- Cobalt threat group serves up SpicyOmelette in fresh bank attacks
September 27, 2018
Advanced persistent threat group (APT) the Cobalt Gang, also known as Gold Kingswood, is spreading SpicyOmelette malware in campaigns targeting financial institutions worldwide. In a world where cyberattacks against businesses and consumers alike are spreading and evolving in nature and sophistication, it is often financial institutions which bear the brunt. Banking customers hoodwinked by fraudulent schemes or ...
- US government hacker jailed after losing secrets
September 26, 2018
A man who illegally took home hacking tools from his workplace at the National Security Agency, and then allegedly lost them to Russian intelligence, has been jailed for five years and six months. Nghia Hoang Pho, 68, developed hacking tools at the NSA’s elite Tailored Access Operations (TAO) unit, which works on penetrating target computer networks ...
- VPNFilter’s Arsenal Expands With Newly Discovered Modules
September 26, 2018
Seven new modules discovered in VPNFilter further fill in the blanks about how the malware operates and reveals a wider breath of capabilities. Researchers have discovered new modules in VPNFilter – the malware behind the widespread campaign in May that infected 75 router brands – revealing that its capabilities are much more widespread and sophisticated than previously thought. After ...
- Pennsylvania Senate Democrats paid $700,000 to recover from ransomware attack
September 24, 2018
The Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus paid $703,697 to Microsoft to rebuild its IT infrastructure after suffering a ransomware infection in March 2017. The incident took place on March 3, 2017, when the organization’s entire IT systems, including its web servers, went down at the hands of a yet-to-be-revealed ransomware strain. The ransomware encrypted files and requested payment of ...
- Adwind RAT Scurries By AV Software With New DDE Variant
September 24, 2018
A newly-discovered spam campaign is spreading the Adwind 3.0 remote-access tool (RAT) – and using a fresh take on the Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) code-injection technique for anti-virus evasion. The spam campaign features two types of droppers that leverage a new variant to the already-known DDE code-injection attack on Microsoft Excel – enabling them to bypass ...
- New Virobot malware works as ransomware, keylogger, and botnet
September 21, 2018
A newly discovered malware strain is a multi-tasking threat that besides working as ransomware and encrypting users’ files, it can also log and steal their keystrokes, and add infected computers to a spam-sending botnet. This new threat is named Virobot and appears to be under development, and comprised of multiple components that allow it to work ...
- Critical infrastructure will have to operate if there’s malware on it or not
September 16, 2018
As threats and cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure are expected to intensify in the near future, cyber-security experts believe that companies and government agencies should be prepared to operate networks even if there’s malware or a threat actor on the network or not. The idea is that cyber-attacks should not cause downtime of any form, and networks should be designed in a way ...
- Osiris Banking Trojan Displays Modern Malware Innovation
September 12, 2018
Osiris’ fundamental makeup positions it in the fore of malware trends, despite being based on old source code that’s been knocking around for years. After staying dormant for few years, the Kronos banking trojan resurfaced in July in a form dubbed Osiris. A wider analysis of how the banking trojan is evolving shows innovative development on ...
- Bad Actors Sizing Up Systems Via Lightweight Recon Malware
September 11, 2018
These stealthy downloaders initially infect systems and then only install additional malware on systems of interest. Well-known financial crime gang Cobalt Group and other threat actors have recently shifted tactics to incorporate lightweight modular downloaders that “vet” target machines for their attractiveness before proceeding with a full-fledged attack. The emergence of the AdvisorsBot and Marap malwares, as ...
- OilRig Sends an OopsIE to Mideast Government Targets
September 5, 2018
The Iran-linked group is using a variant of the data-exfiltration OopsIE trojan to attack a Mideast government entity. The OilRig group is back, using a reboot of the OopsIE trojan to pump information from its favorite resource: entities in the Middle East region. OilRig, which is also called Cobalt Gypsy, Crambus, Helix Kitten or PT34, is suspected ...