DOJ Seizes 3 Web Domains Used to Sell Stolen Data and DDoS Services

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Wednesday announced the seizure of three domains used by cybercriminals to trade stolen personal information and facilitate distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks for hire. This includes weleakinfo[.]to, ipstress[.]in, and ovh-booter[.]com, the first of which allowed its users to traffic hacked personal data and offered a searchable database

Italy Data Protection Authority Warns Websites Against Use of Google Analytics

Following the footsteps of Austria and France, the Italian Data Protection Authority has become the latest regulator to find the use of Google Analytics to be non-compliant with E.U. data protection regulations. The Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali, in a press release published last week, called out a local web publisher for using the widely used analytics tool in a manner that

Overview of Top Mobile Security Threats in 2022

Your smartphone is your daily companion. The chances are that most of our activities rely on them, from ordering food to booking medical appointments. However, the threat landscape always reminds us how vulnerable smartphones can be.  Consider the recent discovery by Oversecured, a security startup. These experts observed the dynamic code loading and its potential dangers. Why is this a problem?

Former CIA Engineer Convicted of Leaking 'Vault 7' Hacking Secrets to WikiLeaks

Joshua Schulte, a former programmer with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has been found guilty of leaking a trove of classified hacking tools and exploits dubbed Vault 7 to WikiLeaks. The 33-year-old engineer had been charged in June 2018 with unauthorized disclosure of classified information and theft of classified material. Schulte also faces a separate trial on charges related to

Over 1,800 Android and iOS Apps Found Leaking Hard-Coded AWS Credentials

Researchers have identified 1,859 apps across Android and iOS containing hard-coded Amazon Web Services (AWS) credentials, posing a major security risk. "Over three-quarters (77%) of the apps contained valid AWS access tokens allowing access to private AWS cloud services," Symantec's Threat Hunter team, a part of Broadcom Software, said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Interestingly, a

How GRC protects the value of organizations — A simple guide to data quality and integrity

Contemporary organizations understand the importance of data and its impact on improving interactions with customers, offering quality products or services, and building loyalty. Data is fundamental to business success. It allows companies to make the right decisions at the right time and deliver the high-quality, personalized products and services that customers expect. There is a challenge,

Why PCI DSS 4.0 Should Be on Your Radar in 2023

Protecting customer data is critical for any business accepting online payment information. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), created by leading credit card companies, establishes best practices for protecting consumers' information. By adhering to these standards, businesses can ensure that their customer's personal and financial information is secure.  The PCI DSS

Cybercrime (and Security) Predictions for 2023

Threat actors continue to adapt to the latest technologies, practices, and even data privacy laws—and it's up to organizations to stay one step ahead by implementing strong cybersecurity measures and programs.  Here's a look at how cybercrime will evolve in 2023 and what you can do to secure and protect your organization in the year ahead.  Increase in digital supply chain attacks  With the

FTC Fines Fortnite Maker Epic Games $275 Million for Violating Children's Privacy Law

Epic Games has reached a $520 million settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations that the Fortnite creator violated online privacy laws for children and tricked users into making unintended purchases in the video game. To that end, the company will pay a record $275 million monetary penalty for breaching the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by

France Fines Microsoft €60 Million for Using Advertising Cookies Without User Consent

France's privacy watchdog has imposed a €60 million ($63.88 million) fine against Microsoft's Ireland subsidiary for dropping advertising cookies in users' computers without their explicit consent in violation of data protection laws in the European Union. The Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL) noted that users visiting the home page of its Bing search engine did not

Irish Regulators Fine Facebook $414 Million for Forcing Users to Accept Targeted Ads

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined Meta Platforms €390 million (roughly $414 million) over its handling of user data for serving personalized ads in what could be a major blow to its ad-fueled business model. To that end, the privacy regulator has ordered Meta Ireland to pay two fines – a €210 million ($222.5 million) fine over violations of the E.U. General Data Protection

Russian Hackers Using Graphiron Malware to Steal Data from Ukraine

A Russia-linked threat actor has been observed deploying a new information-stealing malware in cyber attacks targeting Ukraine. Dubbed Graphiron by Broadcom-owned Symantec, the malware is the handiwork of an espionage group known as Nodaria, which is tracked by the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) as UAC-0056. "The malware is written in Go and is designed to harvest a wide

