Cyber Defense Advisors

Month: March 2025

PHP-CGI RCE Flaw Exploited in Attacks on Japan’s Tech, Telecom, and E-Commerce Sectors

Threat actors of unknown provenance have been attributed to a malicious campaign predominantly targeting organizations in Japan since January 2025. “The attacker has exploited the vulnerability CVE-2024-4577, a remote code execution (RCE) flaw in the PHP-CGI implementation of PHP on Windows, to gain initial access to victim machines,” Cisco Talos researcher Chetan Raghuprasad said in […]

Cyber News

Who is the DOGE and X Technician Branden Spikes?

At 49, Branden Spikes isn’t just one of the oldest technologists who has been involved in Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). As the current director of information technology at X/Twitter and an early hire at PayPal, Zip2, Tesla and SpaceX, Spikes is also among Musk’s most loyal employees. Here’s a closer look at […]

Cyber News

Elastic Releases Urgent Fix for Critical Kibana Vulnerability Enabling Remote Code Execution

Elastic has rolled out security updates to address a critical security flaw impacting the Kibana data visualization dashboard software for Elasticsearch that could result in arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-25015, carries a CVSS score of 9.9 out of a maximum of 10.0. It has been described as a case of prototype pollution. […]

Cyber News

EncryptHub Deploys Ransomware and Stealer via Trojanized Apps, PPI Services, and Phishing

The financially motivated threat actor known as EncryptHub has been observed orchestrating sophisticated phishing campaigns to deploy information stealers and ransomware, while also working on a new product called EncryptRAT. “EncryptHub has been observed targeting users of popular applications, by distributing trojanized versions,” Outpost24 KrakenLabs said in a new report shared with The 

Cyber News

Outsmarting Cyber Threats with Attack Graphs

Cyber threats are growing more sophisticated, and traditional security approaches struggle to keep up. Organizations can no longer rely on periodic assessments or static vulnerability lists to stay secure. Instead, they need a dynamic approach that provides real-time insights into how attackers move through their environment. This is where attack graphs come in. By mapping […]

Cyber News

The Combined Cipher Machine

Interesting article—with photos!—of the US/UK “Combined Cipher Machine” from WWII.  

Cyber News

Medusa Ransomware Hits 40+ Victims in 2025, Demands $100K–$15M Ransom

The threat actors behind the Medusa ransomware have claimed nearly 400 victims since it first emerged in January 2023, with the financially motivated attacks witnessing a 42% increase between 2023 and 2024. In the first two months of 2025 alone, the group has claimed over 40 attacks, according to data from the Symantec Threat Hunter […]

Cyber News

Over 1,000 WordPress Sites Infected with JavaScript Backdoors Enabling Persistent Attacker Access

Over 1,000 websites powered by WordPress have been infected with a third-party JavaScript code that injects four separate backdoors. “Creating four backdoors facilitates the attackers having multiple points of re-entry should one be detected and removed,” c/side researcher Himanshu Anand said in a Wednesday analysis. The malicious JavaScript code has been found to be served […]

Cyber News

U.S. Charges 12 Chinese Nationals in State-Backed Hacking Operations

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced charges against 12 Chinese nationals for their alleged participation in a wide-ranging scheme designed to steal data and suppress free speech and dissent globally. The individuals include two officers of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Ministry of Public Security (MPS), eight employees of an ostensibly private […]

Cyber News