Microsoft released its batch of monthly security updates this month covering 73 vulnerabilities, including two zero-day flaws exploited in the wild. While organizations should prioritize all critical and high-risk issues, there is one critical vulnerability in Outlook that researchers claim could open the door to trivial attacks that result in remote code execution. Dubbed MonikerLink…

Advanced persistent threats (APTs) aligned with China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia are all using large language models (LLMs) to enhance their operations. New blog posts from OpenAI and Microsoft reveal that five major threat actors have been using OpenAI software for research, fraud, and other malicious purposes. After identifying them, OpenAI shuttered all their…

The Microsoft-owned platform received the vulnerability report on December 26, 2023, and took immediate action to address the issue and revoke potentially exposed credentials, which led to disruptions between December 27 and 29. The security defect, which allowed access to credentials within a production container, had no impact beyond the security researcher who identified and…

January isn’t traditionally the lightest month on patch managers’ calendars, so a second month of (relatively) few Microsoft releases is a bit of a treat. On Tuesday the company released 48 CVEs, including 38 for Windows. Eight other product groups or tools are also affected. Of the CVEs addressed, just two are considered Critical in…

Nation-state hacking groups based in China have sharply ramped up cyberattacks against Taiwan this year, according to multiple reports. With geopolitical tensions and a trade war acting as a backdrop, China-led cyberattacks on Taiwan are rising sharply, according to multiple security reports. In the latest report about alleged China-sponsored cyberattacks on Taiwan, Kate Morgan, a…

Microsoft launches the Secure Future Initiative to usher in “next generation” of cybersecurity to better protect customers against escalating cybersecurity threats. Microsoft has announced the launch of the Secure Future Initiative (SFI) to improve the built-in security of its products and platforms to better protect customers against escalating cybersecurity threats. The new initiative will bring…

“One of the most dangerous financial criminal groups” — and growing in sophistication. That is Microsoft’s assessment of the 0ktapus cyberattack collective, which was most recently in the news for carrying out the strikingly disruptive MGM and Caesars Entertainment ransomware hits. The English-speaking group (aka Scatter Swine, UNC3944 or, as Microsoft calls it, “Octo Tempest”)…