News

WordPress has pushed out version 5.3.1 patching four security issues. WordPress versions 5.3 and earlier are affected and the company is recommending users download the new version, which is a short-cycle maintenance release and soon will be superseded by a full update when version 5.4 is released. Source: SC Magazine

An unsecured database operated by the online retailer LightInTheBox left 1.3TB of data containing 1.6 billion shopper records exposed for a three-month period this year. In what the breach discovers VPNMentor described as a major lapse in LighInTheBox’s data security and potentially devastating to the victims exposing them to not only a cyberattack but potentially a physical confrontation as the data included enough clues to allow a malicious actor to discover their home address. Source:...

New Jersey’s largest hospital system said that it has paid hackers a ransom after a ransomware attack disrupted its services earlier this month. Hackensack Meridian Health, a $6 billion non-profit health provider system based in Edison, N.J., operates 17 hospitals, nursing homes, and outpatient centers, as well as psychiatric facility Carrier Clinic. The hospital system told media outlets on Friday that it was targeted by a cyberattack on Dec. 2, crippling its computer software systems...

Based on files uploaded to the VirusTotal scanning service, the ransomware attack on the City of New Orleans was likely done by the Ryuk Ransomware threat actors.On December 14th, 2019, one day after the City of New Orleans ransomware attack, what appear to be memory dumps of suspicious executables were uploaded from an IP address from the USA to the VirusTotal scanning service. Source: Bleeping Computer

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus, the King of Corinth, was punished by Hades by being forced to roll a huge stone up a hill, only to have it roll down again as soon as he reached the summit, and then have the process repeat ad infinitum. The Paradox of Sisyphus exemplifies the modern state of cybersecurity. Source: Help Net Security

Privacy concerns will ratchet up further around IoT and 5G. Even if the industry manages to secure the billions of IoT devices already deployed, they permeate so many aspects of life that it will be nearly impossible to keep personal and private information out of the public domain. Source: Help Net Security

With being in the spotlight, celebrities are unfortunately a notable, prime target for hackers and reality TV personality, Witney Carson was tragically the latest subject whose social media accounts were comprised this past week. The Dancing With the Stars pro took to Twitter on Saturday to share with fans and followers that her official Facebook account had been hacked and she was in the middle of "trying to get it fixed." But while Carson was working to get things back to normal, hackers had...

At least two North American chains have been hit in sophisticated new campaigns for stealing payment card data. Point of Sale (PoS) systems belonging to at least two North American gas station merchants and a hospitality chain have been attacked over the last few months by what Visa this week described as sophisticated cybercrime groups looking to harvest payment card data. Source: Dark Reading

The operators of the REvil Ransomware, otherwise known as Sodinokibi, have announced that they will use stolen files and data as leverage to get victims to pay ransoms. A new tactic by ransomware developers is to release a victim's data if they do not pay the ransom. While we have seen these threats in the past, only recently have Ransomware operators, such as Maze, actually followed through. Source: Bleeping Computer

In 2019, the number of unique malicious objects detected by Kaspersky’s web antivirus solution rose by an eighth, compared to last year – reaching 24,610,126. This growth was mainly influenced by a 187% rise in web skimmer files. Other threats, such as backdoors and banking Trojans detected in-lab, also grew, while the presence of miners dropped by more than a half. These trends have demonstrated a shift in the type of threats used by attackers...