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:
- Cloud Atlas seen using a new tool in its attacks
December 23, 2024
Known since 2014, Cloud Atlas targets Eastern Europe and Central Asia. We’re shedding light on a previously undocumented toolset, which the group used heavily in 2024. Victims get infected via phishing emails containing a malicious document that exploits a vulnerability in the formula editor (CVE-2018-0802) to download and execute malware code. When opened, the document downloads a ...
- Attackers exploiting a patched FortiClient EMS vulnerability in the wild
December 19, 2024
During a recent incident response, Kaspersky’s GERT team identified a set of TTPs and indicators linked to an attacker that infiltrated a company’s networks by targeting a Fortinet vulnerability for which a patch was already available. This vulnerability is an improper filtering of SQL command input making the system susceptible to an SQL injection. It specifically ...
- U.S. Considers Ban On Chinese Made TP-Link Routers
December 18, 2024
The United States government is taking aim at TP-Link, a Chinese technology company that dominates the home and small-business router market in the U.S., amid mounting national security concerns. With TP-Link holding a significant 65% market share, federal authorities are investigating potential vulnerabilities in the company’s devices that could be exploited by foreign entities for cyberattacks. Read ...
- BeyondTrust security advisory addresses a vulnerability in the Remote Support and Privileged Remote Access systems
December 17, 2024
BeyondTrust has released a security advisory that addresses a vulnerability in the Remote Support and Privileged Remote Access systems. Remote Support allows authorised individuals such as IT Helpdesk staff to connect to remote systems. Privileged Remote Access facilitates just-in-time secure access to enterprise environments. CVE-2024-12356 has a CVSSv3 score of 9.8 and if exploited could ...
- Link Trap: GenAI Prompt Injection Attack
December 17, 2024
With the rise of generative AI, new security vulnerabilities are emerging. One such vulnerability is prompt injection, a method that malicious actors can exploit to manipulate AI systems. Typically, the impact of prompt injection attacks is closely tied to the permissions granted to the AI. However, the attack discussed in this article differs from commonly known ...
- Proof-of-Concept Released for Critical Apache Struts Vulnerability
December 17, 2024
Apache has released a security bulletin addressing a critical vulnerability in Apache Struts 2. Apache Struts is an open-source model-view-controller (MVC) framework for creating Java web applications. CVE-2024-53677 is a ‘Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type’ vulnerability and has a CVSSv4 score of 9.5. This vulnerability exists in the File Upload Interceptor, which allows developers ...