Cyber Defense Advisors

Month: May 2025

NCSC Guidance on “Advanced Cryptography”

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre just released its white paper on “Advanced Cryptography,” which it defines as “cryptographic techniques for processing encrypted data, providing enhanced functionality over and above that provided by traditional cryptography.” It includes things like homomorphic encryption, attribute-based encryption, zero-knowledge proofs, and secure multiparty computation. It’s full of good advice. I […]

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How to Automate CVE and Vulnerability Advisory Response with Tines

Run by the team at workflow orchestration and AI platform Tines, the Tines library features pre-built workflows shared by security practitioners from across the community – all free to import and deploy through the platform’s Community Edition. A recent standout is a workflow that automates monitoring for security advisories from CISA and other vendors, enriches […]

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MintsLoader Drops GhostWeaver via Phishing, ClickFix — Uses DGA, TLS for Stealth Attacks

The malware loader known as MintsLoader has been used to deliver a PowerShell-based remote access trojan called GhostWeaver. “MintsLoader operates through a multi-stage infection chain involving obfuscated JavaScript and PowerShell scripts,” Recorded Future’s Insikt Group said in a report shared with The Hacker News. “The malware employs sandbox and virtual machine evasion techniques, a domain 

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Microsoft Sets Passkeys Default for New Accounts; 15 Billion Users Gain Passwordless Support

A year after Microsoft announced passkeys support for consumer accounts, the tech giant has announced a big change that pushes individuals signing up for new accounts to use the phishing-resistant authentication method by default. “Brand new Microsoft accounts will now be ‘passwordless by default,’” Microsoft’s Joy Chik and Vasu Jakkal said. “New users will have […]

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xAI Dev Leaks API Key for Private SpaceX, Tesla LLMs

An employee at Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI leaked a private key on GitHub that for the past two months could have allowed anyone to query private xAI large language models (LLMs) which appear to have been custom made for working with internal data from Musk’s companies, including SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter/X, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. […]

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US as a Surveillance State

@ vaadu, You say, “DOGE’s mission is to root out fraud, waste and abuse. It can’t do that without looking at data.” Well the “find fraud waste and abuse” is what we outside the US looking in call, “A lame cover story at best.” You further say it, “can’t do that without looking at data” […]

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Fake Security Plugin on WordPress Enables Remote Admin Access for Attackers

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a new campaign targeting WordPress sites that disguises the malware as a security plugin. The plugin, which goes by the name “WP-antymalwary-bot.php,” comes with a variety of features to maintain access, hide itself from the admin dashboard, and execute remote code. “Pinging functionality that can report back to a […]

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Why top SOC teams are shifting to Network Detection and Response

Security Operations Center (SOC) teams are facing a fundamentally new challenge — traditional cybersecurity tools are failing to detect advanced adversaries who have become experts at evading endpoint-based defenses and signature-based detection systems. The reality of these “invisible intruders” is driving a significant need for a multi-layered approach to detecting threats, 

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Claude AI Exploited to Operate 100+ Fake Political Personas in Global Influence Campaign

Artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic has revealed that unknown threat actors leveraged its Claude chatbot for an “influence-as-a-service” operation to engage with authentic accounts across Facebook and X. The sophisticated activity, branded as financially-motivated, is said to have used its AI tool to orchestrate 100 distinct personas on the two social media platforms, creating a 

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