Cybercrime

Pierluigi Paganini January 10, 2017
Hello Kitty database leaked online, 3.3 million fans affected

The Hello Kitty MongoDB database leaked online one year ago recently surface on the web, it includes 3.3 million records belonging to Hello Kitty fans. The security researcher Chris Vickery discovered a Sanrio database that was misconfigured and exposed to the public in 2015. On December 2015, Vickery reported the discovery to Databreaches.net and Salted Hash. According […]

Pierluigi Paganini January 09, 2017
Number of MongoDB ransom attacks peaked 27,000 in a day

According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority Antipodes the number of hacked MongoDB databases more than double to 27,000 in just a day. MongoDB ransom attacks soar, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority Antipodes the number of hacked systems more than double to 27,000 in just a day. According to the experts, […]

Pierluigi Paganini January 08, 2017
Crooks target UK schools with ‘Department of Education’ ransomware

Action Fraud is warning of ‘Department of Education’ ransomware, crooks are posing government officials to trick people into installing ransomware. This is a story of another string of cyber attacks that leverage ransomware to compromise victims’ machines. Cyber criminals are targeting schools in the UK, asking victims to pay up to £8,000 to unlock data […]

Pierluigi Paganini January 06, 2017
The Plone community claims the FBI hack is a fake, it’s a mystery

CyberZeist claims that he hacked the FBI’s website exploiting a zero-day flaw in Plone, but the Plone security team declared the FBI hack is a hoax. Security Affairs was probably the first blog to spread the news of the alleged FBI hack. I was contacted by the notorious hacker CyberZeist, he is very popular in the […]

Pierluigi Paganini January 05, 2017
11GB archive of Top Secret US SOCOM data accidentally leaked

The popular security expert Chris Vickery discovered a 11GB archive of Top Secret US SOCOM data that was accidentally leaked. A subcontractor of the Pentagon has exposed top-secret information of the US Military Special Operations Command (SOCOM) medics. Exposed records include names, locations, Social Security Numbers, and salaries of the Military SOCOM personnel, the database […]

Pierluigi Paganini January 04, 2017
Hacker held open MongoDB databases for ransom

A mysterious hacker is breaking into unprotected MongoDB databases, stealing their content, and asking for a ransom to return the data. Co-founder of the GDI Foundation Victor Gevers is warning of poor security for MongoDB installations in the wild. The security expert has discovered 196 instances of MongoDB that were wiped by crooks and being held for […]

Pierluigi Paganini January 03, 2017
It has happened again, ransomware infected an LG Smart TV

The software engineer Darren Cauthon reported his LG Smart TV was infected with ransomware on Christmas day, the malware asked for $500 to unlock the device IoT Ransomware is a scaring reality, the threat will increase in the next months and security firms have been warning IT industry. Routers, smart TV, and CCTVs are all potential victims of […]

Pierluigi Paganini December 30, 2016
Sundown Exploit Kit now leverages on the steganography

A new variant of the Sundown exploit kit leverages on steganography to hide exploit code in harmless-looking image files. Security experts from Trend Micro have spotted a new version of the Sundown exploit kit that exploits steganography in order to hide malicious code in harmless-looking image files. The use of steganography was recently observed in the malvertising campaigns conducted […]

Pierluigi Paganini December 29, 2016
InterContinental Hotels investigating a possible card breach

The company InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) confirmed an ongoing investigation of alleged card breach at some of its properties. The notorious investigators Brian Krebs was informed of a possible security breach at the hotel company InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). Krebs received the news of the alleged card breach by his sources in the financial industry. According […]

Pierluigi Paganini December 29, 2016
Kaspersky discovered a One-stop-shop for hacking goods

Security experts from Kaspersky Lab discovered an interesting one-stop-shop for purchasing hacking goods while investigating activity of a popular RAT. Security experts from Kaspersky Lab discovered an interesting one-stop-shop for purchasing hacking goods. The malware researchers were analyzing traffic from a number of infected machines that appear to be generated by the HawkEye RAT. HawkEye is […]