Security News

Russian 'King of Fraud' sentenced to 10 years for Methbot botnet
2021-11-11 14:24

The U.S. Department of Justice sentenced a Russian man for operating a large-scale digital advertising fraud scheme called 'Methbot' that stole at least $7 million from American companies. Aleksandr Zhukov, aka the "King of Fraud," was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment in the U.S. and ordered to forfeit the total sum of his assets, amounting to $3,827,493.

Navigating The Threat Landscape 2021 – From Ransomware to Botnets
2021-11-11 01:30

The Global Threat Landscape Report indicates a drastic rise in sophisticated cyberattacks targeting digital infrastructures, organizations, and individuals in 2021. Organizations struggle to address these threats due to their resource sophistication and their lack of understanding of evolving threat landscapes.

Researchers Uncover 'Pink' Botnet Malware That Infected Over 1.6 Million Devices
2021-11-01 02:29

Cybersecurity researchers disclosed details of what they say is the "Largest botnet" observed in the wild in the last six years, infecting over 1.6 million devices primarily located in China, with the goal of launching distributed denial-of-service attacks and inserting advertisements into HTTP websites visited by unsuspecting users. Mainly targeting MIPS-based fiber routers, the botnet leverages a combination of third-party services such as GitHub, peer-to-peer networks, and central command-and-control servers for its bots to controller communications, not to mention completely encrypting the transmission channels to prevent the victimized devices from being taken over.

New PurpleFox botnet variant uses WebSockets for C2 communication
2021-10-20 12:39

The PurpleFox botnet has refreshed its arsenal with new vulnerability exploits and dropped payloads, now also leveraging WebSockets for C2 bidirectional communication. Although it's mainly based in China, the PurpleFox botnet still has a global presence through hundreds of compromised servers.

Newer PurpleFox botnet variants leverage WebSockets for coms
2021-10-20 12:39

The PurpleFox botnet has refreshed its arsenal with new vulnerability exploits and dropped payloads, now also leveraging WebSockets for C2 bidirectional communication. Although it's mainly based in China, the PurpleFox botnet still has a global presence through hundreds of compromised servers.

FreakOut Botnet Turns DVRs Into Monero Cryptominers
2021-10-13 20:17

Threat group FreakOut's Necro botnet has developed a new trick: infecting Visual Tools DVRs with a Monero miner. Juniper Threat Labs researchers have issued a report detailing new activities from FreakOut, also known as Necro Python and Python.

MyKings botnet still active and making massive amounts of money
2021-10-13 17:14

The MyKings botnet is still actively spreading, making massive amounts of money in crypto, five years after it first appeared in the wild. Being one of the most analyzed botnets in recent history, MyKings is particularly interesting to researchers thanks to its vast infrastructure and versatile features, including bootkits, miners, droppers, clipboard stealers, and more.

FreakOut botnet now attacks vulnerable video DVR devices
2021-10-12 15:58

A new update to the FreakOut Python botnet has added a recently published PoC exploit for Visual Tools DVR in its arsenal to further aid in breaching systems. Mining Monero on a DVR. Researchers at Juniper Threat Labs have analyzed a recent sample of the malware, and warn that Visual Tools DVR VX16 4.2.28.0 from visual-tools.com is being targeted with an exploit for a CVE-less flaw.

Ukraine Arrests Operator of DDoS Botnet with 100,000 Compromised Devices
2021-10-11 21:46

Ukrainian law enforcement authorities on Monday disclosed the arrest of a hacker responsible for the creation and management of a "Powerful botnet" consisting of over 100,000 enslaved devices that was used to carry out distributed denial-of-service and spam attacks on behalf of paid customers. The Ukrainian police agency said it conducted a raid of the suspect's residence and seized their computer equipment as evidence of illegal activity.

WireX DDoS botnet admin charged for attacking hotel chain
2021-09-30 13:14

The US Department of Justice charged the admin of the WireX Android botnet for targeting an American multinational hotel chain in a distributed denial-of-service attack. Izzet Mert Ozek, the defendant, used the botnet which consisted of tens of thousands of enslaved Android devices - more than 120,000 based on the unique IP addresses observed in some WireX attacks - to target the company's online booking system website in August 2017.