Security News

Facebook Says Palestinian Intelligence Used Platform to Spy on Citizens
2021-04-21 18:57

Facebook said Wednesday it had disabled accounts used by the Palestinian Authority's internal intelligence organisation to spy on journalists, human rights activists and political opponents. In a report, the US social media giant also said it had identified and disabled "Politically motivated" espionage operations by a group believed to be based in Gaza and affiliated with Hamas, the Islamist rulers of the Palestinian enclave.

Spy agency GCHQ told me Gmail's more secure than Microsoft 365, insists British MP as facepalming security bods tell him to zip it
2021-04-14 09:16

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat has publicly claimed GCHQ sources told him Gmail was more secure than Parliament's own Microsoft Office 365 deployment - but both Parliament and a GCHQ offshoot have told him to stop being silly. "I was told by friends at GCHQ that I was better off sticking to Gmail rather than using the parliamentary system because it was more secure," Tugendhat told the BBC's Today Programme.

Iran Used Fake Instagram Accounts to Try to Nab Israelis: Spy Agencies
2021-04-12 17:33

Israeli spy agencies accused Iran on Monday of using fake social media accounts to lure citizens of the Jewish state abroad "To harm or abduct them". The Israeli claim came hours after Iran accused its arch-enemy of orchestrating an attack on a key nuclear site and vowed "Revenge".

Spy Operations Target Vietnam with Sophisticated RAT
2021-04-05 21:04

An advanced cyberespionage campaign targeting government and military entities in Vietnam has been discovered that delivered a remote-access tool for carrying out espionage operations, researchers said. Further analysis suggested that this campaign was conducted by a group related to a Chinese-speaking advanced persistent threat known as Cycldek, according to Kaspersky researchers, who added that the group has been active since at least 2013.

Facebook Disrupts Spy Effort Aimed at Uyghurs
2021-03-25 18:31

Facebook has taken on a group of hackers in China that target the Uyghur ethnic group with cyberespionage activity. The hacking group, known as Earth Empusa or Evil Eye, was targeting activists, dissidents and journalists involved in the Uyghur community, primarily those living abroad in Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Syria, Turkey and the United States, among other countries, by using fake Facebook accounts for fictitious people sympathetic to the Uyghur community.

Google Play Harbors Malware-Laced Apps Delivering Spy Trojans
2021-03-09 16:44

A malware dropper that paves the way for attackers to remotely steal data from Android phones has been spreading via nine malicious apps on the official Google Play store, according to researchers. The dropper, dubbed Clast82, was disguised in benign apps, which don't fetch a malicious payload until they have been vetted and cleared by Google Play Protect.

Iranian Hackers Using Remote Utilities Software to Spy On Its Targets
2021-03-08 04:15

Dubbed "Earth Vetala" by Trend Micro, the latest finding expands on previous research published by Anomali last month, which found evidence of malicious activity aimed at UAE and Kuwait government agencies by exploiting ScreenConnect remote management tool. The cybersecurity firm linked the ongoing attacks with moderate confidence to a threat actor widely tracked as MuddyWater, an Iranian hacker group known for its offensives primarily against Middle Eastern nations.

Microsoft Exchange Zero-Day Attackers Spy on U.S. Targets
2021-03-03 15:30

Microsoft has spotted multiple zero-day exploits in the wild being used to attack on-premises versions of Microsoft Exchange Server. An exploit allows remote attackers with administrator permissions to run code as SYSTEM on the Exchange server.

Chinese Hackers Using Firefox Extension to Spy On Tibetan Organizations
2021-02-25 23:39

Cybersecurity researchers today unwrapped a new campaign aimed at spying on vulnerable Tibetan communities globally by deploying a malicious Firefox extension on target systems. "Threat actors aligned with the Chinese Communist Party's state interests delivered a customized malicious Mozilla Firefox browser extension that facilitated access and control of users' Gmail accounts," Proofpoint said in an analysis.

SDK Bug Lets Attackers Spy on User’s Video Calls Across Dating, Healthcare Apps
2021-02-18 14:01

A vulnerability in an SDK that allows users to make video calls in apps like eHarmony, Plenty of Fish, MeetMe and Skout allows threat actors to spy on private calls without the user knowing. Healthcare apps such as Talkspace, Practo and Dr. First's Backline, among various others, also use the SDK for their call technology.