Items tagged with cybersecurity
The US Government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) maintains a list of exploited vulnerabilities and releases notices urging organizations, particularly government agencies and contractors, to patch said vulnerabilities. However, CISA isn’t the only one looking out for US infrastructure. Ken...
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Malware campaigns employ different techniques to smuggle malicious software onto computing devices without the notice of users or anti-virus systems. Threat actors who develop and distribute malware frequently rely on various forms of mimicry to take advantage of users’ trust in legitimate websites, services, and...
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In May of last year, Colonial Pipeline was struck by a ransomware attack, prompting the Colonial Pipeline Company to take certain systems offline in an attempt to contain the attack. As a result, all pipeline operations were temporarily halted, shutting off the flow of fuel to the eastern seaboard. Shortly thereafter...
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Google is engaged in a never ending game of cat and mouse with threat actors on its Play Store who employ different techniques to sneak malware-ridden apps onto the app store. We fairly regularly write about newly discovered batches of malicious apps that went unrecognized as such long enough to infect hundreds of...
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Ransomware can be both disruptive and costly for its victims. A recent report found that the total downtime resulting from ransomware attacks in 2021 cost schools a whopping $3.56 billion. The sudden encryption of data on computer systems critical to an organization’s regular operations presents a major problem when...
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While malware and phishing are two different kinds of cyberattacks, threat actors sometimes use both methods in malicious campaigns. A threat actor known as Roaming Mantis appears to be doing exactly that in a new campaign documented by researchers at the cybersecurity firm SEKOIA. Roaming Mantis has previously...
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We cover both ransomware and Elden Ring fairly regularly here at HotHardware, but it’s a sad day when those two things meet. The ransomware attacks that often receive the most coverage are those that disrupt major supply lines and infrastructure, raising national security concerns. However, ransomware gangs carry out...
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Phishing attacks employ various methods to trick users into handing over sensitive information, such as login credentials. Over time, as users have become more suspicious and email clients, web browsers, and IT departments have implemented anti-phishing measures, scammers have had to get creative and devise more...
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Earlier this year, we wrote about a vulnerability in Honda’s remote keyless entry (RKE) system that hackers could exploit to lock, unlock, and start certain Honda and Acura vehicles. This particular vulnerability was the result of Honda using fixed codes in its RKE system. Many Honda and Acura key fobs send the same...
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Last year, a hacker who goes by the name “pompompurin” managed to breach a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) web portal and send out thousands of hoax emails from an official FBI email address. Just a couple weeks prior, pompompurin gained unauthorized access to the internal network of the stock trading app...
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Last week, we wrote about spyware that researchers gave the name “Hermit” and attributed to the Italian spyware vendor RCS Labs. Hermit falls within the same class of spyware as NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, which infected at least nine phones belonging to US State Department employees. This sort of spyware is usually...
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Last month, a ransomware gang known as ALPHV struck The Allison Inn & Spa, stealing employee and customer data. ALPHV then published this information to the open web, where it could be indexed by search engines and viewed without the use of the Tor network. While the website that presented the data for download wasn’t...
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Earlier this year, multiple US law enforcement agencies completed a joint operation with authorities from the United Kingdom, Europol, Portugal, Germany, Sweden, and Romania. This coordinated police action, dubbed Operation TOURNIQUET, culminated in the seizure of the RaidForums domain names, as well as the arrest of...
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Last month, we wrote about malicious Android apps containing a trojan that researchers have dubbed “SMSFactory.” This bit of malware exists to infect Android phones and conduct SMS billing fraud. SMSFactory uses SMS and phone permissions to regularly send premium text messages and make calls to premium numbers...
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Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine near the beginning of this year, some prominent hacking groups announced that they would be joining the war within the digital realm. The hacking collective Anonymous declared cyberwar against the Russian government and has since been conducting cyberattacks on Russian and...
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A cybersecurity report published last month revealed the passwords most commonly used by business owners and executives, and topping this list were “123456” and “password.” The commonality of such remarkably weak passwords among not just ordinary users, but high-ranking executives of large corporations is almost...
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Malicious software, commonly known as malware, is one of many threats to both cybersecurity and privacy. Cybercriminals can distribute malware to achieve a number of different goals, including siphoning funds from cryptocurrency wallets, stealing login credentials, or establishing botnets. However, cybercriminals...
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Shortly after hitting Parker Hannifin Corporation, a major component supplier for Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the Conti ransomware group abandoned the Conti name and split off into smaller groups that coordinate with the larger group’s leadership. This move came after Conti targeted the government of Costa Rica with...
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Cybercriminals can steal credit card credentials using a number of different methods, including phishing attacks, other form of social engineering, skimming, and data breaches. Stolen credit card credentials often don’t remain with the original thief, but instead end up being sold on an online marketplace. There are...
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Three years ago, Capital One Financial Corporation suffered a massive data breach that exposed customers’ personal information. Rather than being the victim of social engineering or a ransomware attack, it turned out that Capital One had misconfigured its web application, leaving its system vulnerable to a breach. The...
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Popular portrayals of hackers tend to show them as computer geniuses who use their elite technical skills to breach computer systems. However, in real life, bad actors often don’t bother to directly hack computer systems when they can access those same systems by hacking people instead. People are often willing to...
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Ransomware is bad news not only because it can cause business-ending disruptions, as in the case of Abraham Lincoln College, but also because the actors behind ransomware attacks often exfiltrate data from compromised systems in addition to encrypting the data on said machines. Ransomware gangs tend to use this stolen...
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