Tag: Heimdal Security Blog

What Is the Main Vector of Ransomware Attacks?

Ransomware infiltrates and hinders everything from healthcare organizations to energy distribution pipelines. This is why having an idea of the main vector of ransomware attacks is hugely beneficial, not to say imperative for your organization’s safety. Did you know that…

Riot Games Receives a $10 Million Ransom Demand

Last week, video game developer Riot Games, which is behind popular games such as League of Legends and Valorant had its development environment compromised by threat actors through a social engineering attack. This week, the attackers demanded a $10 million…

Google Sued for Monopolizing the Online Ad Market

Google has been sued by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) for exploiting its market dominance in online advertising. Tuesday, 24 January 2023, a lawsuit was filed by the DOJ along with eight states: Virginia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New…

Your 10-Minute Guide to PKI and How Internet Encryption Works

From securing e-commerce transactions to encrypting data sent via email and verifying software packages, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and encryption are essential to secure online communications. But what exactly is PKI, how does it work, and what role does it…

App Spoofing Ad Fraud Affects 11 Million Devices

An “expansive” adware operation that spoofs over 1,700 apps from 120 publishers and affects around 11 million devices has been stopped by researchers. Dubbed VASTFLUX, the malvertising attack injected malicious JavaScript code into digital ad creatives and allowed threat actors…

Ransomware Payouts in Review: Highest Payments, Trends & Stats

Ransomware has come to be a customary instrument in the arsenal of cybercriminals who routinely attack individuals and organizations. Under such circumstances, their victims experience financial damage either by owning up to large ransomware payouts or by bearing the price…

What Is a Brute Force Attack?

Brute force attacks are a persistent security threat that has evolved over the years as technology advances. In this article, we’ll explore what a brute force attack is, its modus operandi and variants, and what prevention strategies you can use…

Major Companies Impacted by Ransomware [2022-2023]

The increasing frequency and size of ransomware attacks are becoming a huge concern for thousands of organizations globally. All over the world, threat actors take advantage of security vulnerabilities and encrypt data belonging to all sorts of organizations: from private…

T-Mobile API Data Breach Affects 37 Million Customers

T-Mobile announced a new data breach after a threat actor used one of its Application Programming Interfaces to steal personal data from 37 million active postpaid and prepaid customer accounts (APIs). 37 Million Accounts Impacted On Thursday, the telecommunication giant…

Ransomware Profits Declined by 40% in 2022

A total of $456.8 million was extorted by ransomware groups from their victims in 2022, down by almost 40% from the previous two years’ record-breaking total of $765 million. Chainalysis, a company that analyzes blockchain data, has found that the…

Russian Hackers Responsible for Attack on Samsung

Pro-Russian hacktivist group Genesis Day claims to have breached Samsung’s internal servers over South Korea’s collaboration with NATO. The attackers posted an ad on a popular hacking forum, claiming they found their way into Samsung’s internal FTP service. Because South Korea…

How Does Ransomware Spread? Here’s What You Need to Know

Wondering how does ransomware spread? We’re not surprised. There is no doubt that cybercriminals are constantly looking for new ways to hold your data hostage.  As a result, ransomware has emerged as one of the most serious cybersecurity threats to businesses in…

What Is DevSecOps: Definition, Benefits, and Best Practices

DevSecOps practices can help you to avoid sinuous workflows when it comes to software development security, earning you more time. Security should not be an afterthought when you are creating your online product, especially if you want to work fast…

BackdoorDiplomacy Is Going after Iranian Government Entities

Between July and late December 2022, BackdoorDiplomacy has been associated with a new wave of attacks targeting Iranian government entities. At least since 2010, the Chinese APT group has conducted cyberespionage campaigns against government and diplomatic entities across North America,…

MailChimp Suffers Data Breach Due to Social Engineering Attack

MailChimp announced it has been victim to a social engineering attack that threat actors successfully performed on the company`s employees and contractors. Hackers managed to obtain employee credentials and gain access to an internal customer support and account administration tool.…

Russian Hackers Attack Ukraine’s News Agency with a Data-wiper

A malware attack targeting the national news agency of Ukraine (Ukrinform) was recently stopped. The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) attributed the data-wiper attack to Russian hackers. The Attack Was Not Successful CERT-U experts pinned the malware attack…

