The Good

In a week of significant cybersecurity developments, the Linux Foundation introduced the Post-Quantum Cryptography Alliance with industry behemoths such as Google and IBM. Parallelly, the U.S. government took a decisive stand against the global misuse of commercial spyware, implementing visa restrictions on individuals linked to espionage activities that have ensnared governments and corporations worldwide.

• The Linux Foundation announced a new initiative called the Post-Quantum Cryptography Alliance, with industry partners like Google, IBM, Amazon Web Services, and Cisco. This initiative responds to the potential security threats posed by quantum computing, which could render current cryptographic practices insufficient.

• The U.K and France will host a diplomatic conference to address the proliferation of commercial cyber intrusion tools, with 35 nations and big tech leaders participating.

• The U.S. government set forth global visa restrictions on individuals involved in the misuse of commercial spyware, targeting governments and companies around the world, including major U.S. allies like Israel, India, Jordan, and Hungary.

• Google and the Singapore government announced a collaborative move to roll out a new security feature in Google Play Protect to block the installation of potentially risky side-loaded apps in order to combat growing scam problems in the country.

The Bad

Cybersecurity challenges escalated as Hyundai Motor Europe admitted to a ransomware attack by the Black Basta group, with claims of 3TB of stolen corporate data. In a separate incident, HPE grappled with allegations of sensitive data theft by a threat actor named IntelBroker, prompting a thorough investigation that traced the compromised data back to a test environment. Meanwhile, Dutch intelligence agencies disclosed a sophisticated cyberattack by Chinese state-backed attackers on Dutch military systems, exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Fortinet VPN technology.

• SEIU Local 1000, a major California union, confirmed network disruptions following a cyber incident. The LockBit ransomware group claimed to have stolen 308GB of sensitive data, including SSNs and financial documents. Despite disruptions, the union asserts continued advocacy for workers' rights amidst ongoing operations, emphasizing resilience against coordinated attacks.

• Hyundai Motor Europe confirmed a ransomware attack by Black Basta threat actors, who claim to have stolen 3TB of corporate data. Initially downplayed as IT issues, Hyundai later acknowledged the breach, citing unauthorized access to a portion of its network. While the type of data impacted remains undisclosed, stolen folder lists hint at sensitive information across legal, sales, human resources, accounting, IT, and management departments.

• Korneuburg Municipality in Austria reported being targeted by a ransomware attack. This incident resulted in the cancellation of funerals and the town hall's announcement that its staff is only reachable via telephone. Media outlets indicate that the attack has impacted all data managed by the administration, including the backup system.

• Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago experienced a cyberattack, leading to the temporary shutdown of IT systems. The incident affected the internet, email, phone services, and access to the MyChat platform. Although the hospital remains open and focused on delivering patient care, the cyber incident has caused delays in scheduled procedures, unavailability of certain medical test results, and disruptions in prescription processes.

• German company AnyDesk Software GmbH confirmed a security breach involving the compromise of its production systems. The company plans to revoke the previous code signing certificate for its binaries. It has already revoked all security-related certificates and is recommending users change their passwords for the web portal. AnyDesk assured users that, despite the incident, there is no evidence of affected end-user devices.

• A threat actor, named IntelBroker, allegedly stole HPE credentials and sensitive data and offered it for a price. While no evidence of intrusion has been found, HPE has taken the claims seriously. HPE urges caution and continues its investigation. An update from HPE indicates that the data offered for sale was obtained from a test environment, not production systems.

• Escape's security research team uncovered over 18,000 exposed API secrets, with 41% posing high financial risks. The findings, spanning diverse platforms like Stripe, GitHub, AWS, and more, underline the growing challenge of API secret sprawl. GitGuardian's report noted a 67% surge in secret exposure on GitHub alone in 2023. The research firm emphasized the need for comprehensive security measures beyond code repositories.

• Group-IB discovered a large-scale malicious campaign targeting job search and retail websites primarily in the APAC region. Dubbed ResumeLooters, the group employed SQL injection and XSS attacks to compromise at least 65 websites between November and December 2023. The stolen data included over 2 million unique emails and other records. The group utilized penetration testing frameworks and open-source tools to execute their attacks.

• Dutch intelligence agencies revealed that Chinese state-backed hackers breached Dutch military systems in early 2023, utilizing a zero-day exploit in a Fortinet VPN. The attack targeted a segmented network with limited users, stealing user account data from the Active Directory server. The backdoor malware used for persistence was Coathanger, specifically tailored for FortiGate appliances. Despite applying patches, the devices may still be infected, necessitating system reformatting.

• Verizon notified more than 63,000 individuals, mostly current employees, of a breach where an insider accessed personal data without authorization. The incident, attributed to "inadvertent disclosure" and "insider wrongdoing," exposed names, addresses, SSNs, and other sensitive information. There's no indication of malicious intent or external sharing, an investigation revealed.

