Security News

Women Political Leaders Summit targeted in RomCom malware phishing
2023-10-15 14:16

A new, lightweight variant of the RomCom backdoor was deployed against participants of the Women Political Leaders Summit in Brussels, a summit focusing on gender equality and women in politics. Designed to imitate the real Women Political Leaders website hosted on wplsummit.org.

DarkGate malware spreads through compromised Skype accounts
2023-10-14 14:09

Between July and September, DarkGate malware attacks have used compromised Skype accounts to infect targets through messages containing VBA loader script attachments. According to Trend Micro security researchers who spotted the attacks, this script downloads a second-stage AutoIT script designed to drop and execute the final DarkGate malware payload. "Access to the victim's Skype account allowed the actor to hijack an existing messaging thread and craft the naming convention of the files to relate to the context of the chat history," Trend Micro said.

DarkGate Malware Spreading via Messaging Services Posing as PDF Files
2023-10-13 10:36

A piece of malware known as DarkGate has been observed being spread via instant messaging platforms such as Skype and Microsoft Teams. In these attacks, the messaging apps are used to deliver a...

ToddyCat hackers use 'disposable' malware to target Asian telecoms
2023-10-12 14:09

A newly discovered campaign dubbed "Stayin' Alive" has been targeting government organizations and telecommunication service providers across Asia since 2021, using a wide variety of "Disposable" malware to evade detection. The attacks appear to originate from the Chinese espionage actor known as 'ToddyCat,' which relies on spear-phishing messages carrying malicious attachments to load a variety of malware loaders and backdoors.

Researchers Uncover Malware Posing as WordPress Caching Plugin
2023-10-12 09:16

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a new sophisticated strain of malware that masquerades a WordPress plugin to stealthily create administrator accounts and remotely control a...

Endpoint malware attacks decline as campaigns spread wider
2023-10-11 03:30

In Q2 2023, 95% of malware now arrives over encrypted connections, endpoint malware volumes are decreasing despite campaigns growing more widespread, ransomware detections are declining amid a rise in double-extortion attacks, and older software vulnerabilities persist as popular targets for exploitation among modern threat actors, among other trends, according to WatchGuard. "The data analyzed by our Threat Lab for our latest report reinforces how advanced malware attacks fluctuate in occurrence and multifaceted cyber threats continue to evolve, requiring constant vigilance and a layered security approach to combat them effectively," said Corey Nachreiner, CSO at WatchGuard.

Mirai DDoS malware variant expands targets with 13 router exploits
2023-10-10 20:35

A Mirai-based DDoS malware botnet tracked as IZ1H9 has added thirteen new payloads to target Linux-based routers and routers from D-Link, Zyxel, TP-Link, TOTOLINK, and others. IZ1H9 compromises devices to enlist them to its DDoS swarm and then launches DDoS attacks on specified targets, presumably on the order of clients renting its firepower.

Microsoft to kill off VBScript in Windows to block malware delivery
2023-10-10 16:36

Microsoft is planning to phase out VBScript in future Windows releases after 30 years of use, making it an on-demand feature until it is removed. With the July 2019 Patch Tuesday cumulative updates, Microsoft also disabled VBScript by default in Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 10.

Chinese smart TV boxes infected with malware in PEACHPIT ad fraud campaign
2023-10-09 01:27

Infosec in brief Bot defense software vendor Human Security last week detailed an attack that "Sold off-brand mobile and Connected TV devices on popular online retailers and resale sites preloaded with a known malware called Triada." Human named the campaign to infect and distribute the Android devices BADBOX. The infected devices were sold for under $50. Human's researchers found over 200 models with pre-installed malware, and when it went shopping for seven particular devices found that 80 percent of units were infected with BADBOX. Analysis of infected devices yielded intel on an ad fraud module Human's researchers named PEACHPIT. At its peak, PEACHPIT ran on a botnet spanning 121,000 devices a day on Android.

Analysis and Config Extraction of Lu0Bot, a Node.js Malware with Considerable Capabilities
2023-10-05 10:48

Nowadays, more malware developers are using unconventional programming languages to bypass advanced detection systems. The Node.js malware Lu0Bot is a testament to this trend. By targeting a...