Back in October 2022, Kaspersky GReAT was looking into a peculiar advertisement on a hacking forum. A cybercriminal had been advertising a UEFI bootkit, dubbed BlackLotus, that could bypass Secure Boot, for $5,000. Given the low price for such powerful capabilities, the cybersecurity community initially took this advertisement with a grain of salt. As no BlackLotus samples were found in the wild, no one could at the time verify the claims made in the forum post.
However, about half a year later, in March 2023, ESET confirmed that the BlackLotus advertisement was genuine. The researchers tracked down samples of this bootkit and confirmed that it can indeed bypass Secure Boot through a vulnerability called Baton Drop (CVE-2022-21894). As this vulnerability was still exploitable in 2023, Microsoft had to release multiple security updates to address it.
Read more…
Source: Kaspersky
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Ireland: ‘Wizard Spider’ cybercrime gang claim Health Service Executive attack
May 18, 2021
Hackers known as Wizard Spider are spinning a web of chaos since it launched a ransomware attack on the Health Service Executive last week. The Russian hackers have claimed responsibility for the most serious ever cyberattack on Ireland’s critical infrastructure. The group, who are seeking ransom of up to €20 million in cryptocurrency, are not motivated by ...
- DarkSide Hits Toshiba; XSS Forum Bans Ransomware
May 17, 2021
For a ransomware gang whose servers were purportedly commandeered last week, DarkSide has had a server-fueled weekend, with a reported hit on Toshiba Business. Late on Thursday night came a post to the “Exploit” underground forum that looked, at least, to be from DarkSide. It described how the gang’s blog, payment processing and denial-of-service (DoS) servers ...
- ‘We won’t pay ransom,’ says Ireland after attack on health service
May 17, 2021
Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) has ruled out giving in to hackers’ demands as the country’s healthcare and social services continue to deal with the disruption caused by a significant ransomware attack that occurred a few days ago. The HSE has now confirmed that a ransom has been sought by the attackers, although the exact amount ...
- Bizarro banking Trojan expands its attacks to Europe
May 17, 2021
Bizarro is yet another banking Trojan family originating from Brazil that is now found in other regions of the world. We have seen users being targeted in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. Attempts have now been made to steal credentials from customers of 70 banks from different European and South American countries. Following in the ...
- Insurer AXA hit by ransomware after dropping support for ransom payments
May 16, 2021
Branches of insurance giant AXA based in Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines have been struck by a ransomware cyber attack. As seen by BleepingComputer yesterday, the Avaddon ransomware group claimed on their leak site that they had stolen 3 TB of sensitive data from AXA’s Asian operations. Read more… Source: Bleeping Computer
- Russian-language cybercriminal forum ‘XSS’ bans DarkSide and other ransomware groups
May 14, 2021
Cybersecurity researchers with Flashpoint, Digital Shadows’ Photon Research Team and other firms have confirmed that XSS, a popular cybercriminal forum, has outright banned ransomware sales, ransomware rental, and ransomware affiliate programs on their platform, according to a announcement released in Russian. The move comes after global scrutiny of ransomware groups increased following a damaging attack on ...