New Threats

Raspberry Robin malware operators adopted a shift in strategy, who now expedite their attacks by purchasing newer, less-than-a-month-old exploits. Additionally, a newly identified banking trojan named Coyote has emerged, targeting numerous online banking applications in Brazil with the potential for global impact. Furthermore, AhnLab discovered a RAT, disguised as gambling content and spread through malicious shortcut files.

• A new variant of HijackLoader has been found employing sophisticated techniques to enhance its complexity and defense evasion. One of these tactics involved the use of a standard process hollowing technique coupled with an additional trigger that was activated by the parent process writing to a pipe. Another technique involved a combination of process doppelgänging and process hollowing techniques.
• A ransomware strain dubbed .tprc resurfaced with a sophisticated overhaul, wreaking havoc on the healthcare and education sectors. Utilizing deceptive tactics, it infiltrates systems through regasm.exe, encrypting files and holding data hostage until a ransom is paid. It is also capable of pulling off file traversal attacks. Additionally, it establishes persistence via registry manipulation and PowerShell scripts, solidifying its foothold in compromised systems.
• Check Point Research revealed a concerning trend in the tactics of the notorious malware, Raspberry Robin, indicating a transition towards purchasing exploits for swifter cyber assaults. Previously, the malware operators integrated exploits for year-old vulnerabilities but now prioritize exploits less than a month old, emphasizing speed for increased attack success rates.
• Researchers uncovered a new banking trojan named Coyote. It is targeting at least 61 online banking applications, primarily in Brazil. Characterized by its sophisticated components and tactics, Coyote represents a significant evolution in Brazil's financial malware landscape. While currently Brazil-focused, its potential to expand globally warrants attention from security teams.
• Kimsuky APT is suspected to be behind a newly discovered Golang-based information stealer called Troll Stealer. The malware is capable of stealing system information, capturing screenshots, and pilfering information from SSH, FileZilla, and C drive. The malware shares similarities with AppleSeed and AlphaSeed malware, which have been attributed to Kimsuky.
• In a bid to make quick money, scammers are using the Facebook platform to raise funds for accidents that did not happen. They are sending videos to target victims and have prevented anyone from commenting below the videos to prevent themselves from being caught. To make it look more convincing, the videos are hosted on storage.googleapis.com, with IP addresses under the control of scammers. The scam has also been propagated in languages other than English, such as German.
• A new variant of the Mispadu banking trojan emerged to abuse an already-patched Windows SmartScreen security bypass flaw. The attacks involve phishing emails and the distribution of rogue internet shortcut files using a vulnerability (CVE-2023-36025) in Windows SmartScreen, which Microsoft addressed in November 2023. Mispadu is known for selectively targeting victims based on geographic locations and system configurations.
• Security researchers uncovered a campaign that utilizes cracked copies of popular macOS software products to distribute the Activator macOS backdoor. The campaign stands out due to its scale, multistage payload delivery technique, and the threat actor's use of cracked macOS apps with titles likely to interest business users. The threat actor behind the backdoor employed as many as 70 unique cracked macOS applications to distribute the malware.
• During an investigation, Trustwave SpiderLabs uncovered Ov3r_Stealer, an infostealer distributed via Facebook ads and phishing emails. The malware targets credentials and crypto wallets and sends data to a monitored Telegram channel. Utilizing various distribution methods, including weaponized links and disguised PowerShell scripts, the malware establishes persistence and exfiltrates sensitive information like geolocation, passwords, and credit card details.
• Taiwan-based QNAP Systems issued patches for 24 vulnerabilities affecting various products, including two high-severity flaws enabling command execution. The duo, (CVE-2023-45025 and CVE-2023-39297) impact QTS, QuTS hero, and QuTScloud versions. One flaw allows RCE without authentication, while another requires authentication.
• The decentralized social media platform Mastodon addressed high-severity vulnerabilities discovered in a Mozilla-requested security audit conducted by German pentesting firm Cure53. The first flaw involved the abuse of Mastodon's media processing code. The second flaw allowed HTML sanitization bypass in Mastodon, enabling the inclusion of malicious code in preview cards and introducing a vector for XSS payloads.
• AhnLab uncovered the distribution of a RAT malware masquerading as illicit gambling-related content. The malware is propagated through shortcut files (.lnk) that trigger the download of the RAT via HTA. The malicious PowerShell command embedded within the shortcut initiates the download process from specified URLs, leading to the installation of the RAT. The malware's sophisticated capabilities include keylogging, credential theft, and more.
• Fortinet issued warnings regarding two critical vulnerabilities in FortiOS, including CVE-2024-21762 which is being actively exploited in the wild. This RCE flaw affects SSL VPN and can be exploited via specially crafted HTTP requests. Another flaw, CVE-2024-23113, poses a similar risk but is not currently exploited. The firm has urged users to disable SSL VPN as a temporary fix.