Tag Archives: security

Fraudulent gambling network may actually be something more nefarious

A sprawling infrastructure that has been bilking unsuspecting people through fraudulent gambling websites for 14 years is likely a dual operation run by a nation-state-sponsored group that is targeting government and private-industry organizations in the US and Europe, researchers said Wednesday. Researchers have previously tracked smaller pieces of the enormous infrastructure. Last month, security firm… Read More »

Oops. Cryptographers cancel election results after losing decryption key.

One of the world’s premier security organizations has canceled the results of its annual leadership election after an official lost an encryption key needed to unlock results stored in a verifiable and privacy-preserving voting system. The International Association of Cryptologic Research (IACR) said Friday that the votes were submitted and tallied using Helios, an open… Read More »

How to know if your Asus router is one of thousands hacked by China-state hackers

Thousands of Asus routers have been hacked and are under the control of a suspected China-state group that has yet to reveal its intentions for the mass compromise, researchers said. The hacking spree is either primarily or exclusively targeting seven models of Asus routers, all of which are no longer supported by the manufacturer, meaning… Read More »

Critics scoff after Microsoft warns AI feature can infect machines and pilfer data

The goals are sound, but ultimately they depend on users reading the dialog windows that warn of the risks and require careful approval before proceeding. That, in turn, diminishes the value of the protection for many users. “The usual caveat applies to such mechanisms that rely on users clicking through a permission prompt,” Earlence Fernandes,… Read More »

5 plead guilty to laptop farm and ID theft scheme to land North Koreans US IT jobs

Each defendant also helped the IT workers pass employer vetting procedures. Travis and Salazar, for example, appeared for drug testing on behalf of the workers. Travis, an active-duty member of the US Army at the time, received at least $51,397 for his participation in the scheme. Phagnasay and Salazar earned at least $3,450 and $4,500,… Read More »

Researchers question Anthropic claim that AI-assisted attack was 90% autonomous

Claude frequently overstated findings and occasionally fabricated data during autonomous operations, claiming to have obtained credentials that didn’t work or identifying critical discoveries that proved to be publicly available information. This AI hallucination in offensive security contexts presented challenges for the actor’s operational effectiveness, requiring careful validation of all claimed results. This remains an obstacle… Read More »

ClickFix may be the biggest security threat your family has never heard of

Another campaign, documented by Sekoia, targeted Windows users. The attackers behind it first compromise a hotel’s account for Booking.com or another online travel service. Using the information stored in the compromised accounts, the attackers contact people with pending reservations, an ability that builds immediate trust with many targets, who are eager to comply with instructions,… Read More »

Wipers from Russia’s most cut-throat hackers rain destruction on Ukraine

One of the world’s most ruthless and advanced hacking groups, the Russian state-controlled Sandworm, launched a series of destructive cyberattacks in the country’s ongoing war against neighboring Ukraine, researchers reported Thursday. In April, the group targeted a Ukrainian university with two wipers, a form of malware that aims to permanently destroy sensitive data and often… Read More »

5 AI-developed malware families analyzed by Google fail to work and are easily detected

The assessments provide a strong counterargument to the exaggerated narratives being trumpeted by AI companies, many seeking new rounds of venture funding, that AI-generated malware is widespread and part of a new paradigm that poses a current threat to traditional defenses. A typical example is Anthropic, which recently reported its discovery of a threat actor… Read More »