Cybercrime

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 […]

Pierluigi Paganini December 28, 2016
The Leet Botnet powered a 650 Gbps DDoS attack before Christmas

Just before Christmas a massive DDoS attack powered by a new botnet dubbed Leet Botnet hit the network of the firm Imperva. Security experts from the firm Imperva observed a massive attack against the company network on the morning of Dec. 21. The massive DDoS attack reached 650 Gbps, according to the researchers it was powered […]

Pierluigi Paganini December 25, 2016
Malware distribution tactics used in phishing campaign

Experts from Proofpoint discovered a new phishing campaign designed to steal banking data leveraging tactics associated with malware distribution. Security experts from Proofpoint have discovered a new phishing campaign that presents many similarities with campaigns used to spread the Cerber ransomware and the Ursnif banking Trojan. Cyber criminals adopted a technique that leverages on the distribution […]