ECB to conduct mock cyber attacks at 109 banks

The European Central Bank (ECB) will stress test 109 banks over the next twelve months to see if they are adequately prepared for cyber attacks. The banks’ response and recovery capabilities will be prioritized, not the potential to prevent incidents. Read More …

‘I employ a lot of hackers’: how a stock exchange chief deters cyber-attacks

Six Group counts its profit in millions, but the financial pipework it controls moves billions. Its operations, which include the Spanish and Swiss stock exchanges, count as critical national infrastructure and this gives it a close relationship with governments and Read More …

Comprehensive analysis of initial attack samples exploiting CVE-2023-23397 vulnerability

On March 14, 2023, Microsoft published a blogpost describing an Outlook Client Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (CVSS: 9.8 CRITICAL). The publication generated a lot of activity among white, grey and black hat researchers, as well as lots of publications and Read More …

Microsoft, Fortra are this fed up with cyber-gangs abusing Cobalt Strike

Microsoft and Fortra are taking legal and technical actions to thwart cyber-criminals from using the latter company’s Cobalt Strike software to distribute malware. Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DUC), Fortra, and Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Health-ISAC) filed a 223-page Read More …

Analyzing Penetration-Testing Tools That Threat Actors Use to Breach Systems and Steal Data

The use of legitimate Windows tools as part of malicious actors’ malware arsenal has become a common observation in cyber incursions in recent years. We’ve discussed such use in a previous article where PsExec, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), simple batch Read More …

Fake Windows exploits target infosec community with Cobalt Strike

A threat actor targeted security researchers with fake Windows proof-of-concept exploits that infected devices with the Cobalt Strike backdoor. Whoever is behind these attacks took advantage of recently patched Windows remote code execution vulnerabilities tracked as CVE-2022-24500 and CVE-2022-26809. When Read More …