Breaking the Security "Black Box" in DBs, Data Warehouses and Data Lakes

Security teams typically have great visibility over most areas, for example, the corporate network, endpoints, servers, and cloud infrastructure. They use this visibility to enforce the necessary security and compliance requirements. However, this is not the case when it comes to sensitive data sitting in production or analytic databases, data warehouses or data lakes. Security teams have to

Shein's Android App Caught Transmitting Clipboard Data to Remote Servers

An older version of Shein's Android application suffered from a bug that periodically captured and transmitted clipboard contents to a remote server. The Microsoft 365 Defender Research Team said it discovered the problem in version 7.9.2 of the app that was released on December 16, 2021. The issue has since been addressed as of May 2022. Shein, originally named ZZKKO, is a Chinese online fast

SYS01stealer: New Threat Using Facebook Ads to Target Critical Infrastructure Firms

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new information stealer dubbed SYS01stealer targeting critical government infrastructure employees, manufacturing companies, and other sectors since November 2022. "The threat actors behind the campaign are targeting Facebook business accounts by using Google ads and fake Facebook profiles that promote things like games, adult content, and cracked

Cyberstorage: Leveraging the Multi-Cloud to Combat Data Exfiltration

Multi-cloud data storage, once merely a byproduct of the great cloud migration, has now become a strategy for data management. "Multi-cloud by design," and its companion the supercloud, is an ecosystem in which several cloud systems work together to provide many organizational benefits, including increased scale and overall resiliency.And now, even security teams who have long been the holdout

Italian Watchdog Bans OpenAI's ChatGPT Over Data Protection Concerns

The Italian data protection watchdog, Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali (aka Garante), has imposed a temporary ban of OpenAI's ChatGPT service in the country, citing data protection concerns. To that end, it has ordered the company to stop processing users' data with immediate effect, stating it intends to investigate the company over whether it's unlawfully processing such data in

Think Before You Share the Link: SaaS in the Real World

Collaboration sits at the essence of SaaS applications. The word, or some form of it, appears in the top two headlines on Google Workspace’s homepage. It can be found six times on Microsoft 365’s homepage, three times on Box, and once on Workday. Visit nearly any SaaS site, and odds are ‘collaboration’ will appear as part of the app’s key selling point.  By sitting on the cloud, content within

Protect Your Company: Ransomware Prevention Made Easy

Every year hundreds of millions of malware attacks occur worldwide, and every year businesses deal with the impact of viruses, worms, keyloggers, and ransomware. Malware is a pernicious threat and the biggest driver for businesses to look for cybersecurity solutions.  Naturally, businesses want to find products that will stop malware in its tracks, and so they search for solutions to do that.

ViperSoftX InfoStealer Adopts Sophisticated Techniques to Avoid Detection

A significant number of victims in the consumer and enterprise sectors located across Australia, Japan, the U.S., and India have been affected by an evasive information-stealing malware called ViperSoftX. ViperSoftX was first documented by Fortinet in 2020, with cybersecurity company Avast detailing a campaign in November 2022 that leveraged the malware to distribute a malicious Google Chrome

ChatGPT is Back in Italy After Addressing Data Privacy Concerns

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has officially made a return to Italy after the company met the data protection authority's demands ahead of April 30, 2023, deadline. The development was first reported by the Associated Press. OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, tweeted, "we're excited ChatGPT is available in [Italy] again!" The reinstatement comes following Garante's decision to temporarily block 

E.U. Regulators Hit Meta with Record $1.3 Billion Fine for Data Transfer Violations

Facebook's parent company Meta has been fined a record $1.3 billion by European Union data protection regulators for transferring the personal data of users in the region to the U.S. In a binding decision taken by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), the social media giant has been ordered to bring its data transfers into compliance with the GDPR and delete unlawfully stored and processed

Beware of Ghost Sites: Silent Threat Lurking in Your Salesforce Communities

Improperly deactivated and abandoned Salesforce Sites and Communities (aka Experience Cloud) could pose severe risks to organizations, leading to unauthorized access to sensitive data. Data security firm Varonis dubbed the abandoned, unprotected, and unmonitored resources “ghost sites.” “When these Communities are no longer needed, though, they are often set aside but not deactivated,” Varonis

The Importance of Managing Your Data Security Posture

Data security is reinventing itself. As new data security posture management solutions come to market, organizations are increasingly recognizing the opportunity to provide evidence-based security that proves how their data is being protected. But what exactly is data security posture, and how do you manage it?  Data security posture management (DSPM) became mainstream following the publication

Secrets, Secrets Are No Fun. Secrets, Secrets (Stored in Plain Text Files) Hurt Someone

