- BlueKeep Attacks Have Arrived, Are Initially Underwhelming
November 4, 2019
The wave of BlueKeep attacks that security experts predicted could take down systems globally have arrived, but they are not in showing the form nor the destructive impact experts initially feared. Security researchers have seen evidence of the first wave of attacks on the zero-day Windows Remote Desktop vulnerability revealed by Microsoft in May. At the time experts ...
- London police software quarantines thousands of cybercrime reports
October 25, 2019
Over 9,000 cybercrime reports filed by UK citizens have sat inside a police database without being investigated after security software mistakenly identified them as containing malicious code and placed them in quarantine. All the quarantined reports came from Action Fraud, an official UK police website where victims can report fraud and cybercrime. According to an audit published this week ...
- Mobile Malware and APT Espionage: Prolific, Pervasive, and Cross-Platform
October 23, 2019
Until now, the public’s exposure to mobile phone malware has been dominated by news about the privately run “greyware” vendors who have made headlines for being purveyors of spyware tools. These commercial smartphone spyware tools reportedly end up in the hands of autocrats who use it to hamper free speech, quash dissent, or worse. Consumers ...
- The Banking and Finance Industry Under Cybercriminal Siege: An Overview
October 22, 2019
Financial institutions have now taken on an even more active role in the growing information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) convergence. The need for 24/7-connected smart devices has driven the industry to adapt, especially with the wider adoption of the internet of things (IoT) among businesses and users. Unfortunately, this round-the-clock connection with their respective ...
- Major Airport Malware Attack Shines a Light on OT Security
October 18, 2019
A cryptomining infection managed to spread to half of all workstations at a major international airport in Europe – shining a spotlight on security for operational tech and IT convergence. Researchers at Cyberbit found the XMRig Monero mining malware, which was a known strain called “Playerz,” but which skated by antivirus solutions on the endpoints by adding a ...
- Phorpiex Botnet Shifts Gears From Ransomware to Sextortion
October 17, 2019
A recent wide-scale campaign indicates that a decade-old botnet is shifting gears from distributing ransomware to delivering millions of sextortion threats to innocent recipients. Worse, researchers say that the botnet’s spam campaign can affect up to 27 million potential victims. The botnet, Phorpiex, has been active for almost a decade and currently controls almost 500,000 computers globally. The ...
- Graboid: First-Ever Cryptojacking Worm Found in Images on Docker Hub
October 16, 2019
Unit 42 researchers identified a new cryptojacking worm we’ve named Graboid that’s spread to more than 2,000 unsecured Docker hosts. We derived the name by paying homage to the 1990’s movie “Tremors,” since this worm behaves similarly to the sandworms in the movie, in that it moves in short bursts of speed, but overall is ...
- Cybercrime Tool Prices Bump Up in Dark Web Markets
October 16, 2019
Prices have been rising in the last two years for longstanding tools available on the Dark Web to help bad actors commit cyber attacks and fraud, alongside newer innovations that are emerging to bolster crimes like ransomware and SIM swapping, new research has found. Keeping track of these trends in dark-web markets for the tools and ...
- Blackremote: Money Money Money – A Swedish Actor Peddles an Expensive New RAT
October 15, 2019
While researching prevalent commodity Remote Access Tools (RATs), Unit 42 researchers discovered a new, undocumented RAT in September, which had almost 50 samples observed in more than 2,200 attack sessions within the first month it was sold. In this report, we document the RAT manager/builder, client malware, and profile the Swedish actor behind this together ...
- Fin7 Cybergang Retools With New Malicious Code
October 11, 2019
The Fin7 cybercrime group has ramped up its offensive capabilities by adding new malicious code to its malware arsenal. Researchers said that this is evidence that Fin7 is still a growing threat despite the arrest of several Fin7 members in 2018. The notorious group has adopted a new dropper sample called Boostwrite, which uses new detection evasion ...