Cyber Defense Advisors

Year: 2024

  • by
  • September 4, 2024

Security Researcher Sued for Disproving Government Statements

This story seems straightforward. A city is the victim of a ransomware attack. They repeatedly lie to the media about the severity of the breach. A security researcher repeatedly proves their statements to be lies. The city gets mad and sues the researcher. Let’s hope the judge throws the case out, but—still—it will serve as […]

Cyber News
  • by
  • September 4, 2024

Clearview AI Faces €30.5M Fine for Building Illegal Facial Recognition Database

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (Dutch DPA) has imposed a fine of €30.5 million ($33.7 million) against facial recognition firm Clearview AI for violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union (E.U.) by building an “illegal database with billions of photos of faces,” including those of Dutch citizens. “Facial recognition is a […]

Cyber News
  • by
  • September 4, 2024

Hackers Use Fake GlobalProtect VPN Software in New WikiLoader Malware Attack

A new malware campaign is spoofing Palo Alto Networks’ GlobalProtect VPN software to deliver a variant of the WikiLoader (aka WailingCrab) loader by means of a search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. The malvertising activity, observed in June 2024, is a departure from previously observed tactics wherein the malware has been propagated via traditional phishing emails, […]

Cyber News
  • by
  • September 3, 2024

The AI Fix #14: There are two Rs in “strawberry”, and an AI makes unsmellable smells

In episode 14 of “The AI Fix”, Graham makes an apology, Mark wonders if suicide drones have second thoughts, people pretend to be robots, and some researchers prove that all you need for an AI to generate a somewhat usable version of the computer game Doom out of thin air is to already have a […]

Cyber News
  • by
  • September 3, 2024

List of Old NSA Training Videos

The NSA’s “National Cryptographic School Television Catalogue” from 1991 lists about 600 COMSEC and SIGINT training videos. There are a bunch explaining the operations of various cryptographic equipment, and a few code words I have never heard of before.  

Cyber News
  • by
  • September 3, 2024

Sextortion Scams Now Include Photos of Your Home

An old but persistent email scam known as “sextortion” has a new personalized touch: The missives, which claim that malware has captured webcam footage of recipients pleasuring themselves, now include a photo of the target’s home in a bid to make threats about publishing the videos more frightening and convincing. This week, several readers reported receiving […]

Cyber News
  • by
  • September 3, 2024

Hacktivists Exploits WinRAR Vulnerability in Attacks Against Russia and Belarus

A hacktivist group known as Head Mare has been linked to cyber attacks that exclusively target organizations located in Russia and Belarus. “Head Mare uses more up-to-date methods for obtaining initial access,” Kaspersky said in a Monday analysis of the group’s tactics and tools. “For instance, the attackers took advantage of the relatively recent CVE-2023-38831 […]

Cyber News
  • by
  • September 3, 2024

New Rust-Based Ransomware Cicada3301 Targets Windows and Linux Systems

Cybersecurity researchers have unpacked the inner workings of a new ransomware variant called Cicada3301 that shares similarities with the now-defunct BlackCat (aka ALPHV) operation. “It appears that Cicada3301 ransomware primarily targets small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), likely through opportunistic attacks that exploit vulnerabilities as the initial access vector,” cybersecurity company Morphisec said in a technical […]

Cyber News
  • by
  • September 3, 2024

Rocinante Trojan Poses as Banking Apps to Steal Sensitive Data from Brazilian Android Users

Mobile users in Brazil are the target of a new malware campaign that delivers a new Android banking trojan named Rocinante. “This malware family is capable of performing keylogging using the Accessibility Service, and is also able to steal PII from its victims using phishing screens posing as different banks,” Dutch security company ThreatFabric said. […]

Cyber News