Story of an Undercover CIA Agent who Penetrated Al Qaeda Rolling Stone has a long investigative story (non-paywalled version here) about a CIA agent who spent years posing as an Islamic radical. Unrelated, but also in the “real life spies” file: a fake Sudanese diving resort run by Mossad. Tags: al Qaeda, CIA, espionage, undercover…
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Hours after the CSO exclusive on the potential deal went live, several users submitted their disapproval on Reddit. One wrote, “Oh god I hope not. Action1 is my personal RMM (remote monitoring and management) at this point”, while user another said, “This would be a great acquisition for CS, but will probably suck for a…
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Aug 21, 2024Ravie LakshmananMalware / Cryptocurrency Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new macOS malware strain dubbed TodoSwift that they say exhibits commonalities with known malicious software used by North Korean hacking groups. “This application shares several behaviors with malware we’ve seen that originated in North Korea (DPRK) — specifically the threat actor known as BlueNoroff…
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Aug 21, 2024Ravie LakshmananCyber Espionage / Threat Intelligence In what’s a case of an operational security (OPSEC) lapse, the operator behind a new information stealer called Styx Stealer leaked data from their own computer, including details related to the clients, profit information, nicknames, phone numbers, and email addresses. Styx Stealer, a derivative of the Phemedrone…
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It’s no great revelation to say that SaaS applications have changed the way we operate, both in our personal and professional lives. We routinely rely on cloud-based and remote applications to conduct our basic functions, with the result that the only true perimeter of our networks has become the identities with which we log into…
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Semiconductor firms are appealing targets due to the high value of their intellectual property (IP), sensitive manufacturing processes, and their critical role in global supply chains. The complexity and precision involved in chip manufacturing mean that any disruption — whether through data theft, ransomware, or system sabotage — can have far-reaching consequences, impacting not just…
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“Let’s say someone is using those providers and they happen to have a common identity platform, maybe SailPoint. If SailPoint is passing a data stream to AWS and Microsoft and maybe others, it could permit access to all that client’s information in one of those hyperscaler environments. It might allow limited data access in the…
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Other than scanning huge amounts of data for potential threats, the technology comes in handy at sniffing out anomalies. By analyzing patterns and behaviors, GenAI can pinpoint suspicious activities, an ability well realized by Darktrace, a cybersecurity company that uses GenAI to understand normal network behavior and identify deviations. “GenAI can efficiently handle many tasks…
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Aug 21, 2024Ravie LakshmananCyber Warfare / Threat Intelligence The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) has warned of new phishing attacks that aim to infect devices with malware. The activity has been attributed to a threat cluster it tracks as UAC-0020, which is also known as Vermin. The exact scale and scope of the…
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Louis Blackburn, operations director at global ethical hacker and red team cybersecurity solutions provider CovertSwarm, commented: “In order to combat this [RMM abuse] tactic, organizations need to focus on endpoint hardening and reducing their attack surface.” “Implementing application control measures, such as Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) or AppLocker, will act as a primary line…
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