Secrets are meant to be hidden or, at the very least, only known to a specific and limited set of individuals (or systems). Otherwise, they aren't really secrets. In personal life, a secret revealed can damage relationships, lead to social stigma, or, at the very least, be embarrassing. In a developer's or application security engineer's professional life, the consequences of exposing secrets

Apple Sets New Rules for Developers to Prevent Fingerprinting and Data Misuse

Apple has announced plans to require developers to submit reasons to use certain APIs in their apps starting later this year with the release of iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS Sonoma, tvOS 17, and watchOS 10 to prevent their abuse for data collection. "This will help ensure that apps only use these APIs for their intended purpose," the company said in a statement. "As part of this process, you'll need

What is Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)?

Data Security Posture Management is an approach to securing cloud data by ensuring that sensitive data always has the correct security posture - regardless of where it's been duplicated or moved to. So, what is DSPM? Here's a quick example: Let's say you've built an excellent security posture for your cloud data. For the sake of this example, your data is in production, it's protected behind a

New Survey Uncovers How Companies Are Confronting Data Security Challenges Head-On

Data security is in the headlines often, and it’s almost never for a positive reason. Major breaches, new ways to hack into an organization’s supposedly secure data, and other threats make the news because well, it’s scary — and expensive.  Data breaches, ransomware and malware attacks, and other cybercrime might be pricey to prevent, but they are even more costly when they occur, with the 

New OS Tool Tells You Who Has Access to What Data

Ensuring sensitive data remains confidential, protected from unauthorized access, and compliant with data privacy regulations is paramount. Data breaches result in financial and reputational damage but also lead to legal consequences. Therefore, robust data access security measures are essential to safeguard an organization’s assets, maintain customer trust, and meet regulatory requirements.  A

Webinar: Locking Down Financial and Accounting Data — Best Data Security Strategies

Financial data is much more than just a collection of numbers; it is a crucial component of any business and a prime target for cybercriminals. It's important to understand that financial records can be a veritable treasure trove for digital pirates. A security breach not only puts customers' personal information in jeopardy but also enables fraudsters to drain company funds and exploit clients.

The Rise of S3 Ransomware: How to Identify and Combat It

In today's digital landscape, around 60% of corporate data now resides in the cloud, with Amazon S3 standing as the backbone of data storage for many major corporations.  Despite S3 being a secure service from a reputable provider, its pivotal role in handling vast amounts of sensitive data (customer personal information, financial data, intellectual property, etc.), provides a juicy target for

Researchers Uncover Wiretapping of XMPP-Based Instant Messaging Service

New findings have shed light on what's said to be a lawful attempt to covertly intercept traffic originating from jabber[.]ru (aka xmpp[.]ru), an XMPP-based instant messaging service, via servers hosted on Hetzner and Linode (a subsidiary of Akamai) in Germany. "The attacker has issued several new TLS certificates using Let's Encrypt service which were used to hijack encrypted STARTTLS

Kinsing Actors Exploiting Recent Linux Flaw to Breach Cloud Environments

The threat actors linked to Kinsing have been observed attempting to exploit the recently disclosed Linux privilege escalation flaw called Looney Tunables as part of a "new experimental campaign" designed to breach cloud environments. "Intriguingly, the attacker is also broadening the horizons of their cloud-native attacks by extracting credentials from the Cloud Service Provider (CSP)," cloud

QNAP Releases Patch for 2 Critical Flaws Threatening Your NAS Devices

QNAP has released security updates to address two critical security flaws impacting its operating system that could result in arbitrary code execution. Tracked as CVE-2023-23368 (CVSS score: 9.8), the vulnerability is described as a command injection bug affecting QTS, QuTS hero, and QuTScloud. "If exploited, the vulnerability could allow remote attackers to execute commands via a network," the

New BiBi-Windows Wiper Targets Windows Systems in Pro-Hamas Attacks

Cybersecurity researchers have warned about a Windows version of a wiper malware that was previously observed targeting Linux systems in cyber attacks aimed at Israel. Dubbed BiBi-Windows Wiper by BlackBerry, the wiper is the Windows counterpart of BiBi-Linux Wiper, which has been put to use by a pro-Hamas hacktivist group in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war last month. "The Windows variant [...

