Security News > 2022 > July

An ongoing heatwave in the United Kingdom has led to Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud outages after cooling systems failed at the companies' data centers. Today, with temperatures reaching a record-breaking 40.2 degrees Celsius, cooling systems at data centers used by Google and Oracle to host their cloud infrastructure have begun to fail.

Google pulled 60 malware-infected apps from its Play Store, installed by more than 3.3 million punters, that can be used for all kinds of criminal activities including credential theft, spying and even stealing money from victims. Zscaler's ThreatLabZ and security researcher Maxime Ingrao from fraud protection firm Evina discovered the downloader apps stuffed with software nasties including Joker, Facestealer, Coper, and Autolycos malware - the latter is a new family, according to Ingrao, who named and discovered Autolycos in eight different apps with more than three million downloads to Android devices.

The Council of the European Union said today that Russian hackers and hacker groups increasingly attacking "Essential" organizations worldwide could lead to spillover risks and potential escalation. "This increase in malicious cyber activities, in the context of the war against Ukraine, creates unacceptable risks of spillover effects, misinterpretation and possible escalation," the High Representative on behalf of the EU said Tuesday.

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered three Android malware families infiltrating the Google Play Store, hiding their malicious payloads inside many seemingly innocuous applications. The malicious activities suffered by users who installed the malware apps included stolen data, social media account takeovers, SMS interception, and unauthorized charges to their mobile numbers.

Google's Threat Analysis Group, whose primary goal is to defend Google users from state-sponsored attacks, said today that Russian-backed threat groups are still focusing their attacks on Ukrainian organizations. In a report regarding recent cyber activity in Eastern Europe, Google TAG security engineer Billy Leonard revealed that hackers part of the Turla Russian APT group have also been spotted deploying their first Android malware.

Google's Threat Analysis Group, whose primary goal is to defend Google users from state-sponsored attacks, said today that Russian-backed threat groups are still focusing their attacks on Ukrainian organizations. In a report regarding recent cyber activity in Eastern Europe, Google TAG security engineer Billy Leonard revealed that hackers part of the Turla Russian APT group have also been spotted deploying their first Android malware.

The Cyber Safety Review Board recently labeled the Log4j security exploit as an 'endemic vulnerability' that will linger for years, according to a report released on Jul 11, 2022. "At some point, we're going to see even more visible use of Software Bill of Materials reports. Just as the FDA expects consumers to be able to stay informed about what they're putting in their bodies by way of standardized nutrition facts labels with clear lists of ingredients, businesses and other entities using software will want-and ultimately need-transparency about what goes into the software they're using."

Researchers have discovered four "High impact" security risks in the identity and access management platform Okta, according to a Tuesday report. Platforms like Okta also offer features like password management and single sign-on, allowing users to more seamlessly login and move from one software environment to another.

Threat actors have defrauded 244 U.S. investors of about $42 million through fake cryptocurrency apps that exploit people's legitimate investments in digital currency, the FBI has revealed. The agency observed a number of cybercriminal campaigns that duped people into downloading malicious apps through which threat actors extorted money from victims, the FBI said in a Private Industry Notification published Monday.

Thai activists involved in the country's pro-democracy protests have had their smartphones infected with the infamous Pegasus government-sponsored spyware. The attacks entailed the use of two zero-click exploits - KISMET and FORCEDENTRY - to compromise the victims' phones and deploy Pegasus, spyware that's capable of intercepting calls and texts as well as amassing other information stored in a phone.