News

The US Cyber Command issued a warning that the Atlassian Corp. PLC’s Confluence software is being exploited on a large scale and that users should patch their installations immediately. The vulnerability, formally named CVE-2021-26084, was revealed by Atlassian on Aug. 25 and was described as allowing an authenticated user to execute arbitrary code on a Confluence Server or data centre instance. It also said that Confluence Cloud customers are not affected. The issue affects all...

The US' CYbersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added signle-factor authentication (SFA) to its list of bad practices, which outlines exceptionally risky cybersecurity practices. The agency has specified that this low-security method of authentication is particularly dangerous when used to secure Critical Infrastructure or National Critical Functions. The list also includes the use of unsupported/end-of-life software that can no longer be patched, and the use of known/default passwords and credentials. "The presence of these Bad...

Office 365 customers have been warned by Microsoft of an ongoing phishing campaign that abuses open redirects, an email sales and marketing tool that redirects a visitor to an untrusted site. An http parameter may contain a URL value and could cause the web application to redirect the request to the specified URL. By modifying the URL value to a malicious site, an attacker may successfully launch a phishing scam and steal user credentials. Because...

Researchers at cybersecurity vendor Upguard have discovered multiple data leaks resulting from Microsoft Power Apps portals configured to allow public access - a new vector of data exposure. The types of data exposed varied between portals, including personal information used for COVID-19 contact tracing, COVID-19 vaccination appointments, social security numbers for job applicants, employee IDs, and millions of names and email addresses. UpGuard notified 47 entities of exposures involving personal information, including governmental bodies like...

According to a report by Abnormal Security, on August 12, 2021, their team identified and blocked a number of emails sent to customers soliciting them to become accomplices in an insider threat scheme. The goal was for them to infect their companies’ networks with ransomware. These emails allege to come from someone with ties to the DemonWare ransomware group. DemonWare—also known as Black Kingdom and DEMON—has been around for a few years. Earlier this year,...

Armis, the unified asset visibility and security platform provider, today announced Oscar Miranda as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Healthcare. His appointment, the company says, further reinforces Armis' strategic commitment to securing the healthcare sector, particularly when it comes to identifying and providing mitigation steps for vulnerabilities associated with connected devices within the healthcare ecosystem.   According to a recently published article by Fortified Health Security (Fortified), a strategic partner of Armis, more...

A new class of DNS vulnerabilities has been discovered, which impacts major DNS-as-a-Service (DNSaaS) providers. It could give hackers the ability to access sensitive information on corporate networks and the power for 'nation-state level spying'. The flaws provide potential hackers with intelligence harvesting abilities by using a simple domain registration. The research explained: "We found a simple loophole that allowed us to intercept a portion of worldwide dynamic DNS traffic going through managed DNS providers...

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has unveiled a new initiative, in which it will partner with several tech companies to bolster the U.S.'s defences against cyber threats. Named the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative, the effort aims to combat ransomware and cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. The announcement comes after a string of high-profile attacks, such as those on the Colonial Pipeline, JBS Food and Kaseya. Jen Easterly, director of the agency, which is part...

Kya Supa, security consultant at LEXFO, inadvertently found a series of security bugs in IoT devices within connected hotel rooms. These vulnerabilities allowed him to take control of the amenities in multiple capsule hotel rooms (tiny rooms stacked side-by-side). Supa presented his findings on Wednesday at the Black Hat Conference 2021. The rooms are controlled using an iPod touch, which visitors receive at check-in, allowing them to control lights, change position of their beds and...

The Isle of Wight Education Federation disclosed that its IT systems were shut down last week as a result of a ransomware attack. The attackers encrypted the school data of Carisbrooke College, Island 6th Form, Medina College, Barton Prymary, Hunnyhill Primary and Lanesend Primary. The police have been informed and are working with the schools to track down the hackers. A spokesman for the federation said in a statement: "There are obviously some significant implications...