Cyber Defense Advisors

News

Medusa ransomware gang claims to have hacked NASCAR

The Medusa ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) claims to have compromised the computer systems of NASCAR, the United States’ National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and made off with more than 1TB of data. Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog. 

Cyber News

Pakistan-Linked Hackers Expand Targets in India with CurlBack RAT and Spark RAT

A threat actor with ties to Pakistan has been observed targeting various sectors in India with various remote access trojans like Xeno RAT, Spark RAT, and a previously undocumented malware family called CurlBack RAT. The activity, detected by SEQRITE in December 2024, targeted Indian entities under railway, oil and gas, and external affairs ministries, marking […]

Cyber News

CMMC Compliance Becomes Urgent as DoD Finalizes Cybersecurity Rules

CMMC Compliance Becomes Urgent as DoD Finalizes Cybersecurity Rules With the Department of Defense’s new cybersecurity requirements set to appear in contracts by mid-2025, defense contractors must act swiftly to achieve compliance or risk losing eligibility for future work. The Department of Defense has finalized the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program, turning what was […]

Cyber Thoughts

Fortinet Warns Attackers Retain FortiGate Access Post-Patching via SSL-VPN Symlink Exploit

Fortinet has revealed that threat actors have found a way to maintain read-only access to vulnerable FortiGate devices even after the initial access vector used to breach the devices was patched. The attackers are believed to have leveraged known and now-patched security flaws, including, but not limited to, CVE-2022-42475, CVE-2023-27997, and CVE-2024-21762. “A threat actor […]

Cyber News

Paper Werewolf Deploys PowerModul Implant in Targeted Cyberattacks on Russian Sectors

The threat actor known as Paper Werewolf has been observed exclusively targeting Russian entities with a new implant called PowerModul. The activity, which took place between July and December 2024, singled out organizations in the mass media, telecommunications, construction, government entities, and energy sectors, Kaspersky said in a new report published Thursday. Paper Werewolf, also […]

Cyber News

Friday Squid Blogging: Squid and Efficient Solar Tech

Researchers are trying to use squid color-changing biochemistry for solar tech. This appears to be new and related research to a 2019 squid post. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.  

Cyber News

AI Vulnerability Finding

Microsoft is reporting that its AI systems are able to find new vulnerabilities in source code: Microsoft discovered eleven vulnerabilities in GRUB2, including integer and buffer overflows in filesystem parsers, command flaws, and a side-channel in cryptographic comparison. Additionally, 9 buffer overflows in parsing SquashFS, EXT4, CramFS, JFFS2, and symlinks were discovered in U-Boot and […]

Cyber News

Initial Access Brokers Shift Tactics, Selling More for Less

What are IABs? Initial Access Brokers (IABs) specialize in gaining unauthorized entry into computer systems and networks, then selling that access to other cybercriminals. This division of labor allows IABs to concentrate on their core expertise: exploiting vulnerabilities through methods like social engineering and brute-force attacks.  By selling access, they significantly mitigate the 

Cyber News

Ransomware reaches a record high, but payouts are dwindling

Will you be shedding a tear for the cybercriminals? Read more in my article on the Tripwire blog. 

Cyber News