March 4, 2024

NTLM authentication hashes are stolen during phishing attacks by hackers

As a result of a recent shift in tactics, the hacking group known as TA577 has employed phishing emails to steal the authentication hashes of NT LAN Manager (NTLM) accounts in order to use them for account hijackings. The NTLM hash is a key component of Windows authentication and session security and can be used for offline password cracking to […]
February 29, 2024

Suspected Iranian Threat Actor UNC1549 Targets Israeli and Middle East Aerospace and Defense Sectors

Suspected Iran-nexus espionage activity targeting the aerospace, aviation and defense industries in Middle East countries, including Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and potentially Turkey, India, and Albania. Mandiant attributes this activity with moderate confidence to the Iranian actor UNC1549, which overlaps with Tortoiseshell—a threat actor that has been publicly linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Tortoiseshell […]
February 29, 2024

A North Korean-linked APT group exploited a zero-day vulnerability in the Windows AppLocker driver (appid.sys) to gain kernel-level access to a target system

An APT group linked to North Korea is exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in the appid.sys AppLocker driver using an admin-to-kernel exploit. A zero-day exploit, identified as CVE-2024-21338, was addressed by Microsoft in February. The flaw CVE-2024-21338 resides within the IOCTL (Input and Output Control) dispatcher of the driver appid.sys. In the AppLocker application, this driver controls which apps and files […]
May 17, 2023

New MalasLocker ransomware demands charity donation after targeting Zimbra servers

This week, a new ransomware operation, dubbed MalasLocker by BleepingComputer, has been observed which is targeting Zimbra servers to steal emails and encrypt files since the end of March 2023. Although instead of demanding a ransom payment, the threat actors claim to require a donation to charity to provide an encryptor and prevent data leaking. “Unlike traditional ransomware groups, we’re […]
May 17, 2023

FBI releases joint advisory against the BianLian ransomware gang

On Tuesday 16th of May 2023, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a joint TLP:CLEAR cybersecurity advisory warning organisations of the latest tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by the BianLian ransomware group. The advisory highlighted that BianLian is a ransomware developer, deployer, and data extortion cybercriminal group that has targeted organisations in multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors […]
May 17, 2023

ScanSource warns of delays following ransomware attack

On Tuesday 16th of May 2023, a US-based technology provider ScanSource disclosed that they had suffered a ransomware attack that has impacted some of its systems, business operations, and customer portals. The impact has been significant, as it is expected to cause delays in the provision of services to customers in North America and Brazil. ScanSource has stated in a press […]
May 15, 2023

Cisco Talos reveals RA Group ransomware targeting USA and South Korean organisations

On Monday 15th of May 2023, Cisco Talos revealed a new ransomware group named ‘RA Group’ that is targeting pharmaceutical, insurance, wealth management, and manufacturing firms in the United States and South Korea. The blog post covering the group revealed that their operation started in April 2023, when they launched a data leak site on the dark web on Sunday […]
May 12, 2023

FBI releases joint advisory warning of Bl00dy ransomware targets education organisation in PaperCut attacks

On Thursday 11th of May 2023, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint TLP:CLEAR cybersecurity advisory warning organisation that the Bl00dy Ransomware gang is now actively exploiting a PaperCut remote-code execution vulnerability (CVE-2023-27350) to gain initial access to networks. The advisory revealed that the Bl00dy Ransomware Gang attempted […]
May 7, 2023

Kroll reveals new Cactus ransomware that encrypts itself to evade antivirus

On Wednesday 10th of May 2023, Kroll revealed a new ransomware strain named ‘Cactus’ which has been exploiting vulnerabilities in VPN appliances for initial access to networks of large commercial entities since March 2023. The publication covering the strain revealed that the unique feature of the strain is its self-encryption capability. to make it difficult for antivirus software to detect […]