Security News
Two weeks ago, we urged Apple users with recent hardware to grab the company's second-ever Rapid Response patch. CVE-2023-37450: an anonymous researcher The next-best thing to zero-click attacks Technically, code execution bugs that can be triggered by getting you to look at a web page that contains booby-trapped content don't count as so-called zero-click attacks.
The Chinese state-backed APT41 hacking group is targeting Android devices with two newly discovered spyware strains dubbed WyrmSpy and DragonEgg by Lookout security researchers. While APT41 hackers usually breach their targets' networks via vulnerable web apps and Internet-exposed endpoints, Lookout says the group also targets Android devices with WyrmSpy and DragonEgg spyware strains.
The prolific China-linked nation-state actor known as APT41 has been linked to two previously undocumented strains of Android spyware called WyrmSpy and DragonEgg. "Known for its exploitation of web-facing applications and infiltration of traditional endpoint devices, an established threat actor like APT 41 including mobile in its arsenal of malware shows how mobile endpoints are high-value targets with coveted corporate and personal data," Lookout said in a report shared with The Hacker News.
The U.S. government has banned European commercial spyware manufacturers Intellexa and Cytrox, citing risks to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. Google's Threat Analysis Group linked the Cytrox in May 2022 with multiple zero-day vulnerabilities used to deploy Predator spyware on Android devices.
The U.S. government on Tuesday added two foreign commercial spyware vendors, Cytrox and Intellexa, to an economic blocklist for weaponizing cyber exploits to gain unauthorized access to devices and "Threatening the privacy and security of individuals and organizations worldwide." Cytrox is the maker of a mobile mercenary spyware called Predator that's analogous to NSO Group's Pegasus.
The US government on Tuesday added commercial spyware makers Intellexa and Cytrox to its Entity List, saying the duo are a possible threat to national security. Adding Intellexa and Cytrox to the Entity List places export restrictions on the software vendors as part of the Biden administration's ongoing crackdown against commercial surveillance technology.
Per Le Monde, lawmakers from French president Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party added several amendments to what's been dubbed the "Snoopers' charter" - requiring remote spying only be used "When justified by the nature and seriousness of the crime," and even then only for a "Strict and proportional" length of time. French justice minister Éric Dupond-Moretti said the bill will only apply to a few dozen cases per year and, rather than being a way for France to get government-sponsored spyware onto the devices of anyone accused of a crime, will save lives.
Two file management apps on the Google Play Store have been discovered to be spyware, putting the privacy and security of up to 1.5 million Android users at risk. These apps engage in deceptive behaviour and secretly send sensitive user data to malicious servers in China.
Today, CISA ordered federal agencies to patch recently patched security vulnerabilities exploited as zero-days to deploy Triangulation spyware on iPhones via iMessage zero-click exploits. The attacks started in 2019 and are still ongoing, according to the company, and they use iMessage zero-click exploits that exploit the now-patched iOS zero-day bugs.
Apple has released patches for three zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in the wild. Referencing Kaspersky's findings, Apple says that those last two vulnerabilities "May have been actively exploited against versions of iOS released before iOS 15.7.".