CISA Sets a Deadline - Patch Juniper Junos OS Flaws Before November 17

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has given a November 17, 2023, deadline for federal agencies and organizations to apply mitigations to secure against a number of security flaws in Juniper Junos OS that came to light in August. The agency on Monday added five vulnerabilities to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, based on evidence of active

Three Ways Varonis Helps You Fight Insider Threats

What do basketball teams, government agencies, and car manufacturers have in common? Each one has been breached, having confidential, proprietary, or private information stolen and exposed by insiders. In each case, the motivations and methods varied, but the risk remained the same: insiders have access to too much data with too few controls. Insider threats continue to prove difficult for

Kubernetes Secrets of Fortune 500 Companies Exposed in Public Repositories

Cybersecurity researchers are warning of publicly exposed Kubernetes configuration secrets that could put organizations at risk of supply chain attacks. “These encoded Kubernetes configuration secrets were uploaded to public repositories,” Aqua security researchers Yakir Kadkoda and Assaf Morag said in a new research published earlier this week. Some of those impacted include two top blockchain

Design Flaw in Google Workspace Could Let Attackers Gain Unauthorized Access

Cybersecurity researchers have detailed a "severe design flaw" in Google Workspace's domain-wide delegation (DWD) feature that could be exploited by threat actors to facilitate privilege escalation and obtain unauthorized access to Workspace APIs without super admin privileges. "Such exploitation could result in theft of emails from Gmail, data exfiltration from Google Drive, or other

Transform Your Data Security Posture – Learn from SoFi's DSPM Success

As cloud technology evolves, so does the challenge of securing sensitive data. In a world where data duplication and sprawl are common, organizations face increased risks of non-compliance and unauthorized data breaches. Sentra's DSPM (Data Security Posture Management) emerges as a comprehensive solution, offering continuous discovery and accurate classification of sensitive data in the cloud.

This Free Solution Provides Essential Third-Party Risk Management for SaaS

Wing Security recently announced that basic third-party risk assessment is now available as a free product. But it raises the questions of how SaaS is connected to third-party risk management (TPRM) and what companies should do to ensure a proper SaaS-TPRM process is in place. In this article we will share 5 tips to manage the third-party risks associated with SaaS, but first...  What

Qakbot Takedown Aftermath: Mitigations and Protecting Against Future Threats

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI recently collaborated in a multinational operation to dismantle the notorious Qakbot malware and botnet. While the operation was successful in disrupting this long-running threat, concerns have arisen as it appears that Qakbot may still pose a danger in a reduced form. This article discusses the aftermath of the takedown, provides mitigation

Make a Fresh Start for 2024: Clean Out Your User Inventory to Reduce SaaS Risk

As work ebbs with the typical end-of-year slowdown, now is a good time to review user roles and privileges and remove anyone who shouldn’t have access as well as trim unnecessary permissions. In addition to saving some unnecessary license fees, a clean user inventory significantly enhances the security of your SaaS applications. From reducing risk to protecting against data leakage, here is how

Generative AI Security: Preventing Microsoft Copilot Data Exposure

Microsoft Copilot has been called one of the most powerful productivity tools on the planet. Copilot is an AI assistant that lives inside each of your Microsoft 365 apps — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook, and so on. Microsoft's dream is to take the drudgery out of daily work and let humans focus on being creative problem-solvers. What makes Copilot a different beast than ChatGPT and

Hackers Exploited ColdFusion Vulnerability to Breach Federal Agency Servers

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned of active exploitation of a high-severity Adobe ColdFusion vulnerability by unidentified threat actors to gain initial access to government servers. "The vulnerability in ColdFusion (CVE-2023-26360) presents as an improper access control issue and exploitation of this CVE can result in arbitrary code execution,"

Reimagining Network Pentesting With Automation

Network penetration testing plays a crucial role in protecting businesses in the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity. Yet, business leaders and IT pros have misconceptions about this process, which impacts their security posture and decision-making.  This blog acts as a quick guide on network penetration testing, explaining what it is, debunking common myths and reimagining its role in

Reimagining Network Pentesting With Automation

Network penetration testing plays a crucial role in protecting businesses in the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity. Yet, business leaders and IT pros have misconceptions about this process, which impacts their security posture and decision-making.  This blog acts as a quick guide on network penetration testing, explaining what it is, debunking common myths and reimagining its role in

China's MIIT Introduces Color-Coded Action Plan for Data Security Incidents

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Friday unveiled draft proposals detailing its plans to tackle data security events in the country using a color-coded system. The effort is designed to "improve the comprehensive response capacity for data security incidents, to ensure timely and effective control, mitigation and elimination of hazards and losses caused

Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023: Insights, Mitigators and Best Practices

