Security News

A survey of gamers worldwide found that gamers deal with bullying and theft of in-game valuables in addition to identity theft. American gamers are at a higher risk for identity theft than gamers around the world, according to new research from security firm Kaspersky.

A trojan targeting Linux and deployed by a known ransomware gang has been discovered by Russian antivirus firm Kaspersky. The trojan was, so the two said, similar to the existing RansomEXX trojan, which they said had been deployed only last week against Brazil's courts, as well as targets in the US and elsewhere.

Russian antivirus maker Kaspersky has said it uncovered "Rogue UEFI firmware images" seemingly developed by black hats with links to China. The firm explained that UEFI firmware is "Typically shipped within SPI flash storage that is soldered to the computer's motherboard", and thus any malware injected into it is "Resistant to OS reinstallation or replacement of the hard drive." The technique shot to public prominence in 2015 when malware-for-governments purveyor Hacking Team was itself hacked, with details of its firmware-level spyware becoming public knowledge.

The VHD ransomware family that emerged earlier this year is the work of North Korea-linked threat actor Lazarus, Kaspersky's security researchers reveal. Several malware families have been attributed to Lazarus over the past several months, including new Mac malware families and the cross-platform malware framework MATA. Now, Kaspersky reveals that the threat actor is also operating the VHD ransomware, which has been observed in two campaigns in March and May 2020.

Kaspersky this week released a threat intelligence solution designed to help with the attribution of malware samples to known advanced persistent threat groups. The new Kaspersky Threat Attribution Engine, a commercial product available globally, uses a proprietary method to match malicious code against a malware database and link it to APT groups or campaigns based on code similarities.

A new report from Kaspersky shows that employers are failing to prepare their workers for any and all cybersecurity risks present when handling enterprise business at home. In the report, 73% of the 6,000 employees who spoke with Kaspersky researchers said they have "Have not yet received any specific cybersecurity awareness guidance or training from their employer." SEE: Security Awareness and Training policy.

Kaspersky has teamed up with SecurityWeek to offer a virtual edition of the high-profile Security Analyst Summit. Kaspersky has rescheduled its in-person Security Analyst Summit for November 18-21, when the conference will take place in Barcelona, Spain, if the current coronavirus pandemic is contained.

Kaspersky has announced a free training module to help remote teams make more informed cybersecurity decisions. To further complicate matters, there is often a steep learning curve for teams with little to no experience working remotely prior to this outbreak.

Financial phishing has increased in frequency and accounted for more than half of all phishing detections last year, Kaspersky says. Last year, financial phishing accounted for 51.4% of all phishing detections, an increase from the 44.7% share it saw during the previous year.

Kaspersky has detailed its takedown of a massive so-called watering-hole attack appearing to target certain folks in China, in the top story in The Reg's infosec roundup that looks at issues of the past week beyond our own detailed coverage. "We were not able to witness any live attacks and thus could not determine the operational target. However, this campaign once again demonstrates why online privacy needs to be actively protected," said Kaspersky researcher Ivan Kwiatkowski.