News – December 2023


  • KLM, Air France passenger data was improperly secured, and vulnerable to data theft

    December 18, 2023

    A large amount of personal data belonging to airline passengers who flew on KLM and Air France was not properly secured, and was somewhat readily available for theft, according to NOS and information technology security researcher Benjamin Broersma. The security hole was fixed soon after the broadcaster contacted the Dutch airline. It was not immediately clear ...

  • A Log4Shell Retrospective – Overblown and Exaggerated

    December 18, 2023

    Two years ago, CVE-2021-44228 sent the security industry into a panic. The vulnerability, better known as Log4Shell, had security professionals working overtime through the holidays hunting down vulnerable log4j libraries. At the time, there was fear and confusion around what software was affected, which were exploitable, and where attackers would attack next. The reality was that ...

  • Xfinity discloses a data breach but doesn’t say how many users are affected

    December 18, 2023

    Xfinity is notifying customers of a “data security incident” it says resulted in the theft of customer information, including usernames, passwords, contact information, and more. In a notice on Monday, Xfinity says “there was unauthorized access” to its systems from October 16th to October 19th, 2023. Xfinity traces the breach to a security vulnerability disclosed by ...

  • Coverage Advisory for CVE-2023-50164: Apache Struts Path Traversal and File Upload Vulnerability

    December 18, 2023

    CVE-2023-50164 is a path traversal flaw that allows a remote attacker to upload malicious files to vulnerable servers. After successful exploitation, an attacker can achieve Remote Code Execution (RCE) on the target server. An attacker exploiting such a vulnerability can access, upload, or modify important files, steal sensitive information, disrupt critical services, or move laterally on ...

  • #StopRansomware: Play Ransomware

    December 18, 2023

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) are releasing this joint CSA to disseminate the Play ransomware group’s IOCs and TTPs identified through FBI investigations as recently as October 2023. Since June 2022, the Play (also known as Playcrypt) ransomware group ...

  • MongoDB, North Face owner VF Corp and Mr. Cooper fall victim to cyberattacks

    December 18, 2023

    It has been a busy few days on the cybersecurity front as three notable companies confirmed hacks over the last two days: MongoDB Inc., North Face and Vans owner VF Corp., and mortgage broker Mr. Cooper Group Inc. The first hack, that of MongoDB, was confirmed over the weekend and involved its corporate systems being breached ...

  • Israeli-linked hacker group behind major cyber-attack on Iran’s petrol stations

    December 18, 2023

    An Israeli-linked hacker group claims to have carried out a major cyber-attack on Iranian petrol stations, knocking 70 per cent of them offline on Monday. Predatory Sparrow, or “Gonjeshke Darande” in Persian, said it launched the “controlled” attack in response to “aggression” by the Islamic Republic and its proxies in the region. “This cyber attack was ...

  • Europol: Online Jihadist Propaganda – 2022 in review

    December 18, 2023

    This report is the fifth edition of the annual review of online jihadist propaganda. It analyses the major trends and developments in the propaganda of the most prominent Sunni jihadist organisations – the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda (AQ) – as well as their branches and offshoots. The review addresses the trajectories of these groups, ...

  • Defense Contractor Austal USA Confirms a Cyber Attack by Hunters International Ransomware Group

    December 15, 2023

    Australian-based American defense contractor Austal USA has confirmed a cyber attack after the Hunters International ransomware group listed the company and shared samples of the stolen data as proof. Austal USA is a Contractor for the US Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), undertaking major U.S. Navy shipbuilding programs. With five ...

  • Snatch ransomware attack claims probed by Kraft Heinz

    December 15, 2023

    U.S. multinational food and beverage company Kraft Heinz has launched an investigation into the Snatch ransomware gang’s recently emerged claims of an August attack even though there has been no indication of any systems compromise. Despite admitting responsibility for the attack, the Snatch ransomware operation has not posted any proof of data that it exfiltrated from ...