Security News

S3 Ep95: Slack leak, Github onslaught, and post-quantum crypto [Audio + Text]
2022-08-11 18:34

If we turn back the clock to five years ago, that's when Slack started leaking hashed passwords. If you're a Slack user, I would assume that if they didn't realise they were leaking hashed passwords for five years, maybe they didn't quite enumerate the list of people affected completely either.

GitHub Dependabot Now Alerts Developers On Vulnerable GitHub Actions
2022-08-11 08:22

Cloud-based code hosting platform GitHub has announced that it will now start sending Dependabot alerts for vulnerable GitHub Actions to help developers fix security issues in CI/CD workflows. GitHub Actions is a continuous integration and continuous delivery solution that enables users to automate the software build, test, and deployment pipeline.

GitHub's new privacy policy sparks backlash over tracking cookies
2022-08-11 07:45

GitHub to add non-essential cookies on marketing pages. "GitHub is introducing non-essential cookies on web pages that market our products to businesses," explains Olivia Holder, GitHub's Senior Privacy Counsel.

GitHub blighted by “researcher” who created thousands of malicious projects
2022-08-04 18:06

Just over a year ago, we wrote about a "Cybersecurity researcher" who posted almost 4000 pointlessly poisoned Python packages to the popular repository PyPI. This person went by the curious nickname of Remind Supply Chain Risks, and the packages had project names that were generally similar to well-known projects, presumably in the hope that some of them would get installed by mistake, thanks to users using slightly incorrect search terms or making minor typing mistakes when typing in PyPI URLs. A GitHub source code search that Lacy carried out in good faith led him to a legitimate-looking project.

35,000 code repos not hacked—but clones flood GitHub to serve malware
2022-08-03 09:11

Thousands of GitHub repositories were forked with their clones altered to include malware, a software engineer discovered today. While cloning open source repositories is a common development practice and even encouraged among developers, this case involves threat actors creating copies of legitimate projects but tainting these with malicious code to target unsuspecting developers with their malicious clones.

GitHub introduces 2FA and quality of life improvements for npm
2022-07-27 14:29

GitHub has announced the general availability of three significant improvements to npm, aiming to make using the software more secure and manageable. In summary, the new features include a more streamlined login and publishing experience, the ability to link Twitter and GitHub accounts to npm, and a new package signature verification system.

Luca Stealer malware spreads rapidly after code handily appears on GitHub
2022-07-26 17:00

The Windows software nasty - dubbed Luca Stealer by the folks at Cyble who detected it - is the latest to be built using the Rust programming language. The researchers wrote in a report that Luca Stealer already has been updated three times, with the developer adding multiple functions, and that they have seen more than 25 samples of the source code in the wild since it was shared via GitHub on July 3, which may lead to wider adoption by the cybercriminal community.

Cloud-based Cryptocurrency Miners Targeting GitHub Actions and Azure VMs
2022-07-11 20:24

GitHub Actions and Azure virtual machines are being leveraged for cloud-based cryptocurrency mining, indicating sustained attempts on the part of malicious actors to target cloud resources for illicit purposes. "Attackers can abuse the runners or servers provided by GitHub to run an organization's pipelines and automation by maliciously downloading and installing their own cryptocurrency miners to gain profit easily," Trend Micro researcher Magno Logan said in a report last week.

Thousands of GitHub, AWS, Docker tokens exposed in Travis CI logs
2022-06-15 07:21

For a second time in less than a year, the Travis CI platform for software development and testing has exposed user data containing authentication tokens that could give access to developers' accounts on GitHub, Amazon Web Services, and Docker Hub. Researchers at Aqua Security discovered that "Tens of thousands of user tokens" are exposed through the Travis CI API that offer access to more than 770 million logs with various types of credentials belonging to free tier users.

Nearly 100,000 NPM Users' Credentials Stolen in GitHub OAuth Breach
2022-05-30 21:12

Cloud-based repository hosting service GitHub on Friday shared additional details into the theft of GitHub integration OAuth tokens last month, noting that the attacker was able to access internal NPM data and its customer information. "Using stolen OAuth user tokens originating from two third-party integrators, Heroku and Travis CI, the attacker was able to escalate access to NPM infrastructure," Greg Ose said, adding the attacker then managed to obtain a number of files -.