Git Patches Two Vulnerabilities With Critical Security Level

In their latest update, Git has patched two new security flaws, both of them with a critical level of security. If left unpatched, the vulnerabilities could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code after successfully exploiting heap-based buffer overflow weaknesses. Git…

Data Leaks: How An HR Platform Left Employees’ Private Data Exposed

On December 12, 2022, cybersecurity experts discovered a publicly accessible database containing 260GB of sensitive personal data from myrocket. co, which provides end-to-end recruitment solutions and HR services to Indian businesses. Nearly 200,000 employees and almost nine million job seekers…

CISA Warns of Critical Vulnerabilities on Industrial Control Systems

Sewio, InHand Networks, SAUTER Controls, and Siemens Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are vulnerable to cyberattacks, according to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The advisories released on January 12th contain information on vulnerabilities, exploits, and other security flaws…

Heimdal Cyber-Security & Threat Intelligence Report 2023

Marked by significant geopolitical shifts and unrest, 2022 has galvanized the cybersecurity landscape as well; war-profiteering fueled by endless media disputes has allowed the threat actors not only to operate unhindered but also to find safe harbor with states that…

CIA’s Hive Attack Kit Has Been Pirated by Hackers

A version of the Hive cyberattack kit created by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was spotted in the wild. The pirated malicious code acts as spyware, secretly exfiltrating data from victims. The variant was nicknamed xdr33 after its digital certification…

Malicious VPN Installers Used to Infect Devices with Spyware

The VPN market has grown considerably in the last few years due to the increasing popularity of VPN technologies. However, corrupted VPN installers have been used by threat actors to deliver a piece of spyware called EyeSpy, as part of a malware…

What Is Malware? Definition, Types and Protection

Fewer words are more used in cybersecurity than malware. The one that gives IT specialists nightmares, makes companies ramp up security tools, and constantly challenges software creators, malware targets every aspect of our daily used technologies and devices. Being so…

Major Companies Impacted by Ransomware [2022-2023]

The increasing frequency and size of ransomware attacks are becoming a huge concern for thousands of organizations globally. All over the world, threat actors take advantage of security vulnerabilities and encrypt data belonging to all sorts of organizations: from private…

How the LockBit Ransomware Group Brought Royal Mail to Its Knees

A cyberattack on Royal Mail, the UK’s largest mail delivery service, has been linked to LockBit ransomware. The Royal Mail announced yesterday that it has been experiencing severe disruption to international export services as a result of a cyber incident.…

Europol Takes Down Crypto Scams-Related Call Centers Across Europe

Several crypto scams linked call centers that were functioning in multiple European countries were discovered and closed this week by Europol. Cybercriminals used these call centers to convince individuals to invest money in the “Pig Butchering” cryptocurrency scams. The cross-border…

What Is Mutual Authentication?

Mutual authentication, also known as two-way authentication or website-to-user authentication, is a security mechanism that requires the two sides of a communications channel to authenticate each other’s identities (instead of just one side verifying the other) before moving forward with…

AI-generated Mental Health Counseling Raises Moral Concerns

Koko, a mental health company, announced on 6 January 2023, that it provided AI-generated counseling to 4,000 people. The information raised ethical and legal concerns about the regulation of the use of AI and the absence of consent from individuals…

High Severity Vulnerability Discovered in the JsonWebToken Library

The open-source JsonWebToken (JWT) library has been confirmed to be affected by a high-severity security flaw that could lead to remote code execution. While investigating the popular open-source project, Unit 42 researchers discovered a new vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-23529.This flaw has…

Cyberattack Cancels Classes for 31,000 Students in Iowa

Des Moines Public School put all networked systems offline and canceled classes on January 10th due to an undefined cyberattack. More than 31,000 kids from preschool through high school in more than 60 schools, as well as the school’s 5000…

Vidar Malware Pushed Through Sites Impersonating AnyDesk

Threat actors launched a massive malware campaign that spoofs the AnyDesk site to infect endpoints with Vidar stealer. More than 1,300 domains that impersonate the official AnyDesk site were found to redirect users to a Dropbox folder that pushes information-stealing…

