Cyber Defense Advisors

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  • December 12, 2024

WordPress Hunk Companion Plugin Flaw Exploited to Silently Install Vulnerable Plugins

Malicious actors are exploiting a critical vulnerability in the Hunk Companion plugin for WordPress to install other vulnerable plugins that could open the door to a variety of attacks. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2024-11972 (CVSS score: 9.8), affects all versions of the plugin prior to 1.9.0. The plugin has over 10,000 active installations. “This flaw […]

Cyber News
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  • December 12, 2024

Europol Dismantles 27 DDoS Attack Platforms Across 15 Nations; Admins Arrested

A global law enforcement operation has failed 27 stresser services that were used to conduct distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and took them offline as part of a multi-year international exercise called PowerOFF. The effort, coordinated by Europol and involving 15 countries, dismantled several booter and stresser websites, including zdstresser.net, orbitalstress.net, and starkstresser.net. These services typically […]

Cyber News
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  • December 12, 2024

Smashing Security podcast #397: Snowflake hackers, and under the influence

A Canadian man is arrested in relation to the Snowflake hacks from earlier this year – after a cybersecurity researcher managed to track his identity, and a cryptocurrency-trading Instagram influencer is in trouble with the law. All this and more is discussed in the latest edition of the “Smashing Security” podcast by cybersecurity veterans Graham […]

Cyber News
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  • December 11, 2024

How Cryptocurrency Turns to Cash in Russian Banks

A financial firm registered in Canada has emerged as the payment processor for dozens of Russian cryptocurrency exchanges and websites hawking cybercrime services aimed at Russian-speaking customers, new research finds. Meanwhile, an investigation into the Vancouver street address used by this company shows it is home to dozens of foreign currency dealers, money transfer businesses, […]

Cyber News
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  • December 11, 2024

Secret Blizzard Deploys Kazuar Backdoor in Ukraine Using Amadey Malware-as-a-Service

The Russian nation-state actor tracked as Secret Blizzard has been observed leveraging malware associated with other threat actors to deploy a known backdoor called Kazuar on target devices located in Ukraine. The new findings come from the Microsoft threat intelligence team, which said it observed the adversary leveraging the Amadey bot malware to download custom […]

Cyber News

Krispy Kreme Cyberattack: A Sticky Situation with Lessons for Every Business

Krispy Kreme Cyberattack: A Sticky Situation with Lessons for Every Business How a Cyber Breach Is Disrupting an Iconic Doughnut Chain—and What Your Company Can Learn From It No one expects a cyberattack to disrupt their morning doughnut order—but for Krispy Kreme, the consequences of a November 2024 breach are much more than a minor […]

Cyber Thoughts
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  • December 11, 2024

New Malware Technique Could Exploit Windows UI Framework to Evade EDR Tools

A newly devised technique leverages a Windows accessibility framework called UI Automation (UIA) to perform a wide range of malicious activities without tipping off endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions. “To exploit this technique, a user must be convinced to run a program that uses UI Automation,” Akamai security researcher Tomer Peled said in a […]

Cyber News
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  • December 11, 2024

Microsoft MFA AuthQuake Flaw Enabled Unlimited Brute-Force Attempts Without Alerts

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a “critical” security vulnerability in Microsoft’s multi-factor authentication (MFA) implementation that allows an attacker to trivially sidestep the protection and gain unauthorized access to a victim’s account. “The bypass was simple: it took around an hour to execute, required no user interaction and did not generate any notification or provide the […]

Cyber News
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  • December 11, 2024

ZLoader Malware Returns With DNS Tunneling to Stealthily Mask C2 Comms

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new version of the ZLoader malware that employs a Domain Name System (DNS) tunnel for command-and-control (C2) communications, indicating that the threat actors are continuing to refine the tool after resurfacing a year ago. “Zloader 2.9.4.0 adds notable improvements including a custom DNS tunnel protocol for C2 communications and an […]

Cyber News