Wonder How Hackers Really Steal Passwords? Discover Their Tactics in This Webinar

Jul 12, 2024 Digital Security / Online Safety

In today's digital age, passwords serve as the keys to our most sensitive information, from social media accounts to banking and business systems. This immense power brings with it significant responsibility—and vulnerability. Most people don't realize their credentials have been compromised until the damage is done. Imagine waking up to drained bank accounts, stolen identities, or a company's reputation in tatters. This isn't just a hypothetical scenario – it's the harsh reality faced by countless individuals and organizations every day. Recent data reveals that compromised credentials are the single biggest attack vector in 2024. That means stolen passwords, not exotic malware or zero-day exploits, are the most common way hackers breach systems and wreak havoc. To help you navigate this critical issue, we invite you to join our exclusive webinar, " Compromised Credentials in 2024: What to Know About the World's #1 Attack Vector. " What You'

Critical Exim Mail Server Vulnerability Exposes Millions to Malicious Attachments

Jul 12, 2024 Vulnerability / Software Security

A critical security issue has been disclosed in the Exim mail transfer agent that could enable threat actors to deliver malicious attachments to target users' inboxes. The vulnerability , tracked as CVE-2024-39929, has a CVSS score of 9.1 out of 10.0. It has been addressed in version 4.98. "Exim through 4.97.1 misparses a multiline RFC 2231 header filename, and thus remote attackers can bypass a $mime_filename extension-blocking protection mechanism, and potentially deliver executable attachments to the mailboxes of end users," according to a description shared on the U.S. National Vulnerability Database (NVD). Exim is a free, mail transfer agent that's used in hosts that are running Unix or Unix-like operating systems. It was first released in 1995 for use at the University of Cambridge.  Attack surface management firm Censys said 4,830,719 of the 6,540,044 public-facing SMTP mail servers are running Exim. As of July 12, 2024, 1,563,085 internet-accessible

U.S. Seizes Domains Used by AI-Powered Russian Bot Farm for Disinformation

Jul 12, 2024 Disinformation / Artificial Intelligence

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said it seized two internet domains and searched nearly 1,000 social media accounts that Russian threat actors allegedly used to covertly spread pro-Kremlin disinformation in the country and abroad on a large scale. "The social media bot farm used elements of AI to create fictitious social media profiles — often purporting to belong to individuals in the United States — which the operators then used to promote messages in support of Russian government objectives," the DoJ said . The bot network, comprising 968 accounts on X, is said to be part of an elaborate scheme hatched by an employee of Russian state-owned media outlet RT (formerly Russia Today), sponsored by the Kremlin, and aided by an officer of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), who created and led an unnamed private intelligence organization. The developmental efforts for the bot farm began in April 2022 when the individuals procured online infrastructure while anon

Palo Alto Networks Patches Critical Flaw in Expedition Migration Tool

Jul 11, 2024 Vulnerability / Enterprise Security

Palo Alto Networks has released security updates to address five security flaws impacting its products, including a critical bug that could lead to an authentication bypass. Cataloged as CVE-2024-5910 (CVSS score: 9.3), the vulnerability has been described as a case of missing authentication in its Expedition migration tool that could lead to an admin account takeover. "Missing authentication for a critical function in Palo Alto Networks Expedition can lead to an Expedition admin account takeover for attackers with network access to Expedition," the company said in an advisory. "Configuration secrets, credentials, and other data imported into Expedition is at risk due to this issue." The flaw impacts all versions of Expedition prior to version 1.2.92, which remediates the problem. Synopsys Cybersecurity Research Center's (CyRC) Brian Hysell has been credited with discovering and reporting the issue. While there is no evidence that the vulnerability has be

5 Key Questions CISOs Must Ask Themselves About Their Cybersecurity Strategy

Jul 08, 2024Cybersecurity / Enterprise Security

Events like the recent massive CDK ransomware attack – which shuttered car dealerships across the U.S. in late June 2024 – barely raise public eyebrows anymore.  Yet businesses, and the people that lead them, are justifiably jittery. Every CISO knows that cybersecurity is an increasingly hot topic for executives and board members alike. And when the inevitable CISO/Board briefing rolls around, everyone wants answers: Are we safe from attacks? Are we making progress? Could happen to us? These are all fair concerns.  The question is, how do we best answer them? A company board deserves clear, concise information tied to business goals , not technical details about fixes or attack methods. A communication gap between the CISO and the board can lead to misunderstandings, increased risk, and potentially devastating cyberattacks. And this is why one of the overriding challenges for CISOs today remains: How to pr

60 New Malicious Packages Uncovered in NuGet Supply Chain Attack

Jul 11, 2024 Software Security / Threat Intelligence

Threat actors have been observed publishing a new wave of malicious packages to the NuGet package manager as part of an ongoing campaign that began in August 2023, while also adding a new layer of stealth to evade detection. The fresh packages, about 60 in number and spanning 290 versions, demonstrate a refined approach from the previous set that came to light in October 2023, software supply chain security firm ReversingLabs said. The attackers pivoted from using NuGet's MSBuild integrations to "a strategy that uses simple, obfuscated downloaders that are inserted into legitimate PE binary files using Intermediary Language (IL) Weaving, a .NET programming technique for modifying an application's code after compilation," security researcher Karlo Zanki said . The end goal of the counterfeit packages, both old and new, is to deliver an off-the-shelf remote access trojan called SeroXen RAT . All the identified packages have since been taken down. The latest coll

Chinese APT41 Upgrades Malware Arsenal with DodgeBox and MoonWalk

Jul 11, 2024 Cyber Espionage / Network Security

The China-linked advanced persistent threat (APT) group codenamed APT41 is suspected to be using an "advanced and upgraded version" of a known malware called StealthVector to deliver a previously undocumented backdoor dubbed MoonWalk. The new variant of StealthVector – which is also referred to as DUSTPAN – has been designated DodgeBox by Zscaler ThreatLabz, which discovered the loader strain in April 2024. "DodgeBox is a loader that proceeds to load a new backdoor named MoonWalk," security researchers Yin Hong Chang and Sudeep Singh said . "MoonWalk shares many evasion techniques implemented in DodgeBox and utilizes Google Drive for command-and-control (C2) communication." APT41 is the moniker assigned to a prolific state-sponsored threat actor affiliated with China that's known to be active since at least 2007. It's also tracked by the broader cybersecurity community under the names Axiom, Blackfly, Brass Typhoon (formerly Barium), Bronze Atl