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Cybersecurity researchers have identified a malicious Python package that purports to be an offshoot of the  popular requests library  and has been found concealing a Golang-version of the Sliver command-and-control (C2) framework within a PNG image of the project's logo.  The package employing this steganographic trickery is  requests-darwin-lite , which has been downloaded 417 times prior to it being taken down from the Python Package Index (PyPI) registry. Requests-darwin-lite "appeared to be a fork of the ever-popular requests package with a few key differences, most notably the inclusion of a malicious Go binary packed into a large version of the actual requests side-bar PNG logo," software supply chain security firm Phylum  said . The changes have been introduced in the package's setup.py file, which has been configured to decode and execute a Base64-encoded command to gather the system's Universally Unique Identifier ( UUID ). In what's an interes

The financially motivated threat actor known as  FIN7  has been observed leveraging malicious Google ads spoofing legitimate brands as a means to deliver MSIX installers that culminate in the deployment of  NetSupport RAT . "The threat actors used malicious websites to impersonate well-known brands, including AnyDesk, WinSCP, BlackRock, Asana, Concur, The Wall Street Journal, Workable, and Google Meet," cybersecurity firm eSentire  said  in a report published earlier this week. FIN7 (aka Carbon Spider and Sangria Tempest) is a  persistent e-crime group  that's been active since 2013, initially dabbling in attacks targeting point-of-sale (PoS) devices to steal payment data, before pivoting to breaching large firms via ransomware campaigns. Over the years, the threat actor has refined its tactics and malware arsenal, adopting  various   custom malware  families such as BIRDWATCH, Carbanak, DICELOADER (aka Lizar and Tirion), POWERPLANT, POWERTRASH, and TERMITE, among ot

The North Korean threat actor tracked as Kimsuky has been observed deploying a previously undocumented Golang-based malware dubbed  Durian  as part of highly-targeted cyber attacks aimed at two South Korean cryptocurrency firms. "Durian boasts comprehensive backdoor functionality, enabling the execution of delivered commands, additional file downloads, and exfiltration of files," Kaspersky  said  in its APT trends report for Q1 2024. The attacks, which occurred in August and November 2023, entailed the use of legitimate software exclusive to South Korea as an infection pathway, although the precise mechanism used to manipulate the program is currently unclear. What's known is that the software establishes a connection to the attacker's server, leading to the retrieval of a malicious payload that kicks off the infection sequence. The first-stage serves as an installer for additional malware and a means to establish persistence on the host. It also paves the way fo

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming cybersecurity, and those leading the charge are using it to outsmart increasingly advanced cyber threats. Join us for an exciting webinar, " The Future of Threat Hunting is Powered by Generative AI ," where you'll explore how AI tools are shaping the future of cybersecurity defenses. During the session, Censys Security Researcher Aidan Holland will introduce you to CensysGPT, a cutting-edge tool revolutionizing threat hunting and cybersecurity research. With CensysGPT, you can ask questions in plain language, understand competitor searches, and uncover insights from network data like never before. Here's why you should attend: Discover the latest:  Learn how generative AI is changing the game in cybersecurity and threat intelligence. Hunt smarter and faster:  See how CensysGPT helps you find threats quicker, reducing your organization's risk. Strengthen your defenses:  Find out how to incorporate AI into your se

Google on Thursday released security updates to address a zero-day flaw in Chrome that it said has been actively exploited in the wild. Tracked as  CVE-2024-4671 , the high-severity vulnerability has been described as a case of use-after-free in the Visuals component. It was reported by an anonymous researcher on May 7, 2024. Use-after-free bugs , which arise when a program references a memory location after it has been deallocated, can lead to any number of consequences, ranging from a crash to arbitrary code execution. "Google is aware that an exploit for CVE-2024-4671 exists in the wild," the company  said  in a terse advisory without revealing additional specifics of how the flaw is being weaponized in real-world attacks or the identity of the threat actors behind them. With the latest development, Google has addressed two actively exploited zero-days in Chrome since the start of the year. Earlier this January, the tech giant patched an out-of-bounds memory access

