Cyber Defense Advisors

Month: February 2024

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  • February 23, 2024

LockBitsupp unmasked!!? My reaction to the FBI and NCA’s LockBit ransomware revelation

Check out my “live reaction” (isn’t that what all the kids post on social media these days?) to the much-hyped revelation of the identity of the LockBit ransomware’s administrator. 

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  • February 23, 2024

Microsoft Releases PyRIT – A Red Teaming Tool for Generative AI

Microsoft has released an open access automation framework called PyRIT (short for Python Risk Identification Tool) to proactively identify risks in generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The red teaming tool is designed to “enable every organization across the globe to innovate responsibly with the latest artificial intelligence advances,” Ram Shankar Siva Kumar, AI red team […]

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  • February 23, 2024

Researchers Detail Apple’s Recent Zero-Click Shortcuts Vulnerability

Details have emerged about a now-patched high-severity security flaw in Apple’s Shortcuts app that could permit a shortcut to access sensitive information on the device without users’ consent. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-23204 (CVSS score: 7.5), was addressed by Apple on January 22, 2024, with the release of iOS 17.3, iPadOS 17.3, macOS Sonoma 14.3, […]

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  • February 23, 2024

FTC Slams Avast with $16.5 Million Fine for Selling Users’ Browsing Data

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has hit antivirus vendor Avast with a $16.5 million fine over charges that the firm sold users’ browsing data to advertisers after claiming its products would block online tracking. In addition, the company has been banned from selling or licensing any web browsing data for advertising purposes. It will […]

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  • February 22, 2024

New Image/Video Prompt Injection Attacks

Simon Willison has been playing with the video processing capabilities of the new Gemini Pro 1.5 model from Google, and it’s really impressive. Which means a lot of scary new video prompt injection attacks. And remember, given the current state of technology, prompt injection attacks are impossible to prevent in general. Tags: artificial intelligence, Google, […]

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  • February 22, 2024

Bring us the head of LockBit! $15 million bounty offered for information on leaders of notorious ransomware gang

A huge reward is being offered for information leading to the identification or location of any of the leaders of the LockBit ransomware gang. Read more in my article on the Tripwire State of Security blog. 

Cyber News
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  • February 22, 2024

Apple Unveils PQ3 Protocol – Post-Quantum Encryption for iMessage

Apple has announced a new post-quantum cryptographic protocol called PQ3 that it said will be integrated into iMessage to secure the messaging platform against future attacks arising from the threat of a practical quantum computer. “With compromise-resilient encryption and extensive defenses against even highly sophisticated quantum attacks, PQ3 is the first messaging protocol to reach […]

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  • February 22, 2024

New Leak Shows Business Side of China’s APT Menace

A new data leak that appears to have come from one of China’s top private cybersecurity firms provides a rare glimpse into the commercial side of China’s many state-sponsored hacking groups. Experts say the leak illustrates how Chinese government agencies increasingly are contracting out foreign espionage campaigns to the nation’s burgeoning and highly competitive cybersecurity […]

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  • February 22, 2024

Cybercriminals Weaponizing Open-Source SSH-Snake Tool for Network Attacks

A recently open-sourced network mapping tool called SSH-Snake has been repurposed by threat actors to conduct malicious activities. “SSH-Snake is a self-modifying worm that leverages SSH credentials discovered on a compromised system to start spreading itself throughout the network,” Sysdig researcher Miguel Hernández said. “The worm automatically searches through known credential locations and shell history […]

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