John Hanley of IBM Security shares 4 key findings from the highly acclaimed annual Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023 What is the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report? The IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report is an annual report that provides organizations with quantifiable information about the financial impacts of breaches. With this data, they can make data driven decisions about how they implement

New Terrapin Flaw Could Let Attackers Downgrade SSH Protocol Security

Security researchers from Ruhr University Bochum have discovered a vulnerability in the Secure Shell (SSH) cryptographic network protocol that could allow an attacker to downgrade the connection's security by breaking the integrity of the secure channel. Called Terrapin (CVE-2023-48795, CVSS score: 5.9), the exploit has been described as the "first ever practically exploitable prefix

Why Public Links Expose Your SaaS Attack Surface

Collaboration is a powerful selling point for SaaS applications. Microsoft, Github, Miro, and others promote the collaborative nature of their software applications that allows users to do more. Links to files, repositories, and boards can be shared with anyone, anywhere. This encourages teamwork that helps create stronger campaigns and projects by encouraging collaboration among employees

Turkish Hackers Exploiting Poorly Secured MS SQL Servers Across the Globe

Poorly secured Microsoft SQL (MS SQL) servers are being targeted in the U.S., European Union, and Latin American (LATAM) regions as part of an ongoing financially motivated campaign to gain initial access. “The analyzed threat campaign appears to end in one of two ways, either the selling of ‘access’ to the compromised host, or the ultimate delivery of ransomware payloads,” Securonix researchers

FTC Bans Outlogic (X-Mode) From Selling Sensitive Location Data

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday prohibited data broker Outlogic, which was previously known as X-Mode Social, from sharing or selling any sensitive location data with third-parties. The ban is part of a settlement over allegations that the company "sold precise location data that could be used to track people's visits to sensitive locations such as medical and

This Free Discovery Tool Finds and Mitigates AI-SaaS Risks

Wing Security announced today that it now offers free discovery and a paid tier for automated control over thousands of AI and AI-powered SaaS applications. This will allow companies to better protect their intellectual property (IP) and data against the growing and evolving risks of AI usage. SaaS applications seem to be multiplying by the day, and so does their integration of AI

Preventing Data Loss: Backup and Recovery Strategies for Exchange Server Administrators

In the current digital landscape, data has emerged as a crucial asset for organizations, akin to currency. It’s the lifeblood of any organization in today's interconnected and digital world. Thus, safeguarding the data is of paramount importance. Its importance is magnified in on-premises Exchange Server environments where vital business communication and emails are stored and managed.  In

Microsoft's Top Execs' Emails Breached in Sophisticated Russia-Linked APT Attack

Microsoft on Friday revealed that it was the target of a nation-state attack on its corporate systems that resulted in the theft of emails and attachments from senior executives and other individuals in the company's cybersecurity and legal departments. The Windows maker attributed the attack to a Russian advanced persistent threat (APT) group it tracks as Midnight Blizzard (formerly

Experts Detail New Flaws in Azure HDInsight Spark, Kafka, and Hadoop Services

Three new security vulnerabilities have been discovered in Azure HDInsight's Apache Hadoop, Kafka, and Spark services that could be exploited to achieve privilege escalation and a regular expression denial-of-service (ReDoS) condition. "The new vulnerabilities affect any authenticated user of Azure HDInsight services such as Apache Ambari and Apache Oozie," Orca security

Rhysida Ransomware Cracked, Free Decryption Tool Released

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered an "implementation vulnerability" that has made it possible to reconstruct encryption keys and decrypt data locked by Rhysida ransomware. The findings were published last week by a group of researchers from Kookmin University and the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA). "Through a comprehensive analysis of Rhysida Ransomware, we identified an

LockBit Ransomware's Darknet Domains Seized in Global Law Enforcement Raid

Update: The U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA) has confirmed the takedown of LockBit infrastructure. Read here for more details.An international law enforcement operation has led to the seizure of multiple darknet domains operated by LockBit, one of the most prolific ransomware groups, marking the latest in a long list of digital takedowns. While the full extent of the effort, codenamed 

Cybercriminals Weaponizing Open-Source SSH-Snake Tool for Network Attacks

A recently open-sourced network mapping tool called SSH-Snake has been repurposed by threat actors to conduct malicious activities. "SSH-Snake is a self-modifying worm that leverages SSH credentials discovered on a compromised system to start spreading itself throughout the network," Sysdig researcher Miguel Hernández said. "The worm automatically searches through known credential