Suspected espionage in Palestine highlights spread of hacking skills

A wave of recent espionage activity from suspected Palestinian hackers is the latest evidence that wealthy spy agencies no longer are the sole operators of malware that covertly vacuums up victims’ data. A shadowy group has targeted governments in the Read More …

ModifiedElephant APT plant criminal evidence on human rights defender, lawyer devices

Cybercriminals are hijacking the devices of civil rights activists and planting “incriminating evidence” in covert cyberattacks, researchers warn. According to SentinelLabs, an advanced persistent threat (APT) group dubbed ModifiedElephant has been responsible for widespread attacks targeting human rights activists and Read More …

Iranian intel cyber suite of malware uses open source tools

FORT MEADE, Md. – To better enable defense against malicious cyber actors, U.S. Cyber Command’s Cyber National Mission Force has identified and disclosed multiple open-source tools that Iranian intelligence actors are using in networks around the world. These actors, known Read More …

Poland: Ruling party leader admits country has Pegasus hacking software

Jarosław Kaczyński, chairman of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and the country’s de facto leader, confirmed that the government has the Pegasus hacking software system but denied it had been used against opposition politicians in the 2019 parliamentary Read More …

Aquatic Panda Used Log4Shell Exploit Tools During Hands-on Intrusion Attempt – CrowdStrike

Since the vulnerability was announced, CrowdStrike’s OverWatch threat hunters have been continuously ingesting the latest insights about the Log4j vulnerability as well as publicly disclosed exploit methods to influence their continuous hunting operations. On Dec. 14, 2021, VMware issued guidance Read More …

After NSO Scandal, What’s Next for Israel’s Cyber Industry?

The year 2021 was not a good one for NSO Group, an Israeli technology firm that became famous, and then notorious, for its Pegasus spyware, capable of remote surveillance of smartphones. Once a promising startup that developed a unique tool Read More …

Meta bans ‘cyber-mercenaries’ that targeted 50,000 people

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has banned several “cyber-mercenary” groups thought to have been offering surveillance services aimed at activists, dissidents and journalists worldwide. The social media giant said on Thursday it had begun warning about 50,000 people it believed may Read More …

A deep dive into an NSO zero-click iMessage exploit: Remote Code Execution

Google Project Zero researchers want to thank Citizen Lab for sharing a sample of the FORCEDENTRY exploit with them, and Apple’s Security Engineering and Architecture (SEAR) group for collaborating with Google Project Zero on the technical analysis. The editorial opinions Read More …

US lawmakers want to put NSO Group, 3 other spyware makers out of business with fresh severe sanctions

Eighteen US Democratic lawmakers have asked the Treasury Department and State Department to punish Israel-based spyware maker NSO Group and three other surveillance software firms for enabling human rights abuses. In a letter [PDF] signed by US Senator Ron Wyden Read More …