Security News

Microsoft Defender weakness lets hackers bypass malware detection
2022-01-13 18:08

Threat actors can take advantage of a weakness that affects Microsoft Defender antivirus on Windows to learn locations excluded from scanning and plant malware there. Like any antivirus solution, Microsoft Defender lets users add locations on their systems that should be excluded from malware scans.

Using Foreign Nationals to Bypass US Surveillance Restrictions
2022-01-13 15:35

Remember when the US and Australian police surreptitiously owned and operated the encrypted cell phone app ANOM? They arrested 800 people in 2021 based on that operation. For legal reasons, the FBI did not monitor outgoing messages from Anom devices determined to be inside the U.S. Instead, the Australian Federal Police monitored them on behalf of the FBI, according to previously published court records.

New Exploit Lets Malware Attackers Bypass Patch for Critical Microsoft MSHTML Flaw
2021-12-28 19:33

A short-lived phishing campaign has been observed taking advantage of a novel exploit that bypassed a patch put in place by Microsoft to fix a remote code execution vulnerability affecting the MSHTML component with the goal of delivering Formbook malware. "The attachments represent an escalation of the attacker's abuse of the CVE-2021-40444 bug and demonstrate that even a patch can't always mitigate the actions of a motivated and sufficiently skilled attacker," SophosLabs researchers Andrew Brandt and Stephen Ormandy said in a new report published Tuesday.

Week in review: Log4j new vulnerabilities, Microsoft patch bypass, 2022 e-commerce threat trends
2021-12-26 09:00

The Log4j saga: New vulnerabilities and attack vectors discoveredThe Apache Log4j saga continues, as several new vulnerabilities have been discovered in the popular library since Log4Shell was fixed by releasing Log4j v2.15.0. Cyber insurance trends: Insurers and insurees must adapt equally to growing threatsIn this interview with Help Net Security, Avi Bashan, CTO at Kovrr, talks about cyber insurance trends and how the growing threat landscape impacted both insurers and insurees.

Expert Details macOS Bug That Could Let Malware Bypass Gatekeeper Security
2021-12-24 05:07

Apple recently fixed a security vulnerability in the macOS operating system that could be potentially exploited by a threat actor to "Trivially and reliably" bypass a "Myriad of foundational macOS security mechanisms" and run arbitrary code. Security researcher Patrick Wardle detailed the discovery in a series of tweets on Thursday.

Apple fixes macOS security flaw behind Gatekeeper bypass
2021-12-23 22:09

Apple has addressed a macOS vulnerability that unsigned and unnotarized script-based apps could exploit to bypass all macOS security protection mechanisms even on fully patched systems. Apple has addressed this vulnerability in macOS 11.6 through a security update released in September 2021 that adds improved checks.

AvosLocker ransomware reboots in Safe Mode to bypass security tools
2021-12-23 17:47

In recent attacks, the AvosLocker ransomware gang has started focusing on disabling endpoint security solutions that stand in their way by rebooting compromised systems into Windows Safe Mode. This tactic makes it easier to encrypt victims' files since most security solutions will be automatically disabled after Windows devices boot in Safe Mode.

Attackers bypass Microsoft patch to deliver Formbook malware
2021-12-22 09:19

Sophos Labs researchers have detected the use of a novel exploit able to bypass a patch for a critical vulnerability affecting the Microsoft Office file format. The attackers took a publicly available proof-of-concept Office exploit and weaponized it to deliver Formbook malware.

Apple fixes security feature bypass in macOS (CVE-2021-30892)
2021-10-29 11:42

Apple has delivered a barrage of security updates for most of its devices this week, and among the vulnerabilities fixed are CVE-2021-30892, a System Integrity Protection bypass in macOS, and CVE-2021-30883, an iOS flaw that's actively exploited by attackers. A security researcher who analyzed the patch created a POC that worked on iOS 15.0 and iOS 14.7.1, and said it would probably work on earlier versions of the OS. Two weeks later, the fix has finally been included in iOS and iPadOS 14.8.1, tvOS 15.1, and watchOS 8.1.

Attackers Hijack Craigslist Emails to Bypass Security, Deliver Malware
2021-10-26 16:50

Musical instruments, motorcycle parts and now malware - Craigslist really does have it all. The Craigslist internal email system was hijacked by attackers this month to deliver convincing messages messages, ultimately aimed avoiding Microsoft Office security controls to deliver malware.