Know your threats: the nine scariest malware monsters
It’s been a particularly ghoulish year in cybersecurity, from Russian hacks to ransomware outbreaks. The bad boogey man in the black hoodie has been pulling one over the collective public. It’s dark and creepy, but users refuse to stop peeking behind the door. It’s enough to make even the most grizzled IT admin run for…
Taiwan Bank Heist Linked to North Korean Hackers
A recent cyber-heist that targeted a bank in Taiwan has been linked by security researchers to an infamous threat group believed to be operating out of North Korea. Hackers exploited the SWIFT global financial network to steal roughly $60 million from Taiwan’s Far Eastern International Bank. The money was transferred to several countries, but bank…
How to survive the worsening cyber threat landscape
Don’t expect the cyber threat landscape to get safer anytime soon. That’s the message given by speakers at two recent Boston-based events. “By any measure you want to use, the trend line is going the wrong way,” said Rob Joyce, White House cybersecurity coordinator, speaking at the Cambridge Cyber Summit hosted by CNBC and The…
Hackers Used Government Servers in DNSMessenger Attacks
A recently discovered DNSMessenger campaign is abusing compromised U.S. state government servers to host malware, Cisco Talos security researchers say. First uncovered in early March, the DNSMessenger attack involved the use of DNS requests to establish communication between a PowerShell RAT and its command and control (C&C) servers. Completely fileless and invisible to most standard defenses, the…
Israel hacked Kaspersky, caught Russia using the software to hack U.S.
Instead of promoting goodwill relations with Israel, U.S. intelligence threw Israeli intelligence under the bus when explaining how Israel hacked Kaspersky and caught Russia using Kaspersky to search for NSA exploits and other U.S. government classified programs. The New York Times reported, “It was a case of spies watching spies watching spies: Israeli intelligence officers…
North Korea Hacked Seoul’s War Plans: Report
North Korean computer hackers have stolen hundreds of classified military documents from South Korea including detailed wartime operational plans involving its US ally, a report said Tuesday. Rhee Cheol-Hee, a lawmaker for the ruling Democratic party, said the hackers had broken into the South’s military network last September and gained access to 235 gigabytes of…
New ATMii Malware Can Empty ATMs
A newly detailed malware targeting automated teller machines (ATM) allows attackers to completely drain available cash, Kaspersky Lab researchers have discovered. Dubbed ATMii, the threat was first spotted in April this year, featuring an injector module (exe.exe) and the module to be injected (dll.dll). Actors using the malware need direct access to a target ATM…
Websites Hacked via Zero-Day Flaws in WordPress Plugins
Zero-day flaws affecting several WordPress plugins have been exploited by malicious actors to plant backdoors and take control of vulnerable websites. The attacks have been spotted by Wordfence, a company that specializes in protecting WordPress websites. The firm’s investigation revealed that attackers had been exploiting previously unknown vulnerabilities in three WordPress plugins.
Amazon’s Whole Foods Investigating Payment Card Breach
Whole Foods Market, the supermarket chain acquired recently by Amazon for $13.7 billion, informed customers this week that it has launched an investigation after learning that some of its point-of-sale (PoS) systems may have been hacked. The company has provided only few details as the investigation is ongoing. However, it said the incident appears to…
ATM hackers switch to network-based attacks
More and more attacks against ATMs are network-based, Trend Micro researchers have found. Since the discovery of the first ATM malware back in 2009, criminals have concentrated on opening the ATM’s case and accessing the machine’s internals to boot the malware up from an external USB or CD. But lately, as banks have ramped up…