Governments on high alert after CISA snuffs out Firestarter backdoor on fed network


A US federal agency was successfully targeted by a previously unknown backdoor malware called Firestarter, according to CISA cybersnoops and their UK counterparts – neither of which disclosed the agency’s name.

Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies include NASA; Homeland Security itself (cyberworkers at CISA are part of an operational unit in Homeland Security); the FBI; the DoJ; the IRS; the Department of Veteran Affairs; the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); and more. Described as a backdoor with remote access capabilities, Firestarter was named after Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD), the two products the malware targeted.

Read more…
Source: The Register News


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Patch Tuesday – June 2025

    June 10, 2025

    Microsoft is addressing 67 vulnerabilities this June 2025 Patch Tuesday. Microsoft has evidence of in-the-wild exploitation for just one of the vulnerabilities published today, and that is reflected in CISA KEV. Separately, Microsoft is aware of existing public disclosure for one other freshly published vulnerability. Microsoft’s luck holds for a ninth consecutive Patch Tuesday, since neither ...

  • ConnectWise rotating code signing certificates due to security concerns

    June 9, 2025

    ConnectWise is updating the digital signing certificates used in ScreenConnect, ConnectWise Automate, and ConnectWise RMM due to concerns raised by a third-party researcher about how ScreenConnect handled certain configuration data in earlier versions. In addition to issuing new certificates, ConnectWise is releasing an update to improve how this configuration data is managed in ScreenConnect. This issue ...

  • Fortinet Flaws Exploited by Qilin Ransomware

    June 8, 2025

    Fortinet was recently found to have certain vulnerabilities that hackers like the Qilin group exploited. Here’s how they manipulated these weaknesses: Misconfigurations in security appliances provided a direct entry point for Qilin.Outdated Software: Failure to update Fortinet software allowed the ransomware to exploit known vulnerabilities. Qilin also employs social engineering tactics to gain unauthorized access: Phishing Attacks: Targeting employees ...

  • Analysis of the latest Mirai wave exploiting TBK DVR devices with CVE-2024-3721

    June 6, 2025

    The abuse of known security flaws to deploy bots on vulnerable systems is a widely recognized problem. Many automated bots constantly search the web for known vulnerabilities in servers and devices connected to the internet, especially those running popular services. These bots often carry Remote Code Execution (RCE) exploits targeting HTTP services, allowing attackers to embed ...

  • Cisco Releases Security Advisory Affecting Cisco Identity Service Engine

    June 5, 2025

    Cisco has released software updates for its Identity Service Engine (ISE). The updates address a critical severity vulnerability in the ISE product. Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is a context-aware policy service to control access and threats across wired, wireless, and VPN networks. CVE-2025-20286 has a CVSSv3 score of 9.9 and is a “use of hard-coded ...

  • Roundcube Releases Security Updates for Webmail

    June 4, 2025

    Roundcube has released versions 1.6.11 and 1.5.10 for its Webmail product. The updated versions address a critical severity vulnerability in the Webmail product. CVE-2025-49113 has a CVSSv3 score of 9.9 and is a “deserialisation of untrusted data” vulnerability. An authenticated remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to achieve remote code execution. Read more… Source: NHS Digital Sign up for ...