Security News
During an open House Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, US lawmakers heard testimony from Citizen Lab senior researcher John Scott-Railton; Shane Huntley, who leads Google's Threat Analysis Group; and Carine Kanimba, whose father was the inspiration for Hotel Rwanda and who was, herself, targeted by Pegasus spyware. Earlier this year, European lawmakers opened an inquiry into spyware in general, and Pegasus more specifically, after the malware was reportedly found on cellphones associated with the UK and Spanish prime ministers, Spain's defense minister, and dozens of Catalan politicians and members of civil society groups.
The actively exploited but now-fixed Google Chrome zero-day flaw that came to light earlier this month was weaponized by an Israeli spyware company and used in attacks targeting journalists in the Middle East. "Specifically, a large portion of the attacks took place in Lebanon, where journalists were among the targeted parties," security researcher Jan Vojt?šek, who reported the discovery of the flaw, said in a write-up.
The Israeli spyware vendor Candiru was found using a zero-day vulnerability in Google Chrome to spy on journalists and other high-interest individuals in the Middle East with the 'DevilsTongue' spyware. In a report published earlier today, Avast's threat researchers, who discovered the vulnerability and reported it to Google, reveal that they unearthed it after investigating spyware attacks on their clients.
Thai activists involved in the country's pro-democracy protests have had their smartphones infected with the infamous Pegasus government-sponsored spyware. The attacks entailed the use of two zero-click exploits - KISMET and FORCEDENTRY - to compromise the victims' phones and deploy Pegasus, spyware that's capable of intercepting calls and texts as well as amassing other information stored in a phone.
We forensically confirmed that at least 30 individuals were infected with NSO Group's Pegasus spyware. A sample of the victims was independently analyzed by Amnesty International's Security Lab which confirms the methodology used to determine Pegasus infections.
The malware, codenamed CloudMensis by Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET, is said to exclusively use public cloud storage services such as pCloud, Yandex Disk, and Dropbox for receiving attacker commands and exfiltrating files. "Its capabilities clearly show that the intent of its operators is to gather information from the victims' Macs by exfiltrating documents, keystrokes, and screen captures," ESET researcher Marc-Etienne M.Léveillé said in a report published today.
In this Help Net Security video, you’ll learn more about Lockdown Mode, a security capability from Apple that offers specialized additional protection to users who may be at risk of highly...
Apple on Wednesday announced it plans to introduce an enhanced security setting called Lockdown Mode in iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura to safeguard high-risk users against "Highly targeted cyberattacks." Lockdown Mode, when enabled, "Hardens device defenses and strictly limits certain functionalities, sharply reducing the attack surface that potentially could be exploited by highly targeted mercenary spyware," Apple said in a statement.
Apple announced that a new security feature known as Lockdown Mode will roll out with iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura to protect high-risk individuals like human rights defenders, journalists, and dissidents against targeted spyware attacks. Once enabled, the Lockdown Mode will provide Apple customers with messaging, web browsing, and connectivity protections designed to block mercenary spyware used by government-backed hackers to monitor their Apple devices after infecting them with malware.
The iOS application does not trigger any alert since it is signed with a certificate from a company named 3-1 Mobile SRL, enrolled in the Apple Developer Enterprise Program. The Android malicious software requires the targeted user to allow the installation of applications from unknown sources.