CISA Adds Two More Security Vulnerabilities to Its KEV Catalog

On January 10th, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added two more new vulnerabilities to its catalog of actively exploited bugs. CISA ordered agencies to patch the bugs as soon as possible to avoid exploitation by threat actors. The…

ChatGTP Used by Threat Actors to Create Deployable Malware

A new research shows that threat actors are exploiting the increasingly popular ChatGTP to write usable malware and share their results on the dark web. The study was based on recent findings from Cybernews, and three distinct cases were profiled…

Altered Zoom App Found Delivering Banking Malware

A malicious IcedID malware campaign was identified recently. According to researchers, threat actors are actively spreading malware using modified versions of the Zoom application that have been trojanized. Zoom has become increasingly popular in recent years since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged…

Best Practices Check List for Flawless Container Security

While containers and microservices keep gaining popularity among developers, it`s no wonder the interest in container security best practices has also grown. Although container-based architecture comes with a series of advantages: portability, lightweight, easy maintenance, and scalability, it also rises…

Fake Pokemon NFT Website Distributes NetSupport RAT Malware

Fake Pokemon NFT card game website is used by threat actors to spread malware. Visitors are tricked to download the NetSupport remote access tool or RAT, a malicious software that takes over victims’ devices. Details About the Campaign Analysts at…

Turla Uses Old Malware Infrastructure to Attack Ukrainian Institutions

Turla Russian espionage group delivers KOPILUWAK reconnaissance utility and QUIETCANARY backdoor to ANDROMEDA malware victims in Ukraine. Cyber researchers track the operation as UNC4210. Turla is also known as Iron Hunter, Krypton, Uroburos, Venomous Bear, or Waterbug and is thought…

US Nuclear Research Labs Hit by Russian Hackers

Cold River, a Russian hacking collective, targeted three US nuclear research laboratories. Brookhaven, Argonne and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories were all hit. Between August and September Cold River targeted the Brookhaven (BNL), Argonne (ANL) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL), according…

Threat Actors Abuse Visual Studio Marketplace to Target Developers

Threat actors targeting the Visual Studio Code extensions use a new attack vector. They upload rogue extensions impersonating their legitimate counterparts with the goal of triggering supply chain attacks on the machines of developers. Curated via a marketplace made available…

Backdoor Malware: Definition, Risks, and Protection

When it comes to malware, knowing what types of malicious software lurk out there can help you enable efficient cybersecurity measures and stay protected. Backdoor malware is just one of many kinds of threats that you have to take into…

What Is Network Segmentation?

When it comes to network security, there are a lot of methods to help strenghten it. One such method, that will not only increase the overall security of your enterprise, but it will also simplify the monitorization and response to…

Apple Fined $8.0M in France for Data Collecting Issues

Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), the French data protection authority, fined Apple €8,000,000 ($8.5M) for collecting user data without the user’s consent. The data was used to better target advertising in the App Store. These actions are…

Blind Eagle Is Back with New Tools and a Complex Infection Chain

Blind Eagle, a financially-motivated threat actor previously observed launching operations against organizations in Colombia and Ecuador, has reemerged with a sophisticated toolset and a complex infection chain. The latest findings from Check Point shed light on the group’s methods, such…

Rackspace Has Fallen Victim to Ransomware: Here’s What You Need to Know

The Play ransomware operation was responsible for a cyberattack that brought Rackspace’s hosted Microsoft Exchange environment down in December. According to Rackspace, attackers behind last month’s incident gained access to some of its customers’ Personal Storage Table (PST) files, which…

Warning! Spyware Attacks Targeting Banks Are on the Rise

The number of attacks targeting banks grew after the source code for CypherRat, a new SpyNote malware version, was offered for free on hacker groups. CypherRat has both spyware and banking trojan features impersonating banking institutions. It was initially sold…

Confidential Computing: What Is It and What Are Its Benefits?

In recent years, data has become a valuable asset that every business sector shouldn’t neglect. However, information exists in different states and constantly crosses numerous networks and devices, which can result in data breaches. Because of this, organizations should be…

Cricket Platform Exposed over 100k Customer Data Entries

Over 100k user entries and administrative credentials were leaked from a cricket community social network. Cybernews researchers discovered that cricketsocial[.]com left an open database containing emails, phone numbers, names, hashed user passwords, dates of birth, and addresses. Most of the…