Cyber Defense Advisors

Year: 2024

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  • July 15, 2024

CRYSTALRAY Hackers Infect Over 1,500 Victims Using Network Mapping Tool

A threat actor that was previously observed using an open-source network mapping tool has greatly expanded their operations to infect over 1,500 victims. Sysdig, which is tracking the cluster under the name CRYSTALRAY, said the activities have witnessed a tenfold surge, adding it includes “mass scanning, exploiting multiple vulnerabilities, and placing backdoors using multiple [open-source […]

Cyber News
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  • July 15, 2024

Singapore Banks to Phase Out OTPs for Online Logins Within 3 Months

Retail banking institutions in Singapore have three months to phase out the use of one-time passwords (OTPs) for authentication purposes when signing into online accounts to mitigate the risk of phishing attacks. The decision was announced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) on July 9, 2024. […]

Cyber News
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  • July 15, 2024

New HardBit Ransomware 4.0 Uses Passphrase Protection to Evade Detection

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a new version of a ransomware strain called HardBit that comes packaged with new obfuscation techniques to deter analysis efforts. “Unlike previous versions, HardBit Ransomware group enhanced the version 4.0 with passphrase protection,” Cybereason researchers Kotaro Ogino and Koshi Oyama said in an analysis. “The passphrase needs to be […]

Cyber News
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  • July 14, 2024

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak: I’m speaking—along with John Bruce, the CEO and Co-founder of Inrupt—at the 18th Annual CDOIQ Symposium in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The symposium runs from July 16 through 18, 2024, and my session is on Tuesday, July 16 at 3:15 PM. The […]

Cyber News
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  • July 13, 2024

AT&T Confirms Data Breach Affecting Nearly All Wireless Customers

American telecom service provider AT&T has confirmed that threat actors managed to access data belonging to “nearly all” of its wireless customers as well as customers of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) using AT&T’s wireless network. “Threat actors unlawfully accessed an AT&T workspace on a third-party cloud platform and, between April 14 and April 25, […]

Cyber News
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  • July 12, 2024

Friday Squid Blogging: 1994 Lair of Squid Game

I didn’t know: In 1994, Hewlett-Packard released a miracle machine: the HP 200LX pocket-size PC. In the depths of the device, among the MS-DOS productivity apps built into its fixed memory, there lurked a first-person maze game called Lair of Squid. […] In Lair of Squid, you’re trapped in an underwater labyrinth, seeking a way […]

Cyber News
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  • July 12, 2024

Crooks Steal Phone, SMS Records for Nearly All AT&T Customers

AT&T Corp. disclosed today that a new data breach has exposed phone call and text message records for roughly 110 million people — nearly all of its customers. AT&T said it delayed disclosing the incident in response to “national security and public safety concerns,” noting that some of the records included data that could be […]

Cyber News
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  • July 12, 2024

DarkGate Malware Exploits Samba File Shares in Short-Lived Campaign

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a short-lived DarkGate malware campaign that leveraged Samba file shares to initiate the infections. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 said the activity spanned the months of March and April 2024, with the infection chains using servers running public-facing Samba file shares hosting Visual Basic Script (VBS) and JavaScript files. […]

Cyber News
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  • July 12, 2024

Australian Defence Force Private and Husband Charged with Espionage for Russia

Two Russian-born Australian citizens have been arrested and charged in the country for spying on behalf of Russia as part of a “complex” law enforcement operation codenamed BURGAZADA. This includes a 40-year-old woman, an Australian Defence Force (ADF) Army Private, and her husband, a 62-year-old self-employed laborer. Media reports have identified them as Kira Korolev […]

Cyber News