Cybercrime

Pierluigi Paganini February 19, 2017
An implementation bug in Zerocoin helped hackers steal ZCoins worth $585,000

A hacker exploited an implementation bug in the source code of the Zerocoin currency scheme to steal ZCoins worth $585,000. “Zerocoin is a project to fix a major weakness in Bitcoin: the lack of privacy guarantees we take for granted in using credit cards and cash.” reads the description on the project.  Zerocoin cryptocurrency protocol […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 18, 2017
Former employee hacked paper maker Georgia-Pacific and caused $1m damage

Servers at a paper maker Georgia-Pacific were hacked by a former sysadmin that was arrested by feds. The incident caused $1m in damage. A system administrator, Brian Johnson (44) from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has been jailed for hacking the control systems of his ex-employer. Johnson had worked at paper maker Georgia-Pacific for years until the Valentine’s Day […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 16, 2017
Yahoo notifies users hackers are forging “cookies” to take over their accounts

Yahoo notifies users that hackers are forging “cookies” or files used in the authentication process to access their accounts, instead of stealing passwords Yahoo confirmed it was notifying some users of sophisticated cyber attacks aimed to compromise their accounts. The hackers are adopting hacking methods to forge “cookies” or files used in the authentication process, instead of […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 15, 2017
BitDefender found the first MAC OS version of the X-Agent used by the APT28

Security experts at Bitdefender discovered a MAC OS version of the X-Agent malware used by the Russian APT28 cyberespionage group. Security experts at BitDefender have discovered a MAC OS malware program that’s likely part of the arsenal of the dreaded Russian APT 28 group (aka Pawn Storm, Sednit, Sofacy, Fancy Bear and Tsar Team). The Russian nation-state actor was involved […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 14, 2017
Office Loader leverages malicious macros to deliver multiple malware

Security researchers at Palo Alto Networks spotted a campaign leveraging Microsoft Office loader using malicious macros to drop multiple malware families. The researchers analyzed more than 650 unique samples of this specific loader since early December 2016, accounting for 12,000 phishing email targeting numerous industries. Most affected industries are High Tech, Professional and Legal Services, […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 13, 2017
Watering hole attacks on Polish Banks Linked to Lazarus Group

According to security experts from Symantec and BAE Systems, the recently discovered attacks aimed at Poland banks are linked to the Lazarus Group. Last week, several Polish banks confirmed their systems were infected with a malware after their staff visited the site of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. The cyber attack was first reported by […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 13, 2017
Word documents laced with malicious macros used to hack Apple Mac systems

Crooks exploiting Word documents laced with malicious macros to compromise Apple Mac systems exactly in the same way they do with Microsoft machines. It’s amazing the number of Apple Mac users that tell me their systems are immune from malware. This false sense of security is very dangerous and I believe it is important to […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 11, 2017
Kelihos becomes January’s Top 10 ‘Most Wanted’ Malware

The infamous Kelihos botnet climbed to the top position, while the Conficker worm dropped to fourth on the chart of malware. Which are the most active malware in the wild? According to a research conducted by CheckPoint Security, a malware landscape was characterized by some interesting changed in this first part of 2017. The Kelihos botnet […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 10, 2017
CRYSIS Ransomware is back and crooks are using RDP attacks once again

CRYSIS Ransomware attacks leveraging brute force via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) are still ongoing, mostly targeting US firms in the healthcare. Do you remember the CRYSIS ransomware? It is a ransomware that appeared in the threat landscape last year, now researchers at Trend Micro discovered the CRYSIS ransomware is being distributed via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) brute force […]

Pierluigi Paganini February 09, 2017
High sophisticated Fileless malware infected 140 companies in 40 countries

More than a hundred banks and financial institutions in 40 countries have been infected with a sophisticated fileless malware that is very hard to detect. Hundreds of banks and financial institutions across the world may have been infected with a sophisticated fileless malware that is hard to detect. The threat was discovered by the experts at […]