Security News
An extensive series of attacks detected in January used new Windows malware to backdoor government entities and organizations in the defense industry from several countries in Eastern Europe. Kaspersky linked the campaign with a Chinese APT group tracked as TA428, known for its information theft and espionage focus and attacking organizations in Asia and Eastern Europe [1, 2, 3, 4]. The threat actors successfully compromised the networks of dozens of targets, sometimes even taking control of their entire IT infrastructure by hijacking systems used to manage security solutions.
Microsoft has already begun testing the new Windows 10 22H2 version in the Windows Insider Release preview channel, allowing both consumers and the enterprise to test its new feature before it is officially released. Windows 10 22H2 is not a significant release and does not bring a major overhaul to Windows 10, but Microsoft says this update comes with a scoped set of new features.
A new ransomware family called 'GwisinLocker' targets South Korean healthcare, industrial, and pharmaceutical companies with Windows and Linux encryptors, including support for encrypting VMware ESXi servers and virtual machines. On Wednesday, Korean cybersecurity experts at Ahnlab published a report on the Windows encryptor, and yesterday, security researchers at ReversingLabs published their technical analysis of the Linux version.
That's because changing the passwords has to be done manually and individually, plus you have to find a way to keep everyone up to date on the unique latest strong password for each server without saving those passwords somewhere an attacker can also find them, like a PASSWORDS.XLS spreadsheet. The Local Administrator Password Solution is a tool Microsoft has offered since 2015 that deals with exactly that problem.
Smart App Control, a Windows 11 security feature that blocks threats at the process level, now comes with support for blocking several file types threat actors have recently adopted to infect targets with malware in phishing attacks. "Windows 11 with smart app control blocks iso and lnk files that have mark of the web just like Macros," David Weston, Microsoft's VP for Enterprise and OS Security, tweeted on Tuesday.
Microsoft has addressed a known issue triggered by recent Windows 10 updates that caused the Input Indicator and Language Bar not to appear in the notification area. This known issue affects devices running Windows 10 version 20H2, 21H1, and 21H2, with more than one language installed.
Microsoft has released new Windows 11 builds to the Beta Channel with improved Microsoft Defender for Endpoint ransomware attack blocking capabilities. "We enhanced Microsoft Defender for Endpoint's ability to identify and intercept ransomware and advanced attacks," Microsoft's Amanda Langowski and Brandon LeBlanc said.
How to remove and overwrite all data on a hard drive for free in Windows 11 We may be compensated by vendors who appear on this page through methods such as affiliate links or sponsored partnerships. One of these parameters will not only format a hard drive for Windows operating system use, but it will also overwrite all data already on the drive with random numbers.
A threat actor associated with the LockBit 3.0 ransomware-as-a-service operation has been observed abusing the Windows Defender command-line tool to decrypt and load Cobalt Strike payloads. "Once initial access had been achieved, the threat actors performed a series of enumeration commands and attempted to run multiple post-exploitation tools, including Meterpreter, PowerShell Empire, and a new way to side-load Cobalt Strike," researchers Julio Dantas, James Haughom, and Julien Reisdorffer said.
A threat actor associated with the LockBit 3.0 ransomware operation is abusing the Windows Defender command line tool to load Cobalt Strike beacons on compromised systems and evade detection by security software. Security solutions have become better at detecting Cobalt Strike beacons, causing threat actors to look for innovative ways to deploy the toolkit.