Security News
Microsoft has released security updates for Microsoft Exchange servers running unsupported Cumulative Update versions vulnerable to ProxyLogon attacks. These additional security updates are meant to be installed only on machines running Exchange Server versions not supported by the original Match 2021 security patches released a week ago, only if the admin can't find an update path to a supported version.
Victims of a massive global hack of Microsoft email server software - estimated in the tens of thousands by cybersecurity responders - hustled Monday to shore up infected systems and try to diminish chances that intruders might steal data or hobble their networks. While the hack doesn't pose the kind of national security threat as the more sophisticated SolarWinds campaign, which the Biden administration blames on Russian intelligence officers, it can be an existential threat for victims who didn't install the patch in time and now have hackers lingering in their systems.
The European Banking Authority took down all email systems after their Microsoft Exchange Servers were hacked as part of the ongoing attacks targeting organizations worldwide. Last week, Microsoft patched multiple zero-day vulnerabilities affecting on-premises versions of Microsoft Exchange Server and exploited in ongoing attacks coordinated by multiple state-sponsored hacking groups.
The Biden administration has urged users of Microsoft's Exchange mail and messaging server to ensure they have not fallen victim to the recently-detected "Hafnium" attack on Exchange Server that Microsoft says originated in China. Microsoft revealed the attack last week and released Exchange security updates.
Microsoft has pushed out a new update for their Microsoft Safety Scanner tool to detect web shells deployed in the recent Exchange Server attacks. On March 2nd, Microsoft disclosed that four Exchange Server zero-day vulnerabilities were being used in attacks against exposed Outlook on the web servers.
Exchange Servers targeted via zero-day exploits, have yours been hit?Microsoft has released out-of-band security updates for seven bugs affecting Microsoft Exchange Servers, four of which are zero-day vulnerabilities being exploited by attackers in the wild to plunder on-premises machines. March 2021 Patch Tuesday forecast: Off to an early startMicrosoft got an early start on Patch Tuesday, releasing a series of out-of-band security updates for actively exploited bugs in Exchange Server.
Microsoft has released a PowerShell script that admins can use to check whether the recently disclosed ProxyLogon vulnerabilities have hacked a Microsoft Exchange server. On March 2nd, Microsoft released out-of-band emergency security updates to fix four zero-day vulnerabilities actively used in attacks against Microsoft Exchange.
Microsoft on Friday released alternative mitigation measures for organizations who have not been able to immediately apply emergency out-of-band patches released earlier this week that address vulnerabilities being exploited to siphon e-mail data from corporate Microsoft Exchange servers. "These mitigations are not a remediation if your Exchange servers have already been compromised, nor are they full protection against attack," Microsoft warned in a blog post.
A new ransomware called 'Hog' encrypts users' devices and only decrypts them if they join the developer's Discord server. This week, security researcher MalwareHunterTeam found an in-development decryptor for the Hog Ransomware that requires victims to join their Discord server to decrypt their files.
"CISA has determined that this exploitation of Microsoft Exchange on-premises products poses an unacceptable risk to Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies and requires emergency action," reads the March 3 alert. "With organizations migrating to Microsoft Office 365 en masse over the last few years, it's easy to forget that on-premises Exchange servers are still in service," Saryu Nayyar, CEO, Gurucul, said via email.