A guide to finding the right endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution for your business' unique needs. Cybersecurity has become an ongoing battle between hackers and small- and mid-sized businesses. Though perimeter security measures like antivirus and firewalls have traditionally served as the frontlines of defense, the battleground has shifted to endpoints. This is why endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions now serve as critical weapons in the fight, empowering you and your organization to detect known and unknown threats, respond to them quickly, and extend the cybersecurity fight across all phases of an attack.  With the growing need to defend your devices from today's cyber threats, however, choosing the right EDR solution can be a daunting task. There are so many options and features to choose from, and not all EDR solutions are made with everyday businesses and IT teams in mind. So how do you pick the best solution for your needs? Why EDR Is a Must Because of

Malicious Android apps masquerading as Google, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and X (formerly Twitter) have been observed to steal users' credentials from compromised devices. "This malware uses famous Android app icons to mislead users and trick victims into installing the malicious app on their devices," the SonicWall Capture Labs threat research team  said  in a recent report. The distribution vector for the campaign is currently unclear. However, once the app is installed on the users' phones, it requests them to grant it permissions to the accessibility services and the  device administrator API , a now-deprecated feature that provides device administration features at the system level. Obtaining these permissions allows the rogue app to gain control over the device, making it possible to carry out arbitrary actions ranging from data theft to malware deployment without the victims' knowledge. The malware is designed to establish connections with a comman

SaaS applications are dominating the corporate landscape. Their increased use enables organizations to push the boundaries of technology and business. At the same time, these applications also pose a new security risk that security leaders need to address, since the existing security stack does not enable complete control or comprehensive monitoring of their usage. LayerX has recently released a new guide, " Let There Be Light: Eliminating the Risk of Shadow SaaS " for security and IT teams, which addresses this gap. The guide explains the challenges of shadow SaaS, i.e., the use of unauthorized SaaS apps for work purposes, and suggests practices and controls that can mitigate them. The guide also compares various security controls that attempt to address this risk (CASB, SASE, Secure Browser Extension) and explains how each one operates and its efficacy. Consequently, the guide is a must-read for all security leaders at modern organizations. Here are the main highlights:

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a novel attack that employs stolen cloud credentials to target cloud-hosted large language model (LLM) services with the goal of selling access to other threat actors. The attack technique has been codenamed  LLMjacking  by the Sysdig Threat Research Team. "Once initial access was obtained, they exfiltrated cloud credentials and gained access to the cloud environment, where they attempted to access local LLM models hosted by cloud providers," security researcher Alessandro Brucato  said . "In this instance, a local Claude (v2/v3) LLM model from Anthropic was targeted." The intrusion pathway used to pull off the scheme entails breaching a system running a vulnerable version of the Laravel Framework (e.g.,  CVE-2021-3129 ), followed by getting hold of Amazon Web Services (AWS) credentials to access the LLM services. Among the tools used is an  open-source Python script  that checks and validates keys for various offering

Researchers have detailed a Virtual Private Network (VPN) bypass technique dubbed  TunnelVision  that allows threat actors to snoop on victim's network traffic by just being on the same local network. The "decloaking"  method  has been assigned the CVE identifier  CVE-2024-3661  (CVSS score: 7.6). It impacts all operating systems that implement a DHCP client and has support for DHCP option 121 routes. At its core, TunnelVision involves the routing of traffic without encryption through a VPN by means of an attacker-configured DHCP server using the  classless static route option 121  to set a route on the VPN user's  routing table . It also stems from the fact the DHCP protocol, by design, does not authenticate such option messages, thus exposing them to manipulation. DHCP is a client/server protocol that automatically provides an Internet Protocol (IP) host with its IP address and other related configuration information such as the subnet mask and default gateway 

Polish government institutions have been targeted as part of a large-scale malware campaign orchestrated by a Russia-linked nation-state actor called  APT28 . "The campaign sent emails with content intended to arouse the recipient's interest and persuade him to click on the link," the computer emergency response team, CERT Polska,  said  in a Wednesday bulletin. Clicking on the link redirects the victim to the domain run.mocky[.]io, which, in turn, is used to redirect to another legitimate site named webhook[.]site, a  free service  that allows developers to inspect data that's being sent via a webhook, in an effort to evade detection. The next step involves the download of a ZIP archive file from webhook[.]site, which contains the Windows Calculator binary that masquerades as a JPG image file ("IMG-238279780.jpg.exe"), a hidden batch script file, and another hidden DLL file ("WindowsCodecs.dll"). Should a victim run the application, the malic